How do I improve my One Base Battlecruiser Build

Question

Alright, so my favorite build against zerg is the 1 Base, Battlecruiser Build. This build has proved to be 100% effective against zerg, the only time I usually struggle is against randoms who end up zerg.

The build is supposed to look like this...

• 10 Supply Depot
• 11 Refinery
• 13 Barracks
• 16 Factory and Orbital Command
• 17 refinery
• 19 starport followed by fusion core
• 26 Battlecruiser
• push out as soon as battlecruiser is up w/ hellions, marines, and SCVs.

Most gold and lower zerg players dont know how to counter this build even when they scout it. But with the addition of HoTS I noticed my build order is delayed and looks more like...

• 10 Supply Depot
• 11 Refinery
• 13 Barracks
• 17 Factory
• 18 orbital command
• 20 Starport followed by fusion core
• 28 battlecruiser

My first game with this went smoothly with me noticing the delay and just thought my macro was bad (because it was). Second game the zerg player countered either by accident or actually knew what to do, but after countering didnt keep pushing and I won (which is why I think he was just lucky).

Now I noticed that my build is going to be easily countered once I get back to the leagues I used to play in since this build has slowed down (or maybe my macro is just still bad).

Well anyways I switched up the build a tad to incorporate a single drop to stop the zerg player from expanding easily. Well it still worked cuz I effectively wrecked both expansions and stopped him from expanding from then on as well. But what I didn't like was that it was a very messy win.

Here are the details of the battle...

I used the same build besides the starport and fusion core being a few supply delayed because I built Widow Mines, and a medivac as soon as the starport finished. So my battlecruiser was delayed significantly, but I took advantage of this and expanded right as I started my battlecruiser (once I had all the Vespene I needed for the first Battlecruiser I swapped 3 scvs back to crystal). At this point I have a medivac 3 Widow mines a small force of hellions and marines (nothing a decent zerg player cant handle with a group of roaches). This zerg player did a good job of stopping my expand but I held him from my main with widow mines a bunker and effective use of my hellions. After fending off his first push I rushed my medivac with 1 widow mine and marines to his expands. I made him cancel his third and I dropped the widow mine behind his second and killed all his workers (it took him a long time to take out the widow mine and I even was able to kill a queen with it, so I dont think he noticed till the queen died from it, mostly cuz I used a banshee to kite his queen to it.). Although I did make the mistake of losing my medivac and marines to his static defenses in his main, I had stopped his economy easily. At this point I have a very sizeable force of hellions and marines and a battlecruiser which I push out with, wrecking his small force of roaches and what was left of his natural expansion. He was able to kill my hellions and marines easily but with my macro going, group after group of hellions and marines kept him on his toes untill he pulled out a bunch of mutalisks. Now I had 3 battlecruiser in the battle at this point so he didnt take the head on, he just focused on my bases which I didnt really need anymore since he couldnt win at this point. Lucklily with proper placement of about 4 widow mines and some baiting with a single battlecruiser I wiped out his force of mutalisks and he GGd.

Yah sure I won, but a more skilled zerg player with better macro and scouting could've stopped this easily. I would love some tips or advice on how to improve my build so i'm not just trying to throw random things at a player and hoping it works.

Note: Any Terran players who try this build, it is specifically ment for Zerg it will not work against another Terran or Protoss player.

Answer 1

(Diamond / Master Terran) My recommendations would be:

First of all, 1 Base Battlecruiser should be considered an all-in, since if you don't succeed, you should lose, unless your opponent is weak.

But, I would recommend a build like this:

• 10 Supply Depot
• 12 Barracks
• 13 Gas
• 13 Scout (scout on 12 on bigger maps) (If you scout an all-in build two more Barracks at your ramp with a bunker)
• 15 Orbital
• 15 Gas
• 17 Factory
• 19 Starport (techlab on the Starport @ 100%)

Now focus on SCV production and your Supply Depots. And build your Fusion Core as soon as you are on 150/150. Its a 65 sec. build, so your SCV and Marine production should always be a lower priority to having the 400 minerals ready @ Fusion Core. At this point you should have plenty of gas.

Note that your priority list should be like this: - Supply Depots - SCVs - Marines - Hellions

TIP: After your Battlecruiser is done. Rally Vikings to the Zerg main base, and find the Zerg Overlords.

And remember to consider this an all-in, so bring all your SCVs.

REPLAY: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=details&id=280232

Answer 2

What time did you have BC on the field? 2 supply may just mean you made a few more units before making BC (compared to old build). It doesn't mean you are slower in getting BC. I think the earliest you can have a BC is around 7:30 game time.

A couple of suggestions:

• I think your build order is fine. Open with refinery before barrack will let you put down Factory about 15 seconds game time sooner, but you'll have to delay the second depot a bit (probably at 19/19). After that, it's just smooth tech up to BC.
• Delay Orbital Command until after you have put down Factory. I don't think you'll have 300 mineral when the barrack is finished.
• You can build techlab on barrack and swap for starport. Then make a medivac while waiting for fusion core.
• Build techlab on factory and research Transformation Servo, and make more hellions. You can tranform them into hellbat, which is zerg's nightmare.
• Remember to constantly making SCV and build supply depot. Only making marine when you are already making SCV and have 50 mineral laying around, if getting BC ASAP is your top priority. Of course you'll have to rely on the opponent not scout you.
• When waiting for BC (90sec), throw down a few barrack and get as many marine as you can. Just try to burn as many resource as you can in this 90s period. Maybe research Combat Shield too (Stim would take too long, unless you put down techlab for barrack earlier).
• If you make enough marines and hellions, I think you can leave the SCVs at base and expand. A BC, a few marines and hellbats, with a medivac is probably enough to deal with zerg at 8 minute game. Bring a few SCVs and set on auto-repair for the BC and hellbat. That is a scary push, even for terran and protoss opponent.