Team game rushes

Hey guys

A lot of people probs wont know me yet, i'm a new face around here. Got a really warm welcome from a few people a couple of people though, cudos to them :)

Anyway, i've been playing a few games with a couple of friends of mine, mainly 3v3 (TTP, NA Plat) and have run into a bit of trouble. I should probably say straight out that my two friends aren't exactly the best sc2 players around, the other terran is a steady plat and the toss is a silver (he still hasn't mastered the art of continuous worker production).

In macro games, we do alright. But recently, we've been having trouble with rushes. The first problem is with the basic 6 pool. More often than not, when someone 6 pools they hit the toss player, since he can't just throw down a bunker. He'll live, but often, just barely, so he's effectively out of the game for a while (as i said, he's not the best player). But i always find myself ambivalent on whether to get early units quickly to help him, or let him fend for himself and tech/macro.

Right now, i'm thinking i should let him die and tech (banshees), probably more than macro (3rax or 2rax). Mainly cause the other two enemy players can macro and since the rushing player will have more aggressive player than our toss, we'll lose in an equal battle. Tech, on the other hand, especially banshees, can only be countered if they get the hard countering tech. In game, i become hesitant on whether this is a good decision, especially cause there's the whole 'help out your friends you dog' factor.

So what do you guys do? Do you tech? Macro? What builds do you go? And do you run straight for the enemies base or help out your own. I should probably add that most 3v3 maps (unlike 2v2) are mostly spread out. I think around 80% of the maps have separate bases and sometimes significant travel time.

Another thing i was wondering about: Since my friend's in silver, he's the weakest link. He doesn't seem to have the basic 4 gate under his belt : S (it's always half or a minute late), which means any early game aggression we try, it either gets stopped after some or minimal damage, or we get out aggrod. I always seem to notice that enemy toss players have a much larger army at any given time before 10 minutes. So should we just avoid aggressive builds? I think that, because early game pressure can succeed or fail with a matter of seconds, we should avoid it unless we're all completely comfortable preventing and instigating early aggression and rushes.

So yeah, sorry this is so long. But what do you guys think?

Cheers, DK

Edit* I just noticed this is in the general forum. Sorry about that. Can mods move this to the strat forum please?

Well I'm not too fond of 3v3. I'll try to help best way I can.

If your opponent 6 pools and takes out your toss player, if you can save him, save him, if you can't then dont bother. Why? Because the Zerg that 6 pooled is basically all-in and he won't be a factor in the game until atleast the 15 minute mark. That means its basically a 2v2 game from there.

I would personally help out my partner whatever way I can, with the help of 2 people, I'm sure you can kill the lings in your friends base with atleast 1 probe living and then he can slowly macro his way back int other game.

As for aggressive vs passive builds, at your level, I would stay with passive builds. Get your mechanics polished and cleaned up. Memorize your hotkeys. Use your number hotkeys, etc. A 4 warp gate is not hard for a Diamond or Platinum player, but it does require some sort of quick multi-tasking to make it effective, something that most Bronze-Gold players lack. You and your other T friend could go for aggressive builds and have your protoss friend macro up, that strategy seems like it would work.

Just sayin.

It's actually viable to use your silver buddy as bait and go on a countering spree ... try it!

The solution is that your buddy needs to learn how to wall off. Personally, I place my first pylon in the wall, followed by the gateway (some people leave their pylon back and use the gateways and/or a core as the wall, meaning it is stronger but comes later - to each his own). The idea is to leave only a 1 building-cube gap at the entrance to your base, then block it with a zealot put on 'hold position' and get ranged units to cover it.

I've found you simply won't get a zealot out soon enough to stop 6 pool lings, even with probes stalling. In addition to this, if he keeps at it, he will eventually kill your zealot before you can get a stalker or sentry out to shoot the lings down from behind the wall. In addition to this, the other team needs only bring 1 marine and your zealot is doomed anyway. So if I scout a 6 pool I stop making probes long enough to make a forge, then use a pylon or extra gateway to completely seal off my wall and make a cannon. Leave a probe at your wall to build extra buildings to reinforce the wall if the lings attack, and just do whatever you can to stop those lings entering your base. Once your cannon is up (a 300 mineral investment, not so bad and you're alive and have more workers than the zerg) you resume normal play, or personally (and if there is 2 zergs on the other team) I like to go voids, as they will have bugger all to stop it. The only flaw here is a possible bane bust, so with good scouting you will know whether to prepare for this or not

Some people may say this is no good because it leaves you with nothing to help your allies. In this case, your allies have their own wall and bunkers so it's perfectly fine. But regardless, you can't help anyone if you're dead. Your first duty is to yourself - simple as that. A cannon at your ramp is very helpful well into the mid-game, plus you can start your +1 attack very early, and all in all, you aren't very far behind where you would normally be.

yeah what nape is saying is correct, i play a tonne of 3v3, its my favourite game type after 1v1.

imo one player should be sending a scout at 9 or 10, especially if there is a zerg. scout for any sign of either aggression or cheese and tell your mates whats going on (would be easiest for the best player). If you see a pool almost finished or finished, everyone should pretty much cut workers and get a wall down. toss player should wall off completely if they cant get a zeal out in time and if the zeal is gonna die wall with forge, like what nape said.

in 3v3, we have a pretty complicated style that has got us nothing but wins until we are playing teams of all masters (and getting rolled). basically, we go for a 6-10 pool with some early zergling aggression, which i then follow up with fast hellions into either blue flame drop or banshees and our zerg into muta or roach depending on the aggression from the other team. this is nicely timed as the lings usually die/have to leave as the hellions come out, and the enemy who has been attacked by lings will often make either marines or zealots, which make my hellions even more effective. the best part about this is that youre on the front foot from the start and you dont really have to worry about rushes. if you can do something like this, i would recommend it (although i cant think of anything that aggressive with ttp)

Our protoss is also our weakest player, he kind of just freestyles, but usually gets some sort of heavy T3 going as we do all our harass/timings. This is nice if u get into a macro game as you'll have a bunch of carriers/colossi ready to go and its easier for newer players to just macro.

I see your team is TTP, that makes putting on early aggression harder, im not sure what i would go with tbh, possibly a cannon rush, these can be decent for engaging a couple of players on their team while u get an army up.

Im not sure if this is useful advice, but i think nape answered most of your questions so im just adding some opinions :) gl!

Hi, napes strategy is definitely the best because it is easy with very little risk which allows players of varying skills to pull it off. Just to add an alternative route to photon canons..

Say you have your gateway + pylon block with the one block gap, when you scout the 6/7pool cut the workers - as nape said - for the faster forge, immediately place the forge to seal in the gap even without knowing if the Z player is targeting you. You then have enough time to build a zeal (or 2 if paranoid) and will be able to cancel the forge right before it completes if the Z player decides to target one of your teammates instead. Investment = Cancelling cost of forge. Alternatively if the Z player all ins on you despite your sealed in wall, just carry on through to photon canons.

This might be a little difficult for below gold to pull off but I hope it helps :-)