[Hammo]

Hey Guys,

I've recently been playing quite a few ladder and custom games and one of the big things that comes up during my games is my inability to tell when my push is winding up and when I should pull back. I have looked at my replays and I can tell *when* I have stuffed up afterward, although I cannot seem to figure out a rule(-ish) that I could follow in that game that would allow me to tell.

My usual strategy, regardless of what build I'm going (unless I FE) is to timing push my opponent at around 40-45 food (usually after my first immortal builds when I go 3 gate robo OR after my first full cooldown completion after my 4 warpgates are built). Usually my pushes go well and I "win" them, pulling back with a few units while also coming back to a second nexus.

The problem though, usually comes about 1-2 minutes after where I get pushed by my opponent with quite a few units and get demolished (see attached replay for details of this). I know in the particular replay I should have had another sentry up, but I also feel that I just didn't have enough units to fend off the attack anyway.

So, my question is - should I only push once? If not, what tools could I use to effectively "tell" when would be a good time to pull out (2 units lost, 8 units left, etc).

Replay - Game Example (PvZ)

Thanks,

Hammo.

[Satu]

Well, I think the problem is more about what you are trying to achieve with the push. With the build you were doing, the clear objective is to push to allow the expo to go up. You might win some games with the initial push, but dont see that as your goal. If that is your goal, why are you expanding?

So, pull back once you feel that you have caused enough economic damage to the zerg. I.E. You have killed a lot of drones, killed the expansion or forced a LOT of defence from the zerg. Although based on the situation, it may be better to just continue attacking.

After your pushing forced survived his first round of defence, you had like 5 units left. And you just kept attacking with them. All the zerg needed to do in order to destroy those units was make a round of speedlings.

When you see speedlings pushing towards your base, zealot block the ramp. Even if you lose your natural expo, its better that than both your main and your natural.

One last thing, watch Day9 daily 252. It covers what your mechanics should look like and thus achieve. I felt you were doing too much "scrolling" around the place. Unless there is a value from scrolling from point A to point B, just click at the spot on the minimap or use hotkeys.

[deL]

Rule of thumb is if you don't have at least 12 colossus and 15 void rays don't even think about moving out.