Misc Terran Strategy Questions

Terran Discussion
1

So, this is just sort of a laundry list of questions I’ve had and I actually just started reading the forums recently, so I guess I’ll just put some of them here. Feel free to answer any one of them, I’ll number them to make it easier. Sorry if some of them are obvious. Also, please note I am not complaining about balance, I understand that there are correct responses and counters that work, I just don’t know them.

(Diamond 2-3 Terran for reference)

  1. Against zerg I got fed up with dying to banelings and started going mech, but I’ve had a lot of problems with mutas. My anti-air consists of widow mines and thors, but the thors are too slow to respond if I keep them together and 1-2 individual thors often just get overrun or magic boxed. The widow mines are usually just picked off when they bring an overseer and even when they do hit it takes several to kill the mutas. Any turrets are one shotted easily by stacked mutas and usually don’t buy enough time. I feel like if I build cyclones my army will be too weak for an actual push by roaches, which are usually present in force, sometimes even being used to force out tanks before a sudden muta switch. In addition, since I tend to go bc, I will usually see a spire and start to blind counter mutas but then sometimes it turns out it was just corruptors for the bc and I get wrecked by some other composition I wasn’t prepared for since I overreacted. My reaction to losing my defense used to be to move out since mutas can’t basetrade well, and that worked in plat and below but now my opponents are smart enough to just send the mutas to kill my hellion/tank and I lose. I’ve heard liberators are a viable counter, is this true? (sorry this one is long af, it’s been my biggest issue)

  2. Based on what information should I make the decision to go 1 bc or 3 bc yamato? I usually plan for 3 because it would help with mutas but then I take some damage from a ravager push or something and just don’t have the money.

  3. I feel like when I run my bio out of a storm the storm is about to end by the time they get clear and they already took 99% of the damage from it, is it better to just stand and fight so I don’t lose the dps or am I just wrong?

  4. I can hit the emps on all or most of the templar maybe 60% of the time, but I feel like it’s impossible to emp the ones dropping out of the prism in time, how do you deal with a prism that could be full of high templar when your vikings are shooting the colossi? Just git gud and split better?

  5. Embarrassingly enough, I’ve actually died to proxy void rays with a shield battery fortress (usually after a failed cannon rush turned cannon “contain”) a few times recently. I know I just have to scout better, but any tips for when you screw up and the batteries are there with 1-2 void rays already?

  6. What do you do with the reaper after it gets pushed away by a queen/adept/stalker? You can’t really go back in for more scouting afaik because it would just die before it gets into the base since they’ll have even more units.

Those are the ones I thought of for now, might add some eventually, sorry for the giant wall of text and any help is appreciated!

2

The counter to banes is actually good T splits. But it is one of the most micro intensive task to do unfortunately. The other option is to micro only your rines and leave your marauders / thors there to soak the damage. You can consider using mines but you need to know when to unburrow for retargeting. The slightly easier version is to use tanks and manually target the banes always (this forces the Z to need to split their banes up).

If you are planning to still switch to mech instead, you should try to place mines in pairs (or 3s) at some places. Another alternative is try to place them behind structures so it is a lot harder to see. It is alright if they are picking the mines off (assuming you also place a few outside), because that is added APM not spent harassing your bases. Because an upgraded overseer is still slower than muta, a lot of micro is required. And you only need 2-3 mine shots to take out all the mutas. Furthermore, you should continue to harass Z and not sit back and just defend. Z macros better than any race, and every larva spent on an army is one less as a drone.

If you are considering more towards battle mech, then you need to make sure that you are out on the map most of the time. It’s all about picking at the army with lock-ons and keeping the army trimmed so that they can’t reach a critical mass when they reach your base.

Though I’d beg to deter that mutas can’t base trade well. Mutas + lings are the top in terms of base trade. The more accurate definition is that mutas cannot army trade well for the cost invested into them.

Liberators are just an additional harassment option, but not good against a roach ravager mid game push cause they will get biled down. Even tanks will be much better since they splash, rather than you having single target dps. Plus mutas can chase and target them down.

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There isn’t really much info you can use to decide whether it’s 1x BC or 3x BC. The key thing is that Z is a reactive race. So they will go for whatever composition that is required based on what you do. The only option you have would be to do a fake like 2x BC without Yamato. They will then invest into 8 corruptors which is essentially an overspending for just 2 BCs.

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As for storms, you can consider pre-splitting you’re army a little, or engage expecting a storm anytime so that you can move out. Every tick counts honestly. Storms are very much like sentry forcefields. This means that there is a limit to how many they can cast over a period of time. Once they run out of juice, that’s it. So what you are trying to do is to bait as many storms out while still taking minimal damage throughout. Ghosts’ EMP bring you closer to that point if they get a good shot off.

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A good counter for proxy VR after cannon are 1-2 tanks and just pure rines. If you have the resource, even 1-2 mine will zone the VRs out if there isn’t a detector. I am actually surprised ppl are going for this because it isn’t a viable strategy. A more reliable one would be to tech into Robo and do a prism immo drop with the batteries. If you are also able to just get a single viking out to micro, and use your rines to zone the VRs out, it’s GG for the P.

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Keeping the reaper alive will enable you with a few options: to deny the 3rd either by blocking or killing the drone / probe; to go in to check if the Z is doing a roach bane timing; check if the Z has made a massive wave of drones or army; check what the P T2 tech tree is (e.g. twilight; dark shrine; stargate). It is expected to die since it doesn’t scale well into the mid game, but that info will help you make a lot of decisions.

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Not sure if these will help you, but they are just one of many other possible solutions to the issues that you are facing.

3

Really appreciate the feedback!!

Liberators are just an additional harassment option, but not good against a roach ravager mid game push cause they will get biled down. Even tanks will be much better since they splash, rather than you having single target dps. Plus mutas can chase and target them down.

Here I actually meant if the liberator AA splash attack works against mutas. Hypothetically I could lift off the bc starport and reactor it to pump out like 6-8 liberators which I believe one shots mutas. It’s not the fastest hit squad but its a hell of a lot faster than thors and can chase through the dead space.

4

Unless there is a critical mass of around 16++ mutas I don’t think Liberators are worth it. Plus it’s function is pretty much similar to mines in that you need to get a good shot off. Assuming at that level of gameplay, people know how to split their mutas, then it isn’t really going to be much of an issue for them to chase your libs down.

Furthermore, this is often coupled with mass lings + roach + ravagers which the lib isn’t really great against. A lot of investment for something not confirmed in my opinion.

I think one of the key issues that T has is learning how much of their army needs to be split to stay at home. This part is really difficult because just a few additional units in front or at home will make a whole load of difference. I myself am unsure since to be honest my main is not T but Z. But as a result I can share with you what I am worried about and what I am not, and that is mines, and a few good Thor shots.

5

That makes sense, thanks. I guess I just thought liberators. being flying units, would allow me to actually finish the mutas since if they probe a location with mines or thors, they can escape before they take enough damage to actually die and just regen to probe a new location. To keep them out, I need substantial defenses around my base since one or even two thors can be dived on and taken out with magic boxing if there are enough mutas. Generally what ends up happening is I stave off the mutas taking acceptable amounts of damage but I don’t actually kill them, so they continue to grow in numbers and keep me somewhat pinned. Then, eventually, I either mess up my defense and get overrun by mutas, or he just takes the map and kills me with normal macro. I send out hellion runbys regularly but many players will put one zergling at every exit from my base, so the mutas are alerted to the hellions and run them down. If they don’t, the creep has usually gone far enough that the roaches will be there in time to deny anything more than 3-4 drone kills. I guess I just have to hope for a big connection with 5-6 mines when he’s not looking, or have him accidently run into 2-3 thors while clumped up. I just don’t like feeling powerless and relying on him making a mistake with his control.

6

Not exactly, only if you manage to cut them off. Mutas fly faster than lib if I recall.

You cannot stay in your base if you are a T, unless you are mech. Even then you are on a timer to hit the Z before they get broods to pair up with roaches on the ground (if you are tank heavy). They will alternatively switch to ultras if you are thor heavy. The key thing about Z is that it is very reactive and dependent on larvae bank. This means that if you can take a couple of cost effective trades (which tend to be the case for mech), it will be a headache for any Z players who hasn’t been diligent in their injects. Plus you should always try to probe here and there to punish Z for doing a wave of drones. If your hellions are timed right that’s a lot of damage (usually wasting that set of drones they just made).

This can be prevented if you are on top of your creep push back. Plus the first few creep tumours make a world of difference since they duplicate themselves. Maybe consider cleaning up earlier in the game since it’s not that APM intensive compared to the Z needing to plant them down.

I think I came across a post where someone claimed that thors should be nerfed because the thor coincidentally splashed the mutas when they tried to clump up and take out a mine. This is something you can consider. If mobility is an issue, use medivacs to ferry them.

I’m not gonna lie, T is rather micro intensive when against Z but they will come out on top if they managed to micro properly.

7

Thanks again for the response,

I always go mech against zerg, I think I snapped after one too many long macro games ended immediately because I didn’t split against the banes in time. I guess I just have to use game sense to find the right time to pull a bunch of thors and mines form my expansions and just push with the whole army. Ideally, this would force the mutas to come after me, but fi they don’t the damage might just be too much for him to bounce back from.

You’re right that my creep control could be better, I guess that’s something else to work on, and intentionally setting up that thor/mine combo could be interesting (can’t stack and split at the same time!). Never really thought about using medivacs to move thors. I guess I always wrote it off as suicide because if they just dive on the medivac and you’re not fast enough or going over a dead zone the thor just dies, but it could definitely put one or two more shots on the mutas which can make all the difference.