I've been stuck in Platinum for so long that I'm starting to think that I have hit a skill barrier and that perhaps I won't be able to advance further as Terran. I think that everyone has the potential to get to the top leagues, it just takes time and motivation to get there, and at the moment I'm lacking time. When Heart of the Swarm comes out I thought I would play random for a while then either decide on a new race to play or take a poll, but I am not yet ready to give up on Terran and really want to do well as them.
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| I am still losing to stupid stuff like this; in this game I even scouted the early robotics and didn't know what it meant. |
In an attempt to get out of the rut in which I have been for the last couple of weeks I decided to take a step back and look at some of the custom games available that would help me with my micro and macro. Dargelin's Micro Trainer was the most suggested micro practice tool and what I focused on this week. It does a really good job at giving you scenarios that you have to overcome on a regular basis and with increasing difficulties it is a big help. Experience is the best way to come out on top of an engagement and Darglein's Micro Trainer offers a lot of that in a short time, it's well worth using. I think I will try out the Multitasking Trainer next week as my macro often slips as I get distracted.
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| Practice against the deathball is great it's just a shame adding HTs and Ghosts isn't an option here. |
Zergs often say that creep spreading and larva injecting add on another layer of macro that the other races don't have but to me this quite simply seems wrong. Zergs don't have to build workers every 17 seconds because they can do it in bulk, they don't have to place down supply depots and they don't have to continually add on production buildings so Zerg just has different things to focus on. I'm not saying that one races macro is harder than the others I just want to point out that all the races play differently and that Zerg being the most different doesn't make it the most difficult.
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| Practicing against increasing numbers of Bling Mutas is definitely good preparation for ladder. |
I think my main problem with Terran at the moment is that they have too many 'harassing' units and not many units that work well in the late game army. The Terran is always having to adjust their army composition in response to the other two races do and I don't like to have to play so reactionary; I would prefer to be leading. I don't like the Terran 'tier 3' units as they aren't as game changing as the other races ones are and don't force the opponent to have to change strategy; Colossus, High Templar, Broodlords and Ultralisks do. In my opinion Protoss are too good versus armour, which most late game units are, and with feedback Thors and Battlecruisers go down too quickly to be effective.
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| At the moment I am doing really well versus Protoss by macroing hard off of a 1 Rax FE. |
Shortly after one of my friends told me he was recently diagnosed with dyslexia I asked him how to say P-U-M-A by spelling out pew-ma and pooh-muh verbally, he probably thought I was being a right douche; thanks INcontroL for raising that question. The answer clearly is pew-ma though. If you enjoyed this article then you can find me on twitter,
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Resident Evil: Revelations review. Thank you for reading.
Don't worry, you will eventually break out of Platinum - I found it took me much longer to make the transition from plat to diamond than from any of the other leagues. I anticipate diamond to master will be even longer.
ReplyDelete1 Rax gasless FE is actually my standard build in all three matchups. It is strong against Protoss.
ReplyDeleteIt is good against zerg - one can just about hold 7-roach rush and baneling bust, and it is also quite punishing for quick 3-base zergs.
In TvT, I find this build does really well too - though 1-1-1 style attacks are difficult to hold and you will be behind if he forces you to lift-off your natural and then just leaves (if he just stays there until your reactor viking production kicks in, it will even out).
I have biggest issues with warp-prism harass. These days I'm getting increasingly good at spreading depots around the edge, but I still fail quite badly when the warp prism appears - mainly because I keep rallying units to the front.
On another note, how do you beat a player which manages to shut down your early marine (& Marauder vs Toss) drops? Has turrets/cannons spread around etc.?
I'll agree that bio is really good in TvP and TvZ but I still like to go early siege tank in TvT as I am terrible at breaking siege lines without them. I always forget how good bio is versus Zerg but more recently I have been focusing a lot more on bio and medivacs up to the midgame.
DeleteTo stop warp prism harass just get a marine or two to patrol your perimeter and that normally gives you enough time to react and pull troops from the front. I find the only problem with warp harass is when you don't see it coming and they manage to warp in an extra round of units. If you suspect a warp prism is coming leave like 5 marines in your main to kill it before it deploys. I agree that a well executed warp harass is probably one of the hardest things to deal with in the early game.
On a lot of maps you can hit turrets from the low ground and then drop later for a surprise attack or just keep forcing them to spend the resources to rebuild. If they have too many turrets they wont have as many units as you, unless they are way ahead in bases, so a direct attack can sometimes work. Also you want to keep attacking the fringes and force him to build units, spend resources in defence and distract him, you don't necessarily have to do direct damage just stop him from focusing on what he wants to focus on; this is especially true for Zerg.