KiWiKaKi just used and built a mothership entirely as a defensive unit, recalling home his unit that was trapped in machines base after taking out his hatchery. Similar to war3 town recalls.

This happened in the Screddit invitational.

First time i saw it. Do you think this is what the mothership was made for? Alot of the complaints have been that its too weak and slow but as a defensive unit that not much of a problem anymore if its used in this way.

So, what do you guys think?

Ruecks

Canada60 Posts

January 09 2011 01:51 GMT

I think that's a great use for it.. It has it's own purpose I think. Ya it dies fast but it cloaks an entire army underneath it.. not to mention have you ever seen the archon toilet?

ledarsi

United States475 Posts

January 09 2011 01:54 GMT

I like the idea, since it keeps the mothership safe and nullifies its major vulnerability which is its slow speed, since it means if you bring it to the battle and lose your units you're probably going to lose the mothership as well. However I think the mothership might be better used as a forward position rather than being used to recall units back to your actual base, thus allowing you to defend a forward position using its cloaking field. The cloaking field would be more or less wasted if you're back in your base. By all means if you have an expo in an important hot location, put your mothership there and use it as a town teleport.

TheHova

United Kingdom2612 Posts

January 09 2011 01:55 GMT

You'll be seeing every protoss and his mate trying this on the ladder for the next couple of weeks now.

TheHova

United Kingdom2612 Posts

January 09 2011 01:58 GMT

You'll be seeing every protoss and his mate trying this on the ladder for the next couple of weeks now.

Kardaron

40 Posts

January 09 2011 01:59 GMT

Ive seen it used before as an escape mechanism, but it was executed very well by Kiwikaki. I liked how he managed to snipe all 3 hatcheries before he recall'd out.

CoMMoDuS

Germany507 Posts

January 09 2011 02:03 GMT

Even as a zerg player i simply love that play because it simply shows the enormous potential starcraft 2 has and that it just takes some time until more stuff like this will be figured out. Still i would be interested in ways to counter or at least reduce its effect sicne iam alos quite sure, that i will be seeing this rather alot on ladder. Usually i feel like when stuff like this happens that the opposing player made some bigger mistake earlier but in this game i could not really see a mayor blunder.

Grhym

177 Posts

January 09 2011 02:06 GMT

I think every protoss was happy to see kiwikaki pulling off a serious motherhship build.

The reason the mothership was at his third and (maybe) why the third was there in the first place was to deflect the anticipated counter attack. There's a choke which worked beautifully with blink. The cloaking field is also more useful with a 'ball' rather than a concave, though I'm not sure how much it mattered in that specific match.

emc

United States3088 Posts

January 09 2011 02:07 GMT

sure it's great but for the cost? I suppose it's worth it if your income is rediculous but I would never recommend someone trying to do this on 2 base, priority should be gateway units and your tech path. Sure does cost a lot just to teleport units back to base.

Cheeznuklz

60 Posts

January 09 2011 02:08 GMT

#10

I really do think that this sort of play (combined with clutch vortex play) is going to help protoss become a much more absorbent/reactive race.

SnuggleZhenya

596 Posts

January 09 2011 02:11 GMT

#11

On January 09 2011 11:07 emc wrote:
sure it's great but for the cost? I suppose it's worth it if your income is rediculous but I would never recommend someone trying to do this on 2 base, priority should be gateway units and your tech path. Sure does cost a lot just to teleport units back to base.

Well, you can still use its other abilities defensively. A cloaked natural expansion is harder to harass with drops, a cloaked line of photon cannons is a little scary as well, not to mention you can vortex an army defensively if you have to buy some time. I wouldn't be surprised to see more of this in PvZ post patch when more stargate play becomes standard.

HardCorey

United States709 Posts

January 09 2011 02:36 GMT

#12

Because of how slow moving the Mothership is it makes a lot of sense for it to be used as a town portal. I also think that nydus worms should be used in this way more often. Its definitely a very worthwhile tactic.

StarKiller

France51 Posts

January 09 2011 02:40 GMT

#13

KiWiKaKi was already using this with his Speed Void Ray build against Z after sniping down hatcheries exactly in the same fashion.
I think it is genius and would go as far as calling it the perfect way to use a Mothership.
With a max energy Mothership you could potentially snipe buildings at one side of the map draw all the army recall in the middle snipe building at the other side of the map and recall again safely. I tried that successfully in a few games although never so fast.
I'm always looking forward to his games, more so than any other protoss player, to learn more about the race's potential.

You guys should definitly consider voting KiWiKaKi for GSL invites at http://www.gomtv.net/2011gslsponsors1/forum/59104 he's the most entertaining and creative player i know, i can't wait to see what he could do in korea.

Renar

13 Posts

January 09 2011 03:52 GMT

#14

is there some vod somewhere of the tournament ? I live in italy so watching it live it's kinda difficult