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Find the previous entries in this blog series here:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=156700
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=156805
So I've finally achieved the Solo Terran 25 achievement and unlocked my marauder portrait! (You'd think with how good marauders are, they'd be like the 1000 win portrait)
I have to say this section of my journey was much much much tougher than getting the first 10 wins. The good results that I had during the first 10 wins looks as if it were a slight fluke as I got slammed pretty hard in some of the games this time around. Let's take a look at my stats!
Current 1v1 Ladder Points: 1516 (-8)
Current 1v1 Bonus Pool: 0 (0)
Current 1v1 Standardized Points*: 561 (-53)
Record(Since switching to Terran): 22-25
*Points when bonus pool has been removed: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=156329
A lot of the success that I saw in my previous blog was due to the strength of Terran 1-basing play. I got a lot of my wins just by 3raxxing, getting banshees, or doing some other weird push whenever I felt like I had a decently sized army. Though the level of players I was playing (by rating) didn't actually change much, all of a sudden my 1-basing shenanigans stopped working so well. I got crushed by superior players who would expand and outproduce me so that when I pushed out, we would trade armies but I'd be sitting at a huge economic disadvantage.
I also lost to quite a few cheesy things just because I'm still not comfortable enough with Terran. As Zerg, I feel like I have a good idea of how I should react when I'm being cheesed, but as Terran I'm just completely lost. I would scout the cheese, be like HAH! FOUND YOU BITCH! And then I'd go... OMG WAIT WTF DO I DO? AHHHH and of course, I'd get absolutely stomped even though I would see it fairly early. Realizing that 1-base play was not going to get me anywhere, and that I was now probably comfortable enough to play more of a management style game, I decided to try some fast-ish expanding builds.
Of course as I started to play this way, I ran into a good number of players who would do some sort of 1-base push against me - and me being terrible, I would die instantly. I feel like I've had this series of experiences with Zerg and believe that all of this is a necessary experience for the growth of any player. At one point, I was even on a 10 loss losing streak, but I just grit my teeth and kept playing through it. I'm feeling much better about my game now than I did during my last blog post. I feel like the last few wins that I got for this achievement really were due to my growth as a player. Always a satisfying feeling.
Since I'm not familiar with any real timings, I'm usually forced into a pretty passive state when I decide to go for a quick expansion. This makes me bump against an end-game Protoss army a bit more than I'd like to. I always felt that collossus and templar were incredibly scary (having played Zerg all this time) but didn't think it'd be quite as bad as Terran. I have to say, the fear isn't QUITE as bad, but collossus and templar are still some of the scariest units in the game. I also didn't realize how good zealots with charge were. My mentality behind the matchup was basically built off of stereotypes, since I had no good understanding of Terran or Protoss. I figured I would just make tons of Marauders and win... then I ran into chargelots. Turns out this matchup isn't quite as simple as general forum knowledge would indicate.
Once again, I'd like to re-iterate my newfound respect for ling/baneling/muta armies. THAT'S A SCARY ARMY MY FRIEND! I've been trying more of a mech-based build in my last couple of games, and have found a lot more success with it. I don't think I'm good enough yet to be very effective against good Zergs with a bionic army. Also, infestors are annoying... but also laughable if I have tanks.
Replay pack of my journey to Solo Terran 25:
http://www.filefront.com/17344194/Experiment25.zip
TL;DR - Hit a massive losing streak, but learned a lot and feel like I've improved even within this short time span. Expect to be going higher now. Collossus and templar are OP. Infestors are annoying.
 
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Stop whining about the Collossus and Templar, please.
Otherwise good blog :D
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dunno why so many people are switching from zerg. Its stupid how many terrans there are because of how easy it is to make mauraders >.<
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keep playing and you will notice colossus are a pain in the ass but nothing compared to HT and VR ($"#$"#%"#$)
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So what do you think of Terran overall? Are they fun to play, what do you like about their flexibility, will it be easier to know what do against them when you switch back, etc.
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Go back to Zerg my brother. Enlist again in the ranks of the Queen of Blades. :3
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heheh. I'm zerg and staying zerg but playing protoss on europe ladder for fun, and 2 basing protoss just demolishes every race so far for me. it's weird. super fast +3 attack and blink stalkers probably are the reason. but i FE vs every race in every matchup (as P or Z) and pretty much end up on top with either race. though i'm much worse with protoss. race switching is funny, it makes you realize you are as good as the Protoss/terrans with their race that are giving you trouble. that is you, just starting the race are as good as the hard opponents you face. it's interesting.
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On October 03 2010 07:41 dcberkeley wrote:
So what do you think of Terran overall? Are they fun to play, what do you like about their flexibility, will it be easier to know what do against them when you switch back, etc.
It's hard to say right now. I really think Terran is a little more "solid". I have a lot of losses as Zerg where I'm walking an extremely fine line of having enough units to defend when trying to make drones. A lot of the times I'll be on the wrong side of tha tline...
I don't think I'm nearly good enough with Terran to take advantage of all of the options that the race has. I'm right now trying to get one or two solid builds down. After I get those pretty well, I'll start exploring into the options that Terran has.
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Terran tech is made to destroy zerg. Against other Terran opponents and even Protoss you're often better off going for the basic MMM bio-ball with some other kind of support.
Building a Terran mech army vs. Zerg is all about gas management. I know I need to cover both ground and air and have answers to common Zerg strategies like Ling/Muta and Baneling/Roach, all without busting my vespane pool. I usually want to take an early expansion, but as long as I'm sinking most of my economy into mech and because I have only a few bunkerable units, I usually don't focus much on base defense.
In this case a good offense is the best defense. Against expansions I often rely almost exclusively on Hellions to roast Zerglings, distract Roaches, and hit mineral lines in the early game, and since Hellions cost 0 gas I'm able to save everything for another tech. Then I try to scout my opponent's next move. Seige tanks own Hydras and Thors rape clustered Mutas. If I'm trying to make a strong push I'll pull a group of SCVs to autorepair any injured units.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ForceSC2strategy#p/a/u/0/BSaVtVb0EHE
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On October 04 2010 07:29 jrossmaniu wrote:Terran tech is made to destroy zerg. Against other Terran opponents and even Protoss you're often better off going for the basic MMM bio-ball with some other kind of support. Building a Terran mech army vs. Zerg is all about gas management. I know I need to cover both ground and air and have answers to common Zerg strategies like Ling/Muta and Baneling/Roach, all without busting my vespane pool. I usually want to take an early expansion, but as long as I'm sinking most of my economy into mech and because I have only a few bunkerable units, I usually don't focus much on base defense. In this case a good offense is the best defense. Against expansions I often rely almost exclusively on Hellions to roast Zerglings, distract Roaches, and hit mineral lines in the early game, and since Hellions cost 0 gas I'm able to save everything for another tech. Then I try to scout my opponent's next move. Seige tanks own Hydras and Thors rape clustered Mutas. If I'm trying to make a strong push I'll pull a group of SCVs to autorepair any injured units. http://www.youtube.com/user/ForceSC2strategy#p/a/u/0/BSaVtVb0EHE
I definitely feel that Terran mech play really does depend on how successful the hellion harrass is. The video you linked is pretty interesting - I do a similar build except I favor getting three factories before armory. I tend to get a few more hellions and a handful of tanks, but I'll have to try that thor push.
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EPT
