Starcraft

Alright everyone, I just owned 3 people in a 4 player FFA on (7) Paths of War by Mcnewgin (No Im not advertising ^.^)

Anyhow, if you go to this map, you'll see theres alot of cliffs and usable terrain - wonderful!

If anybody reading this underestimates the power of infantry, you shouldn't. The Terran infantry is what its all about, all their machines have sheer dis-advantages while the infantry, working together, can cover each-others back.

Mind you - they arent goSu or uber, as some of you like to think of yourselves, they are simply a nice thing to have. Think of it this way. With 1000 minerals and 600 gas you can build... 2 BCs? 2 carriers? 5 reavers? Some tanks?

Now think about this. Think about how many marines, firebats, medics and even a few ghosts you can get for that. Can you see what im talking about? When I killed the protoss player I was playing, he was very naive - not unlike many protoss players - and built many carriers, and dragoons. I easily whupped them with my seemingly endless infantry.

Not only are they cost-efficient(by far), they are rather easy to micro-manage. Its just placement mostly, stim and targetting.

Now, with cliffs, infantry get WAY more fun, so do bunkers! While I was playing this zerg kept harassing me, I had very little at that point because we were starting up still. I had found a cliff access that he was not aware of, built a bunker there and put a tank beside it. The bunker was RIGHT in front of an easy-access entrance to the cliff, but it didnt matter. Loaded with 3 marines, and a firebat, the zerg - like a fool - kept harassing the bunker with 7-10 hydralisks and some zerglings. Easily wasted. He wasn't entirely stupid though because he kept taking out the tank, I struggled to keep the tank there, because it also provided protection to my base.

If your playing a cliff map, and you know it, 1 bunker 1 scv and 1 tank can be your best friend! Some think photon cannons? Pfft, build your pylon and your 100/100 cannon. Thats nothing compared to a bunker loaded with marines, repairable at 300 life. Not only that if you have a medic standing by and the bunker manages to get itself killed, the medic can heal the infantry inside as they are now un-protected. Can you repair a cannons HEALTH? No.

Some think ghosts are useless - wrong. Lockdown, and cloak are wonderful. If you have a big drop against this guy who uses mechs alot, drop 8 ghosts with them but cloak right away to keep them hidden. Engage and lockdown from behind your ranks - the tides turn easy.

Random bunkers on a map like Paths of war can be absolute HELL! with the extended range of marines, or even ghosts, you can knock off and harass scouting units, or small task forces.

Back to ghosts, dont forget bunkers extend range. A bunker and a photon cannon in a standoff (close enough to see, not close enough to engage) can be ended by shoving a ghost in the bunker, as the ghosts gets that little bit of range.

If you end up playing a massive infantry user like ME, use ghosts, that range can knock off marines EASY, they can also knock of hydralisks easy - always remember that hydralisks are FLESH not metal.

My favorite thing to do on a good game is drop 30-40 infantry units into someones base with about 3 tanks. People usually quit, or try to take a beefed up square of infantry units.

That reminds me of a recent poll - reavers vs tanks. I recall someone saying that if you drop reavers, it will be random absolute hell, but if you dropped tanks, they get killed off fast? Drop your tanks with a bit of infantry, that gives them easy enough time to seige and increase the ownage the infantry is already laying down on them.

A nice firebat trick to use (this works wonders on diplo aswell) is to fill 2-3 dropships with the babies and wait until you have a full-scale battle happening. You know, your major army vs theirs? Wait until your fully engaged and drop your lovelies right in front of their line. They'll either concentrate on the firebats and get whupped by your main, or vis-versa. Never let firebats get close.

LAstly - im not trying to say the Terran infantry is goSu, or uber, or undefeatable - they obviously are defeatable. Just never underestimate someone whos not afraid to use em...

-Some random infantry thoughts by BrotherGreen.