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Chapter 1: The Bureaucracy

Introduction: Shared bases is normally a map that is known for vast amounts of powering with little regard for any tactics or strategy. What should be a game of teamwork is turned into little more than a bloodbath. The mass amounts of resources centralized near each base cause most games on this map to turn into little more than standoffs, giving the victory to the one who can produce fastest. Most people play the map much like BGH. What could be a map of teamwork turns into a random battle, throwing wave after wave of troops at the opponent. I figured there must be some way to employ extra teamwork in this map, taking advantage of the fact that the base is shared between three people.

Thinking of the few shared base games I have played, I've seen some players that cannon up their team's choke. I realized they might be on to something and so I tried to expand the idea a bit. I envisioned a new Shared base strategy, a Bureaucracy style setup in which each team member specialized in a certain job. While in a normal team game, each player had to worry about defending his or her own base, in shared base a single player could adopt this responsibility, allowing the other team members to do more productive things. Any player will tell you its easier to focus on one thing than many and focusing solely on zealots will produce better results than focusing on cannons and zealots. I started figuring out what tasks would be best to divide. Defense and Offense were obvious ones. Due to the fact you can't share minerals, mining had to be employed by all factions of the Bureaucracy. Since I've noticed few Shared base players scout because they are too busy macroing, I decided that reconnaissance would compose the third Bureau.

Eager to test my new theory, I quickly logged on as HellThorn and joined a Shared Base game. I was surprised to see that everyone who joined the game had the map. Without so much as having to wait for a single DL, the game was underway.

Birth of a Bureaucracy

My allies were {PoH}Blankman and crazy-Kefka and we faced off against Blink-459{GSF}, +$(V)+Maniac! and Flying_Sumo. Now I figured initially that my vision of a Bureaucratic system would be met with a lot of resistance, as it is a very unnatural way of playing. Surprisingly enough, my team accepted the responsibilities of it rather readily.

Once I was ensured that the duties were well divided, the test had begun.

And thus, my shared base Bureaucracy was born. I was director of the Bureau of Reconnaissance and Information Distribution, whose job is to keep the team informed of enemy activities. Crazy_Kefka was chosen to head the Bureau of Defense, which would seek to eliminate threats before they reached our base. Blankman would head up the Bureau of Offensive Operations. Now like any Bureaucracy, the 3 units acted independantly but all were required for the whole to function. Without proper recon, offensive operations would strike the wrong places and defenses would be hard pressed to react in time. Without defense the base would be destroyed and without a proper offense, We stood no chance of winning this game.

As I was just locking down funding for my new Bureau, I recieved a warning from one of my fellow directors. It was a warning about a possible breach of base security, showing me that Kefka was indeed thinking about his duties. Wanting to make sure that he knew about all possible risks, I decided to give him a small security quiz. You can see the results below.

You can judge for yourself whether he passed or failed.

The Bureaucracy In Action

After recieving the necissary funding, I commissioned several overlord class scouting units. Based on cost calculations, the Overlord would be my primary unit. A mere 100 minerals gave me a farseeing detector unit with decent speed (when upgraded). While its initial speed was a problem, it could be quickly dealt with. I built a pool and then started morphing a lair. Seeing that the pool was a waste of space, I had a few drones destroy it. My bureau did not require zerglings and so the pool was dead weight after getting the necissary tech. Meanwhile Kefka was busy building cannons at our choke and Blankman was teching up for his hydra assault.

As soon as overlord speed was researched I started my scouting almost immediately, sending overlords all over our opponents' base. I made sure to keep my allies well briefed on my valuable recon data. I saw mass tanks from the orange terran Blink-459 and an obvious goon build from flying_sumo. Now Maniac was a problem recon wise since it seemed he produced nothing but hatcheries and drones. I was forced to file a somewhat inconclusive report for most of the beginning of the game. Then finally I found what he was planning.

My recon had paid off. His spore colony was trying to keep my overlords away from his twin spires. However, since I was totally focused on scouting I found the spires rather easily. Warning my teammates of this, I could now only hope they countered the air build in time.

In addition to scouting, I had other duties which are common to all bureaus, one of which is personnel transfers. I recieved a request from the Bureau of Defense for some additional personnel.

Well, that sounded like a good deal to me. As I suspected my drone would be performing similar tasks under the employ of my associate, so I approved the personnel transfer. I do remind potential Bureaucrats to always ensure that you get assurances that your units will not be used for purposes which could give your Bureau bad press and result in a loss of funding. Nothing can be worse than losing those precious minerals to an untimely lawsuit by a mistreated drone.

Flexibility In The Bureaucracy

As some of you know, another chief feature of Bureaucracy is that it checks up on itself frequently, ensuring less corruption and better efficiency. One of my fellow directiors, Blankman, thought that my cost effective plan of all overlords wasn't very effective. He offers his suggestions here and we reach a nice compromise.

Since I had the gas, queens wouldn't be a big deal to produce, costing only 100 extra gas compared to the Overlord and with comparable speed. Though they lacked the detection capability, I figured their ability to parasite units would overcome that limitation. I didn't bend completely and start producing mutalisks, since they would have hindered my recon capabilities, but I think it was a move in the right direction.

Among other changes, BlankMan had decided to start producing mutalisks and scourge. My scouting reports about enemy air had led him to bolster his anti-air capabilities with these units. In addition, Kefka had begun to move away from the static defense setup and switch to more mobile troop defense. I saw corsairs, zealots and goons.

The Bureaucracy Under Pressure

Well, the game went on for some time and I hoped that my team had processed the recon data in time to make it useful. The first mass guardian attack on the right flank of our base was easily held off by some of Kefka's corsairs and BlankMan's mutas and scourge. My recon had tipped them off to expect Zerg air and they were ready. My Bureau surely deserved some commendation, except for one small detail. At the same time, the middle of the map was getting hit by a goon/ghost rush. Now this wouldn't have been a problem except the terran decided to nuke the choke. Kefka was busy dealing with the invading air and wasn't able to react in time to kill the ghost which my overlords were hovering above. I warned him, but his reaction time was a bit slow. This is somewhat expected, as Bureaucratic systems aren't known for their high reaction time. The nuke fell, destroying the cannon wall and enemy troops entered our base.

Kefka was extremely depressed at the failure of his Bureau of Defense and filed a surrender form with the opposing army and resigned from the war. Blankman stayed a bit longer, but without the director of the now defunct Bureau of Defense, we had little chance. After filling out the necissary paperwork, he resigned as well.

Alas, war is not the place for Bureaucrats.

Being the last one left, I needed a plan. My overlord's certainly couldn't do the work of both the other Bureaus, so I tried negotiations. Now it was going to be difficult, though I did have the advantage of confusion on my side. When you walk into an opponent's base and see nothing but mass overlords, you will probably be a bit confused.

You can see how they went below as I tried to explain my situation.

Well I realized I was getting through to them after a while as I explained that neither of my other allies did their part well enough. In time, A cease fire was called and they allied up.

They agreed with me, My Bureau of Reconnaissance would live on!

Conclusion

Well, The Bureaucracy idea didn't work out exactly as I planned, but it did result in a win added to my record, so it wasn't a complete failure.

Will successful evolved bureaucracies dominate Shared base in the future? only time will tell.