Sunday, May 11, 2008

The Early Rush

Rushing is an integral part of Starcraft. Anyone claiming it isn't so is a n00b. Rushing is also very dependent on the map being played and right now it seems like Lost Temple, Python and Luna are the most popular maps for 1vs1 games. All maps with a start position on raised ground and with a narrow ramp that can be blocked leading down to the natural expansion.

Today I played a Terran on Lost Temple. A Terran's opening move here is so set that I almost didn't have to scout for it. Two supply depots and a barracks are build at the top of the ramp to block an incoming rush. The problem here is that not many Terrans seems to know that zerglings are so small that the can pass through the cracks in between the between the buildings.

I started my spawning pool right after the 9th drone had been hatched and did a fairly slow and conservative rush with 8 zerglings. At that point I had 11 or maybe 12 drones in total so the rush wasn't forced at all and had it failed I would still be on a course for a not-too-delayed mid and late game build. When I reached his ramp I ran the zerglings through the crack and went for his SCVs further inside his base. I lost no more than one zergling from the fire from his marines waiting behind the buildings.

The problem with his wall-in strategy is of course that if the wall-in isn't so tight that the opponent can't get past it, his central base is at the mercy of the rush with no support from his few defenses that are placed too far forward. I almost felt sorry for the guy when the game was over after only 3:56.

So what should a Terran do against a Zerg? It isn't that easy to say, but a conservative approach would have to build the supply depots and barracks right next to his command center and start a bunker for his marines right after the barracks is finished building. The downside is that this will delay the Terran mid game a lot, which of course was the entire purpose of the Zerg's rush.

4 comments:

  1. Lol your post sux.
    What maps are you playing?
    Most of them have a wall-in on most or all positions, so you can defend maybe even 4-pool rush.
    LT has wall-in on all positions (sometimes you must hold the hole between supply depots with a scv), python on 3 of 4 (on 6 o'clock marine come out out of wall-in :()

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  2. To answer your question, Terrans really shouldn't wall versus Zerg. It's a waste of 100 minerals and the wall dies too easily. The correct ways to play Terran against Zerg involve massing marines and medics (your opponent obviously sucked at micromanaging his SCVs otherwise with marine backup they could easily handle the rush in a couple of seconds) or teching (goliaths are amazing).

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  3. No I agree that wall-in is bothersome and not really worth it. Especially since zerglings usually can bypass the wall-in anyway.

    But I do think that defending against a 4 pool rush is fairly hard without a bunker on a small open map and you definately need multiple scvs to defend the ramp on LT if you and your opponents is on say 12 and 3 o'clock.

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