first, check out this replay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk2DFYusGBI the terran used a thor/medivac combo, harrassing the zerg with constant thor drops. and it looked pretty effective, as far as quick base-killing goes. so, let's compare: medivac + thor = 400 minerals, 300 gas. battlecruiser = 400 minerals, 300 gas. 250mm cannons = 100 energy, 500 damage (over time). this means a fully charged thor can launch 2 of these. yamato cannon = 125 energy, 300 damage. speed: medivac is faster. damage: thor does massive ground damage (45x2) and massive air damage, with splash. so, as far as raiding an enemy base and quickly destroying their main/tech buildings, thor is pretty damn powerful. it would only take a few of these to instantly kill the unreinforced expansions. the BC is still better for all-around tanking, of course, being an air unit with more HP and armor. and it can react better to ambushes, whereas the medivac will have to drop the thor. but i'm thinking a thor/medivac combo is about as devastating as an early reaper rush... except instead of killing workers, it'll be killing buildings. the BC's so slow it's not useful for raids, and will have to hang around the main army anyways, whereas a thor/medivac would be good for both.
First of all, you have to account the build time for both of the units. Thors have build time of 50 or 60 (I don't remember) and BC have almost double the time it takes to build Thors. Also, the range is a big big big factor if you're going to drop or harass. BC having both 6 range for ground and air is inferior to Thors with awesome 7 for ground and 10 for air. However, BC has the edge on both attack speed, armor and HP. So here's the comparisons: Build time: Thors >> BC Range: Thors >> BC HP: BC > Thors Armor: BC > Thors Attack Speed: BC > Thors Damage: Thors >> BC So my verdict is that Thors would be way more effective and overall better to use. Since yamato cannon (is it still called that?) needs to be upgraded it's useless. Not to mention trying to make BC requires you to make starport to tech lab and fusion core resulting in wasting precious time and minerals to even get to BC. Here's an example of how Thor harassing implementing the superb range is deadly as hell. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9-LMZs9D2g&playnext_from=TL&videos=cBww4hh9vu4 (Thor harassing starts around 7:05) Than again, it's my opinion and preference. The best solution is to try out for yourself in a game.
Its definitely a cool strategy but I think that a couple siege tanks up there could have done alot better. Thors just are not as good as tanks unless you expect to be fighting a heavy air army in which case I would probably use vikings to counter their air.
Hm, i think this only works if the enemy doesn't have any air to air units and does not enough scouting, they can snipe the medivacs down prety quickly I think. (vikings, Phoenix ...) An other counter for Zerg is if he knows what the enemy is going for is to burrow infestors near their lairs and then have them mindcontroll the thors.
I don't think you get the point here. He's been asking which of the two units are better for harassing and base destruction not how to defend from it. There is a lot of ways you can prevent from that harassment. But what I'm pointing out, early to mid game Thors have an upper hand in the effectiveness of the harass.
well the tanks can just move further back to avoid the sight problem...one thor wouldnt have been able to stop a drop, but I guess it could fight one off a little better. But 2 tanks could do alot more damage to the forces below alot faster so I think its still better.
Uhhh, the problem with the tank is that it can't attack air units. If mutas come, it's gg for tanks which chance of happening is highly likely. Thor's air attack is IMBA since the range is incredibly long and it does splash dmg so defending off a drop would be easy.Thus Thors would work much better. Besides, we're comparing BC to Thors not any other units.
it also has a mobility problem, because with thor you can pick it up right away, whereas tanks have to unseige before being picked up. much more dangerous. mobility is the key to hit-and-run tactics.
I don't know how related this is, but I watched a TheLittleOne v DeMuslim game last night, PvT, and TheLittleOne started the game off by getting a Warp Prism and one Collosus, which he would drop and pick up repeatedly to harass DeMuslim a ton. This was very early in the game, and he ended up getting a pretty standard army later down the road and won the game. I would have to check it out, but Terran may be able to do this as well, getting a Medivac and a Thor very early in the game and harassing with it. It would set you up for a pretty standard army down the line, just build some more Barracks or Factories, and you could keep doing Thor+Medivac combos the entire game.
Well you are right about the muta's 2 seige tanks on that ledge can kill at least 4x as fast as one thor so you could be in and out easily before they have mutas up. This would definitely be better if they already had mutas up, but I am seeing the muta rush less and less lately as people start defending their workers better. I am not comparing it to a BC because its a useless comparison as nobody uses BC's (or thors for that matter). They are two slow, very weak against air, kitable and expensive, long build time, there's a reason you never see them.
...never see them? except in pro games, about half of the terran pros end up going with thors. BCs much less so.
I agree BC isn't used by a lot however, if the opponent decides to go with heavy thor army, BC rips through them.
Alright asdf well I may not be a pro but I play in platinum 2v2 and gold 1v1 and I have never successfully employed them except in blow out victories and I have never been beat by someone using them so take that as you will. At first glance it does seem that they would do great in the late game as are very powerful against ground and air but the nature of their ground attack is problematic, how would you suggest employing them. Currently they are just so immobile and easily counterable by mass tier one or immortals. I could see using them against protoss supported by ghosts and marines but that would be very gas intensive and I would be pretty concerned about stalkers just harassing me constantly leaving me helpless to do anything. Using them with medvacs is so risky, one good blink and you could lose a huge amount of resources.
The point of starcraft is the diversity of the units. Unlike other rts like age of empires, spamming one unit doesn't lead you to victories. I've seen a lot of my friends and people go with Thor, medivacs and marine combo as marines rip through immortals and tier 1 units while Thor destroys hydras and etc.
I made an account just to post in this thread and say that this strat is absolutely incredible. I just watched a vid of it on youtube (the guy lost way late game, but i saw the concept in action). Hopped on B.Net and just smoked three players who were favored against me (i'm gold league, just dropped down from plat). The amount you can abuse this really takes me back to SC1 tank drop days. You pop a thor on the ground for 1 shot, dead hydralisk, load it back up and float out of range or out of sight. When you feel the shot cooldown is just about up, drop it again and take out another hydralisk. When doing it with 2-3 thors, I was taking out armies of hydras and sustained very little damage. I kept the zergs from attacking me or teching very much. Against the terran player i actually won after dropping my first thor + 2 marauders. Ripped through the few tanks and marines he had no problem, and it was over within a couple minutes of getting a quick starport. Really incredible strat. The immobility of the thors is completely counteracted by the medivac. The only annoying thing is worrying about repairing.
