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This thread is for all things Static Defense Placement (as the title might suggest.) To start, cannons and spines outrange marines in bunkers, but only if placed perfectly:
Spine Crawler and Cannon Placement vs Bunkers
Credit goes to Orek and his post on ZvT Perfect Spine placement vs 2rax Bunker for the initial discovery.
Dealing with bunker rushes can be really annoying but they don’t have to be. Spine Crawlers and Photon Cannons both outrange marines in a bunker. This means that all you need to do when dealing with a bunker rush is to place a spine or cannon in the correct position and enjoy the free damage as you remain safely out of range of marine fire.
There are 52 perfect placements or sweet spots around a bunker.
A Spine Crawler or cannon in a sweet spot can deal damage to a bunker full of marines without taking any damage. Fortunately these buildings are symmetrical, so we only need to remember 7.
Example Game - Maru vs effOrt - Proleague 2014
In this recent proleague match Maru bunker rushes effOrt. The first spine is placed before the bunker. Maru makes the mistake of placing the bunker directly in the sweet spot for zerg. One square closer and he would have been able to deal damage to the spine, one further away and he would be out of the spine’s range, forcing an uproot by effOrt and preventing the terrible terrible damage that was administered to that bunker via giraffe headbutt.
Maru builds a second bunker after the first starts getting wailed on, this time placing it out of range of the spine. Once the first bunker is destroyed effOrt makes the error of relocating the spine crawler too far forward allowing the marines in the bunker to start focusing it down. effOrt tries to relocate his spine again, but by that point it is too late and he goes on to lose the spine, the hatch, and the game in quick succession.
Let’s take a look at how either player could have taken this game more easily with what we know about sweet spots. We will use evolution chambers to represent bunkers. First the spine goes down here. To find the sweet spot quickly we can hover the placement adjacent to the spine and count 7 steps away from it or (7,0). The Terran wants to place anywhere but a sweet spot. So our best option is one step further away from the spine which keeps us out of the spine’s range and in range of the hatchery.
This was the placement of the second bunker. After killing the first bunker effOrt needs to relocate to a new sweet spot. We follow the same process here as before. The (7,0) spot is taken by the hatch. The next spot is 1 step up or down. In this particular situation we need a spot that will cover our ramp as well so we go down. (7,1) This spot is taken by the hatch as well. The next spots are (6,2) (6,3) and (6,4). (6,4) is the closest sweet spot. (5,5) is also an option but getting to the new sweet spot quickly and minimizing down time is our top priority. So (6,4) is our best option.
Eventually you will memorize these spots, but to start with you will have to count. Here are the fastest ways to count out each sweet spot.
There are 4 sweet spots adjacent to the bunker. These are 7 steps away. This works as long as you have at least 1 square on the same row or column as 1 square of the bunker.
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Next there are 3 in a row that are 6 steps away. To find these quickly start at the corner of the bunker and count 6 steps away. This is the first of the 3. The other two are one and two steps perpendicular to the direction you just counted in always away from the bunker.
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The last 3 are diagonal. Start at the corner of the bunker and count 4 diagonal steps away from the bunker. This is the middle of the 3. The other two are one step in each direction perpendicular to the direction you just counted in.
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While it is much less frequent in gameplay, keep in mind that these principles work exactly the same with cannons and bunkers. So the next time you feel like cannon rushing a terran, make sure you brush up on your sweet spots beforehand.
Okay that's to get us started. What other tips and tricks exist about static defense placement?
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Mmm, I'll investigate it for sure.
EDIT: Looks legit. I'll get on creating a more in depth analysis.
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Thats fucking awesome. Can;t believe i never saw that abused like that ... was that shakuras?
Glad noone did that to me quite like that lol
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Best places to put in mineral line that doesn't disrupt mining as much?
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@reikai
NEVER FORGET! Fortunately most of us don't have to play vs illusion. And most pros aren't utilizing this bit of micro just yet.
edit: as a side note the zerg did not utilize the sweet spots 
@hellokitty
Great idea, I'll start working on this any sources for information on this?
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The turret thing is right. The Diagram is right. I did the same tests 3 years ago.
The closest 2 turrets can be to each other is every other turret diagonally in any direction.
Another way to say that is every other 2x2 square along a diagnol.
Another way to say that is imagine a diagonal line of turrets. Remove every other turret from the line.
I don't know how to describe it in words and I don't have the screen shots I had of it before.
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+ Show Spoiler +On March 10 2014 03:11 MrTortoise wrote:Thats fucking awesome. Can;t believe i never saw that abused like that ... was that shakuras? Glad noone did that to me quite like that lol
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On March 10 2014 06:56 JaKaTaK wrote:@reikai NEVER FORGET! Fortunately most of us don't have to play vs illusion. And most pros aren't utilizing this bit of micro just yet. edit: as a side note the zerg did not utilize the sweet spots @hellokitty Great idea, I'll start working on this any sources for information on this?
Wait, what? I thought pros have been doing this for a while... Maybe not all of them, but I've already seen that micro quite a few times already... Maybe the few matches featuring that micro I watched several times over and over again, but I saw someone other than Illusion do it, cause I never watch Illusion, I only watch top tier Korean Terrans, Code S, and Proleague.
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@RyLai
To be clear we're not talking about simply moving the marines in and out of the bunker. We're talking specifically about timing it with the cooldown of the spine attack to avoid losing marines. I have rarely seen this specific micro in pro tournament games. For example Maru was not utilizing this in the example game. It isn't that no one uses it, just that it isn't consistently used.
I imagine all pros and commentators knowing and memorizing sweet spots. Then it becomes a high level micro situation every time. Who places the static d first and where? What's the other players reaction? When is cancelling the best option? etc. I would love so much to see a game like that.
@HungrySC2
Happy Birthday!!
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Following this guide certainly would make a difference in the situation of bunker rush, but the problem is that you're trying to play fast and don't want to spend several seconds in placing your SD. I don't think even pros will find the placement intuitively and fast without counting squares, because the squares are so small and the setting is always a little different.
Good point though!
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Thank you very much for doing this following-up in HotS. By dividing the placements into 3 parts, you made them easier for us to remember.
Not that many people care how to name placements, but JaKaTaK and I used different naming rules and I want clear up any confusion.+ Show Spoiler +
I should have explained it better in my old thread. Anyways, the most important thing here is not names but being able to tell if a spot is a sweet spot or not.
On March 11 2014 17:37 marpis wrote:
Following this guide certainly would make a difference in the situation of bunker rush, but the problem is that you're trying to play fast and don't want to spend several seconds in placing your SD. I don't think even pros will find the placement intuitively and fast without counting squares, because the squares are so small and the setting is always a little different.
Good point though!
Exactly why players need to practice by counting squares "at first" like JaKaTaK has shown, then they will become able to tell intuitively. Trust me. I wrote the original thread in WoL and spent several hours exclusively on naming the placements just by looking. Practice makes perfect. I don't think it's worth it for casual players, but if you are, say, Life who is facing Maru in about a week in Code S Ro8, I'd say it is definitely worth spending several hours in placing spines in sweet spots as a part of preparing for 2rax, which is likely to happen at least once in the series.
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@marpis
Counting squares for sweet spots is like counting points for pieces in chess to determine if the trade is good. GM chess players do not need to do this. They have played so many games that they no longer need to count to see if the trade is good, they just know by looking at it. The same is true here. At first the counting is necessary, but after practice the player will know exactly the place to put the spine or bunker. Broodwar didn't have a build grid, but pros still knew exactly where to place each building for a FFE. Just a matter of repetition 
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Really neat breakdown. This is really going to help hold off those early Bunker rushes a bit more effectively. Thanks JaKaTaK!
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You're very welcome Aussie I love this stuff!
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/qLQ5Z88.png)
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