Terran 1-1-1 Opener (TvP)

TVP

Generally with this build, it provides a safe, reactionary opener allowing you to thwart and abuse all that in which protoss can do early game.
Here is the build order:

10 depot
12 barrack
13 gas
13 Send a scv for scout, and make sure that it does not die. It will act as an important scout for checking to see if protoss player takes an early second gas.
15 orbital
16 second depot
Produce 3 marines from barrack
19 Build factory
21 Build a bunker in front of ramp, if close position spawn, build at 19
21 Grab second gas (If protoss player steals gas, build 5 marines then build reactor and grab second gas as soon as possible)
After 3 marines are produced, add a reactor onto the barrack
When factory is completed, immediately produce a hellion, add a tech lab onto the factory and build a starport.



After this you then react to what you see from your opponent. Here are some of the correct reactionary precautions:

Possibility #1: The scv scouts no second gas and a lot of energy left on nexus. The first hellion scouts no second gas, and no expansion and 4 gate or just 1 gate:

This means 4 gate or 1 gate with hidden 3 gate, so immediately put down a second bunker. Produce marines from barrack, tanks from factory, add a tech lab onto the starport and produce banshees. Also have a few scvs on stand-by around the bunkers with an auto-repair turned on. 4 gate is rather easy to defend against using 1:1:1 build. Please refer to replays #2, #3 and #4 below for proper response vs 4 gate build.

[b]Possibility #2:[/b] The scv or the first hellion scouts no second gas and 1 gate cybercore into fast expansion.

The protoss player is being very greedy here and deserves to be punished. Upon scouting this, immediately build an armory. We are going to go for a thor all-in. Continue to produce marines out of reactored barrack and as soon as first thor is out, push with the thor, all the marines you have and about ~12 scvs with auto-repair. With decent micro (stutter step marine micro, surround the scvs on the thor and focus fire on immortals first), this is a free win for the terran player! Please refer to replay #5 below for proper response vs 1 gate cybercore fast expansion, or nexus first builds. UPDATE: Thor all ins are only recommended in mid-sized maps including cross position spawns. In a big maps such as taldarim altar, against 1 gate expo or 15 nexus, go with 1/1/1 build then stop unit production for a relatively fast expansion. You might be behind in economy but definitely ahead in tech. And with this advantage you control the tempo of the game with ample harass opportunities. (banshee harass, hellion drop play, etc).

Possibility #3: The scv scouts early second gas (second gas already mining) and a lot of energy left on nexus. And the first hellion scouts 3 gate in protoss player’s base.

This would most definitely mean a 3 gate with proxied stargate all in play, so immediately start researching siege mode, produce tanks from factory, marines from barrack and vikings from starport. Defend by taking full advantage of longer range that viking has against the void ray and hold off the push until siege mode research is completed. Once siege mode is complete, it is rather easy to defend this push and expand into the normal mid game play (explained later in the guide). Successful defense vs 3 gate void ray push would put back the protoss player behind economically, so we will be very much ahead heading into mid game. Please refer to replay #6 and #7 below for proper response vs 3 gate 1 stargate all in.

Possibility #4: The scv scouts early second gas (second gas already mining) and a lot of energy left on nexus. Then the hellion scouts either 1 or 2 gate into stargate and production of phoenix. (You can see this from the stargate animation).

Upon seeing production of phoenix, or a flock of phoenix scouting our main base, we need to immediately put down armory and engineering bay for production of thors and turrets. Also build a CC inside the main base. Build one turret in the middle of mineral line and another barrack. Continue to produce marines, thors and medivac/viking. When you have two thors, go for an all in push with all your units plus ~12 scvs. Most likely he/she would’ve expanded and will die to this push as phoenixes are useless to both thors and marines (and not enough time to tech to collosus or whatnot).

Possibility #5: The scv scouts early second gas and not much energy left on nexus and the first hellion scouts 3 gate.

This would most likely mean 3 gate DT into expand opening, as chronoboost can’t be used to speed up the building construction time. So we can deduce that the opponent is probably going for some type of tech play while chronoboosting on nexus for probe production. There is a chance that it could be 3 gate void ray all in, so check around possible stargate proxy location near your base with a hellion or scv. If there’s no proxy stargate, immediately wall off the ramp with depot, produce a raven, and continue to produce tanks with siege mode and marines and make a CC in your base. Also build an engineering bay for turret in the mineral line. Soon enough, the protoss player will poke in up the ramp with a DT. That’s the cue from the protoss player gently reminding us that he/she is ready to be pwned. Upon seeing the DT, immediately go for an all in with every unit you have with ~12 scvs. The protoss player will not have enough army to deal with your army as he teched too heavily in one base. Please refer to replays #9, #10, #11 and #12 below for proper response vs 3 gate DT into expand opening.


Possibility #6: The scv scouts early second gas and the first hellion is denied scouting by 1 zealot 1 stalker or 2 stalkers.

This basically means that the protoss player’s got something to hide in his base, as he/she is not even bothering to scout what we are doing. It’s most likely 3 gate DT into expand, 3 gate void ray all in or 3 gate into blink stalker build, so check around possible proxy locations for hidden stargate or dark shrine. As we are not too sure about what the protoss player is doing, we have to play safe. Completely wall off the ramp (to buy time against DTs), continue to make marines and tanks with siege mode. Also, make a viking and then a raven from starport. If he went void ray or DT opening, refer to above posts (possibilities #3 and #5) for proper response. If he went 3 gate into blink, build another CC in the main and leap frog siege tanks into expansion and head into mid-late game army composition into “Terrran Death Ball” described later in the guide. Please refer to replay #13 for proper response.

Possibility #7: The scv scouts early second gas and the first hellion scouts 3 gate with a robo and the protoss player is not bothering to expand.

This means he/she’s going for a 1 base colossus all in. Immediately put down 2 bunkers in natural while making viking, tanks with siege mode and marines. Then build CC in the natural. Build supply depots around the bunkers so that they cannot be attacked by zealots and siege the tanks behind the bunkers. Use a viking to provide sight for tanks and focus fire on collosus using tanks/vikings. We should be able to fend it off easily and the protoss player will either quit or be way behind. I forgot to save replays vs 1 base colossus all ins (I didn’t think I would make a comprehensive guide such as this) but I have defended against it successfully using tanks and vikings with bunkers. The closest replay I could find to 1 base collosus all in is this replay where the protoss player went warp prism with zealot drop into 1 base collosus all in. Please refer to replay #14 for proper response.


Possibility #8: Dealing with “safe” protoss builds – The buildup of “Terran Death Ball”

This is the main course of the meal, so to speak. The cue for “safe” protoss builds is either our first hellion scouting for 2 gate/3 gate robo into expansion, or 3 gate into expansion with a lot of sentries. In this case it is very difficult as a terran player to win the game right away, so we need to build up our “Terran death ball” for a strong timing push. Upon scouting this, make banshee out of starport and build a CC in our main. We will make 2 banshees to poke in/harass his mineral line as 2 banshees one hit the probes. Build 2 tanks with siege mode and continue to make marines. The 2 banshees will keep most of his army in his/her base and it will be relatively easy for us to set up an expansion. Build 2 bunkers in the natural, and float the CC into natural mineral line and morph it into an OC. When the 2 bunkers are done, siege the two tanks below in natural and build an engineering bay as well as a second factory. After 2 banshees are produced, make a raven and a second factory with a reactor. Research infernal pre-igniter using first factory and additionally put down 2 more barracks. One barrack will have a tech lab and another with a reactor. After raven’s built, swap starport with a barrack with a reactor. Research stim, combat shield and concussive shells. In 2 bases, we will have 3 rax (2 with tech lab and 1 with reactor), 2 factory (1 with tech lab and 1 with reactor), and 1 starport with reactor for a total production buidling of 6. Continue to build marines, marauders, tanks, blue flame hellions, vikings and in the mean time continue to poke in with 2 banshees. Build an armory and upgrade +attack for vehicle as well as +attack for infantry from engineering bay. As soon as infernal pre-igniter is finished, we also have the option of going for a hellion drop. The timing for this push is when we reach ~150 food. It is important to mention that throughout all this, continue to produce scvs. Take a third as we move out with this massive army. Scan ahead of your army to see the protoss player’s army movement and siege the tanks near his base. For the main engagement, make sure to group hellions+MM army in one hotkey and tanks+vikings in another hotkey. First thing to mention is that you MUST put down the PDD right before engagement. It can mean the difference between completely demolishing the protoss army or losing the game. A raven full of mana can set 2 PDDs which can deflect up to 40 attacks from stalkers/phoenixes! Also raven is the priority target over any other unit, so setting up PDD is the first action we should do in main engagement. Against collosus based builds, focus fire on collosus with tanks+vikings while kiting the collosus with hellion+MM army. When most of collosus are taken care of, 1a into his army. Against HT based builds, focuse fire on his/her stalker or HTs using tanks and , kite and spread out the hellions+MM to minimze storm damage. Also we would build more medivacs than vikings when facing HT based builds. If game goes on longer, put down 2 more barracks and factory per each base we construct and continue to build on the core of “Terran Death Ball” army. Personally I would incorporate ghosts into the mix after third expansion is secured. Also make sure to continue to upgrade mech and bio units. Below I have provided several replays using “Terran Death Ball”. Also please note that in some replays I have incorporated some ghosts in 2 base timing push but I feel that opting for an earlier bio and mech attack upgrades over ghosts would be more robust option heading into late game.




For more in-depth descriptions and associated replays, see Warden's TvP 1:1:1 into "Terran Deathball thread located Here