I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread about this. The video here was staged just asked a friend to send some lings at me so i could make a video of it.
You can skip like 50 seconds of video, it is just lings running across map
Basically what it is, if you get attacked by lings without any banelings workers can just stack on top of each other, minimizing drone loss alot. Dependant on the mineral locations you can minimize the drone lose more if you have 1 far mineral patch between 2 far mineral patches with no gaps.
I first saw this while playing a koth obs game so if you want a replay its like 2 hours long.
edit: [url blocked] Heres a replay of it in a real game (koth obs but still apply's i think) the replay of the game its on xel'naga koth obs and its at 1 hour 20mins so you may have to fast forward alot of it. (posted this below also)
On March 07 2011 09:50 Volka wrote: But you stop mining... lol
yeh but if you scout a rush you can do it do defend ur workers, as he said he only made this movie as proof with a friend. I think most players know this is possible but its more common to send all ur workers to the furthest mineral patch when the zerglings are almost there, they will spread out crazy fast and surround the lings, if you didn't know this yet :p
On March 07 2011 09:50 Volka wrote: But you stop mining... lol
Don't you think losing your whole mineral line is worse than losing mining time for 8-10 seconds while more units hatch/warpin/train?
It cost my mate the game he was playing he did other things wrong but if he had been able to kill more of the mineral line at that point i think it would of changed out come.
[url blocked] Theres the replay of the game its on xel'naga koth obs and its at 1 hour 20mins so u may have to fast forward alot of it.
I do think it will effect low level play more than high level play but it may.
I think your video also showed the main problem with doing this:
You can't do anything except repeatedly click on that one mineral patch for the entire time. Sure, the zerglings could run away (although I'm sure a few would stick around to keep killing your drones), but they could just kill your hatchery instead >.>
But if you were only concerned about slowing down the death of your workers (and didn't care about anything else), then I do believe you found a good solution
you might want to show us how this looks with 16 drones, as thats usually the number people have at any one time, and see how much die to a zergling attack.
On March 07 2011 12:06 Maynarde wrote: When 1.3 comes out you won't be able to do this anymore. I think the flower stacking mechanic of SC2 is being taken out for ALL units.
I thought that only applied to the Patrol command? You can still Move repeatedly to a single point to stack units.
Besides, workers have always had the ability to stack and move through units. I doubt they would change that, or there would be massive uproars XD
You should probably add a disclaimer about how worthless the first ninety seconds of that video was.
Yes, you can use a drone flower to protect your losses, but why not take it a step further and have your drone flower attack after bunching up? 6 lings won't be able to beat 14 drones, giving you time to make zerglings as well as weakening his 6 pool'd lings.
On March 07 2011 12:06 Maynarde wrote: When 1.3 comes out you won't be able to do this anymore. I think the flower stacking mechanic of SC2 is being taken out for ALL units.
I thought that only applied to the Patrol command? You can still Move repeatedly to a single point to stack units.
Besides, workers have always had the ability to stack and move through units. I doubt they would change that, or there would be massive uproars XD
Sounds like you may be right man Won't know for sure until 1.3 arrives I guess. Really can't wait.
its a nice trick, but its not practical in a real game you lose too much time just to save a few drones, plus you would have units you need to control that you cant if your just clicking.
I wasn't aware that drone drilling was revolutionary or up for debate. This is basic micro, guys. Drilling your workers is something you should just know how to do -.-.
I'm not really sure what the point of this thread is. The video shows something that is pretty impractical. I guess there might be possible situations where the best option is to just be doing that rather than actually microing? I can't really imagine any such situation though.
If the point is not entirely the trick shown in the video, but drone stacking in general then it's a pretty well-known micro trick. As some people already mentioned, it's been around since BW and is a side-effect of drones hovering when they mine.
Now if the post had shown that you can stack and attack with the stack then that might be something. Maybe I'm just missing the point entirely. It's entirely possible.
I like to move my workers to a patch on the edge of the min field, then once they're bunched click on a patch on the opposite side then amove when you're on top of the lings. They burst apart and surround the lings very quickly.
i rly hope everyone saying a drill isnt effective or worthwhile is just trolling, cause its one of the more useful early game tactics to defend a rush or even to break a ramp block.
EPT
