CmdrTallon's example was pretty good. 4 cloaked banshees by 10 minutes 35 seconds (10:35), and the first volley of missiles hitting the opponent's base at 12:55.
Here's my attempt recorded live:
So in my first attempt, by moving the order of some buildings, I was able to build the 4 banshees and research Cloak by 9:09, shaving 1:26 off the original time. And by scouting, the first banshee missiles were flying by 10:18, 2:37 sooner than in CmdrTallon's game.
So in comparison at the 10:35 mark:
| CmdrTallon | StarcraftDad | |
|---|---|---|
| Banshee | 4 | 6 |
| Marine | 17 | 13 (3 were killed earlier by an attack) |
| Marauder | 1 | |
| SCV | 22 | 19 |
| Minerals | 195 | 680 |
| Gas | 84 | 358 |
| Supply / Supply Cap | 59/75 | 50/51 |
Although I had a significant amount of resources left at that point, CmdrTallon had built an Engineering Bay, a few Turrets, more units, and had more supply available. So he was doing a great job of spending his resources - while I let that slip behind as I was so focused on the banshees that I was getting supply blocked and not macro-ing back at my base.
More interesting than that though, is that I later made more attempts to beat that 9:09 timing - and only succeeded on the 9th try: 8:56.
At my skill level, I'm guessing I'm reaching the point of diminishing returns. 9 minutes is pretty good for having 4 banshees with cloak.
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be ready for them if they showed up in my base at the 10 minute mark ;-)
Why don't you give it a whirl? Terran vs. Zerg (any AI level) on The Shattered Temple, how fast can you get 4 cloaked banshees into the opponent's main? And how large was your defending force? Post your time and unit count in the comments!
Don't forget, you need to build 2 barracks and marines for defense, and don't forget to scout to reduce the flying time to the opponent's base!
Update 11/1/2011: I updated the video to point to my new YouTube channel.
I have actually managed to get four Banshee's out at ~6.5 minutes in a couple dry runs against AI opponents. Devastating against Zerg, not too shabby against Protoss but Terran Marines tend to be a bit more difficult to deal with. Fortunately, Banshee's are great at hit and run...
ReplyDeleteYes they are - especially if you're smart about pulling them out before the defense gets too hot!
ReplyDeleteWere you able to research cloak by 6:30? Were you making marines off 2 barracks?
That definitely is part of the challenge of your original build - to get 4 cloaked banshees while having a defense to hide what you're doing...
I think 6:30 is the fastest possible time you could get out 4 banshees: Start supply depot at 1:00, barracks at 1:30, factory at 2:30, 2 starports at 3:30, first 2 banshees at 4:30, 2nd 2 at 5:30 = 4 banshees at 6:30.
You don't really need cloak until they hit the opponent's base, so if you started it before or around the time you started banshees 3 & 4, it would be done around the time they all arrive at the base.
You're right, though, even without cloak, they are pretty powerful. And it really puts people on tilt when 4 hit their base - especially that early!
Try it in a match - I'd love to see it in action!