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How the fuck do I beat mass goliath

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XERX
Profile Joined April 2017
85 Posts
August 01 2017 23:17 GMT
#1
I've been playing Zerg they go mass factories after 1 rax fe. Whats the unit comp to counter this?

I've tried hydras, mutas. Shit doesn't work
vileChAnCe
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Canada525 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-07 19:13:59
August 01 2017 23:26 GMT
#2
Redacting my statement because i dont have info on the build or the experience. Seems like there are mass goliath strats... Gonna refrain from commenting on strat threads unless i actually watch a replay. Hope people gave you better advice than i and you've overcome the strat
Day[9] i've broken 6 mice, 5 keyboards, 3 pairs of headphones, and a mousepad, all from raging after starcraft losing streaks
L_Master
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States8017 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-01 23:35:11
August 01 2017 23:34 GMT
#3
On August 02 2017 08:17 XERX wrote:
I've been playing Zerg they go mass factories after 1 rax fe. Whats the unit comp to counter this?

I've tried hydras, mutas. Shit doesn't work


Generally you'd open muta. Lurkers really can't do anything effective against early tank/gol mech. With goliath range done don't really expect to go crazy with harass. From there you'd be looking to expand quickly to at least a third and quite possibly a 4th depending on what terran is doing; and then massing hydra.

If he goes pure goliath and you die, you're either just not where you need to be from a macro perspective so you either

1)Droned too hard
2)Didn't have sufficient bases (one or two is definitely not enough)
3)Too much bank

The idea then is that terran will usually add a few tanks and do some sort of two base attack with tank goliath. Muta's are used to try and snipe any tanks that are out of position, and then can be used to kill the tanks in general during the fight will soaking goliath damage, and then the hydra clean through the rest.

95% chance your difficulty stems from a macro/build origin. How soon are you getting a third? How many drones and hatcheries do you have at the time he is moving out? If you're not on 30-40 drones minimum and 5 or more hatches, then you're flat out just getting outproduced. If you're getting those numbers, or more, but just don't have an army, then it might be down to a case of unit times. Zerg has a large element of unit making timing (maybe this holds for SC2 as well?) in that you generally want to spam drones until the last possible moment you can, then start flooding units.
EffOrt and Soulkey Hwaiting!
Bakuryu
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Germany1065 Posts
August 01 2017 23:56 GMT
#4
provide a replay and we can help you.
jaeboss
Profile Blog Joined April 2017
69 Posts
August 02 2017 00:35 GMT
#5
On August 02 2017 08:34 L_Master wrote:
95% chance your difficulty stems from a macro/build origin.


probably this, but to directly respond to your question...the only unit compositions that I can think of that doesn't counter mass goliaths are mass lurkers and mass zlings. Everything else should work.

castleeMg
Profile Blog Joined January 2013
Canada786 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-02 03:20:47
August 02 2017 00:42 GMT
#6
post a replay or 2 in order to determine what went wrong during your game for a better answer to your question
AKA: castle[eMg]@USEast/ iCCup
Piste
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
6183 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-02 00:44:04
August 02 2017 00:42 GMT
#7
Pretty much anything besides lurkers beats goliath. hydra/ling, muta/ling. Even lings alone are good when the army size is still small. Seems like you're not just producing enough units.
FlaShFTW
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States10410 Posts
August 02 2017 00:51 GMT
#8
On August 02 2017 08:17 XERX wrote:
I've been playing Zerg they go mass factories after 1 rax fe. Whats the unit comp to counter this?

I've tried hydras, mutas. Shit doesn't work

honestly it just sounds like your macro just isnt there. even pure muta beats goliath with the splash that mutas have. pure hydra or hydra ling is super good, swarm with lings are great, plague then mass lings is great, etc.
Writer#1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Teamliquid Political Decision Desk
TL+ Member
Luddite
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
United States2315 Posts
August 02 2017 02:07 GMT
#9
On August 02 2017 08:26 vileChAnCe wrote:
this can't be serious? they have like the lowest cost efficient ground dmg. like anything on the ground should trade pound for pound on the ground.. you should be really stoked if they are massing goliaths


I'm guessing that the OP is playing on an extremely low level (and welcome! It's nice to finally have new players again in Brood war). Goliaths are strong for noobs because they can attack anything, build slowly enough that they're easy to macro, and are in small enough numbers that they're easy to micro.

Like L_master said the counter (like it almost always is for noobs) is to just get better at macro. Follow some sort of fast-expand build order, drone up, spend all your money. The army composition you use matters a lot less against Goliaths than just having enough units.
Can't believe I'm still here playing this same game
EsX_Raptor
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States2802 Posts
August 02 2017 04:44 GMT
#10
Do not forget to flank. You can have all of the Hydralisks in the universe and still lose all of them if you do not engage properly. Hydralisks die faster than they arc around the enemy army. Moreover, flanking helps spread tank splash.
FakeSteve[TPR]
Profile Blog Joined July 2003
Valhalla18444 Posts
August 02 2017 05:02 GMT
#11
This post is so cute it'd be triggering my maternal clock, if i had one
Moderatormy tatsu loops r fuckin nice
JungleTerrain
Profile Joined January 2012
Chile799 Posts
August 02 2017 06:17 GMT
#12
L_master said earlier but going muta is good so that you can harass the terran a bit and also keep them in their base while you tech/macro up. Then get hydras. In an engage your mutas will be stack on top of the goliaths and will take the damage while your hydras attack and shred.
www.broodwarmaps.net
ninazerg
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States7291 Posts
August 02 2017 08:38 GMT
#13
I know a really good game where Sziky plays against Sea, and Sea goes mass goliath. You should watch it, and you'll see just how easy it is to beat mass goliath.
"If two pregnant women get into a fist fight, it's like a mecha-battle between two unborn babies." - Fyodor Dostoevsky
ortseam
Profile Joined April 2015
996 Posts
August 02 2017 09:37 GMT
#14
I remember Flash destroying JD in an MSL final with pure goliath, but yeah once you get past this noob level any unit will crush goliaths
But seriously, post a replay
2Pacalypse-
Profile Joined October 2006
Croatia9538 Posts
August 02 2017 10:12 GMT
#15
On August 02 2017 17:38 ninazerg wrote:
I know a really good game where Sziky plays against Sea, and Sea goes mass goliath. You should watch it, and you'll see just how easy it is to beat mass goliath.

Yeah, mass goliaths suck. Here's the VOD of that game:

Moderator"We're a community of geniuses because we've found how to extract 95% of the feeling of doing something amazing without actually doing anything." - Chill
B-royal
Profile Joined May 2015
Belgium1330 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-02 11:22:07
August 02 2017 11:12 GMT
#16
Sigh, there are a lot of people giving really bad advice nowadays. 5 factory goliath is hard as fuck to stop or beat.
Effort also lost to it vs Light in one of the recent ASLs.

Provide a replay, and listen mainly to bakuryu

In short though, you have 2 reliable options:

1. mass mutalisks

Get your third base up as soon as possible, you shouldn't need to build the 3 usual sunkens, as is necessary vs bio most of the times.

Research +1 air carapace as soon as possible, saturate that third geyser, and harass "lightly". In my opinion, do not trade mutalisks for SCVs since you will need every single mutalisk.

2. Mutalisks and hydralisks.

You can harass slightly harder since you'll rely more on the hydras to stop his push. Go up to 5 hatches quickly, get +1 air carapace, hydra upgrades, and +1 ranged attack asap. Do not overdrone or you will get crushed. The mutas will be there to soak up damage from goliaths while the hydralisks deal damage. If he does NOT move out after seeing you make a lot of hydras, from experience I feel it is important to attack yourself. Do not wait to attack until terran has a few siegetanks or you will regret it.

In fact I still very much struggle versus this build because in the latter situation I will often destroy my economy too much preparing for that goliath push. But as I said, sometimes they delay their push even more and wait for a few tanks making all those hydras die really quickly, while your economy is in shambles preventing you from reinforcing as quickly as he can.


Some extra tips:

- Sunkens are great vs goliaths and can be used to buy time.
- Versus greedy mech play with a low factory count, you can even Muta Ling all-in him. If you get on top of his factories with lings and mutas, it will be very hard for the terran to recover.
new BW-player (~E rank fish) twitch.tv/crispydrone || What plays 500 games a season but can't get better? => http://imgur.com/a/pLzf9 <= ||
739
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Bearded Elder29904 Posts
August 02 2017 13:27 GMT
#17
Since when mass mutas beats mass goliaths :D

I even remember Boxer raping someone with mass goliaths against mass mutas in some old, old game.

Anyway, with a slight micro goliaths > mutas. That Sea vs Sziky game shows how it works. Imagine Sea adding 2-3 tanks to that composition and Sziky would get steamrolled even faster and easier.
WriterSalty oldboy that loves memes | One and only back-to-back Liquibet Winner
c3rberUs
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Japan11286 Posts
August 02 2017 13:45 GMT
#18
Going mass muta versus mass goliaths? That sounds like a great idea... for the terran player. Goliaths are pretty deadly en masse.

@739 BoxeR raped prime sAviOr with mass goliaths vs mass mutas on Monty Hall. Maybe that's the game?
WriterMovie, 진영화 : "StarCraft will never die".
739
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Bearded Elder29904 Posts
August 02 2017 14:40 GMT
#19
On August 02 2017 22:45 c3rberUs wrote:
Going mass muta versus mass goliaths? That sounds like a great idea... for the terran player. Goliaths are pretty deadly en masse.

@739 BoxeR raped prime sAviOr with mass goliaths vs mass mutas on Monty Hall. Maybe that's the game?

You're probably right.



That's the game
WriterSalty oldboy that loves memes | One and only back-to-back Liquibet Winner
Piste
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
6183 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-08-02 14:50:07
August 02 2017 14:49 GMT
#20
On August 02 2017 22:45 c3rberUs wrote:
Going mass muta versus mass goliaths? That sounds like a great idea... for the terran player. Goliaths are pretty deadly en masse.

@739 BoxeR raped prime sAviOr with mass goliaths vs mass mutas on Monty Hall. Maybe that's the game?

Mutas are actually really good vs goliaths.

Goliaths have good ground to air single target damage, but don't let that fool you. Or Savior dropping one game to Boxer. Or Sziky losing to Sea..

Mutas are extremely strong untill there's valkyries or vessels with the goliath army.
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