Still sitting at Bronze rank 1, trying to break through. But it's matches like this that are going to keep me stuck.
Several key issues pop up in this TvT. I tried augmenting my build to counter a semi-early marine push, going rax, factory, factory instead of my usual 3 rax, factory. That way I'd have the tanks to annihilate his marines. Turns out two factories that early just aren't sustainable. One would have been fine. Then, later in the game, I don't have <em>enough</em> factories, after realizing that (I think) I need to go somewhat thor-heavy to counter his tanks/marauders/banshees. Unfortunately, I build no more factories and only make more barracks. Wha???
Also, I noticed while watching this commentary before posting it here that I would have benefited from banshees at several points in the game, particularly when his army consisted mostly of marauders and tanks. I don't know why this never occurred to me. Of course, you gotta be careful when you do that because Terran can so easily transition into marines.
I wondered the whole match how the other guy seemed to have so much more gas than I did. Then I watched the replay and noticed that I built 45,000 ravens, which will tend to drain your gas. On top of that, I do a horrible job of protecting them. I think that and the too few factories were the things that brought me down here.
Check out the replay with commentary (in two parts):
Lessons learned:
1. Two factories are not sustainable in early game.
2. After taking expansions, it’s important to build more production facilities — particularly factories if you’re Terran and going tank- or thor-heavy. It’s probably a good idea to come up with a benchmark number of factories to have per base.
3. Don’t hotkey ravens with your main army. They’re just going to get annihilated.
4. Keep an eye on gas-heavy unit production. I realized I wanted some ravens, so I would frequently just hit my starport hotkey and press R twice (once for each starport). Without realizing it, I had created an entire air force of ravens, thus depriving me of gas needed for other units like thors.
5. Don’t walk blindly up to the opponent’s base, especially if that opponent is Terran. I lost a lot of early marines that way.
I think your guidelines at the end of your post are sound. I havent watch your video but I can tell you from 2 base you can support like 3 barracks 1 facto pumping tanks and a reactor starport in tvt. After you take your 3rd you should add a factory and starport or more barracks. Dont forget upgrading, you can start them after your 2nd is saturated properly and you're about to take your 3rd. thats the way I am playing tvt at the moment and its goin great. Most important of all is have fun learning. I think your approach to all this is very good. Keep up the good work
Oh yeah if you see he doesnt have any vikings a tech switch to banshees is very good.
If you improve your mirror matchups (like TvT) specifically, you'll notice your overall skill jump faster than if you just play all 3 or focus on a different matchup. This is because you and your opponent share the same strengths and weaknesses, and almost always the player with the better understanding of the game wins.
This is true even in PvP (where the understanding is primarily limited to how a 4-gate works). In my opinion, improving your mirror matchup requires you to improve your basics, because your opponent will be doing the same or very similar things to you just by nature of race. Even with different builds, mirror matchups rely on fundamentals more than others because there are fewer timing windows, fewer ways to counter units, and fewer ways to exploit race vs race specific advantages.
For example, in a purely tank+marine fight in TvT, the winner will always be the one with a combination of more/better upgraded units or better control. Both suggest a higher understanding of the game.
So yeah, as you analyzed yourself, you realized that you lost because of basic mistakes. Improve your basics and your fundamentals such as macro, multitasking, scouting, etc. and I'm sure your TvT will improve.
Look at Jinro, for example. His fundamentals, including his unit control and his "feel" for how Terran units operate has led his best matchup to be TvT.
On February 17 2011 02:56 b0oyah wrote: I think your guidelines at the end of your post are sound. I havent watch your video but I can tell you from 2 base you can support like 3 barracks 1 facto pumping tanks and a reactor starport in tvt. After you take your 3rd you should add a factory and starport or more barracks. Dont forget upgrading, you can start them after your 2nd is saturated properly and you're about to take your 3rd. thats the way I am playing tvt at the moment and its goin great. Most important of all is have fun learning. I think your approach to all this is very good. Keep up the good work
Oh yeah if you see he doesnt have any vikings a tech switch to banshees is very good.
Thanks booyah! I would have thought, though, that two bases could support more than that. Am I wrong?
On February 17 2011 03:58 wherebugsgo wrote: As a random player, I'll say this much:
If you improve your mirror matchups (like TvT) specifically, you'll notice your overall skill jump faster than if you just play all 3 or focus on a different matchup. This is because you and your opponent share the same strengths and weaknesses, and almost always the player with the better understanding of the game wins.
Wow, that's a really good point, and some of the best advice I've gotten so far, wherebugsgo. Thanks. I'll definitely need to keep that in mind.
I make two factories all the time. Just one of them needs a reactor instead of a tech lab. It's perfectly sustainable, and hellions are quite amazing vs marines.
On February 17 2011 08:27 shinosai wrote: I make two factories all the time. Just one of them needs a reactor instead of a tech lab. It's perfectly sustainable, and hellions are quite amazing vs marines.
Yeah, I do need to start making use of hellions more. I think my issue is that they're so micro intensive, and right now I want to get my macro down a little more solid.
EPT
