I realize some of my answers are a little long, so I made a TL;DR version
I'm going to ask you a few rhetorical questions and I don't want you to be offended, but they are things you need to be thinking about.
- What was your plan going in to this game?
- When did you plan your timing push?
- Why did you build 3 Barracks?
- What did you think when you scanned a Factory with a tech lab and a Starport building?
In my opinion these were the three major mistakes you made. By 7:30 it had become your opponents game to lose before a single shot was fired.
Looking at your BO I saw:
- 3 Rax (1 tech 1 reactor)
- 1 Factory, all before the 7 minute mark.
If you can cut the produce of the factory, and done an MM timing push at 6:30 (which is the usualy MM timing push) you would have easily won the game. At that time your opponent had 5 marines and 1 tank (no siege mode). The normal MM push there is 4-5 of each Marauders and Marines. You would have steam rolled him.
If you had done so your answers would have been:
3 Rax timing push, heavy on Marauders at 6:30
Instead, you chose to go 4 unit producing structures off 1 based (which you can't really afford as Terran). This meant that your Barracks sat idle, you didn't produce Marauders and you didn't have a good timing push. Its because of this I asked my first 3 questions.
You don't really seem to have a plan.
Strangely this wasn't what lost you the game. Not having a plan, while hard to over come, is not crucial, especially since your opponent didn't really have one either (there is no good reason he builds that second Barracks). The problem became your response to what your opponent was doing.
At 6:30 you saw a Factory with a tech lab, two Barracks and a Starport being built. The second Barracks is really the red herring here, so let's ignore it for 5 seconds. What does: 1 Barracks, 1 Factory, 1 Starport mean? In TvT this means Marine/Siege/Viking.
In response you throw down an Engineer Bay (for Turrets, which you build) and a Starport for Vikings, and continue to build Marines (and a single Marauder). Which of these things is supposed to counter Siege tanks using Vikings for sight? Well Viking vs Viking is key, but what about the Siege tanks?
By 11 Minutes you'll have built 2 Vikings and 3 Marauders with another one of each on the way. Ultimately there is nothing you can do about the Siege Tanks and they roll your Marine heavy force. They box you in and that's game.
In theory you probably could have done something clever with Dropships around 9-10 Minutes and caught him with his pants down, but really you don't do anything to stop him.
Before you play your next game (before you even load up Starcraft) I want you to have an answer to the first three questions I asked. And next time you scan Factory/Starport I want you to think "Great! My timing push should arrive right before he gets Siege Tanks!"
A plan is like a story, it has a beginning, a middle and an end. Turtling and finding the right moment to attack isn't a story, its like a blurb you'd find on the cover. Let me tell you the story of Bio into Biomech:
I'm going to open up three Barracks into Marine/Marauder. Marauders will work well as a meat shield and the Marines will provide the real fire power. I'll push just before stim finishes so that I arrive with it. The goal of my push is to stop early expansions and punish heavy teching strategies. I know that I can support 3 Barracks on 1 base and still have a little extra income to plan for expanding.
Mid-game I'm going to transition into MMM and Medivac drops. This will keep my opponent contained and force him to build a lot of defenses he won't be able to use to attack me. Additionally, Medivacs will let me really take advantage of Stim and keep me mobile. I know I can support Medivacs on top of my three Barracks, but nothing else, so I will make sure to have a Command Center up first. My goal is to gain map control and keep my opponent boxed in.
Late game I'm going to start adding in factory units like Siege Tanks or (more recently) Thors to break my opponent's defenses. I should be comfortably on 2 or 3 bases by now so resources won't be an issue. I will crack my opponent like an egg
My strongest weapon is my mobility and I will abuse it. I can end the game at any point: early, middle or late. I will restrain myself from over committing and starve my opponent to death. I will end the game when I choose. I am Terran BioMech.
It sounds scary doesn't it?
Best Answer
Before we discuss counter builds, let's talk about what an early Zealot rush is:
"my defenders got wiped by 4-5 zealots and more and more zealots kept pouring in and eventually killed me"
This is the dreaded 2 Gate rush.
Your first goal is going to be identifying it. Luckily this is fairly easy to do. If you scout with your 12-13th drone/probe/scv you should get to your opponents base while his first Gateway is still building, worst case while his second is. All 2 Gate rushes start the same: Pylon, Gateway, Gateway, Pylon. This makes them very easy to pin down. If you see that second Gateway go up before the Cybernetics Core you know he's playing some sort of rush (pro tip: you can click on a Protoss building warping in to see what it will be). If he does a delayed rush, chances are you'll already be in a better position to defend, so you really want to watch out for this early rush.
The attack that will come should be 5 Zealots with 2 more in route (obviously he may wait for more or less, but this is the best time for him to attack).
As Zerg a 2 Gate opening is one of the scariest things to deal with (right after Hellion harass into Mech). If you fast expanded, use the expo as a damage soak and cancel it before it gets killed (if you can). Ideally you'll want to keep that expansion alive as his economy will already be devastated. When you scout a 2 Gate, you'll want to build a Spine Crawler almost immediately. Additionally, a Roach Warren is also recommended. Roaches are very strong vs Zealots (slow attack and starting armor vs a unit with fast attack) and if you can position some by your ramp or other choke you can cut the surface area of your Roaches in half. If you're already into a more speedling based build, then you're going to want to wait for him to surround your Hatchery or engage your Spine Crawler. This will naturally give you a very nice surround on his units as they will spread out. I also recommend bringing your Queen along for ranged dps (and to infuse the Spine Crawler).
The key thing for Zerg about repelling a 2 Gate play is the recovery. Early 2 Gate is so effective that even though he is putting himself at an economic disadvantage, he may do enough damage to your economy to win. You'll want to do the following: Put an Zergling outside his based (this is a scout for his next move); Tech to Roach or Hydra or Muta, as 2 Gate will likely lead into 3 Gate, 3 Gate + Robo or 4 Gate; Power drones, this one is key as he's making a huge economic sacrifice to push with 2 Gate and you need to exploit this for victory.
Terran traditionally have less problems with 2 Gate as they can usually wall off before the Zealots get there. If you already have Vespean Gas then its ok to go for Marauders with Concussive Shell, however, if your strategy didn't include that, you're going to want to skip add-ons and throw down a second Barracks when you scout the second Gateway. With Marines faster build time, you can create a tough Marine force behind your wall well before his Zealots arrive. This ruins the fact that he made an early sacrifice to go for a Zealot push and should give you command of the match. From here is very easy to transition into an MMM or even BioMech which should give you a quick victory.
As Protoss you're going to also want to wall, stick a Zealot or two in the opening and push for Stalkers. If you can have enough 1 Stalker out and your opening plugged before he gets there, chances are you've already won. It is not unusual, upon seeing a 2 Gate, to throw down a second gateway yourself. As defender you'll naturally have the advantage as his troops have a longer rally distance, and you can control the choke. If you push out an early Sentry, he'll probably Rage Quit and call you a cheater.
Now if you're dealing with a Proxy Gate (which is different than a 2 Gate) you have slightly different things to watch for. Lack of Assimilators and Pylons in his base are your best clue. At this point you'll want to start taking your scout and covering all the corners of the map. Additionally move a scout to outside your natural or the nearest Xel Naga tower.