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OpticalFlare in TvP

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
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nite2
Profile Joined June 2006
182 Posts
Last Edited: 2006-10-29 20:09:59
October 29 2006 06:10 GMT
#1
hey ppl. i like to experiment with strats, coz i play terran and their usual TvP is kinda boring for my taste. I mean, its practically turtle till max.
Thats why i try to break monotony by tryin all kinds of rushes (like gundam) so the game gets exciting at least for a bit with all the micro needed.
Anyways, some time ago (almost 2 yrs) i thought about containing toss with early mines, academy, scan, flare. Then, after reading some TL, i realized its not really an original idea, and that there's a known variation of joyo push(i think) that actually involves the mentioned technique. Now that i've played PGT in the time that has passed, i realized that normal teching to fact, then mines, then academy, then Flare upgrade, scan etc is kinda too widespread to be viable.

However, i thought about this thing for a while and i think it could be useful.
Here's the idea: U play normal TvP till u get ur academy(early mid game i guess) for scanning purposes. Then u upgrade optical flare and train a couple of medics from that lazy rax.
At this stage, u'll most likely have main and natural active so the 100/100 flare cost practically wont affect ur unit count.
Now, the flare obviously wont be used for containing toss, coz he's already expanded, has observers all over the map...
I think it can be utilized nicely and give u advantage when ur forced to unsiege ur forces and go kill some exp ur opponent did. We all know its important to make it hard for toss to move around the map as they will. Thats why i usually plant mass mine fields at certain areas so it slows the toss down. Basically, u do the usual thing, but in every mine field u keep one medic, so when u see the toss killin mines to he can move his troops to save his exp just scan the area and blind the obs. In worst case, u will slow him down till a new obs comes, but if ur lucky, some goons will get pwned.
My idea is this; protoss has a powerful army, but 125 mine-dmg hittin massed goons is their nightmare. Now, i dont think toss has more than 1 obs with his troops unless goin carriers. U blind the obs, and the powerful army is stopped, at least for a while.
This is basically for cutting the toss circulation, which we know is an important thing.

This strat:
- is not resource intensive
- is not too micro intensive
- can come in handy when toss army is split

Here's a rep of me doing this, in a not-so-useful situation tho, but u'll perhaps get my idea.
Im not a very skilled player and neither is my opponent aparently, but, iono, have a look(watch at around 12min 45sec).

http://www.sendspace.com/file/1znae3

EDIT:
new rep, vs some random LT guy (noob obviously). Altho he is a newb, this situation can happen to more skilled ppl than him. He wanted to exp, i sent some vults to kill probe. He sent part of his army to kill my vults, i planted mine field and attacked his nat with all i got. He tried to pull his army back to defend, started killin mines, i blinded and he lost all his army.
have a look:
rep: http://www.sendspace.com/file/rfh339

EDIT2:
This time it went to late game, we were approaching Max and i used Blind and lured some goons on mines. 5-6 goons died, and some zealots. Enough for him not to be able to defend against my all-out.
rep: http://www.sendspace.com/file/63e7wg

EDIT3:
I lost this one vs some Korean guy. He outmacroed me, and i had 3K min when the game ended. But at one point, i cut out half of his army with mines and blind. This actually works like Stasis field, one part of the army is locked out of battle.
rep: http://www.sendspace.com/file/9voj8x
there are real people in the big, big trucks that you flip off when they get in your way
Jawa~
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
United States291 Posts
October 29 2006 06:15 GMT
#2
More trouble than it's worth IMO. One of those things that is nice in theory but when applied to real games just won't work that well and doesn't accomplish a whole lot.
lazymej
Profile Joined February 2006
Canada269 Posts
October 29 2006 06:16 GMT
#3
...Or the protoss could just take out all the mines with a zealot or two.
^_~
nite2
Profile Joined June 2006
182 Posts
Last Edited: 2006-10-29 06:21:46
October 29 2006 06:19 GMT
#4
On October 29 2006 15:15 Jawa~ wrote:
More trouble than it's worth IMO. One of those things that is nice in theory but when applied to real games just won't work that well and doesn't accomplish a whole lot.

i read a lot of theorycrafting around here, but i dont think this is hard to do.
Basically u plant a normal mine field. When u get the "ur forces are under atack" u press 0 for Comsat, scan and flare the obs. ur shit is done then, u can go macro ur factories and stuff.

On October 29 2006 15:16 lazymej wrote:
...Or the protoss could just take out all the mines with a zealot or two.

and when the zealots die? he cant know how many mines are there, he wont just keep suiciding his units...
there are real people in the big, big trucks that you flip off when they get in your way
Vin{MBL}
Profile Blog Joined September 2006
5185 Posts
October 29 2006 06:21 GMT
#5
its more trouble to have to make medic do upgrades blah blah blah blah
DarK]N[exuS
Profile Joined April 2006
China1441 Posts
October 29 2006 06:23 GMT
#6
This would be a fun strat. And if the toss didn't notice his obs was blind, like if he was busy with something else and just scanned the area and didn't see any mines, it could net some kills. But it's really micro intensive (more than it sounds) and most people wouldn't ever do it.

I think it could work, but not in a really high level game or anything.
Where joy exists despair will always beckon.
LeoTheLion
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
China958 Posts
October 29 2006 06:31 GMT
#7
Boxer did it a couple of times.

But he was having a blast and messing around with his opponent.
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy. -Chairman Mao
Cambium
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
United States16368 Posts
October 29 2006 06:43 GMT
#8
I think this requires a tremendous amount of control relative to its gains. However, it definitely has potential. If you can do this without hindering your micro/macro, it's definitely worth it.
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
skyglow1
Profile Blog Joined April 2005
New Zealand3962 Posts
October 29 2006 06:47 GMT
#9
I'd rather spend my scans on other things.
SchOOl_VicTIm
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
Greece2394 Posts
October 29 2006 06:53 GMT
#10
yeah, you already have tons of shit to control and move around, you should be more focused on spreading tanks, sieging unsieging, moving vults, planting mines, macroing and stuff. in a skilled game where action take place all the time after mid game it is really hard to implement, plus think that chasing down observers with goliaths is easier + goliaths are fighting units and useful vs shuttles.
SolaR-
Profile Blog Joined February 2004
United States2685 Posts
October 29 2006 07:07 GMT
#11
ask artosis about this hes master of optic flare in tvp
Silver
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
New Zealand379 Posts
Last Edited: 2006-10-29 08:01:25
October 29 2006 07:36 GMT
#12
This strat does exactly what it set out to do: make TvP more interesting good job

everyone says OMFG TOO HARDDDDD i suck at teh micro. but with a little practice, these things become fine... its like the terran science cloud in TvZ... thats alot of micro, all that irradiating, but no one complains cause they are used to it. once you have the habit this strat could be a very useful
Detonate
Profile Blog Joined September 2006
Iceland578 Posts
October 29 2006 07:37 GMT
#13
well i think the problem youll find that your TvP are boring is just because of playing ppl at your level. playing protosses that are better then you and youll see why some terrans dread playing TvP
inept @ west always up for TMM and 1vs1. TLT3 goGOgOG
Alborz
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
Canada1551 Posts
October 29 2006 08:03 GMT
#14
I dont find TvP boring
lazymej
Profile Joined February 2006
Canada269 Posts
October 29 2006 08:08 GMT
#15
Well if he's doing a full on attack, any decent P is going to run his zealots and therefore your mines into your tanks. So really, it doesn't seem viable IMO.
^_~
skyglow1
Profile Blog Joined April 2005
New Zealand3962 Posts
October 29 2006 08:10 GMT
#16
How much does it cost again? 100 or 75 energy for optic flare?
[jOyO]
Profile Joined July 2006
United States920 Posts
October 29 2006 08:24 GMT
#17
what would this do? this would only work if the toss a\had an isolated expo that you are going to kill and then u stop his army for a bit and kill it. wouldn't u be losing at this point anyway? i would rather set up gosu flanks.
You must notta heard me PARTNA!
lawl mart
Profile Joined April 2006
United States1289 Posts
October 29 2006 08:57 GMT
#18
you know, you can just bring a goliath or two, and that also prevents shuttles from being effective
14cc... whats next? women voting?
jkillashark
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
United States5262 Posts
October 29 2006 10:06 GMT
#19
I'm digging this idea actually.
Do your best, God will do the rest.
siro)
Profile Joined January 2006
Australia848 Posts
October 29 2006 10:34 GMT
#20
A few Goliaths is just better, alot of high level terrans scan+snipe obs these days.

It'd only be useful if the observer retained it's vision but just had no detection, and I don't think it does
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