Nullifier rush?

This is more of a concern then a strategy, but bare with me. The Nullifier is supposed to be a tier one unit correct. I hear it can defend against very early game rushes, but the reverse should also be true. So would it be possible to use Nullifiers to create barriers around minerals and gas? You can probably imagine how annoying getting no minerals for 15 seconds every time a Nullifier showed up must be, assuming it only has enough energy for one go. Otherwise, it could rob a person of resources for 30 seconds (which would be a real killer).

 

How is that more of a concern than a strategy? Using a Nullifier to temporarily resource-block the enemy could be a great way to tilt the battlefield in your direction. Seeing as how the unit is pretty early game, it most likely is not the strongest of units. As a result combat units probably won't have trouble dispatching the Nullifier before it gets to the workers. Of course it's annoying if it happens to you, but all good strategies are.

 

It's a concern because it seems kinda cheap. But how much of a concern will change when I know the Nullifier's stats.

 

Getting your workers stopped from mining is not as bad as getting them killed, as most other units would do instead. You wont have to spend resources on new workers, and the time it takes for you to get the same amount of workers that you had before might take a lot longer than just waiting 15 to 30 seconds. And a FF will most likely only cover about 2 or 3 mineral patches.

 

good luck trying to get a nullifier into a mineral line without warp in.

 

I don't know how big the force field is, so I can't say either way. As for killing the workers, you generally have to bet the game on killing the workers then and there. If you don't, all the money spent on that rush is wasted, and a smart enemy will end the game then and there. Unfortunately, I don't know how fast a Nullifier is, so I can't say if he could outrun would be killers, even with a second force field.

As for getting to the mineral line, that is easy. If it’s really used as a rush, then the enemy shouldn't have more then a bunker with a few marines or a few zealots/zerglings. Unless Nullifiers are dreadfully slow, that’s not a problem.

 

just have a few of them that lock in the defenses, then go on to the mineral line and lock them in.

 

How would the nullifier wall of the minerals, your workers would just go around the FF, assuming they are smart enough. Also, it would depend on how wide the FF will be.

The trick would be just to get them to the mineral line in the first place. Possibly using the phase prism since the chance from getting there from the ground would be slim.

 

A better tactic would be to do a normal zealot rush but with the support of nullifiers. These guys don't have the health or the firepower to be a very effective rush in the early game. Using FF on enemy defense structures while your lots take out the workers is much more effective.

 

lol yeah forcefield the enemy forces into a corner and then sit there and blow up there base then surround the forces until the forcefield ends then seperate there force and rush with zealots.

 

Well, its mostly speculation until I actually see the thing in action, but look here:

[img width=470 height=353]http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/117/wallvv9.jpg[/img]

Depending on how long the forcefield is by release, you can see how it could trap the workers nicely, especially the ones harvesting. As for getting the Nullifier(s) there, look at the previous posts. Your not dealing with a line of siege tanks, 15 bunkers, patrols, aircraft, and turrets. Look at this, "During my latest skirmish with a Zerg opponent, I was rushed early with Zerglings. The Protoss Nullifiers (previous known as the Stasis Orb) and their 15 second Force Field ability saved the day". Unless the Ling Rush takes a much longer time now, the Nullifier shouldn't have a problem with extensive defenses. Now include natural response time, and you can see how a Nullifier could make it at least get to the mineral line (or, putting it another way, nothing at this point in the game could kill it fast enough to stop it from casting).

The only way the Nullifier could run into trouble is if the enemy is rushing himself, but in that case you have much bigger problem then stopping the workers.

P.S.
Nice thought on the zealots. The only problem there is that a group of Zealots is a much bigger gamble to lose then one Nullifier. Higher risk, higher return.

 

Good luck getting their force cornered. I don't see that happening easily. Plus, this will not work against terran opponenets since ranged units can fire over the force field. This means that if you wall them in, it's only giving them a large advantage over your zealots.

 

I thought your units could cross into a forcefield once...

 

Yes, but you can't get them back out. I think the protoss may be able to use the FF as a temporary wall similar to how terrans use supply depots. For 15 seconds, that is.

 

I think you are reading to much into Karun's comment Shadowdragon, read what Karune said again:

If you read what he is saying it sounds like Karune has a couple of Nullifiers along with a atleast a few Zealots, so assuming he was just now getting rushed the Zergling force that was attacking him was probably relatively large (like 12+ atleast). It is also safe to assume that the Nullifier probably can't take that much punishment because of how early it is in the game (like others have said). Finally, considering the only unit (besides the probe) that only cost minerals in SC1 was the Zealot, it's probably a safe bet the Nullifier will cost some amount of gas and probably another building besides the Gateway. So the only way a Nullifier rush would be a threat (given the time you would have to prepare) would be if the player getting rushed was only teching and not building any combat units or defenses, which would mean that player would die to any rush besides a Nullifier rush which probably only slow down the rate he is teching.

 

If he had to build something other then a gateway AND a gateway, along with gathering gas, then either the zergling rush now takes seven minutes, his opponet was a complete moron who had trouble learning how to build things, or the Nullifier doesn't take as much time to build as you think. I have no reason to believe zerglings take so much more time to build, and I doubt his opponet was stupid enough to do a midgame zergling rush, so that must mean the Nullifier doesn't take much time to get. If it DOES cost gas (we don't know the cost yet, and it's subject to change anyway), it can't cost that much to be a teir 1 unit, especially if it is meant to be able to help against something like a Ling Rush.

 

I said LARGE ling rush as in numbering over 12 zerglings at the minimum not the quick 6 man rush some people do. Here is how I am imagining what Karune described. Karune somewhat rushed to Nullifiers as well as making some Zealots while his oponent didn't want to go for a fast Zergling rush so much as a strong Zergling rush so he built up 20-30 Zerglings and sent them after Karune who by that time had something like 2-3 Nullifiers and 5-6 Zealots, so avoid getting sawrmed he used the Nullifiers to cut the Zergling swarm into 2 so his Zealots only had to fight 2 groups of 10-15 Zerglings instead of a larger 20-30 Zerglings group.

 

and then, if your force is still strong you should be able to reverse and attack them, and own the crap out of them without there defenses.

 

If Nullifiers are truly tier-1 units that are effective against a zergling rush (rush and mass are different words) then they should be thier early on...

If so, wouldn't it be annoying if someone built maybe 4 Nul's and continuously blocked your mineral line. If it is early enough, Protoss w/ only Zealots could be severely incovienced, or Zerg with only zerglings. Of course that is if the Nullifier is still and AIR unit.

Units can't pass through, if they are under the forcefield, they can leave, but are then kept out. It is likely that Forcefield still look the way it did in the screenshots.

 

I'm pretty sure the Nullifier's a ground unit right now. And since it's from the gateway I'd imagine it's similar to a templar or perhaps a dragoon in design. Assuming that it has weak or no attack, it'll be absolutely useless when rushing without support, as even workers will be able to take them out in numbers. Besides, I doubt the fields are so big they could cover the entire mineral line, even with multiple Nullifiers. Nullifiers could cast force field up to three times each which would come down to 45 seconds of no minerals, but it's unlikely it'll happen for the following reasons.

I'm assuming Nullifiers will need a building before it could be made from the Gateway, which would place it roughly around the time dragoons could be made in SC. By then the opponent would have at least a few defenders and it'll be hard as hell to get your Nullifiers to the workers without bringing along some support. The only real way to get them there is via a drop with Phase Prisms, but seeing as those are 1.5 tier at least, I doubt it's likely this'll happen very often.