Changelog Version 1.2 Clay Fields -Buildable tile added at bottom nats allowing easy gateway placement for PvZ. -Unbuildable tile added at top nats to prevent offensive bunker placement next to gas. -Unwalkable tiles at nat entrances allowing additional walling options.
Bottom Left Nat (gateway can be tucked into this corner now):
Bottom Right Nat (gateway can be tucked into this corner now):
Top Left Nat Buildable (bunker can no longer be built directly next to the gas):
Top Right Nat Buildable (bunker can no longer be built directly next to the gas):
Top Left Nat Walkable (fully unwalkable cliff tiles around the depot and bunker now) (note the depot is ling tight):
Top Right Nat Walkable (fully unwalkable cliff tiles around the depot and bunker now) (note the depot is ling tight):
Reasons for the changes: Being able to place a 2nd gateway in the natural is very useful in PvZ. One advantage is it greatly increases high templar safety from mutalisks, particularly when you need to spawn an archon with the initial 2 high templar. It is significant enough to be game deciding infact. You could make a gateway in the nats before on Clay Fields, but now you can tuck it away in the corner which is much more intuitive for the player.
Offensive bunkers in ZvT are always difficult to deal with. Before on Clay Fields the spot next to the gas was a little too powerful, so this has been toned down. You can still place a bunker there but it sticks out a bit so lings can engage it much more effectively.
Walling is simpler now. With the changes, new unconventional walling options are viable.
What do you guys think about the depot wall being ling tight in the picture?
Lets watch Flash vs Best on Circuit Breaker 15th May 2019:
16.13 first big battle 17.55 important centre fight 18.51 Flash attacks 12 o clock 21.37 Flash attacks 9 o clock 24.18 Flash attacks 12 o clock 25.41 Best tries to get units around the corner and through 12 o clock 27.54 Flash attacks 12 o clock
See how Flash is able to kill the nexus at 12 o clock by putting his tanks on the high ground overlooking the base at 18.51 (and kill it 2 more times later on in the same way). Its a very hard spot for Best to clear out, and its also very hard for Best to simply buy time. Similarly, there is a powerful siege tank spot overlooking the 3/9 o clock bases, which Flash uses at 21.37.
When Flash is attacking the 12 o clock, his army is quite protected by the shape of the terrain. He is able to leave behind a few tanks and return to the midfield quickly because the attack threat from Best is low. This enables Flash to attack the 9 o clock faster.
Now lets compare to Clay Fields. Imagine the game was being played on Clay Fields instead. Flash moves his tanks to attack the 1 o clock base. Best might be able to use his highground advantage to delay and pick off the closest tanks. Also Flash would have to get vision of the high ground base. But most importantly, Best would be able to properly engage the terran army by moving over the hill and down into the tanks. Or if Best wanted to attack using the top path, he can do that too. And he would be able to gather his army in the large space at 12 o clock before the engagement if he wanted.
Once the fight is over (or if Protoss decides not to engage after all), the Protoss army is able to leave the area and get back to the middle of the map in a more timely manner. Even if Best would have chosen not to engage, the threat that he might is more serious, so Flash would have to keep more units there for longer to guarantee his attack is successful. This is unlike in the Circuit Breaker game above where Flash is able to quickly retreat the bulk of that army back to the midfield because he knows that Best cant do anything to stop the attack. This snowballs and accelerates Flash's next attack towards the 9 o clock.
On Clay Fields it is harder to snipe townhalls with siege tanks than on Circuit Breaker. All of the tanks in the 2 pictures below are OUT of range of the nexus:
Centre Left Tanking Nexus:
Centre Right Tanking Nexus:
The red tanks are out of range. So as you can see Terran must commit tanks properly up onto the ramp in order to target the nexus. This makes it much easier for the Protoss player to pick them off. It also means the damage being dealt by the tanks is slower as less tanks can target the nexus at the same time. By slowing the pace here a little, we prevent Terran from steamrolling bases leading to a more satisfying back and forth match where tension is maintained.
These situations are seen time and time again on Circuit Breaker with terran players parking siege tanks in these spots and easily taking out Protoss expansions. The Flash vs Best game is a great game, both players play excellently. The only question is could it have been even better!
In a recent tournament that used this map a player was unsure if you could build 2 gates in the centre of the map. Well I just wanted to demonstrate that you can:
As you can see, the gateways can be placed vertically or side by side. Infact you can even put 3 gates vertically if you want, or indeed 3 gates in the pattern shown. Also, the 4 grass patches in the middle of the map (on the low ground) are buildable. They are large enough to place 2 gates on, or perhaps a robo if you wanted to follow up the pressure with a proximity walking reaver.
@1030xxx: Surely the centre is more strategic than circuit breaker or ground zero, what with 5 big hills to fight around, alternating larger open spaces with medium size chokes, and some buildable ground oases. Plus the central hill has 6 high yield mineral patches on it to fight over in the late game.
On June 25 2019 21:37 Jukado wrote: @1030xxx: Surely the centre is more strategic than circuit breaker or ground zero, what with 5 big hills to fight around, alternating larger open spaces with medium size chokes, and some buildable ground oases. Plus the central hill has 6 high yield mineral patches on it to fight over in the late game.
You can try to add more mineral patches at the central hill (6 on each side) or even 2 gas.
Protoss vs Zerg The following pictures are designed to give ideas about what kind of options are available. Exact cannon placement etc might be different ingame. (The turrets are where pylons might go).
When Protoss is in the Top Right spawn, it is particularly a good idea to have a pylon next to the robo like in the picture above so that reavers dont pop out behind the mineral line.
Theres a ton of VODS and replays of games on Clay Fields in this thread: Card Cup #2
The majority of the games were played on Clay Fields, (Game1,2,4, and 5 in every series) so just click on any video and you will find some games. Its all labelled up there in the thread.
There is a Protoss vs Protoss game between Models and Favorit from Let's Go 4:
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