EPT
I'm going to start with a game from yesterday:
ZvZ on Xel'Naga.
Me: Speedling expand with an overlord parked outside his base.
Him: roach block at his ramp.
My response: Jumped to the wrong conclusion (fast mutas) and wasted drones on spores at main and natural.
Should have noticed: Number of roaches too large for a muta rush.
His attack: He pushed out with speed roaches (fast lair) but I saw it coming in time to build roaches myself, and with the aid of the spines, held off his attack.
My next step: Sent a ling to check for an expansion. Chased the drone he sent out to make a hatchery until killed by roaches.
FATAL MISTAKE: Assumed he would play defensively, droned and added a spire. Took the watchtowers and thought I was ahead. Forgot to get extra gas for a while.
His next move: After placing his hatchery he sent all his roaches up the map again, and because I only had the watchtowers rather than being right outside his base, he caught me by surprise. I had macroed poorly so I had lots of minerals and some gas, but the lack of an extra geyser, plus the gas spent on my spire limited my reinforcements. They arrived too late, when my smaller roach force had already been overwhelmed. It was a close thing, but I lost my expansion and left the game shortly thereafter.
Specific Lessons Learned:
Spinecrawlers are good defensively when supported by roaches. They allowed me to devote more larvae to drones and minerals to an expansion prior to his first attack. Next time I see a 1-base roach opening I'm going to make those two spines again and drop a warren of my own, making sure that I can see his roaches the instant he moves out.
General Lessons learned:
Pay attention to unit counts before leaping to conclusions about tech.
Stop making assumptions about how people will play after a battle. Always scout to make sure.
ZvP on Temple
Spawned in close air positions.
Me: Speedling expand
Him: Standard gate+core at the ramp.
My response: Since there was no sign of an expansion on his part, I stayed off gas and built four spinecrawlers at my natural. Droned up somewhat, then made some lings to poke at the front of his base, where it turned out he was starting to expand. Managed to snipe three sentries, then pulled back.
Good play: Held watchtower and positioned overlords so he couldn't skirt around vision area.
Mistakes: Had an overlord in position to scout his base but never sent it across. Also never positioned overlords between our bases.
His attack: Dropped and warped zealots at the back of my main while pushing the front with stalkers, sentries and more zealots. Was able to clean both up with roaches and the spinecrawlers.
Good play: Pushed out with my roach force and maintained map presence. Remembered upgrades. Sent lings to scout hidden expansions. Poked the front to check his army size. Droned up safely and teched to spire. Placed spores in case of DTs. Got an overseer and destroyed his observer.
My next step: Placed a third, reinforced my roach/muta ball and pushed out into the centre of the map again. Encountered the stalker/sentry/colossus ball he was constructing at the watchtower while there was only one colossus, and was able to dismantle it completely for the win.
Specific lessons learned:
When expanding against a protoss who may or may not be 4-gating, pre-emptive spinecrawlers are pretty handy at my level of play. They save larvae compared to zerglings, ignore sentries, do well against either zealots or stalkers, and save gas (and thus gain minerals) compared to roaches, letting me delay the roach warren (which is the cost of a spinecrawler in itself). Plus they can come in handy later, repositioned to guard against DTs.
General lessons learned:
Terran aren't the only race where you have to watch the back of your base.
Maintaining map presence is incredibly valuable. I won this game primarily through being active - and occasionally aggressive - with my units rather than 'playing it safe' and keeping them balled up at the mouth of my natural.
I'm probably being too cautious getting a third base down. It's only 300 minerals, and I can saturate it really quickly when the opportunity arises. Even if he attacks, those 300 minerals will buy me some time.
ZvP on Searing Crater
Me: Speedling expand
Him: 3-gate expand
My response: Dropped a couple of spines at the natural and patrolled a few lings all round my side of the map watching for pylons. Kept a close eye on his army and saw he was investing in cannons, so felt ok droning and teching.
His attack: Made three phoenix, which were held off with quickly-placed spores, my queens, and a handful of mutalisks.
My follow-up: I took a third and upgraded air attack. Harassed his main and natural, poached some isolated stalkers, built up my mutalisk numbers and added roaches. Decided to play aggressively to keep his stalker count down. Sent lings around the map to look for hidden bases, and found one in the far corner. Dispatched more lings to that base, while pushing into and destroying his natural and the bulk of his army with my muta/roach ball. Continued to mass up and forced GG shortly thereafter.
Specific lessons learned:
I was pleased that I correctly gauged the cost to him of cannons + stargate opening, and droned safely. Playing aggressively after that point was the right thing to do as it prevented his army building up to dangerous sizes. Again, map presence and staying on top of him worked better than huddling in my base would have done.
General lessons learned:
I need to be more dilligent in denying hidden bases with lings. I was lucky he had built production facilities there and not a mass of cannons, which would have made it difficult to take out.
That's it for the first installment.
