Starcraft – Are there any games/tactics where infestor controlled units are used to build “foreign” units

starcraft-2

I recently completed the "Zerglot" achievement, as described here.

In short, you have to warp in a Zealot, while playing Zerg. You can do this, by using neural parasite (Infestor) on an enemy drone and use the drone to build a nexus. Then you control a nexus and you can start up your own Protoss build and go for Gateway and then Zealot.

While something like this is most likely extremely difficult to pull off against a human opponent, I was wondering if this has actually been used in game before? Are there any games where somebody uses this to produce a Zerg/Protoss or Zerg/Terran unit mix on his own?

If there's no game you know of, what do you think of this strategy in general?
I guess it could be doable in the case where your opponent has a weakly defended expansion up and you can capture one of his workers?

In case of a Protoss opponent you would "only" need to:

  • control a probe for a short amount of time to warp in a nexus
  • protect the nexus until completion, build a probe
  • go anywhere with your probe to build a protected nexus/structures (build an expansion)

Best Answer

I did see one game commentated by Husky where a Zerg player captured an SCV which was sent to repair a tank on the battlefield, and he did work up the Terran tech tree. But I think that game was really just for fun as many bizarre things happened, and the players goofed around more than actually playing to win (maybe someone remembers that one and can give a link?). I have never seen anywhere else where neural parasite was used like this in a legitimate game.

I would say this is not feasible in a legitimate game because:

  1. The amount of infestor energy required to pull this off would be probably be better spent elsewhere. You need to escort the worker via parasite back to your base, then throughout construction of the building. OTOH, parasiting a probe is easiest because a Nexus warps in instantly.
  2. It will take a long time to get to a point where this is even possible. By this time, you won't benefit much from the other race's low-tier units & structures. If it were hypothetically possible in the early game, I could see a benefit to using terran supply depots for a wall-off, or getting quick marines for anti-air.
  3. The APM required to efficiently use this tactic again would probably be better spent elsewhere. This is not a tactic you will ever bother practicing, so if you actually do this, you will be basically treading in unknown waters throwing off your natural rhythm. How will you hotkey your new command center or barracks for example?
  4. If your creep spreading is what it should be, then your options are limited for building placement. As Terran at least you could head to an island as a workaround.

There are lots of low-tier "foreign" abilities that could possibly be practical though, if you get really lucky and manage to pull this off:

  1. Chrono boost on Zerg upgrades or larva
  2. Marine + roach or muta army composition
  3. Scanner sweep / MULEs
  4. Missile turrets
  5. Planetary fortresses
  6. Bunkers for roaches / hydras

Though most of these are still not going to be practical if you have any creep spreading.

In 2v2 I have always wondered though if allys have used this tactic. It would be MUCH more feasible here because:

  1. You could build your 2nd race base amongst your ally, avoiding creep
  2. You don't need to bother keeping a hold of the worker with neural parasite as much. If your ally is Protoss, it would just take 1 neural parasite.
  3. Creep spread tends to be more conservative in team games unless your ally is also Zerg.

But in a team game of course it's also less compelling because you already get the army composition. The biggest benefit would be chrono boost, or sharing transports. I won't mention "less communication required between teammates" because well, you should just aim to improve the communication, not work around it :)

But I have never heard even a mention of doing this amongst allys in a team game; maybe you cannot neural parasite an ally?

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