Overview of the build Default build is great vs 2-1-1 and the other standard aggressive Terran pressures Optimised to defend with JUST mineral units - queens and lings whilst getting tech/upgrades off JUST 1-gas. Allows fast 4th/5th bases for larva Ovie speed every game so very solid and safe as well
Threat of all-in option makes it hard for Terran to focus on his pressure. Ling-bane drops allow the potential to do damage/make uncomfortable Potential to damage a greedier opening Lots of queen-drop, ling-bane drop/all-in options to kill a greedy player
HUGE focus on creep-spread whilst pressures/drops/counters keep the Terran back.
Unlimited counter-attack and pressure angles
Embraces the APM and focus war of ZvT Rather than focusing inwardly - True focuses on making it very hard for the Terran to control the flow of the game and meet his goals Counters, threatening and drops to PULL the attention of the Terran away from stopping creep and maneuvering drops. Stop Terran’s perfect aggression and drops by FORCING their APM elsewhere Can force even an incredibly player like Polt to look a little flimsy. Indeed most of True’s opponents looked weak against his decisive play. But especially in ZvT he took a matchup where all zergs are just focusing on the perfect defensive game and made his own style of aggressive play work
Would this work vs a stronger player? This is the big question. If a player of Maru or TY’s level were to face this, how would he fare? Would he simply block all of the distractions, start to hunt down counters and have the multi-tasking to keep meeting his goals in the midst of the chaos? (good macro, deny creep, micro pressure/attacks well) Or is True’s style capable of working even vs a better opponent? Do you need to be as good as the Terran mechanically? Impossible to judge - but fascinating to think upon - and I certainly hope we get to see him matched with a very strong Korean Terran at Blizzcon!
Safe vs all-ins - Gettysburg vs hellbat + liberator push (heromarine Can even punish a 2-1-1 - gettysburg vs POLT Can punish in really wonky ways - queen drop counter-attack SEJONG vs Polt
HUGE focus on creep-spread whilst pressures/drops/counters keep the Terran back.
Embraces the APM and focus war of ZvT Rather than focusing inwardly - True focuses on making it very hard for the Terran to control the flow of the game and meet his goals Counters, threatening and drops to PULL the attention of the Terran away from stopping creep and maneuvering drops. Stop Terran’s perfect aggression and drops by FORCING their APM elsewhere Can force even an incredibly player like Polt to look a little flimsy. Indeed most of True’s opponents looked weak against his decisive play. But especially in ZvT he took a matchup where all zergs are just focusing on the perfect defensive game and made his own style of aggressive play work
Would this work vs a stronger player? This is the big question. If a player of Maru or TY’s level were to face this, how would he fare? Would he simply block all of the distractions, start to hunt down counters and have the multi-tasking to keep meeting his goals in the midst of the chaos? (good macro, deny creep, micro pressure/attacks well) Or is True’s style capable of working even vs a better opponent? Do you need to be as good as the Terran mechanically? Impossible to judge - but fascinating to think upon - and I certainly hope we get to see him matched with a very strong Korean Terran at Blizzcon!
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the effort you put into these dailies. I find them super informative, helpful, and entertaining! The "Fundamentals of Starcraft" video alone has greatly enhanced my play and made the game so much easier!
Cancel ling speed into ovie speed 6 queen Mass lingbane - drops + flank crushes blink sentry timing Counter drops wreck econ at same time
Frozen Temple vs Welmu Hatch block success
14 Hatch first into 15 hatch block vs gate-gas-nexus Gas + pool behind it 14 lings to stop the 2-gate pressure 3rd hatch, 2nd gas and roach warren Big roach/ravager ling all-in Vs DTS though Luckily adepts throw themselves away Manages to snipe 3rd nexus with counterattack and keep 3rd alive Good handling by True, poor handling by Welmu to not have DTs there etc
14 hatch! Denying the chance to block the hatchery + gets you the money for the hatch block just before the nexus goes down
Key points: Decent sized ling pressure to kill pylons/deny or delay 3rd Big roach-ravager-ling or lingbane timings to kill 3rd base HARD SPOT? Always opts for the counterattack and not even enough defence (WEMLMU FROST) Cancels on ling speed - metagaming - assuming the protoss players will respect the threat and not go for an attack until the later 4:40+ timing.
Hatch Block from P perspective Forces Protoss to change their build - P builds are super tightly refined to be safe vs everything. If you throw them off they might miss-calculate trying to get back on track and expose themselves (losing 3rd base) The 8 adept timing hits late - so welmu doesn’t spot the lack of drones on the 3rd, instead he only sees the army already halfway across the map and accidentally shades into it. Makes it hard for Protoss to scout what they’re up against (Welmu not seeing roach-ling counter and losing his 3rd) Hard to recognise where True should be at a certain point and has to play more fluidly
On August 19 2016 05:49 AlphaPancake wrote: I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the effort you put into these dailies. I find them super informative, helpful, and entertaining! The "Fundamentals of Starcraft" video alone has greatly enhanced my play and made the game so much easier!
Thanks mate! I'm still enjoying it so it should be going for a long time!
Hey Pig, a friend of mine (Diamond) want to improve his mechanics (especally macro, day9 Golden Circle). What tool do you suggest to improve mechanics? 2. What do you suggest to learn how to keep a calm head in case of cheeses/aggression
The most important thing to progress - is to identify the earliest mistakes in games - these have the biggest impact as they slow down your buildup. Messing up harass and missing out on a few worker kills is HUGE if your opponent only has 20 workers. But later when there’s 60-70 workers, a few scvs is a drop in the ocean.
Always look for those points where things go wrong early on. That’s why we always tend to ignore the big engages start off examining our own macro instead and look at later on fights last.
Macro
Why Macro is important Have more stuff faster than your opponent Spending money Constant worker production (Terran or Protoss) Up to 3-bases The 4xspeed production check Zerg - units tab - watch for larva build-ups. Whenever the larva sits up there for a bit, that’s mis-macro Terran - Watch the production tab keeping in mind how many units should be built AT THAT point of the game Protoss check chronoboost Something even pros are sloppy with remembering to move around in LoTV. 15% might not be massive, but worth keeping an eye on. As a beginner - like Terran check you’re constantly producing out of your facilities As you progress to plat and above you start to play very much based on the situation in game as Protoss and do more “POWERING” Powering is where you skip unit production temporarily to get more tech, upgrades and production structures to EXPLODE into more stuff later on. Don’t do this at low level because you won’t have the game knowledge to know when it’s safe to skip unit production like this!
Benchmarking and checking your gameplan
Choose the most important parts of your game to check on The game can go lots of different ways but a decent one is to just say 66 drones/3-base saturation at 6:30 in a passive game. Maybe 7:00 for Protoss and 60 scvs/7:00 for Terran.
ENGAGES When you finally get to wanting to examine these more and more Look for where the fights went wrong early on Bad positioning Chance to leverage advantage earlier on
Major Sejong - Lots of attack and air angles to come in from - great banshee map
Gas-fir12st 17 2nd gas Factory → Reaper ASAP Factory 2nd gas 2:30 - 25 natural CC Tech lab on fact Starport Medivac + tank Swap into banshees Factory adds another tech lab then more tanks 5:00/56 supply - 3rd CC on location While pressuring with marine tankivac 5:30/65 supply - 3rd + 4th gases 2nd + 3rd barracks 2xebays More barracks steadily up to 8
Barracks Reaper Marine Reactor
Factory Tech lab Tank Swaps off Tech lab
Starport Medivac Swap onto tech lab Banshee + cloak 2nd banshee 4 total banshees (stop if raven or not getting damage) Swap onto reactor and begin medivac production
Heromarine
RFE 1 marine into reactor
Frost and Frozen Temple - nice cliffs to use
Frozen - banshee bait to cyclone
Both
4 viking + raven(optional) + 2 tankydank pressure Chance for massive damage Makes them super uncomfortable Free non-committal damage and scouting
On August 22 2016 07:05 Granas1988 wrote: Hey Pig, a friend of mine (Diamond) want to improve his mechanics (especally macro, day9 Golden Circle). What tool do you suggest to improve mechanics? 2. What do you suggest to learn how to keep a calm head in case of cheeses/aggression
1. - Just understanding all the proper techniques and making sure you use them properly as per: - I never used any specific practice tool for mechanics other than practicing builds in empty custom games and working on macro, or hopping into unit tester in Arcade to practice micro and unit interactions
2. - Generally just focus on analysing and understanding your response and writing down a list of the exact order of how to respond next time. Over time this develops into rules you can apply even to somewhat unfamiliar cheeses and hopefully you keep a cool head during them. It's a given that sometimes you will derp and freak out a bit vs cheese or strange aggression - but with experience and calm problem solving you get better at it!
(Master league officilly but no Master mmr atm^^) Ok for me, ZvT i usally go for Trues mass queen fast upgrade style, in the specific replay I fighted off creep, I am pretty used to hold the first push from the 2-1-1 but then the Drop finds his damage with his follow upmedivacs or the Drops unloads somewhere i dont see, in this specific Game i build like 10 more Drones then i should agaisnt the second push, but beeing scared of the 2-1-1 when i held the first wave is a maijor problem for me, even if i dont take to much damage the thread really makes me uncomfterbil in ZvT: http://ggtracker.com/matches/6777342
I'm in Dubai at the moment casting WESG so will be posting the 3 parts of this ICYFAR (epic FFA and high level mech TvP) as well as a mini daily tutorial on a TvP Cheese for Daily #50
On August 24 2016 20:24 DERASTAT wrote: (Master league officilly but no Master mmr atm^^) Ok for me, ZvT i usally go for Trues mass queen fast upgrade style, in the specific replay I fighted off creep, I am pretty used to hold the first push from the 2-1-1 but then the Drop finds his damage with his follow upmedivacs or the Drops unloads somewhere i dont see, in this specific Game i build like 10 more Drones then i should agaisnt the second push, but beeing scared of the 2-1-1 when i held the first wave is a maijor problem for me, even if i dont take to much damage the thread really makes me uncomfterbil in ZvT: http://ggtracker.com/matches/6777342
I don't have time to watch your replay, however it sounds like you just didn't have your units in the right position and your overlords spread around your bases properly if you're taking damage from following drops. Good creep spread, good ovie coverage and scouting with your lings to find the first attack will always allow you to prepare.
To be super safe you can stop at just 40 drones (no drones on 3rd base), make 40 lings and go and find the drop immediately and don't even let it unload. The moment you hit 40 lings you start droning hard behind it even if the fighting hasn't started yet. This allows you to dictate the pace of the game and take the tempo away from the Terran. Slightly less efficient but much easier to execute and not make mistakes. Even pros will do this sometimes so it's very valid.
Oops forgot to post the last few parts and my mini-ep here on TL, here goes a whole lot at once:
On August 31 2016 11:02 AssyrianKing wrote: Hey guys, I was just wondering, where does the Australian/SEA scene actively talk/chat. sc2sea is pretty dead
sc2sea, SC2Online and generally just within clans and as a part of the greater scene. Most people prefer to socialise with the broader scene rather than just locally these days. Certain Twitch-chats will be more popular with aussies - Deth for instance is a good one.
On August 31 2016 11:02 AssyrianKing wrote: Hey guys, I was just wondering, where does the Australian/SEA scene actively talk/chat. sc2sea is pretty dead
sc2sea, SC2Online and generally just within clans and as a part of the greater scene. Most people prefer to socialise with the broader scene rather than just locally these days. Certain Twitch-chats will be more popular with aussies - Deth for instance is a good one.
2 main paths of thought - we’ll look at which situations each one is best
The standard approach:
Always drop mules on the closer patches so they mine faster The closer patches have more minerals - so this way you don’t deplete your low patches and reduce the number of minerals your scvs can mine from Always drop mules on NEWEST bases also so you don’t concentrate on just some close patches This approach is basic, easy to follow and doesn’t involve many decisions. -- However at Valencia Demuslim was telling me his thoughts on an alternate approach, so big thanks to him for bringing this one to my attention:
Alternate approach: Only drop mules on the close patches in the main base Goal is to make the close/high patches run out at the same time as the far/low patches Then you can pick up your base and move it on to your 4th super early and maintain that steady rate of mining Avoid the big dips in mining that Terran normally run into as their bases run out and they struggle to afford a 4th However it costs a gap in your income to move it over there, and you lose your gases
How to do it: 2 mules on each patch + double up on them early on so 1500 -450 (2xmules) = 1050 vs the 900 far patches. Because your SCVs mine faster and double up on them earlier though it ends up being almost identical when the patches run out
Cost analysis, is it worth it? Every map is different. On average it takes about a minute to reposition that CC to the 4th base. You lose a full base of mining (mules don’t count they can drop elsewhere) as well as delay a mule or two from that orbital = One minute of mining = roughly 650 minerals and 220 gas You also have to rebuild the geysers = 150 minerals. So it’s a hiccup of 800 minerals and 220gas in order to keep your rate of mining solid at 3-full mineral lines. Definitely worth it for Terran players that like to go very high on scvs, 65-70 etc. Not as important for a Terran on just 50-60 scvs as they will have plenty of patches across 3-bases + gas even with the main half mined out Sometimes worth moving the main to the 3rd like this if an attack doesn’t outright win the game can be fantastic. Planning for this by dropping mules in this pattern with a 2-base all-in is a great way to play it. Think Taeja vs Zest
Apotheosis - Normal mineral pattern
Mule does 25 minerals per trip
Mule on close patch: 9 trips - runs out just before returning 10th trip. Total = 225 minerals. Sometimes runs out just before mines 10th trip. Mule on far patch: - 9 trips - runs out before MINING the 10th trip. Total = 225 minerals.
1895 - 2795
Dasan - reasonably normal mineral pattern for close patches - super far away far patches
Close Patch - runs out just before returning 10th trip. Far Patch - still 225 minerals, runs out just after returning 9th trip
Occasionally the mule on far patches would barely not make the last return trip. But usually it would mine the same amount as the close patches over its duration.
Frozen Temple
Super standard - 1 far patch only hit 8 trips! Bot spawn 2nd from the top/right and the equivalent on the top spawn
1238 - 1463
Galactic - weird main and natural - no reason to do this it just confuses people and makes it hard for them to be consistent
Main bases “FAR CLOSE PATCH - barely makes the return in time but does make it Regular far patches - 1 doesn’t make the return trip 1745 - 2195
Pulling mules off
Gold minerals?? Doesn’t mine any faster than blue so generally you should just let your scvs mine them out
BUILD ORDER Pylon scout Lowground Gate-gas-nexus-core standard opening Vs hatch first 19 nexus 20 core 21 2nd gas 22 pylon Probe blocks 3rd base (tried to go for it before queens) @core - Adept + WG immediately Cyber core block to delay 3rd even more - combined with adept to force 3rd to be delayed a long time Limiting the larva and disrupting zerg build
2:45 (30 supply) - Robo 2:55 - stalker (deny scouting of robo) Steadily adding more gates (total 6) 35 probes - stop probing 2-gases, full main + 13 probes on natural 4 sentries then mass adept zealot warpins You can mix in stalkers as you have the gas - good for adding dps vs roaches
Notes: 5:30 hit the enemy natural, 80 supply. Force fights immediately Get in between rallies Don’t fear creep FF ramp if possible Snipe RW if exposed
Lots of players missing the strong 2-base all-ins from hots and WoL Lots of BSGP players especially keen for 2-base builds as they struggle to hold 3rds Zerg players at lower levels being super greedy
Very different to the older styles of all-ins where you just sit back, efficiently build up and then hit one attack. To execute this super cleanly actually takes quite a bit of practice and finesse. I would say you can try it at all levels, but is probably most effective for diamond+.
Show one where he fucked up a few times quite badly GOOD GAME - FIRST CRUSH PUSHED - Should have shaded ahead to scout! Need 1 adept in your army here at least Lastly hop into the one where the adepts go crazy whilst answering questions
Build Frozen Temple VoD:
Micro: Prism lifting Prism positioning - careful vs heavy queens Prism way back if ravagers - otherwise die to bile
EPT
