It's really a little vague question imo, since it's both very map dependant and playstyle dependant... You can go forge first and deny his expo, or you can fe yourself(anything from nexus first to forge fe to 3gate expo - depending on what you scout and how safe you feel to expand earlier)... Or you can do a 2gate fast zealot push and possibly get a kill of the expo while expanding yourself back in the base(kiwikaki has such a new strat he's been trying out I think with a no-gas double gate into expo play with a cyber core and gas coming quite late - it's good for some maps) If you could be a little more specific or include a replay with a match you had such a problem but couldn't identify something very specific you should have done different, it'll be much easier to give advice... Cheers, man!
From what Protoss players have been trying to teach me, if he 15 hatches for an expand which sounds like what is going on here, you should Forge first, deny his expo with a pylon and possibly canons, and FE yourself.
I'd have to notice his expand pretty fast to get cannons @ his expo, so if he doesn't build a spawning pool that means he's expoing, but what if he builds a spawning pool then a hatchery? Or is that not valuable expand anyway.
Think about it this way... If Zerg fast expands, that means his gas comes kind of late (when I 15hatch15pool, I don't have Speedlings until ~6:00). You can respond by going late gas yourself. Zealots easily counter zerglings, so if you're both relying on minerals early on, you have the advantage. Therefore, the most logical counter to 15Hatch15Pool would be 2gate pressure. 14Pool16Hatch is trickier. He could realistically have Roaches early enough to repel your zealot pressure and come out with an economic advantage. In this situation, I would recommend a 4gate, which is always hard for Zerg to beat and nearly impossible if they don't scout it. Their economic advantage won't save them if your army composition directly counters theirs*. * LingRoach vs. ZealotStalker - Unless it's a very open battlefield (which you should avoid; fight in a choke), your Zeals in front will prevent the Zerglings from targeting your Stalkers in the back, and your Stalkers are fast enough to pick off any Roaches that try to kite Zealots. So, basically, you're forcing both of the Zerg's unit types to engage their counter. I wouldn't recommend any kind of fast-expand versus Zerg. Earlygame, if they sacrifice eco, their armycan get so much bigger than yours, so fast. I've never fought a Protoss who could fast expand sucessfully (but of course that doesn't mean it's impossible). Hope this helps. To be honest, I find it odd that you asked for help on this; it always seemed to me like Zerg had the most trouble in PvZ.
He pumps roaches right after he defends his base. (basically zealots become obsolete so I switch to stalkers,I've beaten him once with it but he made a mistake and I saw it) I have to keep practicing though.
Nowadays P tend to FE with forge first, from my experience. With this you can do what Jon said so you deny the Z growth in economy and pave the way for the easy defence of your expansion. Sentries work very well with FEs because you save minerals and pool energy for force fields. I think the reason this P strategy is prevalent is because Z will most likely be on 3 bases over your 2 instead of being on 2 over your 1 in the mid-game, which is a smaller disadvantage for P.
@ Kuvasz, Exactly, but they go for Warp Gate ASAP and push with a mix of units building into Colossus. It's more of a standard opener than anything crazy. Two cannons at your expo easily stop anything they throw at you early and they can't run past. Seems to work very, very well.
PvZ zerg fast expand So when I 1v1 as Zerg, for some reason I love to fast expand. This either works and I absolutely obliterate my opponent, or it because hard since Ive dumped a lot of minerals into non-army units, and if they strike early, Im in trouble. So what are your thoughts about fast expanding as Zerg? What I typically do is get 11 drones spawning pool then expo, and right when expo starts I put up 2 penii in my original base for defense and then go heavy on the drones until about 20 total, then tech to lair and go mutas or hydras. Suggestions?
