EPTI'm low master terran and i want to present you a build that i litterally use in every matchup. I think this build is great as an improvement build for newbies and it has a very good fun potential ! It's a fun build designed for diam/plat/gold players, so take it for what it is.
I did a beta write up of this strategy long time ago it's kind of an update.
/// GENERAL THINGS ///
My B.O
+ Show Spoiler +
10depot
12 rax
13 gas
15 OC
15 second barrack
at 50 gas 50 min -> reaper
17 second depot
asap 3rd barrack and 2nd gas.
3rd supply
CC
4supply
CC
this build allow you to have good building infrastructure + 2 CC fast enough compared to other aggressive openings.
the goal here is to build as many reaper as you can early on and apply pressure and stop reaper production when your opponent seems to have good defense. Then build 2 CC and transitionning to bio/biomech depending of which race you play against.
In terms of economy, reaper cost is heavy on gas but very low on mineral because of it's 1 supply for 100 ressource cost. It has a very long time to produce. All this fact make you bank a lot of mineral while you are doing harass with reaper. This bank is used to make more CC.
Goals of this opening :
1) kill few drone/probe/scv early on.
2) kill defensive unit and not loose your reapers to maintain your opponent unit count low and to force more commitment into defensive units.
3) have a full scout of what your opponent is doing at any moment of the early game allowing you to proper respond to anything.
4) safely get 2 more OC while continuing being aggressive to catch up economically.
In general after your early aggression you will be relatively even with your opponent but you got good scouting and map control.
General difficulties :
1) knowing when you should stop reaper production and tech to something else. It's very tempting to continue have fun with reapers but it can be really your doom to stick to it.
2) micro : as reaper are somewhat expensive units you can't afford to loose too many of them especially early on. You really need them to maintain your opponent count of unit very low. you have to abuse of the healing ability and back ur reaper when they are very low.
3) macro : it is very hard to macro at the same time you are managing your reaper but it is necessary to have good macro behind as this opening is not an all-in and will not kill your opponent.
4) force your tech path in some way. As you invest a lot into your three rax you want to use those and it kind of force you to go bio/biomech. If your opponent is aware of that and generally he doe,s he will know what coming next.
Good for newbies:
One of the issue i had when i was less experimented was that I couldn't practice a specific build while laddering, because when you are laddering you will fight all 3 race randomly.
This is the main objective of this build. It gives to newbies a build that can work vs all races. So it's very simple to refine this build since you are practicing with it in ALL matchup.
Another advantage of this build is that you are constantly aggressing your opponent so it's very easy to know what's going on in his base.
You can transition into 'standard' play really easily
A lot of plat- gold friends of mine use this build now and are very happy with it right now.
///SPECIFIC THINGS AGAINST EACH RACE///
Now i will present you the different aspects of the build vs each race. I will list specific points in chronological order.
Vs Z :
+ Show Spoiler +
Wallin your natural :
This is the first aspect of the build that is quiet interesting. It allows you to wall with your 2 more barracks and the 3rd and 4th supply most of the large choke points defending your natural. It's essential to do it or you will die to lings counter runbys.
Scouting and adapting :
You want to check if your opponent is doing hatch first then gas pool or gasless pool or gas pool then hatch.
If you scout gasless pool you can commit more to reapers as the real counter of this is speedlings and he wont have those anytime soon. Otherwise you should be very careful at the timing of speedlings for your opponent.
If you scout roach warren cancel immediatly all the reaper you are making and go for 1 or 2 techlabed rax and start producing rauders and marines and add a bunker. you should be fine with a 3 rax production.
Aggression :
-for first reapers try to snipe drones and defending zerglings.
-when you got 2-3 reapers try to snipe queens (it's very easy to micro reaper vs queens)
-when speedlings pops if your opponent got a good amount of lings --> runaway to your wall using cliff in the path to escape lings or find a safe place where you can abuse cliffs.
- later in the game you can use your reaper as sucidal scouts or to scout forward when you are moving your army
Transitioning and macro:
When speedlings pop your aggression is basically over but you have 3 CC and zerg is only on 2 base and has invested a lot in lings so basically you are very close to even with your oponnent depending if u succeed to do some dmg or not.
You should add a factory and two engin bays behind this and going bio-mine or bio tank since you have already 3 raxes.
I personnally go for an adapted version of the 14 min bomber 200pop push (16 min for me because of reaper aggression)
http://day9.tv/d/Day9/day9-daily-530/
Vs P
+ Show Spoiler +
This build is much harder vs protoss but you can punish a lot of protoss openings with this.
Hiding your second barrack : this is essential because we want our opponent think we are going only reaper expand or reaper into WM drop something like that. This will make him most of the time make very early robo after expanding or simply expand which is the best situation for us.
Reapers vs stalkers : 2 reapers with good micro beats a single stalker. One of your goal early on will be to catch stalkers of your opponent. If you manage to kill one or two stalkers early on your opponent gonna have a bad time.
Scouting : It's very important to identify what tech path the protoss is taking. the best situation for you is your opponent expanding because he will have overall low count of units. 3 gate blink stalkers is actually a hard counter to this. basically if you see a lot of gates with your first reaper or scv scouting you should immediatly start marine maraud production and start defending. (it's hard to defend though)
Oracle : If you see a lack of second pylon or third pylon in his base with 2 gas assume that he is going to have oracles. if you can spot the proxy the protoss is dead because your reapers will shut down the pylon. Otherwise make a engin bay and two missile turrets in ur main. Use your reapers to harass your opponent main he will have few units.
Planetary nexus and MSC : just avoid thoses. With good micro you can still trade with stalker supported with MSC. IF your opponent attacks you with Z Z S MSC or Z S S MSC just kill all the ground unit and go to his base let the MSC alone he will deal less dmg than your reapers produce 3 marines and defend.
Transitioning and macro:
go for standard bio play you have all the infrastructure for that. You should have a good gas bank -> use it for early upgrades.
Your opponent will have invested a lot in stalkers so he will be late either on upgrade or on tech.
Hiding your second barrack : this is essential because we want our opponent think we are going only reaper expand or reaper into WM drop something like that. This will make him most of the time make very early robo after expanding or simply expand which is the best situation for us.
Reapers vs stalkers : 2 reapers with good micro beats a single stalker. One of your goal early on will be to catch stalkers of your opponent. If you manage to kill one or two stalkers early on your opponent gonna have a bad time.
Scouting : It's very important to identify what tech path the protoss is taking. the best situation for you is your opponent expanding because he will have overall low count of units. 3 gate blink stalkers is actually a hard counter to this. basically if you see a lot of gates with your first reaper or scv scouting you should immediatly start marine maraud production and start defending. (it's hard to defend though)
Oracle : If you see a lack of second pylon or third pylon in his base with 2 gas assume that he is going to have oracles. if you can spot the proxy the protoss is dead because your reapers will shut down the pylon. Otherwise make a engin bay and two missile turrets in ur main. Use your reapers to harass your opponent main he will have few units.
Planetary nexus and MSC : just avoid thoses. With good micro you can still trade with stalker supported with MSC. IF your opponent attacks you with Z Z S MSC or Z S S MSC just kill all the ground unit and go to his base let the MSC alone he will deal less dmg than your reapers produce 3 marines and defend.
Transitioning and macro:
go for standard bio play you have all the infrastructure for that. You should have a good gas bank -> use it for early upgrades.
Your opponent will have invested a lot in stalkers so he will be late either on upgrade or on tech.
Vs T
+ Show Spoiler +
Scouting : The priority is to scout if your opponent is going for reaper opening or else.
If you scout reaper opening for your opponent, you should stay in your base to counter his reapers because basically your first reapers will be a little bit slower than a 12/12 or 11/11 opening. In the end you should have more reaper and snowball him. to do that just scout what goes out from the barrack with SCV.
No reaper opening :
poke the choke or other paths depending on the map and try to weaken or with luck kill some marines. Don't loose any reaper it's vital. If you see your opponent going factory you can still pick off some hellions with good amount of reapers.
Denying expand : basically when your opponent scout your going reaper he will ball his marines to not loose them and be snowballed. He will try to keep them up the ramp packed. To deny his expand, you should build a bunker near the choke to not let him go out. your bunker will most of the time not be scouted because you will constantly harass your opponent and lock him up ramp.
Hellbat drops : Later on Reapers can be used to defend hellbat drops. if you manage to savea good amount of reapers you can use them to follow medivacs and kill hellbats. It's not the perfect defense but it can save you from big trouble.
Transitioning and macro:
go for standard bio tank play .
Conclusion: After a lot of game of playing this style I would say that it's very risky opening even if it's not allin. There is obviously some counters to this play. The main reason I see to go for it is that it's VERY VERY FUN and make you enjoy the early game a lot. In most of the case you will not be so far ahead in terms of eco but the primary goal is to take mapcontrol and inflict enough damage so your opponent get relatively even with you. The result will be you have scouting/harass units on the map and feel in "control" of the game.
Replays :
TvT :
vs 1 rax expo
http://drop.sc/327961
http://drop.sc/327971
vs hellbat opening
http://drop.sc/327976
TvZ :
vs bling bust
http://drop.sc/327966
Standard
http://drop.sc/327967
TvP:
http://drop.sc/327968
http://drop.sc/327969
