Using all that mass in the middle

[KillerOfMen]

Hello!

I find myself struggling on maps with lots of starting mass in the middle. Let's use a ranked fields of isis game as an example.

I typically have no problem beating my opponent to the middle and reclaiming the mass. My problem is using the mass. At that point in the game, I have no mass storage and very little power. If I select all my mexs and tell them to upgrade, I run out of power instantly. If I stay within my power means, tons of extra mass is wasted. What do I do? How do I use all that mass? If I save the wrecks for later, my opponent gets them!

Also, what do you think about:
1. Building early mass storage to save some of the mass?
2. Building tons of pgens early to fix the power issue?
3. Giving me a great build order?

THANK YOU!!!
-Killer

[Softly]

On maps like isis in 2v2 a really good bo helps, with lots of early power. Also experiment with not sending your acu, just the first two engies, or going uef and building early drone which works well. Remember the sooner you send your acu the more vulnerable you are to snipe attempts.

On 1v1 however often really early reclaim is a bad thing. You're much better off getting your build power up and claiming mass points can get you early teching anyway.

[uberge3k]

You don't have to reclaim it all at once. If you can hold that section of the map, save the reclaim for when you need it. If you think that you'll be overrun and your opponent will get to the mass, then reclaim it anyway regardless of waste - better for it to be wasted than for it to fall into your enemy's hands!

[discoverer2k4]

I often find my self struggling with that as well killer play against me and we have an even match - like ever :-p

Its often ok for me to go early with the ACU to the middle (because I play not against pros :-p) and reclaim the wrecks by patrol move - thus the ACU stops reclaiming if the storage is full. Of course, that is only good in the first 6-8 minutes if your 1vs1 opponent goes to the other mass point otherwise I would try to reclaim as fast as I can all the mass so he can't use it as well... In that time I build up a lot of PGens and facs. As far as I know you need 3-4 PGens for every Mex T2 upgrade?! Its up to you and your strategy what you build first...
or in 1vs1 find out with scouts where the opponent sends his ACU and go to the same position and do it like in 2vs2 and send engys or drones to the other spot (as a player in our range ... very hard to play I think )

To get more mass out of the wrecks ...
Last time I started with a BO of 1 landfac (BO: 8 engys, 10 tanks), 3 pgens, move ACU to the middle,
#1 engy -> 1 mex, 1 carbon power, landfacs
#2 engy -> 1 mex, support #1 engy,
#3 engy -> 1 mass storage, build pgens
#4 engy -> support #3 engy -> pgens, pgens, pgens ...
#5 engy -> mexes + radar + pgens ... and so on

I'm absolutely sure that this is not the best way because I'm a noob, but it worked better and the mass storage was nearly finshed as the ACU arrived in the middle.
Make sure you stop the radar if you don't need it at the beginning and don't build air units because they take a lot of energy...

BR


some points were already said by uber because he was faster - I post it anyway in the hope of some feedback to my ideas...

[Sunder]

Even if you aren't using that mass, reclaim it anyway, to deny your opponent from potentially taking it later. That being said, you have plenty of options to use the mass; upgrading extractors is usually a good thing to do when you have the middle secured for a different source of mass income. Just make sure you're keeping your energy up while you do it.

[laPPen]

There is another option that works good for the isis scenario.
Assist your upgrading mex w engeneers.
Go for a strong powerspamm early and when your com reaches
mid and your mass storage fills u can take the engeneers away from
building pgens and assist the mex.
-Each T1 engeneer needs 30 power/sec to build pgens.
-Teching a mex into t2 costs 60.
-U double the upgrade speed bye assisting a mex w 2 t1 engies.
-U have an earlier payoff from the faster upgrade.
-The mass on isis isnt too mutch its reclaimed pretty fast when its gone
u dont need to hurry to build more t1 power if u could afgord the
upgrades with that power u should be fine for the moment when
the mass is gone.
Just dont forget to start building power again a bit later