Your Terran strategies

[Itsmyship]

Since Blizzcon has officially closed, we now have more accurate information on the Terran, so here's your chance to share your strategies with everybody! Post your strategies, what you think is gonna be the often-used combinations, everything that comes into your mind.

[Cerebrate]

I guess my style will stay quite same on SC2.

I usually play Counter-rush style and I win enemies with economy (make every mineral count) I expand quite soon and try out-micro enemies on battle so I get economy advance on each victory.

Reapers are damn sure going to be my favorite units... they are simply perfect for harassing...

Jump behind enemy mineral field, destroy as many workers you can and then make run for it... rinse and repeat.

I rush VERY rarely... but I always try to harass enemy's economy some way

[Eye_Carumba]

As I said before, Predators allowing viking raids to break detections and defenses. Then Banshees' raids with Starbase to constantly replenish their cloaking energy. Should lay waste into terrans. But not vs. Protosses with Observers. Or Zergs with detecting Overlords (now that turrets lost their detection I'm afraid for the Overlord! 'o_o). Yet a good strat in T. vs. T..

Against Protoss, I would hav to say vikings, vikings and vikings! The Lost Vikings! lol

Vikings are made in enough numbers to face Warp rays. They have decent HP and armor to face interceptors and Colossus, and in the later, if don't, they can shift to the air and be unreachable! xD They seem to be good at destroying BCs, so Mother-ships and Carriers wouldn't be a problem. They have no energy to be feedbacked. They can hunt Phase prisms and escape zealots by going to the air. Their only problems would be Psy-storm, twilight archons, Phoenixes with overload, slowing Stasis Orbs and Stalkers on pursuit. Otherwise, I bet their machine guns don't even trigger the Immortal's shield.

Also a problem, Vikings cannot be made through reactor add-on, and need tech-add-on if I remember correctly. So, you would need many factories to make enough vikings. Anyways, add them some Predator for defense (if it works vs. lasers) and Nomads for air-healing and they better take care of the remaining threats! ;-)

[Ghost]

Well late game I would just get 2 dozen BC's, half with plasma torp's and the other with yamato guns, lolz.

But seriously speaking a good strat could be to go in with Banshees, bomb the crap out of your enemies while taking cover in the new AoE defensive matrix. You could take your floating starport along to recharge the nomads energy to continiously use defensive matrix.

The starport could also pump out a couple more banshees of needed or even vikings to deal with any desperate AA counters.

[Itsmyship]

@ Eye - Vikings are the first thing you can make in the factory if I remember correctly, so you could use the Reactor on it if you really wanted to, but most ppl will most likely put more factories on tech since Siege Tank is still a must (especially against Zerg). I like your thinking though, I'll most likely end up implementing a bunch of those strats when I play with my good ol' Terran

@ Ghost - Vikings are made from factories, so you couldn't make them from the starbase. Other than that I like it! :)

[Ghost]

Daing! Vikings rly made from factories?? Oh well, make it preds then =D

[Eye_Carumba]

Oh yeah! Cobra is the third! It requires armory! But I still think that a tech lab will be needed to make the upgrade for the air form! Anyway, afterwards, you can shift back to the reactor by liftoff! Good to know! Pumping Vikings would surely be nice!

[Itsmyship]

Definitely! Especially from how the looks of it, it's meant to be a lot more efficient in packs.

[Quanta]

It is a bit early to say for certain but certain unit combinations are interesting to me.

A mix of vikings and siege tanks would make a very interesting army. The Vikings to handle in close ground and air, and the siege tanks to lay waste to enemy armies and structures.

As for fleets things are very interesting. Banshees are going to be a staple for air and the only decision will be between using Predators or Vikings as anti air support. Predators would be nice since I could make them with the starbase and not have to worry about building factories as much. However, I could see landing Vikings as an excellant way to deal with pesky turrets and spore colonies.

For late in the game, I'd probably go with 2 dozen BC's. I'm not sure how I'd mix Yamato and Plasma Cannon until I play the game.

I'm not all that excited about Thor. My experience with Ultralisks tells me that late game ground units aren't worth it but I could be wrong about Thor.

As always I'll have some Nomads around using defense matrix and what other ablities it ends up with.

Early game I could see myself using reapers to harrass enemies and slow their development, kill workers, hamper attempts at expansion, just annoy the hell out of them, things like that.

I can't really see myself using cobras. I never really liked vultures so cobras don't really impress me much but that could change.

Ome thing I could see myself doing it playing with different ways to tactially use ghosts. Their new ability to call in marines has potential to cause damage if you can get them in behind their defences and may be more practical than nukes.

[Itsmyship]

Same with me, I think the two units that I'll utilize the most in a lot of strategies are gonna end up being the Viking and Ghost. Banshee....its the Banshee...enough said!!

I'm not exactly big on Cobras either, but who knows, maybe I'll end up using them a lot.

[ShdwyTemplar]

My Early Game would be a mix of

24 Marines - Basic Assault
24 Reapers - Basic Harassment
24 Medics - Basic Assault Support
12 Vikings - Secondary Assault/AA

My Mid Game Strategy

48 Marines - Basic Support
18 Medics - Basic Support Support ^_^
12 Cobras - Anti Robotic
18 Vikings - Secondary Support
8 Siege Tanks - Primary Support
3 Thors - Auxiliary Support/Sieger

This would be my late game combo

24 Battlecruisers - A Half n Half Combo
18 Nomads - Follow the BC's with there Nano Repair and if needed the Vikings
12 Vikings - Extra Support for either Ground or Air
4 Starbases - Energizes the Nomads/BC's and produce replacement/additional BC's
1 Dropship of 4 Ghost/2 Siege Tanks
4 Drop Pods ready to launch.

Edited for Accuracy

[Itsmyship]

Templar, Cobras are the last thing you make with Factory, so you'll probably utilize them around mid game or so.

And why 24 medics? A good ratio is 1medic per 6 marines. And from the looks of it, that amount of marines can be feasible, if you have barracks with reactor on. The 24 medic thing though seems like it couldn't be as easy as you make it sound though.

And you can only have 1 Drop Pod per Shadow Ops at any given time, so I highly doubt you'll have the money for it all.

A lot of this seems like it'd strain your resources plenty, but I can see a few things that are doable.

[Shadowdragon]

I plan to spam marines after tanks kill the base defenses. If I have the money, I wouldn't mind a few battlecruisers to take out the stronger units. It should be able to handel most people in most games. Anything more specific is too specialized to make an accurate strategy right now.

[Ghost]

My Early Game would be a mix of

24 Marines - Basic Assault
24 Reapers - Basic Harassment
24 Medics - Basic Assault Support
12 Vikings - Secondary Assault/AA

My Mid Game Strategy

48 Marines - Basic Support
18 Medics - Basic Support Support ^_^
12 Cobras - Anti Robotic
18 Vikings - Secondary Support
8 Siege Tanks - Primary Support
3 Thors - Auxiliary Support/Sieger

This would be my late game combo

24 Battlecruisers - A Half n Half Combo
18 Nomads - Follow the BC's with there Nano Repair and if needed the Vikings
12 Vikings - Extra Support for either Ground or Air
4 Starbases - Energizes the Nomads/BC's and produce replacement/additional BC's
1 Dropship of 4 Ghost/2 Siege Tanks
4 Drop Pods ready to launch.

Edited for Accuracy


Thats good, but if you where playing vs me (im sorry to say) you'd be pretty much dead. I like to attack small but strong, those numbers are just HUGE, and your reasource line would not be stable enough to get that many reasources as I will be constanly thowing time bombs at it.

Thats the kind of thing you do when your in a money map and you completely turtled your end of the map.

[FlyingTiger]

yea I agree with ghost, that's one hell of huge army early game... 96 supply? daaaamn and not to mention the resources. You gotta be mining pretty hard at the first expo already. Mid game is already about 160 supply if you count thors being six and the factory units two. Your late game is already over 200 supply. I'm sure by that time, your enemy has something to counter that since it's prolly a late game stalemate.

[Ghost]

^ Hell yes to the above lol.

And now that you mention it, I hate end game stalemates and I was thinking that now with the Thors it will be easier to bust throught them with that mean artillery strike they have, It can prolly blow a chunk off any barricade or chokepoint.

Vikings can also be used to get past Missile turrent spamming in island games.

[Itsmyship]

Vikings are just...wow...nothing bad can be said about the Viking's usefulness! My strategies will most definitely involve a lot of Vikings, Ghosts, and Banshees on top of the already proven units (marines, medics, siege tanks.)

[Eye_Carumba]

Vikings are just...wow...nothing bad can be said about the Viking's usefulness! My strategies will most definitely involve a lot of Vikings, Ghosts, and Banshees on top of the already proven units (marines, medics, siege tanks.)


And since I doubt you won't use BCs as well, we can sum what you're saying to: you'll use every Terran unit except Predator, Nomad, Cobra and Thor. xD

[Darktemplar_L]

Reapers, to harass and possibly halt enemy economy. Bring in cobras to harass enemy's front and back lines. Bring in two Thors backed up by three dozen marines and a dozen medics to heal. Bring in two dozen vikings, 1 dozen on ground, and a dozen on air, and go straight into enemy base and the aerial vikings land in middle of base while land attacks front. Then, use ghosts to bring in drop pods spread out through the base. Of course, bring in half a dozen BC's to clean up with my remaining force.

[Itsmyship]

Eh, I guess you could say that!! You forgot reaper too :P

But hell, if I end up having enough resources to make all those units, then I damnn will!!! I can't wait till the first time I get to use one of those Battlecruisers and Plasma Torpedo the hell outa my enemy >:D

You know what, revise it, I'm gonna probably end up using all of those units with the possible exception of Cobra lol

[FlyingTiger]

oooo i wouldn't underestimate the cobra... 10 dmg to light units but 35 to armored??... have several of those and it'll be formidable against those big machines.

[Ghost]

Always have a few cobra in reverse at the rear of your army and at your base incase you get assaulted or defended by a heavy unit such as thor.

[Eye_Carumba]

Cobras also replace easily the Predators as anti-air: Predators do only 4 dmg at a time, and have no bonuses. They attack at same speed as Cobras, and only gain in range, which is the same as the Missile Turrets. Other than that, he sucks as anti-air. I bet he'll be meant for air-air and ground-air defense, and that's it! :-P

[Itsmyship]

Cobras don't attack air targets I believe. I dunno, I was never a fan of the Cobra, and in the demo they were going SOOOOOOO slow!

[BnechbReaker]

the cobra does attack air, the thing i don't like is they cost too much, much more than the vultures in starcraft1, at 75minerals vultures were the most efficient unit in starcraft 1, they were even cheaper than firebats

[drewcbarnard]

what is comes down to is SC has always been about it's early game...and now that we start off with 6 SCV's you better pump out your rush quick because while your trying to build your 2 dozen BC fleet, before you even get your starport up you will be watching your SCV's blow up one by one as your opponents reapers blast them away....

[Ghost]

About the 6 SCV thing, it is only terrans that get it? Because peps keep saying that now you get 6 "SCV's" not nesesarly workers.

[brc9210]

Every race gets it I just think since scv is the coolest worker unit people say 6 scvs.

[Ghost]

Oh.. Oky.

The SCV is the strongest builder right? Anyone ever try a SCV rush? I have.

[Eye_Carumba]

Oh.. Oky.

The SCV is the strongest builder right? Anyone ever try a SCV rush? I have.


Yeah, its fun. I saw a guy halting a 4 zergling attack with 11 SCVs. I think he was still making a few more while the lings were attacking, and used a lot of micro. The lings *****ered the SCVs, but the player survived, lol.

[Darkmer]

I really think the good old ghost is being left out. With their drop pods and nukes, a small squad can really open up on the enemy's expansion and unprotected bases.

Starcraft is an early game so until we see some tech trees it is hard to say what units I would use.

I love the old school marine and tank. I would probally throw in reavers due to their perfect harassment power.

Vikings also seem so sweet, if they are early and easy to make then I would definitely augment any force with them. I mean the power to transform is so great...

[Ghost]

By reaver do you mean reapers? And yes, I still love the marine and tank and M&M tactis, old school still seems to be effective. The ghost is now a force to be reaconed with but does anyone know how the snipe system works, I mean I know that it deals 150 dmg to a biological unit but does it use depend on cooldown or energy rate or both?

[MarineCorp]

I'll just use common tactics i use like the ramp block tactic and stuff plus i will do some additional effective tactics like mass Reapers and use mas time bombs to destroy the base

[Ghost]

Yeah. I do that with nukes, I block my base and wall them in and strike with nukes every now and then, they eventually either run out of units/reasources or surrender.

[BnechbReaker]

mass vikings would probably be the strategy everyone's gonna try first, they are the first unit available in the factory and they can be produced 2 at a time in the same factory unlike tanks

[zeratul11]

viking being produce 2 at a time is kinda imba. they must be buff down or something coz it seems they dont have true weaknesses. viking hp should be lowered.

[DontHate]

well viking's are better bad against ground and are already weak too. they go down pretty quick in the video with the campain and the guy trying to get the "Artifact"

[zeratul11]

yah because they were fighting against a colossus. hhmm, zealot vs viking 1 on 1, if the zealot at least is able to make the life of the viking red then im OK with it.

[Isidoros]

I'll fortify my base with siege tanks and other defensive stuff and troops. Then will use the vikings to assault opponent's workers and factories. The rest depends on what units will the opponent use.

[GrahamTastic]

By reaver do you mean reapers?
lol. If Terrans had Reavers, I would use them. But I think that mass Vikings would be pretty cool. Fly them over the air defense and then land in the mineral field, then mow down all of the SCVs. Siege Tanks will be used by me a lot of course. Gosh...the Terrans have so many things I want to try. The Plasma Torpedo BattleCruisers look very cool. I bet they would be good against workers as well....Come to think of it, Banshees would be good anti-worker units also. They are basically like Guardians that cloak. Terran sure do have a lot of AoE.

EDIT: omg after I typed this, I read what other people wrote and everyone is doing mass Vikings. I guess it is the strategy that everyone will try first.

[Blackskies]

The secound I saw the reapers and Viking one strategy came to mind. Quick and dirty raids aimed at destroying the CC, Nexus, or Hive of the enemy. Send in a combined force of Vikings and Reapers to infiltrate an enemy base and do alot of damage while a larger force approaches froma differant angle. Maybe even have a few dropships filled with tanks.

[angel555666]

Right now thinking about Terran Strategies for SC2 a few come to my mind.

-M&M's
-Reapers are going to be a good hit and run unit, with or without the mine (more fun with BOOM).
They also right now have stim so have so medics outside the base/near by to heal and raid more.
-Vikings (same strategy but with SCV's), god I love to harass people, it is so much fun
-Vikings (fighter mode) with Banshees, reminds me of Guardys and Devs
-Seige Tanks with Banshees, the idea of pushing the line in this manner seems kinda cool
-Predator (so far I do not like the unit, 100M 100G 100HP 4 Dmg normal attack)
But maybe you will be able to Ovie Hunt (just like corsairs, but time will tell)
-Cobra right now deals 10 + 25 damage to armored units, great counter for Immortal(maybe)
If so Terran Metal might still be alive. Also if Probes were considered armored
than maybe after armory upgrade the cobra will do one shot kills on probes.
-BC's or Thor with Starbase. It has been said prolly a million times, but seems kinda cool

Once again SC2 is still developing so all these ideas can be killed/omitted/removed

[Duke Nukem]

I think fast teching to banshees is gonna be a winner. I can definately see terran having air superiority, at least in early to mid game, as they have a tier 2 air unit, so air to air defense against the banshee shouldn't be a problem. And those same vikings that have been keeping the skies clear can then be use to drop down and take out some missile turrets to soften it up for the banshees.

That, and the fact that vikings are gonna be real easy to make in large numbers with the nuclear reactor (switch after you upgrade air) are probably going to make terran air a viable strategy.

Otherwise, I can see Reaper harrasment leading to Viking harrasment to buy time for thor to make an appearance. I think thor is going pose a serious threat to any base, especially as there aren't any ground units that have been released that can really go toe to toe with him, and his 250 mm cannon seems to be custom made for clearing a chokepoint of enemy defenses. Thor also is a good choice because all of your enemy's units must focus on it to take it down. Therefore, your other units are free to attack and stuff. And if their not attacking thor, then their gonna be in a world of hurt, as thor seems to have some impressive offensive capabilities.