I must admit, SCII isn't my best game. I'm stuck in the low 20's in bronze (or should I say plastic?) Anyhoo, Terran is my favorite race (mostly because I win the most matches with it – but I digress). The problem I've gotten into is that literally EVERY GAME turns into a base trade as soon as I attack. I just finished one minutes ago, my first pressure (I left plenty of STanks, turrets, and a sizable marine force at home) while attacking with my Vikings, Marines (w/ medivacs) and Thors. As soon as I get halfway across the map, a HUGE Voidray army comes (can anybody say cheese?) and starts attacking my main. His Voidray army alone took out my main and part of my natural (luckily I had my third) so I quickly stimmed and ran through his base (hardly defended – all in?) as fast as I could to hopefully get rid of his base first.
I won – but that isn't the point. These base trades are literally happening to me in 7/10 games. Is there any particular flaw that generally causes this? It's stressful and demotivates me from playing because every game ends in a base trade (sometimes I win, sometimes they win). Does this normally happen?
Any suggestions or solutions would be great!
Best Answer
There is no one answer to your question. However, many Gold through Bronze all have base trades happen to them at one point or the other. This decreases as you move up through the ranks.
The only true way to prevent base trades is generally one of these two options:
The point of the first option is to simply know his army is gone and then move in. The second is to the same effect. Neither of these may be a good option. But as a Terran typically head-on engagements aren't the worst for you.
This won't necessarily be the demolish all answers. Some good measure you should always take is the following: Walling off your main and when you take your natural, on most maps, you can wall that off as well with barracks,bunkers, and or supply depots. If they do counter attack and go for the base trade you have two options. To retreat and deal with the threat or press on. If your force is mobile and has the option of retreating then use your best judgement. If it is a mech force (Thors, tanks,etc.) which is very slow. I suggest pressing on.
Remember, you can pressure without moving out your entire army. (Banshees, drops, Hellions against Zerg, etc.
As you practice and continue your macro will increase giving you some troops to defend at home as you move out with the bulk of your force.
As for your cheese problem. Scouting is everything. Don't let them get to that point to start with. If you have then that's the problem!
And a special note to Dave in the comments, Proper map control helps tons. If you see a counter attack coming, try and respond with a portion of your forces. This also helps.