The attrition is this game is really quite something... Past 16 mins in, over 3/4s of value built was destroyed.

[Spoiler]

This game also makes the fact that zk lacks an effective counter to area shields rather obvious. Yes, in theory shields can't indefinitely resist their cost in arti, but in practice non-tremor mobile arti only barely outdamages shields (static arti can't do so at all) while arti-clusters (and particularly Tremor) are juicy targets for shield-penetrating Eos. Eos itself is too expensive to work against spread out shields (ditto Shockley), leaving no cost effective ways of depleting shields.

I used to dislike shields but I've come to realize that they are a noob trap.

At 600 a pop, you're choosing not to spend on offensive a rather signicant amount that, spent on the offense of choice, will counter any amount of aegis by either going around it or going straight through it.

The problem in team games is that the team doesn't work as one cohesive mind. We work as individuals doing our own thing, each trying to pitch in but mostly doing what we want. I prefer to build what I think counters a specific part of the map and help the team capitalize on that advantage. If a part of the enemy team wants to porc to high heaven, let them. It's not mobile and therefore that part of the map is not likely to push.

For isntance, in this game, there is nothing but impalers and AA for a good part of the game on the northeast and northwest is just spamming aegis and static. Nothing happens on that front until WAY late into the game when there is a funnel + merlin combo creeping, and it's so late that it gets taken out by zenith of all things.

The problem wasn't porc IMO. It was that as soon as east gained ground south while north was going nowhere, east overextended and lost the push, then got pushed back because the team was investing in a super instead of escalating the push.

That's why, even on maps that could work in 1v1, you never see singus, striders and supers in 1v1 while you see them all the time in teams. Most players just don't know how to end games. They manage to gain some ground and think: hey, what I'm doing works! I'm going to keep doing it... until they're too far into enemy land and end up losing it all.

Experienced players inch their way to victory. Inexperienced players try for a killing blow as soon as they gain a foot of land.

quote: Making 5k in artillery against more than 5k in shields, with no followup, is not a counter.

I think this could need a bit of elaboration, depending on how much more in shields. I would assume that 5k in riots should counter 7k in raiders. I thought the whole point of counters was that they were cost effective against what they are counters to.

quote: I think this could need a bit of elaboration, depending on how much more in shields. I would assume that 5k in riots should counter 7k in raiders. I thought the whole point of counters was that they were cost effective against what they are counters to.

It depends on the artillery and how the shields are arranged. But that was not my point. There was no followup. A Tremor can drain some shields and a Merlin can slowly kill a few. But the artillery doesn't actually do anything else by itself.

Any followup. I'm not getting into the theorycrafting. Figure it out.

See: https://zero-k.info/Battles/Detail/1815118