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My friend wants to get better at SC2, but doesn't have the time to read over forums or really watch many vods/guides (though I have gone to throw a few select Dailies recently). The other day he wanted to watch me do a few ladder games and ask some questions about them. After he mentioned that he'd really like to have and understand a straight forward build order that he could practice to get a bit of understanding of the fundamentals and more confident in his play.
I saw this as an opportunity to help my friend and learn about the "why" for parts of build orders. The one thing he loves most about the game is when he can get a mass of Thors and stroll over to an opponents base. So I set out to create my own build to try to get a Thor out as fast as possible... and after several hours this is what I have...
The Build
+ Show Spoiler +10 Depot 12 Barracks 12 Refinery 15 Depot & Orbital - Factory at 100 gas (timed right after second depot finishes)
- Second gas and Tech Lab on Barracks while Factory is building
- Build Armory, swap Barracks and Factory, build a Depot, start a CC
- Start the Thor once the Armory is done, out around 6:40
Notes
+ Show Spoiler +
[list]
[*]I found that doing a 13 refinery delayed the Factory a bit, and that was more against the goal of "fastest Thor" than the slight pause in SCV production.
[*]Once I pull an SCV for the third Depot I try to keep him on constant Depot production and add a second once I take the natural.
[*]I find that the Starport being built at 5:55 could be a second Factory for more Hellbat/Thor production.
[*]If I wasn't slow on starting the Tech Lab I can squeeze a mine or hellion in before the Armory finishes (slowing the Thor by a few seconds if at all due to minerals)
From the end of the video I would normally go on to take the third shortly after, adding 2 or 3 more Factories and a Starport and going for a mix of Thors/Hellbats with a dash of Medivacs. I also try to stay on top of upgrades, get an Engineering Bay for Planetary and Turrets, and aggressively expand.
The best replay of the opening I have at the moment http://drop.sc/314050
My main concern is how well it will hold out against early rushes and things like Reaper/Oracle harassment and I haven't found a way to make it seem more solid against that without pushing the Thor back to more than 7:15-7:30. So I'm really looking for any advice on any way it could be improved without a significant delay on the Thor (while keeping in mind that this is meant for someone to learn and play around in Bronze or maybe Silver with).
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I have to admit, I did this almost every game in gold-diamond. Now that I'm in masters, I still do this in 95% of TvT. It's a fun and great build order!
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The factory should be idle during the time it takes to make the armory. What you can try and do is build a reactor with the barracks first, swap and build 2 mines while the armory is building and use the racks to build a tech lab in the mean time. Put the two mines in the mineral line, then swap the racks and factory when the armory is done. Then pump out marines with the thor.
Edit: yeah, you have more than enough spare time and gas to get a reactor and pump out a pair of mines.
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@ Irgotmilk2
Haha, good to know, that's how I was hoping it would turn out! :D
@ Rowrin
I've done it to make a hellion or mine before, but from all the test runs I did of it I never thought "hey, toss a reactor on the factory first and pump out two." I normally stick to Zerg and I was staring at the build too long, knew I had to be missing something somewhere, thanks for taking a look.
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You should definitely go reactor on rax, make 2 mines while you make a tech lab on the rax while the armory is building then swiswitch them and pump put reactor marines. Having a reactor rax and 2 mines will make the build ultra safe until the Thor pops out. From there you can go 3cc, marine Thor push with some scvs to repair, whatever you like
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there has been a thor allin way back, it stopped working because they gave thor his energy back. its probably not gonna work anymore because theres just no strike cannon T_T
but i guess in lower league it still works quite well
just open normal with 12 rax 13 gas 100 gas= proxy factory, 3 marines then reactor armory etc. when thor pops out pull about 12 scvs and push with marines thor and scvs, mass repair thor(let him be in front), walk down forcefields
continue building thors/marines
fast thor without allin is not really worth it at all
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I get 2 thors at 7:40. But i believe this is a hard build to start with.
Best advice i have is the 1 base bronze 2 masters if he wants to learn the game, the units and upgrades. This because u can defend all cheeses with a 1 base all-in without scouting. It has a couple of unique builds, with different troops and upgrades in every build. After a couple of runs with different builds, i suggest filtersc B2M series for macroplay.
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Although this build is super fun to do, I have to admit that this build won't help your friend learn though...I reccomend going through the filtersc builds to learn his macro. Then he should start doing the more fun builds.
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lol this build coming from 2010 all over again
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Thanks for the feedback guys, I hadn't seen any of Filtersc's guides before and had the 1 base guide in my pile of "to read" tabs. I'll sit down with him and get him to look over both guides a bit and see which one he'd prefer to work with.. and keep the reactor fast Thor build around for fun... maybe when we do 2v2s
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EPT
