I am at 6:20 and not seeing the power of lobsterball.

• An assault-oriented Thug + Felon army (with two Lobster) costing 2.8k is about to attack a riot-skirmisher spider army costing 2k. There are also two LLT, a commander and half a HLT.
• Spider has produced 9.3k metal but has a combined 1k metal either excessed or caught up in an E-stall. Spider has clear map control and a bit over half the metal extractors.
• Shield has produced 5.9k metal and only has their starting three metal extractors.
• Spider is 20% of the way through a Likho.
• Spider has lost 1.1k metal in units through pokes and raiding, Shield has lost 650.

7:00 now. The Shield army retreated in the face of the nearly complete HLT and is just building up. It did one jump to kill two Recluses. Spider has solved its E-stall and the metal gap is now 10.8k to 6.6k.

At 7:40 the Likho fires at the lobsterball, which jumps over the missile, towards the Likho, and kills it. The ball costs 4k by now and has three Felons. A dozen or so seconds ago the ball picked off a Recluse, but was still being held back by a meagre 1.2k spider army and a HLT.

The lobsterball completes the jump into the HLT, kills the commander and the now 600 metal in spider. Spider resigns.


This game is not showing OP lobsterball to me. The circled mexes were only briefly held before Redbacks killed them. The Likho in the air factory is almost complete. Spider has 1.8k of mostly static stuff, plus a commander, holding off a 3.3k army that has so far ony killed two Recluses (but is about to pick off another two). That Likho cost 2.7k, here are some alternatives.

• A missile silo and two Infernos to block his factories for 90s and destroy his entire economy.
• An area cloaker and 18 Hermits to run over his base.
• Five Ravens to snipe his commander, then return flights to take out the Caretakers and factories.
• Two Crabs. The 3.1k version of the lobsterball only has 15k damage if the shields are entirely converted by the Felons (which they won't be), and a sitting Crab has 12k HP.

I'm not saying any of these is necessarily better, just they seem less risky than spending 2.7k on a one-shot trick.

Also, I tried taking control and jumping it at 6:20. In my first attempt the lobsterball kills the HLT but mostly dies. In my second I targeted the units, and the lobsterball can make an ok trade, but the HLT finishes, the commander doesn't die, and a decent amount of reclaim is left over. It really depends on how the spiders react and when and where exactly the lobsterball jumps. So it was a risk that could have been taken, not a sure win.