EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/maps/192_Colosseum%20II.jpg)
There have been many new maps that have become popular to take over the new slew of maps that iCCup uses. One of which is Colosseum II (Col2). This strategy guide will attempt to deconstruct Col2 from the Terran perspective, and show the strengths and weaknesses against Protoss. The essential part of this guide is not the contents of the directions, but how the contents were constructed.
*Note: This will in fact be a strategy guide, not a how-to guide. The most important concept of any strategy game is to have a plan. Developing a plan is the single hardest, most complex task to do in any strategy game. Why a plan is so important is that it gives direction to playing rather than playing for the sake of playing (aka playing like a scrub). This guide will show the steps of developing a well thought out plan in order to gain an advantage.
Deconstructing the map
The starting stone should be analyzing the maps that you will be playing on. Generally, it is important to deconstruct maps in order to find the key ways to play the game. In deconstructing the map, I will point out the major issues with the map that gauge Terran’s game play and show appropriateness in timings of attacks and defense.
Economy and Bases
-3 Base clusters at each of the corners.
-Middle of the map disallows building placements.
-Middle of the map ledges pathing.
-3rd gas is highly accessible (T), and ridged.
-9 Possible gas bases a player can potentially have (excluding the 3 to the respective corner that the opponent has).
-Sunken colony and ridge.
These six listed things are what dictate Terran’s play, and differentiate this map from other maps. Note that they do not exhaust all differences from other maps.
The 3 base clusters is going to be the pivotal plan of the game, with the 2nd natural of each cluster ridged. Hypothetically, if we are able to establish tanks on that ridge, we take control of three bases. This concept is important since Terran can gain the advantage by evening expansions (see Axiom 1).
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Axiom 1
The reason why Protoss and Zerg need more expansions than Terran is that Terran armies generally win battles, and when they do, Terran armies have a better retention rate than the other races. So, if there is a theoretical equality in minerals, then there is clearly an advantage for Terran. This idea of equal expansions has also been expressed by Artosis in reference to Chupung-Ryeong. Therefore, a form of gaining an advantage (but not always, nothings set in stone!) is to have equal bases to the other race.
The middle of the map disallowing building placements(turrets) affects TvP in the mid game. What this implies is that pushes are not as robust to air plays as they could be. Therefore, a mobile anti air is required to have a strong effective push. This gives way to a more end game related unit composition push rather than attacking at early mid – mid game.
Also, the middle of the map has the ledges that have the ability to weaken a flank as the terran army heads out. We must note however that this middle is only affected in end game. For example, if we have an early push, then the middle ledges can’t be used for any purpose since the amount of units the opponent has probably will not be enough for the ledges to get in the way. Conversely, if we have a maxed push, the middle can serve as a barrier, and a pathing problem for when flanks are attempted. Again, the middle is not forcing, but tending towards terran having longer games.
The 3rd gas being so close to the natural and the main is a huge plus for terran’s timing push at 200/200. With three gas, the unit composition can be very deliberate. Ontop of the 2nd natural being so close, its ridge allows for very strong defense. This means, however, that defense will be strong for the opponent as well, making it harder for an early push to succeed consistently. If defense is established on top of the ridge, then base defense will be very sound. Therefore, if a terran has lesser forces, with the ridges positioning, it can hold off much more that normal, leading to expansions that can be taken sooner in relativity to other map.
9 possible gas expansions forces offensive movements. Some maps, terran can sit the entire game and just try to take half the map(Blue Storm), but because there are so many bases with gas, terran cannot play a passive game.
Lastly, the sunken colony and the ridge provide both opposing races with starting pressure. Therefore, the terran cannot play a completely passive opening like they could on medusa in tvz or on Othello in tvp.
Gathering all of this information, based on the map, we can finally formulate a plan with the given conditions.
Formulating a plan
Formulating a plan requires us to work backwards. We start with what we want and ask, how would we get into a position like this?
It is clear that the end game is going to suite a 200/200 push very strong. The layout of the map gives strength towards an end game push rather than going another timing such as the 110 push. With the 110 push, it can be delayed with zealot bombs, and flanking will go unhindered by the layout of the map. Not necessarily that a 110 push is refuted rather there may exist other stronger options. Therefore, knowing that there is no extremely strong mid game to a TvP on col2 that stands out, we should play more for end game. A very strong opening for end game would be the Flash build opening. Therefore, from the layout of the map, we can confidently apply the Flash build knowing that theoretically it is viable. Now we are starting to shape a strategy, and concurrently a pseudo build order.
Now we have a 200/200 army, but what do we do with it? We already know that this army is going to be able to have leverage, but we have no focus or plan on what to do with it. We could use the push to attack the expansions of the Protoss, or we could use it to try to kill the main. Returning to the conditions of the map, we see that there are clusters of bases. Establishing positioning on the ledge will affirm control over the 3 bases.
![[image loading]](http://rs66gc2.rapidshare.com/files/244569686/4508765/asdf.jpg)
This in combination with Axiom 1, the ideal position we would want now is if the protoss took the two expansions near each other in a corner. This way, when the 200/200 3-2 push comes out, it can focus on claiming positioning on the hill, and from there the 2 expansions are accessible. This is great. Now we have a clear direction of how we want our end game to unfold. We wouldn’t want our main objective to be to just sit and take 3 expansions for ourselves, since the protoss will be running on more gas expansions, and can synthesize the minerals faster than the terran can. Our main objective is to push to superior positioning at this ridge that controls entry the expansions of the opponent. This will ultimately achieve an even number of bases which generally gives an advantage to Terran. We know that we will be able to move to this position due to the map’s shape and how it tends to disable complete flanks where a protoss can have a nice arc for countering a push. Now we must take it one step back again to see how we can develop a game like this.
Executing the flash build requires a lot of gas, and thankfully col2 fits the roll perfectly. The 3rd gas is very near to the main and natural, and once acquired, protects your main and your expansions. This makes the position of the 3rd gas a beautiful one. The trick is getting situated on that top. That requires tactical skills that vary on a person’s build order, but it is important to note that because of col2’s layout, the flash build seems attractive to use considering the requirements for its use are there. We must also realize that in order for out main goal to come to be, we must funnel expansions into one area. The obvious choice is higher concentrated harassment on the area you don’t want your opponent harassing. The choice of harassing can be different, but again that is going to be up to a person’s playing style, whether it be drop, vulture sneaks, tank drop vulture combos, or mass BCs.
Again we take it a step back and see the early game if our current path is plausible. At any time if there is a blaring weakness, then we may need to refute the entire path. For example, if we see that going mass BC’s will give an automatic win, but you only have 1 gas, then clearly we must refute the entire case. In our current situation we need to analyze the Flash build in the beginning game and whether or not it is playable. Again we look back at our map analysis, and we do note that we can’t really take up a complete passive play in the beginning because of that ridge. Therefore, we need to alter the beginning game to counter for a potential threat from a ridge attack. This can come in a quicker tank, or having a bunker up to stop any silly supply depot breaks. Once we have defended against any ridge attacks, the game can unfold to how we’ve explained previously. Now we have a complete theoretical plan that exhausts all parts of the game!
So here we have constructed a theoretical plan of how we want our game to play out. There are so many variations that starcraft allows for, some of which can be deemed incorrect and others can be deemed plausible. After you make a plan, test it! Keep altering and seeing which path is the most efficient. The important part is the process of how we came up with this plan. We started with seeing what suits terran’s army best on this map. Once we established when the army is strong, we established what to do with the army and how to position a game that forces a game to unravel to a comfortable situation. Once acquiring an advantage, you then have a theoretical win.
