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Maps that give advantages/disadvatages to races

Forum Index > SC2 General
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XtrEEmMaShEEN3k2
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States122 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-13 03:00:48
May 13 2010 02:33 GMT
#1
I want to try and maybe make a at least an early list of some things to consider when choosing a map with a race in mind. If a topic like this already exists, I'll preemptively apologize.

For example, I'll start this list by saying that I've heard that the ledges in Incineration Zone gives Terrans the advantage on this map against both Protoss and Zerg since it gives a bit more advantage to Reapers and Siege Tanks.

I don't know the reasoning behind it, but I've heard Day9 mention that Metalopolis is a very Zerg-favored map.

Incineration Zone
Terrans - Cliffs allow for good use of Siege Tanks and Reapers

Metalpolis
Zerg - Can expand more easily?

Blistering Sands
Terran - Backdoor is actually worse for terran because they'll need to defend two entrances to hold 2 bases, which dramatically slows down their expansions and pushes.

Kulas Ravine
Protoss - Stalkers Blinking through destructible rocks allows for more effective base raids.

I'm perfectly willing to admit that I probably don't have the best understanding of this game yet, so I'll edit the OP if enough (Just like 2-3+) people think the reasoning is flawed.

At the same time, I'd like a BIT of a consensus before more are added on. Like 2 other people agreeing with a reasoning.

Also, I'm not the best at finding/acquiring replays, so of course, replays being posted would be a HUGE plus.
seRapH
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States9779 Posts
May 13 2010 02:37 GMT
#2
i would argue that blistering sands isnt as reaper biased as you'd think. the reapers are very easily blocked by both the other races, and in the end the backdoor is actually worse for terran because they'll need to defend two entrances to hold 2 bases, which dramatically slows down their expansions and pushes.
boomer hands
Zeke50100
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States2220 Posts
May 13 2010 02:37 GMT
#3
Lost Temple has the abusable cliffs for Siege Tanks.
Rabiator
Profile Joined March 2010
Germany3948 Posts
May 13 2010 02:38 GMT
#4
Kulas Ravine
Terran - Reaper harrass, Tanks on cliffs, "hidden" Terran starting location behind double rocks
Protoss - cliffwalking Colossi-harrass
If you cant say what you're meaning, you can never mean what you're saying.
Ftrunkz
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
Australia2474 Posts
May 13 2010 02:41 GMT
#5
for metalopolis late game pvt (and zvt i guess too), if the map is split, the protoss actually cant take the gold expo because of siege tanks easily sieging your miners from there side, makes it basically auto-win if it gets to the stage where the map is split in half.
@NvPinder on twitter | Member of Gamecom Nv | http://www.clan-ta.com | http://www.youtube.com/user/ftrunkz | http://www.twitchtv.com/xghpinder
XtrEEmMaShEEN3k2
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States122 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-13 02:45:25
May 13 2010 02:42 GMT
#6
On May 13 2010 11:37 majesty.k)seRapH wrote:
i would argue that blistering sands isnt as reaper biased as you'd think. the reapers are very easily blocked by both the other races, and in the end the backdoor is actually worse for terran because they'll need to defend two entrances to hold 2 bases, which dramatically slows down their expansions and pushes.


Good good, I'm perfectly willing to admit that I probably don't have the best understanding of this game yet, so I'll edit the OP if enough people think the reasoning is flawed.

At the same time, I'd like a BIT of a consensus before more are added on. Like 2 other people agreeing with a reasoning.

Also, I don't know my way around replays, so of course, replays being posted would be a HUGE plus.
Deathfate
Profile Joined November 2008
Spain555 Posts
May 13 2010 02:43 GMT
#7
kulas ravine - Reaper harras, big expo area to harras with hellions, cliff to use siege tanks, narrow chokes everywhere, free expo behind rocks... this map is terrans paradise vs Zerg
Feel the power of the zerg swarm.
mkfk1
Profile Joined April 2010
United Kingdom153 Posts
May 13 2010 02:45 GMT
#8
steps of war, zerg 6 pool is very very gay. You will loss 3-6 workers depends on your micro.

Lower level will not stand a chance against this.
Tsagacity
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
United States2124 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-13 02:46:32
May 13 2010 02:46 GMT
#9
Metalopolis can be heaven for muta harass at some positions because both the main and natural minerals are both essentially facing a cliff. You can practically attack both mineral lines simultaneously.

6 o'clock is the one exception where there's almost no space behind the minerals, and 3 o'clock probably wouldn't leave a safe zone for any AA range 6.
"Everyone worse than me at video games is a noob. Everyone better than me doesn't have a life."
XtrEEmMaShEEN3k2
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States122 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-13 02:48:20
May 13 2010 02:47 GMT
#10
Edited the OP. Replays showcasing the advantages would really help guys!
leejas
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States440 Posts
May 13 2010 02:53 GMT
#11
Kulas Ravine. Terrans can safely expand to their naturals and power off 3 bases. If you spawn with your opponent horizontally across, you can siege his natural with the sight of a watchtower.
teekesselchen
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Germany886 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-13 03:06:35
May 13 2010 02:58 GMT
#12
On May 13 2010 11:33 XtrEEmMaShEEN3k2 wrote:

Blistering Sands
Terran - 2 entrances and short rush distance allows for a Reaper backdoor harass.


The exactly other way, Backdoor entrance is a pain in the ass for Terran, as they heavily depend on having a good defense for their usually weaker ground forces in early to midgame.
Not a proof, but a reminder: Lucifron chose Blistering Sands against DeMuslim after he lost the first map in a TvT. DeMuslim switched to protoss and Lucifron did the same after he saw it.

Scrap Station: Extremely close Air, very far ground attack way plus huge choke gives alot of problems to terran, also good for zerg who can expand easily as they only have to take care of one attack path until lategame. Also favors mutalisks even against thors because it is very hard to keep mainbase save _and_ attack against them.

Metalopolis is quite a zerg map because it's extremely easy to get many expansions.

I expect Steppes of War to become a Terran map some day in the future since it's very good for a Siegetank macro game.
When they were introduced, he made a witticism, hoping to be liked. She laughed extremely hard, hoping to be liked. Then each drove home alone, staring straight ahead, with the very same twist to their faces.
XtrEEmMaShEEN3k2
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States122 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-13 03:00:03
May 13 2010 02:59 GMT
#13
Yeah, i was shaky about that one. I'll edit it.
Sadistx
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
Zimbabwe5568 Posts
May 13 2010 03:00 GMT
#14
Oh god here we fucking go again, everyone's calling maps T favored just because cliffs exist. You guys realize other races have air/cliffwalking units too, right?

Onea
Profile Joined April 2010
United States35 Posts
May 13 2010 03:01 GMT
#15
I'm not fully sure why you say metalopolis is good for zerg expanding, can you elaborate?
Born to fast expand...
XtrEEmMaShEEN3k2
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States122 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-13 03:05:42
May 13 2010 03:05 GMT
#16
On May 13 2010 12:01 Onea wrote:
I'm not fully sure why you say metalopolis is good for zerg expanding, can you elaborate?


I'm not quite sure either, I've heard it in various places but like I said, I don't know the exact reasoning yet. Hopefully someone else can elaborate for me.

Tsagacity posted one reasoning in this topic:
On May 13 2010 11:46 Tsagacity wrote:
Metalopolis can be heaven for muta harass at some positions because both the main and natural minerals are both essentially facing a cliff. You can practically attack both mineral lines simultaneously.

6 o'clock is the one exception where there's almost no space behind the minerals, and 3 o'clock probably wouldn't leave a safe zone for any AA range 6.


Sounds reasonable, just waiting for someone to confirm/elaborate on more/different advantages.
Rkie
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States1278 Posts
May 13 2010 03:07 GMT
#17
i would say that blistering sands is terran favored for a rush, but in general, protoss favored because of blink, and less of a need for expos. As Zerg, i have trouble on this map because i cannot hold my expos very well
teekesselchen
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Germany886 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-05-13 03:18:17
May 13 2010 03:08 GMT
#18
On May 13 2010 12:01 Onea wrote:
I'm not fully sure why you say metalopolis is good for zerg expanding, can you elaborate?


It is very easy to spread creep over the zerg's map half when the positions are not ground close position and expand everywhere. Unit's simply can gather close to the golden minderal expo on zerg's side and easily defend both ground attack paths.

On May 13 2010 12:07 Rkie wrote:
i would say that blistering sands is terran favored for a rush, but in general, protoss favored because of blink, and less of a need for expos. As Zerg, i have trouble on this map because i cannot hold my expos very well

Zerg can build up midgame pressure because of the two entrances, as the secoond one can easily be opened with ranged units. From there on it is not difficult to expand further.
I really don't see why everybody says it was good for terran rush? The distance isn't that short and it's very hard to harass a zerg with hellions on it because it has a narrow choke in front of the natural. Once the natural is up, it can be easily defended.

Also I think that desert oasis is very good for Protoss against Terran (dunno about Zerg). Stalkers can harass very good with an observer because the main is attackable from various sides, actually from almost everywhere. Also they can get quick access to Shuttles to set up harassment or even do a full rush with 5 warpgates+warpprism whereas pure ground attacks are almost not possible.
It also is a very strong map for voidrays of course.
When they were introduced, he made a witticism, hoping to be liked. She laughed extremely hard, hoping to be liked. Then each drove home alone, staring straight ahead, with the very same twist to their faces.
t3tsubo
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
Canada682 Posts
May 13 2010 03:17 GMT
#19
a thread on map imbalances and Desert Oasis has yet to be mentioned!?

Desert Oasis is heavily zerg favored, because long distances make early game pressure extremely ineffective and distances between main and nat make muta harass gamebreaking.
In PvT desert oasis, P has the ability to freely snipe the gases in the Terran main with void rays, without marines being able to defend it because they are outranged.
ymirheim
Profile Joined April 2010
Sweden300 Posts
May 13 2010 03:22 GMT
#20
Scrap Station is I believe the only map where protoss can threaten a ground attack into the back of your main from a position that any other race can only reach with air or maybe you can do this on LT as well I've never looked closely enough at the distance between the corner positions.
The only thing you should feel when you shoot someone... is the recoil
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