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Hey everyone,
I'm a little over 1100 games into the beta and for most of it I've been using an opener I came up with after some threads early on in the beta about how awesome orbital commands (and getting proxy gated).
The opener is pretty simple but I haven't seen any discussions about the benefits of the build (or anyone using it).
The build is:
9 rax
10 depot
11 OC (orbital command)
The timing works out pretty well (the rax and depot both finish at the same time and you have around 140 minerals meaning you can get the orbital command as soon as the rax finishes.
From here the build can deviate to whatever you would normally do after your rax.
The main advantages I've noticed are:
-scv finishes building the rax must faster making it much more difficult for their scouting worker to harass yours.
-faster marine allows you to kill of the scouting worker much quicker (and zerg's first overlord on a few maps)
-much safer against early aggression (fast reaper, fast pool, proxy gates or cannon rush)
Probably my favorite part of this build is it keeps up with 10 depot 12 rax for the most part. According to some theoretical testing I've done, income is actually higher than 12 rax around minute 3 but 12 rax pulls slightly ahead in income around minute 5-6 (although this advantage flattens out as the 12 rax build reaches scv saturation).
I'm not sure the proper way to test for actual numbers so if anyone has any ideas, please feel free to try them.
Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated.
edit: Chart with income estimated to the best of my ability:
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/Y4Qyk.png)
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I looked at this build a while ago (when beta came out) and after comparing total mineral intake over time in multiple tests over 8 minutes 9rax was economically bad by about 150 minerals to the standard 9depot. I made a thread on it then explaining my experinment that has all the detail
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nice, i'm gona start using this exclusively.
for a while. 
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On May 07 2010 15:30 nujgnoy wrote:
I looked at this build a while ago (when beta came out) and after comparing total mineral intake over time in multiple tests over 8 minutes 9rax was economically bad by about 150 minerals to the standard 9depot. I made a thread on it then explaining my experinment that has all the detail
wait, what's the time span? are you saying there is only 150 minerals difference between the 2 builds over 8 mins? surely not...
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On May 07 2010 15:32 danl9rm wrote:
wait, what's the time span? are you saying there is only 150 minerals difference between the 2 builds over 8 mins? surely not...
In my testing at minute 5 the difference in income was 80 minerals (820 vs 900) assuming constant scv production. That advantage disappears around minute 7 (again, assuming constant scv production until saturation)
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Income tab is really unreliable, so after a while I disregarded it and used total mineral collected.
Over around 8 minutes, 9depot will collect ~150 minerals more than 9Rax will.
That means you could have one more rax faster than 9Rax early game.
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How does it keep up in terms of gas?
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Yeah I've been thinking of tweaking my build to get a marine out earlier, not to mention the earlier OC (vs. std 14/15) will get your mule faster. I have a feeling gas can still be close, depending on how when you build your 2nd rax (or if you get an earlier tech lab?)
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This build is NOT an econ build- its an AGGRO build- however, it does not put you that far back in econ (As his little graph shows)- thanks to the orbital command doing terrible, terrible damage.
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if this helps you to settle you expo faster, or harasses their economy better (by more than 150minerals), then it is the way to go.
with reapers, hellions, vikings and banshees doing what they do, it is quite possible.
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I use this opening every once in awhile in 2v2 when I suspect something cheesey is coming. I'm not sure about exact numbers, but your pseudo graph is basically correct. 9 rax jumps ahead for a short period of time after the orbital is finished. It starts to fall behind at around 4 minutes because of having less scvs. It isn't as economically viable - but it allows you to be a bit more aggressive early or defend early cheese better.
If they don't cheese or you don't do a bit of damage to them, 9 rax is inferior.
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Normally I don't see much merit in a 9 rax build as the economic damage is fairly substantial. Sure you will be ahead in mineral count for a brief moment as your OC kicks in faster but you are substantially behind in scv count which will really kick in from the 6th minute and onwards.
A fast reaper build however against protoss does have some value, the fast OC makes the economic setback less bad and you also save money by not having to scout as a reaper build trumps any cheese opening they can do anyway. It usually nets some probe kills and/or forces them to spend chrono boosts on units instead of probe's which makes your relative economy to his even better. As a reaper rush can be followed up with marauder pressure you also pre-emptively counter voidray openings and the like a bit. I should do a analysis on this how much of a economic hit you take from a reaper build and how much damage you can do against a normal protoss build without proxying.
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I use
10 rax
10 supply
13 OC
With this BO I am safe vs any type of early cheese. Also this bo fits me, cause I play fast expand @ any map vs Z,P and I get first 4 marines very very early. I defend only with bunkers+marines, do I dont need early gas. However if you are trying to play tech, this build is really bad.
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On May 07 2010 23:35 Markwerf wrote:
Normally I don't see much merit in a 9 rax build as the economic damage is fairly substantial. Sure you will be ahead in mineral count for a brief moment as your OC kicks in faster but you are substantially behind in scv count which will really kick in from the 6th minute and onwards.
A fast reaper build however against protoss does have some value, the fast OC makes the economic setback less bad and you also save money by not having to scout as a reaper build trumps any cheese opening they can do anyway. It usually nets some probe kills and/or forces them to spend chrono boosts on units instead of probe's which makes your relative economy to his even better. As a reaper rush can be followed up with marauder pressure you also pre-emptively counter voidray openings and the like a bit. I should do a analysis on this how much of a economic hit you take from a reaper build and how much damage you can do against a normal protoss build without proxying.
But thats the thing, You aren't substantially behind. You have a slightly lower income from minutes 5-7 but after minute 7 they are equal (and around minute 3 you are ahead).
After a 9 rax, some games I fast expand, some games I 3 rax, some games I tech.
Overall it seems to work for all midgame transitions.
For me, it comes down to the fact that I find the advantage of the higher marine count, preventing scouting (this is big), and not having to pull an extra scv to stop scouting worker harass worth the slight decrease in income.
On May 07 2010 18:35 pat965 wrote:
How does it keep up in terms of gas?
It should be similar to 12 rax assuming you get the refinery around the same time.
On May 07 2010 23:43 Runaground wrote:
I use
10 rax
10 supply
13 OC
I haven't tested this but I'd be curious to see how it compares.
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thats a neat little build, kinda like zergs going 10 pool or overpool to get fast queen out and stop any gay cheese.
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Wouldn't it be a bit closer than 150 minerals due to, as AraqirG said, not having to pull an SCV off the line to take care of a scout? I know in almost every game I play my opponent's early scout will harass a SCV that's building forcing me to pull one other off the line to take care of it.
Not related to the economy of the build, but as was also said it gets rid of any scout faster, and prevents any more.
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On May 08 2010 03:16 UnknownSoldier wrote:
Wouldn't it be a bit closer than 150 minerals due to, as AraqirG said, not having to pull an SCV off the line to take care of a scout? I know in almost every game I play my opponent's early scout will harass a SCV that's building forcing me to pull one other off the line to take care of it.
Not related to the economy of the build, but as was also said it gets rid of any scout faster, and prevents any more.
you can generally halt with the scv building when he hits ~20 hp and immediately start with a fresh one, losing almost no mining time. Unless he is doing a pylon scout on a small 2 player map, the 2nd scv should finish the rax before there's any risk of it dying.
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On May 08 2010 03:31 Red Alert wrote:
you can generally halt with the scv building when he hits ~20 hp and immediately start with a fresh one, losing almost no mining time. Unless he is doing a pylon scout on a small 2 player map, the 2nd scv should finish the rax before there's any risk of it dying.
Technically this still loses mining time (the travel time of the scv to the baracks and back). It doesn't slow the building of the barracks though.
9 rax
scv #1-->barracks-->minerals
12 rax
scv#1-->baracks-->scv# 2-->baracks-->scv #1-->minerals-->scv #2-->minerals
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United States24779 Posts
Something I'm not sure if people have mentioned in threads about this topic is how a 9 rax allows not just an earlier mule but obviously more mules before you need to use your first scan... it also will vary depending on matchup, map, and what you scout, but if you can normally mule twice off a 12 rax you might be able to squeeze a third one in on 9 rax without having to scan first etc.
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Some people keep saying that 9 rax economy and 12 rax economy get equal once your saturated or after the 7 minute mark. It takes quite a while for this to really happen though with terran thanks to the OC. Besides that as terran I tend to expand fairly early in lots of matchups, even so that I never stop making scv's with the first command center till both my main and expo are saturated. If this is the case then CC downtime a 9 rax build features becomes even more prevalent.
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Here is a link to an already well established 9 vs. 12 Rax thread. Basically, the other guy discovered that you get more minerals for early pushes, but are behind in mid to late game. The only real way to counter this lag in your minerals is FE once you make your first push and get some map control. Its a good read for any aspiring Terran player, they get really in depth.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=120667
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That thread is alright, but unfortunately didn't really use a good reaper build. Still the point is prettty simple, supply first is best economically though the advantage kicks in rather late (after 5 mins). 9 rax for just marines with no intention to play aggresive only seems usefull if you have a good idea your opponent will do some all-in build, like 7 rax reaper.
9 rax reaper is a economic hit to yourself but not that bad and can generate a reasonable advantage with the reaper, personally I think reaper openings are good vs terran and protoss on small maps (2 player maps and some small 4player maps). 9 rax reaper will be about 4 scv's behind too normal 12 rax but will give a reaper in their base about 25 seconds before they get their stalker using a 13 gate, fast cyber and chronoboosted stalker. You will get even economically by the reaper usually (1-2 probe kills breaks even) and you can follow up with some marauder aggression.
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My issue is. Why would you actually need 9rax to deal with cheese? 11rax is pretty fast and enough to deal with almost all cheeses except for the ridiculously fast like 6reaper or something in which case I rather rely on micro to get me through such things and then I will be at a huge advantage economically afterwards.
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I like 9 rax opening, because it gives you that nice reaper that can really punish players that try to use heavy econ builds, and later on you get free scouting if you don't let that reaper die. Sure 11 rax is more economical but you get less scouting and you have no way of punishing econ builds... thus putting you behind in economy anyways. 9 rax reaper -> bunker destroys any zerg that expos before pool, 11 rax does nothing to it.
The only thing I don't like about this opening is that it kind of forces you into marauders, whereas if you went standard you could build a reactor and switch with factory for hellions.
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You don't need to 9 rax to defend against cheese. 11 rax holds off most cheese just fine. 9 Rax does allow you to kill their scouting worker extremely fast (and in some cases, such as large 4 player maps, deny scouting all together.
Additionally, on maps like blistering sands and steps of war, you can kill Zergs first overlord assuming they send it you the rocks at your back door (like most Zergs do).
Anyway, I wasn't satisfied with using income since it is so difficult to measure accurately so I reran some tests.
I tried both builds, kept up constant scv production and supply depot building.
With both openers I got the OC as soon as the rax finished, got 4 marines, and then expanded as soon as I had the minerals. I then got double gas when the new cc was half done.
To measure the builds, I used total minerals mined (using the mineral count on the mineral patches) so there is no rounding or gueswork.
Here is a chart:
edit: to clarify, the chart represents total minerals mined
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/iuSbK.png)
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Basically it shows the difference is pretty big. The lost scv's just add up alot after some time.
Instead of cumbersome measurements by mineral patches you can also just to check the build order chart after the game of both builds and see how much the difference in scv's is. Then these scv's just start to add up and with a fast expo terran doesn't hit saturation for a long while.
Without expoing the difference is less as the extra scv's offcourse are saturated but as terran generally doesn't stop building scv's quickly there is just little merit to 9 rax.
What you should really check is 9 rax reaper as that IS a good opener.
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Hmmm. I think this could be viable for a fast tech opening, because you can get an extra marine or two out earlier to deal with an early scout, preventing them from knowing when you take your 2nd gas. And, your tech should be out by the time the deficit from the 9 rax starts.
And, it's not far behind a normal 12 rax, meaning your opponent would have to plan for either a standard style game, or a tech build, because their scouting will be insufficient, yet your economy can do either.
I like.
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EPT
