Warturtle's Introduction to Terran

Using Control Groups is essential to controlling your units and using your buildings

How they work:
You can have up to 10 Control Groups, 1, 2, 3 ,4 ,5 ,6 7, 8 ,9 and 0
CTRL + [1 - 0] will Assign the selected structure/unit to that "control group"
SHIFT + [1 - 0] will add the Selected structure/unit to that "control group"
Double tapping a "control group" key will move your screen to that group
Pressing Tab will cycle through the different unit/building types selected

example
Assigning Command Centers to a control group

Select (Click on) Command Center
Hold Down 'CTR' and press '5'.
I can now press '5' to select that command center
I can also press '5' '5' to center my vision on the command center
I can add more Command Centers to this group, by clicking on the 2nd command center and holding SHIFT and pressing '5'

Reason for mastering
Quickly move around the map, select buildings from anywhere on the map and create units remotely, or activate abilities. It also makes the game much easier to play once you get used to using them.

Recommended setup
1 - Army Units
2 - Army Units
3 - Army Units
4 - Barracks, Factories, Starports
5 - Command Centers

Using Keyboard Shortcuts is essential for building units or using abilities

How they work
Instead of clicking on the button to do the action, you can use your keyboard and a single press. Just Hover your mouse cursor over any button and it will show the "keyboard shortcut" to do that action.

Example:
Making an SCV at two different command center structures

Bad way:
Click on the Command Center
Click on the "Build SCV" button
Click on the second Command center
Click on the "Build SCV" button

Correct Way, faster way
Press '5'
press 's'
press 's'

Reason for Mastering
It is much easier to press key than click on many different buttons, especially in the heat of battle. Also when controlling your units, using the hotkey to use abilities greatly speeds up how quickly you can activate them when needed.

Shift Queuing, or holding shift while issuing commands to a unit, is an essential way to improve the control of your units.

How it works:
Holding down 'SHIFT' and issuing commands, will "queue" them up. The commands will be done in the order they are given. So you can tell an SCV to build a supply depot, then hold down 'SHIFT' and right click a mineral patch. When the SCV is done building the supply depot, he will return to the mineral line.

example
Using shift queue to avoid idle SCVs

Select an SCV
press 'b' to bring up the build menu
press 's' to select supply depot
place the supply depot by clicking on the screen where I want it
hold down 'SHIFT' and right click the mineral patch

Now I don't have to worry about that SCV, it will automatically go back to mining when done

Reason for mastering
It can be used in a variety of situations, such as setting up a complex path for a unit to follow on the map, or for avoiding idle SCVs

Shift Queuing, or holding shift while issuing attack orders or issuing ability orders is essential for getting the most from your units.

How it works:
Holding down 'SHIFT' and issuing commands, will "queue" them up. The commands will be done in the order they are given. So you can select your marauders, and hold 'shift' while right clicking on enemy units. The marauders will focus fire on the first target, and when it is dead, will switch to the next.

Special Abilities: Special abilities such as snipe, can be queued by holding down shift, this will cause the ghosts to use the "sniper shot" ability at a much faster rate, allowing you to kill the enemy units quickly.

example
Using shift queue to focus fire roaches with your marauders

Assign all of your marauders to control group '2'
press '2' during a battle.
Right click on an enemy roach
hold down 'shift' and right click on a few more roaches

Now the marauders will focus down the roaches, one by one, greatly increasing their effectiveness by eliminated the enemy army in a smoother fashion.

Reason for mastering
There are times will you will use this technique, and times where you would rather scoot and shoot. Ideally though you want to try to focus down larger HP units such as roaches, or certain dangerous ones such as banelings. It can win games for you if used properly, it is almost always better to focus fire units down if they have high HP. The difference between killing a thor, or just damaging two different thors, is game changing

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Marauder <<< Click for Unit Info
Run and Shoot using Marauder, this is very effective especially with upgraded marauders

How it works:
Your marauders, with upgrades such as Stimpack, which boosts movement speed and attack speed when you use it, or Concussive Shells which slow enemies hit by the marauders, can "Scoot and Shoot", dealing much more damage while avoiding enemy short range attacks by keeping their distance.

example
After your marauders fire
right click behind them so they start running from the enemy
Then press 'a' and left click anywhere on the map.
They will now fire again
Right after they are done firing start running away by issuing a move command (right click behind them)

Reason for mastering
Get more value from each marauder, and counter units such as Roaches, Zealots, Zerglings, and Marines to a small extent.

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Hellion <<< Click for Unit Info
Hellions can be microed (controlled for maximum effectiveness) to a huge extent.

How it works:
Hellions have a "line" attack, dealing damage to all targets in a line in the direction they fire. They also are extremely fast, making them excellent units to send towards the enemy workers (scv, drone, and probe). With proper micro they can also deal with unupgraded zerglings and zealots very easily.

example
Selecting targets so that they deal maximum damage with their "line attack", aka positioning them so they will hit 3-4 units with each attack instead of just one. Scoot And Shoot movement: After each attack is complete, move the hellions so as to avoid counter attack.

Move the hellions up near zerglings
After their attack is complete, move them back
when their attack is ready again, burn the zerglings again.

Move the hellions right next to a large line of workers, and hit as many as possible at once.

Reason for mastering
Effective at countering zealot and zerglings heavy armies, and for inflicting damage on undefended worker lines.

This is a name for the simple technique of sending a batch of previously made SCVs to a newly completed expansion, to quickly get it up and running.

How it works:
Select a number of SCVs that are already mining, and send them to a newly created expansion. the timing on this is that they should arrive just as the new command center is finishing.

example
I expand and the command center is almost done, I want to begin getting income from this new base.

Look for a base with many SCVs mining
Select a group of these SCVs
Send these SCVs to mine at the new base

Reason for mastering
You want to maximize your income, by sending SCVs to a newly created expansion, it keeps the "saturation" of SCVs at both bases more even. Having 35 SCVs on one base, and 5 on the other is inefficient. When sending to a gold mineral, you will usually want to send more SCVs in general.

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Orbital_Command <<< Click for Building Info
The Orbital Command is the key "Macro" building for Terran, using the special abilities wisely and timely is a key factor in becoming a good Terran player.

How it works:
Utilizing this building wisely requires good mechanics. You must always be aware you might need scan to detect "stealth" units, but trying to constantly use MULE Calldown to get that extra 270 minerals. Basically with good scouting you should know if you might need scan for Dark Templars, Roach Burrow, or Banshees (the three most common stealth units). If you don't see any of these units you should be using MULE Calldown whenever possible.

Supply Calldown should be avoided, instead try to make supply depots when needed.

example
Orbital Command hits 50 energy, so I immediately go to a base, and use MULE Calldown to get the extra minerals it offers.

press '5' '5' to select Orbital Commands and center my screen near them
press 'e' and click on a mineral patch
repeat the press 'e' step until I am out of orbital command energy

Reason for mastering
Using Mule Calldown right when you hit 50 energy is a key definer of a good Macro Terran player

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Marine <<< Click for Unit Info
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Marauder <<< Click for Unit Info
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Medivac <<< Click for Unit Info

This is simply an example of a possible unit composition. Each composition of units you choose to make will have strengths and weaknesses against the enemy. Choosing the right composition is important to winning. If you lack anti air and the enemy goes air units, you will obviously be in trouble.

Strengths
Versatility: It is good versus armored, and unarmored ground units, and good against most early and middle game air units.
Mobility: Small squads can be loaded in the Medivac and dropped off behind enemy lines. Also with stim the units can move extremely fast.

Weaknesses
Stealth Units: Relies on Orbital Command for all stealth detection
Protoss Colossus: The colossus is very effective against marines and marauders, and can utilize cliffs to avoid the army.
Protoss Psi Storm Protoss High Templar can storm the large group of small size units, doing a lot of damage.

Key thing about unit composition
Unit composition is something that is dynamic, meaning you want to be able to switch into different compositions as needed. How you know which composition to make is by scouting, which we will discuss next. You can also be proactive, forcing the opponent to respond to your units, or you can be reactive, scouting and creating the appropriate counter units. Which style you choose is up to you and how you want to play.

At some point early in the game, when you have around 9+ supply used up, you will want to send out an SCV to scout the enemy. You will want to assign this SCV to a control group so you can control it while also building up your base.

The reason why you do this is so you can respond to the opponents choices. If he goes more military buildings at the start, or expands quickly, if you don't respond correctly you will be at a big disadvantage. Especially with Gold (high income) mineral expansions, or "proxy" (building them outside of his base) barracks or gateways.

When you scout you will look for buildings and units that indicate what the opponent is doing, you then respond by making any necessary changes to what you are doing, such as building a bunker, walling off earlier, or expanding earlier etc.

Do not stop scouting after this first scout, you still need information throughout the game on what your opponent is up to.

This is a somewhat controversial strategy but can be extremely effective for knowing exactly what your opponent is doing.

Build a barracks somewhere in the middle of the map, usually near your opponents base. When It is done lift it off and send it to see what he is up to. Allowing you to pick the right units and decisions of what to do.

You can also use a fast unit like the hellion, or sending a single marine into his army etc to see what he is up to. Air units such as banshee or viking can also usually get a very good look at the enemy's base. This also serves a double purpose of possibly inflicting some damage on the opponent and keeps him somewhat defensive.