Starcraft

Ah my first Terran strategy. Since I've been playing Zerg for so long I decided I would switch to Terran and it is so much more fun to play.

Anyway, the vulture is one of the most prominent terran units in the entire game- most games will have vultures involved. Also, they are my favorite Terran unit because of the fact that they cost 25 more mineral than a marine, yet can place 3 mines able to knock out a huge amount of the enemy.

First point, do not go 1v1 against other range units- vultures are very weak, and 2 vultures lose to 3 marines with stim pack. They are the best hit-and-run units in the game because they are quite fast. I heavily use them to drop 2 in an enemy base and place a spider mine where minerals are- if you are careful, you will lose nothing while your enemy's economy is ruined.

Another thing people like to do is to distract the enemy's entrance blockers such as zealots and rush in to attack the workers inside. When the zealots chase, you give them hell by microing. A bad thing about vultures is that they move toward the enemy while they attack, no matter how close they are. So, do not order them to attack. Instead, press hold and they will fire at the same time yet will not move closer. You should try not to get hit as much as you can, so you need to be as far from the enemy as you can without losing track of them. If they run, Attack then pull back when they decide to attack. Of course, this hit-and-run tactic can be done much easier with the speed upgrade, which only costs 100/100.

Finally, I can talk about the vulture's greatest achievement- the spider mine. Of course, they can be set up anywhere where you think the enemy will walk over, but after a while, when they get observers, just placing mines on predicted paths become somewhat inefficient. That's why mines need to be placed in an unpredictable path and you need to use your units to force the enemy into the trap. For example, people who like to micro too much can fall for this very easily. In one game, I set up mines in the top left section of the battlefield, which is on the opposite side of the enemy. The enemy had goons, and when I charged with my firebats and medics they started to use the hit-and-run tactic again. So I slowly made them go close and closer to the mines even though I was losing my firebats and when the goons went too far they were gone. Just like that. (If that was hard to imagine in your mind please say so). Another good idea to use set mines in front of the enemy's base after the main force has left, so when the enemy decides to send more troops they will fall for the trap. Because usually reinforcements doesn't have an observer following them, they will die every time. Also, the mines can be placed behind the enemy so if they retreat, they will fall for the trap- the reason is that when they attack, they have the "attack-move" command where they attack anything in their path. But when they retreat, they only have the "move" command where they will ignore enemies and continue to move to their destination.
* Another strategy (courtesy of nks) is to place mines in front of tanks in siege mode, so if anything tries to come close to your tanks the mines will take care of them. But make sure the mines aren't too close to your tanks because their splash will damage them too.

A very powerful unit combination is the shielded vulture. The only weakness the vulture has is the low hp, but with the 250 hp bonus, they become quite formidable. Because of the extra hp bonus, they can penetrate the defences and place mines near the siege and range units. Just 3-4 shielded vultures can kill several key units such as a mass of goons, tanks, reavers, or hydras. Lurkers are another target because one mine can kill it. 3+ lurkers can fall prey to just one shielded vulture. To make the vulture last even more, try to maximize vehicle armoring.