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Hey there! After a few years of mostly lurking the forums, I've come to the conclusion that I am in desperate need of the teamliquid strategy rescue squad. So if someone would be so kind to watch the replay I've submitted below and help me out here, it would be very much appreciated!
Let me explain my problem to you. I'm a random player (no, that's not the problem you are here to solve  ). For several reasons I've decided to stick with random and try to find a few play-styles in all matchups that I feel comfortable with. Terran is my weakest race by far. This mostly comes down to the problem of the siege tank. Tanks does not suit me at all. They are boring to watch and they represent everything I despise in sc2! (ok, maybe not that extreme... but you get the picture, I just don't like tanks very much).
Anyways... I've tried a lot of different styles since I started with sc2 in the beta, and I think I've come up with something that works decently at the level I want to play. Please take not of the fact that I do not aim to become a progamer or anything, I do not need strategies that are the most efficient in every scenario, I'm just looking for a strategy that I enjoy playing which could sometimes work vs a decent player. The strategy I am currently exploring is mostly based around marines and marine drops, but for late game I also incorporate a lot of ravens! (now there's a unit I can respect ^^)
I know I will probably be faced with a lot of skeptics right there, but I actually have had a lot of success with the raven in late game TvsZ and the seeker missile will work even better against mutas in the upcoming patch.
Ok, so what I want from You, o exalted strategy ciceron, is to help me analyze this particular strategy that I am exploring in the replay below. What obvious mistakes can you distinguish and what would you recommend I should practice and refine a bit more judging from the replay? Can you determine any defining moments that cost me the game? What do you think of the timings and the tech switches? Can you see any way I can make this strategy work better vs a good zerg?
Please help a random in need. The continued survival of my terran armies rests in your capable hands tl.net!
And remember the mantra: NO TANKS ALLOWED! 
Replay:
http://replayfu.com/r/sXgd4r
TL;DR
Any advice on the replay I submitted above?
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OK you are probably better than me but I main Terran and watch a lot of games so here's some advice on your replay first:
Reapers are not that good against Zerg, and your opponent was very prepared. If you want to harass try GSL-style reactor Hellion builds. Also, 2 techlab rax expand or whatever you did is unorthodox to say the least. Get Combat Shields before you get Stim unless you are doing a stim timing attack with Marauders. Make your natural an Orbital Command, you will be rallying there anyway so it won't be lacking defense. Marine only is a bad, bad idea, get Marauders in the mix and more Medivacs and Ghosts even vs Infestors, and making Banshees earlier (ie actually using your Starports) would have been helped. I noticed you added all Reactors even after your Marine carpet drop got obliterated by Roaches. Having a style is good, but even MarineKing made other units once in a while. Also try dropping multiple places at once for more damage. Just shift queue them up. 2 8 Marine drops are more powerful than 1 16 Marine drop.
Mass marines are damn powerful, but without enough support they cannot take on that Roach Infestor composition (and God help you if he made Banelings), that is why a typical mix is Tank Marine. But given you dislike Tank play, I'd suggest you use this: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=231925
Hellion Thor is a very potent composition, add Marauders if you see Roaches (and also useful against late game Ultras, two of the things this build is actually weak against).
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Can you just type out your strategy, can't watch replays atm.
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I play TvZ mostly tank-less.
I open gas first, fast factory. research blue flame and keep building hellions and marines. add a starport. you start out with 4 hellions, 8 marines and a drop ship. With this force you try to harass his main, while you expand. Most zergs will have spines at their natural, so just drop your crew into his main and see what damage you can do.
If you can snipe their queens you can follow up with banshees. Your next step depends largely on their reaction. If he defends with roaches you follow up with marauder/thor/hellion. If he tries to defend with lings only you follow up with marines/thor/hellion.
This isnt really detailed, but you should get the idea. It works at my low level and isn't as all-in as the 1base marine, thor, banshee build I used to do.
The main problem you can run into when playing tankless is roaches/banelings. Basically you need good micro and marauders to play against that without tanks.
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Don't have any replays atm because i'm at work, but i sometimes play TvZ with pure marines, opening 2rax bunker pressure into expand into as many rax as it takes to keep my money low (5 or 6 for each mining base you have). Add 2 fast engineering bays for quick 3/3 and then do constant pressure with small marine groups in multiple locations.
Usually my multitasking is stronger than my opponents, so i end up with lots of small battles going in my favour. Marines are highly efficient in small numbers (~10-15) if you manage your splits well.
Against infestors you HAVE to pre-split before engaging or, when you are in a defensive position (i.e. when containing him, never stay in your base), place marines in clusters of 4-5 marines and set them to hold position, so suprise-banelings or infestors when you are looking away building your 5th base won't do much damage.
Also:
- Marines destroy roaches if the marines are ahead in upgrades. If you are not, just add tech-labs to your 10+ rax and produce lots of marauders.
- Mutalisks become totally useless as upgrades marines are far too cost effective against mutalisks
- Banelings NEED to land big hits to become cost efficient, if they hit only 2-3 marines, they become a liability, so as long as you split well and don't get caught off-guard, they hurt him more than they hurt you
- The more bases he takes, the better for you because that are just more bases he has to defend simultaneously. You can just say "ok, you 10 attack his fourth, you 15 attack his third, the rest go kill his natural" while he has to split his army on the fly or place spinecrawlers everywhere (in which case you win, too). Just don't let his bases STAY up and mining for too long.
- Medivacs are overrated if you can replace marines instantly. They just slow you down and delay your upgrades. You can get some in the late game for drops, but other than that, marines work well.
- Expand fast and use lots of orbital commands for mules. More mules = more minerals = more rax = more marines. Planetary fortresses shouldn't be neccessary and only delay your 3/3, there should never be a time for him to move out and kill your bases anyways.
This strategy gets the Zerg raging but is a lot of fun to play, eventhough it requires very good micro and decision making. You need to have a perfect sense for where he is weakest, how many units you need to take out a base and which bases you can attack simultaneously.
I almost always win with this strategy while i lose every time i try to play normally. As soon as i build tanks or thors, i lose.
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Thanks for the input guys!
I guess I could do with another tech lab or two for my follow-up barracks after expanding. I'll try to incorporate a few marauders into my play. About the hellion thor strats, I've tried that a lot before and I know it can be a good alternative to tanks, but I'm going to stick with this particular style for a while longer.
Btw, any advice on raven usage? I'm still experimenting a lot with those. I've actually had more success with pure raven than I've had with raven/banshee combo.
@EtherealDeath
Sure. The build order mostly revolves around early expos with PF to medivac harass into late game raven marine (and perhaps some marauders).
It looks something like this:
rax
refinery
oc
marine
techlab
refinery
rax
cc
2techlab
oc
cc
fac
stim
marine shields
2 engineering bays
reactor on fac (for the starport)
starport
PF @ natural (keeping 2 oc in main for a while)
5rax + addons
then more expands while being aggressive (drops and small pushes with 10-20 marines) and then finally 4 extra starports for raven production when the gas income starts getting high
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If you can split marines well, you should be fine doing marine marauder.
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On September 19 2011 22:48 mizU wrote:
If you can split marines well, you should be fine doing marine marauder.
Until he gets infestors. Lol
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On September 20 2011 01:10 Havefa1th wrote:Show nested quote +On September 19 2011 22:48 mizU wrote:
If you can split marines well, you should be fine doing marine marauder. Until he gets infestors. Lol
Only true if you don't split up your army.
It's a well kept secret that i will now release here:
+ Show Spoiler +You can split armies up before an engagement, evading fungal before it is cast.
Also: Ghosts. You have the rax with potential for techlabs.
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EPT
