Terran One Base Play
Terran One Base Play
Overview[edit]
While One Base play has not been standard practice for many years, the associated game sense and strategies are still valid in the early game and can provide quite a curve ball to players executing Fast Expo Builds. While the majority of the information in this wiki revolves around FE builds the information below can offer some viable alternatives to the status quo.
Influences of One Base in FE Play[edit]
An important tool that can be gleaned from the One Base style is its aggressive play. The standard play FE has only a few points before the endgame during which players are actually harassing opponents or denying expansions. A few "unorthodox" plays do however draw from this older mentality. Terran have the option to do things like Bunker Rushes in TvZ or the Two Factory contain in TvP. These types of aggressive plays tend to trip up opponents because they do not match up with the Timing the standard plays tends to follow. A Terran player would do well to break out of the mold that the Terran army is always on the defensive until the push.
One Base Play in Terran vs Zerg[edit]
TvZ is probably the match-up where One Base is most effective. Here we see things like the Sparks Build, where the Terran attempts to break the natural expansion before a Zerg reaches Tier 2 Tech. This build is one of the only builds left over from pre-FE play. One base TvZ builds are very risky and should be considering as semi-allins in the same vein as a 2 factory build in TvP.
Sadly, the one base, 3 rax + vessel with a late expansion style popularized by Boxer is all but dead. The biggest question Terran one base builds have to answer is how to fight against mutalisks. There are some specialized builds that can answer this problem and therefore remain viable as an offbeat approach. However, on the whole, a fast expansion from either mech or bio is the strongest style available for Terrans.
Recomended Games[edit]
[[1]] Darkelf using Boxer's old build in a modern game.
One Base Play In Terran vs Protoss[edit]
Probably the most difficult match-up to play a one base style, the TvP match-up can be unforgiving to Terrans who are too aggressive early game. Because Protoss Dragoon/Zealot play requires less micro than the Terran Push it becomes much easier for a Protoss player to gain the economic advantage over a One Base Terran build. A Terran player would be required to keep a Protoss from taking any expansions, something that would be too daunting of a task for most players. Nevertheless, One Base strategies still exist in the TvP match-up, like the 2 Factory Contain.
One Base Play in Terran vs Terran[edit]
In a match-up where wins are most often decided by build order choice a One Base Play can be a viable counter to greedy expansion builds. A player can play 2Fac Vult/Mines or a wraith build that can punish a FE player, and, in the case of the wraith build end the game then and there.