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New race, a new beginning 10-11-10

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shannn Netherlands2891 Posts November 10 2010 13:21 GMT #1 So in my last blog I told that I haven't really played starcraft much lately. Been watchhing OSL/PL more lately and GSL too ofcourse. Anyways I decided to practice Starcraft 2 again after 3 weeks or so. But it gets boring to play 1 race which in this case was Protoss. I'm not good with Protoss in my opinion (1700 Diamond 3 weeks ago inactive on it currently) so I decided to switch to a new race. I have always been Protoss (also in BW). Since I've seen so many Zerg players switching over from P and T I decided to switch to Terran. I do not know much about Terran playstyle at all. I only know like the general builds that people talk about like 1-1-1, 3rax, 1rax FE. Army composition is something I also don't quite know. So the only usefull thing so far which I have gotten from playing Protoss is my decent macro and good minimap awareness (usually react around 1 sec that appears on minimap). I was given a 2nd account by a friend which was originally bought by me as his bday gift but my friend doesn't like sc so he gave it to me to play on it to not waste the account. On to the stats of my 2nd account which is like 500 rated diamond. 10th November 2010. Statistics: 40 wins 36 losses - Zerg: 10w/6l (62.5%) - Protoss: 29w/11l(73%) - Terran: 1w/19l(5%) A clear indication that my Terran is not up to par against Diamond players yet (1200-1800 diamond opponents). So basically I've won 1 game as Terran out of the total 20 games against Diamond players. My MMR isn't low to be matched against platinum or below (yet) because I've been playing some protoss games in between to stay in Diamond so I won't get demoted. I will do this everytime to stick above 50% w/l ratio and when I see I'm facing platinum players or below. Now on to tell about my mechanics as a new Terran player. Terran Mechanics Build order: I am currently trying to learn the 1rax FE build. I like FE as Protoss so I decided to do the same with Terran thus I am learning the 1raxFE. When someone is doing some kind of 1base push I will delay my FE by adjusting my BO and afterwards continue with my original plan. Opinion: still needs improvement / need to get experience with this BO. Priority: Big Macro: In the replays I've been able to produce about 85% of the time out of my production buildings. Most of the times I'm not producing comes from being supply blocked which I don't quite get when to build depots and the 2nd reason is when I'm cutting workers to get some rax or some other tech building up. Opinion: Still needs a bit of improvement since I don't know when to transition to 3rd expo and how many rax I need to build each base I have like 3-4 gates on 1 mining base as Protoss. Priority: Big Supply: I don't quite get the numbers yet as to when I should build depots as Terran. Let's say I'm on 3 rax (2tech/1reactor) and 2 CC. I am currently making about every time I get 10 food near the max of what I currently at. I still get supply blocked from time to time as said in previous aspect. Opinion: Need big improvement Priority: Big Scouting: My scouting is somewhat decent. As Protoss it's usually the same so I generally am able to guess what my opponent is doing based on my scouting skills. I don't use scan often but I will use it only when my opponent is walled off. Opinion: Good but not pro level yet. Priority: Medium as I am playing a new race thus scouting might be different but the general builds should still be the same. Minimap awareness: Some Zerg have been doing some nydus play and I've been able to stop the nydus every time before it's finished. I usually react when it's around 25% of completion. Also I am able to react within a sec or so when some units are popping up on my minimap (when I have control of xel'naga tower). Opinion: Quite decent but need improvement as I don't see every unit that pops up especially when it pops up shortly Priority: low atm Army positioning: When I go MMM with tanks I am not able to spread my army Foxer style. It's very hard to do for me. So I am currently always losing when a Zerg has banelings. However I am able to position my army quite well vs Protoss as I know they are weak in the open and they need to position themselves against T in a small area with FF. So I usually fight in open areas vs Protoss with split groups in case of collossi and HT's and sentries with FF. Opinion: Bad as T so need big improvement Priority: medium because this isn't the highest priority on the list Timing: I am focussing much on macro and not paying much about harassment or timing atttacks when my opponent is weak. Too often will the opponent be harassing me or pushing me on the first battle in game. An explanation might be because I've been playing Protoss so much and I've always been on the defensive there focussing on macro while defending. Opinion: Very bad Priority: medium as this is not the important aspect at my level yet. Summary: As of yet I am still motivated but it is harder than I imagined to play on the level where I'm currently at as a Protoss. I don't mind losing a ton of games (lol 1-19 ) as you can see from the statistics as I don't rage much about losing but I watch my own play with much criticism. Well that was a long post and I hope you guys can post some input where I might forget things and where I also should focus on. Replays will be from today onwards as I have not saved any replays and I am currently at work so people can criticize my Terran play style.

mardi United States1164 Posts November 10 2010 14:26 GMT #2 best terran unit composition is + Show Spoiler + marines and marines no but really i think Terran's greatest weapon is their harassment. one dropship harass can give you complete map control as long as your dropship stays alive. even if it doesnt do that much damage, the threat of that dropship will make the opposing player play defensive. also if you do go MMM against zerg, 1 or 2 siege tanks with marauders in the front can neutralize banelings somewhat so you dont have to go super gosu foxer style marine spread. i think though eventually marine spread will be one of those regular things people will be doing a year from now.

tofucake Hyrule19208 Posts November 10 2010 14:32 GMT #3 Terran is trickier than people credit them for. Play is very harass based early on, and Terran is probably the weakest in the late late game. What I see a lot is using the 3rd scan to scout. Usually, making a Depot about 4 food before max will keep you in the clear, so long as you aren't going 3-2-1 or something. Also, you really shouldn't be cutting workers. Build orders aren't the best way to actually play, as Day9 often says. You should make a Barracks when you have 150 minerals and can still afford SCV production. If this happens at 13 instead of 12 food, then whatever. Also, 1 rax FE is map dependent. For instance, Xel'Naga Caverns and Delta Quadrant are bad maps for it, due to how open the natural is. That's why you usually see a 3 rax expand or 1-1-1 before CC on those maps (or even straight up 1-basing). As for fighting Zerg with MMM+Tank, don't worry about it. Foxer is a rare exception to to the Banelings > Marines rule. Don't worry about splitting and targetting Banelings. Just try to move your Marauders to the front and pull back with your Marines. Good luck on laddering.

shannn Netherlands2891 Posts November 10 2010 14:52 GMT #4 @mardi Yea that's why I plan on to learn the marine spread asap @tofucake Thanks for the input I guess that's why I'm also having a hard time Since as Protoss I'm very defensive which totally contradicts with what I should do according to you. Ok guess 3rax expand should be done on the open naturals like on Xel'Naga Caverns and 1rax FE with 1 entrance to the natural a la Shakuras Plateau I assume? I don't like 1basing I used to love it but I have found the way of the expansions

MisterD Germany1338 Posts November 10 2010 15:57 GMT #5 There is a nice trick for building supply depots: Dedicate one worker per base. Every worker builds a supply depot. As soon as a worker is done building a supply depot, tell him to build the next one. so, on one base: Take 1 scv. Build supply depots with that scv. All the time. When that guy is done with a depot, build the next one. Only stop if you are a) either maxed or b) just lost a big army. on two bases: Do the same with 2 scvs. This way, you'll never get supply blocked. Just don't send the scv guys back to minerals but have them build a new depot once their current depot is done. Obviously, don't do that by queuing up 4 depots per worker all the time, but by actually building a new one every time the idle worker button lights up because a depot has been completed.

HwangjaeTerran Finland5967 Posts November 10 2010 16:17 GMT #6 Terran is a great choice if you actually want to do stuff in game and not just sit and mass stuff. Helpful basics: vZ have tanks scattered around close enough to your marines so you can always retreat behind them when the zerg starts chasing your marines. It´s more important than knowing how to split your army like FoxeR & more importantly it´s just so much easier. vP when you see a lot of immortals, cut almost all marauder production for a while. Protoss army loses half of it´s value. Sneaking with a lone ghost and emping the protoss army will often buy you time when you feel your army is much weaker. Also, (15 cc)/1rax FE is viable most times against zerg with active scouting and adapting. Most zergs on our level start doing crazy shit after you FE, like stupid allins or trying to sneak super fast 3rds or stuff like that.

mizU United States12125 Posts November 10 2010 17:54 GMT #7 Didn't Day[9] quote someone saying if you want to win vs. Terran as Terran you have to build "mah-row-ders"?

Newbistic China2912 Posts November 10 2010 20:16 GMT #8 TvT is tricky as hell. I recommend at up to low diamond levels (where I am right now) opening with siege tanks then going mass MMM. Move your army a lot, expand a lot, and scout aggressively. If enemy is going mass tank, constantly scout to try to catch them unsieged and out of position with your MMM army. Split army into 2 hotkeys, one group large (main army) and one group smaller. Stim both, attack-move with hotkey 1 and charge in with hotkey 2 from another direction to snipe tanks. Vs Zerg: Tanks at low-diamond aren't necessary. If you see banelings, hotkey most of your marauders with a few medivacs to 1 and most of your marines with a few marauders and the rest of your medivacs to 2. Push out with your marauders at the front. Again, aggressive scouting is key. When your opponent moves in, stim and attack-move with hotkey 1 and micro hotkey 2 to the best of your ability. Another key is to move out often to keep pressure up. Even if you lose most of your army (or all of it) the important thing is to keep zerg's baneling count low. Eventually you'll hit the sweet barracks count to simply out-macro the zerg.

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