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[PiG Strategy Articles] 2-1-1 Terran Opening for All Match…

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
11 CommentsPost a Reply

[PiG Strategy Articles] 2-1-1 Terran Opening for All Matchups

Text byTL Strategy
Graphics byNixer
May 30th, 2017 15:59 GMT
The PiG Daily2-1-1 Terran OpeningNotesIn Control



PiG Daily Articles




Welcome to the PiG Daily strategy article! The PiG Daily is a show by Jared "PiG" Krensel that focuses on StarCraft 2 strategy and becoming a better player. We've joined forces to create an article series that summarizes his dailies into short, digestible articles that provide insight on builds, tactics and game sense. By combining with Spawning Tool, this series will bring you the most comprehensive learning experience for build orders and strategies.

How to use Spawning Tool

We highly recommend using Spawning Tool in order to follow the basics of these builds. The PiG Daily and our strategy articles will serve as supplementary guides to understand the subtleties behind each decision.

I started doing this show as my “Beginner Terran Opening” guide - but realised it’s a little advanced for brand new players.

If you want to challenge yourself a bit more as a beginner this is a great build for you. This also works for any gold+ players that wants a great opening you can use in every matchup with just a few small adjustments here and there. It can work right through to GM in all 3 matchups. It requires you to be a little tighter with your order to get the most out of the opening. This is a big part of Terran play as the openings can be super advanced, and good build execution is vital to strong Terran play. This style also really rewards good bio medivac control and pushes you to get the most out of your early pressure.

Link to the Spawning Tool Build


2-1-1 Terran Opening for All Matchups







2-1-1 Terran Opening
First SCV rallies to your ramp
14Supply depot
16Barracks
16Gas
17Send SCV to scout
19Reaper + Orbital Command
20CC
202nd barracks
21Reactor
22Supply depot
222nd gas
23Factory
26Tech lab on barracks
27Orbital Command
28Start Stim Upgrade
32Starport
@50 gas -> reactor on factory


Building Priorities


    1st Barracks
  • Reaper
  • Reactor
  • Non-stop marine production

    2nd Barracks
  • Tech lab
  • Stim then Combat Shields
  • Marines!

    Factory
  • Builds add-ons
  • Early hellion or cyclone if you spot an attack
  • Reactor, then swap out

    Starport
  • Swaps onto the reactor
  • Medivacs!


With a little practice, you should be able to move out with 16 marines, 2 medivacs, and stim almost finished by 5:00. This is enough to pressure your opponent, so get out there and use your units. It takes a lot of attention and focus to use your drops effectively, but it's good training to always be active with your units.

From here, you can decide how you want to approach the mid-game. If you do lethal damage with your drop, you can go straight into 5 barracks production and finish the game. If you feel like you're ahead and want to get more ahead, get that third base and engineering bay for upgrades. If you see that you need splash damage, you can choose between tanks, mines or hellbats. You can even mix in vikings and liberators later on.

Notes


  • Putting spotting scvs or marines on the watchtowers to give you some warning of enemy attacks is a great move, get used to it
  • Always pressure with your first 2 medivacs and marines - you don’t need to do killing damage but you should always move to the enemy territory.
  • A bit of practice with your pickup micro to get out of bad situations will make this a risk-free move!
  • If you’re worried about invisible or flying units, just drop a few turrets at your bases around 4:30. No earlier than this as it disrupts your economy to invest in this too early. So 4:00 engineering bay if you want to be very safe for this. As you get better you’ll learn when you can get away with skipping these entirely.


Sorry, you don't have HTML5 video and we didn't catch this properly in javascript. You can try to view the gif directly: http://giant.gfycat.com/SoftEsteemedCobra.gif.


In Control



Spreading Bio





Spreading bio is one of the fundamental mechanics of terran. There are a lot of splitting micro trainers in the arcade, and you can learn more by doing than reading!

Medivac Load/Unload

  • The fastest way to load up is to select your army and then right click on each dropship.
  • The best way to load under pressure is by manually moving your medivacs over the bio before commanding them to hop in. This way they don't bug over terrain or decelerate because of pathing.
  • Unload all is best when dropping out of sight. It needs the least amount of APM and all your units unload in one place.
  • Moving drop is ideal for drops behind mineral lines or under pressure. Do this by right clicking where you want the units to start dropping, then hold SHIFT, press the unload hotkey, click on the medivac and finally move command (while still holding shift) on the final destination.


Splitting off Drops





  • If you're performing a hot pickup, you can quickly select loaded medivacs by telling them to drop somewhere else. Only the medivacs with units inside will respond to the command, while empty ones will stay put.
  • Make sure to shift-queue your move commands. Medivacs will always fly in a straight path, and there's a good chance they get shot down if they simply fly across the map. Skirt the edges and drop in favorable spots.



Brought to you by the TL Strategy Team
Writer: PiG/TL Strategy
Graphics: shiroiusagi
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AleXusher
Profile Joined September 2014
280 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-05-31 05:26:57
May 31 2017 05:22 GMT
#2
Great stuff. Just one thing i know for sure i saw. Depending on what kind of 2-1-1 you play, i saw several pro games, where the medivacs where done at around 4:35-4:40, so that they drop at the opponent at 5:00-5:05, instead of moving out at that specific time. Not sure what they do different, or what exactly they skip or cut to do this, but i found, that those 30 seconds, can make a huge difference!

Here: Not a perfect example, but you get the idea:
Master League Terran Gameplay - https://www.youtube.com/user/AleXusher92 // Cheap Highlevel coaching - https://www.gamersensei.com/senseis/alexusher
PiGStarcraft
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Australia987 Posts
May 31 2017 08:13 GMT
#3
On May 31 2017 14:22 AleXusher wrote:
Great stuff. Just one thing i know for sure i saw. Depending on what kind of 2-1-1 you play, i saw several pro games, where the medivacs where done at around 4:35-4:40, so that they drop at the opponent at 5:00-5:05, instead of moving out at that specific time. Not sure what they do different, or what exactly they skip or cut to do this, but i found, that those 30 seconds, can make a huge difference!

Here: Not a perfect example, but you get the idea:
https://youtu.be/zGNmjJWAixo?t=2031


Checked the VoD, on proxima that's the nice variation where you skip the reaper (proxima is easy to defend so you're pretty safe) and basically just do a 1-rax expand into 2-1-1. Works pretty nicely but skips on the reaper pressure and scouting.
Progamerwww.twitch.tv/x5_pig | pigrandom88@gmail.com | @x5_PiG | www.facebook.com/pigSC2
DrDevice
Profile Joined December 2010
Canada132 Posts
May 31 2017 08:49 GMT
#4
Standard 2-1-1 from a reaper expand should still have medivacs completed at 4:35-4:40 if you do it perfectly. Example https://www.twitch.tv/videos/103679004?t=03h33m35s
LegoesRockRaider
Profile Joined April 2017
Denmark6 Posts
May 31 2017 11:24 GMT
#5
Another very nice guide PiG and TL, you guys are really doing an awesome job with these guides. Will definitely go stealing some ladderpoints with this :D

Everything is awesome
AleXusher
Profile Joined September 2014
280 Posts
June 02 2017 18:00 GMT
#6
On May 31 2017 17:49 DrDevice wrote:
Standard 2-1-1 from a reaper expand should still have medivacs completed at 4:35-4:40 if you do it perfectly. Example https://www.twitch.tv/videos/103679004?t=03h33m35s



So there is a way to do this with reaper, ok, good to know. I just wonder how they do this? :D
Master League Terran Gameplay - https://www.youtube.com/user/AleXusher92 // Cheap Highlevel coaching - https://www.gamersensei.com/senseis/alexusher
PiGStarcraft
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Australia987 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-06-05 04:49:50
June 05 2017 04:49 GMT
#7
On June 03 2017 03:00 AleXusher wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 31 2017 17:49 DrDevice wrote:
Standard 2-1-1 from a reaper expand should still have medivacs completed at 4:35-4:40 if you do it perfectly. Example https://www.twitch.tv/videos/103679004?t=03h33m35s



So there is a way to do this with reaper, ok, good to know. I just wonder how they do this? :D


Build everything at just the right time, likely cut a few seconds of scv production at key points to ensure everything times out to hit the crispest possible attack timing. Depots finishing just as you get supply capped. High level execution of Terran openings gets very complex
Progamerwww.twitch.tv/x5_pig | pigrandom88@gmail.com | @x5_PiG | www.facebook.com/pigSC2
DrDevice
Profile Joined December 2010
Canada132 Posts
June 05 2017 17:37 GMT
#8
Pretty much. For this particular build you don't really have to cut scvs but that is a thing that's done sometimes. I just did a test run vs AI and had my medivacs done at 4:38, a couple seconds slower than innovation because well I sure as heck don't have innovation macro. I also didn't bother harassing with my reaper in order to make sure my macro was as tight as possible. I think in a typical ladder game, missing things by a few seconds because of reaper micro is the #1 thing that holds people back from getting their medivacs out asap.

http://drop.sc/replay/4957006


JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada16679 Posts
June 07 2017 18:07 GMT
#9
On May 31 2017 20:24 LegoesRockRaider wrote:
Another very nice guide PiG and TL, you guys are really doing an awesome job with these guides. Will definitely go stealing some ladderpoints with this :D

+1. nice job pig!
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada16679 Posts
June 11 2017 23:34 GMT
#10
a 47 year old, female, IT project manager who started playing SC2 3 years ago got into Gold-Tier-2 using this build.
Her previous video game experience consisted of Mario64, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Doom 1.

if that doesn't prove this build and tutorial rocks.. i don't know what does.
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
DrDevice
Profile Joined December 2010
Canada132 Posts
June 12 2017 03:13 GMT
#11
On June 12 2017 08:34 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
a 47 year old, female, IT project manager who started playing SC2 3 years ago got into Gold-Tier-2 using this build.
Her previous video game experience consisted of Mario64, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Doom 1.

if that doesn't prove this build and tutorial rocks.. i don't know what does.

That is kickass. It is definitely a good writeup of a good build. And it's so cool to see new people still getting into sc2 in 2017. Also the older I get (over 30 now, #whoa) the happier I am to hear of people older than me gaming and loving it. Awesome. Once a gamer always a gamer~
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada16679 Posts
June 12 2017 04:00 GMT
#12
i'll be 30 in ~6 weeks.
so i'm not exactly Mr. 450 APM myself.
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
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