Warcraft 3 Analytics

Warcraft 3 replays don't directly store what units are in each control group. Instead, we analyze player actions to infer group contents using multiple detection methods.

The strongest evidence comes from the Tab key. When a player:

• Selects a control group (presses 1-9 or 0)
• Presses Tab to cycle through unit types

The replay records which unit type was highlighted. We correlate these within a 200ms window after the group selection to determine contents.

When a player assigns units to a control group:

• They select units/buildings
• Press Ctrl+# to assign the group

A SelectSubgroup action fires just before the assignment, revealing what was selected. We use a 300ms correlation window for this.

Some units can switch between forms during gameplay:

• Spirit Walker: Corporeal ↔ Ethereal
• Gargoyle: Flying ↔ Stone Form
• Druid of the Claw: Caster ↔ Bear Form
• Druid of the Talon: Caster ↔ Storm Crow

The analyzer recognizes both forms as the same unit type, so Spirit Walkers will be detected whether the player Tabs through them in Corporeal or Ethereal form.

To reduce false positives, detected units are validated against:

• Player's trained units: Only units the player actually created
• Player's heroes: Only heroes trained at altars or hired from tavern
• Player's buildings: Only buildings the player constructed
• Race matching: Human players won't show Orc units, etc.

• Groups that are never Tabbed through won't show unit contents
• Rapidly reassigned groups may show outdated contents
• Selection invalidation (clicking units) breaks the correlation chain
• Very fast actions (<100ms) may not be captured accurately

• Assigned: How many times Ctrl+# was pressed for this group
• Used: How many times the group was selected (pressed #)