Tank Placement and Control

Early Drops

We begins with some executing drops that can be made pretty early in the game. Most of you knows which units that can be used, but this is not about that. This is how your Tanks should be placed when dropping (Tanks is almost always used in drops; at least should be).

Now you have a total of one Dropship, and you also have a pretty good number of Tanks along with some Marines. Now you will want to use your scan if you can't get in the base in another way. Begin to scan where you think (if you think) your enemy has expanded. If he has you will want to take it out. This can be made by dropping on the ledge beside the expansion. This can be made on maps like Temple, Discovery, Ashrigo (somewhat) etc.

Feign that you are playing on Temple (as most players do nowadays). Begin loading in units in your Dropship. Unsiege one Tank and put him in, move three Marines and load them, stop mining with one SCV and put him in as cargo too. Now you have a total of one Tank, three Marines and one SCV. If this is performed right, it will destroy your enemy's expansion. Now, carefully fly to the ledge.

(One Tank, three Marines, and one SCV. Perfect for killing expansions don't you think?)

Avoid heavy trafficed roads, do not let them see your Dropship. Unload everything you have a long distance from the mining peons below. Begin build a bunker near but not too near the edge. When it's ready your Dropship should be home again and load another Tank in it along with one more SCV and three more Marines, bring it to the same place and the same time you build a Turret with the SCV that built the bunker.

Siege your first Tank far away from the edge but just in range of the bunker. You do not want to alert your enemy that you are there.

(This is it, except for the Turret. This guy doesn't have a Lair I realized after dropping my second cargo; so why bother?)

When the other cargo arrives pull the new Tank beside your bunker and siege it. Now pull a fourth Marine into the bunker and the other two stays beside the firing Tank. Now you can begin building another bunker if you suspect him to drop units there. But be prepared to cancel building to repair your Tanks (or your bunker). Mark your SCV and press ESC to cancel building but let the not yet ready bunker remain unbuilt. Your opponent can't fire at your Tank with his units below, because the Tank is perfectly placed just out of range of them. Remember, you don't have to destroy his Nexus / Hatchery / Command Center to devastate his expansion, the peons are enough. If the enemy is middle left on Temple you can hurt his gas and some peons doing this. But then you have to build a bunker just beside the edge and put a Tank there to hurt the others as well. If he is top middle, you can destroy his gas and his Town Hall.

On Discovery this is much easier to perform well. But, don't siege your first Tank, this will alert him of your presence. If you want to do it very quickly float up a Factory there along with a Barracks. You can do this on Showdown and other maps as well.

Tank Push  -->
Tips & Tricks: Early Tank Drop -->
Tips & Tricks: Late Drop Tricks -->
Examples -->