Gunny and Ace Pool Build Guide (Nov. 8, 2015)

Probes vs. Zealot Pooling Build Guide
Gunny576 (Gunny) and 7thAce (Ace)

Best times (2 person pool, no probe spirit): 10:12 Max, 21:01 perfect, 27:00 Auto 8, 35:46 Final T.
Averages: 10:35 Max, 15:30 legend, 21:15 perfect, 26:30 auto 8, 36:30 Final T.

Advantages: Extremely Consistent, Top-Tier speed, Safe, Tested and laid out for the entire game.
Disadvantages: Requires more practice and available communication methods.

Prestart: Make sure to take different paths to the base to collect pellets.
Use the resource send menu to pool.
Players should indicate when they have received the correct quantity of resources (we call "got it" and "coming back" on Skype)
A will wall and turret, B is pure econ + gold.
Knowledge of turret buff/salvage strats.
B will be ahead in econ for most of the game.
Both players go increased probe speed and Chrono boost (B can choose cloak if wanted).  Void is better for defense and late game, but max generator times alone are ~30 seconds worse with both going void.

Game and econ tricks used:
No tax pooling
Turret buff preserve
(If available) Leaver Fund
Market Price Awareness
Skill and communication (op)

Start of game:
Build Gen 1 at Zealot Shop, go to base of preference.  Skill choice is Chrono and High Speed or Cloak.  The person who goes to the gold can elect for cloak since movement benefits are comparable in the short run.  Run to a base of preference, salvage gens, and rebuild in new base.

Current Goals: Work towards a Generator Max while minimizing zealot feed on the team.  Before Gen 6, the zealot should not be bothered with and can feed on the wall as he wishes.  All zealots will not have game breaking damage at this point to allow feed.

Gen 2 -> 3:
Both players upgrade to generator 2 immediately upon placement of gens.
A send to B (arbitrary amount, just some for faster walls.  Important if 3+ gas pellets).
Activate cloak buff at 1 minute by building and canceling a pylon.
Send until B at gen 3 (100 gas).
Switch back to player 1.  A should start building/upgrading a pylon while B is salvaging.
A will upgrade pylon then generator and pass back to B.
Both players should auto-chrono their own generator.

Gen 3 -> 4:
Standard - B builds a market then upgrades gen to 4.
B market salvage, A market build and upgrade.
Estimated in-game time (IGT): 2:07 (A gen upgrade should happen just after vision is returned with no pallets).

Gen 4 -> 5:
Standard - B has time to do a full upgrade for ultra wall XP if timings have been normal (not too much extra gas).  If scanned, build at ramp.
Salvage and send to A for autobuild ultra wall 1 and upgrade, then send back to B
A will disable auto chronoboost here for desynchronization.

Gen 5 -> 6:
B builds a market and buys 40 minerals.  This is almost certain to be the first 40 bought.
Standard upgrade to gen 6 for B.
A should manually chrono B's generator (after B) here since it is one stage higher.
Send all minerals and gas to A for upgrade and salvage underground market.
Estimated IGT: 4:10

[Time sensitive] A must put down 8 turrets and an ultra wall at the ramp.  Upgrade turrets to T2.  From here, A must be certain not to construct any buildings, upgrade turrets, or attack (after 4:59) or the buff will go away.
This is turret buff preserve - As long as A builds no buildings after receiving a 28% generator buff, the 28% will be preserved.  This is due to the game checking turret buff only when buildings are built, turret/generator upgrades applied, and when turrets attack (and a few other irrelevant conditions).

B should use chrono on A's generator (~4:50) then go to a gold base of preference.  A's chrono should be just after B's and can be set to automatic again.

Gen 6 -> 7:
{
A:
Once B gets to a gold base, send all money to B (~3000 gas).
Continue sending until B gets all the way to gen 7.

B: Build 2 professional miners and begin upgrading wall to Ultra 4.  Manipulate market prices for the fastest possible 2nd pro miner and generator 7.
}

B has 7, A has 6:
{
A: Salvage turrets upon B's Gen 7 and begin upgrading Ultra 1 -> Ultra 4.  If done correctly, A can get ultra wall 3 before needing money from B.  Minimizing time spent on Gen 6 here is important.

B:  B should only have to send the leftover money once to give A all the money needed to upgrade.  Make sure to send 64 minerals and at least 2600 gas.
Remain at gold base until Mega Wall 3 (Gen Max) using chrono on miners and building ghosts as needed.
}
At this point, it very likely not to be advantageous for the zealot to attack you at the gold, so it is okay to delay upgrading generators to slow the zealot down.  If near a generator upgrade for either player, get the gen upgrade first then quickly send money to the defending player.

Gen 7 -> 8:
{
A: Salvage ultra wall 4 (recommended: rebuild ultra wall 1) and send to B for a significant amount of time.

B: Build 2 more professional miners (optional, but not recommended: 1 miner now, one miner after gen 8 if prices are poor and minerals are not needed) and begin working on mega wall and gen 8.
}
Estimated Mega Wall IGT: 7:45

B has 8, A has 7:
{
A: Autobuild mega wall 1 and upgrade generator.

B: If safe to salvage mega wall, send all money to A.  Build an ultra wall 2 for safety.  B should receive the money back if needed soon, so the vulnerability window is low.  Otherwise, continue sending even after A has gen 8.
}
Estimated IGT: 8:25

Gen 8 -> 9 (note, A will upgrade gen first here):
{
A: Drop a market and auto build 8 ghosts (T6) if this is before 8:50.  For faster ghost building, salvage mega wall and use the money to get the 8 ghosts immediately, then rebuild the mega wall.  Upgrade to mega wall 2, salvage ghosts as the wall is upgrade and upgrade generator to 9.

B: If prices remain strong after heavy use (>200, 0 - 1 other players in gold bases with 10+ people), build a 5th professional (usually not recommended).  Otherwise, continue sending money to A until gen 9.
}

B has 8, A has 9:
{
A: Salvage Mega 2 and send most money to B (hold ~3000 gas).
Autobuild 8 ghosts then continue sending money to B.
When B has mega wall 3 (use a callout), salvage  ghosts and send the money ASAP.

B: Autobuild mega wall 1, upgrade to 2, upgrade generator.
}

Gen 9 ->  Max:
{
A (Repeated from above):
Salvage Mega 2 and send most money to B (hold ~3000 gas).
Autobuild 8 ghosts then continue sending money to B.
When B has mega wall 3 (use a callout), salvage  ghosts and send the money ASAP.

B: Auto build to mega wall 1 then upgrade to 3 and call out when mega 3 is built.  Abandon gold base and return home as the upgrade occurs.  Use market prices to balance minerals and gas for best possible max generator timing.
}

Estimated IGT for first Max Gen: ~10:35.

A Max -> Ultra miners:
{
A: Autobuild mega wall 1 -> 3 and upgrade generator ASAP.  Buying the last minerals (~200) will likely be necessary, but there should be more than enough gas to cover it.
Salvage Mega 3 and sell the minerals on the market down to ~70.

From this point, A and B should use -v/-m to send money as it is faster for sending large amounts of money.  Small amounts are still better to send with the resource send menu (such as a few thousand gas for ultra/legend miners).
When this guide says "and change", use the resource send menu to send money at max speed as done through the early stages of the game.

B: Build ultra miner as money allows.  Send money back to A for wall and ultra miner (should be ~32k and change).

A: Build an appropriate wall (mega 1 max, recommended against good Z's) and then ultra miner when money allows.  Your generators are worth a game breaking amount of money at this point, so if broken, your team will likely be dead.
Micro-optimization after ultra: Send ~700 minerals to B for slightly quicker Automine 4.
}
Estimated IGT: 13:15 (unsure of that)

From here, A is responsible for both the wall and the turrets.  Both are left up to judgement.  B will turret for 28% gen buff until perfect miner.

Important wall breakpoints:
Mega wall 1 needed with 261 damage (1 repair).
Mega wall 2 needed with 517 damage (1 repair).
Mega wall 1 needed with 517 damage (2 repair).
Mega wall 3 needed with 1k damage (1 repair).
Mega wall 2 needed with 1k damage (2 repair).
Mega wall 4 needed with 2k damage (1 repair).
Mega wall 3 needed with 2k damage (2 repair).
And so on…
It is important to be able to scare away a zealot quickly with turrets since your wall is the tastiest for food.  Drop an ancient library as necessary to be able to upgrade to T11+.

Important: After each auto mine dropped, upgrade half of your turrets.  This will make sure you have a 28% gen buff, not 21% or less.  This may have changed with the turret buff changes in a ~July patch.

Build Update: In early 2015, the build was improved to use more auto mines.  As a result, these sections are more attention heavy but significantly faster when done optimally.
Originally: One Auto 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 for both players.
Now: 5xAuto 4, 5xAuto 5, 5xAuto 6, 4xAuto 8 (no 7).

Game plan Update: The general plan for the rest of the game is to trade both resources independently with the other player to get the target miner or auto mine.  Salvaging should be used on turrets when going for miners.

Current Goals: Using the trading strategy above, each player should work towards one ultra and 5 auto mine 4s.  Player B should be getting a legendary miner around the time A puts down the 2nd auto mine 4.

Ultra -> Legend miners:
{
B: Drop an auto mine 4 at 4k minerals.

A and B: Immediately after A builds ultra miner, upgrade market to Global and get a 28% gem speed buff (Should be 8 Vikings (T7) for A, 4-6 vikings and 2-4 marines for B).

B: Send minerals to A (~2000 if A sent for auto mine 4, 2300 if not) for auto mine 4.  Gen buff check.

A and B: At a combined 260k gas (Usually 135k (B) and 125k (A), total wealth in turrets ~280k), salvage all turrets and send money to B for a legendary miner.  Might take a few thousand sent through the send.  Immediately turret buff after.
}

Estimated IGT: 15:30.

Current Goals: There should be 4/10 auto mine 4s placed as the legendary miner completes.  Between here and perfect, each player should get 5 auto mine 4s and begin working towards the same for auto 5s.  A should get a legendary miner, then B towards perfect.

B with legend miner:
{
A: Turret Buff Check.  Inform B of minerals needed to build auto mine 4s and construct them as resources allow.
B: Turret Buff Check.  Build 3 additional (total 5) auto mine 4s as minerals become available.  Send to A intermittently because A will be able to put down auto mines to keep approximately even pacing (as well as being slightly faster).  After

A and B: At ~210k combined gas (~110k A, ~100k B, 210k combined death), salvage all turrets and send money to A for legend miner.  This low value is due to the 65k gas invested in the turret buff (16xT9) Immediately turret buff after.
}

Current Goals: About 3 auto mine 5s should be placed in total.  Since a perfect miner is a while away, both players should concentrate on sending minerals to each other at the proper time to get auto mine 5s down.  8k minerals is the magic number to send on if both players have the same mineral income and mineral value.

Legend -> Perfect Miners:
{
A and B: Trade approximately 8k minerals at a time for alternating auto mine 5s.  Once all 10 have been built, begin on auto mine 6s.
(check numbers)
A: At ~375k gas, salvage Turret 10s and send ~450k gas to B for a perfect miner.  Rebuild turrets.

B: At ~450k gas, be prepared to receive gas and to build a perfect miner.  Build an auto mine 6 as soon as possible.
}
Estimated IGT: 21:12.

Important Note: From here out, it will come down to sending and spending as much money when possible to complete the goals that the section entails.  Taking the direct instructions as exact truth is difficult at best.  Good luck, this part is hard to execute, especially when under fire from a competitive zealot.

Current Goals: Currently, B has a perfect miner and is starting to build auto mine 6s.  As before, each player should alternate building auto 6s until both have 5.  A should be working towards a perfect miner.

{
A: Wall and turret check.  Be prepared to receive minerals for auto mine 6s.  This will occur when you only have ~11k minerals.  If the zealot is not a threat, cloak buff can be applied for both players after perfect miners are built.

B: Build first auto mine 6 (Micro-Optimization: Have A send all minerals for slightly faster time).  Send minerals to A at ~55k.  At ~500k gas, send to A for a perfect miner.
}
Estimated IGT: 24:45.

Current Goals: This is the "fastest" part of the build where both players will be exchanging both minerals and gas very frequently.  Practice is required to optimize these timings.  Each player should work towards 14 (not 15) perfect miners.  An auto mine 8 should also be put down in this time.

More perfects -> Automine 8s
{
A and B: Continue to swap gas and minerals for auto mine 6s and perfect miners.

A: Wall and Turret check.  At ~400k mins and 5 auto mine 6s, send minerals to B.  At ~3m gas, send gas to B.

B: At ~600k mins and 5 auto mine 6s, build an auto mine 8.  At ~7m gas, prepare to build a ludicrous miner.

A and B: When applicable, swap minerals for auto mine 8s.
}

Estimated IGT: 27:30 on first Auto 8.

Current Goals: When both players have 14 perfect miners, gas should be saved for a ludicrous miner for each player.  Swap off building 8s, a ludi, then groups of ~2m gas to help get 5 perfect miners at a time for each player.

Ludicrous Miner -> Maxing out
{
A and B:  Construct 2 additional collection depots each.  Continue switching minerals until each player has 4 auto mine 8s.  Salvage any lesser mines (Auto 4-5) as necessary.

A: Send ~1m or 2m gas at a time to B (total ~5m) to B for a Repository and 5 perfect miners.

B: As possible, build a Repository and 5 perfect miners.  Once the 5th one is queued, send gas back 1m or 2m at a time to A for the same process.

A and B: Continue sending gas until both players are maxed.
}

Estimated IGT: 35:00

Current Goals: You've done it - there should be 30 miners for each player, 8 auto mine 8s, and a final turret down in just a minute or two.  If stalkers are needed, drop extra auto mine 8s and turret buff for extra gas income.

Maxed -> End of game

{
A: At ~8.5m +- 1m minerals, send minerals to B for a Really Nasty Final Turret.

B: At ~10m minerals, build an Ancient Library/Forge and prepare for final turret at the front of the base.
}

Estimated IGT: 36:15

Use normal final turret strats (disable auto repair, 2+ final walls).

From here, estimate the strength of the zealot.  If he is weak, consider a probeopolis (Lurk City), otherwise stay in base and spam mercenaries and more final turrets.  Once two final turrets are created at a base, the zealot cannot win (~41:00) unless the probes misplay.  If minerals are not used in any other way, a final turret will be available every 3.5 to 4 minutes.  If a probeopolis is able to be built, use 4-6 final walls, 1 final turret each and a zealot detector each to wall off sections of the map.  One player should build ~5 more auto mines to help get enough gas for stalkers as well as feeding the rest of the lobby.

Note that a probe spirit breaks all of the timings but the numbers remain approximately the same with A sending fewer minerals, however timings become insane.  Final turret time is cut to ~35:15 and with more probe spirits, cut to <34 minutes.  A map guardian stalling a zealot while gen 6 pooling this build is nigh unstoppable.  Communication is key to improving timing (the best game we've ever had was when we were in the same room and could communicate perfectly).

Congrats, you've now won the game!  Post replays/videos, look for optimizations, and practice to get better times.  Knowing how to adapt is useful to make sure you don't feed, since you will be basing for most of the game.

You can train and pool, but this is difficult yet incredibly powerful.  I'm not going to make a guide for it, but it combines advanced train dodging tactics with communication pooling to recover from bad situations where feed outpaced the build even with no zealot pressure.  Good zealots will pressure you to screw with timings and feed off of others.  To play against this, you'll want to devote all the money to turrets while the zealot is there, then salvage to get an auto mine, then immediately replace turrets as money comes in.  Anything deviating from the norm requires good practice and communication.

Bonus section: Quickly calculating resource send values
This is my specialty since I calculate and call out every salvage and resource value Gunny and I send to each other that we don't have memorized.  Sending the correct amount of money minimizes down time of turret buffs as well as chat messages, which can get annoying if spammed.

Ask for a mineral/gas count.  In this example case, Gunny and I will be going for a Legendary miner (specifically, player A's legend around 16:30).  Suppose I have 80k gas and Gunny has 100k, and we both have T9 tanks.  At what value should I see to call for a salvage to perfectly hit 300k gas needed?

The first step is knowing what the combined wealth of both players is.  In this case, it's 180k gas.  Tanks are worth 4096 gas each (to tell on the fly, mouse over the turret upgrade cost - it doubles the entire worth of the turret in gas.  A thor upgrade costs 4096, so that's how much tanks are worth (about).  Alternatively, do the math (~2^(turret level+3))).  These tanks make a total of 65k gas in wealth, and salvage takes 5 seconds to occur.  This means that in the time it takes from calling a salvage to building a miner should be the turret wealth + income over 5 seconds.

So, I know after those 5 seconds pass, we gain about 25k gas.  This can be calculated or just experimented with.  So, when I call for a salvage, we should do it when we have 210k total wealth.  This makes it so after 5 seconds, we get a total of 90k gas and have exactly 300k to build the miner with.

This means that in an even bank scenario, each player should have about 105k gas.  This number is good to know for each miner/auto mine that needs building.  Since gunny has 20k more than me in gas, he'll need to be 10k over the "even bank" amount, and I'll need to be 10k under.  So, I should call for a salvage at 95k gas (about 3 seconds from the instant you would think about this).

This skill is obviously not required, but it keeps the build running smoothly even when under pressure or on odd timings.  I use this exact method for all of the timings Gunny and I have with a little help from experience.