Terran, the harass race?

I admit that I’m no expert on how to play Terran. But I’ve been practicing. And the better I harass, the better I seem to get.

One of the hardest things about playing Terran is that they seem to so easily get creamed in the late game. Allow a protoss to two base without harassment, or allow a Zerg to three base, and soon enough, you’ll be swarmed. Sure, professionals seem to be able to trade armies in TvP Colossus fights. But whenever I try, I wind up with a bunch of burning, dead marines.

Specifically in the TvP matchup, I’ve been using a 3xSiege tank timing attack, and it’s been working quite well. Supposedly, the attack hits when the Protoss player can have, at most, only a single colossus. With good positioning, and depending on the map, you can both take on a Protoss army that isn’t quite full strength, and deny mining.

In a recent game, I did just this. I managed to destroy the Nexus at his natural. But I wasn’t able to crack into the main base. It didn’t matter much, because I came back with a drop to his main that destroyed both his templar archives and his dark shrine (before it warped in).

Perhaps that is one of the ways in which Terran play is fundamentally different from Protoss and Zerg play. Terran has to work for their advantage. They have to fight, tooth and nail, to keep their opponent’s production down, just to keep pace. Where, when I play Toss or Zerg, I’m more hoping to weather early attacks in order to build an invincible army/swarm.

The one glaring weakness in my Terran play is that I don’t use Ghosts. I’ve had a few free practice games, specifically trying to go Ghosts. Maybe it’s just me, but Ghosts seem to require the most micromanagement out of any unit in the game. Clocking, when to activate it, whether to snipe, emp, or go for a nuclear launch. It’s a lot to learn, and there are many decisions one has to get correct in order to win the game.

Ideally, I’d like to use Ghosts for early game harass. But so far, every time my opponent has had detection, and I’ve failed to do any meaningful damage.

Do you have a good Ghost build? If so, I’d love to hear it.

Kicking Ass with 8 Gate

Ever since I got my ass kicked with an 8 gate, I thought I’d write about it here. It’s a protoss build, obviously. But I’ve found it can work in both PvT and PvZ matchups.

One of the best parts about the build is how flexible it is. Ideally, you’d like to throw down a nexus on 16. But you can just as well go Gateway nexus. Or even Gateway, Core, Nexus, depending on the map size and opponent’s aggression.

Even if you’re playing in the PvT matchup, you’re going to want an early forge. Sure, an early forge for a double nexus opening is standard in PvZ. But I find that even in PvT, I like to go ahead and throw up a cannon anyway. But you’re really getting the forge for the upgrades. I normally use two gasses off the main, but none off the expo. This should give you a surplus of gas. So once you get your WarpGate going, and your MSC, you want to also start on +1 weapons. When that finishes, go ahead and upgrade armor. Or shields. I’m not sure which is better, but with a little practice, your attack can hit with both upgrades.

You should be able to make probes until you’ve got 16 at each nexus. Plus the 6 on gas. That’s where you can cut drones and make a few supply pylons. I didn’t specifically say to make the gates, but you’ll want 8 of them. In case of early attacks, I like to make them two or three at a time. Scouting before all 8 gates are online is crucial, since this is your most vulnerable time.

Then, have a blast playing this ‘4 gate on steroids’. I always start with a round of sentries, so they can build energy. Then Stalkers. Then finish with zealots. It’s a very powerful build, with all the force fields you’ll need to block ramps and stop repairing SCVs. I don’t think I’ve lost a game yet, once the attack commences. The only real way to beat it, I’ve found, is to rush even earlier than it hits.

One of the best things about the 8 gate is that even if you get counter attacked, you have 8 gates. Meaning you can warp in units to defend at your base, and units to attack at your forward pylon.

One finishing touch that I must recommend. Keep a probe with your army. Setup forward pylons every time you advance your position. If you can get inside his base and have that probe make a pylon, your opponent will almost always gg. I’m not sure why, but something about seeing a pylon next to his production, or at the edge of his creep, always seems to convince people that they’ve lost.

Back to Gold

So I went away on vacation for a while. Did you miss me?

It was already a new season when I got back. I must say, I was a little disappointed to se ethat I got placed into Gold. Sure, I thought. Typical Blizzard. Making me fight my way back into the Diamodn league, where I belong.

But the fight back into Diamond hasn’t been going too easy. Every match I play on ladder, I have to remind myself that all the other Diamonds also got thrown into gold. I quickly made my way to the top of the Gold league. But I haven’t moved much since.

Then I read an article on reddit, saying that Blizzard changed their league distributions. Now, it’s harder to get into Plat and Diamond, and all the other high level leagues.

http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/hl4uq/playing_games_after_being_demoted_because_playing/

Great. I’m no longer a Diamond. Well, it was good while it lasted.

I checked my play stats, and it turns out I’m doing good with all races and matchups. Except my TvP, which was only 20%!

So I’ve been trying to beef up my one, weakest matchup. I checked for strats on Team Liquid. A three siege tank timing attack that they have on their site seems like the right strategy for me. Except that its so old, it has you researching siege mode! Still the essence of the strat is there, and it’s worked for me in at least one game.

Does anyone have a good Terran strategy for me? Especially one that counters a four gate, and accomplishes some kind of good early attack. If so, please let me know @maulakai on twitter.

Thanks!