"With experience, you'll learn exactly how far you can go against a DT rusher. Then you'll be able to kick him in the nuts."
-Heartcutter
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| The Gladiators: Zerg vrs Protoss | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 09/23/99 11:09 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 4, Max: 8, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for AQD3: 7.6184 |   | INTRODUCTION
I’d like to thank all the people who have commented on my reports. I wrote down YourRoleModel’s advice of “If you lose all your buildings and units you’ll lose” on a 3”x5” notecard that I take out and read before every game =]. Seriously, I do appreciate the advice people have given and I think it has made my game better. I can’t reply to comments during the day, but don’t think that I’m not grateful for the advice.
I met my opponent for last night’s ladder match in channel ~KZ, a clan channel. My friend ~KZ-Ghost had invited me in, thinking we might get a game going. I noticed a player by the name of ~KZ-Flamewall had a rating of 1049 from 9-7-0. His stats showed he was near his true rating and I asked him for a ladder game. After several minutes of badgering and assurances from Ghost he would own me and I just wanted the practice he agreed to a match. The map was his choice as I was the challenger, and he picked the Lost Temple:
ENTER THE ARENA
I chose my favorite race of the protoss again, getting the bottom starting position. Flame chose zerg and got the left start. I think zerg have an advantage over protoss on this map because of the easy natural expansion. Taking the natural not only secures a second resource area, it hides the tech buildings of the zerg. With the zerg flexibility this is a serious advantage. Sometimes a protoss can punish a zerg who gets too greedy on the second hatchery though… In any case, I designed my build to put constant pressure on the zerg to force troop production instead of drone production:
8: Pylon
10: Gateway
13: Gateway
14: Zealot
15: Pylon
I started my first gateway early rather than using the double gateway on 12 strategy because an overlord scouted me as my pylon was warping in. If he had gone with a 9 pool I would need the first zealot to defend with my probes. I knew from the overlord he was in the left position, and I sent the probe that made my second gateway to scout his base. The probe passed a morphing hatchery at his natural and found a main base with a spawning pool and a lot of drones, but no combat units. Six drones were speeding to the natural. I was a little puzzled at this. Three drones and he could have been sunkening up the natural as soon as the hatchery completed. But with six…he must be doing a maynard transfer, and people who maynard don’t usually make sunkens because they like their economy too much. This opportunity was too good to be passed up. I directed my probe to attack a drone, clicked back to my base and ordered my first three zealots to his natural. He had two groups of four zerglings defending. I got to hammer on them as they ran away from my forces. I killed a drone and started chasing the rest. Another six zerglings ran down the ramp to join the previous eight and I hit attack move towards the smallest group, hoping to do some damage. The battle wasn’t going to be won by anything I could do so I flipped back to my base to manage troop production.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
I kept making zealots from two gateways and started on a cybernetics core. I wanted a piece of the overlord hanging over my base so I could do my strategies without free recon by my opponent. He saw the warping core although I had tried to place if out of range of the overlord. He moved his overlord to the edge of my plateau. My first dragoon still ran over and gave it a little something to think about. Right as it was firing, a group of eighteen zerglings hit. Ten waited in front of my gateways, and the other eight cornered the dragoon against the edge of the plateau and ripped into it with their claws. I tried to move it back to base but it had nowhere to go. It died without firing a shot at it’s attackers. Flame sent in the zerglings in a group. I moved my four zealots back from in front of the gates to in among the pylons supporting them. Only one zergling could get at my zealots from any given direction at a time. Also, being right next to my gas I had two probes stop transporting gas and attack. This let the zealots kill the zerglings in two hits instead of three and when the smoke cleared I still had two zealots left.
All the micro involved in the battle left me with a small mineral surplus. I ordered up another two zealots, a citadel of Adun, and a forge. I also sent one probe to the right start location. As soon as the forge warped in I researched the +1 Weapon upgrade and made a templar archives. Flame wasn’t about to leave me alone to my happy game of Simcity. He came in with twenty four zerglings just as my achives completed. I chose to queue up two dark templar in my gateways because I had 200 gas. If I had 300 I would have gotten templar to warp in an archon. Either way, those troops wouldn’t be ready for this battle… He sent in his troops and I again moved my zealots to the pylon maze next to the assimilator. One zealot got caught out of place and was assaulted on all sides, dying a few paces away from the safety of his comrades. Flame must have used attack move as the zerglings began hammering on my buildings as well as the defenders. The tight quarters once again saved the day and three battle weary zealots remained after the combat.
My dark templar emerged from the gateways. Yes, that’s right. Dark templar against a zerg. It makes them afraid to expand all over the map without sending forces to protect it. They also have to start spreading overlords all over the place, and waste money on overlord speed. It buys a protoss player a few minutes of easy map control if he’s carefull. I sent the first one to patrol between the top position and it’s natural. The other one went to just outside the zerg natural. On the way out they met another horde of zerglings. I ordered one to stand on the ramp and it cut down six or seven zerglings before Flame realized his mistake. I got another ten or so in the middle of the map before he ordered a general retreat. Instant map control. The dark templar outside his choke got volunteered for a scouting mission and charged into the zerg main. I saw three creep colonies being morphed and got a piece of a few drones before some zerglings came in. I erected a small memorial in my base with the inscription “He was cost effective.”
A CHANGE OF TACTICS
Creep colonies being thrown down at the natural could mean only one thing. He was going air. If he planned on keeping up with hydras or zerglings he wouldn’t need defensive ground structures. I placed a nexus at the right start with this info. My natural would be easier to defend from ground troops, but 90% of the zerg players whose zerglings fail go for mutas, and when they fail its guardians. Sometimes straight to guards. Usually in fact. And a main is a lot easier to defend from guardians than a natural because of the cliffs. I laid down two cannons at my main and got a third gateway. I went with two dragoons as quick air defense. I had twelve zealots and an archon at my choke, waiting for another zergling rush. All was quiet for a few minutes and I took the breather to get psi storm and zealot speed.
I developed my expansion at the right start with two cannons and a gateway. It would take a moderately serious effort to displace it, and I would see it coming with my dark templar. I also sent my archon on a hunting expedition and killed an overlord placed suspiciously close to my main. Just as it died a horde of zerglings started streaming past. And quickly ran as fast as they could the other way when the first warp blade blow cut one in half. I was getting extremely nervous about what Flame had on his mind. To get a little bit of recon I made a stargate. My first corsair went into his main and started chasing overlords. As the first overlord got into the red, the six mutas in eggs hatched and came to it’s rescue. My base air defense was two cannons and two dragoons…. My corsair quickly ran back to safety. I brought an archon up from my choke just in case. Flame lost two of the mutas before retreating. About ten seconds later a pair of scourge came in and killed my corsair.
END OF THE GAMES
My troop count had been increasing every step of the game. I took my available forces of a templar, two archons, sixteen zealots and went for broke. Time to take his natural. I picked up a dark templar at his choke and waltzed on in. His defenses consisted of four sunkens and thirty zerglings. A second or two after I came in this was joined by six mutas. God I love archons. He ran the mutas after losing two and the archons vaporized the zerglings with zealot support. The sunkens took a bit of pounding, but went down in the end. He lost about fifteen drones to my forces before running the last one or two. My archon took a long deep breath of air from the Lost Temple…smelled like….victory. I sent my remaining forces into his main, eight zealots in the red, two archons, and the templar. Four mutas came in and assassinated the templar as I climbed the ramp, but he lost two mutas to the archons. As I charged into his base twelve zerglings met me. The archons were enough that even the weakened zealots could eliminate them with little trouble. Flame conceded the game rather than watch the destruction of his base.
Thank you for reading my report. Please comment on the tactics I and my opponent used. The record of my ladder game can be found here
"Thanks for the free ladder points Ghost =]"
AQD3
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