Chanced for survival without Factory found

Usually, if I play solo and did not find abandoned Factory before the second night, I just leave the game and try again.

I am confident: there is no chance to survive even Ultralisk wave without boost of minerals and gas given by early started simultanious using a few Mules.

I would like to refute this. On normal, I find the game can be beat, and easily en..... lol, I just reread your post and saw you said solo. That changes things. I never played much solo Normal, but when I did, I never felt the lack of a Factory THAT hard. You do reposition your CC directly against mineral patches, right? That is crucial for fast mining. Takes only a little management, and you generally have spare time on your hands if you are only mining with your Survivor. It is worth it if the patch has, say, over 50 minerals. Most of the gather time is really travel time. I am not a big Mule miner, and never use more than two. Maybe I should run a solo Normal game without a Factory entirely as a proof of concept... can't be too hard compared to Brutal.

Brodyaga, when you posted this, it got me thinking. I am a challenge addict. That is why I stuck with this game when I first played it, and why I pressed on to Brutal. I decided that I would attempt a solo Normal game while mining ONLY with my Survivor. Today I finally got around to trying this, and I am pleased to report I won on my first attempt. Money was not so much of a problem as supply, space, and time. (because mining took up most of it)

Please either post or PM me your email so you may witness my attempt.

It was insane, and the Levi VERY nearly did me in. The damn camper just sniped my Big Berthas then spammed mutas and Brood Lords.

Starke wrote:Please either post or PM me your email so you may witness my attempt.

Would be interesting to see how you managed)

verner dot poklonnik at mail dot ru

Check your PM inbox.

Brodyaga wrote:I am confident: there is no chance to survive even Ultralisk wave without boost of minerals and gas given by early started simultanious using a few Mules.

Well, I am still stating, that it is impossible to survive without finding Factory at the very beginning after watching Starke's replay))

The ending with the Saving Beacons would not be possible without Factory.

But he proved that it is possible to live without the boost of minerals. Yea, really, just 3 pickups of minerals made with the Mule can not be considered as "boost of minerals"). (And also 4 extra Bonus Supplies picked up, permanent repair of structures under attack and 1 saving of life of Surviver, everything with the Mule)))

Was nice to learn the Starke's tricks, some of them are very useful.

Thank you for this nice replay!

I also have some comments on your, Starke, replay:
1.You needed to send your Raven forward towards Lethiafan coming, so Big Berthas could see it from the longer distance.
2.Also would be good to use Factory and Mines from it just to keep Lethiafat busy and far enough from Berthas but still under their attack: would be much cheaper than to use Turrets from Raven for this.

Glad you liked it. My main point is that finding a factory ASAP is not necessary. Because you are playing solo, it WILL take longer to find stuff.

And thanks for the feedback. I was hoping the sight from the Big Berthas would be enough, because they can see up cliffs, but apparently it is not. I was actually hoping to use the Minigun-Turrets to kill the Levi because they put out great DPS, but I was not anticipating the swarm of mutas and Brood Lords protecting it. Good idea with the mines. When I have room and need to stall the Levi, I just build a Bunker and heal it.

Actually, EVERYTHING I did with my Mule could have been done with a Healbot, but I never found a Science Facility.

Starke wrote:Actually, EVERYTHING I did with my Mule could have been done with a Healbot, but I never found a Science Facility.

Well, I have to agry: that is correct)

Starke wrote:Glad you liked it.

I was hoping the sight from the Big Berthas would be enough, because they can see up cliffs, but apparently it is not. I was actually hoping to use the Minigun-Turrets to kill the Levi because they put out great DPS, but I was not anticipating the swarm of mutas and Brood Lords protecting it. Good idea with the mines. When I have room and need to stall the Levi, I just build a Bunker and heal it.

Actually, EVERYTHING I did with my Mule could have been done with a Healbot, but I never found a Science Facility.

Yes, I really liked it.

Big Bertha hits about one third futher than it can see. Wich means you can buy some extra attacking time for them in case of Lethiafan and espesially Protosses by sending some units forward. The togher are units the better.

Your Raven Turrets needed "micro" to direct them toward Lethiafan, I believe, instead of shooting Brood Lords and Bunelings.