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ZvP: How to counter mass carriers?

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
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Devil!
Profile Joined August 2010
United States10 Posts
August 07 2010 07:23 GMT
#1
Hi guys, new here (newfag). Sc2 is really my first rts. Anyway i keep running into these nerds who just block off their ramp with pylons with photon cannons behind them, then they just sit their and mass carrier. I've tried the bangeling bust to get through them, doesnt really work that well vs prtoss. Anyway, what is a good way to counter a mass carrier build, and what is a good way to get that wall of turrets down?
Mantikor
Profile Joined August 2010
United States68 Posts
August 07 2010 07:25 GMT
#2
Have you tried Nydus worm?
wat
Devil!
Profile Joined August 2010
United States10 Posts
August 07 2010 07:28 GMT
#3
yeah i know thats a possibility to get in his base, but only if he doesnt have the whole thing scouted
Glaven
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada554 Posts
August 07 2010 07:38 GMT
#4
If he's turtling and building carriers outmacro him and mass corruptors or hydralisks. Destroy him with your econ.
Special Tactics
nahk4r
Profile Joined August 2010
United States47 Posts
August 07 2010 07:43 GMT
#5
yea there's no scourge anymore... but still, upgraded zerglings and roaches can kill off cannons pretty quickly

even if he has a few carriers, if you get 2-3 base in the beginning and swarm the protoss... i'd safely guess you can kill him before he gets that many carriers.

or you can just wait for mass corruptors to deal with carrier while attacking the protoss base with broodlord, ovie drops, nydus worm, etc etc. the problem with carrier is that 1. if he loses interceptor you have to build more so you need decent amount of minerao and 2. they are very very slow. kill their probes, corrupt their stargate or w/e that's called, just keep harrassing him with zerg's mobility
Steamboatlol
Profile Joined April 2010
United States161 Posts
August 07 2010 07:55 GMT
#6
corruptors. Be sure to upgrade carapace, without air attack upgrades each carapace upgrade decreases their dmg by 20%
Arkaridge
Profile Joined June 2010
Australia48 Posts
August 07 2010 10:32 GMT
#7
Grab a few expansions (2 or 3), and go straight to muta or corruptors (corruptors would be better if you already see several Carriers).

Since he's turtling up, he won't be attacking you until later. Muta will be good, if there are only 2-3 carriers out, and you have 10 or so muta to snipe them (numbers off the top of my head), once the carriers are down you can then use them to harrass and attack key buildings. Corruptors are the more effective Zerg counter, but once the carriers are down they become a little redundant (unless you get broodlords)

You could always try drops or N.worm.
Vessel
Profile Joined June 2010
United States214 Posts
August 07 2010 10:37 GMT
#8
the instant you run up his ramp and see a wall of cannons, you should assume he is on one base and is massing something, so you are safe to expand multiple times very quickly and get a very strong economy going. once your economy far outweighs his you can easily throw expensive units at him until he breaks (broodlords backed up with hydras or corruptors comes to mind). it is also advantages to send an overlord to every expansion just to make sure he doesnt manage to expand. if he does, just run over and kill it, then retreat. carriers are very slow so he wouldnt be able to defend multiple places at once
EnderCN
Profile Joined May 2010
United States499 Posts
August 07 2010 13:47 GMT
#9
Corruptors and Brood Lords. Banelings don't deal with really massed cannons that well. Brood Lords work great against them though.
Bair
Profile Joined May 2010
United States698 Posts
August 07 2010 14:07 GMT
#10
On August 07 2010 22:47 EnderCN wrote:
Corruptors and Brood Lords. Banelings don't deal with really massed cannons that well. Brood Lords work great against them though.



This is it. Carapace upgraded corruptors and a few brood lords to slowly melt his base. Since carriers have 8 attacks, they also take 8x the armor penalty, and with the bonus against massive they do wonderfully.
In Roaches I Rust.
Acritter
Profile Joined August 2010
Syria7637 Posts
August 07 2010 14:17 GMT
#11
Pfft, don't even bother with Broodlords. Just get double Spire for faster upgrades and send wave after wave of Corruptors into his base from your six bases. Wait until he ragequits, or if you have to leave soon, mass Mutas.

There is no way in hell a one-base Carrier build should be able to beat a Zerg player.
dont let your memes be dreams - konydora, motivational speaker | not actually living in syria
Bair
Profile Joined May 2010
United States698 Posts
August 07 2010 14:20 GMT
#12
On August 07 2010 23:17 Acritter wrote:
Pfft, don't even bother with Broodlords. Just get double Spire for faster upgrades and send wave after wave of Corruptors into his base from your six bases. Wait until he ragequits, or if you have to leave soon, mass Mutas.

There is no way in hell a one-base Carrier build should be able to beat a Zerg player.


Maybe I am missing something, but what good would corruptors actually do against groud without brolords? They cannot corrupt buildings like they used to.
In Roaches I Rust.
supersoft
Profile Joined April 2010
Germany3729 Posts
August 07 2010 14:27 GMT
#13
so in copper there is the strategie of mass carrierrushes still alive =)
I thought that day9 and his scII educations had turned us all into superpros
birdkicker
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States752 Posts
August 07 2010 14:28 GMT
#14
On August 07 2010 16:23 Devil! wrote:
Anyway i keep running into these nerds who just block off their ramp with pylons with photon cannons behind them, then they just sit their and mass carrier.


Because massing carriers is a very useful talent toi have.
WillKill
Profile Joined August 2010
United States8 Posts
August 07 2010 14:45 GMT
#15
Just play and keep practicing. Massing carriers is very difficult once you become a decent player because your opponent will have no way to make them with all of your pressure. But to answer your question it's Terran: Vikins, Zerg: Corruptors, and Toss: Phoenix. Make sure to focus fire carriers rather than the interceptors.
Random Player, Rank 20ish Platinum, US. BW vet from '05.
mrk
Profile Joined March 2006
Korea (South)60 Posts
August 07 2010 14:47 GMT
#16
There's no way you can "mass" carriers off 1 base, and similarly no way you can take an expo if you're going straight to carrier. Hence I do not see how this strategy is ever working.

Take whole map, macro hard.
Hit 200 supply about 10x faster than him.
Win game?

Seriously just don't suicide small armies into cannons and play the outmacro game. When he shows up with his tiny force of carriers just FF it down while instantly macro'ing back another 200 supply while he has 0 gas and crush him.
Ichabod
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1659 Posts
August 07 2010 15:40 GMT
#17
Corruptors and hydralisks fare well against them, quite efficiently, so as long as you're not behind in base count and upgrades you should do fine.

(can also use infestors with FG and NP, I suppose immobilizing the interceptors makes them useless for the duration)
Devil!
Profile Joined August 2010
United States10 Posts
August 07 2010 16:41 GMT
#18
Thanks for the info everyone
ChickenLips
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
2912 Posts
August 07 2010 16:57 GMT
#19
As Day9 said in response to the question how do you counter mass xxx:

"Just go and kill him."
❤Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ✿
comis
Profile Joined April 2010
United States333 Posts
August 07 2010 16:59 GMT
#20
Build Corruptors. When all his Carriers(lol) are dead, make 2 Broodlord and kill his cannon(lol) defense.
sk`
Profile Joined November 2008
Japan442 Posts
August 07 2010 17:27 GMT
#21
The replies to this are worse than the OP...

Anyway, if he's massing Carriers than he will lack gas for anything else meaning it is Carriers + Zeal (if on 2 base). Roach Hydra beats this easily. Don't try to shoot down the Carriers, attack a space in front of them so the Hydras target the Interceptors (make sure to have range). Hydras in good numbers will instantly wipe out a mass of Interceptors. If he has no Interceptors, he has no attack. If he's constantly remaking them, it drains his resources.

Either way, in terms of cost balance Hydras rape Carriers as long as you don't aim at the Carrier, but rather at the Interceptors. Roaches will rape the Zeals. Easy win.
www.pureesports.com
Slayer91
Profile Joined February 2006
Ireland23335 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-07 17:29:41
August 07 2010 17:29 GMT
#22
If you mean how do you spot someone turtling to carriers take like 2 bases mass drones until you've got tons then mass TONS of roach hydra.

If its how to beat carriers in general corruptors with carapace upgarde.
clickrush
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Switzerland3257 Posts
August 07 2010 18:51 GMT
#23
From the P side of view:

ok my carrier build is roughly the following:

Opening: double gate / 10 gate zealot pressure into forge expand
Midgame: transition into 4gate mix + 5-6phoenix (the second stargate comes a bit later)

with this midgame you are a) safe against mutaling and b) you can harrass his eco if he goes hydras and takes his third base. if he goes mutas then you can probably take your third base with enough phoenixes.

lategame: transition into 4gate stalker/sentry/carrier/(mothership). Z can counter this attack by massing corruptors and speedlings but P can use narrow attack paths and use forcefield to pull carriers back and attack the curroptors. from there its a back and forth game.

what can Z do against this? Z must scout the carrier transition. if P has only 1-2 carriers then he is still very weak and immobile. nydus/drops can help with a nice mix of lings/hydras and maybe roaches(burrow) to stall his army.
oGsMC: Zealot defense, Stalker attack, Sentry forcefieldu forcefieldu, Marauder die die
Ploppytheman
Profile Joined April 2010
United States248 Posts
August 07 2010 18:59 GMT
#24
Do anything in the 20minutes before he gets mass carriers.
youtube.com/ploppytheman for GAIMEZ!!!
Zael613
Profile Joined August 2010
Philippines2 Posts
August 21 2010 13:08 GMT
#25
Okay, this is a similar question too but still related. What if this is done on 2v2s?
I just recently had a match (ZPvPT) and they walled the entire base with Photon Cannons. The map was Twilight Forest so each of them technically had two mines.

But to be straight to the point, They completely covered everything with Photon Cannons. The Terran quickly teched to Battlecruisers, having them scout over any of our expansions, and as the Battlecruisers patrolled, destroying our expansions, Protoss was busy making lots and lots of carriers and a stupid mothership that destroyed everything at our base. We were able to Penetrate their base at some points, but Vikings from a Reactored Starport kills the massed up Corruptors, Broodlords, and Void Rays we had...
I don't do quotes. :)
guitarizt
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United States1492 Posts
August 21 2010 13:13 GMT
#26
You got out macro'ed.
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” - Hemingway
Boonesbane
Profile Joined May 2010
United States170 Posts
August 21 2010 14:55 GMT
#27
If the protoss is walled in, get overlord speed and sacrifice one to run into his base and see what tech he is getting. Once you see the fleet beacon corruptors are an insane counter, as they are good air vs air and do bonus damage to massive units.
" good sir, you appear to be somewhat lacking in intelligence. please refrain from posting until this is remedied, since it renders your opinions slightly less than correct and has a tendency to irritate more informed forum-goers. " - Grack "idrA" Fields
OhJesusWOW
Profile Joined August 2010
United Kingdom127 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-21 15:23:34
August 21 2010 15:22 GMT
#28
Build a shitload of Corrupters, advance to his base, and then Hold Position over the top of his Stargates. In the meantime, mass Queens - you'll need about 25 - and then slowly march your way forward to his base. It won't matter if your Queens don't seem to hold up well against the wall because you have an endless supply of transfusion. At this time, your opponent will be calling you a fag. Ignore him. Continue iceberging your way into his base with your angry mob of death dealing Queens. Once you breached, meander slowly over to your Corrupters and spam transfusion. Soon thereafter you will secured victory. Bring Overlord to poop creep over your opponents pylons so that when you target fire them down, your Protoss enemy can't replace them. It is generally a good idea to mock him with questions like "Where is your God now?". Then compliment his interesting build order; follow that up with an a/s/l request. Good luck.
Red Bull is the new Mountain Dew.
Acritter
Profile Joined August 2010
Syria7637 Posts
August 21 2010 15:23 GMT
#29
On August 07 2010 23:20 Bair wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 07 2010 23:17 Acritter wrote:
Pfft, don't even bother with Broodlords. Just get double Spire for faster upgrades and send wave after wave of Corruptors into his base from your six bases. Wait until he ragequits, or if you have to leave soon, mass Mutas.

There is no way in hell a one-base Carrier build should be able to beat a Zerg player.


Maybe I am missing something, but what good would corruptors actually do against groud without brolords? They cannot corrupt buildings like they used to.


It was a subtle way of saying that one base Carrier can't do anything versus Zerg, and that the Zerg would be so far ahead you don't even need to worry about losing all your units to his cannons because you can keep making more.
dont let your memes be dreams - konydora, motivational speaker | not actually living in syria
SilentCrono
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States1420 Posts
August 21 2010 15:30 GMT
#30
mass corrupters. use corrupt and focus fire them bitches down.
♞ Your soul will forever be lost in the void of a horse. ♞
StormWeapon
Profile Joined July 2010
United States159 Posts
August 21 2010 18:54 GMT
#31
On August 22 2010 00:22 OhJesusWOW wrote:
Build a shitload of Corrupters, advance to his base, and then Hold Position over the top of his Stargates. In the meantime, mass Queens - you'll need about 25 - and then slowly march your way forward to his base. It won't matter if your Queens don't seem to hold up well against the wall because you have an endless supply of transfusion. At this time, your opponent will be calling you a fag. Ignore him. Continue iceberging your way into his base with your angry mob of death dealing Queens. Once you breached, meander slowly over to your Corrupters and spam transfusion. Soon thereafter you will secured victory. Bring Overlord to poop creep over your opponents pylons so that when you target fire them down, your Protoss enemy can't replace them. It is generally a good idea to mock him with questions like "Where is your God now?". Then compliment his interesting build order; follow that up with an a/s/l request. Good luck.

I can't..........describe.........how..........awesome this is.


I think I'll have to work out a mass queen strategy for 2v2 just to do this.
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