EPTedit: err.... did i say [G]? I meant [D]. Also i think "Clever's No Gas FE Idea" would be a better title in retrospect. <3 u guys out there who have given me constructive advice on how to work this play in without perhaps going to illogical extremes
Ask yourself the following question: why is it common for zergs to open with an early gas (as early as 14)?
Speedlings. After the first 100 gas are mined, zerg players usually take their drones out of gas and send them back to mine. The point of this opening is to skip that first 100 gas entirely and hold off on the extractor until whenever those drones would have been sent back into gas in a normal build order.
IT IS IN MY OPINION THAT SPEED ZERGLINGS ARE NOT NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE ZERG OPENINGS. This is the cornerstone of my build. Getting early speedlings is not always worth the cost:
-- the cost of the extractor,
-- the opportunity cost of what the drone that builds the extractor could have mined,
-- the opportunity cost of what the drones in gas could have mined on minerals,
-- the 100/100 cost of the upgrade,
-- the larva used to build a significant number of speedlings
Of course, something has to be used to ensure the security of the zerg base in the absence of speedlings. This is where Day[9]’s influence comes into play. While watching the queen funday monday, I noted several things from the replays.
Clever’s Spine Crawlers™ and Queens™ have remarkable synergy. Consider the following:
1. Neither costs any gas
2. Both are extremely larva efficient
3. Queens can transfuse spine crawlers
4. Queens can spread creep, allowing spine crawlers to be placed more effectively
Queens handle anti-air extremely efficiently. Void rays and mutalisks are no longer a threat.
Spine crawlers take no supply -- in fact, they SUBTRACT from your supply. This decreases the number of overlords you have to build in order to remain secure. Spine crawlers are also not affected by sentry force fields.
Here’s the premise of this build in a nutshell: abuse the larva efficiency of spine crawlers and queens while spending all your larva on drones. This allows you to get your natural and saturate it extremely quickly, while maintaining a secure position.
Yes, you are giving up map control. Yes, you will not be able to exert pressure on your opponent for some time. This is to be expected. What makes it acceptable is the rate at which you will hit full saturation on both bases. Once this has been achieved, you can immediately mass a significant force of roaches and lings, obtaining map control. In fact, the ways to proceed from this point are boundless. The extra economy could go towards teching up, or getting upgrades, or planting down a quick third.
(Basic) Build Order
+ Show Spoiler +
9 Overlord
9 Drone - Scout on 10/10
Drone to 14
14 Pool
13 2x Drone
15 Hatch
Queen ASAP
Overlords as necessary
Drone hard, maintain constant queen production
Spine crawler at natural when hatch finishes. Add additional spine crawlers as needed.
~40 first gas EDIT: HOLY SHIT popular opinion seems to be that 40 is definitely too late. I'll experiment with getting the gas earlier; it's possible that this just isn't viable, but if it's possible to make it work, it's probably around 30, not 40
Explanation
+ Show Spoiler +
Knowing what your opponent is doing is critical. If you’re playing against Terran and you have any suspicion whatsoever that there may be banshee play, get an evo chamber immediately and drop a couple spore crawlers at your main and natural. Keep a zergling outside your opponent’s ramp and another one on a xelnaga watchtower. These are the only zerglings you should need for a long while -- replace them if they are wiped out, but don’t waste larva on massing them up.
You’ll want to build the first spine crawler at your natural as soon as it finishes. You’ll also want to spread creep between your main and your natural as fast as possible, but don’t sacrifice larva injects to get it there.
It is extremely important that you position your spine crawlers and queens such that enemy units cannot run around them and make it into your main. If this happens you are screwed. Building an evo chamber to create a wall-off can be an effective tactic.
Generally once I get my first gas I continue to add another one on as the last one finishes. Alternatively I suppose you could do them all at once. This depends on your choice of transition.
You’ll want to build the first spine crawler at your natural as soon as it finishes. You’ll also want to spread creep between your main and your natural as fast as possible, but don’t sacrifice larva injects to get it there.
It is extremely important that you position your spine crawlers and queens such that enemy units cannot run around them and make it into your main. If this happens you are screwed. Building an evo chamber to create a wall-off can be an effective tactic.
Generally once I get my first gas I continue to add another one on as the last one finishes. Alternatively I suppose you could do them all at once. This depends on your choice of transition.
Bbulzibar's Excellent Explanation
+ Show Spoiler +
On February 25 2011 11:34 bbulzibar wrote:
While this build won't work at the pro level, Anyone below should think about this more. It's really not that crazy, and I've beat ~2700 Masters players with a similar build. I think most people think it takes forever to get to 40 drones, but it's actually very reasonably fast.
4:00 min 15 Hatch Pops. Immediately put down 2 spines (btw, 2 hurts your econ way more than 1)
4:55 min 2 Spines Pop.
5:45 min 40 drones. Get all 4 gases. This takes 16 drones. (3 on each and 4 to build). 24 drones left mining minerals. 12 drones mining gas. All new drones go on minerals.
When you have 100 gas, get lair, roach warren. 2 evos. Get 1/1, burrow and roach speed. They all finish around the same time.
At 10:30 you have a 134 food army consisting of 30 +1/+1 roaches with speed and burrow, and 62 drones, so you're ready to break down some gold rocks and attack.
I would note that I've never won "because" of this build. It's just another way to get you past the early game into the mid game, without putting you very far ahead or behind.
While this build won't work at the pro level, Anyone below should think about this more. It's really not that crazy, and I've beat ~2700 Masters players with a similar build. I think most people think it takes forever to get to 40 drones, but it's actually very reasonably fast.
4:00 min 15 Hatch Pops. Immediately put down 2 spines (btw, 2 hurts your econ way more than 1)
4:55 min 2 Spines Pop.
5:45 min 40 drones. Get all 4 gases. This takes 16 drones. (3 on each and 4 to build). 24 drones left mining minerals. 12 drones mining gas. All new drones go on minerals.
When you have 100 gas, get lair, roach warren. 2 evos. Get 1/1, burrow and roach speed. They all finish around the same time.
At 10:30 you have a 134 food army consisting of 30 +1/+1 roaches with speed and burrow, and 62 drones, so you're ready to break down some gold rocks and attack.
I would note that I've never won "because" of this build. It's just another way to get you past the early game into the mid game, without putting you very far ahead or behind.
Maps (and how they affect this build):
+ Show Spoiler +
Shakuras is probably the best map for this build. You can build spines at your nat’s ramp immediately without any creep tumors, and it’s difficult for things to sneak up the ramp into your main.
Other maps, like XelNaga, can be a bit tricky thanks to the position of the ramp in relation to your natural. Having multiple queens can be useful to block off the ramp and prevent zergling runbys or the like from r0flstomping you.
The back door on Blistering Sands can be a problem. If you keep a zergling at his front and an overlord over the rocks and have a bit of notice you can still defend most early pushes. By the time the later pushes hit, you should be past the saturation phase and into the “mass units” one.
I don’t play on Steppes, Delta Quadrant, or Basin. Neither, I believe, do most zergs. I don’t think this will work very well on any of those maps. Delta Quadrant’s natural is actually in the worst possible place for this build. Jungle Basin has the rocks behind its natural -- the downside of spine crawlers is that they can’t bounce from place to place to defend.
Close positions are probably going to be a b*tch. Like most FE builds, this can be pretty vulnerable to early pressure/rushes. Don’t ever try this against a cannon rush. If necessary, zerglings can be built to defend early pressure like bunker rushes. Try to minimize their usage, however. Every zergling you build represents a blow to your economy because it could have been a drone/minerals put towards a queen or spine.
Other maps, like XelNaga, can be a bit tricky thanks to the position of the ramp in relation to your natural. Having multiple queens can be useful to block off the ramp and prevent zergling runbys or the like from r0flstomping you.
The back door on Blistering Sands can be a problem. If you keep a zergling at his front and an overlord over the rocks and have a bit of notice you can still defend most early pushes. By the time the later pushes hit, you should be past the saturation phase and into the “mass units” one.
I don’t play on Steppes, Delta Quadrant, or Basin. Neither, I believe, do most zergs. I don’t think this will work very well on any of those maps. Delta Quadrant’s natural is actually in the worst possible place for this build. Jungle Basin has the rocks behind its natural -- the downside of spine crawlers is that they can’t bounce from place to place to defend.
Close positions are probably going to be a b*tch. Like most FE builds, this can be pretty vulnerable to early pressure/rushes. Don’t ever try this against a cannon rush. If necessary, zerglings can be built to defend early pressure like bunker rushes. Try to minimize their usage, however. Every zergling you build represents a blow to your economy because it could have been a drone/minerals put towards a queen or spine.
TRANSITIONING EFFECTIVELY
+ Show Spoiler +
Against toss or zerg I like to transition to mass roach off this play because it’s a solid composition and it doesn’t require you to research any long-winded tech (like zergling speed) to be effective. Sometimes you’ll be able to mass enough roaches fast enough to just go trample him and his inferior economy. Otherwise just spread your creep out, move the spine crawlers to a more useful position, and take your third. You want to tech to lair pretty much ASAP, and at that point you can add hydras or infestors or whatever you choose to the mass of roaches.
Against Terran the idea is to get speedlings, banelings, and mutas as fast as possible. A macro hatch may be appropriate, especially if you don’t have sufficient map control to put up a third quickly.
From then on out it’s just standard zerg macro play. Don’t worry if you can’t crush him with your initial surge of units; as long as you can keep him contained, your next expansion will be safe, and you can maximize your economic advantage.
Against Terran the idea is to get speedlings, banelings, and mutas as fast as possible. A macro hatch may be appropriate, especially if you don’t have sufficient map control to put up a third quickly.
From then on out it’s just standard zerg macro play. Don’t worry if you can’t crush him with your initial surge of units; as long as you can keep him contained, your next expansion will be safe, and you can maximize your economic advantage.
A FINAL WORD
I am far from a talented player. I get supply blocked, miss larva injects, and my (real, not adjusted) APM barely crosses 100. That being said, I’ve had success with this build against a variety of opponents, and I think it could form a stable foundation for higher-level play.
If you notice anything about the build or have any ideas on how to improve it, PLEASE feel free to state these below. I’m sure I haven’t managed to unleash its full potential -- timings after the 23 overlord tend to get pretty funky with my (erratic) play, so I haven’t locked any transitions down yet.
Honestly this isn’t a full-blown strat at this point because I’m just not good enough to take it there. However I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a cool idea, with specific but effective uses. Thanks for your time. I’ve posted some replays below.
REPLAYS
+ Show Spoiler +
ZvZ - Metalopolis
Despite taking huge economic damage, my spine crawlers/queens/constant drone production allows me to recover and eventually steamroll my opponent.
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/143730-1v1-zerg-metalopolis
ZvT - Xelnaga Caverns
I get a strong economy going - stronger than the Terran despite his early expansion - and pull off a win despite abysmal micro and basically throwing away a full army. The midgame surge of resources propels me to victory.
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/143958-1v1-terran-zerg-xelnaga-caverns
ZvP - Shakuras Plateau
This game demonstrates the effectiveness of Clever’s Queens™ at holding off timing pushes involving void rays.
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/143956-1v1-protoss-zerg-shakuras-plateau
ZvZ - Shakuras Plateau
This cautionary tale shows what happens when units can waltz past your spine crawlers and into your main. Note that my Clever-brand Drones™ far outstripped his prior to the loss. Note also that proper positioning would have allowed my queens and spines to successfully defend this push.
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/143959-1v1-zerg-shakuras-plateau
Despite taking huge economic damage, my spine crawlers/queens/constant drone production allows me to recover and eventually steamroll my opponent.
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/143730-1v1-zerg-metalopolis
ZvT - Xelnaga Caverns
I get a strong economy going - stronger than the Terran despite his early expansion - and pull off a win despite abysmal micro and basically throwing away a full army. The midgame surge of resources propels me to victory.
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/143958-1v1-terran-zerg-xelnaga-caverns
ZvP - Shakuras Plateau
This game demonstrates the effectiveness of Clever’s Queens™ at holding off timing pushes involving void rays.
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/143956-1v1-protoss-zerg-shakuras-plateau
ZvZ - Shakuras Plateau
This cautionary tale shows what happens when units can waltz past your spine crawlers and into your main. Note that my Clever-brand Drones™ far outstripped his prior to the loss. Note also that proper positioning would have allowed my queens and spines to successfully defend this push.
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/143959-1v1-zerg-shakuras-plateau
