Starcraft 2: Scouting a Baneling Bust
I think one of the weaknesses low level players have is scouting. In bronze they generally play blind. When you get to gold level they start peaking into the base to see if there are buildings there. By platinum they start looking at buildings as evidence of tech paths. By diamond they start using information to pick apart what is happening and by masters every single decision you make has a footprint.
Very few people want to talk about how you scout, instead they simply say, scout.
I think early game information gives you tones of evidence as to what is happening.
The video above will show you how to scout and beat a baneling bust, what tactics you should deploy and how to punish the zerg after he has busted you.
In this little blip I just want to focus on how you should interpret information, in the context of a baneling bust.
So your supply depot building SCV is usually the one you want to scout with. This is the point you will get a picture of what the zerg is doing. Any further after this you generally find that zerglings can show up on the map and you are screwed.
With the size of these maps you should not worry too much about a 6-pool or any early pool. If you scout with your supply depot building unit you can see the lings on their way and quickly toss up an extra barracks.
So your rally point for the supply depot building SCV should be the zerg’s natural expansion. This is the one just outside of his/her base.
You can use this SCV to block a fast expand. You should be chaining SCVs no matter what. When your SCV total is 15 this is the classic zerg expansion timing. If he is not expanding at this point he has gone for a spawning pool first build.
Move into his base and check two things: is there a spawning pool? Is a gas taken?
If the answer is yes to both return to the natural location and wait for 19 food. At this point if he does not have an expansion something funky is up.
Go into his main base and look at his gas. A gas has 2500 gas, if it has under 2400 it means he needs extra gas for something.
At low levels (bronze/silver) it may be possible that zergs will just forget which makes a baneling bust a little harder to figure out.
Extra gas will signal off one of two things, roach rushing or zerglings. If he makes more than 2 zerglings he cannot roach rush you.
Your best move is to sit your SCV at his natural and see if he tries to take it. Whatever comes down to greet the SCV is what you are dealing with. If it is a lot of zerglings it is a baneling bust and if it is a lot of roaches, it is a roach rush.
If you are at 26 food and nothing is coming out to greet you yet it might be worth while to check the third base for an expansion and if there is one there check its saturation.
At this point it is quite clear there will be no baneling bust coming. I would scan his base and look to see if he has an extra gas and if he has lair tech.
