Source
r/starcraft2_class•
amphetamine

(TvT) how do you counter siege tanks at the bottom of your ramp?

TvT. terran opponent controls your natural with a few marines in early game; opens 3-7 siege tanks at the bottom of your main's ramp before you expand to your natural. Uses vikings/scans for visibility.

I'm usually in an MM bio build when this happens.

I was able to get 2 hidden expos and mass BCs to win (because this particular opponent didn't scout properly), while holding back his sieges with my own, but I've had this happen before where I wasn't so fortunate.

I can provide a replay if my explanation isn't clear, but I didn't want to distract from the main questions with the plethora of mistakes I made trying to fight out. :)

edit: thanks for the responses folks, i'll reply to everyone tonight when time permits. and I'll consider posting the replay (it was 57 min long, not sure anyone wants to endure that). also, I'm bronze.. near the top (not that it matters in this league I'm sure)

Posted Jul 25, 2011, 8:19 PM UTC · edited

412
M40A1•

The force moving up the choke will be shelled to death by your tanks. Best thing, drop his base.

4
AveSharia•

This is the only right answer I see posted here, other than maybe cloaked banshee. The "standard" TvT response to siege tanks is more siege tanks, plus one more viking than your opponent. Resist the temptation to make a medivac right away- pump 2 vikings off a reactor'ed Starport and they will help your tanks kill more than enough to pay for themselves and a medivac.

In short, his tanks should not have vision in your base, unless he's using scans. Have more vikings than he does, and you can break this contain, even with many fewer tanks than he has. I can't tell you how many tank rushes I've come from behind to beat because the opponent doesn't build vikings. (Most recent was plat. I'm silver, FWIW.)

In the case where you 3-raxed (shame on you!) the best answer is to drop a ghost facility and factory for as fast a nuke as you can get. Nukes are epic vs. siege tanks, and provide some catharsis, even if you do lose.

2
[deleted]•

3-7 siege tanks isn't exactly early game. The proper counter to this, as anything, is to scout what he's doing (scanning a factory with a research-in-progress tech lab is usually a good way to show tanks) and stop it. Besides, by the time there are 3-7 siege tanks on the field you should probably already have attacked or be on 2 bases.

In general, because of tanks, bio vs Terran doesn't work anyway, so you should probably be going for mech (thors and tanks, mainly). The way these sort of tank vs tank games play out usually comes down to tank positioning and air superiority for vision, which might seem damn dull, but is very good for getting your macro/apm skills up.

There are other TvT builds such as iEchoic's, but they require a high level of play which I suspect you might not find doable.

Anyway, I suggest you open with a 1-1-1 build and get out your own tanks+siege mode as soon as possible, then expand quickly with bunkers. That way you're practically guaranteed your expansion, and you just have to scout for "cute" harasses like cloak banshees and reapers.

3
anonanonanonanonanon•

iEchoic's TvT is the way that I win most TvT games. It is very dependant on having map control and good micro and weak to a couple of early pushes (namely early thors), but is overall a really good build. It is a lot of fun and it uses the units for very interesting purposes. A lot of games I played in Gold I could win because of the initial BF hellion drop killing all of their workers. I think overall this style has helped me become a better player too, as far as micro is concerned.

1
FUCKTHISPENIS•

Pretty cool tvz build that I've seen that can have 3 tanks out at around 7ish minute mark. I guess that counts as early game?

0
doodle77•

Don't let them get the tanks there.

If you're going MM, you should be able to kill the tanks with your units when they're unsieged before he gets to your ramp. If he tank crawls (which would take much longer), your only options are tanks of your own and air. Keep good vision, don't engage sieged tanks with your MM.

terran opponent controls your natural with a few marines in early game

If you're going MM, then he shouldn't be able to do this. You should have more marines than him, since you're not building tanks.

2
FUCKTHISPENIS•

Bring in the cloaked banshees

2
EricKyleGeorge•

If you have enough time, get some banshee thor.

1
mercde•

Wow this sounds like a game I played recently only I was the containing player that got surprised by BCs :-)

1
Gifted_SiRe•

Just out of curiosity what league are you? We can probably point out a ton of mistakes if you post us a replay, and if you work on improving everything we say isn't good, you'll get a lot better, fast.

1
i4ybrid•

He must have air to get vision up your ramp. Get some vikings and scare away the air, then tank-push your way through his forces. Once he starts unsieging his tanks, stim your bio army in through his forces. If he has 3-7 siege tanks "early", he probably doesn't have much of an army to back that up with.

1
iEatPie•

Early contain? If going bio like you stated then just go for it, 1-2 full medi drop in their base.

They sunk tons into containing you and most likely expo'd. Especially with that amount of tanks.

So, build the 1-2 medivaks (depends on timing) and spam marines. Build a second CC in your base that you float after drop diverts their attention. Micro the drop while still doing simple control group 'a' spam and medis.

You should cripple their economy a bit and divert their attention, with even poor micro you should last long enough to get another full medi drop ready and just drop on their tanks while moving a cc anywhere you want.

Of course all situational. But if early game you can 1 base well enough with eco harrass considering the amount they would put into army.

1