Top 5 Tips to Become a Better Terran Player

Tip 1: Prioritise Close Mineral Patches

If you have been a observant player, you will have noticed that not all mineral patches are created equal; some are closer than others meaning you get more minerals per minute from that patch than other patches. This will allow you to acquire minerals at a slightly faster rate since the travel distance between the command centre and patches is shorter than others.

Ideally, you want two scvs at a mineral patch at a time, and always drop mules on the close mineral patches, since you actually get in an extra trip with the mule if it mines from a nearby patch. Needless to say, this is a huge difference at games above master league. Which is why I put this at number 1; economy comes above all else.

Tip 2: Do The Right Drop for the Right Job

There are many purposes to a drop, it could be for mineral line harassment, an attempt to get an army to split up, to destroy bases & infrastructure. The micro involved is all very different.

If I was dropping on a mineral line to harass workers, that is fine, since the goal is to make the player move their workers away from the mineral line, but if your goal is to kill the base or building(s) itself, then you want to drop all of your units out of sight, and then stim & run them in to hopefully destroy the building in question, since the player not having enough time to react is the key. Mineral line harassment is just killing workers and moving them away from the mineral line.

If you don't know already you can drop units while the medivac is moving if you select drop then click on the medivac (which is preferable for mineral line harassment drops);

Tip 3: TvP: Always Scan Before Moving Your Army Out

The Protoss Observer is a very strong unit, it gives them so much vision and knowledge for a cheap price, you should kill them whenever possible so they don't have an eye to see exactly where your army is. You should scan especially just before you decide to move out, since that is where it's important for the other player not to know where you are.

Always get into the habit of scanning before moving out, write a sticky note if you have to- you certainly don't want the Protoss to be prepared, TvP mid/lategame is hard enough without having to deal with maphax.

Tip 4: Marines are Cheaper Than Scans

Unfortunately for the poor marines, they make for much better scans as suicide scouts than a scan.

A marine is only 50 minerals and is very fast when stimmed- it makes for a much more cost effective scouting method in the mid to late game. You save a lot of mules by using marines, all pro terrans use marines to scout the other player's main army, to get an idea of what the unit composition is.

You should always stim in 1 marine ahead of your main army, so you can see what is up ahead. It is better for the marine to get caught off guard than your entire army. Marines can also give you valuable information on baneling landmines and other potential traps you might of walked into. Although you should do it in all match ups it is especially important in TvP and TvZ.

 

Tip 5: The Power of Fake Pushing

Keeping your opponent on his or her toes is very important, since if the other player feels too comfortable you will be left in the dust. In the match ups, TvZ and TvP, Terran is more the aggressor as playing the Terran role in the mid to late game gets increasingly more difficult. The dynamics of Terran means we have to be the player that takes the initiative and takes advantage of the defensive nature of Protoss and Zerg.

Fake pushing keeps the player locked into a position of defence, sometimes building more units to deal with a non existent push. It helps in the economic battle and costs nothing. The best times to push out from your base is when an upgrade is about to complete. Since units are most powerful when their upgrades just finish, if there is an engagement, you will have the upper hand.

A good time to move out for map presence (generally up to the middle of the map) is when stim finishes or your first infantry upgrade, keep this in mind, since it can be great at psyching the player out to think that you have a more aggressive build than you actually do.