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I realize no one probably cares, but I felt like writing something anyways.
So, I finally switched to terran. Well, not so much a switch as a return. Back in the early beta I started playing terran, but around that time, siege tanks dominated everything, and I hated them, because I had next to no understanding of mechanics and positioning XD.
So I switched to protoss, had some fun, got to around 2400 diamond at my peak, but I started feeling too limited by their mechanics.
See, with protoss, its never a straight up fight. Theres rarely a time when a protoss army can win 1:1 with other races. Its always about the perfect forcefields, perfect storms, perfect positioning and blinks. It feels like protoss at the highest levels rely more on gimmicks than actual ability to stand on its own.
Also, mutalisks just make me angry.
So i decided to go back to terran. I'll be honest, When I was playing protoss, I always imagined terrans being mouth-breathing, slack-jawed morons that do nothing except sit there and mash the 'T' button as hard as they can. Needless to say, I was dead wrong.
What i've learned so far is that theres a massive difference between a 'good' terran and a 'high level' terran. There are so many nuances to the race that seem like a small thing from the outside but when you're in their shoes make the game a whole new headache.
The Difficulties of the Terran Race:
Macro
I'd always thought macro as terran would be easier, after all, you're just hotkeying buildings and spamming the A and D button in 90% of the games, right?
What I didnt expect was how hard it is to judge how many producing structures you can handle. As protoss, its all 1 dimensional. Off 1 base you can have 4 gates or 3 gates and 1 high tech structure, usually a robotics, and you can just multiply from there.
As terran, Since you have so many different options, so far its been completely up to guesstimation. I'm sure theres some sort of formula out there similar to the protoss, but for now I've contented with watching my minerals slowly crawl up to 5000 before I decide to start adding more.
IDLE SCV's!!!!
I don't know why. I never had this problem with protoss, But as terran I cannot seem to remember to rally my scvs back to minerals after building!
![[image loading]](http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/2158/screenshot2010112711373.jpg)
Actual screenshot from one of my games
I'll get the hang of it eventually, I just thought this was a curious thing thats really been getting me.
Harass
I never realised truly how important harassing is to terran. Drops are an art form in them selves, but damn, they are so satisfying. If you havent played terran you wouldnt understand the satisfaction a good drop brings. Dropping a few dropships full of marauders in to the back of his base while you distract him in the front. Destroying his templar archives, his twilight council, AND his cyber core, He's going to be stuck for the next 5-10 minutes. Dropping 4 blue flame helions into a fully saturated base and watching every drone drop in 1 blast. its awesome.
But its so easy to screw it up. Bad harass will cost you games. Not harassing enough will cost you games. As a protoss player this is completely new to me, as 99% of the time theres no way for a protoss to return the favor.
Siege Tanks
I mentioned earlier that siege tanks were what made me leave terran earlier, but now, they are easily my most favorite unit.
Its so fun to just watch wave after wave of zerg army come at you and instantly get blown up in their tracks. The positioning also is much harder than I ever could have imagined. Every time i Unsiege my tanks I feel like I'm going to get overrun. Its pretty intense.
BANELINGS
Wow. This is probably the bane of my existence of terran. I cannot figure out for the life of me what to do when a zerg player has enough banelings. I've tried foxer micro with my units, but at the end when 200/200 armys are clashing, its nearly impossible to micro in those situations.
I'll probably get it eventually, but these little balls of awesome seem like a wall of death when it gets to that point.
Storm
I know exactly how to counter it, but when storm is on the field you need to be completely on your game at all times. Missing a single EMP could mean half your army dead right there.
I'm trying to get the hang of Painuser's thor/banshee transition, but its going to take a while to get used to it.
Anyways, overall I'm happy with my new race. It seems like terran is so much more open than protoss. You can literally build practically any unit and be safe. Its also nice to be able to go 1-1 with other races and come out on top, without having to rely on cheesey gimmicks like forcefields.
Theres also so much more to do. As protoss you just kind of sit around for 20 minutes until you max out on 3 bases and run in with your ball of death. If a terran did this against a good player, He'd simply be overrun. Having to constantly keep up your harassment is a welcome mechanic that I'm going to have a lot of fun with.
It'll probably be a long time before I finally am at the level I was with my protoss play, but I look forward to the challenge. GLHF.
 
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gl ^^
I wouldn't call forcefields cheesy gimmicks, one of the most annoying parts about terran is theres basically nothing you can do when you get behind/get outmacroed. If you drop you will just get countered and die and if you attack you just get rolled.
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I want to have at least 8 tanks before I move out in TvZ.. yeah terran is pretty hard to use right now due to the amount of nerf that's been happening..
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Very interesting post with several aspects of both Protoss and Terran that I didn't know about, particularly the bit about production buildings as Terran. Maybe you'll humour a couple of uninformed questions from a Zerg who knows little about either.
As protoss you just kind of sit around for 20 minutes until you max out on 3 bases and run in with your ball of death
is how I'm used to thinking about Terran, especially when siege tanks are involved. Do you keep the bulk of your army in your base and just harass, or do you mean that Terran needs to be moving his whole army around the map constantly?
Why do you say protoss can't harass much? Prisms especially I would have thought would give Protoss a great opportunity to get units into the back of the opponent's base, and that's not even mentioning void rays. Was it just your style of Protoss that didn't use much harass or is that just how the matchup works?
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On November 28 2010 02:12 Pokebunny wrote:
gl ^^
I wouldn't call forcefields cheesy gimmicks, one of the most annoying parts about terran is theres basically nothing you can do when you get behind/get outmacroed. If you drop you will just get countered and die and if you attack you just get rolled.
I just really hate the whole forcefield mechanic. It seems like they have to make all of our units weaker (stalkers) to balance them. I don't like feeling that I can win, if I'm only fighting half of your army.
Forcefields definately have a high skill cap, I just feel like it relies too much on reaction time, something I'm shit at. I can't count how many times I've lost a game because I was looking at my 3rd to warp in units and 200 zerglings ran into my main.
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yeah i dont get why every1 says that zerg is the hardest race. I play zerg and its seems damn easy compared with terran. Its so easy to replace an army a misclick that loses one is almost no big deal
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is how I'm used to thinking about Terran, especially when siege tanks are involved. Do you keep the bulk of your army in your base and just harass, or do you mean that Terran needs to be moving his whole army around the map constantly?
Why do you say protoss can't harass much? Prisms especially I would have thought would give Protoss a great opportunity to get units into the back of the opponent's base, and that's not even mentioning void rays. Was it just your style of Protoss that didn't use much harass or is that just how the matchup works?
When I'm playing terran I like to keep my army moving. I'll drop in his main and then take out his 3rd and stim away, etc. It seems like my terran play is more about mind games with harass. When Im playing terran I like how siege tanks allow me to 'take control' of parts of the map.
Lets say the map is xelnaga caverns, I might drop in your main and then move up to take out your gold expansion, and make progress across the map like that.
As protoss, making your harass count is very hard. HTs are good for dropping, but they are very late. Zealots are also very good, but vs zerg they would usually have units there before you can make up for their cost. The other units protoss have really suck at dropping. Stalkers are just bad units overall, and why would you bother dropping sentries. I've also never been able to make an immortal or colossus drop cost effective either.
Also, warp prisms are virtually always a suicide mission. If you drop 4 zealots and then warp in 8 more, you need to make up 800 minerals worth of units to make that drop effective, because theres no way to get those 8 units back to you're base, as with terran you can do your damage, and pick up before you lose a single unit. Not to mention marauders and marines are so amazing at killing buildings.
Voidrays, like you mention, are also decent, but its hard to get the critical mass you need to make harassing cost effective. If you send just 2 voidrays out you need to atleast kill a hatchery and more to make up for the cost.
This diminishes when you have enough to kill buildings and run before you get counter attacked, but getting to that point without being overrun is very difficult.
Thats not even counting the dynamic that investing so heavily in stargate makes. Without some form of splash, you're just asking to get eaten by zerglings or hydraroach, which is much easier to transition into than it is for protoss to transition out of stargate.
I'm probably just raging right now, But thats pretty much how I feel about protoss right now.
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well hurr durr you were one of the protosses who always screamed that terran macro is easy as fuck while every terran and zerg just facepalmed xd
anyway welcome, terran is so much more worth it, trust me
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I'm not going to claim that terran is easy to play, since ease of play is irrelevant at high enough level... But the things that you state as making terran difficult to play comes entirely from your inexperience.
Rallying building workers back to mining can be absorbed in a day and requires no conscience effort or decision making. Terran production capacity isn't voodoo, you learn how much you can support by playing the race. The 3 gate + tech is so arbitrary and variable for protoss and you can't compare it. 3 gate void ray is different from 3 gate phoenix is different from 3 gate + anything else.
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I feel you, man. I played Zerg in the Beta, then switched to Protoss at release (after some waffling as Random for a while). Played Protoss for a good amount of time and recently switched to Terran (after hearing SlayerSBoxeR was playing SC2). I would laugh at my Terran friends when looking at MMM or Banshees and be like "How do you ever lose with this shit?"
Then I started to play better and better players and began to realize that Terran isn't as easy-mode as people think. You're absolutely right when you say that harassment is incredibly important. You can't really win without some form of successful harassment. Drops are gorgeous, but if you don't drop enough, you lose, and if you drop too much you can lose that way too.
I know people say Zerg requires more apm, or Protoss has a weak earlygame, but when I played Zerg and Protoss I never felt weak. I felt like I could cruise along into the lategame and just flat out win with macro.
As Terran, I feel like I have to be everywhere and doing everything at once. It's a blast, but it can be very frustrating lategame.
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On November 28 2010 02:46 Magdain wrote:
I'm not going to claim that terran is easy to play, since ease of play is irrelevant at high enough level... But the things that you state as making terran difficult to play comes entirely from your inexperience.
Rallying building workers back to mining can be absorbed in a day and requires no conscience effort or decision making. Terran production capacity isn't voodoo, you learn how much you can support by playing the race. The 3 gate + tech is so arbitrary and variable for protoss and you can't compare it. 3 gate void ray is different from 3 gate phoenix is different from 3 gate + anything else.
I completely agree with the first part, Like i said in the OP, I'll probably get the hang of it eventually.
On your second part however, i feel that terran just has so many more options than protoss, which means there are so many more compositions you can go for. As protoss you virtually go 3 gate + X or 4 gate for each active expansion. Its a set formula that isn't usually broken unless you're trying to play non-standard.
It just feels like terran macro is more based on intuition wheras protoss macro is extremely rigid.
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Yes good post, every person who said terran OP is a total dumbfuck. terran was never OP and are today underepowered esp late game.
vs banelings, forget about it. banelings are a sick overpowered unit. look @ the splash radius of the baneling, it can hit 10 marines clumped. they really need to nerf baneling damage radius.
But yeah good blog, terran requires alot of micro, stimming and what not and dropships and all sorts of different units to control, while the zerg is the true 1a race.
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On November 28 2010 02:49 w_Ender_w wrote:
I feel you, man. I played Zerg in the Beta, then switched to Protoss at release (after some waffling as Random for a while). Played Protoss for a good amount of time and recently switched to Terran (after hearing SlayerSBoxeR was playing SC2). I would laugh at my Terran friends when looking at MMM or Banshees and be like "How do you ever lose with this shit?"
Then I started to play better and better players and began to realize that Terran isn't as easy-mode as people think. You're absolutely right when you say that harassment is incredibly important. You can't really win without some form of successful harassment. Drops are gorgeous, but if you don't drop enough, you lose, and if you drop too much you can lose that way too.
I know people say Zerg requires more apm, or Protoss has a weak earlygame, but when I played Zerg and Protoss I never felt weak. I felt like I could cruise along into the lategame and just flat out win with macro.
As Terran, I feel like I have to be everywhere and doing everything at once. It's a blast, but it can be very frustrating lategame.
Exactly. I, as a 2400 terran player, feel that weakness as well. I have to constantly be doing damage or else I will just outright die to anything. That's why so many terrans are doing all-ins = we are good at it, and it's the only phase in the game where we have an advantage(a slight one that is)
I just feel so depressed about Terran nowadays, you have to play on top of everything to win in the mid game, protoss can just macro up and 1a with collossus. Every game I feel like I start at a disadvantage or that I need my opponent to make major mistakes for me to win.
There are some serious game design issues, Terran late game needs to get buffed or the other 2 races nerfed, and the early game of T could be nerfed as well. Mech just flat out sucks most of the time and so does bio, late game. Air is easily countered, and the only thing we have left is some bio/mech in every match up, which will lose to everything late game anyway.
Edit: I actually think banelings are fine. It creates a dynamic, much like the lurkers did in scbw. Please no nerf to banelings!
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People that whine mostly are just starting to play Starcraft when SC2 came out. People that played SC:BW will know that Terran is a race very hard to master, and Terran in SC2 will develop the way it has been in SC1. It will be the race that require the most APM to play with but way more versatile than Protoss or Zerg.
Only one problem with terran in SC2 is Terran in SC2 can allin way too easy compare to SC:BW. But balance changes will not address this problem. We need an expansion to sort this thing out. 2 years from now
I think in the end, as in SC:BW, Terran players will be the want that dominate the most, but it doesnt mean Protoss and Zerg dont stand a chance against Terran. Its just the way it is.
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noone is rallying back SCVs to minerals after building
everyone just shift queues the mining before the SCV starts building stuff
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Its also nice to be able to go 1-1 with other races and come out on top, without having to rely on cheesey gimmicks like forcefields.
Im starting to regret switching from random to protoss... 
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On November 28 2010 04:12 Inori wrote:Show nested quote +On November 28 2010 03:46 zergplayerr wrote:
Yes good post, every person who said terran OP is a total dumbfuck. terran was never OP and are today underepowered esp late game.
vs banelings, forget about it. banelings are a sick overpowered unit. look @ the splash radius of the baneling, it can hit 10 marines clumped. they really need to nerf baneling damage radius.
But yeah good blog, terran requires alot of micro, stimming and what not and dropships and all sorts of different units to control, while the zerg is the true 1a race. You do know you just called Tester, SangHo, InCa, Genius and a bunch more pro players total dumbfucks? You're obviously some korean GSL S class player, rite? Also, Tester switched to Terran vs SangHo in TSL and owned him hard. http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjIxNzU4Nzk2.htmlAs for OP, all difficulties are due to inexperince. Hf owning protoss in ladder!
You obviously missed the point. They said Terran all ins were imba.
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Just a tip, you need to work on scouting (judging from that pic)
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So far I'm having a lot of fun with terran in the early and late game. The thing i like about TvZ is that if you do it right, your unstoppable, but if you do it wrong you can lose very easily. Theres always something obvious I can pick out that leads to my loss, be it bad building positioning, misplaced siege tanks, baneling micro or playing too passively.
In TvP, as a protoss player I feel like It's a very familiar matchup to me, as I know all of the timings and exactly how the race works, what he's likely to go if i go for this, etc. I feel like late game its much harder for a terran to win than a protoss, but with some fancy dropship trickery and keeping the pressure up its very easy to stay in the game and win.
I won't comment on balance, I'm simply too inexperienced to even start to fathom how terran works at the highest levels.
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EPT
