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Here are my strategies for Terran. Anyway, if there are any questions, comments or errors please e-mail me. |
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Terrans It's not really recommended that Terrans rush with Marines. Against Zerg, hordes of Zerglings can overwhelm Marines at close range, while Zealots can of course, tear through infantry with ease if the infantry force doesn't have a large advantage in numbers. Marines fare much better in Bunkers, so playing a defensive style at the outset would probably be the wisest course of action. Advanced players might shun this advice and try using the Marine Rush strategy but that entails risks which new to intermediate players may not be inclined to take. Offensive Bunkering There are a couple exceptions besides the Marine rush. If the other player is a somewhat slow builder and within close proximity, it may be possible to get your first two or three Marines to his town to kill worker units. Once that happens, constantly streaming in troops will probably wear down and defeat your crippled opponent. Another possibility to consider is building Bunkers/Barracks right outside your opponent's base and staging attacks from there. It is somewhat risky, but if you use 2-3 SCVs to build several Bunkers simultaneously (and later use them to repair the Bunkers as they come under attack), it can work against unwary opponents. Of course, such a tactic would work best against a player who is not rushing himself. Early recon of your opponent's structures can help you determine what strategy he/she is using. The important thing to remember is to not become lax in the event that you do get some "offensive" Bunkers established. You've just put the other player under siege, so naturally, he's going to try to make air units and/or transports to strike directly at your undefended town. Don't get lulled into complacency! Another tactic your enemy might try is making long range units like Tanks or Reavers to break the siege. Using a ComSat sweep to check the enemy town can alert you to what your enemy is trying, so you can plan a pre-emptive strike. Be sure to take the opportunity to make an expansion towns while your opponent is pinned down. Building your town The most conservative early game strategy would be to build up your town defensively and prepare for a rush, which is to be expected of Zerg and Protoss players. Don't build your town haphazardly. Use Supply Depots and your Barrack(s) as walls to seal off a whole side of your town. You'll definitely want to build two Bunkers at the outset. Be sure the Bunkers fulfill the following criteria, listed in order of importance: 1. At least one is within firing range of your harvesting line 2. Both are within firing range of each other 3. At least one is protecting your Barrack(s) 4. Bunkers have one side or more sides flush against others building, to prevent large numbers of enemies from surrounding it. 5. Bunkers are protecting as many Supply Depots as possible. Of course, it will be quite difficult, depending on how the map is laid out, to fulfill each of the five suggestions. Sometimes you may not even want to fulfill criteria 1, if there is a natural chokepoint to your base. You'll want to seal off that chokepoint with your Barracks, Supply Depot and Bunkers in the hopes that you can prevent your opponent from coming near your workers in the first place. The art of building a good town comes with practice. The main thing is that your Bunkers need to protect your SCVs and be within firing range of one another. When the attack comes, pull off 2 or 3 SCVs from the mineral line and repair the Bunkers as they're being attacked. This will prolong the life of your Bunkers and frustrate the enemy. They may try to attack the SCVs that are repairing, so have those SCVs run off and draw the enemy troops off your Bunkers. If any of your SCVs happen to be outside the firing range of your Bunkers, have them come closer in for protection during the duration of the attack. A conservative build order 1. 4 SCVs, first 3 on minerals 2. Use the fourth to make a Barracks 3. Another SCV 4. When that SCV pops out, make a Supply Depot 5. Another SCV, put it on minerals 6. The two building SCVs should finish around the same time. Immediately start on a Marine and another SCV. Have one of your building SCVs move to minerals and the other make a Bunker. 7. Keep alternating SCV, Marine until your meter reads "14/18," or "15/18" then make another Supply Depot. Have your first 2 Marines go scouting around for the enemy base. From here on your choices will vary depending on what your scout Marines see at the enemy base. If your opponent is making less defenses and concentrating on developing technology (Mutalisk rush, etc.), then making a second Barracks and going for a quick strike of Marines may be wise. If you see that your opponent is building for a rush, go ahead and make another Bunker or two and fill them with Marines and hunker down for the rush. You might make a second Bunker, although going for a Refinery and a Factory instead is also a viable plan. Mid Game Depending on the quantity of resources you have at your start base, you should start expanding by the mid-game stage. Thus, send out an SCV or two (with escort) and start another base. In an island game, Terrans have a huge advantage because they can simply build a second command center and fly it to another island base very early, while the other races must get their transports working first. Similarly, Terrans have the unique ability to quickly expand on top of a plateau that has no ramps without first getting transports. If there are heavily traveled avenues to and from the enemy bases, you might choose to line those walkways with Spider Mines. They may not kill the more advanced players but at the very least, it should slow down their progress as they get detector units to deal with the threat. That extra time it buys you could come in handy if you're still getting Siege mode. Ideally, you should have two Factories fortified with Machine Shop, and two Barracks to pump out infantry and vehicles. Some players prefer to have up to three or four Factories and fewer Barracks. Other times it may be wiser to use more Barracks and fewer factories. It all depends on the situation, and your recon should point you to the proper course of action (i.e. lots of Mutalisks means more Marines, less Goliaths; lots of Scouts means more Goliaths/Wraiths, less Marines, etc.) Use your infantry and Goliaths as anti-air support for your Siege Tanks in attacks on the enemy. Research the StimPak upgrade so you have the option of making your infantry shoot faster in tight situations. With your Siege Tanks acting as artillery behind your forces, enemy bases should fall quickly if you protect the tanks properly. If this is not enough to bring down your enemies perhaps an air force is needed, so it's time to make a Starport. Build the Control Tower add-on to the Starport quickly so you can research Wraith cloaking. Next, start building Wraiths to send against enemy air units, or use them simply to spot ahead of Siege Tanks for long-range cannon shots. Take full advantage of Wraith cloaking. Perhaps a better use for the Starport than Wraiths is to make lots of Dropships. Use the Dropships to place units in vulnerable areas of the enemy base, like ledges above the workers, or simply in the back door. Two Dropships full of infantry and another full of Tanks can be extremely effective if placed in the right spots. Dropship harassment carries with it a huge psychological advantage as well. A successful attack will probably deter most enemies from launching an immediate counter attack, so go ahead and expand after a good strike taking the usual precautions of setting up a few Bunkers, Missile Towers, Tanks, etc. Also, you should have built an Academy by now so Firebats can escort tanks and the Command Center can accommodate ComSat stations. ComSat stations are useful for reconnaissance and spotting cloaked units in battle. If the opponent has lots of air units, be sure to have an Engineering Bay so that you can construct Missile Towers. Your ComSats should be used for detecting cloaked units in an emergency and also to check for possible expansions. LATE GAME Concentrate on getting special-abilities support units out. Build a Science Facility and research the ability to make Science Vessels at the Starport. These Science Vessels serve as the only mobile Terran detector, so be careful with them. Against Protoss, you should research EMP to bring down shields and mana points. Similarly, use Irradiate against Zerg hordes or Terran troop masses. Keep in mind that EMP will bring mana points to zero so it's not completely useless against Zerg or enemy Terran. In fact, EMP will make visible any group of cloaked Wraiths because it drains their mana to zero. Making lots of Science Vessels with Irradiate and the mana upgrade is extremely effective against Zerg opponents who must rely on masses of Hydras, Mutas, and or Guardians. Just be sure to keep them safe and periodically perform repairs on these delicate units. Use Wraiths to scout and perform quick hits on stray Overlords, Science Vessels, Queens, or Templars (if you're daring). Building a Covert Ops add-on to the Science Facility will gain you the ability to make Ghosts at the Barracks. Research all the Ghost upgrades (except Lockdown if all opponents are Zerg). Lots of Carriers can be a problem for Terrans, whose Wraiths don't pack as much anti-air punch as some of the other races' units. Goliaths can have a hard time against Carriers as well. To counter this, use the Ghosts' Lockdown to freeze these Carriers. It works well against Terran Siege Tanks that are in Siege mode also. Of course, the Covert Ops allows for the building of a Nuclear Silo on to your Command Center. Do this and have your Ghosts target a crew of enemy workers. The nuke will instantly halt your opponent's production. The mere presence of Ghosts can be intimidating to your opponent, who must then respect your ability to nuke any weak spots, or lockdown vehicles. The question arises as to whether or not Battlecruisers are worth building. They are when used in combination with other forces. Their Yamato Cannon can be devastating against larger enemy units. Their high damage rate make them formidable even against Scouts and Scourges. One laser shot from a Battlecruiser will vaporize a Scourge. If you have the resources to spare, by all means, build a fleet of these ships. If you can get a huge fleet of them, they're extremely effective against Zerg opponents, who don't possess units that have good anti air punch. Scourges can be decimated by a large enough fleet of Cruisers. Pretty much the only defense Zerg have on BCs is Dark Swarm and Hydralisks. Against Terrans or Protoss, it's a different story. BCs can still be very effective, but Ghosts or Arbiters can freeze them, giving Goliaths or Scouts the time to rip them up. Keep those Dropships coming in the late game. Include a few Ghosts or Science Vessels in the mix. You can even use the Science Vessels to Defensive Matrix your Dropships for safer landings. Have your Ghosts lockdown any vehicles that approach the landing zone. |