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How to stop carriers as zerg?

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
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Apollo701
Profile Joined July 2010
6 Posts
January 10 2011 02:19 GMT
#1
So I go 15 hatch in this replay, and my opponent gets a super early nexus. We are both macroing up and and I eventually grab a third and I'm sitting on it for a while. he goes mass carriers/zelots. I have basically an army of mass hydras w/ some roaches. I attack at one point killing his expo, so hes running off 1 base, while i'm on 3. Still mass producing hydras, yet I couldn't do anything. What could I have possibly done differently? I had some careless errors w/ roaches, but What could i have possibly of done about the carriers?

http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/126377-1v1-protoss-zerg-scrap-station
light3
Profile Joined September 2010
Australia219 Posts
January 10 2011 02:24 GMT
#2
corrupters?
Turgid
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States1623 Posts
January 10 2011 02:25 GMT
#3
Just like Terran doesn't want to fight Carriers with pure Marines, you don't want to fight them with pure Hydras. Definitely make corruptors in this situation.
(╬ ಠ益ಠ)
CustomKal
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Canada749 Posts
January 10 2011 02:26 GMT
#4
You realize with hydras that you don't have to target the carriers right?

Killing all the interceptors makes them just as worthless, and hydras being slow can have a better chance if they just do that.

Otherwise, just get corrupters.

The main thing is not to be "out-micro'd" By carriers, because they can send out their interceptors and then run and still get the full volley.

Focus firing is all it takes to beat them, otherwise your just losing to a bigger army.
GHOSTCLAW
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States17042 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-10 02:43:10
January 10 2011 02:39 GMT
#5
you had the game won at 18 minutes in if you had just pressured...or expanded again to gold (if you have creep spread, yes, it's far, but it's actually not that bad to defend). Another thing that you can do is get fungal, as you can stop the interceptors.


also, you need way way way more upgrades. carriers are good, void rays are good, but after you defended the first and second attack you would have been really far ahead had you counterattacked with pretty much anything. The mass lings could have taken down the natural nexus, and/or you could have used the same amount of money that you had spent on masslings to use as static defense (not always a great idea, but another useage idea). the lings were terribly inefficient against the zealots, and carriers as well (lol). you had 0 gas and lots of minerals, which means that you should build hatcheries (expansions) as well as static defense.

Carriers are really good, but they take a long time to build, and arn't very mobile. Void rays are pretty mobile, and still take a long time to build, and arn't as strong. It's difficult, but not impossible, to fight.

You also didn't need a bling nest that you got - think about cutting that out when you know that they're going all air anyway.

also...your counterattacking lings, if they had just kept attacking and you kept pumping lings, you might have won the base race at the end of the game. It's close, that's why your protoss opponent thought that he had lost.


edit:
hrm upon further inspection, you could have had more hydra faster if you had gottten your fourth base that you took up and running with gas. ZvP when P goes air is all about getting enough gas to support hydra+corruptors+infestors w/ fungal, and getting double the gas would have helped with that. You almost won the game.
PhotographerLiquipedia. Drop me a pm if you've got questions/need help.
SergioCQH
Profile Joined October 2010
United States143 Posts
January 10 2011 03:12 GMT
#6
Corrupters are terrible versus carriers. Test it out in a unit tester if you don't believe me. Mass hydras works much better because the high attack rate of hydras will take out interceptors quickly. Don't focus fire with the hydras. Just attack move.
Apollo701
Profile Joined July 2010
6 Posts
January 10 2011 03:15 GMT
#7
Thats what my thinking was, but I actually just opened the unit tester, and a combination of hydras and corrupters works really well especially when you corrupt the carriers. But yeah, my thinking was pound for pound hydras would do best, but I really needed to just throw a few corrupters in Thanks everyone for responding
whojohnisgalt
Profile Joined December 2010
93 Posts
January 10 2011 03:17 GMT
#8
yeah sounds like hydras vs carriers is similar to goliaths vs carriers in BW. by default you should build up critical mass and attack move. if he gets too close or you see an opening then move in and try to snipe a carrier. oh, and spread creep like a motherfucker. honestly i cant see how carriers can beat a zerg if you just macro out a shitload of hydras with ups
Natt
Profile Joined August 2010
France253 Posts
January 10 2011 03:18 GMT
#9
On January 10 2011 12:12 SergioCQH wrote:
Corrupters are terrible versus carriers. Test it out in a unit tester if you don't believe me. Mass hydras works much better because the high attack rate of hydras will take out interceptors quickly. Don't focus fire with the hydras. Just attack move.


You cannot seriously post terrible statement like that in TL. Just test it yourself before ridiculising yourself.
navy
Profile Joined November 2010
Canada197 Posts
January 10 2011 03:21 GMT
#10
corruptors are very strong vs carriers if you get armor upgrades.

They start with 2 armor and they take a long time for the interceptors to whittle away
uberdeluxe
Profile Joined June 2009
Canada306 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-10 03:35:50
January 10 2011 03:26 GMT
#11
On January 10 2011 12:17 whojohnisgalt wrote:
yeah sounds like hydras vs carriers is similar to goliaths vs carriers in BW. by default you should build up critical mass and attack move. if he gets too close or you see an opening then move in and try to snipe a carrier. oh, and spread creep like a motherfucker. honestly i cant see how carriers can beat a zerg if you just macro out a shitload of hydras with ups

ok... Hydras are not the ideal counter to carriers for a number of reasons. They are extremely slow, so off of creep he can kite your hydras should you attack the carriers. If you don't, you might think your OK because you can kill all the interceptors. This is most definitely not the truth, as interceptors have 80 hp each an a new one will be out 8 seconds after an old one dies. Not to mention that if you never kill the carriers he can just remake the interceptors for 25 minerals each. If you killed all 8 interceptors from 8 carriers(64 interceptors!!) and lose 12 hydras, your even. Does that happen to you? Another thing is their low hp. Your roaches won't do any tanking for you because carriers can fly, and your hydras won't last long at all. Plus you can't do any kind of focus fire micro, but thats not as important. With corruptors, you can kill carriers extremely quickly, especially with corrupt. At lower levels some people may discredit them, but these people were attacking interceptors.

*edit* @NP, it can work really well if you have a good big army to protect the infestors.
No mules, no collosi, no PFs, just LOVE!
goswser
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States3548 Posts
January 10 2011 03:30 GMT
#12
Use a mix of infestors with neural parasite and mass hydra/with some corrupter if he goes carrier, this is the strongest build, because otherwise if he manages to take a third and a fourth and has a mothership too mass corrupters or mass hydras melts so fast.
say you were born into a jungle indian tribe where food was scarce...would you run around from teepee to teepee stealing meat scraps after a day lazying around doing nothing except warming urself by a fire that you didn't even make yourself? -rekrul
Tehkilla
Profile Joined August 2010
Sweden75 Posts
January 10 2011 03:32 GMT
#13
Neural parasite would be pretty good i reckon.
ccJroy
Profile Joined April 2010
United States483 Posts
January 10 2011 03:39 GMT
#14
Cant mind control air units can u?

One solution, corruptors.
Lol Rly?
rXs
Profile Joined April 2010
223 Posts
January 10 2011 03:45 GMT
#15
On January 10 2011 12:26 uberdeluxe wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 10 2011 12:17 whojohnisgalt wrote:
yeah sounds like hydras vs carriers is similar to goliaths vs carriers in BW. by default you should build up critical mass and attack move. if he gets too close or you see an opening then move in and try to snipe a carrier. oh, and spread creep like a motherfucker. honestly i cant see how carriers can beat a zerg if you just macro out a shitload of hydras with ups

ok... Hydras are not the ideal counter to carriers for a number of reasons. They are extremely slow, so off of creep he can kite your hydras should you attack the carriers. If you don't, you might think your OK because you can kill all the interceptors. This is most definitely not the truth, as interceptors have 80 hp each an a new one will be out 8 seconds after an old one dies. Not to mention that if you never kill the carriers he can just remake the interceptors for 25 minerals each. If you killed all 8 interceptors from 8 carriers(64 interceptors!!) and lose 12 hydras, your even. Does that happen to you? Another thing is their low hp. Your roaches won't do any tanking for you because carriers can fly, and your hydras won't last long at all. Plus you can't do any kind of focus fire micro, but thats not as important. With corruptors, you can kill carriers extremely quickly, especially with corrupt. At lower levels some people may discredit them, but these people were attacking interceptors.

*edit* @NP, it can work really well if you have a good big army to protect the infestors.

I know hydras are slow but are they really that slow that they can't even outrun CARRIERS of all things? Carriers are also slow and if you're on creep I think you can easily run below the Carriers and focus fire on them.
"you play hard to get; I play hard to get rid of."
ChinoReem
Profile Joined September 2010
Canada137 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-10 03:55:09
January 10 2011 03:52 GMT
#16
does fungal growrth stop/kill interceptors??

does neural parasite work on air?
SC4Dummies Founder
Natt
Profile Joined August 2010
France253 Posts
January 10 2011 03:58 GMT
#17
On January 10 2011 12:52 ChinoReem wrote:
does fungal growrth stop/kill interceptors??

does neural parasite work on air?


Yes.
Yes.

though intercepter are incredibely hard to catch if protoss hasnt got launch upgrade.
GHOSTCLAW
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States17042 Posts
January 10 2011 04:01 GMT
#18
On January 10 2011 12:45 rXs wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 10 2011 12:26 uberdeluxe wrote:
On January 10 2011 12:17 whojohnisgalt wrote:
yeah sounds like hydras vs carriers is similar to goliaths vs carriers in BW. by default you should build up critical mass and attack move. if he gets too close or you see an opening then move in and try to snipe a carrier. oh, and spread creep like a motherfucker. honestly i cant see how carriers can beat a zerg if you just macro out a shitload of hydras with ups

ok... Hydras are not the ideal counter to carriers for a number of reasons. They are extremely slow, so off of creep he can kite your hydras should you attack the carriers. If you don't, you might think your OK because you can kill all the interceptors. This is most definitely not the truth, as interceptors have 80 hp each an a new one will be out 8 seconds after an old one dies. Not to mention that if you never kill the carriers he can just remake the interceptors for 25 minerals each. If you killed all 8 interceptors from 8 carriers(64 interceptors!!) and lose 12 hydras, your even. Does that happen to you? Another thing is their low hp. Your roaches won't do any tanking for you because carriers can fly, and your hydras won't last long at all. Plus you can't do any kind of focus fire micro, but thats not as important. With corruptors, you can kill carriers extremely quickly, especially with corrupt. At lower levels some people may discredit them, but these people were attacking interceptors.

*edit* @NP, it can work really well if you have a good big army to protect the infestors.

I know hydras are slow but are they really that slow that they can't even outrun CARRIERS of all things? Carriers are also slow and if you're on creep I think you can easily run below the Carriers and focus fire on them.


carriers happen to be slightly slower than hydras, although the speed multiplier makes hydralisks significantly faster:

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Carrier

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Hydra
PhotographerLiquipedia. Drop me a pm if you've got questions/need help.
Acritter
Profile Joined August 2010
Syria7637 Posts
January 10 2011 04:03 GMT
#19
On January 10 2011 12:52 ChinoReem wrote:
does fungal growrth stop/kill interceptors??
Currently? It stops them, but doesn't do enough to kill them. After the upcoming patch, it won't affect them at all.
does neural parasite work on air?
Yes.


Hydras should be able to wreck Interceptors pretty badly in anything approaching an equal-cost scenario. Once the Interceptors are dead or down to a reasonable count, a small task force of Corruptors can easily chase down the Carriers and kill them. A pure army of Hydras would be unable to chase down the Carriers, and a pure army of Corruptors would often find it difficult to take on the Carriers except when they hit a high enough mass that they take out the Carriers very quickly. A mix is optimal.

Mostly, you should just beat the Carrier player by smashing them when they're in the vulnerable position of not quite having that Carrier up and running. A 2base Roach push should be able to go in the front door, kill the defending Zealots, and then do game-ending damage while the freshly built Carrier fails to kill them in time. Meanwhile, the Zerg should be able to transition into Hydras fast enough to defend against the Carrier if it stays to kill all the Roaches or just kill every building the Protoss owns if the Carrier beelines to the Zerg base.
dont let your memes be dreams - konydora, motivational speaker | not actually living in syria
Simberto
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Germany11792 Posts
January 10 2011 04:31 GMT
#20
As has already been stated, upgrades are very good. And, don`t outmicro yourself. Interceptors are not free. As long as you don`t let them get insanely many free hits, because you go for the carriers, your hydras should melt them away fast with simple a-move. As long as you trade one hydra against 4 interceptors, you are even in mineral cost, and if you have an somewhat sizeable army of hydras, you should trade far better. And, after the interceptors are all killed of, you might also get some carriers if he is not careful with them.

Getting a few more drones could have helped, and, again, upgrades. If you are on 3 bases, don´t fool around with a single evochamber. As long as you are going for any ground, get at least 2.

I just did some testing:

At even cost, 6 fully loaded carriers (2700/1500) vs 28 hydras (2800/1400), about half of the hydras survive, and kill of 1200 minerals worth of interceptors. So you would need to get 1-2 carriers to even out the score. If you engage on creep, that should be easily doable.

36 Hydras will kill the interceptors with about 11-12 losses.

If you double the engagement, that favors the hydras.

Also, hydras are far easier to mass then carriers. And you should be able to outexpand your enemy anyways, if he only goes for mass air. This is at even upgrades. Which later on means that the protoss would also have to get shield upgrades, which rarely any does.
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