@chad break down Botato’s new proxy barracks build that punishes early expansions, including how to reverse-engineer building start times from the API. The session wraps with a look at weight systems for army composition and why blind counter-unit logic isn’t always the answer.
Key Takeaways
Detect early expansions by calculating building start time from current game time, build progress, and total build duration.
Proxy barracks can punish greedy openings. If the opponent expands before ~70 seconds, a proxy rush can catch them off guard, especially against Protoss.
Sort expansion locations using pathing distance from both your base and the enemy base. This avoids picking a “closer” third that’s actually exposed to the opponent.
Use a tactics tracking class to manage which strategies are active and gate decisions across multiple parts of your code.
Queue Marines as a flexible money dump. If your proxy build is active, keep one Marine at the top of the priority queue to spend excess minerals.
Weight systems beat static build orders. Layered proportion-based army composition adapts better than a fixed script.
Counter-unit logic has tradeoffs. It can spiral into lopsided armies. Consider adjusting proportions instead of hard-swapping unit types.