[G]Stasis on Workers - Page 2

On July 22 2009 03:15 houseurmusic wrote:
be funny if someone used this strat on fastest

On July 22 2009 02:55 Chill wrote:

Many players have used stasis walls on ramps only to get them drilled out of the way. What you're saying here is that if they recalled a worked with a mineral, told it to return cargo, and then stasised it, it wouldn't be able to be drilled out of the way? That's a pretty big deal if it's true.

On July 22 2009 03:15 houseurmusic wrote:
be funny if someone used this strat on fastest

On July 22 2009 07:01 jjl wrote:


Presumably, if the opponent is drilling through the ramp, they've already used the "gather" or "return cargo" command to do so, right? So you can even dispense with the need for a probe... if they try to drill through, just stasis the drilling SCVs.

Of course, the difficulty is that you'd have to time it so that you stasis them before they hit the stop button to cancel the return-cargo order, but even if you miss, it would probably create enough of a mess to stop their units from coming through anyway.

On July 22 2009 02:28 l10f wrote:
....EDITED ....




2. Is it really worth it? When I tried using stasis on workers mining (about 20 of them on a 9-patch base) I found two interesting things.

First, if a worker is stasised while mining a patch, no other worker can mine from that patch until the stasis is over. This means that if you can stasis four workers working on four different patches at once, those four patches are un-mineable until the stasis is over.

Second, if a worker with a "gather" or "return cargo" command gets stasised, they can't be moved by using workers and "gather" command, like the terrans do when their entrance is blocked by stasised zealot or dragoon, and they want to get their units up the ramp.

By using these two facts to your advantage, I believe it is sometimes worth it to stasis the workers. If you can stasis multiple workers mining multiple different patches, it might be worth it to reduce their mine-able patches when playing on a low economy. Also, it might be worth it to bring a probe in your recall, tell it to mine a mineral and freeze it on the ramp, that way they can't be moved by using scvs, and you can demolish their main base :D

Another small thing I found while doing this experiment is that if you stasis a worker mining a patch, when they come out of the stasis, they will be done mining and will be holding a mineral chunk no matter how long they were mining the patch before the stasis was used. Not very useful, but interesting.

On July 22 2009 10:12 theobsessed1 wrote:
Heh I actually got bored and tried this on my newbie D- friend at the end when I had extra energy left. It really sucks imho =_=;

The scvs really have to be extremely clumped somehow as a normal formation can only be stasised up to like maybe 5-6 at most which isn't exactly worth the energy spent >_>; It's not like the huge ice cubes block off the other mining SCVs either, they go straight through them.

On July 22 2009 10:02 ultramagnetics wrote:

Since I am being quoted, I have the urge to respond.

First off, I did mention in my post that in some wierd-late game situations it could be useful. Nevertheless, I think I spoke too harshly against since it was being proposed as more of a strategy rather then a very situation-specific reaction.

Anyways here are my 2 cents:

First off, I feel it is besides the point to discuss whether stasising SCVs is beneficial, if protoss already has a large advantage. I am assuming this is a close-game situation.

Secondly, it has already been mentioned that stasised SCV's that are mining/returning-cargo form an impenetrable wall. So this is obviously useful if you need that (recall and stasis scvs on ramp that are running away).

Moving on, the conditions under which I believe stasising scvs is useful:

If the 3 conditions below are true then it is imo useful to stasis SCVs that are mining at Terran's base:

1.) Terran does not have a large enough army to stomp all over yours. In this case, I think it is much more important to ensure that you have stasis ready for his units in the event of a battle that would take away your map-control and lose you the game. A successful stasis of SCVs in this case could very well prompt terran to attack since he has an economic disadvantage and you have less stasis to cripple his army.

2.) Terran either has a 1-base economy OR it happens to be the majority of his SCVs (maybe they had just been moved to that base and are all clustered). Basically, it has to have a significant effect on terrans economy.

3.) For some reason you cannot storm/reaver drop the scvs. For example, turrets/goliaths are protecting them, so the only way to damage the economy is to cast a stasis from afar. Or maybe you just don't have any stormers/reavers handy.

In such a situation a well placed stasis would just slow down terran from building up his army to attack you and you would gain an advantage while your arbiter recharges energy for his delayed push.

Other situations:

Your arbiter luckily stumbles across a large group of SCVs being transferred and you can't really destroy them for some reason (maybe it's behind some defences). Also, this should be in a situation were that stasis won't be needed in a do-or-die battle with terran's army. Also, this should be a situation in which you know terran's economy will be altered significantly by the stasis.

Carriers? Stasis is most important imo in freezing terran's mech army in a ground battle. Maybe if you have a bunch of carriers with some extra arbiters. Terran might have 1-heavily gol/turret fortified base that is active and it is supplying him with extra goliaths. You can't really attack it, but you could stasis his SCVs from afar.

Anyways, I apologize for being overly critical of the strategy

On July 22 2009 10:12 theobsessed1 wrote:
Heh I actually got bored and tried this on my newbie D- friend at the end when I had extra energy left. It really sucks imho =_=;

The scvs really have to be extremely clumped somehow as a normal formation can only be stasised up to like maybe 5-6 at most which isn't exactly worth the energy spent >_>; It's not like the huge ice cubes block off the other mining SCVs either, they go straight through them.

On July 10 2009 14:16 SlayerS_`HackeR` wrote:
WTF are you saying? Freezing SCVs is an "absolutely horrible strategy."
Stasis lasts for a helluva long time, and it can jack potentially hundreds of minerals.
When you're looking for advice, watch out for people who don't know what they're talking about.
Freezing tanks/vessels < Freezing SCVs < Recall