Hello, I'm mid master in EU and used to be high master US before I sold my account there.
I will write a series of nice tips and guides including replays from me (or a pro that has interesting games).
I occasionally offer free coaching for any Terran in bronze -> platinum. However, if your interested in Terran being your off-race then please ask me.
Some material in those threads might seem quite biased I suppose, so if your a Zerg bully or a Protoss then be aware of what you might read.
Terran's most common opener
10 Supply Depot
12 Barracks
13 Refinery(#1)
15 Orbital Command
This is the most solid opener we have at the moment, and is used in 85% of Terran strategies.
This also gives us quite an advantage over other races when we face random races, we don't have to earlier scouting then normally,
obviously the reasoning is this opener is viable in all match ups.
However, this opening obviously gives a lot of flexibility in builds and there are thousand variations of what you can do after performing this.
You could follow it up with :
17/18 Factory
18 Refinery(#2)
That follow up usually indicates your going heavy mechanical units or banshee opening.
If you skip factory and refinery while constantly making SCV and marines that indicates your going quite quick expansion perhaps with some barracks pressure.
If your into risky play you could go something like this
10 Supply Depot
12 Barracks
18 Command Center
18 Refinery(#1)
or
10 Supply Depot
15 Command Center
16 Barracks
17-18 Refinery(#1)
The Art of Terran Scouting
This is one of the most important things you can do. Usually, you would scout after supply depot in 4 player map and scout after barracks in maps like Ohana, Xel Naga (2 player maps). However, against zerg it's absolutely inevitable to scout after supply depot, you have to be there when he puts his hatch / pool / gas to see his timings.
Zerg Scouting - What you need to keep eye for
Early Game
- Hatch Timing
- Pool Timing
- Gas Timing
Most popular Zerg vs Terran opener is 15 hatch.
Q : What if he doesn't hatch first?
A : You need to keep track on pool / gas timing, if he goes pool and no gas it means hes going 16 pool 15/16 hatch which zerg do when they are scared of bunker rushes.
If he goes pool -> gas it usually means he's gearing up for roaches, however if he goes gas -> pool it usually means he's going speedling opener.
Most common speedling opener is 14 gas -> 14 pool -> 21 hatch.
Mid Game
- Lair timing (should scan main at around 9:00 -> 10:00)
- Tech (Mutalisks, Infestors)
- Third / Fourth / Macro hatchery
- Upgrades
- Drone count - unit count
- Unit composition
Late Game
- Hive timing
- Tech (Ultras, Broods)
- How many bases is he on compared to you
- Unit composition
- Upgrades
Protoss Scouting - What you need to keep eye for
Early Game
-Gateway timing (should always be around 12-13 supply)
-Gas timing (should always be around 14-15 supply)
-Cybercore timing (should always be around 16-17 supply)
-Expansion timing (is he going greedy 15 nexus, or is he going standard 23-26 supply expansion?)
Mid Game
-Tech (is he going Colussus or High Templars?)
-Gateway count (at 2 base regular count is 4-6 + tech structure)
-Unit composition (Is he going heavy stalker sentry or zealot sentry?)
(If he's going zealot sentry I can almost guarantee he'll go HT route (obviously following with archons)
(If he's going stalker sentry I can almost guarantee he'll go Colussus route)
-Expansion counts( is he still on 2 base or is he on third / creating third?)
-Can I push him? (Since mid game vs Toss is a key factor in TvP)
Late Game
- Tech (This is VERY important, Protoss greatest strength is the ability to tech switch, before you know it your vikings are useless (or ghost in another situation) )
- Unit Composition
- Compare your base count to his and take high yield expansions in count
- Scanning is a key factor here and perhaps have a viking(if you have one) going over his base occasionally.
Terran Scouting - What you need to keep eye for
Early Game
- Barracks timing
- Refinery timing (this should be followed 1 supply after rax, however if he doesn't take one he's gonna expo or do some marine scv all in bullshit, bunker suggested if you don't see a CC. Also if he goes Refinery before barracks it means banshee (cloaked is a good possibility), they go refinery before because they want banshee quicker then your capable of getting viking / banshee)
- Orbital Command timing (if he doesn't get orbital, once again he's gonna expo or do marine scv all in)
- Scan at around 5:30 -> 6:00 (that's the time where starport should be switching to tech lab if banshees, could also reveal if he's going bio, bio/mech or bio.)
Mid Game
-Unit Composition (bio, bio/mech, mech)
-Upgrades (specially in bio vs bio, you never ever want to be out-upgraded)
-Third timing / fourth timing
-Rax/Fac/Star structure amount (also take in notice whether it's tech or reactor)
Late Game
Pretty much same as mid game
-Unit Composition (bio, bio/mech, mech - also take in notice if tech switches, tech switch from mech terran to sky terran is popular)
-Upgrades (specially in bio vs bio, you never ever want to be out-upgraded)
- Compare your base counts to his
-Rax/Fac/Star structure amount (also take in notice whether it's tech or reactor)
Scan saves lives.
If anyone is interested in more guides, I will go deeper and deeper with each guide.
Leave message if your interested in more, else I don't have much reason to write this!
Vallz#123 EU