Digging a little deeper and examining the Terran vs. Protoss matchup from a more hands-on approach, I normally wall what I can set up with Marines, and tech into Medics by my ramp. If I scout an early Z rush, I set up a bunker in front of my wall, and do what I can to outmicro the Zealots. If not, I produce some MMs and harass a little bit, while constantly scouting my opponent’s expansion and tech tree. The key to note here is this: MMs are quite effective vs. Protoss early game, because of how Protoss has been redesigned. Aside from the Zealots staying the same, Dragoons and Singularity Charge has been replaced with the Stalker. The Stalker is basically a watered-down Dragoon (still needs Cybernetics Core) with shorter range and Blink. The catch here is that the Protoss player must first tech into his Twilight Council (a Citadel of Adun clone) and research Blink in order for it to be used. This means that the Terrans’ MMs will be pretty decent vs. the relatively low-HP Stalkers and un-upgraded Zealots.
After Stimpack upgrades, I normally go straight for Siege Tanks. If he’s going mass Zealots, Vikings are a better option because they do increased damage to light units. Although they feel shorter ranged than Goliaths, they can still be used effectively in combat as long as you hold off the Protoss’ initial Zealots. If Zealots manage to run up your ramp when you’re doing a straight, hard tech to the nonsensical Factory build, then you’re pretty much done. If blocking off worked as intended on some maps, maybe a Factory build could be viable, but with the lack of Spider Mines and Vultures, I can’t imagine how that would play out. To make a long story short, the most successful Terran build as of now is MMs + Stim to Siege Tanks + Siege Tech. But, please note how utterly badass Siege Tanks are now. Although they’re more expensive than before, they shoot a hell of a lot faster in Tank mode. They can be absolutely devastating when microed properly in conjunction with a few Marines. From there, you can pretty much branch into whatever strategy that best suits you. You can research Viking Fighter-Mode and take your Vikings into his mineral line for a quick raid; you could make a quick Starport for earlier drops; or you can continue to push with multi-factory Tank spam.
Overall, the Terran vs. Protoss match-up is completely different than how it was in StarCraft. With the Factory units changed, this means that the 10-year old tradition of playing Metal vs. Protoss Tech is no longer valid. Now that early game options have opened up slightly, players must utilize MM effectively while constantly scouting for Protoss Tech instead of the standard block-off to Vulture harass vs. Dragoon Range to Reaver. I must say that from my numerous experiences playing this match-up, the only word I had for it at the end was: Different.
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Protoss vs. Terran: Match-up Analysis.
