Alternate Terran Opening: Economical 9 Rax - Page 2

Satallgeese

United States239 Posts

May 07 2010 21:50 GMT

#21

Here is a link to an already well established 9 vs. 12 Rax thread. Basically, the other guy discovered that you get more minerals for early pushes, but are behind in mid to late game. The only real way to counter this lag in your minerals is FE once you make your first push and get some map control. Its a good read for any aspiring Terran player, they get really in depth.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=120667

Markwerf

Netherlands3728 Posts

May 07 2010 23:23 GMT

#22

That thread is alright, but unfortunately didn't really use a good reaper build. Still the point is prettty simple, supply first is best economically though the advantage kicks in rather late (after 5 mins). 9 rax for just marines with no intention to play aggresive only seems usefull if you have a good idea your opponent will do some all-in build, like 7 rax reaper.
9 rax reaper is a economic hit to yourself but not that bad and can generate a reasonable advantage with the reaper, personally I think reaper openings are good vs terran and protoss on small maps (2 player maps and some small 4player maps). 9 rax reaper will be about 4 scv's behind too normal 12 rax but will give a reaper in their base about 25 seconds before they get their stalker using a 13 gate, fast cyber and chronoboosted stalker. You will get even economically by the reaper usually (1-2 probe kills breaks even) and you can follow up with some marauder aggression.

ymirheim

Sweden300 Posts

May 08 2010 00:09 GMT

#23

My issue is. Why would you actually need 9rax to deal with cheese? 11rax is pretty fast and enough to deal with almost all cheeses except for the ridiculously fast like 6reaper or something in which case I rather rely on micro to get me through such things and then I will be at a huge advantage economically afterwards.

shinosai

United States1577 Posts

May 08 2010 00:25 GMT

#24

I like 9 rax opening, because it gives you that nice reaper that can really punish players that try to use heavy econ builds, and later on you get free scouting if you don't let that reaper die. Sure 11 rax is more economical but you get less scouting and you have no way of punishing econ builds... thus putting you behind in economy anyways. 9 rax reaper -> bunker destroys any zerg that expos before pool, 11 rax does nothing to it.

The only thing I don't like about this opening is that it kind of forces you into marauders, whereas if you went standard you could build a reactor and switch with factory for hellions.

AraqirG

United States266 Posts

May 08 2010 00:29 GMT

#25

You don't need to 9 rax to defend against cheese. 11 rax holds off most cheese just fine. 9 Rax does allow you to kill their scouting worker extremely fast (and in some cases, such as large 4 player maps, deny scouting all together.

Additionally, on maps like blistering sands and steps of war, you can kill Zergs first overlord assuming they send it you the rocks at your back door (like most Zergs do).

Anyway, I wasn't satisfied with using income since it is so difficult to measure accurately so I reran some tests.

I tried both builds, kept up constant scv production and supply depot building.
With both openers I got the OC as soon as the rax finished, got 4 marines, and then expanded as soon as I had the minerals. I then got double gas when the new cc was half done.

To measure the builds, I used total minerals mined (using the mineral count on the mineral patches) so there is no rounding or gueswork.

Here is a chart:

edit: to clarify, the chart represents total minerals mined

[image loading]

Markwerf

Netherlands3728 Posts

May 08 2010 00:49 GMT

#26

Basically it shows the difference is pretty big. The lost scv's just add up alot after some time.
Instead of cumbersome measurements by mineral patches you can also just to check the build order chart after the game of both builds and see how much the difference in scv's is. Then these scv's just start to add up and with a fast expo terran doesn't hit saturation for a long while.
Without expoing the difference is less as the extra scv's offcourse are saturated but as terran generally doesn't stop building scv's quickly there is just little merit to 9 rax.

What you should really check is 9 rax reaper as that IS a good opener.

Impervious

Canada4216 Posts

May 08 2010 02:39 GMT

#27

Hmmm. I think this could be viable for a fast tech opening, because you can get an extra marine or two out earlier to deal with an early scout, preventing them from knowing when you take your 2nd gas. And, your tech should be out by the time the deficit from the 9 rax starts.

And, it's not far behind a normal 12 rax, meaning your opponent would have to plan for either a standard style game, or a tech build, because their scouting will be insufficient, yet your economy can do either.

I like.

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