TvP: Engagements

One thing a lot of Terran players are really lacking in on the NA server is their engagements and micro. It seems common for players to mis-attribute losses to other things like macro, build order, strategy. Yes, while those things are always in need of improvement, I feel like engagements in TvP can make or break an entire game, or at the very least, have lasting repercussions. What really took my standard TvP play, which was in ruins for a good while, was that I started focusing more on my engagements and micro, less on my macro. Suddenly, in my mid-late game, I did so much better playing standard against P: I didn't feel like I was playing from behind and I felt more confident putting on pressure and controlling the map, less scared of any all-ins because of my new found control. There were several things I drastically had to improve on to get better at TvP.

1. FF's: Don't ever get caught by them, ESPECIALLY before medivacs come out or you can insta lose. When you get Medivacs you can pick up pretty safely if they don't have blink. Most don't have it early-mid usually sticking to a more standard Zealot/Sentry/some stalks & immortals comp, something quite abusable by MMM. You can really abuse ledges, especially if they have tech near. This is the biggest thing I've improved on, always trying to juke out the FF's, run around it, use it against the P, etc. It really does make or break engagements.

NooOooo!

2. Medivac drops: Don't ever ever lose them early, so it is imperative to watch them early on if you try; I have just stopped doing early drops altogether since decent P's knows the timings. However if they go the Collossi route, it becomes much easier to abuse drops while your main army/Vikings are moving around. If HT's are out it's a lot riskier to drop, less you scan first. When your first two Medivacs come out (and your next two rallied), this is usually the best timing to put on pressure/attack because it's just before their AOE comes out.

3. Kiting/Surface area: So important, always do this, it is a free way to increase the effectiveness of your army. Unless your army is substantially bigger the Chargelots need to always be kited and isolated as much as possible while not getting trapped from FF's. Running to chokes where surface area is reduced as much as possible (if there is no AOE out). Once they get Collossi/HT, spreading and picking where your engagement happens becomes insanely important in trying to reduce the AOE damage as much as possible and make the Protoss have to funnel his units towards you. This is why concaving on ramps is always an amazing defensive position.

4. Storms: Admittedly still the hardest thing I need to work on; in my constant storm dodging and Ghost control. A proficient Storm user is going to mat the area with storms, this is why dodging and Ghosts are absolutely needed to deal with them or you will just melt. Unless you can take out/drain most of the HTs, I would personally just straight up kite/run back, not engaging the army if given the choice. We should abuse the fact that HTs are much slower, this is a good way to get the P to pull back.

In conclusion, the best way I've believe to improve one ones TvP is to always watch the army and micro the !@#$ out of it if P army is near. If you need to look away, make certain you won't get caught off guard by having your army in a retreating/defensive position. Yep, meticulously watching your main army control in TvP should help anyone improve in standard MMM play, as a bonus you will often see that blur and get to kill an observer. Don't get me wrong, you still need a good foundation in macro, scouting, timings, etc, but engagements should be #1 priority. TvP late game is tough, so you really need to be on top of everything, but most of all your engagements.