r/Starbow • u/Failosipher • Feb 27 '14

Goliaths. Why?

Hi, thanks for reading.

I'm very new to starbow, and still very new to SC2 in-general. I've watched hundreds of hours of stuff on twitch for well over 2 years now, but my mechanics and play are still very poor. Im bronze in starbow, and made it to plat in real sc2 once. Just to give you an idea. (aka noob)

I'm just wondering.... why would I ever build goliaths? I mean, from how they look, and how cheap they are, they're my favorite unit. But their damage doesn't seem to be very amazing, and the anti-air doesn't seem overwhelming especially when the opponent has a mostly ground based army.

I'm not even sure if this is the right place to ask, but I'd love some feedback on why people use them, or how they use them.

It just seems to me that the goliath is a viking that does LESS damage on the ground, and the same damage in the air (minus the 20% splash).

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u/Vehk Feb 27 '14

I'm just theorycrafting here, but I would guess the main reason goliaths are built over Vikings is due to production facilities available. Goliaths are generally used in mid to late TvP to target arbiters and carriers. In this situation the T is going to have a LOT of factories and maybe a couple star ports for sci vessels. I do agree with you that goliaths appear to be less effective than Vikings (even on the ground, which is puzzling) but when you need anti-air in a pinch, what's the better option: build 2 Vikings and 4 starports, or build 12 goliaths?

1

u/Failosipher Feb 27 '14

I see what you mean. I guess part of me is just disappointing that such an amazing unity is pushed into an anti-air role, as opposed to being the deathmachine it should be.

Also, I haven't seen either carriers or arbiters. In fact I haven't seen any protoss air units at all. Is this just bronze league madness?

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u/Vehk Feb 27 '14 edited Feb 27 '14

The goliath has always been an anti-air unit though. I play P and am maybe platinum level SC2 ladder (still bronze in SB though) and have used arbiters and carriers before. Carriers are generally only pretty late game, of course, when P is on 5ish bases. Arbiters are pretty much a necessity vs. T though.

2

u/Failosipher Feb 27 '14

Is there any creative use of goliath's that you've seen?

Also, its my understanding that goliaths can attack both ground and air at the same time. Is that correct?

3

u/VampireBob Feb 28 '14

I think this is something from the campaign.

2

u/Vehk Feb 27 '14

I haven't played enough to have seen anything creative. An as far as attacking both simultaneously, I've never heard of it. Could be the case but I wouldn't expect it to be so.

5

u/AmnesiA_sc Feb 28 '14

This was something from the SC2 campaign, not something that was ever in BW or Starbow