The Terran Units | Rushing | Build orders for rushing
The Terran Units | Rushing | Build orders for rushing
The dutiful SCV should be more than just a workforce for you. They can safely eliminate spider mines and are valuable scouts. Sending the occasional SCV up to an enemy base early in the game will allow you to predict what form of attack your opponent will use. For example, sending one of your SCVs about three minutes into the game into a Protoss camp will allow you to see if he is moving to harvest gas (probably not rushing) or is building a second gateway. About four of five minutes later, sending a second SCV, you'll be able to see if he's created a Cybernetics Core before going for more Gateways. If so, he's likely to be moving toward a Robotics Factory, Dragoons, and Reavers. It's this early insight that allows you to counter his potential attacks.
The other key to SCVs is their ability to repair mechanical units. At least one SCV should accompany every attack force that has Wraiths, Seige Tanks, or Goliaths. Repairing units in the middle of battle can often be the key to victory. Experienced opponents will take out the SCV as quickly as possible, but short-sighted opponents will often overlook it in favor of more formidable targets.
While much of the time, they're fodder, Marines are invaluable given that they're so cheap and so versatile. In large numbers (say a couple complete groups assigned group bindings) marines can be a devastating offensive force to aerial or ground units. In bunkers, they should always be one of the cornerstones of your base defenses. Marines are especially useful against expensive units with generally slow firing rates such as Mutalisks, Scouts, Dragoons, and even Siege Tanks (provided they're not in Seige Mode).
Somewhere along the way, always be sure to upgrade Marine firepower and range, and if you have the resources, eventually armor. The StimPack (which provides faster firing and movement for a short period of time) is amazing but only on attack forces that are particularly "expendable" (e.g. you have a target that needs to be destroyed regardless of your losses). Never use StimPacks on defensive forces or you could wind up a little short on units in the end.
Always try to keep Marines spread apart when walking in formation or when simply standing around. This will make them less susceptible to area-of-effect attacks and blasts such as those from Seige Tanks, Reavers, and Psionic Storms. It should go without saying that for purposes of defense, your base should be surrounded by bunkers loades with marines. Inside bunkers, they are protected from Irradiate, Psionic Storm, and Broodling attacks while still doing full damage to enemies like Mutalisks (that typically only take half damage from many other forms of defense). They will form a suitable defense against aerial or ground forces.
One final tip: take one or two Marines and simply have them patrol around the perimeter of your base. If they run into an enemy, the firing should provide you with a good alarm, allowing you to defuse the situation before things get too close to home.
Much like the Marine, the Firebat is a low cost unit that is of particular use in close-quarter situations. Given its shorter range but more damaging attacks, the Firebat is especially useful against units that fight hand-to-hand. If you have a Protoss opponent, you should have plenty of Firebats on hand to combat the considerably stronger Zealots. Likewise, Zerglings will fall easily under the stream of flames issuing from these units. In each bunker of your base, it is usually prudent to have at least one of the four positions occupied by a Firebat. In doing so, units directly attacking the bunker can be quickly dispatched.
Relatively weak attacks make the Ghost a poor offensive unit, but this weakness is offset by some very special powers that, when properly used, make all the difference on the field of battle. While each of these powers needs to be researched and are quite costly, the savings over the long haul are worth it.
Cloaking is the first power that should be researched. While cloaked, the Ghost is an invaluable source of intelligence. Positioning cloaked Ghosts along known enemy trails will give you a heads-up on the attacking force, allowing you advanced intelligence on how to counter it. Additionally, being able to sneak a Ghost into an enemy base will provide intelligence on what units are being built and where weakly-defended points of entry may be. Of course, keep Ghosts well away from any detectors, especially Zerg Overlords.
Lockdown is a particularly useful defensive measure, and as a part of a base assault. When on defense, it's often good to keep a couple of Ghosts scattered about your base--keep them near buildings or in shadows where they might be overlooked by an enemy. At the first sign of a major attack, use Lockdown to remove a few key units from the battle. Pay particlar attention to artillery units like Seige Tanks. When on offense, cloaking to get near an enemy base and locking any defensive Siege Tanks, Cruisers, Scouts, and Wraiths can allow your forces to march right in.
Nuclear weapons are the great equalizer for the Terrans. While they are incredibly adaptable in their strategies, the sheer power of the nuke evens the odds. The Ghost in charge of painting the target should always be cloaked. You may want to have more than one Ghost handy when lasing a target, just in case an observer happens by (Terran Science Vessel, Zerg Overlord, or Protoss Observer). Where possible, a series of nukes can be prepared (see below) and you can decimate all outer base defenses, allowing you to get to the chewy center with conventional ground forces.
While its speed is great, the Vulture is by and large useless for anything other than scouting missions. The grenade launcher is functional against Zerglings and Marines, but against anything more heavily armored, the Vulture is fodder. One of the few decent uses for the Vulture is against workers early in the game as a rush tactic. The unit's impressive speed can often allow it to get past stationary base defenses.
One would think that spider mines are a useful upgrade, but again, they're really only useful for providing intelligence and the time required to set them up generally isn't worth the effort. By and large, your time and resources are better spent on other units than the Vulture.
Alongside Marines, Siege Tanks should be the second major portion of your forces. An effort to research Siege Mode (via the machine shop add-on to the factory) should be one of your highest priorities in any game, regardless of your tactics. While not in Siege Mode, the tanks are effective against other large ground units such as Dragoons, Archons Ultralisks, Hydralisks, etc. They need to be kept well away from large numbers of Zerglings or even Marines given their relatively slow firing rate. In light of their inability to attack aerial units, they should always travel with a compliment of Marines or even a few Wraiths. When in Siege mode, the tanks are particularly vulnerable to Zealots and Zerglings as they won't be able to hit the hand-to-hand attacking foes. To help alleviate this situation always travel in groups of at least three (ideally more ) there they are positioned some distance away from one another, but still in firing range. In this way, if an enemy should close ground with one of the tanks, one of the others will be able to remove the threat.
For defense, Siege Tanks in Siege Mode should be positioned around your base. It's often good to set them near missile towers or bunkers with Marines as they have no aerial defenses of their own. Because they are so slow to build and they are fairly espensive, Siege Tanks need to have SCVs with them for repairs at all times.
On offense, Siege Tanks should be well supported with Marines, Wraiths, and even a few Goliaths (again, anti-air capability needs to be handled by other units). Spreading three or four Siege Tanks along a front with the other forces just behind them as you pummel the outer defenses of a base, inevitably, forces will come pouring out. With the enemy's forces lured away from the base defenses, decimate them with your waiting forces, Then resume shelling the base with Siege Tanks.
Fairly robust and relatively quick, Goliaths are something of a strange unit. Their ground attacks aren't very strong (only slightly stronger than an upgraded Marine) but their powerful ground-to-air capability makes them a key asset in either an attack party or for base defense. Goliaths will shred Mutalisks and Scouts in short order, and against Battle Cruisers and Guardian Aspects (which have slow firing rates) they will also do well. They are also relatively cheap and fast to build. Goliaths are particularly susceptible to attack from Siege Tanks, large numbers of Zerglings, Reavers, and Ultralisks.
Goliaths should be used to accompany Siege Tanks (or any attack force) to protect them from Guardian Aspects, Mutalisks, and other aerial enemies.
Naturally, being mechanical, Goliaths can be (and should be) repaired by SCVs at every opportunity.
The Terran Dropships aren't as useful or necessary as other races' transport ships given that most major Terran buildings can pick up and relocate themselves. If you're seeking a secondary base, then Dropships are useful for dropping an SCV on an island or other isolated resource area. At the same time they are useful for dropping a few Marines or Firebats behind enemy lines to take out an enemy's work force.
Extremely expensive but potentially extremely effective, Wraiths should be used only on maps where there are tons of resources. The Wraith's primary strength is its air-to-air attack capabilities and its stealth through cloaking.
Wraiths themselves are not particularly robust and can easily be destroyed by Protoss Scouts, Goliaths, Hydralisks, Marines, Scourges and, of course, Missile Towers, Photon Cannons, and Spore Colonies. On the flip side, they are good at removing Guardian Aspects, Mutalisks, Battle Cruisers, Overlords, and Carriers.
While their ground attacks are quite weak, the ability to cloak makes them great for hit-and-run missions. If you have a large force of Wraiths, it's good to split them into at least two groups of six or more. As one group is off attacking in cloaked form, the other should be in the base recharging their cloaking units and being repaired. As the cloaks wear off on the attacking group, send them back to base and deploy the second group. Naturally, vary where you are attacking to keep your enemy on their toes.
If Wraiths are expensive, then Battlecruisers are positively exorbitant. You need to have massive resource reserves before you can even consider deploying these monsters. Their slow rate of fire makes them particularly susceptible to Scourges (five of them will easily take a Battlecruiser down). Likewise you want to keep Battlecruisers away from Scouts, Wraiths, large numbers of Mutalisks, Hydralisks, or even Marines.
Battlecruisers should never be in the field by themselves and should always have a compliment of Wraiths and Goliaths to keep away would-be attadkers. As always, an SCV should accompany a Battlecruiser for purposes of repair. They're too expensive to simply throw away, and they're too slow to continuously send back to base.
If you are going to make the investment into Battlecruisers, you should definitely research the Yamato Cannon. This long-range weapon is useful for taking out Missile Towers, Photon Cannons, and Colonies at long range.
As a detector and unit with several key special abilities, sht Science Vessel should be high on any advanced player's list of necessary units. The Defensive Matrix adds a 250 point shield to any unit. As such, it's particularly useful on Ghosts making a Nuke run, Battlecruisers making an attack on a tower, or even to protect Wraiths from Scourges. The second two major sbilities must by researched, but in certain situations, they are absolutely key defensive points.
The Irradiate power is particularly useful against Zerg enemies given that it does considerable damage in a short period of time against living enemies (thus it is fairly useless against most Terran units). It's particularly great against slow-moving Guardian Aspects and Ultralisks.
On the other side, the EMP Shockwave removes enemy shields and strips enemies of their energy for special powers. As such, Protoss units should fear the apearance of a Science Vessel given that would be reduced to their base armor for the damage required to destroy them. Additionally, the power is useful against units preparing to use special powers such as Battlecruisers with their Yamato Cannon.
Because they are so slow, Science Vessels are quite vulnerable to Scourges, Mutalisks, Goliaths, Hydralisks, and Wraiths. More often than not, you'll want to keep them in your base until they are needed. Whey outside the base, they should always have at least a few Wraiths as an escort.
As with any real-time strategy game, "the rush" is a potentially powerful stragegy that cen end a game before it has even really started. As covered in previous installments of PC Gamer's StarCraft strategy guides, there are times to ruch and there are times not to. Either way, offensively speaking, it's generally foolish to pin all of your hopes on winning with the rush. Defensively speaking, you should be able to stop the rush provided you take some simple steps. When playing as the Terrans, there are several elements to consider before attampting to use or defend against the Rush.
One of the most important criteria is your knowledge of the map. If you are familiar with the map's layout, start positions and resource areas, then you may want to consider a rush. The reasons for this are that you should have a knowledge of where the other player could be (cutting down on necessary scouting time), and how to enter a base through a predictably unguarded route. Another factor is the size of the map. Smaller maps mean less travel time and fewer resources; two criteria that would point to a high rush potential (both for yourself and your opponent). Assuming you can be more eficient than your opponent on these smaller maps, it pays to rush, as the start positions are generally known. If you are playing on a map you don't know, it's probably wise not to ruch, but you want to start scouting early in the game (with an SCV or Marine). In this way you should be able to ascertain how you are connected to your enemy, where there are opportunities for expansion, and likely areas of entry to your base (so you can properly set up your defenses).
Another key consideration for rushing is the race of your opponent, In general, the Protoss are well-suited to fighting off a Terran rush if they have even a slight foothold (two or three Zealots will marth through double that number of Marines). If you're still intent on rushing, you should be prepared for Zealot defenses and, at the most, one Photon Cannon. To combat these, you might want to have one Vulture (which are faster than the Zealots) do a hit-and-run attack on the Zealots in attampt and lure them away from the base. While doing so, have as many Marines as you can enter the base from another direction to decimate the Protoss Probes in attempt to slow, if not destroy, your enemy's supply chain. Naturally, avoit any Photon Cannons as much as possible by skirting along the edge of a base, just out of their range.
When defending against a Protoss rush, again, you'll primarily be up against Zealots. Properaly placed bunkers with Marines and, as soon as possible, Firebats, will form the primary defense. Given that Zealots attack hand-to-hand, go for Firebats as they wil rip through a Zealot rush with little difficulty. When the rush finally comes, be sure to have a least one or two SCVs repairing bumkers as they are being attacked. It should buy you the necessary seconds needed to fend them off.
The Zerg hordes are far more susceptible to a Terran rush than the Protoss are. At an early stage in the game, the best defenses they should have will be Hydralisks flanked by very few Mutalisks (if any). More likely than not, they'll have some Zerglings and a couple of Hydralisks with a Sunken Colony. The Zerg units will fall quickly under the assault rifles of the Marines (especially Zerglings), but be prepared for continued fighting as new units are hatched in the middle of battle. If possible, lure Zerglings and Hydralisks off of the creep so as not to be damaged by any Sunken Colonies that your opponent may have placed. If need be, try to get Firebats up to the battle as quickly as possible to aid in the removal of Sunke Colonies. If you should start to be repelled, make a last-ditch effort to take out as many Drones as possible.
The Zerg rush will come at you in one of two forms.First is the initial Zergling rush. The key here will be the attempt at overwhelming you with numbers. If you have only one or two bunkers filled with Marines, you're going to be in trouble. One ease way to augment your chances of survival is to build some extra bunkers as decoys (with the intent to fill them later, if possible) while still having some Marines and Firebats loost in your base for support of the decoy bunkers. Your opponent will attack the Bunkers first, thinking them to be the major threat. In the meantime you should have SCVs repairing the bunkers (which probably won't buy you more than a few seconds, but that should be all you need to fend off the attack) while your Marines and Firebats toast the preoccupied Zerglings. You might want to put a Marine or two in each bunker just to make it look as if it is truly firing. If there are Hydralisks involved in the reay, try to have Firebats close ground and take them out as quickly as possible.
The other Zerg rush you may se is the Mutalisk rush (which a smart Zerg player usually wouldn't try against a savvy Terran player). Here, your opponent will try to capitalize on the early air power of the Zergs in an effort to take out your SCVs and then your base. When scouting early, look and see if your opponent has made a move for gas and a Spire. If so, you can bet you're going to be seeing some winged shadows overhead soon. Luckily, Marines make a formidable anti-air threat and bunkered/loose Marines should be able to stave off any threat. You may want to have a single Marine patrolling your supply line (or its outskirts) as an alarm system for any would-be attacks.
Ironically enough, probably the biggest threat to the Terrans are other Terrans. Just as your rush will primarily consist of Marines and Firebats, so should any offensive threat from an enemy Terran. There are two potential keys here. First is being extremely efficient in your build order so that you have more troops than your opponent does. Second, avoid defensive emplacements as much as possible in an effort to get to the SCV supply line.
There are some general defensive strategies that should always be employed regardless of the race you're playing against. The first and most important is to create walls and choke-points wherever possible. Use supply depots as your primary building block. As you build each supply depot, it should form a part of a wall that surrounds your base. Make it so that any ground units that want to threaten the main base have to go through them (all the while getting pummeled by Siege Tanks and Marines) or around them into even better prepared defenses. Second, you should always have at least one SCV running around and repairing all defensive vehicles, Bunkers, Missle Towers, and Supply Depots. Finally,if you can, secure the high ground and let the Siege Tanks hammer anything that comes within the resulting increased range.
First, set your first four SCVs to collecting crystals. Continue to build SCVs until you hit seven. With your eights SCV, build a Supply Depot. Once that's built, start building a Barracks while continuing to build SCVs (until you have at least ten). When the Barracks comes online, begin pumping out Marines (regardless of whether you've decided to rush or not).
By this time, you should have already scouted your enemy with one of your SCVs to see what they're building. Make your determination of whether or not you are going to rush. If so, build two more Supply Depots (in positions that would make a good wall if the rush should fail) and then a second Barracks. Once you have at least five Marines, begin Marching them toward the enemy base. All the while, continue queuing up Marines for production while also moving towards Firebat production.
Try to have one Marine go to a far side of the enemy base to act as a decoy. With the remainder, try to attack the weak side and wipe out as many defensive emplacements as possible. The key is to not have the full brunt of the defenses firing upon you at any one time. If you are successful, you'll have free reign to take out the remainder of the enemy units and, of course, workers. Try not to let any of the Drones/Probes/SCVs escape as it can lead to a protracted and otherwise boring remainder of the game. Naturally, as the battle progresses, send reinforcements as they are constructed to the frontlines.
If you decide not to rush, (or even if you do, should you fail), you should begin placing bunkers in key choke points and move toward a factory and Siege Tanks as quickly as possible.