"i was goin around with my XS pass to get into the event, 'im a professional gamer baby, u know you want some of this'"
- Crexis
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| An Epic Ladder Free-For-All | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 10/11/99 05:10 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 4, Max: 9, Min: 8
Lifetime Rating for Macdonough: 7.6111 |   | |
An Epic Ladder Free-For-All: Macdonough
Intro
Although this is my first battle report that I have ever published, it shouldn't be too bad because I've written many
others. This is just the first one for which I've actually remembered to take screenshots while I was playing = ) It's also my
first time to use HTML, but have no worry. Now, lets rumble...
Note: singe quotes: ' ' denote personal thoughts.
The Arena
Dire
Straits
The Gladiators
- Me (Lieut.Mac)
- Zerg, Bottom Left
- Lord_F-Storm
- Protoss, Botttom Right
- green-vally
- Protoss, Top Right
- StOned-TrEe
- Zerg, Top Left
The Skill Levels
At first I thought all of us were about the same ability, maybe about a 1050 rating on average. However, playing the game revealed huge differences.
Lord_F-Storm began with a rating of 977, but I suspected he was smurfing or something because his record was 10-0-0. 'Hrm...'
StOned-TrEe said he was a "chobo" (newbie in Korean), and I actually believed him until...
green-vally was awfully quiet. As a matter of fact, he only spoke twice the entire game! My premonition told me was a little below 1100 (heh, good thing he was on the opposite side of the map from me =)...
Lieut.Mac (me) began with a ladder record of 0-4-1 (928), but this was obviously my "Free-For-All" account. Last season I got to 1078 in 5 games, but stopped because of school. I think I'm a 1200s player...
Prelude to War
It is dawn on an alien land. The air is fresh; the sea is clean; and the grass smells...umm...grassy. The four workers in each establishment all take a short moment to appreciate the beauty of the environment surrounding them, for they know this is the last time they will see it untouched by destructive forces. They then reluctantly start collecting resources to fund a great war which could possibly kill them.
The Buildup Commences
My build order resembled the following:
1-8:minerals
9:Extractor
Overlord
10: minerals
11: minerals
12: Spawning Pool
13: Creep Colony
14-17: gas
Overlord
18: Hatchery
19+:minerals, Creep Colonies, tech buildings
This is not my exact build order (it's hard to keep track when you're playing), but it's close enough to show that I took advantage of being on an island to get a good resource flow early. It seemed to work, though, because I had constant production of buildings and troops thereafter.
A quick look into the crystal ball tells us what paths the other combatants chose:
green-vally apparently went the shuttle/infantry route and later added air support and spellcasters for variety. His build order was probably Pylon, Assimilator, Gateway, Cybernetics Core, Robotics Facility, Pylon, etc.
Lord_F-Storm did some kind of carrier build order. I have know clue how he did it either because his island was covered with cannons. *Ahem...no one can beat Macdonough's turbo carrier build order* ; so, it's really not important how purple went about this. = )
StOned-TrEe must have done a double Lair build order, kind of like I did. He expanded early and had many Hydralisks and Zerglings on hand. Something told me he wasn't the newbie he said he was, especially since he expanded before me...
First Excursions and Enlightenment
While StOned-TrEe and Lord_F-Storm were bantering, green-vally was supposedly expanding early. He had performed a quick drop on StOned-TrEe, but it only bought him time to expand. Meanwhile, I had a constant convoy of Overlords transporting mass Drones and Hydras to the southernmost expansion island. Yet my trusty Overlord scouting the northern edge of my base told me that StOned-TrEe had already set up camp at the resource node right above my main base. I don't know what the heck Lord_F-Storm was doing, probably nothing though.
During this quiet period, the chatting suddenly jumped to a level higher than comprehension. One of the players, whose name shall remain classified, reported that his brother just revealed that he was gay. I'm dead serious. On top of that, I lost my connection to battle.net. 'Gosh,' I thought, 'What else can go wrong now?' Plenty...
First Encounters
StOned-TrEe and green-vally, from what I gather, were beating on each other all game, so I didn't really feel threatened by either one of them. At the moment, Lord_F-Storm was my only worry, as I caught a glimpse of a few carriers too close to my only expansion. 'How did he get those so fast?!' This sight caused me to expand to the left-center island. I sent in a squadron of Mutalisks (12) and dropped a regiment of Hydralisks (12) in order to secure the vacant island before following with several drones. While I was doing this, my Overlords probed further into the black unknown. One died to Lord_F-Storm's blasted cannons surrounding his island, and another died to cannon fire as it uncovered one of green-vally's expansions on the right-center island.
The Fighting Begins
Just as I got my second expansion up and running, in came StOned-TrEe with 12 Overlords full of fully upgraded Hydralisks.
"Screw you, blue!" I yelled. < --- (hehe...get it? = )
I sighed the sigh of getting owned by a mindless strategy and ordered all of the forces on the island to defend. Instead of wasting my precious drones, I sent in some Mutalisks to occupy the enemy forces while I evacuated the drones and relocated them. 'Bastard! I hate it when people steal my expansions!' Anyway...being the sore loser I was, I morphed my remaining Mutalisks into Guardians and kept StOned-TrEe's forces in check on the south of that island.
'Now what am I supposed to do, just sit here? I only have one expansion and a mined-out main. All the other islands are taken, and the other players are building up their armies. Hey look! I have 3000 minerals and 3000 gas in the bank!' Muhahaha...
Siege is Laid, Along with his Friend Smackdown
Over the eastern edge of my main island, I assembled a large force of 12 Guardians, 24 Mutalisks, and about 40 Scourge. I split the Guardians into 2 control groups as well as the Mutalisks. I put the Scourge in 4 control groups, ready to be called upon at a moment's notice. In addition, I filled 3 Overlords with Hydralisks from my expansion to be dropped when a safe path was made.
I struck. My Guardians laid into Lord_F-Storm's cannons like they were made out of styrofoam. As expected, Lord_F-Storm's carriers came to the rescue; but because this was anticipated, I sent in all of my Mutalisks before Lord_F-Storm's "attack-move" command issued to the Carriers could lock onto my Guardians. As Lord_F-Storm scrambled to retarget amongst the mass jumble of Zerg creatures, my Scourge made short work of his 6 carriers. My force, now aided by fresh ground troops, continued to wipe the rest of the island clean. From what I can deduce, Lord_F-Storm had established some kind of expansion or outpost in the north part of the map. I asked him why he didn't die when I destroyed his base, knowing that all of the expansions were taken.
He only replied, "Up north."
I really didn't care though, because he was also releasing cries of agony as green-vally finished him off. The poor thing. He was begging so much = )
Simultaneous Disaster
While I was attacking Lord_F-Storm, I discovered to my dismay that StOned-TrEe had just finished morphing a Nydus Canal on my Creep. Yep, that's right. A second later he was also pouring hordes of filthy blue beasts from his base into mine. I didn't have any units on my main island--they were all the way across the map! I couldn't possibly save my base, especially since Zerg buildings can't fly.
So I just shouted, "You suck blue!" to StOned-TrEe.
He replied, "heh."
I vowed to get him back for taking TWO of my islands...'Bastard.'
Rest but Desperation
Now Lord_F-Storm was dead, and I was pretty close to meeting the same fate. I still didn't have any income, and my Vespene was dwindling fast. I really didn't want to mess with StOned-TrEe again, and I sure as heck didn't want to start anything with green-vally. I didn't know what he was capable of at that point, but if StOned-TrEe was having trouble with him, I felt I should keep my distance. In the despondent hope that there was any gas left in the geyser in Lord_F-Storm's old base, I checked it out. 'Yes!' Lord_F-Storm was a newbie for sure--he still had 564 units of Vespene in his geyser after all this time! So then I morphed a drone into a Hatchery more than a screen's distance away from the geyser so as to allow for maximum drone rotation. Then I morphed an Extractor and transported 6 drones to the area.
About that time I saw a blue Scourge fly over my new production facility and halt.
"Oh blue, please don't kill me yet," I pleaded. "I'm already dead; I'm just havin' fun now..."
"Alright," he responded, "but I'm busy with yellow anyway."
Restoration
'Ha! Sucker!' StOned-TrEe should've finished me off when he had the chance. 'I'm comin' back baby!' With my now replenished stock of gas (gathering from a depleted geyser really adds up over time!), I began production of my war machine. Shortly I had 8 new Guardians and 36 Mutalisks. With my leftover minerals I made countless Zerglings and put them in Overlords. I also gathered all of my remaining Hydralisks and a few drones and loaded them into Overlords as well.
During this time StOned-TrEe said something about Canada and America. Suddenly, for the first time in the entire game, green-vally spoke!
"I am is Korean."
Spitting out my coke, I remarked, "Yes, I can tell."
'HAHAHAHahahahahahaahahahahahahaha'
Anyway, now I had 318 minerals left, just enough for a Hatchery. It is time...
The Moment of Reckoning
'It's payback time!' I rallied my juggernaut over my expansion and only fully remaining base, ready to strike the left-center island once again. My fingers were tense, my jaw was clinched, and I could almost sense the stirring eagerness in my troops to attack. Without further delay, I sent my faithful forces into battle: first, the Guardians, second, the empty Overlords, next, the full Overlords, and last, the Mutalisks. Mwuhahahahaha...hahaha...hahaha...(sorry, Dr. Evil is rubbing off on me = ).
"DROP!" shouted StOned-TrEe in horror. "SH*T!"
I only replied with a "heh."
'No, StOned-TrEe, it's more than a drop. It's a drop AND an entire fleet of 40+ units. I pity da' fool.'
He persisted: "I thought you were just hiding in the corner! Ahhh!"
'No, StOned-TrEe, you must have forgotten about that entire base in the south. Who's yo daddy?'
After that massacre I set up mining operations on the island. It was the only one left with any mineral patches on it. This means I had the last of the money and StOned-TrEe had no more income...
Odd Occurrences
While I was making a base on the island for the second time, StOned-TrEe all-of-the-sudden said, "Take out left-middle."
So I did.
Then I asked why. (heh...shoot first, ask questions later = ). There was no answer, just a swarm of blue Scourge flanking my priceless Guardians. 'Bastard.'
I just said, "Cheap," and dismissed the futile insurrection.
After that green-vally said, "Time is money," and left. 'How weird,' I thought. 'But honestly, what the heck was that?! If you're going to learn English, at least learn what the cliches mean. Gees.'
Over the past 5 minutes, StOned-TrEe had been taking out green-vally's expansions, but the main base remained untouched. green-vally must have just been out of money.
The Final Battle
'So now "it's just me and you kid." ' Like the cheap bastard he is, StOned-TrEe erected another Nydus Canal, this time on my temporary Vespene base in Lord_F-Storm's old base. In came the blue Hydralisks and Zerglings to wipe out that island.
"Punk."
"heh."
With that thought in mind, I put all of my ground troops in Overlords once again and dropped them on StOned-TrEe's main base, escorted by 30+ Mutalisks. While my forces were away from my island in the left-center, StOned-TrEe dropped on it again! 'Bastard! Grrrr! That's the third time!' So I burrow my trusty drones and let go of the island. StOned-TrEe is pretty much dead anyway. Besides, I still have one island base...
But then he tries to drop on it too!!! Thank goodness I had so many structures on it he couldn't unload all at once. This gave my 2 Sunken Colonies and several Spore Colonies time to pound on Overlords and Hydralisks before being destroyed. But by that time the squadron of Mutalisks I dispatched from the battlefront had arrived on the scene to save the day.
Silence
Me: "Got anymore bases?"
StOned-TrEe:"1"
We were both down to a measly, mined out island expansion base.
StOned-TrEe: "gg"
Me: "gg" ..... "heh"
StOned-TrEe: "cya"
Me: "bye"
Statistics of the War
Player Scores
| Player |
Units |
Structures |
Resources |
Total points |
| Lieut.Mac |
105100 |
39065 |
41304 |
185469 |
| StOned-TrEe |
151530 |
33135 |
73690 |
258355 |
| green-vally |
125145 |
15975 |
47498 |
188618 |
| Lord_F-Storm |
50200 |
9275 |
20542 |
80017 |
Elapsed Time 1:12:27
My kill to loss ratio was 2:1
StOned-TrEe's was 1:2
Additional Tidbits
During my period of "restoration," StOned-TrEe disclosed some interesting information.
Then he asked, "Have you heard of XD's~Grrr...?"
Of course I reply, "Of course!" (bad pun I know)
"I played him last week."
"No way! Really?!"
"Yea...I won, too."
"I honestly don't believe you...should I?"
"Yes."
"Ok then, map/races/time?"
"Temple." pause "Him Zerg. Me toss"
"But Zerg usually beats Protoss."
"I know."
"VERY interesting."
"Yea... I peaked at 1333 last season." ('gees what a punk')
"Wow." pause "So, do you think I'm a good Zerg player?"
"Yea."
"Yay!"
End of discussion (next lines are "DROP!...SH*T!" ) 'hehehehe...yea baby'
Reflections
I beat a guy that beat Grrr...!!! I know it's a Free-for-All, but still...woohoo!!! = )
Lessons Learned
- Don't trust everyone when they say, "I'm a newbie." (duh)
- Always scout to prevent being caught off guard by a massive yet preventable drop.
- Scourge work good as scouts and as exterior base protection.
- Always keep your Guardians covered in back!
- Long games are all about resources. Defend your expansions very well.
- Micromanagment and wise use of units can turn the game.
- Don't give your opponent any time in which they could recover.
- Keep an eye on your base: Look for enemy military outposts and enemy Nydus Canals.
- If you keep playing after losing your Battle.net connection, it's funner.
- Comprehensive battle reports are time-consuming, but well worth it.
Comments
Please send them! This is my first battle report, so I'd like to know what you think. Is it too long? boring? detailed? is the HTML ok?, etc. Thanks for reading. I hope you have enjoyed it.
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