Help a noob in need: In one particular game this Terran player rushed cloaked banshees at me Usually I try to pop up an observer to spot the banshees but I'm finding it hard to keep up with them. Then I researched observer speed but even with chronoboost by the time its halfway researching the banshees have just torn up my base. HELP?
Early and often agression often prevents crap like this. And scouting, 1-2 cannons at mineral line also helps. A safer build for lower leagues vs T is, pylong>forge>2 cannons at mineral line then w/e,
Can cannons attack cloaked banshees? cuz then i can just post like 3 cannons and that should take care of it
Cannons are the counter to cloaked banshees. They don't cost much. A forge costs 150 minerals (and is necessary for upgrades anyway) and one cannon right in the middle of the minerals is enough to protect most of the workers and provide detection for an even greater radius. You're definitely going to need an observer or two anyway, but as long as your fragile probes are protected cloaked banshees won't be able to do much damage.
Also remember that a cannon has a larger sight range than attack range, so if you plant one inside your mineral line it will provide detection enough so that your stalkers can take care of the banshees and deal with harassment. Stalkers are quite effective against banshees anyway, so with 1-2 cannons you can quite easily protect yourself. If you go robo and get an observer out, getting a second observer is also quite helpful to help defend your expo since obs are usually a little slow. One above each nexus and you're safe from probe harassment.
pheonixes counter banshees very well.. but they suck vs anything else i find stalkers to be the most efficient units vs banshee-harras + they can blink right under the banshees to take them out
What if they don't go for the mineral line? In the game I played they went for the gateway and pylons first.
Phoenixes are an awsome unit against many things a terran can throw at you, including gaining air control from vikings, lifting up siege tanks, harassing and sniping stray units. Also phoenixes do not "counter" banshee harass for a simple reason: stargate tech does not have detection. you will need a robo or a couple of cannons to detect cloaked banshees, because no matter how much dmg you deal you can't kill something that you cannot see. Though with phoenix play you can scout around the edges of the map for incoming banshees and force an early cloak before they reach your base...
phoenixs and observers are the best combination in dealing with banshees, they can deal with any terran air force, but i prefer to use to stalkers and observers, i don't like stargates..... i don't know why.....
If you get a robo before you expand, or expand fast and get a robo, then you can get an observer in time for the rush. Get a few observers and keep stalkers in place to defend your probes. You could basically just leave the stalkers on guard duty the whole game and be relatively well-off. Later on in the game you can plant down a couple cannons at important mineral lines, and tech to blink as well to help chase down banshees. If for some reason any of this is too complicated...2 cannons in the mineral line should be enough for most banshee harasses.
