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A couple weeks ago I posted about being Terribronze and thoughts on ways to overcome this problem. There was some great advice in response and while I do look now to walk on warm sands, evidenced by my rising levels in League of Legends, I think it's important for me to have plans for each matchup. Not build orders, per se, but plans. I tuned in for all of Day[9]'s Terran Week, and while I don't think I can or would steal everything from there, the fundamentals of each matchup did get me thinking.
Overall
Instead of building 3 Barracks before my first expansion, I'm going to go for 2. A faster expansion will help ramp up my income and while it may delay my first poke up the ramp, it could build a better foundation for the mid & late game rather than leaving me feeling flummoxed if I run into fast tanks or massed stalkers/lings. The key will be to follow building the expansion CC with a Factory, Ebay and Starport. In every matchup instead of TvT I'll do that first poke after I have combat shield, 3-4 marauders (with any marines I've got available at that time, natch) and concussive shells on the way (stim if I'm against Terran). I must remember that at any point, I need to do one of three things: Expand, Attack or Tech (or as I call it, the Day[9] EAT method).
vs ![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/thumb/9/94/TerranIcon.png/30px-TerranIcon.png) Terran
Let me get this out in the open: I hate tank duels. I think they're dull.
That said, I know most Terrans will be going for tanks, and bio-balls lose their effectiveness drastically as more factories go up. However, tanks have an Achilles heel in the fact that they can't shoot up. Therefore the plan, in the broad strokes, is to establish air superiority in TvT.
Marines can defend the base for the early part of the game while I speed to Banshees. Cloaked or not, they can harass while I build up some Vikings do deal with the inevitable response. With a decent force of these mobile air units, I can work on Battlecruisers. While they may not be the shining paragons of competitive Terran play, in the mid to late game when large numbers of Marines will be backing up Siege Tank pushes, I feel Battlecruisers supported with Vikings, Banshees and SCVs/MULEs will at least make games interesting, if not win more than they lose.
vs ![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/thumb/d/d1/ZergIcon.png/30px-ZergIcon.png) Zerg
Of the three Dailies during Terran Week, #395 on Zerg hit home especially. The simple setup of core structures resonates with me and my nascent macro abilities. Not much to say here other than I'll be working hard to emulate what he teaches in this one.
vs ![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/thumb/e/e4/ProtossIcon.png/30px-ProtossIcon.png) Protoss
This is easily my weakest matchup. Too often my opponent will 4-gate or other wise mass up Stalkers to beat down my door. Daily #396 focused on mech play, and this is another instance where I may opt to speed towards Banshees rather than doing the initial poke with infantry. Moreso than in mirror matches, a quick Bunker will secure my expansion as I proceed with my plan.
I really like the idea of the Thor/Banshee line up front with a Raven and backed up by SCVs, Ghosts and Siege Tanks. This is a unit composition a bit more complex than I'm used to, not to mention heavy on the gas, but if I can survive initial attacks and get my expansion up as quickly as possible I may be able to actually pull this off. I'll have to experiment with the plan to see how it works.
As this week goes on I'll work on all three plans and see what works and what doesn't. Again note, I'm not really worrying about specific build orders, timings or even my APM or my micro. Mostly it's still macro, making sure I hit my SCV and supply every moment I get and keeping all production facilities operational as I try out these new plans.
 
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I jumped up a ton on the ladder just by watching the fuck out of demuslims stream and critically analyzing and trying to understand everything he did. I think just solid builds with solid transitions can at the very least make you terra-master
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On January 11 2012 04:49 Divinek wrote:
I jumped up a ton on the ladder just by watching the fuck out of demuslims stream and critically analyzing and trying to understand everything he did. I think just solid builds with solid transitions can at the very least make you terra-master
I do want to meander in that direction, but I think having a plan in mind, playing with that plan's execution and generating a build from there will work better for me than straight-up stealing a build order and trying to learn it by rote. I tried that last season and went nowhere.
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All of your plans are too complex for your mechanics and are going to hinder your improvement imo. I would recommend going the other direction -- try Halby's marine drill. You can do it on ladder, and I would not be surprised if, after a week of doing it, you get out of bronze, simply based on improving your basic macro.
All you do is build scvs, marines, barracks, supply depots, orbitals and mules. Without queueing units, you focus on spending all of your money and constantly producing out of all barracks and orbitals, while not getting supply blocked. Every time you have a unit building in all rax/ocs, and you have 150 mins left over, build another rax. Whenever you have 4-5 rax, build an expo. You never get gas. Rally all marines to the front of your base and whenever you have a clump of 20 or so, A-move on your enemy.
Once you can get through full games without ever getting supply blocked or having your money get above 600, then you can start working on simple builds that involve tech. Your plans are not what is keeping you in bronze.
If you want to practice, pm me.
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On January 11 2012 06:32 Mr. Black wrote:
All of your plans are too complex for your mechanics and are going to hinder your improvement imo. I would recommend going the other direction -- try Halby's marine drill. You can do it on ladder, and I would not be surprised if, after a week of doing it, you get out of bronze, simply based on improving your basic macro.
-- snip --
If you want to practice, pm me.
I'll shoot you a PM with my Battle.net id.
I still struggle with TvP even with this bare-bones build. Mostly it's DTs and the Colossus/Stalker/Sentry combo that are handing me losses.
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What you can do with an adaptation of the build is bio heavy play with drops and star port tech, but yes collosus will hurt you en masse.
When you add gas you add decisions on how to prioritize add ons, 1/1, Medicvacs, and their necesary gas requirements. Making a new build will be above your head, for a while, but you can look into the decisions gas causes and how it affects macro mechanics (such as building four mauraders instead of +1, a medivac or two reactors, etc)
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EPT
