EPTI'm known for writing a reaver pvp guide, so why no reavers this time? Well, the point this time around is to simplify, the guide and the strategy, as well as to show that basic goon play is indeed very strong (I hardly see anyone play this style). My last guide was too complicated and got into too many variations. I doubt many people read it. I think going simple and then setting people out on their own to explore is better, even if it is not as complete.
A non reaver build is a bit easier to play than a reaver build. Besides, a reaver build is not clearly better. Robo bay, 2reavers, shuttle, and 10scarabs cost 900/300/10psi. That is more than 5goons and a gateway (775/250/10psi). A fair price perhaps, but also take into account that the offensive reaver player is typically on the attack and has a travel distance disadvantage. Thus, a non-reaver defensive player will have a significant unit number advantage, all other things equal. So, while you take the easier macro & mass unit route, the pressure is on the reaver player to make good use of harassing and micro. The main thing vs. reaver is not to get stuck in chokes. You should fight on open ground where you can surround better and splash won't do as much damage.
Example of normal BO:
8pylon, 10gate, 12pylon, 13zealot, 16assim, 18core, 19zealot, 22pylon, 23goon, 26range, 27goon, 30pylon, 31gate, 32goon, 34robo, 36two goons, 40pylon, 41gateway, 42observetory, two goons, 46pylon, ob, then units/pylons as fits. Expo ~6:30 after you have made 12 or 15units.
Example build replay: http://uploaded.to/file/urqjyc
*Timings can vary depending on mining speed, so timings may vary slightly game to game.
*Constantly build probes until 28 total before expo. That's ~3x each min patch +3for gas +1scout. Then after you scout your opponent you decide how many more probes to build. One good thing about this BO is that it is easy to know how many probes you have built. If you have not lost any units you have 28probes at 42psi.
Rough idea of normal BO unit timings:
5:30- 5goons range/2zealots
6:00-7g/2z
7:00-10g/5z
8:00- 16g/5z
*You can build more zealots for this strategy than you might normally in order to maximize unit production, and since you don't have a lot of gas. Still, too many zealots early is not the best idea because they get destroyed by reaver, so I suggest 5. Zealots build faster and are cheaper than goons, yet head to head with no micro still beat goon 1 on 1.
* The main purpose of providing these numbers is for timing comparisons. So that you can play the build out in single player and make sure things are spot on, and also so you can compare this builds timings to other builds. So lets compare vs Bisu's well done 3gate goon/reaver BO. Rep is available here:
http://www.gosugamers.net/starcraft/replays/16280
At 7:40 Bisu had 13g/3z/2reaver shuttle. Usual 30sec travel distance means ~8:10 attack.
So compared to this build it will be 16g/5z vs 13g/3z/2reaver. This makes +3goons+2zealots-2reavers. Considering splash and good micro, the reaver player has the slight edge here. But also consider that you will have 3goons out for reinforcements soon. The outcome largely comes down to unit positioning and how the attack goes, but can we say it's about equal? Impressive enough considering your fished around the time he starts one.
If you go 4gate robo and delay expanding until he does (8+min) you are up around another 3goons vs. a 8:10 attack, which makes 6g/2z vs 2reaver/shuttle, which looks pretty good. Travel distance is what is important here, and allows you to get away with the earlier nexus.
Opening concerns/deviations:
1) If they offensive gas you.
Two ways to go. Either stick another gate up after 1st zealot, kill assim and then rush with your zealots. They will probably defend fine though, and the game goes on. Or stay on 1gate and expo after 1-2 zealot(s) and get forge-cannons/2nd gate as needed for defense. See: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/1_Zealot_Expand_(vs._Protoss)
2) If they two gate.
You don't usually want to core after one zealot. If you have not made assim yet you have the additional option of expoing quickly off of 2 gates after you are safe. If you already made assim, hold off mining gas for a bit and stick a 2nd gate up instead of core, and make enough zealots to be safe. It is essential vs 2gate to keep your scouting probe alive to see how many zealots they build & when/if they take gas, as this lets you know what timing you need for on your units in order to defend well. If they go 3zealots then nexus that is significantly different than if they go 7zealots then gas, and you should play differently in response.
Example BO of moderate response (5z then core) to a 2gate rush: 8p, 10gate, 12p, 13z, 16assim, 17gate, 18z, 21pylon, 22z, 25z, 28z, 31core/p, ...
For an example rep of how this can go early game and how probes can help see Bisu vs Stork on Python: http://repdepot.net/replay.php?id=13245
3) If you scout them late.
If you are not able to scout them you are in a tricky position because you don't know if they are going 2gate or core first. It's not usually a good idea to go zcorez blindly though because it's bad vs 2gate. My suggestion here would be to go zzcorez, using probes behind zealots to help vs a 2gate attack if necessary. This way vs 10/12 it will be 3z+probes vs 3z, then 3z/g/probes vs 5z. But, if your opponent is going for a harder rush like proxy this is not as good as making a gate instead of core, so you may want to just go 2nd gate anyway.
4) If they go for an aggressive early goon attack.
On a non ramp map your opponent is much more likely to go for a very aggressive build early which cuts probes, such as 10/15gate and mass goons, or mass zealot/goon. You will respond to both of these the same by cutting probes slightly to get more units & range quicker. Vs 10/15 or similar hard goon attack make 1zealot max. If they make more zealots (2-3) match them in zealot numbers. If you do it right travel distance will save you. You will have as many units as them when they come to attack but more probes, since they cut probes sooner.
5) If they go for a quick expansion, say before 6minutes.
If you see some kind of very quick nexus build from them you have to make a judgment if you will attack or if you will expand quickly also. You don't want to play the normal middle of the road build as they should be able to defend if they mass units and will end up having a stronger economy later.
Vs FE:+ Show Spoiler +
FE pvp: 8p, 13nexus, 13 2gates, pylon, 2zealots, ...
You don't typically want to 2gate 10/12 vs FE because they can match your zealots because of travel distance and then have stronger economy.
Hard counter- proxy gateways
Standard safe response - just expo quick yourself after 1gateway 1zealot (8p, 10gate, z/p, 18nexus). You should have 1zealot done ~2:25+usual 30sec travel distance = ~3:00 in their min line. FE's first zealot is out a bit later than that, so you should usually be able to harass probes.
Can work:
1) Ground dt/ dt drop as fast as possible while not being scouted. Of course, they can get cannons in time, but the question is will they?
2) Cutting probes hard and get many goons with range can work if they do not get enough goon/cannon. In this situation you should be able to micro to kill off small number of ranged units, then mop up zealots to win.
3) Just get a couple goons to put some pressure on them while expanding fast.
Vs dt: + Show Spoiler +
Either A) expo asap, use goon+first ob to defend. Macro up.
or B) If you think an attack will work:
make constant goons, attack with goons+first ob after dealing with dt. Make 2nd ob asap and use next 2 goons that pop to defend vs possible dt. Then expo and macro up.
or B) If you think an attack will work:
make constant goons, attack with goons+first ob after dealing with dt. Make 2nd ob asap and use next 2 goons that pop to defend vs possible dt. Then expo and macro up.
6) vs proxy gates
-If the proxy gate is in your main, and you scout it just as it starts warping in you can pull 5-6probes off your minerals and go attack the gateway so that their zealot never comes out. They will then build in their main and it will roughly be a typical game from then on.
-If they proxy 9/9gateways you react much like you would vs 10/12 gate. Get 2gates asap and make zealots.
-On some maps with longer travel distances there is a strategy where you 1gate proxy, and just suicide harass with zealots. The logic being that you can kill more probes than it costs to proxy and harass like this. Typically go 1gate constant zealot production vs this, and it comes down to micro.
Ob timing
1) Fast ob
If you need to defend vs fast DT, such as ZcoreZcitadel asap make robo before 2ndgate at ~31psi. Obs pops ~5:50.
Often the reason for playing fast ob is because you are denied scouting information, say they block their ramp with probes, or your scout arrives after they block ramp with a zealot.
Sometimes you will even want to go robo before range. This is if they are going 13corecitadelasap all out dt rush.
2) Normal timing
This is the BO as shown above: 2nd gate=>robo. Ob pops ~6:05. If your opponent is going ZcoreZ and you can keep your scouting probe in their base until their goon pops out, and they put a citadel down asap after you scout dies/leaves, you will have ob just as their dt arrives with this timing.
3) Slow ob timing
If you get a great scout on your opponent and can get away without detection for awhile the two strategies I would suggest are 3gate goon or 2gate goon to quick expo. Typically when you would do these builds is when you scout your opponent going robo or 3gate goon, but getting this kind of scouting information is rare vs good players. Expanding with cannon may help here if they do end up going dt because cannons complete faster. Remember from instant of laying down forge it takes slightly longer than 1min to get a cannon up, so you need to lay down forge when dt starts training.
-couple things to keep in mind are to scout with ob on the path from your nat to their nat, so that you can spot dt if it is on the way to your base and bring your ob back. Also, if your ob is not out yet, you can hold units on your ramp which will stall the dt from getting into your base.
Scouting, Nexus timing, & Adaptation:
Usually you are not going to get a good enough scout to know what is best. By the time your ob scouts their base at ~6:30 you have already made your decision to build 2, 3, or 4gateways. So, why is 3gate 7min expo the norm? Well, it is the middle of the road, an dit is more versatile. You have more choice over when to expand, and perhaps can even scout them with ob and decide to add your 4th gate before expanding. Of course, you can speculate what your opponent will do and respond accordingly, or play to the maps. For example, on Colosseum you might want to two gate expo since it provides an easy quick defended expansion. Basically expo earlier if slightly more units earlier wont matter but more economy later will, and expo later if more units earlier will matter. This depends on how your opponent plays, so I won't give anymore than this very rough guideline. Besides the previously mentioned, the major method of adaption after you have scouted your opponent is probe production. You'll want to pump probes anytime having a bit more units early will not give you an advantage, as this will give you a stronger economy, and more power later. Again, this is an complicated matter, so I will only give this rough guideline.
Follow up
So far I have covered the build up to around 8 minutes. After this there are many more decisions to make depending on how the game has already gone. As you see in my example BO replay I get get citadel and mass speedlots. This is just one way to play, and often not the best way. For example, vs. one base reaver play, it would be better to keep making goons rather than make speedlots since goon works better vs. reaver. Say you are vs. quick dt to expo though. In this case their army will typically be too small to attack until 10+ min, so perhaps you can get away with a very quick 3rd nexus. I'm not sure, it's complicated and I have not looked at the timings...why don't you? Overall, while the tech path to work towards is citadel and archives due to speedlot/goon/ht/archon being more cost effective and powerful than mass goon, be careful of teching too fast and not having enough units.
Games
1) Thread covering Bisu vs Best:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=89464
2) Praetor vs White-Ra:
http://repdepot.net/replay.php?id=22159
Praetor's opening is more aggressive than I show, but overall the strategy is similar.
3)
This guide did not cover important things in detail such as unit positioning, how to react in to particular styles of play, or follow up strategies. I leave this up to you. It takes some trial and error, and you can get that kind of stuff better from replays. Now that you have a very solid base build you can try it and explore variations. I'll take any questions, and I encourage comments, so if you suggest something that I think deserves mention I'll add it. I'll look at any replays of people trying this build if they need any help with it. I'll consider doing another build oriented guide if there is interest, so if anyone has suggestions there please mention it.
.
