EPT
Before I type anything else, I want to say that this is likely NOT feasible at any level above gold and even in gold, there are some games that you can do it and others that you can't so it's a hit and miss. It really depends on your opponent, how well you/they can macro/micro and how much they harass you during the game to allow you to take some risks. Since that's out of the way, let's get started and have some fun :D
I wanted to use carriers and have some fun while I'm at it so I thought I'll try to one base them and then transition into an expansion. The idea was to go chargelots with carrier support similar to slings with Brood Lord support. The chargelots will be my mineral dump and my defense and I'll stock gas for my carriers from the start. I only used gas for structures/charge upgrade and the rest are remaining for the carriers. Note that this is for fun, so, if you plan to try it and you lose some games, your fault!!!! XD
BO so far:
9 Pylon
12 Gateway or Gas(I prefer gas just to start stockpiling)
13 Gas or Gateway
16-17 Pylon
18 or so Cybernetics Core(make as soon as gateway is finished, research WG as soon as it finishes and cb it)
From here on, I don't have any specific numbers but I follow these steps:
- Keep making probes, add another gateway and pylon while the CC is being warped in.
- After the CC is finished warping, get up a stargate and/or twilight council(council might be best first for charge but I played risky and went stargate in my games).
- Add another gateway as the twilight council/stargate is warping in
- Get a fleet beacon up as soon as the stargate is finished.
- Grab an expansion once the first carrier is out because you'll need the gas and minerals for more gateways, etc...
So to sum that up, you add a gateway after cc and after stargate/twilight council so you'll end up with 3 of them by the end. You'll chronoboost the charge upgrade and keep pumping zealots so that once charge is done, you are good for defense. You'll need to get surrounds for best results with zealots so something to work on.
Weaknesses:
- If your opponent goes mass marauders or roaches and charge isn't done yet, good luck surviving because most will just keep on kitting. Possible fix? Maybe add a sentry or two or some stalkers but make sure to have enough gas for the first carrier as soon as beacon is finished.
- Vikings, VRs and Corruptors are strong counters to carriers and vikings are used a lot in PvsT/TvsP. Infact, I've had opponents blindly make vikings so it'll definitely cause issues but even if you lose the carriers to the vikings or whatever, you can still transition into a gateway army. You essentially forced your opponent into laying down more starports or to waste larvae on making 10+ corruptors so their ground army is much weaker.
- Marines and hydras can also cause issues but as they try to shoot the interceptors or the carriers, they'll be torn apart by the chargelots or zealots depending on when your opponent attacks. Be sure to abuse the carrier range as much as possible.
- Sentry and ffs are a big block to this. If your opponent is good with ffs, you'll have to be pretty careful with how to engage and where(larger area better for surround).
Must:
- You have to keep pumping zealots as much as possible and try to get surrounds early on. Might need to use some workers for meat shields.
- Need to chronoboost warpgate research, charge upgrade and carriers otherwise it's 2 minutes for each carrier which make a big difference. Remember to get graviton catapult for the carriers.
- You need to micro the carriers to use their range and because a decent portion of your opponents will try to focus them so the chargelots will get free hits and a surround as their units dance in place to try to get to the carriers lol.
Bonus:
- You can probably add in a mothership so that you can vortex any vikings/corruptors then you can do some eco damage and even if you lose your carriers, transition to a gateway army while your opponent has a decent supply of vikings/corruptors.
Replay:
![[image loading]](http://www.gamereplays.org/community/uploads/repimgs/repimg-33-248041.jpg)
I've only had the chance to try this three times, 2 PvsPs and 1 PvsT but I intend to keep trying for some more games to see the results. After all, this is supposed to be a fun build. I won a PvsP, lost the other two games but my Terran opponent proxied 3 rax and just ran in with marines and 2 SCVs(my fault for not making more than zealots at that point -_-). I almost held the other PvsP push but I used my 2 carriers too late and my zealots all decided to try and engage at a tiny ramp on the map similar to Typhon Peaks(can't remember name atm) so I lost a decent portion causing barely any damage. Can't wait to give it a go in PvsZ lol but I'm expecting roaches to be a big issue. Keep in mind, this is a FUN build and would be impossible to do at any pro level or higher levels due to various factors listed above. Thanks for reading and all comments are welcome!
