Part 2: Terran Ground
and Air Attack Units
Vultures: Good to kill Zealots, Zerglings, and Marines. In a pack
of 5 or more, Vultures are excellent rushers past a weak defense where you can kill lost
of peons. Vultures are super fast; you can research a speed upgrade which helps even more.
You can use a lone Vulture to take out Zealots that don't have backup: simply hit and run
carefully. Just don't waste too much precious time if you can help it.
Vulture Bike Upgrades
- Spider Mines: Spiders are a great weapon for offense and defense. Remember
Vultures, Archons, and workers don't set off spider mines. When attacking a base, set
spider mines in front of barracks and factories to kill newly produced fighters. Don't put
the mines near larva unless you want to kill them because they will set the mines off.
Spider mines are cloaked, so they do well to spy for you. The spider mine's minor enemies
are cheap weak units (Zerglings/Broodlings) who disarm them for cheap. The spider mine's
greater enemies are air units, workers, Vultures, and Archons who can all attack detected
spider mines without setting them off. Spider mines can also be shot at range by
Hydralisks, Dragoons and Siege Tanks. Sometimes a group of range attackers can kill the
spider mine as it flies towards it's target.
Goliaths: Affectionately called Golgos by my friend Studman, Goliaths are good
anti-air units, and are just ok against ground units. They are really good against the
large air units: all of the Protoss air except for Observers, Battle Cruisers, and
Guardians. Marines can often do the job just as well or better when bunkered. I usually
don't go crazy making Goliaths. Like other Terran units, They can be repaired however, so
they are not useless.
Siege Tanks: The tanks are another favorite Terran unit! They should make up a
good portion of your men in most games. In siege mode they have a greater range than
towers, Reavers and Templar's trying to cast Psi Storm. Use a scout or Comstat scanner to
take full advantage of their range (they can hit further than their sight). Ghosts cloaked
and spider mines also make nice scouts, as well as flying units. Also, lone marines are
good scouts since they are expendable. Without Siege mode, the Terran tanks are mostly
useless. Siege Mode is great for both defense and offense. Set them up near choke points
or bring them in during a base assault.
Dropships: Nothing out of the ordinary with them. You can drop Marines or
Firebats into peons. They are rather slow and cannot be upgraded. This is not a huge deal,
especially when deciding to move peons to new minerals, since you can fly a pre-built
command center or barracks to plateaus since the Terrans have the ability to move their
buildings.
Wraiths: These guys are good to have when you have some room to breathe during
the game. They are good to attack the enemy when they don't have cloak detection around.
Beware of Terran Comstats scanners which can cut thru cloak (simply run away when they use
it.) Don't build too many Wraiths unless you are rich because they are expensive and die
very easily. Wraiths and goliaths are my last priority.
Wraith Upgrades
- Cloak: Be sure not to cloak and then uncloak soon after when you need cloak again
in the next 20 seconds, or you'll waste too much energy. Initializing cloak consumes 25
energy right off the bat. You are better off leaving cloak on.
- Energy Upgrade: You can upgrade the energy capacity of the Wraiths allowing them
to cloak for longer periods of time.
- Battle Cruisers: Cruisers are slow but do good damage and are difficult to kill
with anything short of Zerg Scourge or Plague. One shot from a Battle Cruiser can kill a
Scourge. Keep this in mind, and you can deal with Zerg air much easier. It takes 5 scourge
to kill a Cruiser, so cast defensive matrix on your BC, have other Cruisers backing the
"matrixed" one or have other anti-air guys to kill scourge. Beware of chasing
carriers though, because they can hit you with interceptors as you chase them. Besides,
you can't catch them anyway. Battle Cruisers are too slow.
Battle Cruiser Upgrades
- Yamato Cannon: With Yamato Cannon, Battle Cruisers can kill towers and enemy
units from a great range. Use Comstat scanners to scout ahead so you can aim your Yamato
blast! The first things you want to kill with your Yamato are: Observers escorting
Carriers (so your Ghosts will be invisible), towers (when you need to move in Ghosts to
Lockdown tanks, Reavers, etc), Arbiters, Science Vessels, Queens, and Defilers. I would
try to take out templars with tanks or other ground units since they are fairly easy to
kill.
- Energy Upgrade: Upgrades the energy reserves of the Battle Cruiser. If you plan
on using their yamato, get this soon.
- Science Vessels: Use these for spotting for your Siege Tanks, especially for
spotting Ghosts. Science vessels are an extremely expensive gas unit so treat them with
care. All of the vessels specials are very powerful.
Science Vessel Upgrades
- Irradiate: Irradiate is excellent versus Zerg (especially Scourge, Zerglings,
drones), SCVs, and Zealots. My good friend Asuka has taught me well that Irradiate and
missile turrets are your best defense and offense against Zerg's Scourge and Guardians!
Irradiate works on any "living" unit. Don't bother casting it on a Wraith or
Goliath, etc. You won't do any damage.
- EMP Shockwave: EMP gets rid of enemy unit's energy and shields, so it is good to
use before an attack on Protoss and also to hurt the "mage" type units by
ridding them of energy - not to mention taking guys out of cloak and countering Battle
Cruiser's Yamato. Be sure not to cast EMP Shockwave on friendly units that have energy!
- Defensive Matrix: Not an upgrade; Matrix comes with each Science Vessel. Matrix
is an excellent special that allows you to put a 250 point shield on any unit. Use this on
Tanks, Battle Cruisers, other Science Vessels, and Ghosts so they can accomplish their
tasks easier. Defensive Matrix on your air units is a nice counter for Scourge in small
numbers. Remember shields take full damage from any attack.
- ComStat Scanner: Finally, the other important "unit" worth mentioning
on the Terran side is the ComStat scanner. Use it to scan the enemy base periodically to
see what they are up to so you know where they are weak or strong. Use it to look at
expandable areas to catch them building a new base. Use it before a fight to see what is
ahead and see cloaked/burrowed guys. Use it while defending for same reasons as before a
fight. Always have 2 ComStat stations hotkeyed with control + a number. Make this
consistent each game, so you never have to hesitate to think. This makes things quick and
also allows you to react to cloaked attackers.
General Strategies
- Economy and Resource Management
- Build Order
- Recon, Expansion and
Psychological Factors
- Keystoke Tips
Terran
Strategies
- Infantry Units: SCVs, Marines,
Firebats, Ghosts and the Bunker
- Ground and Air Units: Siege
Tanks, Vulture Bikes, Goliaths, Wraiths, BattleCruisers and Science Vessels
- Terran Build Order and
Defensive Tactics
- Terran Offensive Tactics
Zerg
Strategies
- Basic Zerg Units: Drones,
Overlords, Zerglings, Hydralisks
- Advanced Zerg Units: Queen,
Ultralisks, Mutalisks, Guardians, Scourge, Defilers
- Zerg Build Order and Defensive
Tactics
- Zerg Offensive Tactics
Protoss
Strategies
- Ground Forces: Zealot,
Dragoon, Probe, Shield Battery, Reavers
- Special and Air Forces:
Templar, Archon, Scout, Carrier, Arbiter, Observer
- Protoss Build Order and
Defensive Tactics
- Protoss Offensive Tactics
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