Is it worth it to go for rich minerals?

There are a few different things to think about here:

• The most significant advantage is that the similar mining rate is done with fewer harvesters. So the '42' for gold also needs an additional '10' for the 4 workers that aren't needed and can be sent to another normal base.

• Or, another way of looking at that is that you need fewer workers, and thus ramp up to that full harvest rate much more quickly.

• Even if they were only a 5% improvement, 5% in and of itself is not insignificant. Let's say you've mined enough for 20-25 roaches. 5% extra basically gets you a free upgrade on those roaches in comparison to your opponent.

• Once you're up to your looking to take a 4th or 5th base, basically all the available bases are going to be difficult to defend or vulnerable to harass so you might as well go for the gold.

Those are the points that come to mind for me. They are in fact quite valuable at any phase of the game. No, holding a gold base is not an insta-win, but it is definitely an advantage.

Basically, if you feel you can hold a gold expansion, you should consider taking it instead of a normal one.