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In this game I played a self-professed 1100 player (unfortunately he was playing on a smurf account and wouldn't tell me the name of his main) and am really wondering what I could have done. He was by far the best player I've come across in the game and this was the only game that I felt truly outclassed by my opponent. I fast expanded when I saw that he had spawned in the far position from me, he was using a reaper build which I was able to stop with a few roaches. He then transitioned into marauders and got did a timing attack with stim and concussive shells, I lost my natural in that fight and barely held my main. From that point on the match was essentially over, I attempted to get mutalisks up but in the back of my head I knew he would be expecting them, he was. He pushes in with a mix of marines and marauders and overwhelmed my weakened defenses.
My question is was the result of this game the cause of a strategic error by me, or did I react to his build correctly but lose because of a difference in mechanical skill between the two of us? He was clocking around 150 apm the whole game and I don't believe he was spamming, I was floating pretty low the whole game and my timings were off. His timings were spot on and most of his attacks coincided with an upgrade finishing.
Also how should I have transitioned out of roaches when I saw he was going marauder heavy, would a hydralisk den have saved me there and was the timing alright on my lair?
EDIT: This replay contains in game chat that isn't necessarily SFW. Thought you should know.
http://screplays.com/replays/moa/7326
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There are no Zerg units that can defeat a pure Marauder composition on the ground. Even mass speedlings doesn't work if he has enough Barracks, simply because you will run out of larva, and not be able to spend all your minerals efficiently. Hydralisks are poor due to high gas cost, and Roaches are hard-countered.
Banelings to kill his Marines and Mutas to finish off the Marauders is the only decent option I have found. Just hope he doesn't just stim and focus-fire your nat hatch, because it'll die anyway before your mutas' pathetic DPS can finish off the Marauders.
And oh yeah if you lose your nat and it's back to 1-base Z vs. 1-base T in the midgame, you might as well just GG and not waste your time. Zerg's production capabilities off of 1 base are not nearly enough to match 5 rax from a Terran.
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dont get hydras, get a spire. Thats how the pro's played against terran in the IEM, they seemed to make enough speedlings to defend whatever early stuff and then get spire. Roaches arent always the best choice in that spot, not only just because maurauders kill roaches. But also because they aren't very good at pressuring the enemy. They will just sit there for a while, maybe you could push on his base only to see he has walled in (I can tell the future right?) At that point, you can either trade 10 supply of roaches to kill a supply depot, or run back to your base.
So, they don't do anything but sit there and hope he doesnt rush maurauders. Spire on the other hand lets you harass and bring the fight to him. This forces him to make rines until thors, and you can make blings to kill the rines. Roaches don't really fit into this plan, so next time just try making a bunch of speedlings and maybe a sunken and then go for spire.
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Yeah, I forgot about Spines. Getting 2-4 spines makes a huge difference against a Protoss 4-WG push, so it should help you survive a little longer against Terran Marauder push. You'll still die eventually if he keeps massing Marauders, but it might hold him back for 2 crucial minutes while you get your Mutas up.
Also I must admit that I didn't watch the replay, but from personal experience, you need to start your Lair within your first 400 gas or so. This gives you enough gas for speedling tech, 6 banes or 8 roaches, then Lair. I'd tech to lair even sooner if you think you can survive - Mutas are your ace in the hole in the ZvT matchup (the ONLY UNIT that allows you to dictate the course of the game), and you need to get them up ASAP.
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You may wish to watch this replay before commenting. Very little of the advice given was relevant to this particular game. I'll respond to what you have said though.
Uranium:
Ultras beat marauders.
Speedlings do in a small confrontation (not sure if cost effective though)
Banelings were a possibility but his finishing army was primarily marauders with a few marines to deal with the odd mutalisk.
Spartik:
While that is how the pros did it at IEM they were playing in a style where they could avoid confrontation and skirt around harrassing and picking off sections of the opponents army. I was in a "stay alive" situation where I was off of one base and my opponent was breathing down my neck. I couldn't reasonably get enough mutalisks to fight off an army but hydras could have come out faster and cost less.
He had no marauders before I got roaches, he reacted to my roaches, I went for them because I couldn't reasonably get the zergling speed upgrade before his reapers got to my base and he had achieved critical mass to deal with a small engagement of zerglings.
All the units I built were built defensively, not pre-emptively. I saw the reaper rush and got roaches, they didn't sit around. I rarely go roaches in a game unless forced to.
Thanks for the responses.
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EPT
