[fur]

Hi guys, one of things I am most having difficulty with at the moment is reading what my opponent is doing in TvT. Specifically, how to know whether he is going banshees or not.

Now obviously, if I'm lucky enough to scout a fast 2 gas I should prepare.

But many times I watch top level TvT replays, and a player will go, for instance, a fast hellion drop with absolutely no cover for banshees, and as far as I can tell they haven't scouted enough to be sure of this. Now it's possible they're just rolling the dice but maybe there is something I'm missing?

I made great progress in my TvP once I learned to look at how much gas had been mined and looking for a 6:00ish expand or not, but TvT I constantly feel like I'm playing blind and forced to either coin flip or cover EVERYTHING which makes my expo way too slow if they fast expand.

Any particular signals I can look out for?

[Nemo]

I think it could depend on the build you're making and how crucial it is for you to know.

If you're making 1-1-1 for example, you could have a quick viking that will be useful even if no banshee, to give vision to your tanks for example, will deal with not cloacked banshees, help you scout his base. You then can afford to be a bit less "safe".

If you're going heavy bio, you will need:

• To scan his base but he could have hidden his tech;
• A quick technical center anyway for upgrades. Putting a pair of turrets (one more if you expanded quickly) if you see him turtling a bit seems compulsory as marines don't defend Banshees harass as well.

As for people going for fast hellion drop, it's assuming that you will kill more SCV with your hellion than your opponent. You still need to run you SCV (they can outrun more or less the banshee as the enemy can't outrun your hellions.
You have then a starport to make that viking that will deal with the banshee.That was the plan of the iEchoic 2 port, 2 fact Air / hellion build vs Banshee play.