"YRM, Team up with me on my "Cow-with-a-Band-Aid" Productions� and make mediocre reports of 4 pools on Bloodbath. After four weeks of them, you can post a picture of Kerrigan and get a 10.0."
-~CattleBruiser~
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| Peon Learns to Tech | | | Author: | | | IP: | 210-56-9XXXX | | Date: | 02/14/00 09:02 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 8, Min: 8
Lifetime Rating for Carnal XTC: 7.6000 |  | Peon Learns to Tech
Map: Lost Temple
Players: Native Bunz (Protoss), ShakaZulu (Terran), Peons of the World Unite (Zerg)
Early Game
Starting off, Peon (3:00) went for an early expansion to his natural, followed by a fast tech to lurkers. Rather than sunkening in, he made swift strikes at his foes, which, coupled with some macro, relieved the pressure of early attacks… for a while.
Bunz (9:00) decided to double nexus and went for 5 gateways, massive economics, and a cyber core. As soon as he got his momentum going, this Protoss executor would be a dangerous adversary.
ShakaZulu (12:00) went for his standard “please-don’t-hurt-me” build, involving fast m&m’s and bunkers, followed by expansion and heavy air. Although he lost most (all) of his early forces, he somehow managed to survive the perpetual onslaught of zerglings.
ShakaZulu Takes a Hit
Once Peon felt he had weakened his foe into submission (eliminating an expansion and early troops hurts) he turned his eyes towards the prospect of rapid teching, in the hopes of thwarting any attacks. He took the 6:00 natural and climbed directly up the tech tree, grabbing some queens and defilers as he went. His plan was this: plague/ensnare ANYTHING he encountered and then attack with upgraded zerglings supported by a couple lurkers. It was an experimental tactic, but it sounded solid enough… provided he could survive early attacks while/after neglecting unit production for so long.
As it turned out, Bunz had concocted a devilish plan as well: Get lots of dragoons and zealots. :) Though not as experimental as his foes, this would prove highly effective, given the slow and risky builds of his enemies.
Meanwhile, ShakaZulu plotted his revenge, took his natural, and build up a nice defense of tanks and m&m’s. It was at the point where Peon broodlinged the tanks and ensnared the marines that Bunz decided to attack ShakaZulu with his entire legion. Having easily dispensed with the expansion, he gave into Shaka’s profession that “we were always picking on him.” “Very well,” said Bunz. “All’s fair in love and war.”
Those Crazy Zerg
Nobody knows what is was – the time of day, his suicidal nature, or the kilo of crack he’d smoked prior to the game – but something had possessed Peon. He had teched up the entire tech tree and researched countless upgrades, yet his defense consisted merely of a hotkey of zerglings, 2 lurkers, and 2 defilers. All this in record time, but what was he thinking? For the sake of “fun,” Bunz gathered his units outside of Peon’s base. Peon, in retaliation, cast plague on Protoss forces.
The effect was very much like when you step on a red ant’s nest; The angry forces marched into Peon’s expansion and eradicated it. As they began moving into his main, Peon cast dark swarm on his choke and his survival instincts kicked in. [Side Note: Peon is renowned for his ability to cling onto a game which any fool can see is over and win the day. Among his marvels is the eradication of 8 tanks and 12 marines with 2 dropships, 3 zealots, and 4 probes.] I won’t go into length about this epic battle, but suffice to say that in the end, Peon won out with 3 lings and two defilers to spare. Just as he was catching his breath, another force attacked, this time adding dark templar to the mix. Once again, somehow, Peon took the victory, with only 1 drone left in the end.
In his autonomous southern base, Peon had built up a force of 12 mutalisks that he now sent to do a peon raid versus Bunz. However, very much to his surprise he found that ShakaZulu had gotten there first and was IN THE PROCESS of murdering probes. At the sight of the 4 corsair defense, Peon pulled out and opted for a zergling/defiler/guardian assault on the tech-heavy (and undefended) portion of Bunz’s base. He rapidly did the following:
A) loaded 3 defilers and 24 lings into overlords
B) morphed 6 mutas into guardians
C) ensnared Bunz’s strike force (which was near the middle of the map).
With the reinforcements miles away and at half speed, things should be easy enough, right? Wrong. As soon as Peon was committed to the assault, in ran a hotkey of dark templar. Dark templar in closed spaces = dead zerglings. Peon did his best to load up and ran in with his now completed guardians. In the end, the protoss adversary warded off the guards, but not before losing 2/3rds of his own main base. Suddenly, just as things were looking up for Peon, 12 dragoons pop into his main. The defense? A whopping 4 zerglings, 2 queens, 2 overlords, and 2 defilers. What’s a guy to do?
Well, for starters, he dark swarmed the object of goon affection: the greater spire. Next, he ensnared some of the goons and CONSUMED the queen. Having gotten just enough energy, he dark swarmed the left hand group of goons, which fell rapidly to the lings. The cannibalism continued, providing another dark swarm for the other bunch of goons. Just when Peon thought it was over, in popped 4 dark templar (which the idle defiler plagued).
A new batch of lings dispensed of 2 of the invisible number, and a broodling sent one more reeling. Between the remaining probes and broodlings, Peon brought the Dark Templar to 17 shields and 2 life… but no more. Before he could work his magic again, MORE reinforcements arrived. With great regret, Peon said goodbye to all his teching. From here until the end of the game, he would use exclusively zerglings and defilers.
Peon Outfoxes the Fox
Peon was down, but not yet out. He had lost all of his tech (even his spawning pool), but due to the incredible lack of scouting on the part of his enemies, he maintained both the 6:00 main and expansion. He immediately built a spawning pool, countless drones, and ZERGLINGS.
At this point, Peon cracked. After a long, tiresome game, when it would seem most intelligent to rebuild what was lost, he instead opted for yet ANOTHER zergling/defiler drop, this time on ShakaZulu’s main. The attack was beautiful, managing to a) piss of SZ, and b) destroy roughly 2/3rds of the base at the same time. Sadly, due to wraith intervention, all forces would be unable to return home.
Peon, unscathed by these losses, had already macroed out another massive army of zerglings. Apparently Bunz had seen the overlords en route to drop and decided to investigate the situation with a mass of units. Somehow, ONCE AGAIN, Peon held off this assault, save for one dark templar and the 6 corsairs that removed his detection. Still not worried, he churned out another 16 lings and rushed them at Bunz’s expansion. They took out the cannons and half a pylon, but were then eliminated. Moments later, another fearsome attack managed to kill the nexus, and the cannons at the drained 9:00 natural. However, due to his lack of detection, he eventually succumbed to the Dark Templar.
Next on Peon’s world tour was ShakaZulu’s land expansion. Although all land forces were destroyed, a small wraith pack disturbed the peace of the day.
Just as Peon had dropped 2 drone at the lower right expansion spot, ShakaZulu’s Slackintosh computer decided it would be a good time to crash. Bunz, starved for minerals and frustrated with Peon’s determined fervor, reluctantly surrendered. Whether or not Peon really could have taken on the still-vibrant forces of Bunz remains unknown, however…
Well, this concludes our tale of warfare sweet… I hope this satiated all of your desires for “a close game.”
Lessons Learned:
1. Plague+ensnare+cracklings can work, but only if you really really want it to. :)
2. Never give up.
3. Disconnect! + Surrender! = Victory!
4. Never give up.
5. Macroing zerglings in late-game make great assassins, capable of eliminating whatever it is that your foe is depending on.
6. Never give up.
7. Though it was omitted in the report, Peon also faced at one point a wraith pack knocking on his peon line. Ensnare+plague+3 mutas took down 12 wraiths. To me, that’s the best way I’ve yet seen to cost-effectively take out mass-air. Has anyone ever tried this on an island map?
8. All’s fair in love and war.
--XTC | | Battle Shots! | 
Some party crashers (with imminent cannabalism)...
Death the Expansion of the Demon Bunz!
Just a hotkey of zerglings help the minerals go down...
Hardcore you know the score!
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