[D] How not to die in a mine field (ZvT) - Page 2

On April 21 2013 00:34 TheDwf wrote:

It's not about what Zerg wants to do, it's about what Zerg is forced to do. Zergs do not morph Banelings out of pleasure, but because otherwise they will simply lose to critical mass of Marines in a tight formation. Your plan to jump straight to Infestors from Mutalisks without conceding any Baneling has major flaws; you will have severe issues defending the first Medivac push (particularly if Terran manages to land his troops behind mineral lines), and you will be in a world of pain if Terran hits you with 40+ Marines in a ball before you have Infestors out.

On April 21 2013 00:56 Decendos wrote:

thats the point. he HAS to make lings or will die. those 4 spines were great yeah....but you cant make 50 spines...you need lings or will just die to everything. if he does 1-2 drops while attacking...hf defending that without lings^^

On April 21 2013 01:08 ManiacTheZealot wrote:


You don't need 50 spines. Like you said those 4 spines were great. And you don't need to completely stop making zerglings either. So you won't be "defending without lings". Don't take it to extremes look at how it can be cost effective if you place them in the right spots at the right times.

On April 21 2013 01:29 Decendos wrote:


4 spines to block the small attack path to the 4th...another 6 where flash attacked then and 3 or so do fight off drops. thats already 13 for 1 base...

On April 21 2013 01:54 ManiacTheZealot wrote:


So let me get this straight you're advocating for no spines at all unless you can build 50 of them and defend everything at once?

On April 21 2013 02:09 Decendos wrote:


i am saying 1-2 spines/spores per base vs drops is fine. just like every Z does as standard play.

i dont really get what YOU mean. first you say " build spines vs mines instead of lings"...which you would need 30-60 depending on map. then you say, build 4....at 1 base...and basically play like bbong vs flash and build mass lings?! now how many spines would you say do you need in ZvT to stop the 11+ min attack that never stops. how would you balance the spine/ling ratio? how many spines/spores as drop defense? give us some numbers because right now it seems you had an idea "spines are good vs mines" but no practical clue on how to do it. if it is that good please give us a replay of you doing this mass spine style vs MMMM so we get a feeling for the number and positioning of spines you mean.

On April 21 2013 04:02 Spyridon wrote:
Why has noone mentioned Swarm Hosts?

Lately when I see enemies going for heavy mine/bio I have been getting SH/Roaches with spellcaster support and it has worked great so far.

Locusts basically make the mines irrelevant, and then you can send Roaches in to take initial aggression and clean up the mines. Locusts are great vs Marines as well, and infestors (or vipers if it goes that late) can nullify the infantry.

I honestly don't see what Mutas provide vs this match up that SH compositions don't do better, aside from discouraging drops a bit? (which can be handled with static defenses and roaches)

On April 21 2013 04:11 SC2John wrote:
In my personal experience, the best way to stop mines from creeping up to your front door is just constant counterattacks with muta/ling. Life has a lot of success with this, and I've been trying to copy a lot from him. Basically, you can defend the first parts of terran aggression with your muta/ling and start putting up static defenses at your base and then just go balls to the wall counterattack aggression which will stop the inevitable widow mine fields in the middle of the map from being dangerous.

In addition, if you can keep terran pinned back away from the mines, it's no problem to run a handful of lings over the mines, set them off, and then clean them up with mutas. Essentially, it works the same way as a terran clearing creep after distracting zerg with a drop or 2.

On April 21 2013 04:02 Spyridon wrote:
Why has noone mentioned Swarm Hosts?

Lately when I see enemies going for heavy mine/bio I have been getting SH/Roaches with spellcaster support and it has worked great so far.

Locusts basically make the mines irrelevant, and then you can send Roaches in to take initial aggression and clean up the mines. Locusts are great vs Marines as well, and infestors (or vipers if it goes that late) can nullify the infantry.

I honestly don't see what Mutas provide vs this match up that SH compositions don't do better, aside from discouraging drops a bit? (which can be handled with static defenses and roaches)

On April 21 2013 01:03 yeastiality wrote:
Fungal will reveal and damage mines. Infested terrans will set off mines. Infestors can harass bases that don't have tanks guarding them, whereas mutas can still just die to random mines and stimmed marines.

Even if fungal is a projectile now, the bio units have to stay in a certain area relative to where the mines are placed. It's not *that* hard to hit a big chunk of them unless you're playing EU-KR with huge lag or something like that.

I don't think he's saying "never use mutas" or "make purely infestors with your gas" - just that infestors can answer a lot of the fundamental strengths of bio/mine armies. When terrans start mixing in tanks, we're screwed, though!

On April 21 2013 12:37 ETisME wrote:
I will expand on my points earlier on. The problem is not your plat/diamond league, I am not having a too big big trouble against terran at diamond league either with just ling micro and good defense against drop and I am playing a ling baneling hydra combo into ultra viper.

The main issue is the lower league who doesn't try to donate the mine before entering first AND the GM/Pro level where the balance issue really shines.

This is what I heard from Ret when I was watching from his stream, something along this line:
you can get dropped to death and zerg can't put on aggression back onto the terran because they have total map control with the new medivac. They also have a great defensive capability because of the mines. Korean Zerg basically beat mines by having really good ling control and drop defense.

Spines will do nothing against marauder drops/run by which can snipe a hatch within around 10 seconds. Every spine you lose is losing one more drone and one less larva that needed for something else.

What he means is that in order to shut down drops and have some form of map control, you can only rely on muta but even with muta, it is much harder to kill medivac, making the eventually bio mine push much more powerful because a high medivac, mine and upgraded bio can *only* be beaten but a strong hive tech army backed with infestors.

Not to mention nowadays terrans are relatively safe to do a quick in base 3rd CC. With no ability to put back pressure onto the terran due to reaper, hellions, big maps and eventually the mines and drops, zerg will be at a macro disadvantage.

On April 21 2013 13:05 AlexanderDebois wrote:
As a terran player I would simply stim my 2-2, or worse 3-3, maruaders with a medivac or two up to the spines. They then die in about .5 seconds. I don't really know how you would stop this..if there are mines right behind the marauders good luck getting close to them and they would probably kill the spines before you could react anyway. Interesting theory crafting but I do no think it could work.