TvP, Early Game Strategy(App)

Now, the earliest I have ever seen a 4 warp gate rush against me in ladder is 5:15. Now I must admit I have accumulated some losses to the 4 wgr* but while I was watching the TSL today(4/11), particularly game 2 of qxc vs Adelscott, where qxc opts for a marine -> maruader/conc shells -> map control. Now I've seen him do this particular build Vs. P, but what I saw that intrigued me was his aggression to lower the sentry count. Well after seeing that I played some and Vs. P I tried out the early aggression, with MUCH success. Most games I could stay on 1 barracks, at 3 marauders start to apply pressure, while expanding. Most of the times when I apply pressure with that amount of units I normally encounter 1 zealot 1 sentry 1 stalker, or 1 zealot 2 stalker. What I've found is that if you can get up the ramp(i.e. protoss isnt micro'ing very well) you can basically micro against his unit combo, to have free reign to pylon snipe, lower the sentry count early on so that there will not be an excess of ff's in your first encounter, or work away at his worker line. The best part about the build, is that the expo sets you up for a really strong attack as you get your third, if you don't win with the aggression.
What I've found out so far about this type of aggression is it sets up very poorly into playing against a fast voidray(3 gate stargate). To compensate I add in a second barracks which immediately recieves a reactor, BEFORE the cc. I think it delays the expansion about 15-25 seconds. I've lost a fair amount of games to failed early aggression(by failed I mean losing everything, not just him ff'ing the ramp to stop me), and a single voidray basically crushing me. I'm going to include a replay of me attempting the build, early aggression goes downhill, second barracks' reactor finishes and has produced 3 waves of marines and I barely hold off the voidray(s), while my expo becomes fully operational. I follow it up with a tech to starport w/ reactor, and attack when my first 2 medivacs pop out. I'm sure it could be executed much better past the 7 minute mark, so if you have any critique I will be listening with open ears.

I look forward to posting my thoughts on early game TvZ, and TvT in the near future.

*wgr-warp gate rush


2900 Diamond Terran NA

I had this in the post, but It didn't come up for me

sc2/en/profile/1029038/1/kolofome/

Hey,

I think there are a few major pitholes that this strategy falls into. First, as a P you are going to see that there is one gas not two, and that either the tech lab comes down before the first marine, or directly after. If you don't do one of these choices then the build isn't fast enough to actually be threatening. However, the fact that you have one gas means that there is no reason for the P to suspect banshees, the fact that there is a fast tech lab would make me at least think that i can be just fine chronoboosting zealots and a sentry out of one gateway and destroying your units as soon as they touch the ramp. I would likely get a quick robotics just to see if you are still going heavy marauder once the aggression is over, but in general the aggression is scoutable and easily dealt with.

I think this becomes more scary if you use it as a light contain, and continue rallying marauders to the base of P's ramp while you expand. This forces him to invest more gas in sentries before he can trap the units blocking him from expanding. Working this aggression as a contain, with the ability to push if they have stalkers instead of zealot sentry, is a more stable idea because you still get the economic advantage of a faster expansion without a lot of the risk.

Just make sure you scan for a stargate.