|
Hello,
I am a low masters Terran who has recently switched to HoTS from WoL. So far, I am enjoying things. However, one matchup that seems to have changed a lot is TvP. While the general dynamic has changed at most stages of the game, I would like to focus on the early stages of the game. It is hard to concretely define "early game" so I will use this term to loosely mean "anything happening before the 10 minute mark" for the purpose of this post.
I would like for this post to spark discussion on the early stages of TvP from a Terran perspective. Some questions that I think deserve discussion are:
What new openings are available to Terran?
What new openings are available for Protoss?
What forms of Protoss early aggression are now viable?
What new timings must a player watch out for (I.e. earliest time an oracle can be in your base)?
What are the best ways to scout?
When scouting, what cues should a player be looking for?
Upon scouting cues of aggression, what should a player do to prepare?
What forms of Terran early aggression are now viable?
What should a player's goals be when opting for early aggression?
When addressing these questions, it is best to use numbers. For example, saying "The goal of an early Hellbat drop should be to kill workers" is not particularly helpful as it only states the obvious. Instead, saying "When opening with a reactored Hellion expand into a Hellbat drop vs a Protoss going for a 1 gate FE, you should generally aim to kill at least 5 workers to be considered 'even' going into the midgame." is much more helpful.
If threads exist already detailing one of the topics here, feel free to post it as a reply.
|
I see no way for me to lose TvP unless my opponent goes for an all-in 10 food 2 gateway.
I play TvP with an FE > 4~6 rax build. Completely dependable on what i scout, it naturally flows in to a 10 minute push with medivacs on they way. Transitions into MMM + Ghost to finish the job.
Vikings and aditional starports are reactionary based on scouting. Once the medivacs arrive, i am constantly poking for weaknesses at the front and dropping or at least trying possible angles to drop. Even if it doesn't do damage, it gets a lot of information. I sometimes scan the area i feel he's trying to protect.
Helpful information:
- 3 marines stop MSC harass. This comes after you can set up a bunker+1 marine at the front, you're safe against this.
- 5 marines stop an oracle.
- 8 marines stop 2 oracles.
Answering the questions:
- What are the best ways to scout? SCV scout and scan between 6:00~7:00
- What forms of Protoss early aggression are now viable? MSC and Oracles, all get shut down by the marine count.
- What new timings must a player watch out for? None in particular, just scout and react. But as soon as the bunker finishes, get 1 marine in it and 3 in your main base to stop MSC.
- When scouting, what cues should a player be looking for? Number of gasses and workers, units, buildings in the position of them. Exploit those with drops if think you can.
- Upon scouting cues of aggression, what should a player do to prepare? Is it a drop or front based attack? If it comes from the front get bunkers! That is all there is to it.
- What forms of Terran early aggression are now viable? Counter agression is much more viable, search a weak spot and exploit it. In the early game you do this with your SCV scout and scans. You will have a lot of marines and just an A-Move will do a lot of damage to teching or economic playing Protoss.
- What should a player's goals be when opting for early aggression? To do damage while getting an advance in any field. Be it economic, tech or unit.
|
I've been experimenting with several different TvP builds
Mostly 1/1/1 variations
The options you have for 1/1/1s now is pretty big and I dont think we Terrans have properly explored it.
I've been doing a 1/1/1 with combat shielded marines, tanks, and banshee/raven.
I've only managed to outright win with this twice, but games whete I open with this It sets me up for a really strong mid game.
Ravens are going to start being very important in TvP IMO
PDD and HSM greatly increase the potency of your attacks. Ofc with this build make ur raven before two banshees so the raven can charge energy. With this variation i get cloak, other variation is banshee->raven->banshee and get raven upgrade before raven pops while transitioning to a mid game that utilizes raven play.
Widow mines need more experimentation too. Been using them with main army for bigger engagements, gets some good splash damage as well as a solid foward position, can use them as a "safe area" for ghosts
I've been doing a 1/1/1 out of 1Rax Fe as well with same variations
|
On February 06 2013 02:16 Stingart wrote:
I see no way for me to lose TvP unless my opponent goes for an all-in 10 food 2 gateway.
If that is the only thing you could possibly lose to I would if I were you just wall my ramp, then you also cant lose to that.
That said considering your strategy doesnt include anything from HotS, it should work just as well in WOL. Actually it should work better in WoL, since toss doesnt have their new toys there. Considering in WoL it isnt impossible to lose with that strat, my guess is that TvZ and TvT arent your best matchups so your rank is too low when looking at TvP, and you simply get opponents way under your skill level. Thats the only thing I can think of why a strat using only WoL units and mechanics would suddenly dominate in HotS.
(Edit: okay you got medivac boost, but that doesnt come close to explaining it).
|
I'm a diamond toss and the only thing I can tell you is: do whatever you want except 1rax expand. CC first gives you more marines in time for oracle harass and void ray all-ins. When I see 1rax exp. I just poke with msc and stalker and then kill everything with oracle. It's not a good build anymore. Widow mine opening shuts down oracle harass completely. Widow mines 1-shot oracles and every gateway unit now, so that's something worth experimenting with. So basically if every other mine gets a single shot off, they're cost efficient which sounds like a good deal at least on paper.
Oh and whatever you do, don't build reapers against double gas openings!
And from there on you should be good. Just play your normal bio tvp but with a lot of hellbats with armor upgrades - mech armor and air armor are the same upgrade now. Should play out pretty much the same as WOL.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
