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[D] ZvP 3 base v 2 base

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
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1 2 Next All
courtpanda
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
866 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-01 10:41:57
September 01 2012 10:36 GMT
#1
preface: i'm a diamond zerg in NA

the standard for ZvP lately has been FFE vs quick 3 hatch, then P either goes for a 2 base timing or a third.

zerg staying on 2 base has still been on option, but its seen as more of a gimmicky build than a standard one. i've been experimenting with 2 base play, and although its far from refined, i would like more opinions on it.

in a different thread, someone had the concept of ETA: economy tech army. (basically, its knowing which of the three you have more of at the moment, and exploiting your advantages). so applying this idea to ZvP
-three hatch:
pros: economy, cons: army, tech
-two hatch
pros: tech, army, cons: economy.

HOWEVER: when you go two hatch, you get 300 extra minerals, which means 6 extra drones earlier.
this allows you to get an earlier gas than usual while maintaining a similar economy, and thus, earlier tech.
so now, you can have 1-1 and roach-speed and infestors sooner than with 3 hatch.

better tech means your units are more cost efficient, and thus your army is stronger. now you can take a third safely, hold most all-ins, and/or pressure the protoss third while saturating yours safely.

the last problem with 2 base v 3 base is larva. you obviously have less larva when going 2 hatch.
this hasn't been an issue for me yet. since you're spending a lot on early upgrades, its hard to use all your larva. also, since i tend to go for more roaches than lings, roaches are more larva-efficient than lings (75-25 v 50-0 per larva). as long as you don't take a third (or a macro hatch) too late, and you hit your injects, you can keep your money low fine.


heres the basic build order outline for what i've been talking about
pool
hatch
extractor
2 queens
@100 gas ling speed
@100 gas lair
@lair 25/80sec roach warren
3x extractor
2x evo chambers
@100%lair roach speed
@250 gas +1/+1
@full saturation: roaches + third
+2/+2
infestation pit


*edit: my timings right now are kind of bad. the +1/+1 probably should come before lair

now prove to me why this idea sucks.
VoirDire
Profile Joined February 2009
Sweden1923 Posts
September 01 2012 10:46 GMT
#2
You can't attack a 2 base protoss so that your extra army/tech can't do anything in the beginning. When protoss moves out or takes his third (9-10 minutes) you'd have more army if you went for 3 base.
ETisME
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
12621 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-01 10:58:39
September 01 2012 10:58 GMT
#3
On September 01 2012 19:46 VoirDire wrote:
You can't attack a 2 base protoss so that your extra army/tech can't do anything in the beginning. When protoss moves out or takes his third (9-10 minutes) you'd have more army if you went for 3 base.

staying on 2 bases vs FFE toss is do-able, I remember when revival (or one of the TSL zerg) streamed, he always stay on 2 hatches for ling infestors crushing that 2 base all in with spine support and then going for a huge counter or double expand

(or a ling infestor timing attack)
其疾如风,其徐如林,侵掠如火,不动如山,难知如阴,动如雷震。
LyraD
Profile Joined November 2011
Singapore13 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-01 11:04:14
September 01 2012 11:02 GMT
#4
Hi, I'll try to give some pointers.

Your build hurts the economy too much. If you take gases too early and do not take a third, you will not be on par with your protoss counterpart economically. Without much economy, you cannot tech and build your army at the same time (even if you do, you won't get your critical mass to fend off protoss' waves).

I see that you get your roach warren at such an early timing. You do have to know the reason why we get it: gateway attacks come in from 7:30 to 9mins. A 7:30 min timing would usually mean a fast +1 attack and thus, pure lings die too quickly and it will be difficult to hold with just pure lings. This is why we get a roach warren at around 7 minutes. Note, it is still possible to fend off this attack with pure lings, but roaches make it so much easier. If the attack comes at 9 mins and it is a 2 base, then you have to have an insane flanking ability and spine crawlers to fend this off. But a success tip to fend off all this kind of attacks is to have a good economy, something a 2 base zerg will not provide.

Hence, if you get a roach warren and gas too early, you are crippling yourself and will lose out to the protoss if he does the standard timings. On the other hand, if the protoss attacks you early (say a 4gate all in), then your build will suffice. But if we look at a third scenario where the protoss takes a third and expands, then no doubt you will be severely behind.

So to summarise, you will do well against ridiculous early protoss timings, but not against standard or late game play. You may be ahead in upgrades, but you do not have the economy to have a large army. You may get infestors out early, but you do not have the critical mass to kill them (fungal growth to death is nonsense) You will have a hard time winning protoss if they know what they are doing.

True enough, there are many variations to ZvP, you do not always have to follow the popular Stephano 12 min max out build. But most of the builds have one thing in common: get 3 bases fast or end the game early.
"Starcraft 2 is not a dating game; so personality doesn't matter" - EGIdrA
Vermiiifuuge
Profile Joined August 2012
Korea (South)112 Posts
September 01 2012 11:07 GMT
#5
It's safer to open 3 hatch gasless by far.
sCCrooked
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Korea (South)1306 Posts
September 01 2012 11:08 GMT
#6
The problem with this idea is that its already been done by much better players a while back. Since then, Protoss have gotten a lot better with things like sim citying certain maps so they can take a fast third with sentries for ff defense. If you try to go for some 2 base thing like this, you're already going to be making some sort of units when you realize he's taking a third and not pushing.

After seeing him take a third with sufficient sentries, you're pretty much dead already. He hasn't even had to do a thing, you simply just gave him a BO win. Especially on maps like Cloud Kingdom and Entombed, you won't be able to touch P's third or punish him in any way, while you're about 30-40 drones behind someone who opened 3 hatch.

Also keep in mind that back then, Protoss didn't have the build orders available for the immortal/sentry pushes. These days its becoming just as common to actually immo/sentry expand off 5 gates or so instead of making a serious push. I can't stress enough how bad of an idea it is to try to bust someone that knows how to properly do this. The immortals will destroy your roaches and the ffs will completely prevent your lings from doing anything. Even if you have infestors, he'll have cannon/sim-city/ with all that and can keep you from doing any sort of damage before he has more gates and can just go kill you.
Enlightened in an age of anti-intellectualism and quotidian repetitiveness of asinine assumptive thinking. Best lycan guide evar --> "Fixing solo queue all pick one game at a time." ~KwarK-
VoirDire
Profile Joined February 2009
Sweden1923 Posts
September 01 2012 11:09 GMT
#7
On September 01 2012 19:58 ETisME wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 01 2012 19:46 VoirDire wrote:
You can't attack a 2 base protoss so that your extra army/tech can't do anything in the beginning. When protoss moves out or takes his third (9-10 minutes) you'd have more army if you went for 3 base.

staying on 2 bases vs FFE toss is do-able, I remember when revival (or one of the TSL zerg) streamed, he always stay on 2 hatches for ling infestors crushing that 2 base all in with spine support and then going for a huge counter or double expand

(or a ling infestor timing attack)

It was doable to fend of 2 base all ins before the 1.4 infestor nerf. But now most protosses go for 3 base and you'll end up behind in most games. Not even destiny goes for 2 base infestors anymore.
Teoita
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Italy12246 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-01 11:42:47
September 01 2012 11:41 GMT
#8
On September 01 2012 19:58 ETisME wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 01 2012 19:46 VoirDire wrote:
You can't attack a 2 base protoss so that your extra army/tech can't do anything in the beginning. When protoss moves out or takes his third (9-10 minutes) you'd have more army if you went for 3 base.

staying on 2 bases vs FFE toss is do-able, I remember when revival (or one of the TSL zerg) streamed, he always stay on 2 hatches for ling infestors crushing that 2 base all in with spine support and then going for a huge counter or double expand

(or a ling infestor timing attack)


2base Ling Infestor or 2base muta is a whole different animal from a 2base Roach build like the OP suggests though.

I agree that 2base tech can be kind of viable (especially because it's hard to know wether it's bust vs tech), but if you stay low tech and go roach instead you really need the third or the Protoss' army will eventually overrun you through sheer cost efficiency.
ModeratorProtoss all-ins are like a wok. You can throw whatever you want in there and it will turn out alright.
Schnullerbacke13
Profile Joined August 2010
Germany1199 Posts
September 01 2012 12:46 GMT
#9
if you go 2 base you need to do damage in order to win. since wall off is pretty easy, you need to play some wall breaking tech like muta/infestor/nydus/(baneling). unfortunately round the time your tech is avaiable, protoss is about to push out with his army. if the protoss goes fast third you have a slightly better chance if you hit the timing window. in general 3 base play will yield a higher winrate.
21 is half the truth
EndOfLineTv
Profile Joined February 2011
United States741 Posts
September 01 2012 13:33 GMT
#10
On September 01 2012 20:41 Teoita wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 01 2012 19:58 ETisME wrote:
On September 01 2012 19:46 VoirDire wrote:
You can't attack a 2 base protoss so that your extra army/tech can't do anything in the beginning. When protoss moves out or takes his third (9-10 minutes) you'd have more army if you went for 3 base.

staying on 2 bases vs FFE toss is do-able, I remember when revival (or one of the TSL zerg) streamed, he always stay on 2 hatches for ling infestors crushing that 2 base all in with spine support and then going for a huge counter or double expand

(or a ling infestor timing attack)


2base Ling Infestor or 2base muta is a whole different animal from a 2base Roach build like the OP suggests though.

I agree that 2base tech can be kind of viable (especially because it's hard to know wether it's bust vs tech), but if you stay low tech and go roach instead you really need the third or the Protoss' army will eventually overrun you through sheer cost efficiency.



What he said.

You can do 2 base tech --> expand

and get small advantages here or there, as long as you dont throw away your special units and get your third running before protoss.

Also, If the toss goes for a very fast third anyway, I would suggest you fully saturating your third and getting a 4th up before maxing.
Drowsy
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
United States4876 Posts
September 01 2012 15:44 GMT
#11
If you 2 hatch, you have to go infestor ling. End of story. Any build with muta or roach will get completely rolled by a very simple 2 base timing push from protoss (blink or immortal sentry), every time.
Our Protoss, Who art in Aiur HongUn be Thy name; Thy stalker come, Thy will be blunk, on ladder as it is in Micro Tourny. Give us this win in our daily ladder, and forgive us our cheeses, As we forgive those who play zerg against us.
CajunMan
Profile Joined July 2010
United States823 Posts
September 01 2012 16:04 GMT
#12
I think 2 hatch is ok just go speed little into it then expand around 5 to 6 min. Speed lets you be safe and defend pushes. If you stay on 2 base longer than that you either need to be going spines with muta or double expand and pray he doesn't attack you.
Xonix
Profile Joined February 2012
225 Posts
September 01 2012 16:05 GMT
#13
guys don't quote me and i haven't done the math on this but if you stay on 2 bases it makes it hard for you to trade armies doesn't it? Therfore putting you in a all in situation if the toss nicely holds off your push
EndOfLineTv
Profile Joined February 2011
United States741 Posts
September 01 2012 16:05 GMT
#14
On September 02 2012 00:44 Drowsy wrote:
If you 2 hatch, you have to go infestor ling. End of story. Any build with muta or roach will get completely rolled by a very simple 2 base timing push from protoss (blink or immortal sentry), every time.


Im sorry but,
This is just flat out not true.

2 base muta expand
2 base fester expand
2 base hydra expand
2 base 1/1 ling with drop/bane expand
2 base roach with burrow movent expand

all of these can be viable if one's macro/ build orders are good.
EndOfLineTv
Profile Joined February 2011
United States741 Posts
September 01 2012 16:06 GMT
#15
On September 02 2012 01:05 Xonix wrote:
guys don't quote me and i haven't done the math on this but if you stay on 2 bases it makes it hard for you to trade armies doesn't it? Therfore putting you in a all in situation if the toss nicely holds off your push


its not about staying on two bases. its about staying on two bases longer so you can have higher tech. then expanding.

MateShade
Profile Joined July 2011
Australia736 Posts
September 01 2012 16:14 GMT
#16
A Protoss that scouts no 3rd will most likely not go through with their planned 2 base all in. So I think you can cross that off the list
Xonix
Profile Joined February 2012
225 Posts
September 01 2012 16:16 GMT
#17
On September 02 2012 01:06 BuiBui wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 02 2012 01:05 Xonix wrote:
guys don't quote me and i haven't done the math on this but if you stay on 2 bases it makes it hard for you to trade armies doesn't it? Therfore putting you in a all in situation if the toss nicely holds off your push


its not about staying on two bases. its about staying on two bases longer so you can have higher tech. then expanding.



But i find this fast tech extremly risky... It's gotten to the point where toss does faster and faster all ins specificly hitting before you get your third is fully saturated anyway. Sacrificing units for tech?
Teoita
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Italy12246 Posts
September 01 2012 16:17 GMT
#18
On September 02 2012 01:05 BuiBui wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 02 2012 00:44 Drowsy wrote:
If you 2 hatch, you have to go infestor ling. End of story. Any build with muta or roach will get completely rolled by a very simple 2 base timing push from protoss (blink or immortal sentry), every time.


Im sorry but,
This is just flat out not true.

2 base muta expand
2 base fester expand
2 base hydra expand
2 base 1/1 ling with drop/bane expand
2 base roach with burrow movent expand

all of these can be viable if one's macro/ build orders are good.


All those except 2 base muta and maybe 2base infestor are allins you can't expand off them. But then again anything goes in gold league right?
ModeratorProtoss all-ins are like a wok. You can throw whatever you want in there and it will turn out alright.
Xonix
Profile Joined February 2012
225 Posts
September 01 2012 16:23 GMT
#19
On September 02 2012 01:17 Teoita wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 02 2012 01:05 BuiBui wrote:
On September 02 2012 00:44 Drowsy wrote:
If you 2 hatch, you have to go infestor ling. End of story. Any build with muta or roach will get completely rolled by a very simple 2 base timing push from protoss (blink or immortal sentry), every time.


Im sorry but,
This is just flat out not true.

2 base muta expand
2 base fester expand
2 base hydra expand
2 base 1/1 ling with drop/bane expand
2 base roach with burrow movent expand

all of these can be viable if one's macro/ build orders are good.


All those except 2 base muta and maybe 2base infestor are allins you can't expand off them. But then again anything goes in gold league right?


Two base muta is viable but you have to do a shit ton of damage and constanly be harrasing or else the toss will just come in and kill you. Whenever a zerg is going infestors it means that your trying to play passive basicly so I don't think the infestor all in would work
EndOfLineTv
Profile Joined February 2011
United States741 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-01 16:31:53
September 01 2012 16:27 GMT
#20
On September 02 2012 01:17 Teoita wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 02 2012 01:05 BuiBui wrote:
On September 02 2012 00:44 Drowsy wrote:
If you 2 hatch, you have to go infestor ling. End of story. Any build with muta or roach will get completely rolled by a very simple 2 base timing push from protoss (blink or immortal sentry), every time.


Im sorry but,
This is just flat out not true.

2 base muta expand
2 base fester expand
2 base hydra expand
2 base 1/1 ling with drop/bane expand
2 base roach with burrow movent expand

all of these can be viable if one's macro/ build orders are good.


All those except 2 base muta and maybe 2base infestor are allins you can't expand off them. But then again anything goes in gold league right?


1350+ master zerg. 1200 on my smurf
You are coming off quite insulting.

All of these builds are tech expands, and you done expand behind your slight tech poke. All of these builds can work vs top 8 and low GM toss's in my ladder experience this season. Its all about mind games, and building upon small advantages. Perhaps you should try out stuff before you knock it.
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