Why do some Zerg players place their buildings on their front line?

Example here: - YouTube

Serral places his baneling nest at the front of his 2nd hatchery early on in the game. Why? Only thing I can think of is that he wants it to be scouted for the sake of mind games? I tried googling it and zerg building placements but no one seems to mention doing anything like this. BTW I’m a pleb at SC so I don’t really know any terminology.

Could be a common place he practice to put buildings at. Mind games or he want to be scouted. Hard to say.

Looks to me like it is being used as a defensive building to prevent a runby; by the Hellions he spotted earlier.

1 Like

What do u mean by a runby? Also how does the building placement achieve this? I’m new to the game B)

So usually quick moving units can easily run into your base past your defense and into your mineral line to kill your workers and even get some scouting done. Hellions are good at this. By placing buildings + queen (with hold position) in the front of your base it creates a wall preventing any enemy units from getting in.

I’m not sure how effective that 1-building wall is, but I suppose it might delay them by a second or two.

it;s too early to seal off the whole ramp (3 bases) so he wants to protect the natural and main instead

it’s still a huge choke but its small things like those that make a difference in pro i assume

he didn’t want to put tech all in his main it’s more about where it wasn’t more so than where it is
if u add up all those reasons, that’s why overall it was a better macro decision for him to put it at the front of his natural rather than in his main next to his spawning pool
but i doubt this was a win/loss affecting decision, it was probably his complete knowledge of the enemy that won him the game

it’s the first step to a wall - it can be a full wall if needed (add 2 more evolution chambers) or you don’t (better no wall vs. bio and no hellion pressure - place the evolution chambers in a safer spot like between main base and 2nd base on the high ground).
So he safes time by placing one building down and only has to add 2 more instead building 3 buildings while figuring out where to put them (easier placement for 2nd and 3rd part of the wall).

1 Like

Also, some zergs like myself just build most of the tech in their natural. Protects it from drops generally, less likely for things to get sniped. And while you’re building it there, may as well also use it to get in the way of runby’s.

I think what he was going for was a bit of body blocking at the entrance for the hellion runbys while giving himself more space for ling surrounds on said hellions and queens to move against liberator harass

The video is blocked so I can’t watch the game, but could be for wall and in this day and age everyone knows basic strategies so unless you are going for some sneaky play it doesn’t matter if they scout the bane nest. The opponent probably is expecting to see the banenest anyway because that’s what you do. It’s a standard play so them scouting it doesn’t mean anything.

A couple of points from my own gameplay and observation.
Here are a few reason why I think building placement, sometimes in the front, is important.

  1. Consistency being the most important.
    The more I practice putting things in the same spot (meta and strategy allowed) means it becomes a muscle memory thing. I’m not taking a second to think about it. It allows more time elsewhere where my focus should be. Like micro. And micro changes every matchup for the most part.

  2. It could be use for mind games.
    Such as “this is the build and direction I am going.” Now that player can plan for something completely different than what I am doing. In addition to this like say a baneling nest. yes its on the board to use, but it may or may not be used later as part of my big strategy. I can simply tech switch.

  3. Preventing the Runby.
    Runby being used for scouting or to do economic damage. Especially important in the early game. It provides a wall and techs you up at the same time. Just being efficient in general.

  4. key buildings in close proximity.
    It helps when your macroing and especially microing when you are on the defense and you are not moving too far to select key buildings or using the minimap. Production, tech, and CCs have all been for the most part put in close proximity of each other. But lets say you want them all as a wall?
    Even in a given situation where you don’t have your buildings hotkeyed during a defense, you can easily select them on the same screen. Or simply scroll a bit to them without losing too much vision of the fight.

Naturally there is some risk in this. such as losing a fight and the first building to go is something you wish you didn’t lose. Like you were 99% done with an upgrade and your building gets killed.

In the pro scene you might see this as any one of the above. Generally there is a strategy involved where the placement is set early on and the player bets on their ability to keep the opponent away form said buildings in the field.
Personally I think it might just be personal preference and it might not matter where they place it.