Title. I watch a lot of games on Youtube, and in most of them, Zerg build tech structures and Lair/Hive in the Natural. I’m just wondering why, because it seems to me like they would be safer in the Main.
I can partially answer that.
Proper placement of the Roach Warren and or Baneling Nest in the natural creates an additional choke and spaces for a Queen to more safely sit (prevents surround).
Beyond that, such as the Lair, etc., I’m not certain myself.
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Thanks for the reply! I’d seen stuff like using Roach Warrens for walls, but never a Baneling nest. Maybe I’ll try that next time I play Zerg.
Edit: Breakthrough! Maybe they build the Lair/Hive at the Natural so it can take more Damage before they lose it, meaning ground Armies are stuck there for longer?
Or maybe to force the opponent to scout double: Main + Natural, to find out the Tech strucutre?
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The increased health is better on expos that are more likely to get pressured. Also, like it’s already been said, the sim city assists with defence.
As an additional point: it can be bad news bears to have all your tech clustered in your main, something about putting a lot of eggs in one basket.
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Lots of reasons. It depends on what you are afraid of and what your goals are based on how you play.
For example, in ZvT, I prefer to have most of my tech NOT in my main, because as the game gets longer, I am expanding further away from my main, and it gets harder to defend my main and say, a 5th or 6th base, when I’m trying to use slow broodlords to end the game. The main will mine out quickly and have little use to me by such a stage of the game, so by putting my tech at my natural or third, I don’t have to worry about drops as much. I don’t have to let a single drop stop a game-ending push from occurring just because some tech is leftover at a mined out main base.
I often make my lair and tech at my third base as well in some match-ups, because increased health on these buildings is important, and if I lose my third, I will have lost the game anyways.
But it all depends on what my plan is. In ZvP, I’ll make my tech in my main, because I often go mutas in ZvP, and the main is the last base that will be destroyed in a base trade and I want the ability to make mutas for as long as possible.
In ZvZ, having tech in my natural helps wall it off and create chokes for queens, roaches, and lurkers against runbys, and make it easier for queens and spores at the third and main to make it to the natural against mutas rather than running back and forth from third to main.
It also depends on what I’m doing, and my opponent. If I’m going 2 base lair (say because of defending an early pool or because I intend to open with a 2 base lair build), I’ll make my roach warren in my natural to wall off, but if I’m going fast third, I like to make my roach warren in my main because I don’t want it sniped in long Roach vs Roach games.
Hiding from scans, overlord scouting paths, and typical observer routes also is taken into consideration when I think about where I place my tech. If I intend to play a long game or a short game, if there are certain ledges or areas that are susceptible to drops on specific maps.
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