StimmedProbe Profile Blog Joined October 2010 Hong Kong 98 Posts Last Edited: 2013-01-13 12:19:37 #1 StimmedProbe's 1 Base Battlecruiser TvZ

(Yes you read that right)

Last Update: January 13th, 2013



Pew pew pew pew pew pew!



"Powerful Warship" -In game description



Basic Idea:



Battlecruisers? What!? You cant be serious StimmedProbe! Well guess what, I'm serious! This idea came to me when I was reviewing some of my older builds, in particular the 4-thor rush vs zerg. The core concept is the same, ultra high tech units that snowball out of control after the first engagement.



However the thor has a few inherent weaknesses. First of all, it doesn't have a 10 range "devastating plasma cannon" it has a clumsy 7 range damage over time spell, which for your information does less dps than a thor's auto attack. In addition the energy cost is higher (150 vs 125). Secondly, a large amount of initial roaches or follow-up lings can overwhelm the thors. Good creep spread also leads to hoards of zerg units overpowering the mighty thor. Battlecruisers are immune to lings, roaches and creep. We will abuse the fact that battlecruisers cannot be hit by anything except queens and spores early game and that scvs can repair to make zergs unhappy =]



The build opens up with a very fast tech to starport and a small marine/hellion drop to harass the zerg and keep them on their toes. Meanwhile a doom push of marines, hellions and battlecruisers builds up back at home. The attack hits with about 20 marines, 10 hellions, 1 medivac with full energy, 2 battlecruisers, 6 scvs and 1 yamato cannon at 10:30-10:45. A follow-up push with 4 battlecruisers and various support units happens a few minutes later if necessary. I have a pretty high win rate at masters/gm with this build, and this build is pretty simple to execute so pretty much anyone with a little micro and multi-tasking can use this.





Build Order:



10 depot

12 rax (marine -> rest -> marine -> reactor)

13 gas -> 3 in gas

16 depot

16 marine

17 orbital

17 gas -> 3 in gas

17 factory (hellion -> long rest -> reactor)

18 marine

21 reactor on rax (4:05)

21 depot

22 starport (1 mvac -> tech lab -> battlecruisers)

22 hellion

28 depot

29 medivac

31 fusion core (5:30)

36 tech lab on starport

37 depot

43 battlecruiser (6:40)

50 depot

50 reactor on factory

~8:00 Cut SCVs

~9:30 Start Yamato Cannon



FPVOD of me doing the build:

http://www.twitch.tv/cgfatal/b/356226865



Replay vs AI available in the replay section below.





Key Build Order Points:

Make 1 hellion only till your reactor is done, if you don't follow this rule your battlecruisers will come out 10-15 seconds late



Reactor on factory after the battlecruiser starts, if you don't follow this rule your battlecruisers will come out 15-20 seconds late



Don't miss any mules (5-10 energy leeway max)



Make a bunker if you think something fishy is going on



3rd depot should be at the side to check for an overlord



Marines should deny overlords from seeing if there is a natural if possible



Do not get supply blocked (duh)



Battlecruisers cost 400/300 and 6 supply



Make sure your first hellion scouts what your opponent is doing (VERY IMPORTANT)



Dealing with Aggression

Mass lings (~5:30)-> You have a wall, stay behind it



Baneling bust (~7:00) -> You are probably dead unless you scouted it and have 2 bunkers in place. Late baneling busts are easier to scout because of the initial hellion.



Ling/Bane/Roach (~8:45) -> Safe as long as your 1st hellion does his job



Auto-Win Builds:

You auto-win vs any fast tech build (2 base infestor, 2 base muta)



You auto-win vs any fast 3rd hatch (only dumb/greedy zergs do this when they scout gas from you)



If he doesn't do one of those two things, you gotta micro and execute the attack properly



Harassment Execution:



You will have 1 medviac, 6 marines and a hellion to play around with at 6:30-7:00. This little group of units can actually kill off 5-10 workers and a queen if you micro properly and get a little lucky. I like to run up directly to the queen so she cannot run. Micro the hellion individually if the drones run, that's where you get most of your kills from. Lift off if in danger. You can come back 2-3 times to annoy the zerg. The key of this stage is to go for guaranteed free damage. DO NOT LOSE YOUR MEDIVAC!





The attack:





The glorious battle taking place!

Larger Picture: Larger Picture: http://i.imgur.com/0g4J7.jpg

So you have killed a few drones, bruised up a queen or two, have control of the watch towers and your zerg buddy only knows you have gas, a rax/fact/starport and no natural. Most zergs can conclude that some sort of all in is coming from this. However most of them believe it will be a marine/hellion or marine/maud/hellion or marine/hellion/tank push off one base. If they scout your starport with a tech lab they will feel totally safe with mass queens and spores because they believe it is banshees. Only if they are able to see the fusion core do they know battlecruisers are coming. If they do not scout the fact that you went battlecruisers, you will just crush him (replay #2). I like to bring 6 scvs only, since queen dps is bad, and you need a decent economy to support a reactor rax, reactor factory and battlecruiser production.



You must micro the attack properly. This means splitting your units, and micro-ing your army based on what composition he has chosen to defend with. If he has a wall of spines already completed, elevator your units into his main with your medivac. If the front defense looks breakable, go for the front instead.

Start off by yamato-ing the highest energy queen.



Second check what unit composition he has



If he has banelings start splitting your units



If he has roaches, try to get a good concave



If he has lings, keep your units balled up



Micro back your hurt units (especially the medivac and battlecruisers)



Don't let your battlecruiser get hit by a spore



If your ground army is getting overrun, lift the last units into the medivac



If you cannot kill him directly, keep pumping battlecruisers, marines and hellions. Once you hit 4 battlecruisers go for another attack. In the mean time pick off queens for free with yamato. Your battlecruisers can also pick off the outside gas mine on some maps before the queens can do anything about it. Deny him a 3rd base with your units if possible as well. Float your main command center down to the low ground if needed, you should have a decent gas bank, so no need to start refineries down there immediately.





Conclusion:



This is an extremely fun micro and execution based all in. If your harassment goes well and your opponent doesn't really know what you are doing you have a very high chance of winning the game with a little micro. Practice the build order vs the AI and have a few goes on ladder. If you have any questions feel free to ask them, I'd be happy to answer them!





"Where are your queens now?"



Replays:



Replay #1 Akilon Flats - (16 minutes) (Recommended) ->

Description: This is how games normally look. My opponent opens up very normally with 4 queens and speed with a spine to defend. He then goes for some roach pressure, which is heavily delayed because of my drop harassment. He decides to go with roach/bane for defense with queens/spines/lings to supplement the army. Notice how the push is fairly slow and methodical. He taps out after my 4 battlecruisers destroy his spore wall.



Replay #2 - Antiga (16 minutes) ->

Description: 4 queen with speed opening. My opponent did not scout the battlecruisers and was expecting a 1 base ground push. My opponent cut workers at 35, and pumped pure units in anticipation of a ground push. The ground army is almost wiped out to the ling/bane despite a good split. However, the battlecruisers snowball out of control and a follow-up with with 4 battlecruisers ends the lives of his mutas and queens and he leaves.



Replay #3 - Ohana (16 minutes) ->

Description: My opponent opens up by droning up his two bases and he takes a 3rd while getting some upgrades and lair using his queens for defense. In this game I mess up my positioning horribly. I put my marines/hellions into a corner and banelings crash into them during my first push. However, I killed enough drones for the follow-up push to still work. Again, 4 battlecruiser follow-up seems to be extremely strong.



Replay #4 - Akilon Flats (11 minutes) ->

Description: My opponent goes for a Ling/Bane/Roach all in. My first hellion scouts the roaches incoming and I prepare a bunker back at my base. It fails horribly and the counter push kills him instantly.



Replay #5 - Build Order vs AI (11 minutes) ->

Description: A nice clean execution of the build order vs an AI. Battlecruisers? What!? You cant be serious StimmedProbe! Well guess what, I'm serious! This idea came to me when I was reviewing some of my older builds, in particular the 4-thor rush vs zerg. The core concept is the same, ultra high tech units that snowball out of control after the first engagement.However the thor has a few inherent weaknesses. First of all, it doesn't have a 10 range "devastating plasma cannon" it has a clumsy 7 range damage over time spell, which for your information does less dps than a thor's auto attack. In addition the energy cost is higher (150 vs 125). Secondly, a large amount of initial roaches or follow-up lings can overwhelm the thors. Good creep spread also leads to hoards of zerg units overpowering the mighty thor. Battlecruisers are immune to lings, roaches and creep. We will abuse the fact that battlecruisers cannot be hit by anything except queens and spores early game and that scvs can repair to make zergs unhappy =]The build opens up with a very fast tech to starport and a small marine/hellion drop to harass the zerg and keep them on their toes. Meanwhile a doom push of marines, hellions and battlecruisers builds up back at home. The attack hits with about 20 marines, 10 hellions, 1 medivac with full energy, 2 battlecruisers, 6 scvs and 1 yamato cannon at 10:30-10:45. A follow-up push with 4 battlecruisers and various support units happens a few minutes later if necessary. I have a pretty high win rate at masters/gm with this build, and this build is pretty simple to execute so pretty much anyone with a little micro and multi-tasking can use this.10 depot12 rax (marine -> rest -> marine -> reactor)13 gas -> 3 in gas16 depot16 marine17 orbital17 gas -> 3 in gas17 factory (hellion -> long rest -> reactor)18 marine21 reactor on rax (4:05)21 depot22 starport (1 mvac -> tech lab -> battlecruisers)22 hellion28 depot29 medivac31 fusion core (5:30)36 tech lab on starport37 depot43 battlecruiser (6:40)50 depot50 reactor on factory~8:00 Cut SCVs~9:30 Start Yamato CannonReplay vs AI available in the replay section below.You will have 1 medviac, 6 marines and a hellion to play around with at 6:30-7:00. This little group of units can actually kill off 5-10 workers and a queen if you micro properly and get a little lucky. I like to run up directly to the queen so she cannot run. Micro the hellion individually if the drones run, that's where you get most of your kills from. Lift off if in danger. You can come back 2-3 times to annoy the zerg. The key of this stage is to go for guaranteed free damage. DO NOT LOSE YOUR MEDIVAC!So you have killed a few drones, bruised up a queen or two, have control of the watch towers and your zerg buddy only knows you have gas, a rax/fact/starport and no natural. Most zergs can conclude that some sort of all in is coming from this. However most of them believe it will be a marine/hellion or marine/maud/hellion or marine/hellion/tank push off one base. If they scout your starport with a tech lab they will feel totally safe with mass queens and spores because they believe it is banshees. Only if they are able to see the fusion core do they know battlecruisers are coming. If they do not scout the fact that you went battlecruisers, you will just crush him (replay #2). I like to bring 6 scvs only, since queen dps is bad, and you need a decent economy to support a reactor rax, reactor factory and battlecruiser production.You must micro the attack properly. This means splitting your units, and micro-ing your army based on what composition he has chosen to defend with. If he has a wall of spines already completed, elevator your units into his main with your medivac. If the front defense looks breakable, go for the front instead.If you cannot kill him directly, keep pumping battlecruisers, marines and hellions. Once you hit 4 battlecruisers go for another attack. In the mean time pick off queens for free with yamato. Your battlecruisers can also pick off the outside gas mine on some maps before the queens can do anything about it. Deny him a 3rd base with your units if possible as well. Float your main command center down to the low ground if needed, you should have a decent gas bank, so no need to start refineries down there immediately.This is an extremely fun micro and execution based all in. If your harassment goes well and your opponent doesn't really know what you are doing you have a very high chance of winning the game with a little micro. Practice the build order vs the AI and have a few goes on ladder. If you have any questions feel free to ask them, I'd be happy to answer them!Replay #1 Akilon Flats - (16 minutes) (Recommended) -> http://drop.sc/294460 Description: This is how games normally look. My opponent opens up very normally with 4 queens and speed with a spine to defend. He then goes for some roach pressure, which is heavily delayed because of my drop harassment. He decides to go with roach/bane for defense with queens/spines/lings to supplement the army. Notice how the push is fairly slow and methodical. He taps out after my 4 battlecruisers destroy his spore wall.Replay #2 - Antiga (16 minutes) -> http://drop.sc/294461 Description: 4 queen with speed opening. My opponent did not scout the battlecruisers and was expecting a 1 base ground push. My opponent cut workers at 35, and pumped pure units in anticipation of a ground push. The ground army is almost wiped out to the ling/bane despite a good split. However, the battlecruisers snowball out of control and a follow-up with with 4 battlecruisers ends the lives of his mutas and queens and he leaves.Replay #3 - Ohana (16 minutes) -> http://drop.sc/294462 Description: My opponent opens up by droning up his two bases and he takes a 3rd while getting some upgrades and lair using his queens for defense. In this game I mess up my positioning horribly. I put my marines/hellions into a corner and banelings crash into them during my first push. However, I killed enough drones for the follow-up push to still work. Again, 4 battlecruiser follow-up seems to be extremely strong.Replay #4 - Akilon Flats (11 minutes) -> http://drop.sc/294463 Description: My opponent goes for a Ling/Bane/Roach all in. My first hellion scouts the roaches incoming and I prepare a bunker back at my base. It fails horribly and the counter push kills him instantly.Replay #5 - Build Order vs AI (11 minutes) -> http://drop.sc/294464 Description: A nice clean execution of the build order vs an AI.