[T] Tricks of the Trade

Pholon: The first point we touch upon is Firebats. Ruby incorporated them throughout his game. Is this a good thing to do?
Idra: The mid-late game Firebats are very good. Alot of Zergs like to depend on just plague/swarm + Cracklings to defend until they mass up enough gas for Ultras, and if you hit them with enough Firebat support while theyre trying to do this you can break them easily. They're good support units to have with your army anyway during that stage of the game as mmf is much stronger vs lurk ling than pure mm.
Artosis: Its always good to have some firebats with your army. Even just 1 or 2 in the right position are amazing. They have extra HP / splash / starting armor / do more damage. You have to be careful not to overmake them though. If you are going bionic you need to hit 3/3 ups and have 2port vessel going. In addition you need medics. All of this uses a ton of gas making it harder to balance in firebats as you reach a really high level of macro skill.

Pholon:Then why don't we see this use of Firebats more?
Artosis: Its really easy to forget to mix in just a few Bats here and there. They have a longer build time than even the medic and obviously it is easier to spam M into your barracks than MMMMMFMMM.

Pholon: So is it safe to say you'd even recommend lower level players incorporate Firebats in their Bio army or is it something that's only effective if you're good enough to, say, position or micro them well.
Artosis: Actually making Firebats for a lower level player can be really amazing. You can''t spend all your gas anyways so it doesnt hurt there already. In addition the Firebats will run ahead of the army and get targeted by Lurkers thus giving your Marines more of a lifespan. I would definitely suggest to lower level players to mix them in.

Pholon: Next point is the "Unexpected" Wraiths. Viable in TvZ?
Artosis: Well... for a long time I too have tried this out here and there. The results are still inconclusive but what it feels to me like it does is give you a slight tempo advantage. Sometimes you can kill a bunch of overlords or randomly get a nydus or some defilers out of the way so you can bust up an expo. It is definitely a risky strategy at times though. No one yet knows exactly when or how many you should make. Its kind of touch and go at the moment and leaves you in a weakened state (less Vessels) later on in the game. I would not suggest any lower level players to even try it yet. Its fun sure but at that point of the game its very hard to macro and execute the difficult wraith manuevers that make them pay off. fantasy can execute almost anyhting tho so =P
Idra: I've never been a big fan of wraiths at any point in tvz, besides going 3 port vs the 2 hatch muta into guardian build. If it catches your opponent off guard it can work but personally I'd much rather have extra vessels in almost any situation.

Pholon: How about in TvT?
Artosis: When someone opens up with a wraith build they are obviously behind on units. As the wraiths are being dealt with they have to make a very siege tank heavy army to hold off the opponent's ground army. This combined with an already low factory count makes it very likely that they will have few or no goliaths with their army. Because of this going 2port after your opponent's wraiths have been mostly neutralized is a very strong strategy. It can give you a really great temp advantage by making tanks withdraw or even taking a few out.

Pholon: Next one is mass Dropship in non-TvT, talking mainly about Upmagic vs Free on Outsider and Flash vs Hyun on Tornado
Idra: Heavy dropship play is very map dependent tvp. It's quite good on a map like Outsider, and anything where ground mobility is restricted. However in that style of game protoss has an advantage due to speed shuttles and storm, so if they recognize your strategy early and commit to defending it it isn't likely to work out very well.
Artosis: Yeah normally its horrible against P, but outsider has such strange terrain and cliffs that its quite good. Its simply a map specific strategy. something upmagic excells in.

Pholon: And is this something lower level players can do?
Artosis: Yeah on outsider definitely. It is really good/fun as a lower level player to play like that because macro doesnt matter as much. ur never meeting army to army.

Pholon: How about TvZ?
Idra: Against zerg its very good in alot of situations. Flash pointed out in an interview after that game vs hyun that the z was depending on a very low amount of hive tech units to defend his chokes, which is pretty common in modern zvt. So going heavy dropships abuses the fact that z is relying on his choke points for defense.

Pholon: So when can you be doing this kind of heavy dropship play? Do you need to be ahead by a bit or do you think it's still viable if you're behind (as a comeback move for example)?
Artosis: i didnt see the tvz game but dropships are very good after mutas are dealt with. It can work from behind sometimes but anything that works from behind is normally because of mistakes of your opponent. The stage where zerg is scrambling for defenses with nydus/lurker/defiler is the best time for dropships. You put pressure everywhere on the zerg and make their ramps/chokes/sunkens ineffective by using dropships

Pholon: NUKES!
Idra: They're not going to become common place. Maps where you can nuke from your main or any defensible location obviously make it a bit more viable but in most cases they're still not cost efficient.
Artosis: Nukes are never usable TvP. Nukes are sometimes slightly useable in TvT in very strange situations. Nukes are actually best vs zerg. We see them used a lot to embarass opponents but there is one time when nukes can be quite powerful. When you go completely standard bionic against a zerg playing standard also.. there is a time after the 3tank push that the zerg is barely holding on under swarm.. awaiting the next defilers to hatch. if you launch a nuke at the swarm you will win the game easily.

Pholon: How about that Nuke versus Protoss on HBR?
Artosis: I've actually been toying with nukes on HBR TvP recently due to the huge usefulness of ghosts on the map. The jury's still out for me on whether they are useful enough or not.

Pholon: Day actually was really enthusiastic about nukes in TvT and referred to FBH vs Flash on Medusa where a Nuke could have turned the game
Artosis:Actually that is exactly one of the very strange situations I was referring to. In really weird stalemate situations with mass siege tanks the range of nukes can be useful.

Pholon: Well stalemate situations aren't THAT weird in TvT -_-'
Artosis: Well it has to be a certain type of low economy stalemate I think. Games with BC's its not as good in. Has to be something thats very slow moving no matter what, I think.

Pholon: Ok one more: the Offensive EMP that we saw Flash do versus Best
Idra: Obviously it's good if you get the opportunity. It's not really something you should plan on being able to pull off frequently, but you should always be looking for any chance to emp early arbiters and you're not really risking that much sending out a vessel, since they're pretty quick.

Pholon: So is this something us D noobs should be attempting?
Artosis: Absolutely not. The timing on that probably only flash and maybe fantasy can really pull off. You have to be a progamer to do something like that. (and playing against a progamer cuz their timing has to be perfect too). but as a side note.. in late game PvT the first 2 arbiters are super super super important. If terran can deal with/neutralize them well enough then its move out time and protoss is in deep trouble.

Pholon: Well, that's it, thanks a bunch Go play and some TSL you ^^
Artosis: Np thx for askin. Love to impart some of the stuff it took me 11 years to learn in bite sized 30 second chunks.