"I guess this is the kind of stuff that most reporters generally gloss over in a single sentence, but I took a lot of screenshots of me blowing up random spaceships and I'm damned if I'm not going to use them."
-|]agomar
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| Ronin gets some Ownin | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 10/15/99 04:10 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 6, Max: 9, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for Whoop & Bob the Newt: 8.1667 |    |
BattleReports.com
Hello and welcome to
the first ever joint BR. Since I am computer impaired and
don't know how to convert screen shots into jpeg's much less
post them in a BR, Bob the Newt and I are teaming up to bring
you the what I hope will be a series of battle reports.
The first game is between Ronin~ and King-Lewis on
Dark Temple. While both would argue differently, they are
close to the same skill level. They are one race players and
about 1200 on ladder so you have a general idea of their skill
level.
 Since I wanted to see a decent match I urged them
to pick their best races. So Ronin started at 3 with Zerg
while Lewis drew 9 playing with his beloved Gaytoss.
Ronin starts with an unusual move of a 9 pool then
gets gas. As his OL pops we feel certain he is hatching 6
lings. Instead he makes 3 drones and soon after begins a lair.
He sends one drone to scout to assist the slow OL, which
personally I think is a total waste of a drone.
If
you're Zerg vs. random scouting with a drone isn't a bad idea
since different races require different builds. Also if you
are 4 pooling that drone is critical to finding your enemy
ASAP. However knowing Lewis was toss using that drone was just
a damn waste.
On the other side of the map Lewis has 2
gates and is beginning zealot production. Eventually Lewis'
scouting probe wonders onto Ronin's creep and discovers the
lair morphing. Immediately he orders his zeals to march across
the map. Ronin then begins a creep colony and a den. Yes folks
the lurker rush is on. The probe unmolested by any enemy units
notes the morphing den and transmits the data home.
Lewis sends his next 2 zeals across
the map shortly after bringing the strike force to 4. When
they arrive they find 2 sunken colonies poorly positioned. One
is in a bizarre position covering only the den while the other
covers the lair - den and some minerals. Bad move again by
Ronin. Seeking to take advantage Lewis circles his zeals
around but for some reason decides the 3 hydra are too much
for his zeals and retreats. Back home Lewis begins
preparations for the Lurker rush in the form of another gate
and a forge.
 This is an unusual move. While of course the forge
is necessary for cannons many people would choose to tech at
this point rather than opt for more troop production. Clearly
Ronin is making lurkers and no amount of zeals alone can kill
even 1 lurker without observers. However since Lewis was
trained by Orc this blatant error can be excused. My personal
preference upon seeing 1 hatch tech would be to expand with
cannons protecting the natural but hey it's easy when you have
god vision.
Ronin morphs 3 lurkers and doing a bit of
buddy rushing manages to chase off the pesky zealots which
were doing a bit of containment at Ronin's ramp. One zealot
runs south and Lewis will use him to scout later, the sign of
true genius which makes me almost forgive that 3rd gate. There
is a still around the land while 2 lurkers are used to contain
Lewis who has finally began to tech up to templar and
observers simultaneously while all 3 gates sit idle.
Back home Ronin has placed a hatch at the bottom of
his ramp and begins gathering vespene gas. Why didn't Ronin
place the hatch at his natural where he could gather gas AND
minerals? I have no clue. Maybe Ronin can explain himself
because to me it's just another D.R.M. (Dumb Ronin Maneuver).
However seconds later another drone begins a hatchery at his
SECOND NATURAL?!!? Ronin clearly doesn't want to win this one
as the second natural is in the open and not easily defended.
Finally Lewis has observers and clears his natural of
the 2 lurkers. Taking his natural he begins production from
his 3 gates of mixed ground and templar while upgrading as
well. The stealthy observer notes the completely undefended
second natural and a squad of speed zeals and goons is
dispatched to remove this piece of the zerg economy.
At this point Ronin has a decent economy with 2 gas
sources and 2 mineral sources but only 3 hatches. He has spent
most of his money and larva making drones to further the cause
of the swarm. Unfortunately this means he is also low on
troops. This is sad because Lewis is about to attack. Lewis
plows into and kills the 2nd source of minerals but Ronin does
manage to use his brain a little and runs the drones away to
begin some long range mining at his natural.
Ronin is
likely cursing at himself and begins to engage his brain. He
begins pumping hydra from 2 hatches and starts a hatch at his
natural (finally). He builds up a decent force and after some
dancing decides to engage Lewis in the middle. Although the
hydra fought well they were beat down by upgraded troops and a
well placed pi storm which Ronin's hydra ate fully.
There is a lull (LONG) in the action as both players
consider their places.
Lewis has not been idle. He has
expanded to his natural and warped in 2 more gates (5 total
now) at home with dual forges upgrading. He has scouted the
map thoroughly with DT roaming the map and a containment force
outside Ronin's base. The zerg overmind sensing that he is too
behind in economy to over power with a massive hydra swarm (my
personal choice of tactics) begins teching to a hive. He also
begins a spire. Lewis knowing he controls the map expands
again to 6. He reinforces with a cannon and 2 templar. He also
warps in a gate there bringing his total to 6.
The
tension is growing as both players build up their forces.
Ronin has a small army of 0/0 lings, 0/0 hydra (even fewer
than his lings), two lurkers and 3 sunken defending his
natural. Lewis has 1/1 troops containing and his bases number
3 which is exactly the number of Ronin's hatches. Things are
looking bad for Ronin. Let's examine the minimap. We see blue
in the middle containing and 6 in full swing. Hmm what are the
brown blobs above the containment force?
After Ronin completed his
greater spire he morphed 6 guards, which he then sent around
the containment to Lewis' natural in a cliff siege. Again
another "interesting" move by Ronin as most people would have
flown the muta over and then morphed them as the small group
of slow moving guards could have been seen and easily
destroyed if spotted, D.R.M #4 for the game. Fortunately they
were not noticed.
One thing I failed to mention
earlier was Ronin sent a hydra down to scout 6. (Not a ling
which is 1/3 the cost) This was long ago as the nexus was
warping. That hydra died to a zealot but Ronin knew it was
there and sent a small detachment of lings down to investigate
while simultaneously attacking with guards at Lewis' natural.
To his credit Ronin wisely spaced out the guards so a single
storm couldn't hit more than one. Lewis sensing Ronin couldn't
have much at home after producing his costly air fleet
countered with his containment force.
 Lewis has owned the game thus far, but
now he was being tested. First the guards. With only storm to
defend him, Lewis' natural is in serious trouble. Rather than
run his probes, they inexplicably continue mining while
guard's blast from high above killing them all as Lewis begins
producing goons to defend. While this was occurring the lings
arrived at 6 and ripped down the single cannon defense, (I'm
not sure what happened to the HT) and began ripping into
helpless probes. Things are looking better for Ronin but the
moment of truth has arrived as 20 or so powerful protoss
warriors counter.
 The containment force is much stronger
than Ronin's minor defenses. They kill the lings, the hydras,
and the 3 sunken colonies. However Lewis was busy trying to
kill the Guards and failed to manage the attack. Not one psi
was cast in fact the templar were sitting idle in the middle
of the map! 2 lurkers were all that remained but burrowed and
unseen they managed to kill all the attacking units with a
little help from reinforcing lings, as Lewis had no detection.
Amazingly Lewis had an observer only a few spaces away. Maybe
we should call this a D.L.M. The winds of change are upon us.
The overmind presses his advantage.
Sending another detachment of lings down to 6 the crax upgrade
hits and they are able to quickly reduce 6 to rubble bringing
a smile to Ronin's face. The guards are almost all dead but in
the end the natural falls with help from some nearby muta. Yes
folks faster than you can say, "Ronin is the gayest player on
bnet" Lewis has not only lost his upper hand, he has lost all
sources of income as his main has just run dry. GGs were
exchanged and the protoss surrendered the Dark Temple to the
Overmind.
Lessons learned:
Lurker rushing is
not good in 1v1 games vs. toss on ANY map but is ESPECIALLY
bad on a map like temple. Bottom line is cannons kill lurkers
and zealots are a hell of a lot stronger than marines.
Reckon is important. Lewis could have sent an observer
into Ronin's base to see what he was up to. Sure he would have
probably lost it but he would have seen the spire.
You
need to use your tech! Lewis had a robo bay but never made a
shuttle, which could have transported some templar to go on pi
raids in mid game when Ronin was still crippled. When your
opponent is hurt, kick him in the Jimmy!
Manage your
#!&^#! Troops! Lewis could have won easily since he went
2/2 vs. Ronin's 0/0 if he let his natural fall and managed his
counter attack. He would have had his main still and 6 while
killing Ronin's natural. A good trade.
Never give up.
I didn't think Ronin had a chance in hell to win when at the
end of mid game he had only 3 hatches, but he pulled it out in
the end. To quote my one and only disciple AQD3. "So when you
have your back to the wall you dig a little deeper and show
your enemy that even though he might win, he isn't going to
get it for free just because he got a little ahead."
Observing makes it easy to see what mistakes players
are making. I went from average to where I am now (barely
above average) watching lots of 1v1 games.
Although I
make fun of Ronin and Lewis in this report I still think they
are cool guys and would gladly take them as an ally vs. any of
the nohunters freaks and lamers, although in a NWTR game I'd
rather turbo concede. :)
Everyone should make reports
like AQD3 where they say I'm the best thing since sliced
bread. Whoops I guess that's not a lesson learned but I wanted
to mention it anyway.
I want to see a rematch this
time Terran/Terran. Now THAT would be good!
 
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