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Hi, ladies and gents. I appreciate your support so far. I hope you don't die of boredom reading all this text.
I'm currently down with a bad flu that's making me dizzy. For this reason, actually playing is a large exertion. Instead of laddering full time, I watch replays and search forums for things I need. I will still need to play at least a game or two tonight to avoid playing like twice weekly only.
You may remember I wanted to stick with the same build for every race, the build being three-rax. I've decided to change that after demotion from gold to silver. It surely is solid but it doesn't combine well with my skills or personality or way of playing or whatever. I get better results using other builds. And there's probably enough metagame to identify and counter three-rax early.
So I've decided to reinstate my favourite TvZ build. It's simple, even simplistic, although it has room for refinement. Basically, you make two facts ASAP while scouting. If there are no roaches or blings coming (whereupon you bunker up and/or go for thors, skipping hellions), you get like 6-7 and move out with BFH finishing or finished, depending on how the situation evolves. Before leaving, you switch the reactor fact to TL and put up an armoury, so that your thor production (queued in base) is hotkeyed. The hellions need to damage the econ and thin out any zergling hordes, although if there are strong defences or good micro or similar, you're probably better off returning to base and tagging the early thors along. The thors leave with a couple of SCVs for repairs. Any surviving or new hellions (depending on how things go with resources, and sometimes you get a third fact for the now unused reactor, as you need the rax to block the ramp) help against the supermobile zerglings that disorient the thors so much. Unless there's a smart infestor play or some lucky heavy roach play, you're golden. You can fool around with marine/bunker rushes and expanding is sometimes needed, so this isn't really a silly 1a one base all-in. Micro is needed and scouting is needed. You can swap addons like mad to tweak the timings but doing your tech behind your wall-in helps avoid getting scouted. EDIT: upgrades have a possible role here, that'd be ground mech armour by default, although attack could be a good choice sometimes (e.g. for one-shooting zerglings or something), but I don't get them if they'd delay units.
(Weakness/counters: one million zerglings, some particularly strong or fast roach builds, perhaps solid expansion execution.)
I fell back on my old banshee openings vs the other two races. This time without sitting on unspent minerals like I did in my early days. Basically anything I can produce off what buildings I have without impeding twoport banshee production or SCV production. And then I refound Echoic's build. I simplified it for my own use and it goes like this:
Buildings: OC, Ref, Fact (TL swap with Rax), Ref, Fact, 2port.
Units: 2 marines, hellions, BFH ASAP (even before hellions), Vac, Raven (with TL swap), viking, banshees and vikings, situational afterwards.
Micro/tactics: kite rines with hellions,
Macro: expand when able, have more vikings than the opponent, have a lot of hellions for big splash damage,
Target: 2 react fact, 2 ports with addons, rarely do you need more.
(Weaknesses/counters: a little afraid of fast tanks or fast bioball with enough marauders.)
There is a TvP version that relies on a quick hellion drop and then bashees and raven but I decided in favour of Olorin's one base version of thor banshee, as it is easier than defending an expo with like 12 marines in 3 bunkers and no tanks. Simplified for my own use it looks like this:
Buildings: OC, Ref, Fact, Ref, Port (swap TL), armoury, 2nd Rax
Units: rines, banshees (raven 2nd), thors
Micro: smart PDD vs stalkers, don't waste banshees, probably some focus-fire
Macro: just produce until you push around 12:00
(Weakness/counters: dunno but probably chargelots and any mismicro, perhaps getting outmacroed or cheesed).
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I know these builds aren't really simple but I suppose being around gold level one can execute them, better or worse, but still execute them. I like all them, in fact, I have a very positive emotional attitude towards playing them, unlike some other builds, which means I should be able to relate better. I do have better than average banshee control (due to all the banshee openings where I really aimed to win the game outright) and perhaps not so bad hellion control due to my TvZ build (it has a long history of trial and error despite being so simple).
Please feel free to comment on my chosen builds, especially if you'd like to suggest some refinement or share practical experience in using them. I won't likely be dropping them in favour of mass bio or MMTV, though. I'd like to try them for a while unless I realise I can't keep up with early pressure, especially from Terran.
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And here's the promised picture of my monitor: 
![[image loading]](http://www.towerofivory.net/stuff/sticky.jpg)
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Against thor/hellion/scv wouldn't you say a nice zergling flank to spread out the flames is also a counter? And how do you properly afford thor/banshee on 1 base without them just like 3 or 4 gating you and winning outright(i understand theres a bunker with like 4 marines but against even say 2-gate robo, thats very inadequate)
Also nice notes lolololololol
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Love the notes, have always wanted a device that beeps every time I can build another probe. (can't recall probe build time, if it was 20 sec per say, I'd just need a device that beeps once ever 20 seconds. ) GL.
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A nice zergling spread would probably require a player much above my MMR to execute properly, I think.  Especially given that I would still be moving my hellions around too and any moving zergling would be a non-attacking zergling. If I saw I couldn't really handle it, I would go for the workers (if only to force them to stop mining) and if I couldn't do even that, I would probably dance around a bit while making thors and come back with a couple of thors protected by the hellions from getting swarm-surrounded by the lings. Any SCVs or mules would be repairing all of this mech.
Against Protoss, I'm not sure, I have yet to play a single game using this build. Thor/banshee is afforded by skipping cloak (the Protoss could still throw down an otherwise unintended robo upon seeing banshees) and not getting any barracks TL tech (which the Protoss probably can't be assuming), and only using 1 fact/1 port (similar to the two-fact production of thors in my TvZ, which rarely runs out of gas and if it does, then you dump minerals in gasless units). I have a gist of using PDD to negate stalkers for a while and this should do. Any other stuff, apart from sentries (that die fast enough) is unable to shoot air and vulnerable to banshees. If the Protoss backs off due to PDD, it should buy the defending Terran some time for repairs and replenishments for the duration. Perhaps a second bunker with some permanently pulled SCVs might be needed. At worst, I guess a crowd of autorepair SCVs around slightly backed off thors (still good range) and keeping any banshees near enough to get repaired too should help (despite losing some SCVs there might be enough of an army advantage at the end of it to enable a push without worrying about FF on the ramp and with the ability to make vision or fly around for the workers with surviving banshees). Might be micro intense but should work provided that marine production isn't too sloppy. At least this is what I think it should look like.
And thanks, lol. I've even thought about playing a looped "make SCVs" voice message.
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I've tried playing the TvP build vs the AI. I can easily defeat Very Hard (marines died during my first try but I had four thors and a couple of banshees in his base) but Insane roflstomps me. I can defeat its ground push in some situations but then he has too much stuff near his nat. Or when a couple of ground units plus two void rays come before my first thor is out and when I have only one banshee, that sucks too.
Depending on choices during the game and repair costs etc., somewhere between 10 and 12 minutes you just have to push with what you have because there'd be too long of a wait for gas before you can produce a banshee or a thor (like 100 gas behind). You may also, surprisingly, find yourself starving on minerals while gas is okay, depending on how you execute. There should be enough minerals to expand while attacking or at least throw down some two rax.
With Echoic TvT, I get roflstomped by Very Hard AI's MM around 7:00. It wasn't even funny. On the other hand, the Olorin build roflstomped the Terran AI even harder than the Protoss one, possibly due to lack of siege tanks. I also discovered exploiting the Thors' range by placing them behind cliffs with banshees giving vision. Not that useful against Terran (unless he uses SCVs as cannon fodder) but should be good vs zealots (they will need to walk around, probably getting queued up in a line in the process, while thors and banshees are destroying whatever they can reach over the cliff. Might be good for baiting stalkers to attack the banshees and get in the range of the thors. Even a single salvo from the thors should soften them up enough to make pursuit with banshees worth it (banshee still wins in 1v1 vs a stalker, due to the banshee's high DPS). This could also be exploited with the repair SCVs being given some time ahead to build bunkers and/or turrets (especially if you go without a raven as I did in the AI battles).
I suppose if you expanded while attacking and still made units, you could pull it off. I know PF in nat is noobish but it provides for a much safer expansion in such cases like here. As in you throw down a CC and E-Bay while moving out, drop the CC and start PF when able, and you still should have a couple of thors and banshees and some rines even if your first push dies. A two-base banshee-thor probably isn't what Protoss players like facing. From what I've heard it's a formidable mid-game or perhaps late-game combo. Well, unless he gets voids or something.
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Here's the first replay from today:
Link.
Shakuras TvT, cross-position, my win, long game (like 40 minutes or so), opponent was a rank #26 gold player, semi-inactive (over 60 unspent bonus points) with under 40 wins (strong-ish but not very experienced?)
Since it was my first game today and only just after 7 a.m. (after less than 6 hours of sleep despite pills), I decided I wasn't gonna play the hellion thing against a likely tank-heavy opening by a Terran. So I recalled a build with which I played when I got out of bronze. It was basically a tank-defended Skyterran.
Early: Scouting with SCV (info for bronze players and others who may not know: you can't spawn in closest positions on Shakuras, so there are only two positions to scout) showed a bunker in his base but no wall-in. I knew there would be no normal opening and I suspected ground rather than banshee because a banshee opening would probably have a wall-in (turned out I wasn't exactly right). So I decided to gamble-drop him, bunkered up and made a viking and E-bay just in case.
The drop: The drop went surprisingly well. He had a tank sieged up that I decided to attack (as it was single and no marines nearby) but all his workers started fighting me. And I actually killed that tank anyway but probably should have kept fighting the workers to provoke splash damage.
Middle: I decided to go for banshees anyway, and expand in the process. He actually had his own banshees but they had been negated by the time by my turrets. I did some damage with mine because his towers didn't cover everything and I could prevent mining in his nat and then take down the TL on his factory (possibly should have split the banshees to keep preventing mining in his nat while harassing main) and then one of his refineries and then some workers.
I was safe with my banshees, having enough of them to decimate any ground push before it could reach my base, where there were tanks on the cliff and a PF in nat anyway (means nothing short of a regular big siege push, which he was in no position to make, can really charge up the ramp). In turn, he had two sieged tanks sitting in his mineral line and obstructing the mining. I actually could and possibly should have gone in for the kill around 16:00 since I had 4 banshees, 3 vikings, 2 tanks and 8 marines to his 1 banshee, 1 viking, 2 tanks, 4 marines and raven. That would have been a third push and probably largely successful as well, as I'd likely have destroyed a lot of his stuff, possibly doing some damage to economy before dying or retreating. It was perhaps unfortunate that I went Skyterran.
Late: Basically Skyterran. I expanded however much I could, while transitioning into battlecruisers with viking support. Skyterran was my game plan. I later on realised it was a bit wasteful on resources the way I played it, so I grabbed some ground army at some point (had armoury for upgrades, so made a thor and more marines for the occasion, leaving tanks behind for defence). I was ready to switch over to ground army but it seemed the strength of his resistance waned and I was able to assert my air superiority near his base and could go in with battlecruisers instead of needing to plant tanks downcliff like I had planned. I probably mismicroed a lot of the sky battles. Should have vikings, battlecruisers and banshees hotkeyed separately to have battlecruisers tank the damage, vikings deal with vikings and banshees harass ground or take down turrets (to make vikings live). He quit when I gained a comfortable foothold in his main, over barracks and depots. Depots were very important to bring down because a player with a lot of expansions (and he had a lot) has a lot of workers and can't have that much army if his depot coverage is not at max.
I may have avoided some of my forces dying during the pushes but I allowed that because battlecruisers can't really run away and I had been making more of them all the time. When you have like 4 techports, fusion core and plenty of supply reserve, floating resources suddenly aren't so much of a big deal. Upgraded a lot to limit deaths in the air, though (Terran anti-air is low-damage, even if it might fire fast).
I probably should have switched to ground army after seeing so many turrets (glad he spent the minerals, though). However, my control of air is actually better than my control of marines and tanks, so perhaps it was even.
Finally, probably not so important, but just before the end, there were a lot of unnecessary banshee deaths for me. Would like to avoid that in the future.
As always, LOL@my APM.
Comments please. I would like to turn this game and experiences from it (including threats, bad decisions on my part etc.) into a real build for TvT at least on Shakuras and similarly large maps. This would need additional safety, more encounters that create supply disadvantage for the opponent without too much of a risk for me, less wastefulness on my part. I'm thinking also about adding a cluster of OC's (mostly for the mules and scans) since I had so many minerals. Scans would allow better targetting of air attacks, where there are no defences, and better expo control.
Currently sitting on a win streak of 6 and #2 of this silver division.
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All right, I've just lost. This is game no. 2 and I will be updating this post as I go.
Game 2
Antiga Shipyards, TvZ, longish game, I lost
I basically lost to zerg wall-in and mass roaches this time. When I realised he'd just be swarming roaches, it was too late. Upgrades on thors didn't help, he had upgrades too. Repairing didn't help against such a swarm, either, nor did adding marines. I have no idea how I could possibly have won that other than not splitting units in the first battle I won, in his third. This was a sick game.
[RANT]Also, I don't believe this guy should be in silver league. He's like #2, with 409 wins (not games, wins), he just shouldn't be there. I always run into that type of player (high-ranked in whatever low league division) and get demoted or get my win streaks broken. Why did I even get a silver opponent after defeating 3 gold ones in a row? Just to see if I can still beat silver? Then perhaps not with this type of guy.[/RANT]
Game 3
Searing Crater, TvT, long game, I lost (to a #1 silver opponent)
It's shameful how I could lose after having exercised so much map control. I should have found a way, possibly should have played Skyterran consequently. Drops killed me but I also had little idea what I was doing. Plus, he had more tanks. I wish to avoid this kind of crap in the future, keep my map control, prevent his expanding, expand myself and have a decent, successful army. Any ideas?
Game 4
Basically Game 1 revisited, perhaps worse execution on my part and the opponent's. Skyterran held the line and won the game. I wish I could pull it off on maps without a well-defended nat.
Game 5
Basically Skyterran on Antiga Shipyards, I won
Antiga Shipyards, TvT, close-ish spots, Top 25 gold Terran opponent (58 wins and bonus pool 5 probably means he isn't very active... maybe I lose to active silvers much more than to semi-inactive golds?).
Game plan was: drop him, banshee him, transition into whatever unless banshees remain viable, (they're still good for map control and expo prevention if they survive, plus, harassment is nearly always available unless the enemy gets a whole infrastructure to prevent this and even then you can poke if you have to,) mass tanks at any rate. Having mass tanks AND air generally improves my comfort.
What killed him was failure to scout my backyard expansions (both of which PF to avoid any hellion run-ins), and my non-failure to raid his.
Educational value (for new players):
Raiding expos with a banshee: a single banshee can make a command centre lift. Then a single viking or two can make it fly back home. As long as there is no proper viking force, you're safe if you just fly away and he can do nothing. Also, if you're fighting or something, you can always just send a random single banshee to any expo of his that you know to exist and not be very well defended. I did send dispatch banshees via minimap without hotkeying them in this game.
More banshee micro:
Use the "h" key (for hold) to lock a banshee in place when you have found a comfortable position from which you can shoot enemy units but enemy turrets or other anti-air can't shoot back at you.
You can attack turrets. The optimal number of banshees for doing so is 3, although it's possible with 2 (but probably requires a slow opponent). After you bring down the turret, cloak. But run away from marines because he will likely be scanning. Generally always run from marines because you never know if there isn't enough energy for a scan on some OC somewhere. On the other hand, if there's no scan and the marines aren't too numerous (like a scan won't insta-kill your banshees), hack away at the marines as they are the primary counter to your banshees. Generally, try to attack turrets while in the making, starting from the SCVs that are building them. Killing all E-bays prevents turrets from going up for a while, which means the opponent will be wasting scans, perhaps trying to get a raven (-200 gas) or proxy an E-bay (diverting his attention).
Attacking refineries is a good idea. They aren't always protected, nor are they particularly tough. Destroying a refinery means the opponent will at least have problems executing whatever strategy relies on gas and he will need to dump 75 minerals right away. Also, workers from that refinery should be pretty easy to kill too. Other good targets are supply depots. They're often unprotected, the opponent won't likely risk too much to save them but destroying them has pretty much the same effect as killing production buildings: it limits his ability to counter your harass right now and puts him behind for his own attack force. Some other nice targets are add-ons on structures. Especially any that are currently researching something (losing stim or siege tech in the making is quite a blow, it should also throw the opponent off balance and put pressure on him psychologically).
Split the banshees if you can. I can but I need to practice more to get back to form, so I don't go overboard.
Keeping banshees alive is a good thing to do because in large groups (or several small groups), they can be a major annoyance to the opponent, or a formidable fighting force.
Banshee defence:
If you can, he can too. You need a bunch of energy on your OC for scanning, and a viking in the air. Marines aren't bad but can be outmicroed and killed (which isn't that bad if a turret is building for you in the meantime but you need E-bay for that). Get a raven ASAP. Even if there are no more banshees, a raven pays for itself by stopping enemy mining with 2-3 turrets whenever it has the energy (can also be used for base defence).
Drop stuff:
I drop right on the mineral line and stand in place. Pros drop on edges where they aren't seen or press D while flying to execute a flashy para-drop (good against sieged tanks but how many are there at 7 minutes?). There's a tendency to stop dropping after the first drop but if there are no particular defences (e.g. there are higher priorities on the opponent's list), a drop is a good thing to do. I don't drop behind the minerals because then the workers have an easier time escaping. Plus, sieged tanks could do some splash damage to workers near you if they shoot at you. Drop can be combined with banshee harass on some other mineral line. The advantage here is that the opponent will likely have to stop and think for a moment about how to split his forces to react appropriately. During that time of hesitation, your are doing damage because you did the thinking beforehand.
Save your stuff if you can but you can't always.
Raven harass:
Just drop turrets and run away ASAP. You don't need to watch it, it's guaranteed to stop mining for a while and kill a couple of workers. While at it, why not keep a raven handy near each enemy mineral line? I'll have to think about this.
Air superiority:
Good viking count allows for all of the above to be taking place. Vikings shoot ravens, the only mobile detection of terran. As a bonus, vikings shoot medivacs (that make vision for tanks in MMMT) or other vikings (that make vision for tanks in MM(M)TV) and any flying buildings (like command centres that are running away). They also finish off enemy banshees once detected, and prevent drops. If needed, they can harass a mineral line (if there's no PF in range), especially if they sit on some high ground. If needed, they can sit on sieged tanks, causing splash damage, shooting at them rather efficiently, forcing them to unsiege etc.
Siege defence:
Cancel any expo in the making (saves most of the resources), run away with SCVs. The pursuing units may run into your sieged tanks' range. Shoot down (micro!) any vikings, medivacs etc. to prevent him from having vision (you can scan and then give your orders to avoid blind-hunting amidst enemy marines). Lift a rax or something in the meantime (added bonus: an opponent who sees you lifting rax for siege tank vision may become a little scared). When he has no vision and you do have vision, you're golden. Just don't get into his own range (situational: if you have a group of tanks that can easily shoot the enemy sieged tank without themselves sieging, this could be better in some situations, as unsieged tanks are good counters to sieged ones).
Siege shenanigans:
Notice how I went to my third to line up tanks on the edge of his main and used a cloaked banshee as a decoy after scouting a little to make sure I won't get blasted away by his own tanks (don't use a scan or he will know something bad is coming). In fact, the banshee did clean two enemy tanks in the process, before my own started pummelling. The tanks comfortably cleaned the west wing of his base (not like there was much to destroy there) and prevented any marines from running up to my banshee that was cleaning up whatever the tanks couldn't reach. I suppose if he saw it, there possibly was a major scare factor ("what is giving him vision?!!"). I then set up shop downcliff with vikings patrolling and banshees dealing away with any enemy tanks. Apparently, sitting at a modest distance first, firing at the supply depots was worth it.
Hope this helps any low-level or new Terran players that are reading us here. Don't mean to pretend like I'm some gosu, I'm silver league right now. 
Fun factor: you can do all this stuff with 35 APM average as reported by the game (in more traditional APM reporting by SC2gears, this is 60-something APM). The opponent actually had more.
Game 6
Antiga Shipyard, TvZ, south spots, a bit longer game, my loss
Too fast transition to thors. There was nothing else than lings and blings, could have used more hellions. Also, could have gone Skyterran since it was so close via air and the Zerg aren't known for good anti-air early in the game.
Game 7
Shattered Temple, TvZ, long game, my loss
This game sucked. The millions of zerglings that can't be killed, especially with broodlords from above, merit an imba rant.
And it sucks how I get silver opponents again after defeating gold ones. And lose to those silver ones.
It does look like my TvZ build no longer works. Maybe it's time for banshees.
Game 8
Tal'Darim Altar, TvT, short game, my win
Went skyterran with an opening drop. Things got delayed because I forgot addons. I scouted two rax, so I got a bunker. That's how I avoided losing. That and the banshee that finished in my base (set all the SCVs to repair it). When watching the replay, I found out it was supposed to be a siege contain.
Game 9
Same Zerg as before, same muta nonsense, my loss.
Game 10
Same mutabling nonsense. Zerg needs two units to win.
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Okay, guys, there are more games but I'm not posting. I'm too tired. Maybe later.
Status report: TvZ sucks, TvT is so-so, TvP is a bliss with the Olorin build.
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On September 29 2011 02:50 NewbieOne wrote:
So I've decided to reinstate my favourite TvZ build. It's simple, even simplistic, although it has room for refinement. Basically, you make two facts ASAP while scouting. If there are no roaches or blings coming (whereupon you bunker up and/or go for thors, skipping hellions), you get like 6-7 and move out with BFH finishing or finished, depending on how the situation evolves. Before leaving, you switch the reactor fact to TL and put up an armoury, so that your thor production (queued in base) is hotkeyed. The hellions need to damage the econ and thin out any zergling hordes, although if there are strong defences or good micro or similar, you're probably better off returning to base and tagging the early thors along. The thors leave with a couple of SCVs for repairs. Any surviving or new hellions (depending on how things go with resources, and sometimes you get a third fact for the now unused reactor, as you need the rax to block the ramp) help against the supermobile zerglings that disorient the thors so much. Unless there's a smart infestor play or some lucky heavy roach play, you're golden. You can fool around with marine/bunker rushes and expanding is sometimes needed, so this isn't really a silly 1a one base all-in. Micro is needed and scouting is needed. You can swap addons like mad to tweak the timings but doing your tech behind your wall-in helps avoid getting scouted. EDIT: upgrades have a possible role here, that'd be ground mech armour by default, although attack could be a good choice sometimes (e.g. for one-shooting zerglings or something), but I don't get them if they'd delay units.
I don't think this is a very good strategy. I'm a plat zerg, but I could have wiped the floor with this when I was in gold.
You're being way too reactive in this matchup. You need to keep the zerg on their feet. React only when the zerg is already prepared. For instance, go out with your first couple hellions and poke at the natural. If it's poorly defended or they don't have any attacking units you pretty much win a major advantage or the game outright. If the zerg has a couple roaches, some lings, and a spine crawler then you probably won't do any damage and you can transition to thors.
Most zergs are copying pro strategies going muta/ling/bane. Expect mutas and place turrets.
If you're going to do BFH then decide early on. A trigger could be scouting a ling-heavy strategy (most likely ling/infestor or muta/ling/bane before mutas) then BFH would be very effective without good spine coverage. Since you're in a lower league I'd imagine the coverage would be bad or over-the-top. If you're in a position where you can't do any damage just sit back, expand if you haven't, and enjoy map control!
In general, one base thor isn't very good. The thor count is low and provided the zerg has something beyond lings and a small number of mutas they're going to l-o-l all over your army. If the zerg spots you going mech they're probably going to go roach. According to your game plan you won't go BFH because of roaches and your low thor count will roll over and die.
Bottom line - your TvZ strategy relies on your opponent being bad.
I HIGHLY suggest you watch Day9's "stealing a build" series and play a strategy that sees great results. Since you seem to like mech in TvZ you could look up some Goody replays and copy his general style. Even though I'm nearing the top of my division I still get stomped by this style more often than not.
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Hey, Servius. Thanks for the ample feedback. I've realised a couple of games ago that my TvZ BFH could work with some tweaks, like throwing down a bunker and swapping the addons. Scouting this is easier than but it's probably easy enough to figure out anyway.
My problem with thors is that I don't seem to be able to weed through the millions of zerglings, not even with BFH assisting. My problem with any other build than this (almost), however, is that I seem to lose no matter what i do, as if I just didn't know what to build, how to move etc. (zerg too mobile). Perhaps I just don't have the patience for creep busting and tank leapfrogging or perhaps I can't keep up with the number of bases and the easy unit production (my last game-loser has been the zerg's ability to make and hide like 20 mutas until they're ready, something I had last seen in bronze). I've had some success with Skyterran on Shakuras (drop to banshees to more banshees, vikings and then BC and constant expo scouting) and Olorin's TVP build on Shattered Temple (the only Terran unit mix save for sieged tanks that seems to worry a zerg) but I'm afraid about so cost-inefficient strategies.
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On September 30 2011 02:36 NewbieOne wrote:
Hey, Servius. Thanks for the ample feedback. I've realised a couple of games ago that my TvZ BFH could work with some tweaks, like throwing down a bunker and swapping the addons. Scouting this is easier than but it's probably easy enough to figure out anyway.
My problem with thors is that I don't seem to be able to weed through the millions of zerglings, not even with BFH assisting. My problem with any other build than this (almost), however, is that I seem to lose no matter what i do, as if I just didn't know what to build, how to move etc. (zerg too mobile). Perhaps I just don't have the patience for creep busting and tank leapfrogging or perhaps I can't keep up with the number of bases and the easy unit production (my last game-loser has been the zerg's ability to make and hide like 20 mutas until they're ready, something I had last seen in bronze). I've had some success with Skyterran on Shakuras (drop to banshees to more banshees, vikings and then BC and constant expo scouting) and Olorin's TVP build on Shattered Temple (the only Terran unit mix save for sieged tanks that seems to worry a zerg) but I'm afraid about so cost-inefficient strategies.
You could always "bit the bullet" and go marine/tank. There's a lot of micro and multitasking but in the end you can come up WAY on top with cost-efficiency.
If you want to stick with a mech build you can't just waltz on in with 5 thors and expect a win. If you had five thors with a bunch of siege tank support or a ton of BFH then yes, it would work, but this is a very slow strategy. A mech ball takes a TON of resources (three bases to get to max in a reasonable amount of time) and a lot of time to build up. I'd recommend waiting until you're maxed to move out. As for army composition I'd use BFH if it's ling heavy and tanks if roach-heavy. Hellions and thors can tank some of the damage, but in general you want your thors to be the last to die. If you're not constantly upgrading you'll be at a loss. As a zerg, my response is to expand as much as humanly possible (since BFH are the only tool of map control for a while), go roach-heavy with upgrades and tech to broodlords. I've tried just mass roach, ling/infestor, and roach/infestor and they were roflstomped. In theory the mass roach could have worked better if I was better with injects, but meh!
Yes, the zerg has the advantage of mobility over a mech army but if you did it right zerglings alone shouldn't do too much damage since they're extremely fragile to thor/tank/hellion.
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Thanks for the insights. I guess Zerg is so macro oriented and I'm so macro disoriented that I just can't catch up with the macro of a Zerg with similar MMR. I have a nasty arsenal of harass but can't seem to be good at assessing big army encounters.
Status report: did lose once with the TvP build. Strange stuff, botched defence of a very aggressive early stalker push before having PDD. Have to think about moving raven before the first banshee. Also, the thor can tank some and can be repaired, so it could go first, before banshees. Around 7:00 this is scary.
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Status Report: Still #2 in the silver division, some 70 points away from #1. Apparently I must be winning more than losing since there aren't so many bonus points in my gains. The #1 guy was gold in both previous seasons (excluding the beta seasons, of course) and wins a lot (like sitting on a win streak of 6 now, 4 of which were gold), so he might be promoted sooner than I make the difference, anyway. Same for some other folks, including #3. Wonder if this means I too might be back to gold soon.
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Status Report: #1 now. The previous #1 must have been promoted. He really deserved it.
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EPT
