Hey all, just recently got a message on youtube who had a pretty neat idea. I don't want to steal any credit from him so here's exactly what he told me. (I'll be posting a video of the trick on my youtube account in a few hours)
2. Place the next one at the gas and minerals of a expansion you want to use.
3. Set rally from the one next to your hatchery to the hatchery and back
4. Set rally on the next one to the minerals (and gas if you want to) and back
5. Set both ends to a control
6. get a timer that goes off every 16 secs
7. take the hot key for unload wait 3 sec's and hit i again
8. repeat every 16 secs
You will be running a mining operation across the map using your nydus network I have tested this and if you place both ends as close a possible to there destinations it is even faster then the normal way, as long as your fast a hitting the hot keys.
So to recap you can Nydus mine but only hit 4 keys every 16 secs.
Now why this is a good idea if you have you main and natural and Nydus mine you are set for the whole game easy, so it lets you save money on a 3rd expansion and keeps your dones safe, and you can spend the money you would use on a new base on units and defense.
i find most useful on getting the gold base early on.
Idea originally from gandr13189 aka Mike Litoris
I just tried this out in game, and it actually works really well. I can see this being an advanced late game macro mechanic for zerg platinum level players. I'll post a link to the video once its up.
mmm, late game you usually have so so so so sooooooooooo much to do that i dont see this becoming an effective way to expand (with the apm requirement), however this definitely has its use in those low-econ late-game situations (where both you and your open have had a slug fest and you're both almost out of minerals at all your bases, but there are still lots of expansions left, but you cannot possible afford to waste 300mins on a new nexus).
remember, nydus exits cost 100m 100g. I'd think that at almost any point in the game, a player would rather just spend the 300m to throw down a hatch there.
When both players are starving for money, it isnt just about efficiency. Think about this. You use the worm to kill an expo and then can instantly start mining from it. Can change a whole game easily.
On March 14 2010 03:04 Chill wrote: I can see this being useful in 1 in 10,000 games...
Agreed. The worm cost(100m, 100g?) far outweighs any potential gain IMO. Why not just build a hatchery and defend it if you're really 'starving' for minerals. If you do that then you can easily get gas from it, as well as pump out more units from the hatch itself.
Also, I find that minerals are much easier to get in SC2, gas seems to be the resource I'm forced to mass expand for.
Ok, the video is now up. I know some of you guys are skeptical, but check out the video and you can see how fast the mining really is. It only requires 4 actions every 10 or so seconds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SCRVrypnPs
On March 14 2010 03:20 alffla wrote: wow thats so freaking cool hahaha but seems impractical to manage?! like you will surely be busy diong other things..
Is it really impractical to manage? We're always spamming around at the high level, surely it wouldn't be hard to press 3d and 4d every 10 or so seconds. And I would imagine a pro gamer being able to take advantage of this, especially on high yield minerals.
That would be a good idea if Nydus Worms were cheap, but they're far more expensive than hatcheries since Zerg usually has a surplus of minerals and a shortage of gas, and it's a pretty big hassle.
One reason why this is useful is because you can mine from high-yield without having to protect a hatchery which can often be vulnerable (due to map layout around high-yield).
In any case where both players have mined out their main and maybe their expo where there aren't a lot of minerals then this becomes a way that you can safely mine from an expo that would normally be taken by your opponent. If they come over to the expansion you could immediately bring in troops or just run away all your workers.
You can also use this to mine from your opponent's expo if it's behind destructible rocks. Keeping an eye on it means by the time they begin to finish killing it off you can either have your army waiting on the other side, or just run away.
EPT
