I asked about Karax P3 before, but could use extra advice on this one.
So I just got my Space Wizard, still low level and play on Normal, but damn, my production is SLOW. I didn’t realize how nice my Probe production was when I had both chronos, now it takes longer to saturate even the first base. I also realized that I couldn’t build Probes quick enough to fill my exp even if I cleared it early with shots, ended up building them while the exp Nexus was warping in.
The build order thus far is strange to say the least, though I also suspect that I’m not doing it right. Any suggestion on how to improve?
There is no advantage to favour early expansion as P3 imo. The trade off of “no Chrono at all” restricts (even more so) your early game economy, as you already found out. The result is a delayed economy throughout.
Your better option is to dive more into tech’ing up. The reason behind this is a smoother ramp up. Rather than focusing on an early Nexus, you can now focus on early SoA. This alone would give you flexibility in several fronts:
Complete defence (even more so than before) between earlier energy regen rate and prestige’s own cheaper cast cost.
Additional energy to aid your ally’s offence (which again due to same reasons as 1). However, word of warning on over spending energy. Don’t be too trigger happy lol.
For the same reasons again clearing rock isn’t a problem at all. When you have the resource and economy on 1 base, you’ll be able to expand quickly without having to invest a bunch into sentinels.
Of course, that’s all more focused on sub15. Once you have your mastery back, the route of “Nexus first” becomes viable although perhaps redundant. In a similar fashion/reasoning, it doesn’t provide much distinctive advantage.
Why? This is because there is nothing you can really get in a timely manner in P3 that SoA wouldn’t cover. Due to the lack of chrono, your army roll out is by far slowest in the game. So the focus must shift from “I make army ball and max out to face roll” to “I make tactical army units”. These units are to supplement the one thing SoA lack, which is sustained damage.
Yeah, I agree with Fearr, the goal of P3 should be to rush out the SoA upgrades since you get so much bang for you buck with them. The expansion takes a lot of resources to rush out, so it takes time to pay for itself.
So it seems to me, rush the tech needed to get that going asap then focus on the research, ideally timing the breaking of the rocks for when you’ve got enough in the bank to prevent a stall in the research when building the Nexus.
Thank you for all of your replies. I do feel more like a mage type from behind the line. Perhaps once I level up more I will have more tools to properly support my teammates they roll out.
Yeah, everything is always better once L15 (or M90).
P3 is a prime example to demonstrate the idea of early investment not working well. The whole point of expanding early is to reap the reward of a faster economy earlier than otherwise compared to expanding later. While sub15, this is extremely difficult to do without heavy investment along the way that become barriers to SoA advancement and tech advancement.
Both of those latter points happen to come along as the player tech up quickly. So really it becomes a no brainer to expand later, especially sub15… especially especially for a prestige that is literally SoA focused (and by design disadvantage macro by removing chrono). Needless to say but saying it anyway, I facepalm when I see players using Chrono mastery as Karax P3 on the overlay.
What would army composition be like with P3? I’m not sure if this is the spec for Carrier, consider I lack chrono to mass them efficiently. In fact, all I did had been using Zealots as bait for better aiming, and Energizers for its insane boost, both require the least amount of upgrades to be useful. Mid-late game I took Robotic route way more frequently than Stargate; any mechanic air composition can be dealt with using Energizer, and any Zerg flyer could be killed with SoA and Shadow Cannons.
So, as sub15, I would say the safest all comp strategy is going for some sentinel, then add Robo as needed. I would recommend against carriers and probably avoid air in general as a rule.
The reason behind that is air is weak from a baseline level for Karax. And they are more expensive, as well as require a lot of tech. Add in the time factor now without chrono, you’ll be hard pressed to get them out effectively and timely.
So unfortunately sub15 limits this. That said, I’d say if you’re very comfortable then carriers or mirages are great. They avoid many ground physical barriers on many maps.
Sentinel to tank and do sustained AG (anti-ground). Energizers for support… your army, your towers, and your ally’s units. Also use Energizer to warp in more Sent’s and Energizers.
Immortals for high DPS (especially against Armored tag). Shadow Cannon vs. high hp targets, air and ground (I’ve seen a few Karax players just mow down Void Shards and Thrashers with focus fire Shadow Cannon from a dozen Immortals). Colossi for AoE AG (e.g. DoN, Miner Evac., and swarmy comp in general).
Air is indeed too slow. I usually don’t bother with Carriers on Karax P3, and this is even after mastery!
Use OS and SL (Solar Lance) more liberally. Also, Purifier Beam on 3 minute cd (cool down) means you should DEFINITELY spam it! Send a Sentinel into an enemy base if need be! You can soften up much more of the opposition with such a low cd!
Really with P3 Karax you want to rush robo immediately, so you can get observer. Then with that robo you can do lots of immortals, immortals are like the bread and butter of karax
Nova Player: Sent Sabotage Drone uphill.
Me: Blasts everything in sight with SoA.
Me: Thanks for the vision.
Me: Oops.
Nova Player: Lol you left nothing for me to kill.
