Are there build orders for 2v2 that benefit trading minerals/gas on a specific time in Starcraft 2?

Question

I play 2v2 games on ladder. I am Terran and my friend is Zerg. Currently we use generic 1v1 build orders, but from my time as Warcraft 3 2v2 player I know there were certain tactics that benefited the team by trading resources at specific timings.

A very common tactic with Undead and Nightelf was to go Fiends and Huntresses. The Undead gives the Nightelf player about 40-60 Wood as soon as he starts his Altar. This way he gathers just enough wood to create the Ziggurat on time (without delay), as Gold was the limiting factor, and the Huntress Hall gets created a bit faster (about 10 seconds) which is a huge deal. Afterwards the wood gets swaped back, so the Undead player could tech on time.

My question is: Is there some strategy for Terran and Zerg that also benefits from such resource trades in Starcraft 2?

Answer 1

I put this idea like this: resource sharing can balance some "unbalanced" builds and make them viable:

1. "unbalanced production". i.e. one player muscle production to get max capability @ 5 min mark and then use resources of teammate to create pretty big army and surprise opponents. Check my post on teamliquid for one example of this

2. "unbalanced tech". I.e. zerg can build a whole lot of mutalisks really fast using teammate and own gas. Teammate create some mineral army (zealots / marines / you name it).

Answer 2

Extending on the answer of Meta to go into specifics:

There are several strategies that rely on moneydumping, though most of them boil down to "chose 1 unit, get lots of money, build lots of that unit and a-move". Good options for that are marines/marauders, ling/blings/roaches or Stalkers. Basically everything that takes advantage in only 1 player having to use resources (esp. gas) for teching is great for moneydumping.

From the top of my head i can remember some specific timings that can be "abused" (not specific to ZTvXX):

• Protoss:

  • Warpgate push: Protoss builds lots of gates (6-8), teches to warpgate like with a normal 4gate and right when warpgate tech is finished, the other player dumps lots of resources for a very strong timing that comes at the same time or only slightly later than 4gate. Just make sure you build enough pylons to keep up with the huge production.

• Zerg:

  • Mass roach: Get extra hatch (often macro hatch, not at natural), tech to roaches fast, get money, a-move... or as Stephano says "br" to win.
  • Mass Muta: Tech to 2hatch muta normally while your ally goes some defensive, mineral heavy build order (for example marines+bunkers with very few siege tanks). As soon as your spire finishes, your ally dumps all the gas to you, allowing you to produce ~15-20 (instead of the normal ~10) mutalisks instantly, which is enough to easily overwhelm any normal static defense the opponent might have (up to ~2 turrets). After that it's just massing lots of mutalisks, upgrading them and destroying all the things your opponents hold dear.

• Terran:

  • 10rax push: Similar to TLOs infamous 7rax you just build lots of marines (and depending on the opponent also marauders) while the ally dumps as many minerals and gas into you as possible. You can use 1 or 2 rax to tech stimpack and combat shield behind the pressure and make it a true timing attack, which is not possible with the classic 6/7 rax. This strategy takes advantage of the fact that the raxing player doesn't need to mine gas, which gives a huge boost in the beginning.