How can i play space marines to its fullest?

[Choongjing]

Space marines (before the patch) had always been my best race since i tac spam ALOT. But after this patch, Sm tac is nerfed alot and when i tried using it, i lose 5 out of 5. I tried Scout spaming but failed dramatically. (There is this one incident where i was preparing for ork sluggas assualt and the sluggas attack before expected. Stupid and stubborn, i stayed put and got massacred. And there, my 3 squads of scouts ruined.) Can anybody please tell me their tactic into using sm now? Like how y'all play. I tried using the shot gun ability but find it hard to work.

[konfeta]

Ideally, a mix of units. Two Tacs is generally enough unless you suffer heavy losses and need to pull of a victory. In tier 1, decide whenever you want a Flamer (if the enemy is massing softies) or conserve the tacs for tier 2 plasma/ML. But *always* leave one Tac open for the Missile Launcher. You will regret it if you don't.

Generally, to support the two Tacs, you want shotguns for melee/jump troops, Heavy Bolter if they don't have jump troops, or ASM if they are using a ton of dangerous long range units like Rangers/Shuriplats.

Another key component to remember is not to get *too* much Tier 1 forces - you want Tier 2 for Sergeants and vehicles, and some of the stronger Wargear. Like, for example, 1 Shotgun Scout, 1 ASM squad, 1 Flame Tac, and 1 Heavy Bolter with Targeters may seem very sexy and micro oriented for great victory, your opponent will end up in tier 3 by the time you hit tier 2.

The rest depends on your hero. I imagine you will have the easiest time with the Apothecary (who has uber Wargear), TM in the middle (Turrets are really hard to place well against competent opponents, and will delay your tech too much unless you have very little other power expendure), FC is probably the hardest - while he is hardy, disrupts, and gives your troops a sizable DPS boost with Battlecry, he also is very easily negated through suppression (Big Shootas, Warcry or Kinetic Pulse, Barbed Strangler).

[BHLohk]

FC got it's damaged nerfed pretty hard and he takes a beating from melee and ranged. Right now, he's a pretty crappy choice for a hero in my opinion.
Apoth got Purification Rites buffed, now SM have a way to deal with Sluggas, Banshees and to an extent, Gaunts.
Tech Marine got buffed, a lot. His plasma gun deals an incredible amount of damage to Heavy Infantry, Mark Target forces one squad to retreat almost instantly and turrets are extremely annoying in T1.

I use the Apoth, for me, it's the only way SM deal with melee with winning fights instead of avoiding them or shooting for a little bit then running away.

Spamming does indeed work in the game, only if your opponent has no way of countering a blob. Most races have ways to countering blobs, so I never recommend building more than 2 Tact squads unless you're needing some extra AV or something to that effect.

General BO I go with is:
Tactical -> Purification Rites -> Shotties -> Tactical -> T2 -> Dreadnought
(After you get your Shotties I use the next 300 available req to get a power farm going)

Obviously if you need a 2nd Shottie scout I recommend building one, however I rarely upgrade flamers on my tacticals. I find that I need Missile tacts or plasma tacts in T2/T3 and the Flamers just don't cut it past T2 in my opinion.

This makes for an early Dreadnought and if you kept the pressure on he'll swing in and ruin your opponent. Or if the game seems pretty close, the Dreadnought will tip the tide in your favor.

I do have some replays of me showcasing this strategy but the Replays section isn't allowing me to post replays. If you want some replays i'll send'em to ya.

[redscare]

General BO I go with is:
Tactical -> Purification Rites -> Shotties -> Tactical -> T2 -> Dreadnought

Me too. Although depending on the map and the enemy race I sometimes build a 2nd scout as a 1st unit. Against massed sluggas rites is not enough and you need a sg blast (and in some maps you may find that your scouts are too far away to be able to come and help).

But against SM you'd better get the power axe. That thing rips tacs apart and drains energy of the enemy hero.