Fast Expand - Build Order

Tomten

<div class="IPBDescription">would it work on public servers?</div> 2 Inf portals (30)

1 Radar (25)

1 Phasegate (20)

1 Armory (25)

=100

No defenses in base from start, so you would have to leave a couple of marines to defend.

First thing to do when you reach a hive is to setup another resource tower, then as fast as possible get a phasegate up and running. Now the hive would be pretty secure, and the respawn rate of your marines is pretty good, unless they start dying like crazy.

I think this is the same build order that EC and TAU used in their clangame (only NS demo i've ever seen)

If you want to expand even quicker, you can just skip the armory, and build a phasegate and resource tower the moment you find a empty hive, and then build the armory in your main when you get the resources.

So, do you think this is a strategy that will become frequently used in public games, or something that's restricted to clanwars, since it's require a certain degree of teamwork to perform.

FlatlineUTD

I think it's not going to be too popular on public servers - most marines don't see a turret factory and get all nervous. I know it's a setback, but it might be better for the benefit of the not-sure-of-themselves marines to plop down a factory and save the phase gate until you're in a hive.

I've actually found a successful build order that allows you to secure your base and a hive simultaneously. It does take some teamwork, but most people can handle it:

When you're taking the CC, SPECIFICALLY tell 2 (or more, depending on team size) people to build (say their names) and have every one else cover.

1 portal
1 observatory
1 armory

If the observatory gets up soon enough, you'll see the rush coming and can tell your troops where it's coming from. You can also scanner sweep the hives to find the closest empty one.

Tell your covering guys that they're squad one, and if they wander from each other, you're not supporting them at all. Have them run out (you may actually want to take one guy off a building now to join up) to a hive and STAY THERE. You could also have them build a resource tower or two on the way there, it's your call.

The first thing to build at the hive is a phase gate, so put your base defense guy(s) to building one before the main group reaches the hive.

Once the phase gate is up, build up either your main base with a factory and 2-3 turrets, or the hive. Again, it's your call. This works because if your unsecured one gets attacked first, the phase gate is there.

So far, this strategy hasn't failed me once, so I think it's pretty reliable.

Sirus

All I have to say is that marines are hardly reliable, even if they're good there could be some factor that gets them killed,given enough skulks, they could get an early win. If I were ever to assume a strategy I would never assume marines would be able to do something right. Of course given a clan team, im sure there would be a good chance the Strat would work. Unfortuneatly not on a Pub.