I’d like to start this post simply by saying that I do not claim to know much about this topic, or even a sufficient amount to be making a post about it. That being said, I want to spark a discussion of sorts on this topic in order to learn and help others.
In my experience, transitioning into Ranged Liberators is a very difficult and complex feat, so I’ll try to break it up into the different matchups. Let’s start with TvT. What I have found is that a transition into RL (Ranged Liberators) is quite unnecessary, and frankly, detrimental to your chances in the game.
Moving onto TvP, RL are very helpful to anyone trying to win with bio past the 15 or so minute mark. This being said, adding them to your composition can be very difficult, and really is only easy if you’re incredibly far ahead. Before I go any further, the change to put Advanced Ballistics (the RL upgrade) on the fusion core is incredibly helpful. Through my however many games of TvP, I have found that the most efficient and effective way to transition is to do the following.
1 - Prioritize your bio over RL. While you will find more value with the RL, you need an army to hold you over until you get there as well as an army to be supported by the RL. In many cases, I find myself investing too much into RL and ending up getting rolled over by a simple a-move simply because my bio ball is too small. 2 - Once your economy is large enough to support the investment of RL and more starports, use the first few liberators to buy time. This is to say that you shouldn’t add them to your main army yet, and rather harass with them until you feel like you have a sufficient number to take a real fight. 3 - Lastly, once you have the numbers and upgrades to fight, you want to do two (main) things. The first is to continue liberator harassment. It takes minimal APM, and can catch your opponent way off guard especially if you have a frontal assault. Second, if you have a sustained push, you want to expand like a madman. At least at my level, players tend to put all heir focus into defending, and you can get 1-3 bases up with minimal investment.
All three of these point apply heavily to TvZ, however, I have found that counter-attacks are more commong with Zerg than with Protoss. That being said, point three-part two is a little harder to pull off.
That is what I have to say, I would love to have a discussion with other players and hopefully learn something. Feel free to correct me or provide more detail if need be.
