A Silver League Terran's Small Guide to Unit Composition Part 2 - A Theoretical Approach

The problem with most builds, that I find, is the lack of ability of the player (mostly me) to efficiently separate

The easiest army to manage is an army that consists of a single unit type. Take the Marine, for example:

General purpose unit, can shoot both ground and air units, considered among some the best basic unit in the game. Generally a very versatile unit, but is countered by AOE damage-dealing units (such as Siege Tanks, Widow Mines, Banelings, Lurkers, Collosus) because of their propensity to clump together in large numbers, or by units that deal extra damage to biological units (such as Hellion/Hellbats, Archons, etc).

This is to say, while this unit composition is extremely simple to utilize, maintain and upgrade, it is also extremely easy to counter.

On the other end of this spectrum, you have an extremely mixed unit composition, such as an army consisting of Marine, Marauder, Viking, Siege Tank, Widow Mine, Battlecruiser.

This can be an INCREDIBLY confusing army composition, as you’re dealing with 4 ground unit types (each with their own unique abilities and upgrades), and 2 air unit types (each with their own unique abilities and upgrade).

While technically, yes, the opponent will have a hard time countering this unit composition completely, your ability to micro each of these unit type suffers greatly, which leaves you vulnerable to your opponent’s ability to poke with their own micro.

Effectively, you’re fighting your own ability to split your attention among your units.

There is a sweet-spot, however, if you divide up the unit composition by utility; Lately, in my own ladder games I’ve been having a lot of success with a Battlemech composition consisting mainly of 3 units: Cyclone, Banshee, and Widow Mine.

Cyclones are my main damage dealing force, as their speed allows them to move into an opposing force and deal lots of damage with their “Lock-On” ability. They can shoot both grounded and air units.

Banshees are my support force, there to deal with any attempts to counter my Cyclones on the ground (since they are armored units). Their cloak ability makes them incredibly useful when dealing with units that can aim up, provided that they do not have detection. Banshees also have the added benefit of being able to sneak them into mineral lines during engagement, allowing pronged attacks to occur.

Widow mines are the fall-back force, in the case where I have a bad engagement from which I need to retreat. Because of their high splash damage and invisibility, it makes a chase a risky engagement for the opponent, and can turn a good engagement from them into an army wipe.

You can technically add a passive unit (such as a Medivac, if you’re trying to heal bio units, or a Raven if you need detection), but I think that the composition can get pretty confusing when you get past 3 or 4 unit types.

There’s also an important thing to consider here: transition