EPT![[image loading]](http://i41.tinypic.com/2rglw6w.png)
The Fake Delayed Spire
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The Prologue
Before you go: "tl;dr", "wtf is this bull", "omg he named it after himself", "there is no such thing as a fake delayed spire", "Chill destroy this kid!", please at least read the section labeled The Idea. If you read anything, please read that section. I have done a cursory search and did not find any thread that talked about this idea and quickly read through the "Strategy Forum Guidelines" so that Chill won't destroy me. I have hope for this idea and believe it has at least some potential. It is a little long but I tried to be as detailed as possible. Then again, there is an equal chance of it failing epically. Alright let's get started.
The Introduction
As a high school senior already accepted into college, I have nothing to do nowadays. I spend my time juggling TL Mafia, ICCup, and watching new and old ProSC VODs. My latest delve into TLPD's "Individual League" gamelists led me to an old match between Jaedong and Light. While I was watching, Light scanned Jaedong's base to find out how far his spire had progressed and saw a half completed spire with a few idle zerglings around it. Then the thought occurred to me - What if Jaedong tricked Light into thinking his timing was different? The "Fake Delayed Spire" idea was born.
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The Idea
Yes. The banner shows it all. A Zerg player actually has the capability to manipulate the HP of his Spire to show anything he wants it to regardless of the progress of the building process. Many Terran players use their
Note: If this is the only thing you read, you understand, and you wish to participate in the discussion, please check out The Feedback section first. There have been a lot of things mentioned and it's annoying to see the same thing repeated again and again.
The Condition
There are a few conditions that make this theorycraft work:
- The Terran will scan your base and check the HP of the Spire to determine how far it has progressed.
- The Zerg Player is able to attack its own Spire and throw off the Terran's timing.
- There is no evidence that the Zerg player altered the Spire's HP.
The Detailed Argument
The key to this strategy hinges around the inherent nature of the Zerg building. Terran buildings show its "building" progress by adding more pieces to a basic structure until it eventually resembles the actually building. Protoss buildings create a blue warping ball that only resembles the final building when it completes warping. Zergs have a third way of morphing in their buildings by first having a basic "blob" that turns into a more advanced "blob" around ~1/3 of the way through the building time (Sorry but "blob" is the best word I could think of to describe the Zerg building. With any rudimentary knowledge about Starcraft, you would understand what I mean). All three of the buildings also have ways to show that they are taking damage - Protoss and Terran showing fires colored blue and red respectively, Zerg showing a bleeding building. However, unfinished buildings do not show any sign of damage.
As mentioned before, in a standard game the Terran would scan the Zerg base to check the progress of the Spire. Because Zerg buildings only have two stages - the lesser "blob" and the greater "blob" (as opposed to Terran buildings which have many stages of "progress"), it is beneficial for the Terran to actually click on the Zerg Spire and check how far along it is.
The Zerg player (using idle zerglings) may attack its own building and drastically reduce the HP of the Spire. The Terran player, in turn, checks the HP of the Spire and sees that it is not that far along (e.g. 300 HP or only half way done) when in fact the Spire is much farther along than initially perceived. Because of the inherent nature of buildings in progress in Starcraft, the damaged Spire will not show any sign of having taken damage. The Terran, assuming the Spire is not close to being finished, will take the standard course of delaying turrets until as late as possible, during which the Zerg's Spire would finish and a group of mutalisks fly to the Terran's base without him (or her if this gets used against Tossgirl) being prepared.
Being so shocked by the arrival of mutalisks without the Zerg even having a completed Spire, the Terran gets angry and becomes BM while exiting the game without saying GG.
The Pictures
The following are pictures to show just what I am talking about. They show two Spires, one (on the right) will be left unaltered. The other (on the left) will show a Spire with the technique being used on it. Pay special attention to the progress of the Spire (shown by the progress bar) and the health the Spire has.
+ Show Spoiler [Spires at Stage One] +
![[image loading]](http://i40.tinypic.com/2ywfuyb.png)
![[image loading]](http://i41.tinypic.com/fc5y61.png)
Nothing much. Notice how the "blob" appears, signifying that the Spire just started building.
![[image loading]](http://i44.tinypic.com/24cfvb5.png)
![[image loading]](http://i41.tinypic.com/2duwb3t.png)
The Spire evolves into a greater "blob" at around 200 HP (or 1/3 of the full building health).
Question: Does this apply to all Zerg buildings? Both Spires are still early off in their building time.
![[image loading]](http://i44.tinypic.com/206jwon.png)
![[image loading]](http://i43.tinypic.com/apk7yh.png)
The good stuff. The Spire on the left had the technique used on it. On the right is the unaltered Spire. Notice how the left Spire does not have its health drop below 200 because it would need to be a lesser "blob" if it was under 200. The Terran, seeing the seemingly normal Spire at 200 HP, would think that it was still early.
Notice the similarities despite the fact that one Spire is ~20 seconds further along than the other. In ~3 seconds (with 6 Zerglings) you mask the actual timing of the Spire. No bleeding (until the buildings are actually finished of course), no progress bar over the building alerting the opponent, no nothing. Awesome.
The Forseeable Downfalls
- The Zerg player cannot perfectly predict when the Terran will scan.
- If the Terran sees Zerglings near your Spire (or a lack of Zerglings directly outside his natural) he may know what's up.
- The Terran player may not click (or may not even comsat) your Spire and just build turrets regardless.
- When a Terran scans, counting the amount of larva you have would probably indicate how far along your Spire actually is. (idea first pointed out by AnOth3rDAy). A potential counter is by making your spire as far away from your Hatchery as possible (probably need to make a creep or something somewhere) so that the Terran would need to waste another scan to check your larvae count. That would remove the "no drawback" factor, though.
The Other Applications
- This same method can be used against Protoss by showing a scouting probe or corsair an altered Spire. The corsair would start attacking your overlord and not realize that you are so close to morphing in scourge and lose his corsair.
- You can alter other Zerg buildings such as hydralisk dens. Starcraft puts a high emphasis on very precise timings and just basing your timings on false information could cause a loss.
- You could fake this technique and just have Zerglings standing adjacent to the Spire. The Terran might overreact and build his turrets much too early, thereby decreasing the number of SCVs and other units he makes and thereby decreasing his efficiency. It'll all just be a big mindgame.
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The Feedback (indented means they add to the strategic factor)
+ Show Spoiler [Feedback, Ideas, Epic Proclamations] +
Chill, the killer of strategy noobs, thinks this is a good idea
il0seonpurpose wants to point out that the pictures are exaggerated. I agree.
AttackZerg vows to use it in every game from now.
Chill points out there is nothing to lose.
Zortch agrees.
randombum thinks we should hide the zergling.
Archaic proposes using this on a hydralisk den.
Conquest101 says maybe a 9 pool in PvZ?
ShaLLoW[baY] tries to find a use for using this in ZvZ.
IdrA recalls a time when he had a heart. He now lives to ruin other people's dreams.
Pieguy314 thinks this is the best thing in history. I disagree. There are things better then this. Pizza and laser tag are two examples.
AnOth3rDAy points out that the larva near the hatcheries gives the Spire timing away.
pertzergling wants to note that this would be more applicable on some maps.
Smorrie becomes the first person to try this out and report back! Report: Epic Fail. Maybe his opponents were too gosu?
il0seonpurpose wants to point out that the pictures are exaggerated. I agree.
AttackZerg vows to use it in every game from now.
Chill points out there is nothing to lose.
Zortch agrees.
randombum thinks we should hide the zergling.
Archaic proposes using this on a hydralisk den.
Conquest101 says maybe a 9 pool in PvZ?
ShaLLoW[baY] tries to find a use for using this in ZvZ.
IdrA recalls a time when he had a heart. He now lives to ruin other people's dreams.
Pieguy314 thinks this is the best thing in history. I disagree. There are things better then this. Pizza and laser tag are two examples.
AnOth3rDAy points out that the larva near the hatcheries gives the Spire timing away.
pertzergling wants to note that this would be more applicable on some maps.
Smorrie becomes the first person to try this out and report back! Report: Epic Fail. Maybe his opponents were too gosu?
