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| Countermeasures | | | Author: | | | IP: | spider15XXXX | | Date: | 01/10/00 08:01 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 2, Max: 8, Min: 8
Lifetime Rating for ExplodingNinja: 8.0000 |  | |
Battle Report
Battle Report: Countermeasures
by ExplodingNinja
Map: Lost Temple
| Hanging out in #nohunters, a guy named MikeyMonty
asks around for a FFA. Soon enough, a two brave players chime in, YouAreDumb
and Defilias, and the three of them
allow me to observe so I can post this, my first BattleReport. (I hope ya
like it.) |
 |
During game startup, the three players at first all choose
Terran (which struck me as unusual), but after a bit of discussion between them,
they each decide to pick a separate race, for no other reason than to make
things more interesting. MikeyMonty
has blue Zerg at 8:00, YouAreDumb gets white Protoss at 7:00, and Defilias
gets red Terran at 2:00
|
|
Initial builds are a bit unusual.
Notably, Defilias builds his first depot and barracks as a wall-in on the
low ground choke in front of his natural expansion instead of at the top
of his ramp. Also, YouAreDumb builds a forge and cannon before
his gateway as a MikeyMonty
Overlord passes overhead. Mikey opts
for a pretty early expansion to his natural. |
| To say that this early expansion gets noticed
would be an understatement. YouAreDumb takes advantage of his early
forge and threatens the expansion by starting a pylon with his scouting
probe right beside the pulsating mass that would become a hatchery.
Simultaneously, a brave little Defilias
SCV passes by the scene and walks
up into Mikey's main to check things out. |
 |
 |
The scouting continues. After a few
moments, YouAreDumb realizes that his offensive cannoning probably won't
work since Mikey will likely have zerglings on scene before a cannon can
even warp in. The pylon is cancelled and the probe sent scouting
toward Defilias' base, where it's shot down by
Defilias' first two
marines. In the meanwhile, Defilias' bold little SCV, whom we've
affectionately named Paco, has been building a bunker at Mikey's main,
though he really shouldn't be expecting any marine support any time soon. |
| Defilias' SCV, Paco, seeing several zerglings
burst from their eggs realizes that no marines are on their way, and that
his superiors have sent him on a suicide mission. Paco cancels the
bunker and bravely runs his butt away as fast as he can, zerglings nipping
at him as he goes. |
 |
 |
Paco manages to lose his pursuers.
Unfortunately, he then foolishly runs toward YouAreDumb's base where he's
shot down by a cannon. Defilias is saddened, and vengeance is
proclaimed. At this point, Defilias and Mickey are busy working on
setting up their natural expansions. YouAreDumb has other ideas. |
| A funeral march takes place in Paco's
honor. Actually, Defilias is just transferring SCVs to his expansion
site. |
 |
 |
YouAreDumb's plan becomes clearer as a
shuttle takes to the air and a second starport begins construction.
Can you say islands? The probe and dragoon you see in the picture
are immediately picked up and shuttled east. |
 |
YouAreDumb drops off the dragoon on the
plateau overlooking his natural, where it begins firing on Mikey's
slow-moving overlord spy. The shuttle continues east toward the
southeast island expansion site. Another dragoon finishes off the
fleeing 'lord. |
 |
| YouAreDumb begins his island
expansion, quickly setting up a few cannons. His first corsairs head
over to the island for extra protection as soon as they are built. |
 |
 |
Defilias,
meanwhile, has not been idle. His present base defense is minimal;
however, he's been pouring his money into getting several barracks and
factories ready for mass production. |
 |
|
At this point, Defilias
tells his fellow players that he's
sensing conflict in the air. I reply, "only if conflict means
three guys sitting on their thumbs." Mikey
hints that the silence is soon to be
broken, as his first mutalisks hatch. |
 |
Defilias'
mass production begins; an impressive ground army is ready within moments. |
| True to his word, Mikey
sends a healthy cluster of about eight
mutalisks at YouAreDumb's
peon line. A guarding photon cannon is taken out quickly, and the
bulk of YouAreDumb's
probes have little chance for escape. Most of the probes are put out
of commission within just a few seconds. |
 |
 |
| Five corsairs soar in from YouAreDumb's
island expansion. They are too late to save most of the the probes,
but further damage is prevented as Mikey
makes a quick retreat, knowing that
corsairs aren't mutalisks' best buddies. YouAreDumb's
mineral income is hurt, and Mikey
likes it. Also helpful was the
recon, revealing YouAreDumb's
minimal ground defense. |
| Ever the opportunist, Mikey
considers an assault on YouAreDumb's
island while the corsairs are guarding the home base. Mikey's
mind is changed as four photon cannons begin firing on the mutalisks.
With corsair support probably on the way, Mikey
retreats again before any serious damage
is done. |
 |
 |
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Defilias'
forces get even more impressive. At this point, Mikey
knows that YouAreDumb's
ground defense is weak and his income weaker, and decides for a dramatic
change in strategy - he realizes that the bulk of YouAreDumb's
firepower is anti-mutalisk, so he starts up an impressive-sized conga line
of unupgraded zerglings. In fact, no evolution chamber has been
built yet. Mikey also
begins morphing about eight of his thirteen mutalisks into guardians, for
a possible follow-up assault. |
| The zergling conga line assaults YouAreDumb,
as a very few stalwart protoss ground defenders and three widely spaced
photon cannons do their best to hold them off at the ramp.
When the dust begins to settle, one photon cannon and one dragoon are all
that remain on the field.. and those only survive due to some decent
microing of the dragoons under assault. But the real result of this
battle is yet to come... |
 |
 |
| YouAreDumb takes
a chance and sends his six corsair over into enemy territory. In the
most fortunate counterattack I've seen in a while, Mikey
finds himself with an opposition of only
a small group of mutalisks, some almost-mutated guardians, no spore
colonies, and no hydralisk den in sight. The muties fall quickly,
and one cocoon is shot down before the guardians hatch. |
 |
Mikey's
guardians hatch and with little alternative immediately start slowly
hovering eastward toward Defilias'
base. YouAreDumb's
corsairs take chase and begin to shoot them down one by one. Mikey,
an a last-ditch effort to save his expensive guardians, builds scourge to
take out the corsairs. By the time Mikey's
last three guardians reach Defilias'
base, the all but one corsair has been scourged to death, and the final
corsair retreats back to home base away from the final scourge. |
 |
| Mikey's
three surviving guardians manage to do jack squat versus Defilias'
assembled goliaths. At this point, we all ruminate on the battle
that just occurred. Mikey
comments on his misfortune, though it is
mentioned that a single spore colony or a few devourers mixed in with the
morphing guardians could have averted these losses. YouAreDumb,
with a grin, apologizes for taking advantage of the rare situation, but it
was his duty, since Mikey struck
first. Defilias probably
wonders what the hell we're all talking about. |
 |
 |
Needing a significant cash
influx, Mikey decides
to start three expansions at his geyserless expansion, the untouched
northern starting point, and its natural. YouAreDumb
finally begins a nexus at his own natural, and Defilias
destroys the one bunker that has served
as his own primary defense for so long, in order to move his troops
forward toward the center of the map. Yes, that's the big red
cluster on the minimap. |
 |
 |
Mikey once
again has opportunity and justified reason to comment on his misfortune as
Defilias begins
a tank push from hell on the zerg geyserless expansion. Here, Mikey
strategizes to make the terran forces
slip and fall by coating the ground with zerg blood. (Sorry, Mikey,
that comment was uncalled-for on my part) =) |
 |
The huge terran push continues west
successfully. On a side note, YouAreDumb marches
about six zealots toward Mikey's
defenseless 1:00 expansion while this is going on, but they decide to
loiter nearby for a while without attacking before heading back to home
base. Defilias continues
the push toward Mikey's
main. |
 |
 |
YouAreDumb undoubtedly
hears the thunder of the arclite cannons in the distance, and steels
himself for the worst, while putting any ideas of another island expansion
on the back burner. A small mixed army of zealots, high templar,
corsairs, dragoons and a dark templar or two choose their positions. |
 |
 |
| Defilias,
heady from his latest victory in battle, sets up for a push on YouAreDumb's
natural. He sends in a lone goliath to test the waters. They
don't seem too stormy, and five tanks lead the way. |
 |
In a strong defensive showing,
the Defilias'
tanks are webbed, psi stormed, and assaulted very quickly by YouAreDumb.
The tanks' backup straggled a bit at the scene, but proved to be about on
equal footing with the protoss ground forces they faced. In fact, at
the end of the assault all that was left of the main ground forces were a
few defensive-matrixed marines and their medic support. In the pic
on the left, Mikey's
commenting to me that he's planning to secretly pull some guardians out of
a certain bodily orifice as a surprise on Defilias. |
 |
| Reinforcements for the
marines soon arrives on-scene, and YouAreDumb is
left struggling for a foothold on his real estate with not much but
corsairs and high templar left. YouAreDumb expands
to the northwest island before it's too late. |
 |
 |
Defilias,
knowing he has the battle at YouAreDumb's
main won, moves in a squadron toward Mikey's
bases, where he has been happily rebuilding, this time remembering the
devourers. The zerg make a decent showing, with the devourer and
guardian masses taking out their fair share of terrans, but the odds are
too far in Defilias'
favor, as goliath backup appears from his base next door. |
| Endgame seems just around the
corner, and though Defilias
would need to expand more to keep the
game going much longer, it didn't seem likely. Mikey
bowed out as his last, unprotected base began to fall, and YouAreDumb
asked me if he should bother continuing.
Seeing that YouAreDumb had
a decent carrier factory going on his island, I replied, "Only if you
have a ton of cash in the bank." That was right before I
noticed that these carriers were only 0/0/2 and before Defilias
taunted, "I just got
lockdown." YouAreDumb apparently
decided to keep playing anyway. |
 |
 |
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YouAreDumb,
knowing this was his last chance before other major countermeasures and
expansions were taken by Defilias,
headed boldly out with about six carriers looking for a miracle
comeback. Unfortunately, the first units he ran into were
ghosts and science vessels. |
| EMP and lockdown filled the skies with a
flourish, with three goliaths showing up to clean up the crippled mess of
carriers. YouAreDumb conceded
the game to Defilias.
Thanks for reading, and congratulations, Defilias. |
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