Turtling Yourself In Your Base: When To Use It

A terran that turtles himself inside his base can be very annoying. Although it can be a great way to fend off even the hardest of attacks, it can also render you unable to effectively use ground units in your attack force. If you use the now famous tactic of using Bunkers with Supply Depots out front, then you know how hard it is to get your units through, if you can do it at all. I mean, how many times have we finished putting up the last Depot, only to have to send out that SCV on a suicide scouting mission, because he can't get back into the base? Well, you may not always need to turtle inside your base like this. If you do, down below I'll explain a good way to turtle but still have easy access to get in and out. First, you need to know if you even need to turtle in order to stay alive. To find out whether or not you need to, send out an SCV to locate the enemy. When you find him, see if you see him massing his units. If he isn't, then he isn't a rusher, so you can focus on tech units rather than getting the defense. (DO STILL A DEFENSE!!) Just because he isn't gonna rush, doesn't mean you don't need defense. Always keep a solid defense, no matter how much of an advantage you have. Once you have the basic defense up, and some high-tech units ready to mutilate the enemy, you can then worry about setting up an attack plan and going on an all-out strike. While you're preparing, be sure to keep on building teams of Marines and Firebats to send at the enemy every so often so as to keep him pre-occupied. If you both leave each other alone, you'll both build up and have a hard time killing each other. But, if you keep him defensive, you can get BCs with Yamato Gun and Tanks to break his front defense and walk right in to kill him. So be sure to keep him on edge while you're preparing.

Now, if you notice that he IS massing his units, he's a rusher, and you need some defense, FAST. The best turtling technique I've seen so far is to do as follows: Get a line of Bunkers in your choke point. Put 1-2 Supply Depots in front but leave a large gap, and put a Barracks between the Depots. Make sure the Depots and Barracks make the same effect as a solid wall of Depots. The advantage of having the Barracks is that, the enemy still can't easily get in, but all you have to do is lift the Barracks (like a door) and easily walk in and out of your base as needed. This also allows for faster repairing of Tanks, Bunkers, and Depots. This is basically all there is to say on the matter of turtling, cause you don't wanna do this unless you're the type of person that goes straight for BCs and nothing else. Just keep in mind when to use it, and how to use it, and you'll be fine if you do everything cautiously

Nuking Strats:

Nuking is a favorite thing most Terrans enjoy to do. Although it's really quite simple to do, you have to be cautious. You can't just get a Ghost, send him in, Nuke, and win the game. It's just not that simple. First, you have to get the ability to get Nukes. Get the Science Facility with the Covert Ops and the Academy. Then you can get Ghosts. Before you even start getting Ghosts, get the Cloak researched. Now you can get your Nuclear Silo and the Nuke to go in the Silo. While the Nuke is building, get about 2-6 more Command Centers and put Nukes on all of em. (This is only if you're an all-out Nuker) Also, be sure to research the energy upgrade and sight upgrade for the Ghost. These are very important as well. Now, once you have everything ready to go to Nuke the enemy, you have to find a way in. Use a few Comsats to check out his base and find his weak spots. Go there first. Send the Ghost by ground and let him Nuke. Don't cloak him until he gets into enemy territory, cause you don't wanna lose too much energy (unless you're scared he'll get killed on the way over). Nuke and get out asap. Don't let him get a look at your Ghost. If you can get in, do so and Nuke his inner base. Preferrably his SCVs and a Comsat if he has one there. If he does have a Comsat, send in a Science Vessel or 2 to EMP it to get rid of its energy so he can't detect your Ghost. Then Nuke and get out. If you have to go by means of a Transport, put a Defensive Matrix on the Dropship right before you let it go into enemy territory, and cloak the Ghost RIGHT before he gets into the Dropship. By doing so, the Transport has a longer time to live, and the Ghost will be automatically cloaked when he drops out of the Dropship. Then get the Dropship out, Nuke, and get the Ghost out. If you notice that your enemy has a heavy Turret defense, send in a few BCs with Yamato Gun to take them out. Once you have a large enough hole punched out, you can drop in the Ghost and let him do his business. When Nuking Protoss, be sure to EMP the area IMMEDIATELY before the Nuke lands. Once you see the red dot disappear, EMP and get the SV out ASAP. This way, the Nuke only has to penetrate the actual hit points, and not the shields. This does a LOT more damage. Be sure to sweep the area for any Observers that may be nearby before Nuking. Keep a few Wraiths (cloaked) behind the Ghost in case one shows up while you're Nuking. Then you can take out the enemy's ability of seeing your Ghost and Wraiths. Zerg are by far, THE most difficult race to Nuke. They have all those Overlords floating around with the ability to detect your Ghost and put a stop to your whole operation. Well, I've found a pretty good way to Nuke the Zerg anyway. It takes a little micro-managing, but effectively Nuking the Zerg CAN be done. First, get yourself about 6-8 Ghosts and about 8 Wraiths. Send them to the edge of the enemy base, cloak them, and put the Wraiths on hold position, and the Ghosts on stop (this way the Ghosts won't attack). Now sweep the area a few times with a Comsat and make sure no Overlords are around. Have about 2 Comsats so you can sweep the area throughout the time of the Nuking process. Keep the Ghost Nuking in the middle of the other Ghosts, and now put the others on hold position so they'll attack if anything gets near. Put the Wraiths right above them. While Nuking, keep comsating directly in front of your Ghosts to make sure no Overlords come. If they do, take them out with the Wraiths. If the Nuke is near falling, don't worry with it... let the Nuke take care of the Overlord and any Hydras or Lings that may be coming after you. Then Nuke again or return to homebase, or whatever you're gonna do next.

The Best Terran Island Defense You Can Build:

One thing I notice a lot is that many Terran players can get an excellent defense on land maps, but don't do too good on island. I guess this is because on ground they get to use Tanks and rip up any units that come in. But on island maps, they have to rely on Turrets and Wraiths early on. I have found a great way to get a solid defense as Terran on island maps. First, you can continue on as normal, getting Turrets. But, instead of putting each Turret side-by-side, leave a small gap in between each one. In this gap, build a Bunker and put in 4 Marines. If you wish, you can put a Medic behind each Bunker in case the Bunker gets destroyed and you need the Marines to stay alive longer. Now, while you are getting this defense, don't concentrate only on Turrets, Bunkers, Marines, and possibly Medics (do get Medics to put in your SCV line in case any enemy units get through and head to them). Work on getting gas and get your Factory and Armory. Once the Armory is in (don't put a Machine Shop on the Factory unless you're playing Brood War, in which case I say build it, cause then you can increase the Goliath range) build a ton of Goliaths and put them in the rear of your Bunkers and Turrets. With the Range upgrade, your Goliaths may actually begin firing at the enemy at the same time as your Turrets. Be sure to upgrade weaponry and armor. This is vital. The player with more upgrades ( considering both players have equal numbers of units) will win the fight. Now, instead of filling up your supply with Marines and Goliaths, get some Battlecruisers. These will be your strike force. Once you get them, if you have enough supply, get a few Dropships and a couple Science Vessels (SVs). Put some Goliaths (around 12) and about 4-6 SCVs in the Dropships and them let them and the SVs follow the BCs. Let the BCs take down the frontal defenses and then drop in the Goliaths and SCVs. When a BC or Goliath gets severely hurt, repair it on the battle field. If the enemy is Protoss, have EMP researched and use it on the enemy base. Your base will be safe of any attacks while you're gone, and will give you plenty of time to get your BCs back home in case the defense doesn't hold up due to Disruption Web and/or Carriers not in the range of the Turrets letting the Interceptors work. This is probably one of the best ways to get a solid Terran defense on an island map. If you go crazy with Marines and Goliaths, you won't have enough supply for 12 BCs, which is mainly what the SCVs are for; to keep what few you have in top working order.

TIP: If you decide to use SCVs whether or not you have your 12 BCs, keep all of them hotkeyed to a number for easy and quick access and repairs.

FREE Nukes From the Enemy:

For Terrans, Nukes are something that are quite easy to use, but sometimes not quite as easy to get. First, we have to have our Barracks, then an Academy, then a Factory, then a StarPort, then a Science Facility, and then a Covert Ops. Now we can get the Actual Ghosts and research Cloak, energy upgrade, and sight upgrade. But we still must get the Nuclear Silo and then the Nuke. One Nuke takes up the same amount of supply as a Battlecruiser; 8 supply points. This is 1 Supply Depot per Nuke (each Depot gives 8 supply). If you're planning on using Nukes on another Terran that's planning to Nuke you as well, then what better way to get Nukes than to steal his? All you have to do is break into his base, destroy his Command Center and all of his attacking units, fly in your own Command Center, and BANG! Free Nuclear Silo, and if you're lucky, a free Nuke inside as well. You can also steal Comsats in this way, as well as any add-on. This includes Machine Shops, Covert Ops, Physics Lab, and Control Tower. This can save you tons of resources just by using the enemies own stuff against him! You just have to be careful not to destroy the Silo, because then you would defeat the whole purpose. This really isn't that hard, but it is difficult to achieve, due to the resistance from the enemy you will encounter. Plus you have to be sure to wipe out his whole base. This is only a good idea to do if you're stealing it from an enemy expansion, or if you have other enemies as well. Then you can actually use the Nuke you steal.