1 Rax FE

One Barracks Early Expand

Matchups:	TvX
Type:	Opening, Macro, Defensive

Overview

Gasless early expands only have the one initial Marine to scare away scouts and will need Bunkers to defend early pressure until Stimpack or Factory/Starport units can support. If relying on Bionic units for the opening then adding a Bunker or two as the opponent's army size increases is highly recommended.

Scouting the opponent's build and watching the Xel'Naga Towers is what makes Gasless FEs have time to produce additional Bunkers and wall-off versus early pressure and cheese.

Goal

On maps with a small choke leading into the nautral, Terran can defend this easiest with Bunkers and may be a Supply Depot wall-off. The 1 Rax FE is the safest way to jump into the macro game and take advantage of 16 mineral patches.

Basic Build Order

Gasless Early Expand
10 - Supply Depot (1) 13 - Barracks 16 - Marine (1) 17 - Orbital Command 17 @400 minerals - Command Center (2) Next 100 Minerals - Supply Depot (2) Resume SCV+Marine production 21 - Bunker (1) 22 - Barracks (2) (3) A standard TvT Bio opening Note how all the minerals are spent on Marines and Gas is spent on upgrades and a fast tech to Medivacs and Siege Tanks as the gas comes in. or Gas after Marine (1) adds a greedily fast tech to Factory and Starport This fast tech to Banshees on two bases is only strong offensively and needs to do damage or the opponent's army will be too big to hold.

Notes

• Knowing when to expect pressure (unusually high army count) or harassment (took early gas but lots of minerals spent on troops) will make it easier to see tells of a coming attack as well as how to hold without needing to adapt heavily.

Scouting

• Holding the Xel'Naga Tower is not optional and needed to spot Remember that the second Command Center will out-macro the opposing player in the long run.

• It is necessary to poke into the enemy's base to see their army size, so a fast scouting unit like a Hellion or Reaper is highly recommended.

• Using Scanner Sweep @6:00-6:30 game time is universal against all races as this is when most tech builds still have not matured and the opponent's army will still be smaller than yours provided good macro.

Execution

• Keeping your infantry in a good arc is instrumental in holding off early pushes. Bunker placement can also make a big difference - place them somewhere you can repair well but where few of your opponent's melee units can attack them at the same time.
  • Don't place too many bunkers too close together, as this can impede your troop movement and prevent SCVs from effectively repairing.
• Scouting is essential to glimpsing any early aggression or cheese plays you may encounter, as well as being able to respond appropriately. Good Marine spread and control can be essential in some situations, such as early Hellion harassment or Void Ray play.

Adaptation

• Building Command Center (2) on the low ground is optimal but increases the opposing players chance of scouting it, what makes this adaptation secure is having enough of the correct units to defend; for example, Hellions > Zerglings and Marauders for Stalker.

• Reaper early expands, only used against Terran and Zerg, the first Reaper is keep to the cliff edges on the map and harass any scouting units. This build allows for faster Tech Lab Infantry upgrades or straight into Factory after Reaper (1).

• Marauder First fast expands are not widely used, in pro-gamer matches, is safer than Marine FEs, because of fast Concussive Shell upgrade. This also allows for some pressure against Protoss; and may be a Bunker Rush as well.
  • This can also pressure Terran, if the proxy Barracks is used to see the high ground.

• Reactor Hellion Expand (vs. Zerg), used purely against Zerg for map control against Zerglings and some harass on workers. This can be used with Cloaked Banshees to cheese heavily or give Terran time to setup for a Mechanical push.

References

• riptide (T) vs LiquidHayprO (P) - ForceSC2Strategy's 1 Rax FE commentary on how the build works in the TvP matchup
• PsY (Z) vs SirPUMPF (T) - 1 Rax Reaper FE into Marine stim/shields push, from a Zerg perspective
• roxkisBra (T) vs MaNa (P) - 1 Rax FE in TvP into MMM play. Casted by HuskyStarcraft
• mouzStrelok (T) vs ROOTKitty (T) - TvT Game in which both players do 1 Rax FE's, one with a slight diversion from the standard build. Casted by HuskyStarcraft.
• vileHawk (Z) vs Trimaster (T) - TvZ game featuring a 1 Rax FE from the Terran player into a Bio/Mech midgame. Casted by PsyStarcraft.
• dignitas.Select (Terran) vs ROOT.KiWiKaKi (Protoss) Game 4, Starcraft 2, TTesports Showmatch Marauder expand interrupted by desparate Blink Stalker all-in.
• HalbyStarcraft uses KawaiiRice replay pack for practice - Halby reviews 10 of KawaiiRice's replays in almost all of which he uses a 1 Rax FE build.

Documentation

• List of openings and follow-up timing attacks to 1rax FE & 2rax Pressure FE.
• Griffin's 1Rax FE Guide - featuring mainly the goals and targets for most the game up to 3 bases, focuses on more barracks and upgrade heavy style.