Beating Chickens on Non-Chicken Maps.

The first time I got this idea was when I tried playing skirmish and accidentally chosen survival on a normal map, without noticing it. However, I tried continuing, and... It was fun. Unlike normal chicken maps, on non-chicken maps, you're actually rewarded for expansion, and I thought that this could be interesting. Second great improvement is that your flank placement is more uncertain. 'Should I place a defensive outpost on this entrance, or should I wait until I get an army and push my frontline further?'
It was loads of fun! However, I struggled to win the game so hard that I have asked for an advice.
Apparently, nimbuses, in large amounts, defeat chickens with no problems whatsoever.
Raiders early on keep the big chickens from coming.
Then, stardusts.

I've only seen one person beat suicidal chickens on a non-chicken map, and his name is [ffa].
https://zero-k.info/Battles/Detail/975676

As you can see from that battle details, it IS possible to beat chickens on a non-chicken map. I definitely recommend trying something like that yourself, to test yer capabilities of dealing with meme strategies!

The strategy doesn't really change much, the map is just not designed to give you an obvious base zone and chicken zone. You have to figure out where to place those yourself.

quote: AUrank4hundred, FRrankHelwor, RUrankFirepluk have won vs suicidal chicken (multiple not one suicidal) in red comet and icy run.

I just wanted to point out that their game can be hardly called legitimate, as these games obviously rely on exploitation of the Chicken AI's reaction to terraforming. Besides the broken AI response that makes chickens only threatening in the early game and when the air attacks come, only the last mentioned game's details were available, and the map was clearly intended for a chicken defense gamemode, which I've specifically mentioned in the name of this thread I was not interested in.
Regardless, thanks for your feedback, Senaven

the strategy is not that much different from generic games:

use choke points, start with stardust/skydust, transition into desolators with razor support, reclaim, spam cereb (with radar) and shields once lobbers come, transition out of conchs and conjourers into funnels once dodos start coming, trinity or bertha the roosts, pray you don't die to white dragons and spam raptors for EZ queen kill.

regular maps might have worse choke points or less mexes, and probably salty/noob teammates (or maybe that's just my experience). all and all big team maps like LLTA or comet aren't too different to dedicated chicken maps

oh and don't use maps with water, ESP. maps with water at the edges and no way for chicken that spawn down there to properly get up.

I almost never play the chicken maps. This is more interesting, because different maps do make for some extra experimentation to figure out how far to expand. Maps with more metal tend to be easier. Maps with more mountains (e.g. Melt_V2) tend to be really hard because it's hard to keep coverage of all the nooks and crannies where a roost might pop up after you kill one.

Recently we've been adding a regular AI to the Chicken team, and that makes for an interesting challenge too. The AI is smarter than the chickens, and will try to get around your defensive line. Also, if you don't push it then it will build a strider hub and send more fun your way.