The term "Lobster" is very well fitting 4 this game because the RL-Lobsters and the 0k-Lobsters share so many aspects.
Basics:
Usually in smaller games the onlyst tactic is to spam units and try to supress ur opponent as early as possible the map is to big 4 static defences, units can walk and cover wider areas. Also Static stuff cant retreat (if more than half is dead, rest will follow and enemy gets 100% of the reclaim) This results in if you play defensive, you have less mexes, less metal and its only a matter of time till you lose. If you decide to struggle, once you lose a flank (and have no units to retake it from the weakened enemy cuz u spent all ur metal on statics which cant move) your enemy reclaims it and uses the 40% of the metal which u spent on statics to either bulid a overwhelming army or bulids something of the category "Big Bad Gun".
Another thing is you cant defend against all with similar metal investment than the attacker, one of the core of this game is some kinda of Rock-Paper-Sicors principle.
-> Defensive play and casual Zero-K isnt combineable with each other, if youre against capable opponents.
The Nature Lobster:
Hard shell which protects him from basic predators but useless against the big Predators.
Has claws which really hurt once they get the chance to do so.
Isnt the most agile creature in the water and cant swimm up which makes looking 4 food a bit more difficult.
The 0k Lobster:
Bulids Defence to protect himself from basic raids but useless against Big Bad Guns.
Bulids some strong weapon in the back which can really hurt the enemy team.
Isnt very agile on the map which makes looking 4 mexes difficult (early game).
Problem: Lobsters doesnt stand a chance vs a playstyle which reminds of Ants because they get supressed/raided before its done building (Nature and ingame Lobsters lose vs ants.) Lobster beeing mistaken for "Noob" - the loser is always the Noob and if youre still sticking to a playstyle which doesnt work in low pop games youre inexperienced (or very stubborn)
Getting cooked:
Once the enemy earns enough metal due to superior Map contol or by reclaiming sucessfull raids. He can just make an Army or build a Superweapon to "cook" the Lob.
About the Lobsterpot:
Once you increase the amout of players above a certain exent it suddenly becomes possible to cover the entire front with statics/defences which are often more (apm)+cost/hp+dpm+range effective than most units. That combined with a few unit building players can get a solid defence. - Resulting in a Stalemate until the claws of the first Lobster are ready to strike or a "Ant" manages to swarm a Lob (e. G. Factorys raided on a flank)
Its still possible to "Ant" the other team when everyone bulids units in these big team games BUT *see above*
that "BUT" paves the way 4 the Lobster Style to decide the big team games (Frustrating 4 the Ant players cuz they bulid so many units and in the end it only feeded metal to the enemy while the front moved.. not realy far... (The impact of the actual "Noobs" on these games is like playing roulete. "Noob" and "Lobster" isnt the same but its often mistaken to be.
The "Lobster" - Style shines brigter the more players there are. As of the "Ant" - Style its the opposite. This resultet in the Big Team Games beeing called the Lobsterpot (Pot full of Lobs).
