How to Scout as a Terran

Starcraft 2 revolves around scouting. After 2+ years since the release of the game it has been mostly figured out. Build orders, timings and strategies has over time been refined and perfected to maximise their effectiveness.

The point of scouting is to gain as much knowledge of the opponent as you can. This can be his:
- Build order
- Strategy / Tech choice
- Proxy buildings
- Army movement

At first glance scouting seem to be ‘easy’ enough; rally a worker around your enemy’s base and you’re done right? Not quite.

‘Minor’ Key Things to scout for include:
- Number of workers (compared to yours)
- Amount of gas / amount of workers in gas
- buildings on the edge of his base

The number of workers can be a tell of whether he is going all in or not. For example the 11/11 double Barracks pressure / all in requires you to stop producing SCVs. The amount of gas mined / workers in gas shows whether he is teching hard, a bit, or not at all. Double gas will mean he is going for a very gas heavy build i.e. DT Rush / Cloaked Banshee.

 

Early Scouting

This part is really crucial as the enemy’s opening (combined with yours) will determine the direction of the whole game. I suggest scouting with the scv building your first supply depot, this way you will be aware if your opponent is going cheese or not also it gives you more time if you scouted the wrong base.

Against Protoss
Protoss will generally open Gateway, Cyber Core and then Gas. If he’s not this doing check if he’s going for early Nexus or tech. If he has Chrono Boost saved up it means that he’s going for aggression, so be careful. Also be sure to scout the entire of his base, if his second pylon is not powering his Gateway / Cyber Core then he it is likely he will go: early Robo, Blink (unlikely, depending on the map), Stargate or DTs.

Against Terran
Terran have a lot of openings, and most of them block their ramp with Supply depot -> Barracks -> supply depot. This is why you send an early scout, to make sure your scv comes in before his wall is up. Keep your scv alive as long as possible and see if he has builds a refinery. Generally speaking you should think like this:

- Is he going refinery first? -> if yes see if he is building a marine or not -> if not then he is going Reaper first into Expand / 2rax Reaper.

- is he going Refinery after Barracks? -> If yes see if he builds a tech lab after the marine or not. -> if not then either he is going hellion drop, banshee play, heavy marine play (Reactor’d Barracks) or 1/1/1.

Against Zerg
Not as important to scout like for the other races since Zerg will have to expand very early unless he is going all in. Just check to see if he is going Speedling Expand (if he is he may follow up with a Baneling Nest, so be careful) or not. If not, proceed normally.

Mid Game Scouting

Once you are sure of his build order do not skimp on scouting afterwards. Against Protoss and Terran you generally want to scan his base at around 5-6 minute, especially if he has no expansion. Against Zerg you do not need to scan, as long as you feel safe (minimal amount of zerglings, 2 evo chambers at the front of his natural etc). Having an scv/marine checking potential expansions and army paths will also be very helpful. Also remember to always have the Xel'Naga Towers!

Scouting his army composition

Versus Protoss you want to see if he has gas heavy compositions e.g. a lot of Sentries and Stalkers, Stalkers only, or if he is saving gas for something else. Note that if he is going Stalker only it means he is going Blink.

Versus Terran you want to know if he’s going mech or MMM. If he’s going mech you want to be greedy as possible, building ‘hidden’ Command Centers and the like. Late Banshees can also be a problem (Cloak Banshee after expand) so if you see he has a relatively small army, be careful.

Versus Zerg army composition does not really matter since Zerg has to adapt to your army, not the other way around. However, occasionally scan his base to see if he’s going early Hive or mass muta which can catch you off-guard.

Additional Tips:
- Versus Protoss late game be careful for DTs and warp prism play.
- Build sensor towers late game to scout his army movements.
- Have a few marines in places where you think his army may go to.

That is all guys, I hope this short guide helps you somewhat.

GL HF!