EPTBomber's 1-rax FE with 1 gas
At the recently concluded Red Bull Battlegrounds, Startale Bomber displayed some magnificently structured and aggressive TvP play, which has a bunch of Terrans salivating at the mouth, and consequently some Protoss players quaking in their boots. + Show Spoiler +
Even though he had an eventual 4-2 loss to MC in the Grand Finals
I have a framework guide here for you, as well as an invitation to search out and submit more replays of this sort of thing in action, so we can more accurately compare its benefits and shortcomings.
Note: the timings below should be taken as a small range of ideal windows to hit. If harassment, frontal attacks, or other disruptions occur, please disregard the listed timestamps and focus on getting the buildings out in the correct order when affordable.
Edit as of June 8, 2012:
Upon watching more games and hearing others talk about the style, I've made some adjustments to the build.
Edit as of June 9, 2012:
Note about timestamps and delays.
Edit as of September 24, 2012:
Note about timing of scouting and impact on economy.
Changelog
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June 8, 2012
- Refined the timings of Barracks 4 and 5.
- Refined timing of Refinery 2.
- Optional timing of 2 Refineries simultaneously
- Described the timing of the 3rd CC a bit more accurately.
- Added a 'References' section
- Added the Day9 Daily on this style, a discussion on fast thirds, and a Protoss help topic to the References section.
June 9, 2012
- Added a cautionary note about the timestamps.
June 25, 2012
- Under 'Some Conditions', added notes about a DT build
September 24, 2012
- small but important detail added to build order about scouting timing and your economy; specifically, scouting on 15 after the Barracks finishes can actually delay everything by 15 seconds; alternatives are suggested now
- Refined the timings of Barracks 4 and 5.
- Refined timing of Refinery 2.
- Optional timing of 2 Refineries simultaneously
- Described the timing of the 3rd CC a bit more accurately.
- Added a 'References' section
- Added the Day9 Daily on this style, a discussion on fast thirds, and a Protoss help topic to the References section.
June 9, 2012
- Added a cautionary note about the timestamps.
June 25, 2012
- Under 'Some Conditions', added notes about a DT build
September 24, 2012
- small but important detail added to build order about scouting timing and your economy; specifically, scouting on 15 after the Barracks finishes can actually delay everything by 15 seconds; alternatives are suggested now
The Build Order
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10 Depot (~0:55-1:00)
12 Rax (~1:40)
* if you are very afraid of all-ins like a 4-gate, scout when this is done
* HOWEVER, scouting now delays the fastest, smoothest possible execution; if you DO NOT scout, you can drop Barracks 2 on ~4:00 right after the Bunker, and Barracks 3 on ~4:15, followed by gas on ~4:30; if you DO scout, these timings are delayed 10-15 seconds
* the third option is to scout NOW, BUT go for an OC on 17 (counting the Marine you build as soon as the Barracks is done); rally your 16th worker to the natural and build the natural CC then: in THIS instance, the proper timings are only delayed 1-5 seconds
* so: 15 OC, Marine, and scout is safe but delayed everything else; 17 OC + scout is safe and relatively on time; 15 OC, Marine, and NO scout is the greediest, fastest possible execution with minimal scouting initially
* constant Marines
* optional depot wall-in
16/17 CC (see the note above about scouting and the economy timing)
* get a very quick Depot so you don’t lose production (if 1-depot expand)
* conditional Bunker @~3:50-4:00... if you CC the low-ground, Bunker before Rax
21-24 Barracks, Barracks (delay by 1-2 food if you went for low-ground Bunker)
25-26 Refinery
(note: the 2 Barracks and Refinery [in that order] come up at ~4:00-4:30 assuming optimal execution with minimal scouting; with ultra-safe early scouting it is delayed to ~4:15-4:45)
* at any time after this, you may scout Protoss 3 to 6 or 8 Gate pressure incoming. If that is the case, you must drop additional Bunkers (at least 1, 2 in the case of the 8 gate attack). Dropping an additional Bunker to make a total of 2 is an extremely safe play if you decide to do it blindly and does not hamper the build.
* Tech Lab on 3rd Barracks
* checking for proxy pylons @6:00-6:30
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/del9a.jpg)
Refinery (as TL completes/Stim starts, ~6:00-6:20)
* still constant Marines
Factory + Engineering Bay @100 gas (~7:00-7:15)
Refinery @ E-bay complete (~7:30-7:40)
* OPTIONAL: drop your 3rd and 4th gas simultaneously as Starport nearing completion if you're wanting to have security Bunkers at this stage
* +1 Weapons
Starport + Reactor (Factory) @Factory completion (~8:15-8:30)
Barracks add-ons (Tech Lab, Reactor; ~8:20-8:30)
* begin Marauder production
Barracks, Barracks (~8:30)
* get 1 more Tech Lab, 1 Reactor as Barracks 4 and 5 finish
Refinery (as Starport swaps; ~9:15-9:20)
* crank out double Medivacs
* push with bio + Medivacs @ about 10:15
3rd CC (~9:30-11:30)
* this has some leeway
* as another consideration, you may choose to drop the 3rd CC in place of Barracks 4 and 5
-> in that case, Barracks 4 and 5 will take place at about 9:30 or so
-> CC before additional Barracks is highly long-term focused, and permits more upgrades, but less continuous aggression in the IMMEDIATE future (you will have the same rinse/repeat hammering ability as soon as the additional Barracks with add-ons come online, it's just about a minute later)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QVHA1.jpg)
12 Rax (~1:40)
* if you are very afraid of all-ins like a 4-gate, scout when this is done
* HOWEVER, scouting now delays the fastest, smoothest possible execution; if you DO NOT scout, you can drop Barracks 2 on ~4:00 right after the Bunker, and Barracks 3 on ~4:15, followed by gas on ~4:30; if you DO scout, these timings are delayed 10-15 seconds
* the third option is to scout NOW, BUT go for an OC on 17 (counting the Marine you build as soon as the Barracks is done); rally your 16th worker to the natural and build the natural CC then: in THIS instance, the proper timings are only delayed 1-5 seconds
* so: 15 OC, Marine, and scout is safe but delayed everything else; 17 OC + scout is safe and relatively on time; 15 OC, Marine, and NO scout is the greediest, fastest possible execution with minimal scouting initially
* constant Marines
* optional depot wall-in
16/17 CC (see the note above about scouting and the economy timing)
* get a very quick Depot so you don’t lose production (if 1-depot expand)
* conditional Bunker @~3:50-4:00... if you CC the low-ground, Bunker before Rax
21-24 Barracks, Barracks (delay by 1-2 food if you went for low-ground Bunker)
25-26 Refinery
(note: the 2 Barracks and Refinery [in that order] come up at ~4:00-4:30 assuming optimal execution with minimal scouting; with ultra-safe early scouting it is delayed to ~4:15-4:45)
* at any time after this, you may scout Protoss 3 to 6 or 8 Gate pressure incoming. If that is the case, you must drop additional Bunkers (at least 1, 2 in the case of the 8 gate attack). Dropping an additional Bunker to make a total of 2 is an extremely safe play if you decide to do it blindly and does not hamper the build.
* Tech Lab on 3rd Barracks
* checking for proxy pylons @6:00-6:30
Refinery (as TL completes/Stim starts, ~6:00-6:20)
* still constant Marines
Factory + Engineering Bay @100 gas (~7:00-7:15)
Refinery @ E-bay complete (~7:30-7:40)
* OPTIONAL: drop your 3rd and 4th gas simultaneously as Starport nearing completion if you're wanting to have security Bunkers at this stage
* +1 Weapons
Starport + Reactor (Factory) @Factory completion (~8:15-8:30)
Barracks add-ons (Tech Lab, Reactor; ~8:20-8:30)
* begin Marauder production
Barracks, Barracks (~8:30)
* get 1 more Tech Lab, 1 Reactor as Barracks 4 and 5 finish
Refinery (as Starport swaps; ~9:15-9:20)
* crank out double Medivacs
* push with bio + Medivacs @ about 10:15
3rd CC (~9:30-11:30)
* this has some leeway
* as another consideration, you may choose to drop the 3rd CC in place of Barracks 4 and 5
-> in that case, Barracks 4 and 5 will take place at about 9:30 or so
-> CC before additional Barracks is highly long-term focused, and permits more upgrades, but less continuous aggression in the IMMEDIATE future (you will have the same rinse/repeat hammering ability as soon as the additional Barracks with add-ons come online, it's just about a minute later)
Continuations
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From this point (~10:00-10:30), you have several options.
Option 1
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Option 2
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Option 3
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Option 1
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Drop your 3rd CC as you're getting ready to be moving out (probably between 9:30-11:30). This is a longer-focused play, and one that (if scouted) telegraphs that you're not committed to winning with your 5-rax aggro RIGHT NOW. One thing that you should look out for here is that because 2 Reactors are now up, plus 3 Tech Labs, AND a Reactored Starport, your minerals may be tight, and there may be a gap in the Marine production in order to go this route.
However, this is still VERY safe, and because of your heavy Barracks aggression, there's not a lot the Protoss can do to prevent it if you're attacking him properly. Because of this, you should probably build this as a low-ground CC, unless it's a map that's very vulnerable to warp-in counters.
However, this is still VERY safe, and because of your heavy Barracks aggression, there's not a lot the Protoss can do to prevent it if you're attacking him properly. Because of this, you should probably build this as a low-ground CC, unless it's a map that's very vulnerable to warp-in counters.
Option 2
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As you move out, get an Armory and a 2nd E-bay. While again being a long-term focus that says "I might not win RIGHT NOW", this is a very aggressive move, attempting to get and keep an upgrade advantage over Protoss so that no matter what their reaction to your heavy aggression, they are obligated to be in a defensive position even longer as their tech tries to catch up. This is a very quick option, and naturally transitions almost immediately to option 1 or 3 without a hitch in the flow, being mostly an 'ordering' choice.
Option 3
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Get your next stage of unit tech as you are beginning the pressure. You can delay for a short while as you scan/Factory scout/engage the initial Protoss force to see what the choice is. All you're doing is deciding whether to start Starport 2 or the Ghost Academy first, according to what you see.
If it's an all-Gateway force OR you see High Templar, you want the Ghost Academy. It's VERY hard for him to have Storm right now (and frankly, if he does, he's probably too low on units to survive a 5-rax continued assault; batter him into submission), so you'll manage to have the Ghosts in time to keep the pressure on and not die to the counter-swing.
If you see either of only a couple Immortals OR 1+ Colossi, it's time to get the second Starport. Because you don't have Vikings yet, he has to be building those Colossi to not die; it's such a huge investment that he can't afford to immediately tech switch. If you can take out a third base or even just get rid of all the Sentries and Colossi with your attack without losing the Medivacs, you should be fine. Back home, your 5 Barracks should have been pumping, and if he's low on Sentry/Colossi, he's obligated to keep making at least another couple Colossi to survive for the next couple of minutes. If you keep making Vikings, pre-emptively start that Ghost Academy so that when he inevitably tech switches to nullify the Vikings, you can be ready for it.
If it's an all-Gateway force OR you see High Templar, you want the Ghost Academy. It's VERY hard for him to have Storm right now (and frankly, if he does, he's probably too low on units to survive a 5-rax continued assault; batter him into submission), so you'll manage to have the Ghosts in time to keep the pressure on and not die to the counter-swing.
If you see either of only a couple Immortals OR 1+ Colossi, it's time to get the second Starport. Because you don't have Vikings yet, he has to be building those Colossi to not die; it's such a huge investment that he can't afford to immediately tech switch. If you can take out a third base or even just get rid of all the Sentries and Colossi with your attack without losing the Medivacs, you should be fine. Back home, your 5 Barracks should have been pumping, and if he's low on Sentry/Colossi, he's obligated to keep making at least another couple Colossi to survive for the next couple of minutes. If you keep making Vikings, pre-emptively start that Ghost Academy so that when he inevitably tech switches to nullify the Vikings, you can be ready for it.
Some Conditions
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As stated above, you have the option to drop 1 or 2 extra Bunkers earlier in the build (before you get the Factory and Engineering Bay) if you scout a heavy pressure play incoming. Because you delayed your second gas, this doesn't actually hurt you much in the long run.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/EoNDb.jpg)
When the 10:00-10:15 push-out timing comes, you can have 2 Medivacs with another 2 on the way, 26-30 Marines, and 2-5 Marauders, depending on minor tweaks and production choices. The production capability right now should be 2 Medivacs, 2 Marauders, and 2 Marines at time, with the ability to ramp up to 2 Medivacs, 3 Marauders, and 4 Marines at a time as soon as add-ons 4 and 5 come online.
If Protoss has been putting on pressure, you can delay for 4 Medivacs or +1 and Combat Shields to increase your chances against a lot of Gateway units without worrying too much about getting overrun: you'll just have so many Marines and Marauders that it's very hard to outright die to an attack right now.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/LxEVb.jpg)
If the Protoss is turtling and doing a very fast 3-Nexus play a la Parting, there's no need to panic. You MUST remain aggressive while his Gateway unit count is still a little lower and his higher tech hasn't kicked in yet. Drill the Protoss as hard as possible, and once your reinforcement waves start kicking in, you may be able to do something like drop two expansions at once WHILE hitting the front, which is very hard for your typical Gateway-based army to handle.
Occasionally in this matchup, the Protoss will go for a 1-gate FE and then gun for DTs, trying to pin you back while getting a scary mid and lategame army to foil any Medivac pressure. If you scout double gas early and you don't see a swell of Sentries, it is VERY feasible to drop your Engineering bay much earlier in the build order. For example, between 5:30 and 6:30 there is a window of time that as long as you aren't overbuilding Depots and queuing up units, 125 minerals for the E-bay is perfectly fine. Then, you can drop a security Turret next to your natural OC to cover your Bunkers, and if you see any DTs, they can be repelled QUITE easily. After you deflect the harass, save some Scans and go kill him with your midgame pressure, since DTs suck when they don't do any economic damage.
When the 10:00-10:15 push-out timing comes, you can have 2 Medivacs with another 2 on the way, 26-30 Marines, and 2-5 Marauders, depending on minor tweaks and production choices. The production capability right now should be 2 Medivacs, 2 Marauders, and 2 Marines at time, with the ability to ramp up to 2 Medivacs, 3 Marauders, and 4 Marines at a time as soon as add-ons 4 and 5 come online.
If Protoss has been putting on pressure, you can delay for 4 Medivacs or +1 and Combat Shields to increase your chances against a lot of Gateway units without worrying too much about getting overrun: you'll just have so many Marines and Marauders that it's very hard to outright die to an attack right now.
If the Protoss is turtling and doing a very fast 3-Nexus play a la Parting, there's no need to panic. You MUST remain aggressive while his Gateway unit count is still a little lower and his higher tech hasn't kicked in yet. Drill the Protoss as hard as possible, and once your reinforcement waves start kicking in, you may be able to do something like drop two expansions at once WHILE hitting the front, which is very hard for your typical Gateway-based army to handle.
Occasionally in this matchup, the Protoss will go for a 1-gate FE and then gun for DTs, trying to pin you back while getting a scary mid and lategame army to foil any Medivac pressure. If you scout double gas early and you don't see a swell of Sentries, it is VERY feasible to drop your Engineering bay much earlier in the build order. For example, between 5:30 and 6:30 there is a window of time that as long as you aren't overbuilding Depots and queuing up units, 125 minerals for the E-bay is perfectly fine. Then, you can drop a security Turret next to your natural OC to cover your Bunkers, and if you see any DTs, they can be repelled QUITE easily. After you deflect the harass, save some Scans and go kill him with your midgame pressure, since DTs suck when they don't do any economic damage.
Logic
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Terran's early game is primarily mineral-focused. Players are starting to realize that as soon as Medivacs hit the field, Marines do very well, even against pure Blinkstalker, due to their high rate of fire and fantastic longevity with Medivac support. What Bomber's build is designed to do is cut just a little bit of gas in the early game so that he has the minerals to get two things out:
- conditional added Bunkers to hold off any Protoss all-in (see the game on Ohana versus Squirtle below)
- a much earlier 4th and 5th Barracks at almost no penalty to himself so that he can remain aggressive for a very extended timeframe in the midgame
In addition, his Barracks add-ons are delayed to permit the proper Medivac timings, which means he's running on a mainly Marine force. Against most standard Protoss play, this doesn't leave many holes to exploit.
The benefit to having these earlier 5 Barracks is that even if the Protoss has gone for a quick 3 Nexus build, your potential for aggression will be massive; the Protoss player must place perfect Forcefields and not get caught out of position, because inside a minute, you will have the ability to drop 16 Marines into an expansion while hitting with another 20 Marines, 6-8 Marauders, and 2 Medivacs at the front: a VERY tough attack to handle.
- conditional added Bunkers to hold off any Protoss all-in (see the game on Ohana versus Squirtle below)
- a much earlier 4th and 5th Barracks at almost no penalty to himself so that he can remain aggressive for a very extended timeframe in the midgame
In addition, his Barracks add-ons are delayed to permit the proper Medivac timings, which means he's running on a mainly Marine force. Against most standard Protoss play, this doesn't leave many holes to exploit.
The benefit to having these earlier 5 Barracks is that even if the Protoss has gone for a quick 3 Nexus build, your potential for aggression will be massive; the Protoss player must place perfect Forcefields and not get caught out of position, because inside a minute, you will have the ability to drop 16 Marines into an expansion while hitting with another 20 Marines, 6-8 Marauders, and 2 Medivacs at the front: a VERY tough attack to handle.
Replays
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The first four replays are four of Bomber's Championship Bracket games from Sunday's Red Bull Battlegrounds, against different Protoss builds.
http://server1.redbulllan.com/production/dynamic/starcraft/replays/CloudKingdomLE21.SC2Replay - This is against MC. After an inconclusive midgame tentative push which doesn't result in anything, the two armies bypass each other in the middle of the map, and a pseudo-base trade occurs. Unfortunately for MC, his Blinkstalker/Zealot/Archon force gets stuck ravaging Bomber's main, while Bomber rebuilds his Barracks in the corner. After destroying both the natural and third of MC, Bomber returns, traps the reduced force in his main, and crushes MC. Worthy of note: the 5 Barracks of Bomber's main helped slow down Warp Prism harass and the main army of MC so that Bomber could return to trap it.
http://server1.redbulllan.com/production/dynamic/starcraft/replays/GSLEntombedValley_5.SC2Replay - Another Bomber/MC game. MC goes for a VERY fast triple Nexus, and Bomber just rolls the lower count of Gateway units by using his Factory for high ground vision and splitting his forces to give the Protoss army trouble in responding to all threats.
http://server1.redbulllan.com/production/dynamic/starcraft/replays/OhanaLE_4.SC2Replay - Versus Startale Squirtle. Squirtle does a big 2-base Colossus all-in, but Bomber builds enough Bunkers to pin the Protoss army in place and then outright crushes it with a beautiful sandwich from behind with Medivacs.
http://server1.redbulllan.com/production/dynamic/starcraft/replays/CloudKingdomLE_4.SC2Replay - Again versus Squirtle. Bomber gets pinned back to his natural while Squirtle manages to establish a third base. Bomber then does a beautiful fake to the natural ramp and immediately cuts back to the third when Squirtle tries to respond, and crushes the third, and the game shortly thereafter.
http://drop.sc/187566 - This is a quick test game that I played against a Green Tea AI. It's a fairly crappy Protoss play, but I just wanted to show the timings as done by someone who's examined the build for a couple of hours in depth to show how easy it can be to make this small adjustment.
http://server1.redbulllan.com/production/dynamic/starcraft/replays/CloudKingdomLE21.SC2Replay - This is against MC. After an inconclusive midgame tentative push which doesn't result in anything, the two armies bypass each other in the middle of the map, and a pseudo-base trade occurs. Unfortunately for MC, his Blinkstalker/Zealot/Archon force gets stuck ravaging Bomber's main, while Bomber rebuilds his Barracks in the corner. After destroying both the natural and third of MC, Bomber returns, traps the reduced force in his main, and crushes MC. Worthy of note: the 5 Barracks of Bomber's main helped slow down Warp Prism harass and the main army of MC so that Bomber could return to trap it.
http://server1.redbulllan.com/production/dynamic/starcraft/replays/GSLEntombedValley_5.SC2Replay - Another Bomber/MC game. MC goes for a VERY fast triple Nexus, and Bomber just rolls the lower count of Gateway units by using his Factory for high ground vision and splitting his forces to give the Protoss army trouble in responding to all threats.
http://server1.redbulllan.com/production/dynamic/starcraft/replays/OhanaLE_4.SC2Replay - Versus Startale Squirtle. Squirtle does a big 2-base Colossus all-in, but Bomber builds enough Bunkers to pin the Protoss army in place and then outright crushes it with a beautiful sandwich from behind with Medivacs.
http://server1.redbulllan.com/production/dynamic/starcraft/replays/CloudKingdomLE_4.SC2Replay - Again versus Squirtle. Bomber gets pinned back to his natural while Squirtle manages to establish a third base. Bomber then does a beautiful fake to the natural ramp and immediately cuts back to the third when Squirtle tries to respond, and crushes the third, and the game shortly thereafter.
http://drop.sc/187566 - This is a quick test game that I played against a Green Tea AI. It's a fairly crappy Protoss play, but I just wanted to show the timings as done by someone who's examined the build for a couple of hours in depth to show how easy it can be to make this small adjustment.
References
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Day 9 Daily on Bomber's TvP - Sean discusses the overall style, the implications for timings, and ways that Protoss are forced to play against it.
Discussion on TvP 'fast thirds' - Discussion on the viability of fast thirds in the TvP metagame and how Bomber's build might influence this.
Protoss discussion on what can be done against this. - Protoss player asking for help dealing with this style.
Discussion on TvP 'fast thirds' - Discussion on the viability of fast thirds in the TvP metagame and how Bomber's build might influence this.
Protoss discussion on what can be done against this. - Protoss player asking for help dealing with this style.
Further Discussion
I welcome feedback on this! Is there a way to further tweak the build to optimize number of units? Is this actually better against certain builds or will it be deconstructed by Protoss players and make you fall behind assuming perfect play? Chip in (but constructively, please)!
