"Meanwhile, Fungee executes the one and only strat he's rumoured to have mastered. The cannon wallin. Although he botches the attempt slightly, Mother Teresa might give him a C+ for effort."
-|]agomar
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| 1v1 on Homeworld (pretty long) | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 09/17/99 09:09 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 6, Min: 6
Lifetime Rating for Ativus: 6.2000 |  | Ladies (I hope, anyway) and Gentlemen (The rest of you guys can read it to). Tonight’s presentation is brought to you by the Golden Bengalaas Foundation. Remember, Those Golden Bengalaas cost quite a bit, and if it were not for the efforts of the Golden Bengalaas Foundation, this site could not afford to give them out, unless of course you are one of the ever wise ones that click the banners dutifully every time you come and read battle reports.
This evenings report comes to us from the journals of Captain Ativus, a lower ranked member of the StarCraft hierarchy, specifically about a battle waged on little known jungle world named, of all things, Homeworld. This was indeed odd, as the secluded world was home only to a few stray creatures not worth mentioning. It’s rumored that the noble Bengalaas has been imported to the surface as well, probably by some eccentric game warden. I must advise you at this point that this report may not be suitable for the younger members of our reading audience, as there are several distasteful entries, including the wounding of an innocent Bengalaas by the brutal barbarian. Now, without further delay, I present your vital information:
Map:
Homeworld
Players:
Ativus, Yellow, Zerg, Random, top center
WorthyOpponent, Blue, Protoss, Chosen, Bottom Center
*note: Opponent expressed a wish not to be named in the report, so a pseudonym was used.
"Upon a foreign soil the Cerebrate was birthed, to let loose the fury of the swarm upon this virgin world, and to harvest the planets rich resources for the glory of Kerrigan." Hatching in the midst of a mineral and vespene deposit near the top center of the most habitable part of the planet, Ativus sent his first four minions, mere drones, to the work of gathering resources for his soon to be massive infestation of their world. He also ordered up another drone and sent his Overlord scouting in a counter-clockwise fashion. The Cerebrate gradually climbed the tech tree, heading for early hydras from two hatcheries with the 10/9 drone supply trick.
"For the glory of Shakurras and the reclaiming of Aiur we shall venture forth this day." The Worthy opponent warped in his Nexus as far from the Zerg colony as possible while remaining within the mineral rich region. He set his robotic probes to collecting minerals and began issuing the mundane orders that would bring about the technology needed for a proper Protoss encampment. Knowing of the immense size of the area, when his initial scouting reports showed no nearby enemies, he expanded very early to the immediate right of his base, electing a forge first build and cannon up.
Captain Ativus, becoming more accustomed to his temporary Cerebrate body, also began to realize the unlikely event of an early assault, but was too committed to his Hydra build to take advantage of it properly. As his first six Hydra’s hatched, his slow moving Overlord finally stumbled across the Protoss main, and both sides gained valuable insight. The Toss now knew what his opponent was, and the Zerg knew where to strike. The abundance of cannons in the Protoss base forced the Overlord to settle for a passing glance, but the captain surmised that so many cannons would mean no mobile troops. He mobilized his force of now twelve hydras with speed upgrade into two groups and sent out two expansion parties. He took the top right start as well as the expansion between. He also set his original hatchery about morphing into a Lair. He slowly brought his expansions on line, researched OL speed, and began a Queens nest. However, his troops count steadily increased until each base had a control group of Hydras and about twenty zerglings.
Panic struck the Protoss commander. He had hoped his unknown opponent would be another Protoss, or perhaps a Terran, and had built his strategy around the limited mobility those two choices offered. Zerg could mass armies very quickly though, and they had fast movement on an individual basis as well. He hoped that by stumbling onto the most defended side of his base, the Overlord hadn’t seen his real objective, which was shuttled Reavers and Templar. He stopped his mad tech race for a few minutes while he started a second gateway, three more cannons, and a dragoon. He also started an Observatory, deciding to make a costly change in plans from aggressive reavers to a more passive observe and counter strategy. Not willing to have wasted resources, he proceeded to make two reavers out of his two support bays, and mover his now two dragoons onto a shuttle.
His three bases now running at full steam economically, Ativus sent a dozen speedy zerglings to scout the map for enemy activity. Lurked aspect was just finishing, as was OL Transport, and attack upgrades for his hydras. In a rather odd move, one of the expansion hatcheries was also upgraded to Lair, while the main became a hive thanks to the newly completed queens nest. Ativus now made twelve Overlords and sent them to what he considered the more valuable resource nodes to scout for enemy activity, and to get more recon on the relatively unfamiliar map. No sooner had they left the base than a trio of wandering minstrel zealots marched into the zerg main. They began singing an old song and beating on the sunken colony in time with their rhythm. It was however, NOT one of the more liked songs of the Protoss, and the sunken quickly did it’s service to all life and exterminated the wandering band. This proved to be a bad decision later though, as the news of their deaths reached the Protoss base in record time. Many an oath of vengeance was sworn, and a Protoss attack set off for the enemy base.
The deaths of his favorite musicians indeed angered the Protoss commander, and he sent two full groups of now speedy zealots at the Zerg main. The speed is worth mentioning because it has some comical value, which I will exploit now. Zealots are notorious for being slow. It’s rumored to be because they are fat, or because of extra armor, but the truth is really much simpler. They are slow cause they are, in fact, drinking on the move. The "leg enhancements" are really cup holders, which come in very handy considering the mass quantities of malt liquor they consume. Having a safe place for it makes them happy and lets them run around freely. Where they learned to drink it anybody’s guess. In addition to the zealot army, a half dozen reavers were loaded into shuttles to assist, as were a small complement of dragoons.
Oblivious to the impending attack, Captain Ativus set up two more expansions, moving in a clockwise pattern. He was now fully connected via nydus, but his ceaseless tech race had left his troop count low. He immediately morphed mutalisks from his six currently active hatcheries. Soon after they hatched, scourge were ordered, suspecting carriers in the near future. Tragically, this decision could not have come at a worse time as 24 zealots slammed into the sunken wall at the Zerg main. Instantly, all troops were summoned via nydus, and the assault raged. A pair of scourge hatched right into a shuttle bringing deadly reavers into the fray, but the rest merrily got blown to bits on the way to the rally point. In a masterful stroke, all four reavers fired scarabs at….no, not the four sunkens in range. No, not the morphing greater spire either. Yup, there ya go, the lone zergling on the outside of the base who was supposed to be watching for incoming attacks (he missed this one) The mistake was crucial, as the Hydra masses now had the free shots to kill the reavers. The zealots manager to rip down all eight sunkens before biting the dust to a mad group of 2/2 hydras.
The Protoss commander sighed in depression. "Wonderful," he thought, "my crack troops are dead taking out static defenses and now I’ve got a mobile army of mad Hydras probably headed my way." Fortunately for him, he had wisely built up a sizable army of templar, and two reavers were just now coming out. The attack never came though. Waiting anxiously, the Protoss commander started to sweat. His roving observers suddenly started popping. It seemed that patrolling overlords with scourge were wreaking havoc with his recon. Finally, he decided he’d had enough, and four stargates as well as another expansion were started. His main was long dry, so probes were transferred, and the finishing touches of the tech tree were laid down. He summoned forth from his gates three carriers and an arbiter, planning on corsairs later.
Our hero, however, had long ago finished his tech tree, and was even now preparing a sinister plan. 36 hydras, 24 cracklings, 4 defilers and four ultras were loaded into overlords, escorted by 12 muta, 6 guardians, 6 devourers, and 12 scourge. The ultimate in Zerg assault gear. A group of queens was sent in advance, to parasite any scourge targets and to broodling any templar. The now fully upgraded 3/3 force found no resistance until reaching the Protoss main, where the unholy sight of dozens and dozens of dragoons struck fear into the very heart of the cerebrate itself. The drop landed though, and dark swarms went up. Which the attacking zealots thought was swell. Seemingly out of nowhere, reavers started pounding troops, lightning of Psi-Storm tore flesh from bone, and zerglings died while ultras swung mighty tusks at now powerless templar and buildings exploded in astounding displays of psionic fury. Eventually, the attack force was destroyed, but not before destroying several key buildings, not to mention many Protoss warriors. There were few survivors. During the assault, both side expanded, Protoss to the west of his start, while zerg continued with his clockwise rotation. Zerg now held six expansions, two mined out, while Protoss had four, one mined out, and one being a tiny mineral only near the center.
A quiet time settled over the battlefield as both sides rebuild their forces. Ativus was going for mainly air at this point, concentrating on a fairly even mix of devourers and mutalisks, but kept two groups of hydra ready to nydus anywhere. Protoss ALSO went mostly air, concentrating on the sleek carrier with scout support.
Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for your reading thus far. It’s time for the intermission now, so if you’d like some refreshments, please feel free to stop by our snack bar. We offer a wide selection of the finest vending machines and soda dispensers, as well as a full line of mini-cocktails, "borrowed" from our friends at Kakaru airlines. All proceeds from tonight’s vending sales go directly to the "Firebat retirement fund."
Well, welcome back. Please take your seats, we’re just about to resume. Remember, it’s a fairly quiet time right now, as both players are building up, but action lurks just around the corner…..
Ativus has expanded three more times, breaking his clockwise fashion and going for the untouched regions to the West of the battlefield, bringing the total number of expansions to nine, counting the now three that were mined out. Protoss also managed another expansion, heading clockwise from his last one. His 6 carrier fleet had been rallied to a "safe" spot on the map, right on top of the Templar statue in the middle. A series of shield batteries and cannons were in place, and 16 scouts with 8 corsairs provided backup and support. Unbeknownst to him though, one of his probes had been parasited, the very probe he had sent to create this fortress. A dozen overlords were created for a very special task.
As this air force patiently waited for upgrades to finish, there began a mini-saga involving Zor, the zealot, and Leeka, the zergling. Zor was a valiant Protoss warrior who had fought in many battles, and was also one of the original zealots summoned for this campaign. He was getting old now though, and the signs of age were beginning to show. He was beginning to lag behind the younger, stronger zealots in his patrol group, and although they all swore upon the moons of Aiur that he was still as capable as they, he could see that they were beginning to take it a little easier on him, and that his assignment workload was diminishing. He had also found several retirement community brochures in his psychic mailbox lately. Reluctantly, Zor had accepted the rather safe job of guarding the original base. It was now mined out, and nearly abandoned, save for the four probes still mining vespene from the depleted geyser, and the other guard, a whiny templar who only got to come along because his uncle was some high mucky-muck somewhere.
It was during this time that a young zergling named Leeka was hatched. She was an unusual zergling, almost pretty, in a twisted sort of way. She had been given a very simple order from her commanding overlord, an order that had come from the cerebrate himself. She was to go and check out the original Protoss base, to see if the Swarm could inflict some damage without taking heavy losses. She realized, of course, that this mission would probably be the only thing she would ever do. It was most certain that there were cannons in the main, and although she was quick, she could not outrun the photon blasts. She closed her eyes in a moment of self pity, and then realized something. Zerglings shouldn’t have self pity, they are just supposed to have hive minds. Could she actually be different? She ran off towards the Protoss base just the same though, because the overlord had told her to.
When she arrived at the deserted place, she took a quick look around, and saw this massive, noble looking Protoss warrior gleam at her. She was scared to death. As soon as she felt this fear, she felt the link between her and the rest of the swarm terminate. (It was standard to do so, otherwise all of the swarm would feel every single death). Knowing she would most likely not even hit the proud warrior, she simply curled up into a ball and waited to die, softly rocking whispering vainly "please don’t kill me" over and over. Zor saw that the zergling was actually scared of him. He had never seen fear in a zerg before, and it somewhat confused him. He took pity on the cowering youth, and though he kept his guard up, asked her if she would attack him. (This is all possible because when the overmind landed on Aiur and started assimilating Protoss, it only follows that their language would be transferred into the zerg collective memory, right?)
Leeka was totally confused. This warrior wasn’t killing her, instead they were talking. It had started with formalities, you know, if you move I will kill you blah blah blah, but then had moved onto real things, like where they were from or something like that. They had made a connection, on some level. Sparks flew through the young zerglings body. No, not those kind of sparks. Sadly, poor innocent Leeka wandered too close to a photon cannon and it blew her to little bits.
Anyway, on with the story. The twelve overlords loaded up with two defilers and ten zerglings, one to an overlord, and set off for the zerg fort. The entire place came alive when they arrived, but all the troops managed to land, and the purpose of the mission was made clear when great splashes of red acid appeared all over the Protoss base. The entire air fleet was plagued. The Protoss did not like that at all, and sent his fleet to attack the right side of the map, sweeping up at all the Zerg expansions. The zerg was prepared though, as dark swarm appeared and hydra fire assailed the carriers shields. One by one they Bite the dust, and the muta groups had managed to wipe out all but 4 scouts, when the Protoss finally sent in his corsair group. The 24 mutas dwindled to five before they retreated. Then, in an impressive display of micro, the five remaining muta were sent in, spread wide apart, to provide distraction for the 24 scourge. They ALL struck home, killing the corsairs. The battlefield then went silent again, except for the loud cursing of the Protoss executor.
Surprisingly, even with dark swarm , the carrier fleet had caused considerable damage, destroying two expansions. This would not do though, and the zerg expanded to the last two gas spots on the map, mid left and top mid left expansion. As soon as they were up and running, it brought the total of expansions for Zerg to nine, three relatively fresh, three half to two thirds gone, and three mined out. Toss also had nine. Three mined out, three halfway, and three mineral only in the mid sections of the map, which were also fairly low. It was around now that the Protoss announced "I suck at macro, I’ve got 15000 in the bank"
And now, faithful readers, if you have made it this far, you are indeed to be commended. We’re almost though with this evenings performance, but we’d like to take just a few minutes to remind you who is sponsoring our event this evening, the Golden Bengalaas Foundation. Remember, only the best deserve a Golden Bengalaas.
Both sides were now rebuilding yet again, and except for occasional hit and runs by spell casters (broodling and psistorm runs) all was quiet. Before long, the map itself was devoid of resources, both players having completely mined every last node possible. The single exception was in Protoss territory, a trio of mineral clusters had been missed. (According to post script notes, both sides had about 35000 in the bank. Whether this is actually true in unverified.)
We caution you, gentle reader, that the following may be objectionable. It seems that, in order to create a more powerful army, the Protoss actually began killing his own probes to free up supply. It started with a single probe who got in the way of a reaver test, but it quickly escalated to psi storm being used on the poor defenseless probes. In retaliation, it is believed that the probes managed to take a hit point of shields off of a single pylon before they were exterminated. Tragically, during this display of geno, er, probocide, a Bengalaas got caught in the crossfire. When notified, both sides agreed to a temporary cease fire to conduct a proper burial for the noble creature. Much malt liquor was consumed, and no hostilities ensued during the ceremony.
Now, the zerg, Captain Ativus, realized that the Protoss had no probes at the funeral, and took this to mean that the probes were all dead. This was intolerable, as it allowed the Protoss a larger army. Not to be outdone, Captain Ativus morphed all of his drones into colonies and extra hatcheries, since he had quite a bit in the bank and wanted to be able to replenish troops quickly, should it become needed. It was at this point that the Protoss offered an ally draw. The game was beginning to drag on beyond reasonable time constraints. Captain Ativus would have none of it however, and responded to the weak plea for compromise with a 60 crackling assault with dark swarm backup on the nearest Protoss base, which happened to be the remains of the air base. It was leveled in seconds, before any troops could be summoned to defend. The Protoss was forced to spend valuable minerals replacing lost pylons.
Both forces could feel the tension now. All the preparations were coming to a final head now, a glorious win awaited the winner, and a tragic loss to the loser. Each tried to pick the spot for the final battle, but neither would be baited into fighting over the others static defenses. Finally, the two forces met. It would be a two sides battle, since the Protoss had decided enough was enough. He launched a carrier fleet with corsair backup straight north, in an attempt to divide the zerg, and dropped a reaver/templar/goon force in the east corner base. Ativus calmly responded, broodling on the temps, guardians to deal with the reavers, and plague + dark swarm to the carrier fleet. Devourers and muta helped clean out the skies, but Ativus had lost three bases to the slow moving but thorough Protoss juggernaut.
Ativus countered quickly, sending two groups of muta, a group of guardians, and of devourers at the toss, coming down from the 9:00 spot in a counter-clockwise attack. He had guessed correctly that no corsairs were left after the attack, and proceeded to level the bases in an orderly fashion. The toss sent a fleet of carriers at the zerg bases from the other side of the map, and the race was on. Ativus still had his 24 hydra-4 defiler force to defend his bases, but even that was no match for the carrier onslaught. Finally, a wave of scourge, six control groups to be exact, slammed into the carriers, blowing six of them out of the sky. The hydras managed the rest, but by switching his attentions to the battle at home, Ativus doomed his attack force to a painful death at the hands of some templar.
Both sides were low on troops now, it was a race to see who could rebuild faster, and it was a race Ativus was destined to win. He went pure crack….lings that is, and swarmed them at his opponent. He lost a great number to cannons, but superior numbers won out in the end. In a blaze of blue, four nexus(es?) blew up almost simultaneously. In a final act of desperation, 36 zealots start ripping through zerg buildings, but in the end, it came down to superior mobility of the Zerg forces, as Ativus was able to rally eight lurkers, the only ones he made all game, right into the path of the Protoss warriors. Without observer support, they died very quickly. As the long, hard fought game came to a close, hearty gg’s were exchanged, and the contestants chatted briefly while the remaining buildings were destroyed.
Congratulations, reader, you have finished the report! We at the Golden Bengalaas Foundation would like to thank you for your support , and urge you to remember that only the best deserve a Golden Bengalaas.
Well, there ya go. No fancy graphics, just a long-winded report. I just wanted to see if I can write a good report, because I can’t take pictures worth anything. Oh yes, here’s the "lessons Learned" section:
1. As zerg, parasite everything. EVERYTHING, especially against toss. They can’t remove it, and they are expensive to waste
2. The key to wining with zerg is to change tactics on the fly to counter whatever your opponent is doing.
3. When you play a 1v1 game, try not to do it on a huge eight player map with someone of equal skill, because the game will last forever.
4. Spells win games. Had my opponent used one other than psi storm (like RECALL, or Stasis) he could have trounced me.
5. Mobility is key. By keeping everything nydused together, I was able to have a much smaller defense force. Also, my muta were able to assassinate and flee before even corsairs could catch them.
6. Don’t neglect ground defenses. I was lucky I went overboard with the sunkens, otherwise those last zealots could have ripped me a new one. I contend it was closer to 60 zeals, but my opponent insists it was only 36. Regardless, in most games I would have had only anti-drop defenses, nothing for an frontal assault.
7. Really try to take a picture when you do something like distract 12 corsairs with five spread muta while you slam 24 scourge into their backsides.
8. You can still find a decent pubbie game, if you suck like me and look long enough.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! |
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