FXO_Oz’s Nexus-Forge Expand (PvT)
Introduction
FXOz absolutely destroyed TSL_Polt in game 2 of the GSL Season 2 Code S on Antiga Shipyard with a Forge fast expand build, which I found absolutely revelatory. The idea involves going Nexus first and protecting your secondary ramp with photon cannon(s). With diligent scouting and an appropriate number of cannons, Terran bio cannot break the insurmountable amount of static defense. Fantastic against gasless Terran openers heavy on low-HP Marines, as is the current metagame. Protoss is then free to research fast +1 Armor and power up to 6-8 gateways, take a fast third base, research blink and charge, high templars, and possibly storm for a huge 12 minute push.
VOD
http://www.gomtv.net/2012gsls2/vod/67119/?set=11&lang= (requires ticket to watch)
Unfortunately, I do not know how Oz spends a lot of his early chronoboost with this build, presumably all into probes until Cybernetics Core (then it seemed to be mostly poured into warp gate research, because it is inherently delayed), but the rough build order was:
Build Order
9 Pylon
17 Nexus (Rally 15th probe to natural)
17 Forge
18 Pylon (At ramp)
18 Gateway
18 Photon Cannon (At ramp), send probe to scout
Note: If you are on a larger 4-player map, it may be worth considering placing down a 2nd cannon if you have not yet scouted your opponent until the last spawn location. Just a thought from experiencing a Marauder rush (potent against cannons once several are out)
~20 2x Assimilators (Necessary for warp gate, stalker/sentry, and research)
~23 Cybernetics Core (When gateway completes)
~27 +1 Armor (At 100 gas. Extremely early, around the 4 minute mark. Importantly, BEFORE any gateway units OR warp gate research. I assume this helps bolster your few units to defend against 2-3 rax all-ins, based on one of my practice matches with this build so far)
29 Pylon (I would probably start to place pylons 3 and 4 strategically, such as behind your mineral lines for cannons in case of Banshees)
~30-32 Stalker (Preferably if Terran opens gasless, for watchtower control and poke scouting)
~36-37 Sentry (Need to build up energy early for Guardian Shield)
~40 3rd Nexus (Around 6:20 mark!)
~40 Robotics Facility (Fast Observer, for scouting or to help deter cloak Banshee harass. On that note, I am very curious to see how this build stands up to 1/1/1 all-ins. Also, from test playing this build, may be useful for an Immortal versus early Marauder rush)
~40 3x Gateways (Preferably arranged at your front to create a sim city around the cannons which the Terran units must run through, or to prevent an easy Hellion run-by)
~50 +1 Ground Weapons (Soon as +1 Armor completes)
~50 3rd/4th Assimilators
~ As warp gate completes, 2 more sentries and 1 zealot
~68-70 2x Gateways (Bringing total to 6)
~69-70 Twilight Council (as +1 Ground Weapons in nearing completion)
~76 2x Gateways (Bringing total to 8)
~90 Blink research (When Twilight Council completes - presumably to deter any drop harassment, as this was played on Antiga)
~90-94 2x Assimilators (At 3rd base)
~110 +2 Ground Armor (As +1 Ground Weapons completes)
~110-115 Charge (As Blink completes)
~116 Templar Archives (Around 11:15 mark)
Around the 12:30 mark the Protoss player Oz has 130+ supply, 71 probes, and a powerful Gateway army with +1 weapons, +2 Armor, Charge, Blink, and he warps in 4 High Templar that feedback Polt’s Medivacs to then form Archons to deal additional splash damage in the final engagement. +2 armor and charge complete simultaneously as the battle commences. In the background, Oz is researching Psionic Storm and adding a swell of additional gateways to wall-off his 3rd base.
As Artosis pointed out after the game, Oz’s play was so streamlined it was a wonder to behold. Thankfully, Oz executed this build a number of times during his games against oGsFin as well, using a 2-base variant of this build I will look into with greater detail below.
While by no means easy to execute, the benefits of this economic opener with strong defense against all-ins are very appealing. Highly recommend trying this one on the ladder!
Nexus-Forge Expand (2-Base Variant)
Here is a rough build order for Oz’s 2-base variant of the same build, revolving around the same idea of having photon cannons protect your sensitive Nexus-first opening:
Build Order
9 Pylon
17 Nexus
17 Forge
18 Pylon (At ramp)
18 Gateway
18 Photon Cannon (At ramp)
19-20 2x Assimilators
~24 Cybernetics Core (As Gateway completes)
~27-28 2nd Gateway (Before Cybernetics completes - your basic 2 Gateway opener as you would normally build when going Nexus first)
28 +1 Armor (At 100 gas)
30 Stalker
34 Pylon
~40 Stalker
~40 Sentry
~44 2x Gateways (Placed in sim city arrangement around photon cannon)
~48 Twilight Council (As +1 Armor completes)
~52 2x Assimilators (At natural)
~58 +1 Weapons (As +1 Armor completes)
~69 Blink research (As Twilight Council completes)
~ 69 4x Gateways (Bringing total to 8)
~ ? Add lots of Pylons in preparation for huge 8-gate push
+2 Weapons (as +1 Weapons completes - weapons in this case because Oz planned to go very Stalker heavy, you could opt to go +2 armor with chargelots instead)
~? Templar Archives
This game was a bit less clear but it seems Oz intended to do an 8-gate Blink Stalker push with +2/+1 but lost a large number of Stalkers to a drop from Fin, so he had to modify the build and take a 3rd base behind it. I believe Oz intended to add 2 High Templar for the same Feedback/Archon combo he used against Polt.
Replays
Some replays trying this build out on the ladder (by no means high-level or very well executed, as I’m just trying this out for the first time, but examples of how it can be a very strong mid-game push):
Basic “Ideal” Build Order on empty map: http://drop.sc/166205
http://www.twitch.tv/tylerkempt/b/315887074?t=62m27s ( http://drop.sc/165334 )
http://www.twitch.tv/tylerkempt/b/315887074?t=76m27s ( http://drop.sc/165335 )
http://www.twitch.tv/tylerkempt/b/315972087?t=24m24s ( http://drop.sc/165871 )
