TvP Carrier Defense?

[SiLo]

I mostly play Terran and my typical strategy is Marines + Medics along with tank support and harass with Reapers. This has worked fairly well for me and typically running around with 90+ marines all drugged up is a slaughter house.


The only problem I typically face is a Carrier armada. I know the short answer to this may be "well, if they're able to amass that many Carriers you're probably taking too long." This might be true, but I'm wondering what's a good counter attack.


I've noticed the Carriers take out the Marines faster than the half-dozen medics can heal, and of course the tanks are useless against them.


Typically, thinking back to SC1, I'd have a good platoon or two of Wraiths to back it up cloaked. However, it seems that Terran's air strategy has changed a good bit in SC2, though for the worse in my opinion. Vikings have versatility in becoming decent anti-ground against bio units, but cannot cloak. Banshees can cloak but are only air-to-ground. I tried a dozen or more of Vikings but they seemed to get destroyed in no time against the Carriers.


A common problem I found was that the units seemed to be "confused" in targeting the interceptors rather than the Carriers. I'm sure if I had micro'd them all to attack the proper targets the outcome would have been better but it seems like it's still slightly difficult for Terran to tackle a Carrier armada coming in.


I haven't had time to fully test other choices since it's not too common they go the Carrier strategy.


I was never a fan of BCs in SC1 but I have noticed that their attack speed is greatly increased now. Also, the Raven's abilities seem interesting though I have yet to really try them out. I wonder if they have some AA utility. Another thing I noticed is that it seems Ghosts' EMP is particularly helpful against Protoss, but I just really dislike them in general.


Anyhow, this post is getting too long so I'm sure you get the point by now. Any suggestions on this?

[MeanMarine]

I've said this before,and I'll say it again:a nuke always goes well against any army.

@terran have very weak aircraft in sc2 

[stormbreaker]

Terran's air power is concentrated in the battlecruisers. In 10 carriers vs 10 BCs fight the battles will win. You can take out half of the carriers even before the actual fight starts with Yamato gun. Now in SC2 it's even easier as you dont need to select every BC.

[raxorsharp]

or simply build some vikings.. and target each carrier individually, on top of that ... if you really have 90+ marines.. if you target each carrier individually, especially with unlimited selection, you should easily take out their carriers and push into the base, don't waste your time on battlecruisers, they're expensive and raped by voidrays, which are a lot cheaper

[notquitefob]

BCs w/ Y-cannon works well for me.  Although that'd require you to tech up the wrong branch.  Best bet would be to beat them early-mid game if you're going the MM/reaper/tank route.

[neon]

If this is against the AI which I hope it is ... the old school tank/turret/bunker push while u build up +/+ vikings does well against the carriers that the AI likes to get late game... single target carriers (if u can micro out ur weak viking before it gets one shot lol) and go repair at nearest scv patch go in and back picking them off while u do ur tank turret bunker push to maintain map control if u dont have enough vikings to out mass their carriers... do expansion harrass with them and lift off when the back up comes. if void rays are problem mid game since the AI will get them if ur tank turtleing pick off with vikings and drag to turrets ull have to micro alot here since they will run away before they get there but u can pretty much kite them there. GL anymore TvP(ai) questions let me know

[ShadowTiger]

If are going m&m and tanks then kill them before they get carriers...

failing that (perhaps in FFA), you should get at least 10 vikings, then "kite" the carriers since vikings have 9 range. Just hit and run until you kill all of them. Getting air weapons upgrade helps greatly. This also works against mass BC.

DO NOT USE MARINES AGAINST CARRIERS unless you have 3 armor and 3 weapons (and enemy has no upgrades).

Edit-- oh and you can use thors as well, though im sure that many carriers will be able to take down thors since thors cant clump together easily. Try to build some thors instead of tanks, especially after the first 10 minutes of gameplay.

[SiLo]

Thanks all! I've been watching a good bit of TvP videos to learn more.


I take back that Terran doesn't have good air, I see that micro'ing units its more important as certain units have innate benefits over others and range is definitely more varied among units. I didn't even notice the Viking vs Carrier range, which can be a huge benefit.


I was just dicking around and playing with the tech tree to test BCs and stuff.. I can definitely see the power in them with the cannon.


Does the Raven's defense turret provide a good bit of defense from the interceptors? I have yet to try since I rarely tech there.


All I can say is the best (or at least one of the best) fixes in SC2 is the ability to micro abilities on units. Finally!