[G] Tank Positioning

First reason is BoxeR, of course

SIEGE TANK (SIEGE MODE):

Advantages:
> 70 Damage.
> Splash damage.
> Great range.
> Shooting over obstacles.

Disadvantages:
> Can't move.
> Hurts own units.
> Has minimal range.
> Deploying takes time.

Since Tanks' terryfing power lies in Siege Mode, the positioning issue is critical. When deployed, Tanks cannot move, so placing them on awkward spots often results with huge loss of time (at best) or total disaster (at worst). Let's take a look and analyze some samples:



Note: In all these pictures I assume Toss will attack from the North.

I call this formation "The Blob". Tanks look scary when set up like that, yet it is an illusion. Any competent Protoss player will destroy such armor cluster without too much trouble. Psi Storm, Zealot bombs or simple run of Speedlot gang and Terran shall be screwed. On some ocassions "The Blob" may work, but most often it will lead to disaster.





In contrary to previous example, this is kind of almost-perfect formation. Tank line has "depth", meaning it will reveal it's full power gradually, as enemy approaches. Not only the opponent will have longer distance to run under fire - he will often miscalculate his chances of successful breakthrough. (Note that due to his limited vision, he may assume there are not that many Tanks on his way).

Tanks at the bottom of this formation are not split like those above, to increase efectiveness of massive fire. It's unlikely for Toss to break throught the whole line, so they don't need to be spread out that good as initial ones.





A typical example of self-ownage. Tanks are occupying terrible position on a minefield, meaning it will take only a Shuttle with 4 Zealots on it to kill them all. If you ever wondered why progamers are sometimes killing his own mines, let this be a good explanation.





Very standard setup, albeit not perfect. Simply speaking, Mines are clustered and placed very close to the Tank line. They will probably destroy each other and on a ocassion, hit own units as well (remember, those Spider crawlers are incredibly stupid). If Mine God will smile, this should be probably enough to survive an attack, but who needs to risk that much?





Here is the solution: Mines are spread out and placed further from Tanks, giving Vulture support just enough time to deal with the Zealots. Furthermore, Tanks are split better as well. Thanks to SCV support, the area is covered by Turrets, which makes Zealot bombing more difficult and nullifies half of the Protoss Arbiters' advantage. Some Depots and EBay provide additional cover in case of run-by.





Good, but rarely seen setup. Tank is covered by swarm of moving SCV's and CC. Furthermore, workers can repair it when needed.



Tanks like Destination. Below, two samples of placement for profit:


Early-game setup. Tanks are moved a bit further from cliff's edge to avoid Goons' return fire.


Mid-game setup. This time tanks on high ground are placed on the edge to maximize their range.

JangBi goes 1 Gate Goon, Nada 1 Fac expo. JangBi scouts wrong and he is not able to get into Nada's base. Nada chooses to build Starport right away after his CC, and prepares Siege drop. Protoss gets Observers first and sneaks it into Terran base. JangBi spots drop early and nullifies it easily while double expanding. Nada expands again as well and builds more Turrets to intercept the Shuttle. JangBi builds another Nexus at 9 o'clock. He then sends Shuttle with Reaver to harass, but with no success. On another drop attempt he fails even more, losing two Shuttles, Reaver and a Dragoon to clever Turret placement. Nada then tries some Vulture harassement, yet JangBi's forces are in place and Toss has already secured himself 4th expo. Nada Drops 2 Tanks over new enemy outpost, still of no avail. He is willing to sacrifice a lot of Vultures in exchange for Probes from Toss' third expo. However, as the game is progressing, Terran forces are more and more contained in his 11 o'clock corner, while servants of Aiur are taking almost all available resource nodes. Finally Nada manages to wreck mining at one enemy base, but at cost of more Vultures. Shortly after this, he moves out with massive Tank army. The "Terran killer" mode unleashes out of the blue and Nada's army dies in few seconds to extraordinary effort of Khan's Executor. After few more minutes JangBi's expo count is revealed to his opponent and he has nothing more to do that typing gg.

This macro-fest was severly interrupted by MBC Refree, who lagged in the midgame and was eventually dropped from game. (Both players seemed relieved after this.)

Stork scouts with 7th Probe and steals Fantasy's gas, following this with 1Gate Goon range. Fantasy answers this with fast 1Rax into expo and Bunker in his natural. Some well-positioned Goons are intercepting Fantasy's SCV scouts, but Probe scout is denied as well. Then Stork manages to snipe Fantasy's 1st Tank, forcing Terran to spent a lot of minerals on repairing a Bunker. Stork retreats after Siege Mode is up and sits on his ridge while double expanding. Using Pylon blocks, he shuts Vulture holes at both natural and 3rd base. Fantasy gets more Factories, but fails to do any damage with Vults. The Observers are are following Terran army as it's repositioned to low ground above Fantasy's 1st ridge. Stork however, has much larger force, and attacks shortly after Fantasy moves out. Overrun by superior numbers, Terran loses most of his units and the control over "his" hill. With some sneaky tactics, Fantasy opts for ninja expo at 9 o'clock and finally scores some Probe kills with Vultures. However, his 2nd attempt to move out is swiftly countered by Dragoons attacking from high ground and, more importantly, some miraclous Storms. Stork smashes Terran natural and marches up his ramp. GG, Dino Toss clinches his 1st title.

Stork's facial expression after this game was probably 2nd greatest heart-melting feature in SC progaming, beaten only by Calm's tears after recent MSL Semifinal.

JangBi gets 1Gate Goon range and blocks ramp with two Probes. He then plants ninja Citadel to get fast DT's. Fantasy plays standard 1Fac expo. Protoss forces are chasing 1st SCV scout so hard that they somehow let another Terran worker to sneak in and reveal his build. Fantasy survives Templar trouble with almost no damage. JangBi gets his natural running and adds 2 more Gateways. With very fast Arbiter tech instead of another expo, servants of Aiur are planning some timing agression, but this is repeatadly intimidated by marauding Vultures. Fantasy moves out to 1st ridge unspotted and drops 4 Vultures on JangBi's main. 2nd drop gets pretty well intercepted by Goons, but so does recall attempt, which costs JangBi an Arbiter. Terran secures 3rd expo and smashes first Toss attack on it. Another Protoss attack goes through east lane, but it's repulsed again by massive Tank and Vessel force. After securing his control over bottom ridge, Fantasy takes the opportunity and assaults new 3 o'clock expo. With same number of bases, JangBi settles for a recall in Terran main. This area is filled with mines and Fantasy's reinforcements, turning the attack into a suicide. Another recall hits 5 o'clock, this time to greater effect, but Terran control over high ground remains overwhelming. Fantasy pushes through west lane and even titanic efforts are not enough for Toss to stop this. Left with pitful few units and no additional expos, JangBi surrenders to the massive Tank army.

Fantasy's defensive potential and reactions were both so awesome, he even managed to EMP Arbiters, which were Hallucinated just to annoy him.

Game opens with Fantasy scouting for proxy Gates, while Kal employs 14Nexus. After standard 1Fac expand, Terran opts for timing attack with 3 Tanks, 3 Vultures and 3 Marines. By abusing backdoor lane, Fantasy cuts off mining supply at Protoss natural and brutalizes it even more with frontal Vulture raid. Some gigantic effort allows Kal to save himself, but his counter (Shuttle) is intercepted by another counter (Wraith). Kal rushes to Arbiters and horribly fails with another drop attempt (or rather is brilliantly caught by Fantasy's Gosu Starsense). One more agressive move by Toss is repulsed, and Terran has his 3rd Gas secured. SKT1 Terrorist livens up to his nickname by 2Vult 1Tank Drop at Kal's main followed by another Vulture invasion. Warriors of Adun are rammed once again when Fantasy catches their 1st Arbiter with 4 Goliaths sent to 2 o'clock expo. Kal jumps through central bridges, but he is unable to breakthrough and he gets trapped at Terran backdoor. 1st Recall is interrupted by EMP, while second one fails within a... second to impenetrable human defense. Shortly after this, Kal loses 8 o'clock expo and brand new Nexus at 5 o'clock. Last full-control group of Goons melts under Mech fire and this is the end of Protoss' suffering.

A must-watch. Fantasy's defence again was flawless. Even when Kal managed to get a recall he was so utterly destroyed, that it raises questions about some kind of in-game bug.

I focused on TvP matchup, but I want to make two more threads with TvT and TvZ.
(Should I do it? Fill the poll, please.)

Some of those thoughts may be a bit irrelevant. I'm not an expert player.
If I messed up someting, just write it here or PM me.

Special Thanks To:
SgtHK0223 (YouTube user; for banner inspiration),
Jon747 (aka Baezzi, for videos),
4chan (for rage thread inspiration),
You (for reading this).

No Pandabearguys were harmed during the making of this guide.