Map profile: Theta Passage
In this, the second installment of our map profiles series, I will look at the ladder map Theta Passage. Note that much of the information in these profiles actually applies to most if not all maps, so you should take a look at my earlier article in the series before reading this one, if you haven’t already.
This is a small map, at only 5×5 kilometers, and it also has fewer resources than most other ranked maps. Players start at the positions marked A and B below. Positions C, D, and E are defensible positions that can be controlled to help ensure victory.
Resources
As stated above, this is a rather low resource map. The mass deposits near the starting positions are much more spread out than those on most maps, which tends to slow down the very early game expansion phase. Both starting positions are equipped with a hydrocarbon resource, which should be taken advantage of by building a hydrocarbon power plant early on. Also worth mentioning is the abandoned base near point D above. The building corpses here do not hold a ton of metal, but it is worth it to try to grab these easy resources in the first few minutes of play.
Early Strategy
Since the mass deposits on this map are scattered, early harassment of enemy engineers is crucial. Of course, early intelligence, gained by building some tech 1 land scouts, is very important to be effective in this. It is also vital to get several land factories and at least one air factory up very quickly. This will put a strain on your economy, since resources are sparse, but you do not want to be unable to hold the line because of a lack of units.
For defending your mass deposits, there are choke points at positions D and E that can be used. Any strategy using these defensively lends itself naturally to using your commander as defense along the upper left part of the map, near position C. However, if the enemy commander attacks position D or position E, you will probably be unable to prevent them from getting through. Because of the small size and relatively open nature of this map, you should be very wary of the enemy commander overcharging your factories in the first few minutes of the game. Point defense towers built closer to your main base can help prevent this, although they are not cheap in the early game, so they may be too heavy a drain on your early economy.
Securing position C and building a couple of land factories there can be very useful. While the amount of mass gained from C is small, it is defensible and forces your opponent to spread his forces thinner than he would have to otherwise. This is especially effective in combination with attacks through positions D and E, which will force your opponent to split up his resources along many fronts. Of course, this goes both ways, so be wary of trying to play defensively on this map. Even with the economic advantage, you may find yourself unable to defend yourself.
Teching Up
Since there aren’t a lot of resources on this map, you will probably want to have some tech 2 mass extractors upgraded fairly quickly. There is no hard and fast rule on when to do this, but keep in mind that you should always be reinvesting a part of your income back into your economy. You should also be sure to build mass storage adjacent to your extractors for the production bonuses.
Beyond that, you will also need plenty of power. Don’t make the mistake of relying too much on your hydrocarbon plant early on. Get some engineers working on rows of T1 power plants early. Once you are having no problem powering your radar (which you should build very early!) and have secured most of the mass you are going to, you should start trying to upgrade a factory to T2.
As always, the first order of business at T2 is building some some tech 2 engineers. They can be put to use building a power generator and / or forward point defenses. Getting some T2 point defense on the front line before your opponent can easily tip the balance in your favor. Of course, you shouldn’t stay at T2 long. You need to get to tech 3 and siege bots quickly to win on this map. This usually means essentially skipping tech 2 unit production.
Basically, once you get a tech 3 factory, the strategy is the same as for other land maps. You will need to pump out plenty of siege bots to win. At this stage, the light defenses that are often at positions D and E can usually be overrun very easily, and you should take advantage of this to outflank your opponent. If you are forced on the defensive, you can build lines of many T1 and T2 point defenses near these locations to try to stop siege bot rushes.
Remember the ultimate goal is always to kill the enemy commander. If you can get 8 or 10 siege bots deep into the enemy base relatively unscathed, you can probably finish off the enemy commander very easily. Never waste valuable troops attacking fortified positions when there is an easier avenue of attack. This applies to all situations, but especially to this map, since there are several possible attack routes.
That’s it for our second map profile. Also, check out a quick and dirty match replay between aling and HappyTimes on Theta Passage. Note the use of rapid expansion, offensive commander use, and the speed with which both players reach tech 2.
April 8th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
It’s probably worth mentioning while you may build two factories in your start spot on most maps, this won’t work well here due to lack of mass. In fact, if you try your normal “2 gen, 2 mex, factory, 2 gen, 2 mex, factory” build you’ll end up WAY behind your opponent in T1 unit production and VERY vulnerable to an offensive ACU. Additionally, if you have two or more factories up on that starting ledge your units will likely get choked up as they go down the slope, making your T1 expansion slower, so I always build only one up there and the second by one of the lower mexes.
While on most maps people tend to build two mexes before their first factory, that will slow down your expansion even more. Build your first factory after your first mex and have your first unit be an engineer (where it may usually be a scout or light bot) to help get those first four mexes built. This actually works well on any map where those first four mexes aren’t in easy reach of your ACU.
April 8th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Really one of the better maps in the game if you ask me, intense from start to finish. Good profile.
There is also some kind of rocky overlap at one of the choke points. Although it can’t be hit by anything, it will get “blown” away (read: it just disappears :) ) once some shells explode right beneath it I think.
April 8th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
thanks! these profiles encourage me to try new maps instead of settling in to a couple favorites :)
April 9th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Well, it’s hard to settle for favorites and never end up playing Theta Passage, at least not in ranked games. Theta Passage does come up rather often. If you’re into the whole ranked thing, you basically need to know how to play well on every map in the rotation, and Theta Passage is definitely one of the harder ones to master. I don’t know what it is about this map, though: I’m just naturally very good on it, having lost only once (if I remember correctly). Now compare this to my performance on Winters Duel, which I just can’t seem to be able to master.
April 9th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Myself I quite like all the land maps. It’s Abyss that gives me all the trouble. It’s one of the bigger maps in the rotation and requires very specific skills that don’t really overlap with the other maps in the list.