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Why Protoss Drops Are Rare (Warp Prism Analysis) - Page 20

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Smancer
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States379 Posts
May 06 2011 13:47 GMT
#381
You should be able to produce warp prisms from your cybernetics core after you research warp gate, and after you build a robo.
A good way to threaten somebody is to light a stick of dynamite. Then you call the guy and hold the burning fuse up to the phone. "Hear that?" you say. "That's dynamite, baby."
freetgy
Profile Joined November 2010
1720 Posts
May 06 2011 13:51 GMT
#382
On May 06 2011 21:54 gillon wrote:
4 Zealots are just as scary as 8 marines are, that's a pretty bad argument.


yeah so scary that workers run away from them

imho the only viable midgame drop are Chargelots.
Chargelots are 1000 times better than Zealot drops.
Clerseri
Profile Joined June 2010
Australia150 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-06 14:17:03
May 06 2011 14:03 GMT
#383
One point not considered in the OP is that the warp prism's secondary use is very specific, and doesn't require more than one prism.

So 5 overlords are roughly 5 times better than 1 overlord because they deliver 5x the supply.
5 medivacs are roughly 5 times better than 1 medivac because they heal 5x as many units
But 5 warp prisms are nowhere near 5 times better than 1 warp prism, because you only need one deployed warp prism to warp in all your gates.

So that means it's very unlikely that you'll ever see more than 1 or 2 prisms, where the other races naturally have a lot of their dropship.
Fantasy will be the next big thing in SC2.
MorroW
Profile Joined August 2008
Sweden3522 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-06 14:13:00
May 06 2011 14:08 GMT
#384
its not so good vs zerg for a few reasons once zerg gets into midgame he gets:
- creep everywhere (connecting all bases to increase speed and good vision of any toss units moving on his side of the map)
- speed overlords spread all over the map dropping creep (sees any harass incoming long before warp prism is ever going to reach zergs bases and increases the speed abit)
- the warp prism is really slow and fragile (its really easy for any zerg units that hit air to kill it, even queens kill them fast)
- they take up the robo production so your colossus or immortal count will be lower (same effect as making observers has, well except it doesnt cost gas)
- zerg is stronger than toss when the battle is spread out on a big area or there are multiple fights at once. the reason behind this is that zerg is the one struggling to get surface area to make all his units attack at once while toss. zergs army takes more surface area in general to allow all his units to attack at once and toss has more AoE damage that supports this aswell. the guardian shield and FF is also optimal in tight battle areas
- even if you do economical damage to the zerg. zerg has still alot easier time to replenish his economy than a toss or terran does (zerg usually lacks gas in the zvp rather than larva or minerals while terran builds scvs really slowly and needs more minerals overall in tvp and pvp is just low economy overall and losing probes is really bad)

even if warp prisms has more hp or the speed upgrade by default or cost less it would still be pretty ineffective in pvz compared to pvt.
i also think toss has enough harass tools already vs zerg. pylon blocking expansions early game. making a few phoenixes is basically good in every aspect of the game unless you plan on making a really clean timing attack. blink stalkers can harass pretty nicely if you are careful and warpin dts with or without hidden pylons is really strong vs zerg too.
also i wont forget to mention voidray in early midgame to deny building hatcheries before zerg gets creep, queens, hydras or corruptors to save it (mutalisk is not an option in early midgame in this situation because of the phoenix support)

warp prism harass however is alot stronger on bigger maps in the zvp matchup cause its difficult to spread overlords everywhere and connect creep between your bases. it takes alot longer time for zerg to respond compared to smaller maps

so to sum it up i think the warp prism is fine as it is in tvp and its not gonna become alot more encouraging to use it vs zerg even if it was buffed because of how the races interact with each other
Progamerpls no copy pasterino
BoxedLunch
Profile Joined January 2011
United States387 Posts
May 06 2011 14:12 GMT
#385
i love warp prisms more and more every time I use them. I believe it was AGIANTSMURF who made a post about zealot dropping in PvT. I use them quite a bit in that matchup as well, as I prefer a Templar style, with robo for observers and immortals if needed. Storm drops are do terrible, terrible damage, and 2 pronged warp prism harass with storm can be instant GG. Many Terrans get thrown off by a harassment style protoss and don't know how to respond, either. warp prisms are probably going to see a lot more use as the game develops. most likely in the next year or two, warp prism harass will be standaaaaard.
In theory, practice and theory are the same. In practice, they are not
ryan1894
Profile Joined October 2010
Australia264 Posts
May 06 2011 14:22 GMT
#386
Warp Prism is different to the other drop mechanics...

1 overlord = 8 slots
1 medivac = 8 slots
1 warp prism = potentially infinite amount of units with warp mode engaged...

Its price and reward justify its risk from vulnerability and speed.
mprs
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada2933 Posts
May 06 2011 14:26 GMT
#387
On May 06 2011 23:03 Clerseri wrote:
One point not considered in the OP is that the warp prism's secondary use is very specific, and doesn't require more than one prism.

So 5 overlords are roughly 5 times better than 1 overlord because they deliver 5x the supply.
5 medivacs are roughly 5 times better than 1 medivac because they heal 5x as many units
But 5 warp prisms are nowhere near 5 times better than 1 warp prism, because you only need one deployed warp prism to warp in all your gates.

So that means it's very unlikely that you'll ever see more than 1 or 2 medivacs, where the other races naturally have a lot of their dropship.


Warp Prisms are late-game oriented (because as discussed earlier, you don't want to trade armies as P. So the only time you want to trade armies is when you are maxed but have a better economy so you can replace while he can't). So you can't warp stuff in when you are 200/200.

The fundamental difference is that medivacs are using existing army. While a Terran might have 20 marines and 2-3 medivacs sitting around in the mid game, he can use THOSE medivacs and marines to do the drop while using his current resources to expand/tech/build an army. With warp prisms, you are essentially using the warp prism like the medivac but the only option is a "build an army" option, since you have your army in your base not doing anything for the drop.

The main conclusion is that Protoss can't use warp prisms in the same way Terran uses medivacs, which is fine. However, I think Protoss needs to figure out what role the warp prism can play for THEM and what hole can it fill in their play. The lack of use of the warp prism implies that either
1) there is no role for the warp prism in the protoss army
2) there is no CURRENT hole that the warp prism can fill, there may be one later or not.

I think the idea of loading up 4 zealots (or HTs/DTs) and running into an expansion and dropping them is about the best harass protoss has. So why hasn't the protoss been doing them? If they go Colossus, they need the zealots as meet shield in their main army, and they "can't" stop colossus production to ensure getting that critical mass. When you go HTs, you will have enough money to spare and you can get the zealots. Colossus has been by far more popular than HTs (not necessarily better, but probably easier). The main dilemma here is that the speed upgrade is bunched with the colossus tech, the tech where you are least likely to get a warp prism. I think this was in design supposed to work and mimic the reaver-shuttle combo of BW, but obviously does not work in the same way in SC2.
We talkin about PRACTICE
FuzzyLord
Profile Joined September 2010
253 Posts
May 06 2011 14:29 GMT
#388
I sometimes make a warp prism after my observor while waiting for my robo bay to go up. I don't know if many people do this, but i usually use it as a sort of emergency pylon just in case. If you barely hold off a push, but the enemy kills your pylons that power your buildlings, you can use the power field of the warp prism to instantly repower them instead of waiting for a pylon to finish. This can save you ~25seconds, which is a huge amount of time to rebuild your army
mechavoc
Profile Joined December 2010
United States664 Posts
May 06 2011 14:31 GMT
#389
While rare prism use can be a game ender.
I can remember a number of times when a Toss opponant has done a gret multi prong attack, death ball in the front and then continuous warps in my main.

This is even worse if those warps are DTs. a couple of DTs in a main without good detection is a fast gg

While 8 marines or a overlord full of banelings can cause a good amount of damage it is nothing like the power of a warp point in a main.

I hope toss don't read this thread and use more prism harass hehe
ClueLessx3
Profile Joined April 2011
Australia53 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-06 14:39:52
May 06 2011 14:36 GMT
#390
Now with the new archon buff coming up i might consider 1x archon 1x sentry drop.
Force field the sides of the base and see the workers clumped up for you archon to demolish ^^
EDIT: spelling
Jandos
Profile Blog Joined December 2003
Czech Republic928 Posts
May 06 2011 14:39 GMT
#391
1) no reavers
2) no zealot bombs to kill mines
3) toss units sux in small numbers.

I still think we will see more warp prism play in the future
Maximumraver
Profile Joined September 2010
Netherlands124 Posts
May 06 2011 14:42 GMT
#392
On May 06 2011 23:36 ClueLessx3 wrote:
Now with the new archon buff coming up i might consider 1x archon 1x sentry drop.
Force field the sides of the base and see the workers clumped up for you archon to demolish ^^
EDIT: spelling

That actually sounds somewhat sexy
(☞/  ̄ヮ ̄) ☞/
Swad1000
Profile Joined January 2011
United States366 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-06 14:51:37
May 06 2011 14:51 GMT
#393
Build warp prisms before or during the colossus phase. Early game is when you want to get the unit out and keep it alive for as long as possible.
pestilenz
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Denmark379 Posts
May 06 2011 14:53 GMT
#394
20 pages with comments... That is a lot of comments, so forgive me if I say something already said.

I think warp prisms are awesome! 200 minerals for a moveable pylon that can move stuff!

Use 2 maybe 3 warp prisms to harras with storms both on mineral lines and directly on their army to soften it up.

Also just having a warp prism or two with your army for constant warp in is nice.

Warp prisms can run away from ANYTHING!!! They are insanely fast with the speed upgrade, almost as fast as mutas!

What I am trying to say is that I love warp prisms <3, and think they are under used - people do not experiment enough with the possibilities available.
You can attack with this?!
dave333
Profile Joined August 2010
United States915 Posts
May 06 2011 15:46 GMT
#395
Plain and simple, it is opportunity cost. Protoss does not need harass to win for one thing; building up deathballs is effective enough, and virtually makes building a lot of economy pointless against protoss. Building warp prisms takes away time from observers, immortals, and collossi, all considerably more useful than warp prisms when it comes to the important aspects of protoss play (scouting enemy compositions, deathball units).

I've played people who try stuff like 5 gate warp prism warpins, but it really just doesn't work that well because stalkers and zealots are not very good. The best reason to use warp prisms is late game, popping some DTs around behind a base.
locilocisu
Profile Joined January 2011
25 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-06 15:49:30
May 06 2011 15:46 GMT
#396
I think with the Archon buff coming, especially the range upgrade, archon drop could be viable. Reason for this is that you can fit 2 archons in a prism and 2 archons 1 shots workers + splash. With some luck, you'll kill 3 workers per attack (because workers on adjacent mineral lines and the tendency for workers to stack on top of each other on saturated mineral lines).

Once you see incoming units, you can run away as Archons are actually fairly quick (and now that it's going to be massive, it won't be slowed down).

Seems to me that protoss drops is more of a late game drop to be effective in contrast to terran's which is a mid game drop. Late game, especially againsts zerg, protoss needs to harrass, else zerg would just expand everywhere and have a booming economy.
Deleted User 124618
Profile Joined November 2010
1142 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-06 15:59:26
May 06 2011 15:48 GMT
#397
I use warp prisms now and then, but main reason for me not using them is usually that my robotics are busy building observers, immortals and colossus. I have started using them more recently. In addition to providing drops, it can act as a "carry-with" pylon for main army, no need for proxy pylons in the field.
SoundProof
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Sweden99 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-06 16:07:43
May 06 2011 16:03 GMT
#398
On May 06 2011 23:36 ClueLessx3 wrote:
Now with the new archon buff coming up i might consider 1x archon 1x sentry drop.
Force field the sides of the base and see the workers clumped up for you archon to demolish ^^
EDIT: spelling

To further this idea, a +3 archon can one shot scvs and drones, perhaps making it more viable in the late game, though it is a lot weaker versus probes. Just a thought.
"Jag är för stark helt enkelt"
PaPoolee
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Netherlands660 Posts
May 06 2011 16:08 GMT
#399
What i was thinking of is in PvT, You use Warp Prisms to carry Ht's so they don't get EMP'd, and then drop them during the fight and storm really quickly! but the micro is just O.O...
SeaSwift
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Scotland4486 Posts
May 06 2011 16:16 GMT
#400
On May 07 2011 01:03 SoundProof wrote:
To further this idea, a +3 archon can one shot scvs and drones, perhaps making it more viable in the late game, though it is a lot weaker versus probes. Just a thought.


Thing is, if you have Templar tech and upgrades, it will almost always be better to use Chargelots. An all-mineral harass is almost always the best, especially considering how cheap Chargelots are compared to Archons.
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