I may be the only one saying this but in reality I rarely see any good use of Thors, nor have I so far seen anyone using it, whether it'd be pvp online, vs AI, or by myself.
It was designed to be like motherships, to be ultra strong, but now instead it's just an expensive replacement of goliath.....
I mean:
it can go anti-air, but let's get real, vikings are so much better and cheaper (and faster and more versatile and not limited to terrain da dee ya da).
it can go siege, but seriously, siege tanks is still the coolest and most useful candidate.
it can deal huge damage with special ability, but requires charging up AND its close range, which siege tanks can do it far away.
it's just HUGE AND SLOW, which makes your army a lot less mobile and very easy to spot.
what is it good against anyway?
yes it's good for buildings (siege tank does just as good),
it sucks against infantry and small units (which siege tank still does well),
it's good for heavier units (which siege tank STILL does well),
and it's pretty good against air (which is the only thing siege tank doesn't do, but 2 vikings easily makes up for that).
which leads to a sad conclusion: Terran ground unit sucks against air in late game! Thor is the only good AA unit and it's so SLOW and sucks against ground targets. marines are always nice, but in late games they're more like lawns that get moan down by...anything unless it's 3/3 with shield and in massive number (which, AGAIN, siege tank pwns them all)
if you have massive air units and see massive thors......well just fly around them and straight into terran base! by the time it catches up their main base is gone! (or mass any small units like zealots or zerglings to easily counter them)
so there you go, I'm not saying it's not good because obviously it is a very strong unit with lots of hitpoint and damage, but for a fast paste dynamic game in practical world....
I think you'll be so much well off with siege tanks and vikings, and they both can transform to adapt different situations.
just my thoughts though, I'd really like to hear if anyone found a good use for them.
That's kind of been the way with the metagame, if a unit seems to have a function similar to something cheaper, it won't get used.
The Thor just seems completely unwieldly to use it's so slow and can't react to fast air units; it seems to be a shoutout to the ponderous terran style in sc1.
Unless Blizzard changes something I doubt it'd see much use, a mixed ball of terran units greatly supersedes the effects of a single thor.
Though this is just speaking from what I've seen I don't have beta :(.
Quote from: thatguy on March 20, 2010, 06:03:22 AM
That's kind of been the way with the metagame, if a unit seems to have a function similar to something cheaper, it won't get used.
The Thor just seems completely unwieldly to use it's so slow and can't react to fast air units; it seems to be a shoutout to the ponderous terran style in sc1.
Unless Blizzard changes something I doubt it'd see much use, a mixed ball of terran units greatly supersedes the effects of a single thor.
Though this is just speaking from what I've seen I don't have beta :( .
i completely agree with you!
Thor is just a big fuckin' unit ;D, it looks awsome, and it's no big deal mixing 1 into your army, just to feel better :}.
I like thors simply for +luls they get when loaded to a dropship (if you haven't, try it)
...I wonder if 3-thor drops would be efficient (they can insta-gib a CC/hatch/nexus with their special... on lost temple, you can even hit the natural from the cliff)
I mean, the Thor is a strong unit but the size and speed of it make it pretty useless. I mean if you're playing on temple on the offensive with a group of thors and siege tanks the amount of time it takes thors to make it up the ramp is ridiculous.
I miss the Goliath.
Quote from: Mr42 on March 20, 2010, 08:57:33 AM
I like thors simply for +luls they get when loaded to a dropship (if you haven't, try it)
...I wonder if 3-thor drops would be efficient (they can insta-gib a CC/hatch/nexus with their special... on lost temple, you can even hit the natural from the cliff)
Not +lulz.
++lulz.
Thor-drops are awesome. Unfortunately, an enemy then knows what's in that dropship. But flying thors of doom are really quite fun.
I never make thors, there just not cost effective, they die too quickly, move too slow, you cant not run away with thors if oh shit the other player has bigger army, its aether kill or be killed and lose your whole thor force or win.
Thors get mauled down by carriers, even if you direct the thors attack on each individual carrier. When ever i play TvP and protoss notices that i'm building thors, the AI instantly starts to build carriers.
Well, while I've never seen one in a replay, most replays never go to late game. The thor seems best suited for taking down zerg, as it can slaughter mutas and ultras. Most terrans don't really bother going metal though.
Also, I could really see a dual thor drop being a nasty attack, given the damage on their assault cannons, a couple thors can basically take down any building short of a command center, and dual thors could likely even take down a CC before the enemy player could react. Against zerg, a well timed thor drop could take out crucial tech structures.
But I don't think we'll see these strategies for a while until the game evolves. Mostly the problem is that people tend to mass weak ground units, which is what ends up beating the Thor.
well said RagingPolarBear!
uhh 2 thors can take down 4 ultralisk and 2 Colossus, while 5 vikings can only destroy one of each :D
also i only use thor for critical matters (enemy uses ultralisk, carriers, mutalisk, cruisers, thors, colossus) if ever i wanted to siege him full fledged, i'll deliver 2 thors, 20 marines, 15, marauders, 10~20 hellions and 2 medivacs,
i never send of siege tanks (they can be taken down by a zealot.. TWO siege tanks)
my PRO friend used protoss and got destroyed by just 1 thor 2 siege tanks and 2 vikings, it took down 2 carriers, 4 colossus and his ground units (3 zealots, 1 immortal and 3 stalkers) he destroyed the thor by sending what's left of his men.. PROBE.. LOL
then he got defeated :)
note:
that was just starcrack ai 5.0
Quote from: Hildalgo on March 20, 2010, 05:04:23 PM
Thors get mauled down by carriers, even if you direct the thors attack on each individual carrier. When ever i play TvP and protoss notices that i'm building thors, the AI instantly starts to build carriers.
I'm pretty sure you are better-off shooting interceptors down first, not just because thors deal bonus damage to them, but also to progressively cripple carriers.
Quote from: Mr42 on March 21, 2010, 04:27:07 PM
Quote from: Hildalgo on March 20, 2010, 05:04:23 PM
Thors get mauled down by carriers, even if you direct the thors attack on each individual carrier. When ever i play TvP and protoss notices that i'm building thors, the AI instantly starts to build carriers.
I'm pretty sure you are better-off shooting interceptors down first, not just because thors deal bonus damage to them, but also to progressively cripple carriers.
Interceptors can be reproduced pretty fast and it can be done in a group though (and they pump out 2 at a time instead of 1 in original starcraft)
I'd still say go for the carriers themselves, especially when there're more than 2 of them