Taking a quick expansion is a great strategy to get your economy out to an early lead and get a higher income than your opponent come midgame. The trick is doing it in such a way that will give you a big enough army and defenses to survive early aggression. This Terran build order is best against Protoss, though it can be used against the other races with some success.

It will allow you to get a decent army of Marauders and Marines out to protect your 2 bases then get that second Orbital Command out to give you a huge income to be able to conquer your opponent later on.

Here’s how to execute it:

10/11 Supply Depot
12/19 Barracks
13/19 Refinery
15/19 Orbital Command
15/19 Marine
16/19 Tech Lab
17/19 Supply Depot
17/19 Marauder
20/27 Barracks
21/27 Marauder
24/27 Stim Pack (as soon as you have 100 gas)
24/27 Supply Depot
25/27 Marauder
27/35 Reactor on 2nd Barracks
28/35 Marauder
31/35 Supply Depot
32/35 Marauder
34/35 Marine
35/35 Marine
35/43 Command Center

When you start building your Command Center now is a good time to push out and see what your opponent is up to. You should be able to do a little damage to his army and/or defenses, but don’t lose your whole army. Retreat and reinforce so he can’t just come stomp your expansion.

When your Command Center gets done, transfer workers and turn it into an Orbital Command. If your attacking force does get damaged pretty bad, throw up a couple Bunkers to hide in and help your expansion survive.

Keep making Marauders and Marines, then tech up once your Command Center is done. You’ll need Vikings if Protoss decides to get Colossi to fight your infantry army. Medivacs are also very important to keep your army healed and repair the damage done by Stim Packs.

With 2 bases you can support around 5 Barracks. When your mineral count gets high add on 3 more Barracks w/ Tech Labs and don’t forget to upgrade your infantry!

A good way to tell if you’re doing this build efficiently is to check your population at 7:30. If you haven’t lost any of your units you should be at about 53 food count. If you’re below that then go back and check out the replay to see where you can tighten up the build. You’ll need to know the general Terran build order strategies as well to make sure you execute the build most efficiently.

The only thing this build is a little vulnerable to is a very early Zealot rush. As long as you send your scout early you’ll be able to tell if this is coming and then defend accordingly. If you send your SCV that built the Supply Depot then look for 1 or 2 early Gateways and Chrono Boost being cast on them. If you see these things you’re sure to have some early Zealots coming to your base.