"Mark Vegas is NOT Johnny Vegas' bastard son."
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| Two One Trick Wonders Bite the Dust | | | Author: | | | IP: | ip178.heXXXX | | Date: | 03/25/00 10:03 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 6, Min: 6
Lifetime Rating for Thyroid-Storm: 7.2500 |  | The age old question: how do I defend against a 6 pool? With zerg this is easy--an 8 pool with a sunken will put you ahead, but with Protoss and Terran it's another matter entirely. Most pros will tell you to rally your first zealot to your peon line and defend with probes. It's a similar story with Terrans. This is actually the strategy of choice, and if you manage to defend, the Zerg player is likely in for a major ass-whupping. Even though 6 pooling is a legitimate strategy, most 6 poolers are one trick wonders--they've won so often with it that they don't need to learn how to do anything else.
But how do you defend against a DOUBLE 6 pool?
In the following report I will elucidate. As with my previous stories (nearly a year ago now), I'll have tips for intermediate toss players.
The setting is the Hidden Shrine. I'm teamed up with "let_me_win!!!" One of the other players is "doh'", and I can't recall his partner's name (way too complex). Note: Hidden Shrine is actually pretty different from Lost Temple, and far superior, fyi.
I spawn as red protoss at the 5 o'clock position. Let_me_win!!! spawns as white terran at the 3 o'clock. The other guys picked random, so I had no idea what they were initially. I went with the usual pylon on 8th probe build (on smaller maps where I know there's a zerg player, I prefer pylon on 7, gate on 8 to defend against a rush). Let_me_win!!! does something unorthodox--he sends one of his starting SCVs on a scouting mission.
Soon enough he finds blue spawned as zerg in the 11:00 position. A rudimentary glance reveals only 4/5 drones at work, a spawning pool half-way done. I'm not too worried--white is more likely to be rushed than I am, and a marine in the midst of SCVs does wonders. White and I discuss how if we beat back the 6 pool, blue should be easy prey. He travels south to find yellow is also zerg, and is ALSO 6 pooling. This is where we begin to sweat. I had put down 1 gateway on 9, with another on 10, but it would be close.
One thing you can try if a 6 pool is imminent is using your scout to distract the first 6 zerglings. If the zerg player truly sucks, he might chase it around a bit before realising you're just biding time. Unfortunately, my scout sees 6 yellow blurs converging fast on my base. A zealot is warping in, but will it make it on time? Things start looking bad when a second wave of blue zerglings is quick to follow.
Let_me_win!!!: "Defend with your probes!!!"
You betcha.
At first I run my probes away to bide for some time. Then together, about a dozen probes and a dozen SCVs goes up against the zerglings. It gets pretty ugly, and SCVs and probes die left and right, getting raped by the 12 zerglings. Then the calvary arrives, and the lone red zealot goes to work with the peons. Soon he is overwhelmed, but another comes in from the gate I put down on 10, and with the workers' help, the remaining invaders are slaughtered. White returns to his base, and I'm left with 1 zealot, 5 probes, and 86 ore in the bank. I opted to rebuild my economy over saving up for another zealot.
The situation is pretty bad, and gets worse when another wave of 12 zerglings from blue and yellow arrives. By now another zealot is warping in and I have about 8/9 probes, but it still isn't good. The probes and the Lone Ranger again engage the zerglings. Blue had split off and attacked my nexus, and yellow was attacking pylons. The Lone Ranger and his Tantos had cleaned up, and he was on death's door when again white arrived with his SCVs!!! Then the 2nd zealot warped in and together killed the dogs, but not before I was left with 1 pylon that was flaming blue. This time though I still had the majority of my workers, so it was easy to get my economy going again.
White at this point offered a bunker, which I gladly accepted. Good too--when my third zealot arrived, the zerglings made *another* call, only to be chased away by three marines sitting pretty in a bunker.
I thought we were in the clear, and put down an assimilator and a core after my 4 zealot arrived. White was more pessimistic though--he was sure they'd used the lull to tech or to expand. I used 1 probe (again, early in the game, key a peon to 1 and SCOUT) to make sure they weren't making any errant expansion attempts and to find out what their plan was. 1 discovered bad news--yellow had a lair and a den, which can only mean lurkers--and my core wasn't even done!!! A cursory glance at white saw no scanner and no engineering bay.
The most important thing to do in this situation, I think, is NOT panic. We still had time--yellow still had to research lurkers, and at 125 gas a pop, they don't come cheap (25 for the hydra, 100 for the morph). White urged me to go cannons, but I opted to slap down a robotics and go straight for observers.
What to do in the case of lurkers and you're not ready (for intermediate toss ;): the most important thing is to have goons. Keep your force somewhere in between your base and his. He still has to get in before he can do any damage. Remember also they have to burrow before they can do any damage, meanwhile your goons can pelt them. If you just have zealots, they can simply run by. When and if you engage them in the field, get as many hits as you can and run away. If he wants to get any more licks, he's gonna have to come out of the ground first where your goons can take potshots (and again, your zealots would have to chase them down). If you go forge and cannons, there's a STRONG possibility he will find some weakness if your base where his lurkers can strike with impunity, and the 300 ore (150 for the forge, 150 for a cannon) early on can make a HUGE difference on how quickly you get your robotics up and observers. If you have a choice between more goons or a forge after your observatory is in the works, I would still opt for goons b/c they will go where you want them to.
2 goons are warped in to assist the zealots. My robotics finishes, and still no sign of any lurkers. The observatory quickly follows, and as soon as enough money is in the bank, another 2 goons.
Before the observatory is done, a yellow lurker stumbles across my mid-field force of 4 zs and 2 goons. It burrows and my ground forces are shunned, but I rally them closer to my base and they are joined by the other 2 goons. Bingo--the observatory's done, and the 1st observer arrives just in time. 2 yellow lurkers make their call--one is killed before it can burrow, and the other has burrowed close to my assimilator. It is soon dispatched, but not before killing my gas peons. Goon range upgrade is in the works. My 2nd observer is sent to hover over white's base, my return favor for his bailing my ass three times in a row.
(btw, never let your partner have to request an observer/overlord--always GIVE them one).
With goons, zs, marines, medics, and observers, white wants blood. Yellow blood in particular. His forces wind around the northern edge of the lake, while mine cut along the southern. Unfortunately, mine stumbles upon a combined strike force of zerglings and hydras from blue and yellow. The battle is bloody, and only 2 goons are left to stand against the mini swarm, but the medarines arrive to clean up. At home, I'm cranking out observers and goons like mad, and white has siegeable tanks, yellow in his sights.
However, my growing goon force stumbles across a yellow expansion at 7:00, and we proceed to spank it. In typical newbie fashion, yellow brings in 3 drones and begins morphing them to sunkens (um, sunkens range 7, tanks range 12). 1 is slimed before it's even finished, and the expansion is reduced to so much red goo.
Soon a force of 8 goons, medarines, and tanks with observers makes a call on yellow's base. Being the skilled veteran he was, he was using the almighty one hatch strategy. It's not long before the base is pasted, but blue has grown in the north considerably, having taken the ore only south of his base. At this point, he promptly accused Let_Me_Win!!! and I of hacking and quit, and yellow was soon behind.
Of course, having survived a double 6 pool with protoss and terran, there was much trash talking before they left ;).
Morals of the story:
1. Geez. Stop 6-pooling already. You might learn what to do just in case it doesn't work. Again--I recognize many veterans use 4/6 pools, but the vast majority of players who use it have no idea what to do in the event it fails.
2. No, I don't hack. Been playing since the game came out, and I wouldn't even know how to install a hack. But if I did and you STILL failed to eliminate me with a double 6 pool... hmmm... means you need some practice.
3. Okay. Lurkers are only okay. (Same thing with DTs, btw). Once mobile detection comes into play, they become obsolete. If you can quickly tech to them and catch your opponent with their pants down, they are quite powerful. After that though their use becomes questionable. Especially against Protoss. In fact, lurkers are the only mid-game unit goons are cost effective against--zerglings and hydras usually do a number on them. Remember, goons have equal range and equal damage against lurkers with superior cooldown (ain't too many ground troops that shoot slower than goons). Unlike hydras and marines, goons don't "stack" when they attack lurkers b/c they have the same range, making the splash somewhat less effective. Late game lurkers are just storm, reaver, irradiate, and tank bait and should only be used in moderation (hydras and mutalisks at least can escape a storm, but a stormed burrowed lurker is a dead one).
4. Observers are better than cannons. WAY better. Observers go where you want.
5. If you double 6 pool, you better succeed. Or else.
Alright, thanks for listening.
--Thyroid-Storm |
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