"so you just mindlessly macro? fine. let the ignorant feed on their own putrid filth."
-Sp|ne
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| Um... like... whoa... 'n... stuff.... | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 10/25/99 12:10 | | Game Type: | Warcraft 2 | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 4, Max: 10, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for .Praetor: 8.2987 |     | So earlier today, I realized I had lost one too many socks to the dryer. I'd also had a pair of pants stolen from the laundromat as well. Strange things happen when you forget about those clothes in the dryer overnight.
(Scroll down for a bit, until the next paragraph all in parentheses if you want to just read the report.)
Upshot of it all was that I took the bus (route 41) to the mall today. I went to Sears just on the day they have a sale on everything. Oh yeah....
Now some of you may know that my computer is a little screwy after I tried to install and configure for old DOS Privateer. So I went by Electronics Boutique to see if they had MS Word or something so I could get back to work on Brigand. Well, they didn't, but I did satisfy my ulterior motive, and walked away with WarCraft II: BNE.
So I play a few single player games, but that's kind of boring (though I did enjoy the ease of attack-move), so I logged on Battle.net. I've got one thing to say about the War2 B.net interface. It's smooth. I enjoyed it, rather than the clunky StarCraft metallic look.
I wander around NWTR and nohunters rambling about how good the interface looks, but everyone is playing StarCraft, so I just look at the list of pubbie WarII games. Someone was playing hunters. Mother of all that is sacred and righteous let it stop.
Actually, I found the speed settings infinitely more annoying. Have a hunters map, fine, just make it on the fast setting. Anyhoo, I do find a 2v2 game on Fierce Ocean Combat (fastest), where I beat on some pubbies despite totally messing everything up due to the speed. I gave them some tips on naval warfare before they died.
As I scroll through the list of games again, I cringe at the number of "Even Faster" games. I can't believe Bizzard was so idiotic to do this. Even Frazier says the speed is unplayable. But what's this, a 1on1 GowBNE? On faster? I join instantly.
(Ok, the report is actually starting now. Those of you who just scrolled through that obscene intro, take heart, you now enter my equally obscene world of battle reporting. Didn't the Congress try to ban "obscene" things on the internet awhile back? Good thing some court struck part of that down. Geez, this notice is obscene in and of itself. I make myself sick.)
It's one peasant only, of course, and on Low settings (how's THAT for refreshing?). Gotta love this guy, who's name, incidentally, is (-=Pure=-), henceforth referred to simply as 'Pure.'
I start my town hall at 5:30 with a bit of trepidation, Pure has an 8-1-1 record, after all. On the other hand, look at the quality of the game list....
For those of you who don't know GOW, it is an eight-player map. The positions are divided north and south, and more so two to each corner. In the upper left and lower right starting positions, it is easy to wall in the broad chokes present due with farms and whatnot. The starting gold is 60,000, which is considerable. Relative to nine or ten mineral patches in StarCraft. All starting positions have a clear path to the center of the map, where there are four 50k gold mines. It is not like Hunters, however. There are also several paths defined by trees along the sides of the map, so with a bit of effort, one can cross without interdiction by enemy forces. There are also interesting places to tower the opponent's gold mines.
Whee... so I'm starting up my Town Hall, (I got human on random setting, Pure chose Orc.... of course) Pure and I chat a bit. "Wow! One thousand Oil already. What am I going to do with all that?"
"Uh.. build your blacksmith and Castle, I hope."
"^^" "Well, there ARE those little lakes on the map." This gets a laugh, and clues Pure into the fact that I am, indeed, joking about being such a newbie.
So he asks me how long I've been playing. I tell him four years as a rough estimate. This scares him until I clue him into the fact that I've played under ten games since I got StarCraft.
So I start my farm, in position to wall off a tower, and think about what I am going to do with Human. Humans, lacking bloodlust, have essentially four options. One, you can bum rush him with footmen. Of course, humans have no special advantage here, but they have no particular disadvantage either. Same with rushing to knights, hoping your advanced tech crushes his grunts easily. Third, humans can rush to mages, which is where humans excel. Still, this option is not recommended on a land map. Fourth, you can try to offensive tower and do something really cheap, hoping this tactic carries the game for you.
I chose to do none of the above. To quote Sun Tzu, "The highest realization of warfare is to attack the enemy's plans; next is to attack their alliances; next to attack their army; and the lowest is to attack their fortified cities."
Based upon this priciple, I devised a unique strategy in my old days of playing War2. It is the GOW one gold mine gryphon rush. Yes, I can hear you War2 players right now. "OMFG, .Praetor has lost it! He's gone over the freakin' edge!" Hear me out, good sirs, hear me out.
The gryphon rush is based upon attacking the enemy's plan. An orc's plan, on land, is almost set. Possible grunt rush, with tech to bloodlust and overrunning people. Gryphons are built to counter this. No, not that either. Remember, attacking an enemy's army is a low form of warfare. I'm attacking the plan. The enemy's army will be composed entirely of grunts and ogres right up to the point where I bring out my gryphons and decimate his first wave. Then he will build guard towers and archers, and I'm dead.
So here's what you do... wall of the choke, with a few towers defense. Then, tech immediately to castle, skimping on wood. Don't research any upgrades. When you get to castle, your peasants should have brought in 1200 wood. This is enough to build three aviaries. Keep only a few peasants on wood during after this. Then, with at least 30,000 still in the mine, pump gryphons. When you have 9, attack. Immediately destroy their lumber mill. If you do this right, the lumber mill falls before they can direct a peon to build a tower and upgrade it to guard tower. Often, they will be so shocked, they won't even get a few archers ordered. Next, decimate their peon line, taking at least half of it down. Easy to do with gryphons. Don't try to get all the peons, it isn't important. After that, do an immediat circuit of the town, scouting the outlying ares. Do not engage the enemy, even a fat group of ogres. The enemy should be frantically attempting to bring another lumber mill up. Kill it. The level of disarray ought to buy you time to win the game with gryphons or expand at least twice and over power them with surprise knight attacks or get to a good number of mages.
That's the plan. It will kill 9 out of 10 newbies, but what won't? It does only so-so against average people. I'm about 50-50 with it. Against skilled opponents, it is rather effective, as the opponent often gets cocky (especially if you are human).
So I anounce "Ah-hah!" Pure, of course, asks what's up. "Finally figured out what I'm going to do."
"About time." Pure is right, I already have three farms up, in a line on the exposed part of my base, and my economy is doing well. Not too worried about an early grunt attack, as the setting was low, I start a barracks outside my line of farms, and a fourth farm.
I like the colors of WarCraft II, much more friendly than StarCraft (unless you get cool green on a snow map).
Continuing my insane build order, I finish off the edges with farms, and realize, though it is significantly into the game, I have no defense. Uh.... oops. Not too worried (GOW is a big map), I start a tower at the top part of my wall-in, in the perfect position to nail incoming troops, as well as watch out for offensive towers. I also start a lumber mill for increased harvests and to upgrade the darn tower.
I'm feeling pleased about my cleverness when I start upgrading my Town Hall to Keep. My peasant that built the barracks (Roy) is also having a good time. He's getting a paid vacation to travel to interesting parts of the map. He vacations at each part, reporting on the dispositions of the inhabitants, until I remember to order him on his next trip.
His pigeon announcing that 1:00 (the third scouted base) is also unclear except for some pleasant bluejays arrives at the same time of the frantic farmboy announcing his parent's hut is being burnt by a single grunt. Dangit....
My lumber mill finally upgrades, and I order the tower to be changed to a guard tower. I also start a blacksmith for eventually upgrading my Keep to Castle level. I also start a footman. Pure is, by this time, laughing and cheering. I attempt to distract him by asking what the changes are to the map. He laughs and says, "Oh, just little things." "Yay, super-grunt."
My footman pops out and engages his grunt. The grunt wins having one hit point left. Stupid random damage. (Actually, I love the random damage. I miss it in StarCraft. StarCraft battles are too mathematical.) I start another footman.
Well, the farmboy's parents managed to put out the fire, but the injured grunt is still trying to break down that darn door. Oak is rather durable. The parents go to sleep for the night...
My footman pops out and kills the grunt with a single swipe of his massive enchanted crystal broadsword, severing the body, not into two, but THREE pieces (just one swipe too!). The grunt doesn't even turn around before his bones melt to ash.
"NO! You killed supergrunt!" screams Pure.
Horrified by my actions, I mourn for the fallen warrior. "I'm sorry!" "sniff" "I'll never do it again."
And finally, "well, I've been known to lie." Pure laughs and says I'm cool. So I'm in a good mood when my second footman pops out and I start my stables. Also, having cut a nice, tower-sized lot out of my forest on the other side of my gold mine, I set up a tower there. I don't upgrade it, because it's just there to stop offensive towers. I also build another farm along my widening choke (I'm chopping wood there). From now on, I micro my woodsmen to stay away from the north, to keep the wall intact.
When my stables finish, I have exactly 1300 lumber in the back, so I start a knight and the upgrade to Castle. Rejoicing at that accidently precision in my build order, I send a footman out for the same full paid vacation I had given the peasant. The peasant, by the way, has finished the northern tour, so I send him up to top left in case I want to build a base there. Top left is the easiest to wall in, only requiring two farms.
My footman finds Pure next to me, there are two farms protecting a town hall and gold mine at the 6:30 spot. AH-HAH! Wait... two farms and a town hall. It's an expansion! Wait, there's a change! You couldn't wall-in 6:30 before. The dirty bastard!
I also notice a change top left corner, where I build my expansion town hall to match his. There is more space between the town hall and an odd lumber protrusion where peasants mining gold often get stuck and have to walk around the lumber island. Nice.
By process of elimination, I realize that Pure is at 8:00, formerly the spot equivalent to a cess pool. I assume Blizzard has remedied that inequity as well.
I send out my knights and four footmen to attack! Not so daft as to think I could actually challenge Pure's army, I head for his expansion. Hopefully I can get there before the third farm shows up, completing the expansion.
No such luck. I order my knights and footmen to attack the most exposed farm. Back at my base, my Castle has finished, and I have almost exactly 30,000 gold left in my mine. Yay! Since I had many peasants on lumber, I have 800 wood still in the bank, enough for two aviaries right away. I select the building when a zepplin passes over. Like a mouse under a hawk's shadow, I freeze. No... If he spot's me, I'm dead.
I order the unchanged tower in my base to become a guard tower, in case the zepplin decides to stop. Actually, it doesn't even slow down, and I breathe a sigh of relief, starting two aviaries.
Up at my expansion, I start a peasant and a farm for the wall-in. I look back at my base just in time to see a second zepplin pass overhead. No.....
Pure immediately laughs. "Haha"
I attempt to explain the strategy to him, which has already failed. He doesn't buy its validity. To add insult to injury, or just kick me while I'm down, my knights and footmen have been killed at Pure's expansion without even putting up a fight. They had been ordered to attack the farm. I have no army.
Analysis: I'm in the worst possible position. My entire defense is two guard towers, one of which is not situated to deal with an attack. I have a naked expansion top left, and Pure has already shown signs of several scouting zepplins. He has, undoubtedly, been teching to ogres and bloodlust, and has a walled-in expansion already working.
I resolve to get as many kills as possible before going down. I immediately start upgrades for knights and footmen, stating a knight at my barracks. At my expansion, I get a tower up, and the second farm as well. At home, I start a dwarven workshop (for flying machines), and a mage tower (for mages). Right now, my only advantage is that I'm at Castle level. Because I have the buildings and the gold, and the desperation, I start two gryphons.
As soon as the first tower at my expansion goes up, I start two more behind the farms and upgrade the first to guard tower.
At home, I have four knights, who will soon be level three. When my first flying machine pops out, I send him immediately to my left, to scout out the opponent. His expansion has one tower by the gold mine. At his main, he is upgrading to fortress. Uh-oh.
My two gryphons get done, so I grab them and send them off to Pure's expansion. He already has the tower upgraded, so I pull them back. WAIT, what's this? I've found another little change to GOW. There used to be a little alley right at 6:00, where someone could tower in 6:30. Not anymore. The alley has been blocked off by trees. However, there is a vestigal little meadow between 5:30 and 6:30 left from the previous area.
Muahhaha. EEEhehehe. Neeemwoohhharrrrghhhhh.
I start blizzard, another gryphon, a fourth tower at my expansion, another knight, AND meticulously direct all my peons mining lumber to tunnel westward. Mining has finally been started at my expansion (in War2, it's not so much the expansions as the number of peasants on gold total, so it's fine that I'm starting late). I have four guard towers there. I'm hoping that will be enough to kill the stray sapper team.
Frankly, I'm fairly suprised I haven't been run over yet. Twenty level one grunts could have killed me. Even walled in, a single guard tower can only do so much. I soon find out why I haven't been obliterated when Pure messages me. "Bloodlust =)." Well, the all-powerful orc spell has been finished. Am I dead? We'll see, Millhouse, we'll see....
Blizzard has finished researching, so I start a mage. With my expansion running decently now, I also have significant amounts of gold, so I start two more gryphons. Considering my opponent also has complete map control, I send my single flying machine on a tour around GOW, checking all possible gold mines for expansions (edges and middle, easy to do). I have six knights now. Pure attacks.
No fool, the first indication I have of the attempted coup de main is the complete destruction of two farms by a sapper team. The two farms that were next to my defending guard tower. By a matter of luck, my attention was on the spot, so I have a peasant moving towards the site even before the sappers get to the farms. As soon as they go, I immediately order the building of a second farm. This doesn't completly destroy the gap, but it does narrow it quite a bit. Ogres come pouring into my town. I send in my three grypons. They arrive at the perfect time, catching the first Ogre right in the chest. More importantly, they are arrayed at the small choke caused by the absence of a single farm. For the first time in my life, I see the splash damage of gryphons become a factor in battle. Most of the Ogres enter my base, being shot at by one guard tower, already half dead.
What of bloodlust you ask? Well, I presume that he cast it on all his units, send in the sappers, went back to his units, and charged.
Bloodlust is not the longest-lasting spell. Most of it had worn off when the Ogres got to their targets. Heh, in BNE when you double click an ogre, it selects all ogres (or any other unit), slowing down chain bloodlusting. Yay!
What of my knights you ask? Well, they are still level three, so no match for the level six Ogre-magi. However, the Ogres are not bloodlusted (for the reasons above). I don't micro the knights. Thus, they perform the invaluable service of killing off the spillage. E.g., the Ogres that don't make it through my choke and are running around. Pure makes a half-hearted run at my peasant line, but retreats when finding the other guard tower, going back to the first one. Two gryphons finish.
In a visual mess of blue-flaming hammers, gryphon splash explosions on the ground, burning buildings, falling knights, a building farm, dieing peasants (stupid gryphon splash), dieing Ogres (let's hear it for gryphon splash!), and flying arrows from guard towers, Pure's forces fall, along with my entire force of knights and over half my peasant line.
My completed farm is burning, and my guard tower is down to eleven points. I had ordered repair at the end, which added fifteen points to its life. Whew. Inexplicably, my lumber mill (!!!) is also on fire.
My mage completes.
I start more peasants, at my main and my expansion. I get another knight. I repair the burning buildings. Also, in my haste to build that farm, I set it one space away from the tower, though still overlapping with my wall-in. I start another farm, also one space away. I fill in the empty space with wall (the stone kind). Now this is odd. Most of the time, a wall-in is done with farms (they are more durable).
However, I have had an epiphany. Because of my mistake, I can build that wall, and another sapper will not be able to penetrate straight to my tower. It would take at least two sappers. Grinning an evil grin, I finish the walls, and attack a farm at the far south of the wall in. Making another farm off-position, I create a one-space opening for the furture emigration of mages and peasants. My expansion is in full swing now. I start a mage tower there, another gryphon, knight, and mage.
I send out my five gryphons towards the middle. My flying machine has complete it's circuit, finding no expansions save the 30,000 gold mine at 9:00. That one is just building. Pure finds my expansion with a zepplin. It is shot down, making sure he notes it.
My peasants cut through to the isolated meadow. Knowing, now, that this game was worth it, whatever the outcome, I bring on my mage. To put icing on the cake, the guard tower is in perfect position to go down too.
The mage, (insert mage's name here), pours everything he has into the storm. One hundred and seventy-five mana points casts seven consecutive blizzards, making it a very, very, cold day to be a peon.
The tower is razed almost instantly, and when a few stragglers from the town hall and gold mine exit, over twenty corpses lay on the field.
You thought psi-storm raids were fun? Hehe. Trust me, blizzarding an enemy's peon line (it's funner when you're human, just cause it is) is five times the entertainment.
With one spell, I have COMPLETELY shut down Pure's entire economy. In his words "that hurt." I start more mages.
The game is not over, however. My gryphons on the way to Pure's new expansion (which is not quite completed, info thanks to my flying machine), have been killed by bloodlusted axe trowers in the middle of the map. They are accompanyed by a sizable army. I have five knights. I have my expansion up production, both mages and peons. I start two more gryphons. (Got the money, got the buildings, still desperate...)
Pure attacks. I'm ready for him. As before, the first thing he does is blow my two farms guarding the tower to kingdom come (where DID that phrase come from?). Followed immediately by bloodlusted ogres on attack move. Hehe. The walls are still in place. No where to go ogre? Several are milling around before he orders an attack on the walls. Blizzard. Dead ogres.
Spill over has overrun my knigts, and are heading (accidentally) for the gap in my wall. Bizzard. Dead ogres.
I send in my Gryphons. The second wave of ogres is coming up against the wall. Bloodlusted trolls support them. Blizzard. Dead ogres. Dead trolls. Dead gryphons.
The last wave has made it up into my base through the gap, a few ogres have escaped through a single entrance in the wall. Um mages... mages... My two guard towers keep the ogres busy while I bring up my mage from Blizzarding the enemy's peon line. Blizzard. Dead ogres. Dead peons (so what? there weren't that many left in MY peon line anyway). Dead tower (from the ogres).
I spot another group of four ogres, and two stragglers in my base. Blizzard. Most of the mages have enough left for two or three castings. A new knight gets to feel manly killing two thin red line ogres.
Despite the weather, it is very, very warm in my base. What with the fire and all. Three farms total and one tower were lost. The barracks and all the wall farms were on fire. My castle was on fire (takes a lot of damage to do that). My lumber mill, again, was on fire. One mage was dead, due to suicide Blizzarding. All my knights, and two gryphons were dead. Two more gryphons and a knight were built during the end of the battle. I started more troops and mages.
The gryphons headed out, killing a stray ogre at the entryway to my base. I also sent out three mages, through the one-space hole now that everything was being repaired. I sent them different ways around the map, all converging upon the Pure expansion. My flyer took another circuit around the map. Nothing.
The gryphons get taken out by two bloodlusted axethrowers, finished off by the tower at Pure's expansion. One mage gets killed in the middle by a patrolling ogre. Another mage gets forgotten upper right. The third mage makes it all the way to the expansion, actually on the other side of the wooden wall that seperates the expansion from the southwestern road to the middle.
Another mass of peons die a cold, cold death. The corpse pile is almost as large as the first one. I even get off a parting shot against the town hall before an ogre cuts short my fun. Ohhhh... Yeahhhhh....... That felt good.
I send a knight speeding up to my expansion after spotting a death knight on the move. I know exactly what he is going to do. Death and Decay the bunched towers that are guarding my expansion against sappers. I set the knight to patrol and keep a watch for new expansions by Pure. I also order most of my repairers and wood people in my main to mine gold, keeping one peasant watching for activity at 6:30. Wisely, there is none. The gold mine soon explodes, and the peasants go back to wood. I have five knights at my barracks. Still level three.
Crap!!! The death knight managed to kill off MY peon line. I had thought that the forest there was too think for him to do that, but apparently I thought wrong. I send my knight up there and kill the abomination. A few peasants were still alive, so I started more. (Little known fact. There is a difference between Blizzard and Death and Decay. D&D does more damage to buildings, Blizzard more damage to units. Another little help in the magical wars for the humans.)
In retaliation, I bring over my forgotten mage from the top right corner, and Blizzard his peon line again, this time retreating the mage. Yes... Blizzarding peon lines is more addicting that doing crack. I'm going back to War2 again and again just to get those hits. Mabye I can fit in a game after this report....
Anyway, the body pile is smaller this time, only six peasants are dead. Due to his zepplin, Pure knows that my expansion is getting back on its feet, if slowly. I also have my knight in the DK's 'sweetspot', and five mages guarding the area.
Pure attacks my main. Just bloodlusted ogres this time. They advance through the hole at the bottom, killin my knights, and all my peons, the last tower, and setting fire to my Castle before my gryphons put them down. I don't even have to Blizzard. (Good thing, I only had one mage ready.)
I know I've won. Pure knows I've won. Pure says I've won. I say good game (not totally a tradition in War2, I really meant it). Pure says, yeah, it was really fun. I send out my three knights and four gryphons. We chat a bit. Pure is ashamed he lost to someone who went for gryphons. I sympathize, but point out that I did mages too. This makes him feel better.
When I finally get a mage to his town to blizzard, six gryphons are pounding away, and a scattering of knights are beating on outlying buildings, Pure concedes. It would have taken forever anyway.
(If you missed the second paragraph ensconsed in parentheses, you scrolled WAY too far. The report begins far above this point. Yes, I did include this paragraph just to use the word 'ensconsed') |
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