Terran Strategy
Terran vs Protoss
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Offensive Bunkering | Island Games | Cloaking | Special Abilities | Terran vs Terran | Terran vs Protoss | Terran vs Zerg

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Basics
Usually the worry is a large number of Zealots attacking your town early on, or someone going up the tech tree to Reavers. If the enemy simply defends until they get to the units or strategy that they want to do, then things change, but often people pick one of those two offensive strategies. To beat large numbers of Zealots, you need to have 3-4 or more Barracks, and make use of Bunkers. Send in scouting parties early on which should alert you to the possibility that the enemy is trying for Reavers (look for the Robotics Facility, and/or a Cybernetics Core).

Dealing with a large amount of Zealots
If you believe the enemy will send in a large amount of Zealots early, you have two main choices:

    Entirely Offensive
    This is an order that often works. Build a Supply Depot, Barracks, Supply Depot, Barracks, then 1-2 more Barracks and more Supply Depots as necessary all while continuing to build more SCVS. Try to build your base in a very tight formation so Bunkers can cover most of it if or when you decide to build them. Continue making Marines in an even distribution in all 3 or 4 Barracks. Skip mining Gas until a later point to build more Marines, Barracks, and SCVs. An alternate building order is:

    1. On SCV #7, build a Barracks.
    2. With SCV #8, build a Supply Depot.
    3. Build a Bunker that will cover your SCVs mining Minerals and all your other buildings. (Building a very tightly packed town is important here)
    4. Fill up your Bunker with 4 Marines then continue on with a normal building order. This will also stop the 6 Zergling Rush if you repair your Bunker while it is being attacked..

    Send out your first 2-3 Marines to scout the map and find the enemy if you don't know where he/she is. You may want to go grab an SCV and scout even earlier. After you have discovered what species your opponent is (if you didn't know already) and what they are up to, you can decide how to proceed next. You may find you want to send all your Marines to attack or brace for an attack that they might be sending. It's also vital that you keep checking secondary resource locations to make sure your opponent isn't expanding.

    You may want to build Bunkers here and there as added defense provided that they will cover the areas the enemy will attack.

    If you make it through the first attack, start mining Gas. Start building an Academy and research Stim Packs and the U-238 Shells upgrade. Start building a lot of Firebats. The Zealots will die quite easily to them especially when they are properly controlled and Stim Packed. You will find that Stim Packs will allow your Marines and Firebats to win battles when far out numbered. The enemy will be forced to build Dragoons to fight the Firebats.

    Build a ComSat Station so you can spy on the enemy's town and be sure to hot key it for easier use. If you decide to build an Engineering Bay, research the Infantry Weapons upgrade first, so units in Bunkers can benefit from it.

    If the enemy continues to produce more Zealots, start building lots of Firebats. Build Bunkers near your SCVs and place Firebats in them. Firebats are more effective against Zealots than Marines, especially when Stim Packed, but Stim Packed Marines will also do the job. Build up the tech tree to Vultures and start using them and Spider Mines to defeat the incoming Zealots.

    After that, getting Siege Tanks is probably the best decision. With Siege Tanks backing up your troops you will have a lot easier time fighting the Zealots, and Dragoons if your opponent finally starts mixing up his/her troops. If your Marines and Vultures are doing a good job, you may even want to skip Firebats and head straight to Siege Tanks.

    Playing Defensively
    A more defensive order would be to build a lot of Bunkers and less Barracks/Marines. The problem you might find with that is the difficulty building enough Bunkers to properly defend your whole town. It's important to build a few near your mining SCVS to prevent Shuttle drops, and to pick off troops attacking your miners. If they do attack those Bunkers, quickly get your SCVs repairing them as they are being attacked.

Catch the Protoss by Surprise
A great way to surprise the enemy is to send a group of cloaked Wraiths to attack enemy Probes. Quite often Protoss players do not have Photon Cannons near their Probes, and if you are lucky, are not even in a position to build Photon Cannons or Observers because they have been focusing on building a lot of Zealots or Dragoons. Send your Wraiths in and attack the Probes. With 8 damage apiece for the Wraiths, you may find that they are the best target for them. If they do have Dragoons, you can cloak. This will not work every time but when it does, you can really halt the Protoss enemy's progress.

If the Protoss send Observers to detect your Wraiths, quickly ComSat the area, find the Observer, and kill it with the Wraiths. Then proceed to attack. Quite often the Protoss enemy will not have more than one Observer in the area and will be forced to build more, retreat back to the safety of Cannons, or move Observers from other areas.

Stopping the Reaver Drop
Kill Reavers with Wraiths. If they attempt to return to their Shuttle, kill the Shuttle with the Wraith. Place Siege Tanks in Siege Mode near the center of your town to fire at the Reaver from out of range of the Reavers attack. Lockdown the Reaver if you can. If none of these are available, send Marines in, but spread them out so the enemy cannot hit them all with one hit, and use Stim Packs. One or two Missile Turrets back by your SCVs will help to chase off incoming Shuttles, and prevent your opponent from picking up the Reavers and moving them around your base.

Stopping Mass Carriers
Lockdown can certainly help against large groups of Carriers. Build a collection of Goliaths with Charon Boosters upgrade (+3 Missile Range) can help the Terrans nail Carriers from a distance. Another option is Cloaked Wraiths. Use a Scanner Sweep to reveal Protoss Observers. Kill them, then send in the Cloaked Wraiths. If you're lucky it will take some time before another Observer can be moved into place.

Dark Templar Rush
A really common strategy is a Protoss rush to Dark Templars. Protoss players will typically block their base in with Photon Cannons (which is a good warning sign) then rush to Dark Templars. Make sure you build a ComSat Station early on. Don't rely entirely on your ComSat station, they can be fooled. Build Missile Turrets around your town. Try to protect your Missile Turrets with a Bunker. Science Vessels are the best Defense against Dark Templars in the long run. Don't be caught unprepared.

Defending Against Spies
If you want to keep the enemy from spying on your town with Observers, place a few Missile Turrets in areas that will cover your whole town. This usually halts most players from sending Observers into your town for fear of losing them.

Lockdown, the Protoss Killer
Lockdown is a very effective tool to use against almost all Protoss units except Archons and Zealots. If the enemy builds a lot of Dragoons, Scouts, Carriers, or even Reavers, you can easily lock them down and finish them off with your troops by building up a sizable force of Ghosts with the proper upgrades. You can also use these same Ghosts to nuke the Protoss bases.

EMP (or, "Oops, did you need those shields?")
The EMP ability of the Science Vessel is another very effective tool against the Protoss. EMP will reset all Protoss Shields/energy in the area of the explosion to 0. This can be useful in clearing out Photon Cannons, making buildings easier to kill, and even casting it on approaching Protoss armies. When being attacked by Archons, EMP will reduce them to only 10 hit points allowing a small force of even Marines to slaughter them. EMP is essential for fighting Scouts if your opponent is using Shield Batteries to constantly restore their shields.


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