"The Bengalaas can spit lightning and belch acidic clouds of vapor up to ten miles distant, can't it?"
-Snowreaver
|
| Rockin' and Rollin' | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 11/02/99 01:11 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 5, Max: 9, Min: 6
Lifetime Rating for Dev: 7.8723 |     | Hey Kids!
Here's my latest offering. It was quite possibly one of the most entertaining games I've played on battle.net. I got a vial of crack free in my box of Fruity Pebbles... so here goes!
The Game:
Dev and two pals from his local dorms decide to lay off the vicious LAN battles for a night and go find some pubbies to bash on Battle.net.
The Map:
Aftershock. Often referred to as a six-player version of the infamous Lost Temple.
The Teams:
Dev: Teal Zerg, starting in the mid-right at 3:00.
Woil: Brown Terran, starting in the lower-right, right below me.
Ativan: White Protoss, starting in the top-right, right above me.
Versus...
Dark_Realms: Yellow Zerg, starting in the lower-left.
BigDaddyFatSack: Blue Protoss, starting in the top-center... with an atrocious name.
Maverick~iii: (or something that starts with an M) Orange Terran, starting mid-left.
Mayhem Ensues
My build order is relatively stupid. I 9-pool, 10/9 an extractor for an extra drone, and expand to my natural immediately. I place two sunkens to defend the hatchery and make about ten zerglings before powering my economy.
Luckily, neither of my teammates were attacked early, so my lack of ability to assist my teammates went unnoticed.
My scouting overlord encountered a Yellow scouting overlord heading the opposite direction at the map's 6:00 position. I immediately surmised that the Yellow zerg was located in the bottom-left and sent my overlord to the center, then to my natural via waypoint.
The yellow overlord was caught and shot up heavily by Woil's marines at the edge of his cliff.
My economy was roaring at this point from the early expansion. I converted both hatcheries to lairs and morphed a hydra den, followed by a pair of evolution chambers. I immediately started on Hydralisk muscular augments, missile attack upgrade, and carapace upgrades. Obviously, I had chosen the hydra drop as my weapon of choice.
Ativan, our other partner in crime, was happily cranking zealots from two gateways and teching, while Woil expanded to his natural and then to the 6:00 cliff position with a floating CC. At this point I was loading 12 1/1 Hydralisks with Muscular Augments and Grooved Spines into a trio of overlords for a surprise visit to the first person I scouted.
Our plans and merriment were interrupted soon, however. The first sign of enemy consisted of an orange terran dropship. The transport dumped three vultures and a brace of marines on Woil's newest cliff expansion, which had a single missile turret and two SCV's to defend it.
Woil: "F***."
Dev: "Coming, Mother."
The twelve hydras I drop rescue the floating CC and butcher the tiny Terran contingent.
At this point, we realize two things: One, the cliff Woil has expanded to is in perfect tank range of yellow zerg's natural expansion, which is happily churning away. Two, Yellow Zerg has no defenses around his mineral line.
Woil and I move to take advantage of both these apparent flaws; I dump my hydras uncerimoniously in Yellow's backyard while Woil sieges two tanks on the cliff above Yellow's natural.
Through the marvels of force-fire shift-clicking and superior upgrades, my hydras rip through the defending contingent of hydras and zerglings and stay back out of sunken range. Yellow's drones are sliced to bits, and a spire, hydralisk den, and two evolution chambers fall. The lair is taken into the red before eventual trickles of reinforcements wear my hydra force down to nothing.
At home, I've not been idle. Having learned my lesson in the fateful game against AQD3, I now have a Queen's nest, a third hatchery, and about twenty more hydras. I have lurker aspect researched and load up four overlords with hydras, intent on finishing what I started. Three queens are produced as I move out, and my hydra upgrades are bumped to 2/2.
Meanwhile, Woil has trashed the majority of Yellow's natural, aside from a huge sunken wall at the ramp, out of tank range. Yellow has little production at his natural and none at his main. I'm literally licking my chops.
Dev: "Judo SECOND WAVE!" (think Austin Powers)
Woil: "Wait. Back off. Let him go."
Dev: "What the hell for?!?"
Woil: "It'll make the game a landslide."
With a sigh, I pull my overlords back, and now have two full control groups of hydralisks at my main along with five or so queens.
I upgrade to hive and expand to the cliff between myself and Ativan. Ativan has taken his natural and protected it with cannons; he has a few random protoss aerial fighters and a bunch of zealots and dark templar. He's beginning carrier and arbiter tech.
And back they come...
I notice a blue protoss expansion at the north cliff, between blue protoss' main base and Ativan's. As I move to load up hydras to take it out, I hear the fateful sound.
Nuclear Launch Detected.
Wonderful. I move all my stuff around, but I see no red dot.
Ativan: "ITS ON ME"
Boom. All the idle probes at Ativan's mined-out main base fall under the nuke, as well as a few random dragoons. Considering my 12-hydra drop was halfway to his main anyway, I divert the overlords and three accompanying queens to Ativan's base.
Just in time. The yellow zerg we decided to let go dumps 16 hydralisks in the north part of Ativan's main, cleared by the nuclear strike.
I drop my hydras next to Ativan's ramp and use a Queen to ensnare the yellow beasts. I'm just about to hurl my loyal minions into battle when a pair of presicion psionic storms from Ativan rips through the slowed enemy hydralisks. Damn it.
Ativan: "Thanks."
Dev: "Uh, sure."
No rest there is, however! A trio of carriers from our quiet blue protoss foe loom over Ativan's cliff. I engage with my hydras, losing a few, but forcing the carriers off. I move my hydras quickly to Ativan's natural.
Sure enough, the carriers strike there next. I manage to drive them off a second time, and burrow my seven remaning hydras.
And just as quickly unburrow them. They take a position behind Ativan's cannon wall and fend off the control group of angry blue zealots trying to force their way in. All the cannons are destroyed but by dancing my hydras, I preserve both them and Ativan's natural.
Hydra upgrades have hit 3/3. I construct twin spires, requiring guardians and devourers to deal with the cannon-happy, cliff-expanding Protoss.
Then a better idea hits me. I use my newly-acquired hive tech to morph a defiler mound, and research defiler energy.
Woil: "Sorry I said to lay off yellow, guys."
Next thing I know there's a nasty M&M/Goliath/Tank drop ripping the heart out of yellow zerg's main. Apparently, Woil was making it up to us.
Yellow makes another gasp of it and hurls twenty or so hydralisks into Ativus' natural expansion. Unfortunately, they arrived directly after my first Defiler was air-dropped in to aid in the struggle. I drop a dark swarm in Ativan's mineral line and hold position inside; the resulting battle is no contest.
Hmmm. 7 3/3 Hydralisks under Dark Swarm > 20 1/0 Hydralisks managed by someone with no clue as to what dark swarm is.
I need swarm a second or two later, as three carriers come sauntering in. The hydras again crowd in under the orange cloud. One carrier is ripped from the skies. Another falls to a psionic storm, and the third retreats.
No rest! A control group of orange marines attack, leveling the nexus. I'm out of defiler energy, so I keep my hydras and defiler burrowed at Ativan's ramp.
Meanwhile, I've morphed another control group of hydras back at the ranch, along with two more defilers and nine guardians. I've also researched plague and consume.
Doom strikes a few minutes later. At least eight blue carriers, supported with two arbiters, attacks Ativan's main and natural. Ativan evacuates probes and Dark Templar, managning to avoid elimination by placing a pylon on my main's cliff. He holds steady with 600 minerals or so, waiting for an opportunity to rebuild.
Meanwhile, the Protoss Doom fleet passes over Ativan's ramp.
Remember what was burrowed there? I did. Muhahahaha.
The evil defiler pops out of its underground lair and lands a marvelously effective plague. All eight carriers and both arbiters are spattered, and the defiler ducks back underground with 3 hit points remaining.
Knowing that the carriers are now weak but having few anti-air assets to speak of, I mass scourge out of four hatcheries and send them swarming in.
With a high-pitched screech, three scourge slam into each arbiter, knocking them from the skies. I manage to ensnare the escort of twelve wraiths that orange sent to reinforce, and one by one the carriers are smashed from the sky by a pair of scourge each.
I think that was cost effective.
Reinforcing carriers, yellow hydralisks, and orange wraiths converge on my newest cliff expansion south of Ativan's former main.
Dev: "Uh..."
Woil: "Just a damn minute."
Woil's tank push lands, this time far more goliath-heavy. The carriers begin to take losses and fall back. The wraiths are blown out of the sky entirely. I hurl yet more scourge into the fray, scoring on another pair of carriers. My hydras from home catch the remaining yellow overlords near the center and exact revenge.
We now have the upper hand. Woil loads his tank push back into the dropships and we look for another target.
Nuclear Launch Detected.
Woil: "NOT me!"
I check; it's at my natural, spotted right on the Lair. Yikes. I pull all the drones and zerglings away in time, but the nuke damages the lair and destroys the two defending sunken colonies. Yellow hydralisks swarm in and destroy the remains.
Fearing a push up my ramp with my hydras away from home, I recall my guardians to my main and burrow four lurkers at the top of my ramp.
Eventually, I move out an overlord and discover that Yellow is trying to expand to what remains of my natural! Needless to say, my guardians from the south and Woil's tank push from the north quickly end any thought of THAT.
I gather up my hydras and move them north with Woil's tank push, with a deflier and guardians in support. We are breaking through the cannon wall of Blue's natural expansion in the top center when another group of three blue carriers attack my guardians.
Laughing maniacally, I throw down a dark swarm over my hydras, and another over Woil's goliaths for good measure.
Blue Protoss, however, is not stupid.
His carriers turn tail and flee back over his cannons before more than one dies.
The battle pitches back and forth for a few more minutes; Valkryies and carriers fight to keep the guardians away from blue's cannons, while goliaths and hydras chop up the zealots that charge Woil's tanks.
In a humorous side note, Ativan's shuttle of two dark templar, who he later named 'Bubba' and 'Junior', have been chasing down and eliminating the remainder of Yellow's attempts to rebuild. He succeeds in totally eliminating the other player just as Woil and I crack blue protoss.
The next time Blue sallies forth his five carriers, Woil drops lockdown on three, butchers the other two, and spots a nuke on Blue's natural.
Destruction ensues. The cannons all explode, and the nexus is cleaned up soon afterward. Blue is pushed back to his ramp, with eight cannons and an orange siege tank defending, along with six orange valkryies and assorted science vessels.
The coolest teamwork I've ever been party to happened next. My guardians cleared off the majority of the ramp cannons. I drop a dark swarm on the ramp to allow Woil to push his tanks up. Noticing the orange siege tank, I move a queen in and broodling; the queen is irradiated by an orange science vessel, but as I pull it away it's quickly cured with a restoration from Woil's medics!
The tanks clear a path in, and hydras and goliaths move in to remove the remains of the protoss base. I dispatch my goliaths to destroy the remaining blue expansion base that's cannoned in on the north cliff.
Orange lands two last-ditch tanks to stall us at Blue's main, but again they fall to broodling, and the retalitory irradiates are cured by Woil's ever-present restoration. Damn, that's cool.
Having moved all of his tanks to his partner's defense, Orange has only goliaths to defend his ramp against Woil's tank push of doom. The attack crushes the defenseless natural and moves to the main.
I assist the attack with eighteen 3/3 hydralisks and a defiler. I drop a dark swarm on Orange's ramp, another a bit farther in, and clear a quick path in. The goliaths fall, and we burn the base to the ground.
Awesome game, especially for a pubbie bash, no?
Obligatory Lessons:
- Defilers are my friends. I love the way they scuttle with their little tails. On a more serious note, only two scourge are required to destroy a plagued carrier.
- Plague and scourge are wicked against carrier fleets that left their corsairs at home.
- Do NOT use Dark Swarm against a Protoss that knows how to use Psionic storm. It didn't happen this game, but it often does.
- If you're going to use ghosts, use a BUNCH. Woil had at least ten with his tank pushes... that's twenty lockdowns. It's much easier to lock down carriers when you have a ton of ghosts with you.
- Ramp troubles? Dark swarm.
- Carrier troubles? Dark swarm.
Enjoy!
-Dev |
|
|
|
Home
Forum
Starcraft Tournaments
