Zerg: The Gas Problem

Ok, So I hope this will be my last thread.

I'm going to take people's advice and talk strictly about interesting ideas for starcraft 2.

In the following video, the gas problem is noted a good many of times from time

8:50 - 10:10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtUcojA4vvQ

My thought is, zerg really is more of a gas race then the terran or protoss. Gas really is more valuable to zerg then terran or protoss. Or should I say that minerals are simply less valuable to zerg? I wanted to correct this in the old game by putting a 3rd gas between main and natural, where zerg would mine from a 3rd gas near ramp, but on the high ground, where many zerg's naturally placed their 3rd hatchery anyways.

But I don't want to talk about the old game... I was browsing through google and stumbled acrossed this site that interested me.

http://www.shokzstarcraft2guidereview.com/effective-starcraft-2-zerg-mining-with-nydus-worms-strategy-guide-best-shokz-strategies-for-zerg/

It states:

"The mining Zerg trick using both Nydus worm and Nydus network is pretty neat. All you need to do is have the Nydus network right by the main hatchery. Set the rally point to the mineral point, then to the hive. It will tell where to go and where to go back. All the drones unload from where the Nydus worm is and gathers minerals and goes back inside the Nydus worm again and unloaded by the Network. If your macro is really good, this will be a neat trick for you to be able to mine anywhere on the map. Just make sure to put your Nydus worm by the minerals and have your Nydus network in the main hatchery. Basically, hot key your worm and network with 3 and 4. You will need to push D every 16 seconds."

This blew my mind so I immediately had to go experiment with it. I played against the computer and got lair tech right away. I also had sent out an overlord to some near expansion. I got the nydus canal up, and put the worm right next to the gas. I set the rally points like the site stated. It didn't seem to work like I thought it would. I had to manually load and unload the drones, and after they returned the gas I had to command the drones to go back in to the nydus worm.

I saw the potential of it though. Clearly if it did work, it would work best for gas because it pumps units one at a time. Like if the nydus worm was like the nydus canal from the old game, then it would simply push the drones through fast, and with being able to set rally points, it would simply be a fast way to mine gas.

But then the question became, "would it be worth it if it did work?" No I don't really think it would make a difference... 200-200 for the network and 200-100 for the worm. that's like a 300-300 hatchery... but atleast you would have the travel to protect it, but then again, how would you get warriors through if its being used? Doesn't seem to make sense.

The idea still made me think in reference to warcraft 3. The undead had their main base and were capable of going out and building on top of a gold mine, and then mining from a long distance gold mine with out having to make another base. All they had to do was get their 5 miners on the gold mine and the +5 minerals sign would start flying out of the top of the mine to show you when you had gotten the +5 or how ever much gold it was you were mining.

It really has me thinking about that guys idea where you land the overlord on to a gas extractor.

The overlord needs a greater meaning/purpose.

Imagine this. Imagine the overlord goes out, and for like a cost over 100 minerals, and some duration its tentacles latch on to the gas mine.

This would be a different kind of gas mine where you send your 3 drones to it, and your drones go in, or on, but stay on or in the mine.... and then the +4 gas starts rolling out of the top of it just like the undead in war 3.

It seems to almost make perfect sense. Starcraft 3 is really suppose to be a fractal, and that seems to be what is missing to make zerg the truly unique race that it was suppose to be.

Terran have the mule to get minerals twice as fast, but zerg would now have the new and improved overlord with this ability designed exclusively for gas.

 

For the record when that strategy was written (at least originally, I didn't check to see if that was the original you linked or not) it worked. Blizzard "broke" that feature before beta was over, making it far too micro intensive to really be worthwhile (unless you and your opponent both have nothing better to do than base management lol).

In its original form it was useful though. Worms build faster than hatcheries, and you don't have to get the workers out there, saving travel time and allowing you to use an OL spotter to drop creep and reach into areas that are otherwise more difficult to reach, e.g. island expansions. Plus if the base gets razed chances are you can get all your workers out safely.

 

AtlasMeCH: You are the weakest link, goodbye.

I think the reason for dropping the ban hammer is self evident now. Go get some help man, find another hobby. Making a game your obsession by criticizing it non-stop isn't constructive to anyone. I channeled my oddball manic rages in High School into drawing and writing. Channel that energy into something constructive, and hopefully your life won't be so empty.

I know from personal experience...