EPTDidn't play much today, but I had a clear focus in what I wanted to do. I've played around with early bio builds in all three matches, and while they can work, the theme I'm finding is that it is weak vs. good players, or at least someone who doesn't just up and die to three reapers. I'm going to ignore TvT for the moment because that matchup is totally different from TvP/TvZ.
TvP, I've done super fast early timing attacks, a bio push, a mech/bio push, fast air, tank pushes, hell even a fast thor. Everything I've done that was meant as a one base style play almost always fails vs. a good protoss. Terran, as I see it, just can not keep toe to toe trying to be aggressive in the early/mid-game without a very good econ. Two gas is barely enough to support the bare minimum for a decently effective mid-game push. Unit composition varies, but the big issue lays in the need for ravens and ghosts, they are one of the more valuable components in TvP, and each cost 200gas (more including raven upgrades). You can get away with less ravens, but you will need a handful of ghosts to properly emp the protoss in battles, while having enough to push forward and not get crushed by them quickly reinforcing their army.
So what I've been working on now, is different timings on a FE build. Utilizing bunkers and Planetary Fortress seems to be the key. Bunkers are really nice now, despite them being able to die fast, you can spend the money on them and not worry too much, because salvage will give you 100% of their cost.
I do think that this will open up a lot more potential for terran in the mid-game. They can be strong early, but zerg and protoss have far more potential in rushes early game than terran because of production differences. Reactors are nice, but it isn't anywhere close to 50% increase like chronoboost, or warp gates, or the inject larva of zerg. The fastest builds you can do early game as terran will always be either defended by the protoss/zerg, or stopped completely and you'll lose shortly there after. Of course it's effective vs. lesser skilled players, but if that is all we base our builds after than we're going to be stuck in the same pit forever.
My biggest gripe with fast expanding is the passive feeling it gives off, because it's meant for a stronger mid to late game army, you won't be as aggressive early/transitioning into mid game. Now comes in the mobility of terran harass. Hellions are fast, reapers are fast, and medivacs, for a dropship, are fast. I have yet to fully utilize the potential of terran harass when doing a fast expansion, but I can see how effective it might be.
I hope more people pick up terran and try to think outside the box with their builds. One base play is viable, but compared to protoss and zerg it is much harder to do, and most of the time will result in a loss vs. good players. In that same train of thought, a passive macro approach will lose you the game, as zerg/protoss can produce much more quickly. The solution, from what I can see and tested, is early macro builds that revolve around mid game pushes where you delay the enemy with multiple harass (and good unit composition)
Of course it's still way too early in the beta, but i think there are a few racial trends being seen between the matchups, and most of the time people are bringing up protoss/zerg being stronger than terran. I don't think that's true, just to win will take more out of the box thinking.
It's 5am so I'm mostly rambling, but any terrans in the beta, i encourage you to fully explore early expanding in tvp/tvz.
