The mass Cyclone three Command Centre build is now one of the most common builds in the Terran mirror match up.

In my last article, I had discussed how influential Cyclone is in TvT. I briefly mentioned the mass Cyclone three Command Centre build in that article, and I want to dedicate a separate article for it.

In my opinion, uThermal’s version of the build is easiest to understand, so it is a good starting point for learning.

Build order

Opening: 15 gas Reaper expand

14 – Supply Depot

15 – Refinery

16 – Barracks

@100% Barracks – Reaper and Orbital Command

@400 mineral – Command Centre (@100% – Orbital Command)

@100 gas – Factory

@100 mineral – Supply Depot

@75 gas – Refinery

@100% Reaper – Reaper

@100% Factory – Cyclone

@50 gas – Reactor on Barracks

Build choice: early 3CC and mass Cyclone

@100% Reactor – Swap Factory onto Reactor for 2x Cyclone

@400 mineral – Command Centre (@100% Orbital Command), then Tech Lab on Barracks

39 – Supply Depot

@100% 2x Cyclone – 2x Cyclone

Build Supply Depot accordingly hereafter

Constant Marine production

Transition: Bio

@100 gas – Stim

@100% 2x Cyclone – Lift up Factory to build a Reactor; 2x Barracks: one on the unused Reactor and the other next to the Factory

@250 mineral – 2x Engineering Bay (@100% – +1/+1 Infantry upgrade)

@150 mineral – 2x Refinery

@100% 2x Barracks – Lift Factory to build a Reactor; Starport (next to Factory); Swap the Barracks with no add-on onto the unused Reactor

@100% Starport – Swap Starport onto Reactor for 2x Medivac; Tech Lab on Factory

This is the core of the build without any specific reaction to the opponent’s build. See vod below.

I made some minor adjustments to the notations so as to highlight the main build order. You need to make adjustments accordingly, for example, build an Engineering Bay early for Missile Turret against potential Banshee. I intentionally break down the above notation into three parts to demonstrate the build order block concept. This does not only make build order easier to understand, it also helps players to implement changes accordingly. For example, you can use the same build, and go for a mech transition instead by replacing the transition block with the one below.

Transition: mech

@150 mineral – 2x Refinery (3rd and 4th)

@100% 2x Cyclone – 2x Cyclone (6th and 7th)

@150 mineral – Factory (next to Barracks)

@150 mineral – Starport; Lift Barracks to build a Reactor next to Starport

@100% Factory – Swap it onto the unused Tech Lab for Siege Tank

@100% Starport – Swap it onto the new Reactor built by the Barracks for 2x Medivac

See vod below for an example of mech transition.

Discussion

I had already gone through the metagame of mass Cyclone in my last article, so I am just going to simply mention the selective things about the build per se.

The above build order uses the conventional 15 gas Reaper expand instead of the contemporary double Refinery Reaper expand. You can still go for a 3CC with mass Cyclone using the double Refinery Reaper expand, and I had somewhat covered it in the June 2018 MBO.

This 15 gas Reaper expand opening gets a second Reaper, which is common in TvT for this opening. You do not want to lose the early Reaper fight.

The transition to bio is interesting. The notation is comparable to the Reactor Hellion into three Command Centre in TvZ. You have the Factory on Reactor and the Barracks on Tech Lab (researching Stim) when the third Command Centre is building. Then, you build two more Barracks to have two on Reactor and one on Tech Lab. Lastly, you get a pair of Medivac from the Reactor Starport. This transition focuses on bio production to align with the Stim research timing. It allows players to move out with a group of Marines with Medivac and Stim (i.e., a power spike).

While the transition is smooth, it does not produce any Siege Tank in the process. This is a notable trade off of this build, because Siege Tank is a crucial unit in the mid game. The lack of Siege Tank in the build up to the mid game signals vulnerability against opponent’s Siege Tank push with Stim and Medivac. The below vod (timestamped) illustrates this very well.

This weakness can be circumvented by intelligent tactical choices based on the relative role of the two players in TvT. Fundamentally, the player who produced more Cyclone in the early game has the initiative. However, the role is swapped once the other player has produced enough Siege Tank to make a push in the early stage of the mid game. The player who invested heavily on Cyclone has to delay and weaken the Siege Tank push (watch the vods in the relative role article). This can be done by:

Positioning the Cyclones and Marines aggressively to force the opponent to siege up defensively. And,

Threaten to force an engagement when the push is moving out. This forces Tanks to be siege (you have to retreat when they do – repeat when they unsiege), and this buys time for your own Siege Tank to nullify the push.

This is a good build for bio, but it is a great build for mech. The mech transition has the same weakness in the mid game transition phase. In the vod below (timestamped), uThermal used the mobility of Medivac to drop Cyclone to hinder the move out push. The rationale is analogous to the one of the two Medivacs with two Thors drop in TvZ mech. Overall, this build allows you to get the early third Command Centre needed for mech, and it has arguably the best early game composition.

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