Episode 4, in which I learn (again) to tech slower

KingOctavious

United States324 Posts

January 24 2011 22:27 GMT

Episode 4 is up, and it can be viewed (in two parts) here and here.

This one's kind of embarrassing because I make the exact same mistake I did in episode 2: I build my army too slowly while I tech too quickly and am thus unable to fight off his attacks. It's a PvP on Scrapyard, so I'm thinking, "Ooooh, this is a great map for air attacks." Unforunately, I didn't also think, "But I should probably build up at least a slightly substantial army in the meantime for whenever he attacks me." The result is, of course, a loss.

I made another mistake, too, that probably wouldn't have given me the win if I had done otherwise but that will definitely be crucial for future matches. After transferring about half my probes to my expo, the expo gets taken out. However, I didn't do a good job of continuing probe production -- especially after my expo got taken out. So, here I am with one base and about half the workers I originally had, and it takes me too long to realize that I don't have nearly as many workers as I used to have.

Since I've played this match, I did play another one where I did a good job of producing units while I tech, so I seem to be finally over that problem. I did, however, encounter another problem in that very same match. I'll be posting it soon.

Before that, though, I'm going to post a win for a change, on what I think was a pretty awesome (for Bronze) TvT match.

But more on all that later. For now,

Lessons learned:

1. Slow down fast tech builds to get at least a small army to fight off any attacks in the meantime.

2. No, seriously, slow down fast tech builds to get at least a small army to fight off any attacks in the meantime.

3. Be conscious of transferred workers when an expansion gets killed.

EDIT: Oh, PS - I think I'm about to break into Silver. Woohoo!

EmptyW

Sweden22 Posts

January 25 2011 05:14 GMT

a few pointers you should think about mate:

1. That forge early on was pretty useless, it delayed your tech and it cut your minerals early on making it hard for you to make zealots/stalkers from your gateways or an immortal from the robotics. If you don't scout any pylons or cannons, there's no need to make counter cannons, regular units can handle them well aswell. Especially that late.

2. You stopped chrono boosting probes early on, which leaves you with low minerals and tons of unspendable gas.

3. You barely used your observer at all, so the tech was completely useless for the whole game.

4. teching to air is great, it's a good counter to the usual stalker/colossi build in pvp. However. You had already set to make immortals/colossi by making the robotics, and making a few immortals would've easily killed both the stalkers and the cannons when he attacked. (And by easily, I mean it's probable you could've a-moved 4 zealots and 3 immortals up there and it'd kill everything he had.

5. The expansion was a smart move. He cut his mobility by making a ton of useless cannons which only could kill your units if you walked right into them, which you ended up doing.

6. 1.6k gas or so at the end? you could've cut probes from gas and made a ton of units but instead you dedicated yourself to killing his nexus, which was pointless to say the least as it won't hurt his current army any.

In short: Your problem is not about not making enough "low tech units" early on, it's about not utilizing your tech and also attacking when it's obvious you're not gonna deal any damage. Had you stayed at the expansion with your initial army and made a few immortals (with minerals you would've had chrono boosting probes) you could've easily gotten yourself a victory.

KingOctavious

United States324 Posts

January 25 2011 14:10 GMT

On January 25 2011 14:14 EmptyW wrote:
a few pointers you should think about mate:

1. That forge early on was pretty useless, it delayed your tech and it cut your minerals early on making it hard for you to make zealots/stalkers from your gateways or an immortal from the robotics. If you don't scout any pylons or cannons, there's no need to make counter cannons, regular units can handle them well aswell. Especially that late.

2. You stopped chrono boosting probes early on, which leaves you with low minerals and tons of unspendable gas.

3. You barely used your observer at all, so the tech was completely useless for the whole game.

4. teching to air is great, it's a good counter to the usual stalker/colossi build in pvp. However. You had already set to make immortals/colossi by making the robotics, and making a few immortals would've easily killed both the stalkers and the cannons when he attacked. (And by easily, I mean it's probable you could've a-moved 4 zealots and 3 immortals up there and it'd kill everything he had.

5. The expansion was a smart move. He cut his mobility by making a ton of useless cannons which only could kill your units if you walked right into them, which you ended up doing.

6. 1.6k gas or so at the end? you could've cut probes from gas and made a ton of units but instead you dedicated yourself to killing his nexus, which was pointless to say the least as it won't hurt his current army any.

In short: Your problem is not about not making enough "low tech units" early on, it's about not utilizing your tech and also attacking when it's obvious you're not gonna deal any damage. Had you stayed at the expansion with your initial army and made a few immortals (with minerals you would've had chrono boosting probes) you could've easily gotten yourself a victory.

Thanks for the pointers, EmptyW. Chrono-ing is one of those things that I need to work on on my mental checklist. After the first few minutes of the game, I tend to just forget about it.

As for the forge, I got that because I thought he was going to cannon rush, and I find that the best counter to a cannon rush is to place a single cannon where his probe can't build any closer.

Good points all around. I didn't utilize the tech I had, I used my army carelessly, and I had bad resource management. If I'm trying to tech to air, then it clearly doesn't make sense to try to pressure him in the meantime, considering I'm likely to lose what small army I do have.

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Episode 4, in which I learn (again) to tech slower

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