Terran - Planetary Fortress

The "planetary fortress rush" is a somewhat cheesy tactic, which works on some maps, but I was wondering if it might be a viable strategy to build a planetary fortress at a choke point on the map in a later part of the game. 400 minerals for the command center and 100/100 for the upgrade doesnt seem that much for such a tough piece of guns and since its primarily minerals it seems a relatively cost effective thing to do. That way you can force your opponent to use other paths / methods of transport or switch to air tech instead OR to lay a trap for him if he must use a certain path.

Obviously this wont work well against terrans (siege tanks have a huge range which the fortress cant counter), but against a "roach fanatic" it might work and even Protoss Zealots and Stalkers will have problems with it.

Obviously the fortress alone wont stand a chance for long, but you shouldnt need much in addition to it.

Pros:
- relatively cheap cost
- no supply cost
- high splash damage
- forcing an opponent to tech-change (this is probably the biggest benefit if you already have the "proper counters" in place)

Cons:
- immobile
- no AA defense
- mediocre range of 6 ... enough against infantry, but not against mech

Viable choke points:
- a main crossroads which can be controlled by one fortress
- in front of the enemies base
- your own entrance

In a map where the natural is the base's only exit, you would need to build a CC hidden near the enemy's natural, land it there and upgrade it to a PF, before the enemy starts building there. Or just build and defend the CC at the enemy's natural. If you can do that, it's going to be difficult, if not impossible for the enemy to break that at that stage. He's forced to tech from one base to break that, and even then, you can send units to reinforce.

If that happends, i think he's seriously screwed. But if he builds the expansion before you can do this, you're in trouble. However, if there's a nearby expansion, you could land and build the PF there. Harder to defend later and doesn't block the enemy, but at least isn't a total loss, specially if it's a high-yield expansion.

Besides this being a cheese strat, I really can't see how this is viable.

Cost efficient? 500 gas and 100 gas is a huge investment in the early & even in the mid game. You're sacraficing an expansion for a risky offensive move? I don't see many people actually including this into an actual strat (besides cheese).

I don't see this working at all vs a zerg. I can't confirm but I'm sure spine crawlers have a longer range, plus you can't land on creep. If you wanted just to block his choke, a bunker with marines / mauruads is cheaper and more mobile

Protoss - well maybe. I cant' think of a ground unit that would be able to outrange a plantery fortress. That would technically render the PF useless if it was used for it's actual use - protection an expansion. Float it over, land it near a gateway / nexus and repair the piss outta it... maybe... maybe...


Someone try it!!!

I've tried Supply/2Refin -> FE/Dual PF and found it very interesting against Protoss. The counters to it are easily handled by mass vikings and provide you the ability to harrass quick swiftly.

... it also builds well into a mass nuke strat... but I digress.

From the games I have seen, one of the important factors in making a fortress powerful is the small army of SCVs mining near it who can stop and do mass repairs.

Not sure how effective it would be in a choke away from the minerals/workers.

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Not sure how effective it would be in a choke away from the minerals/workers.

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Yeah, I guess it's too bad PFs don't produce SCVs or something ;)

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

Yeah, I guess it's too bad PFs don't produce SCVs or something ;)

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Idle workers?? Never! Need to crack that whip and get them on resources. :D

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Idle workers?? Never! Need to crack that whip and get them on resources.

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If you're going to spend 550/150 just on static containment, you're probably willing to spend some extra minerals and food to keep that containment active and impregnable. If you're going to do something, do it; don't go half-way.

So I've found lately there are a few players who start with a PF at their main. And then sort of build a very unconventional wall around it. It's very, very annoying, and as a zerg player there's not much that can actually push in and kill the damn thing at tier 1/2 (Well, mutas/corruptors but I pretty much had already gone everything BUT spire tech, so I didn't really have the money). I pushed in with like 24 banelings and then followed up with about 18 Hydralisks. The PF won.

I'm sure there were other things I could have done. Expanded a lot to get the money for spire tech, done a better contain. But I wasted a crapton of my army trying to bring that thing down and then lost the game...

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I pushed in with like 24 banelings and then followed up with about 18 Hydralisks. The PF won.

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24 Banelings means 1920 damage. Even if only 20 made it to the PF, that's still ~1600. Was something repairing it?

Also, you should have gone for burrowed Roaches. Just burrow the one(s) that get hit and the rest get free shots. And with no scans (Turrets of course should be your first target)...