EPT[Q] Defending medivac drops with Protoss
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GhostFall
United States830 Posts
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iPoLL
Germany30 Posts
Ofc there is the observer ... but i'd rather have them at more important locations. Cannons do help as well to delay so u ca warp in support but imho its pretty expensive | ||
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GhostFall
United States830 Posts
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iPoLL
Germany30 Posts
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Barca
United States418 Posts
Temps work great for this, but keep in mind not all drops will have enough energy to be 1-shot feedbacked. | ||
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sleepingdog
Austria6145 Posts
when I spot 2 medivacs + MM with my observer....then a minute later there are STILL only 2 medivacs + MM, chances are, that new-built forces are flying around; since so many terrans like to drop these days, I usually wait until I get dropped once, crush them hard and immediately go for a counter-attack on their natural before they can take a breath; although my urge to QQ is still strong, I somewhat accepted that I have to live with not being able to take the initiative in PvT midgame vs MMM and play it very passively | ||
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RetZ
Australia67 Posts
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pugowar
United States142 Posts
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Mr.Minionman
United States164 Posts
HT's are already proven effective in drop-countering, but because they are forced to drop marines, they are doubly effective against them. When they drop, either feedback the medivac (depending on how much energy it has stored), or storm, and if you have 2 templars you can do both. Afterwards, warp in zealots or stalkers for clean up, based off of what is left. Also, DT's are surprisingly effective at stopping drops. If the opponent knows you have them, you already have them partially contained. If they don't, and drop you, DT's do amazingly at killing them off. Even if they scan, DT's kill small groups of unit's rather effectively. However, this is all assuming you have researched Templars. Unfortunately, Robo units have really no effective way to stop drops without staying in-base, or taking considerable loss. But considering how easily Collosi are countered in PvT, I wouldn't rely on them anyway. I strongly suggest learning how to use HT's. | ||
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sleepingdog
Austria6145 Posts
recently I was looking into a completely different approach: normally what people intuitively do when contained is, they use their main army to guard their main+expo, usually at a location where any full-blown attack would come from; at the same time they use a couple of troups to guard possible drop locations and scout for drops; now I was thinking, concerning the effectiveness of scouting/etc., we probably have it all backwards! although I haven't had much time to test it yet, why not leave 50% of your army near your main-mineral-line and the other 50% near your expo-mineral-line.....or all of your troups near/in your main-mineral-line if you don't have an expo? all that's left to do is to scout the usual attack-path to not get surprised when they attack you with all of their troups; but THIS can be done with only ONE observer or even with only one PROBE; I'm theory-crafting here, but as long as you keep track of the main attack-path and/or have an observer following the main army of the terran you should be completely safe to leave all of your troups in your mineral-line(s) then if you feel confident to attack, attack with everything (!) since 2-3 stalkers won't stall 2 medivacs full of MM anyways; nevertheless if you suspect drops I would much more prefer to just quick expand and split up your armies 50/50 covering your minerals while just keeping an eye on the movement of your opponent's main forces - actually there's no reason why you'd wanna keep your troups positioned outside your base or near the ramp when you can keep track of your opponent's army with an observer and when drops are much more threatening at this point there should definitely always be enough time to position your troups properly when you see your opponent going for the big attack | ||
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brocoli
Brazil264 Posts
1) Observers are crucial. 2) If he gets Ravens or Missile Turrets, then you can safely spend 100/100 in hallucination to scout. 3) Zealots are great at poking up the ramp and spotting their defenses. Use it to take a peek at his army and tech even without hallu/obs ; If he's setting up a defense and still massing up an army in-base, prepare for a fast drop. 4) Late-game, you need to be prepared to deal with multiple late drops regardless. Now on the actual drops: 1) ALWAYS have spotters. If you don't spot the drop, you die. 2) Against super fast drops, just have a sizeable army ready, and muscle through his defenses when he leaves with his drops. He won't have ghosts, so you can just use a couple of immortals + gateway army under Guardian Shield ; and your +1 or +2 army will roflstomp his base if he doesn't have all his units ready to defend. You should win the base trade, since he's not attacking at your front, and you can run away with some probes if necessary. 3) Against somewhat fast drops, he'll have a good defense set up, and might have ghosts, so attacking could put you in an enormous risk. However, There are a couple of things to consider: - If he's making medivacs, he's not massing Vikings. Which means your colossi, should you have any, are completely safe for the time being. - If they DO start massing vikings, then you don't really have to worry about masses of medivacs dropping your base. - You should have Twilight Council and 2-3 bases by this point. - Blink Stalkers are great vs. both Drops and Vikings (the easy and natural tech switch). So get Blink and change your Zeal/Stalk proportion to get more Stalkers; with the excess minerals, expand with some cannons (completely out of your bases' path, so that attacking it becomes a huge detour for T). Use your robo bay for a couple of Obs and then Warp Prisms, since you don't really need to reinforce your colossi count, and they'll be well defended from Vikings when they arrive. Harass with your warp prism / expand to islands if you manage to get a couple of them. This will slow down the drops enough for you to tech to templars / expand / tech to stargate. - Of course, use a couple of cannons to intercept the shortest drop paths. 4) Against later / very late drops - If your bases are condensed enough, templar tech is viable. - If your bases are spread out, you need phoenix. - Regardless, you'll need both in the very late late late game. If you didn't get hallucination by this point, GET IT. Chances are that T already has at least 1/2 map coverage with sensor towers, and free scans. You need some effective way to get intel, and hallucinations are great at it. | ||
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Arcanefrost
Belgium1257 Posts
also you should make it a habit to watch the minimap when youre just macroing up | ||
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Triky
Peru99 Posts
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anfionn
Ireland28 Posts
defend everywhere and be left without enough to attack and win. However the reverse is also true. If terran is dropping, they are commiting (assuming 2 medivacs) 12 marines, and 2 medivacs, or 16 food.if both players are at 60 food, and assuming 28 harvesters, that is half his army.(a little less, but) In that case, build a counterforce in base, and stomp him with your main army, I would suggest that a base race would be viable, however if you suspect drops, then 1-2 cannons would be advisable, anyway, is all theorycrafting without replays. Additionally if your army is perceived as threatening his main, he is less likely to drop, as it would severely dent his force size. At higher food, when medivac and marines are more easily replaced, and a smaller percentage of the terran army, drops become problematic, however you will also have had time to deply more observers, cannons, pylons, and wil have the ability to warp in a reaction force | ||
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Mr.Minionman
United States164 Posts
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trevf
United States237 Posts
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anfionn
Ireland28 Posts
an attack on the terran main with your full army against his understrength army, while warping in reinforcements to deal with the base harrass, The hope being that you can deal a decisive blow, and that the medivac harass, deals a less decisive blow. | ||
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sylverfyre
United States8298 Posts
Pylons along the edge of your base, like 1 cannon or 2 units in your mineral line to stall for time in the area where they would get the most guaranteed damage, try to control watch towers. You may want an observer assisting if theres an annoying airspace behind your base, like Delta Quadrant. I disagree with anfionn - when you're really pressuring a (good) terran is one of the best windows for him to drop you - cause he KNOWS your army isn't at home, and he knows you aren't looking at your base as much. | ||
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GhostFall
United States830 Posts
I see a lot of suggestions to defend and expand a 3rd time, but uggg its frustrating when I know my army can just stomp his right now. | ||
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superstartran
United States4013 Posts
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