"plus 200 bonus points for me"
-WilliamWC3
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| Intercept of Protoss Battle Report | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 11/03/99 09:11 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 3, Max: 9, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for IceShadow: 8.2381 |    |  (The following is based on a game between Gorag and ~KF~ on November 2nd, 1999. Gorag chose Zerg, and received the 9:00 starting position on Lost Temple. ~KF~ chose the Protoss, and started at the 3:00 position. And yes, I am stealing Bob_The_Newt's html code to change the background, because I'm just too stupid to figure it out on my own. Sorry Bob. -- Ice)
On 03-06-42, the following was intercepted and decoded by UED scientists in the pacification force en route to the worlds of the Terran Dominion. It had been used as a study guide for commanders throughout the force on Protoss and Zerg tactics.
En Taro Adun, Matriarch. We are writing to explain our failure recently in protecting the Xel'Naga ruins on the planet Taridas (assumed to be Rachari Prime) and to offer ourselves for judgement in the face of such a humiliating defeat.
The first contact with the Zerg was made shortly after the establishment of our main base. A scouting probe found the beginnings of a Zerg hatchery on the low ground to the west of the temple, and it was assumed that a base had already been established at the resource node on the high ground nearby. In an effort to contain the Zerg infestation, a nest of photon cannons was erected at the chokepoint of both enemy bases, while a few cannons were put by our base for protection.
During the warp process of our first cannons, we were spotted by the enemy. Luckily for us, the only offensive unit he could muster was a mere drone, which began to attack the warping cannon. Our probe valiantly attacked the occupied drone, but soon the drone was joined by a second, and our probe fell to the monstrosities. His sacrifice was not in vain, however. The cannons continued to warp in, and the drones withdrew before they could be fired upon.
Fearing the two cannons at the choke would be quickly overrun, we proceded to dispatch a second probe in the hope of supporting the blockade with further pylons and cannons. A gateway was suggested by one of my advisors, but we chided him, telling him that a cannon would be much more cost-efficient.
By the time the sixth cannon was warped into the blockade, we made the decision to create a gateway. A quick move for reavers and shuttles was decided upon, as the Zerg would be effectively contained by our blockade while we were free to create new bases.
By this time, we had expanded to our low ground resource node, and we began to create a third nexus on the high ground of the node to the south of the temple. We began to create pylon/cannon clusters surrounding the high ground of the enemy base in an attempt to divert any fliers or overlord with minions from escaping, but they were spotted, and destroyed by hydralisk spines fired from the high ground.
At this point, a shuttle with two reavers wass sent to the north of the enemy base to attempt a drop on the first hatchery spotted. It met with heavy fire from Zerg spore colonies, and thus was recalled before depositing its payload.
Just after this failed insertion, our cannons were covered with swarms of orange insects. Confusion reigned for a moment, and then a wave of zerglings began running through the swarm, destroying our cannons one by one. Our cannons were unable to find the signatures of the zerglings because of the interference of the tiny insect swarms, and they fell quickly. The remaining cannon/pylon clusters around the Zerg's mainland were quickly dispatched.
Suddenly, we realized the danger to our naked expansion to the south. A pylon was quickly warped in, and cannons started, but the zerg wave was upon them before they could complete. The base was quickly destroyed.
Another attempt to drop a pair of reavers was made, this time at the main plateau of the Zerg base. The shuttle was destroyed by hydralisk spines before it could deposit its deadly payload.
An observer noted a newly formed hatchery built on the smoldering remains of our base in the south, so it was decided that to continue to suppliment our standing army, the south-east island would need to be taken. A shuttle deposited a probe, and a pylon and several cannons were erected to protect the nexus that was slowly warping in. We began to warp in carriers, in the hope that they would be able to handle the threat of the now sizable zerg force.
Suddenly, another orange cloud of insects erupted over the three cannons defending our main and expansion, and gargantuan ultralisks stormed through it, reaping through our cannons. We began to warp in zealots from our only gateway, as the Zerg force of zerglings, ultralisks, and hydralisks destroyed our first expansion.
The zerg then proceeded into our main base, where they met the pair of carriers we had time to warp in. Unable to destroy the sizable Zerg force, our zealots, then our carriers, then our buildings fell. We loaded up a shuttle with the survivors, and moved to the southeast island to consider our options.
The few corsairs we had remaining, which had fled during the destruction of our main base, did more scouting, and found a Zerg expansion to the north, as well. A drop of reavers was successful for quite some time, destroying the drones there, but shortly, the main zerg force arrived to dispatch them. A fly-over of the main Zerg base showed an extremely well-established base, one that would be more than capable of breaking into our fortified island. With this information in mind, we made the decision to evacuate the area.
This defeat was most untimely and humiliating to us as well as the Protoss as a whole. Therefore, we offer ourselves for judgement to our Matriarch. Our lives are in your hands.
It is still unknown if this sort of "offering oneself for the judgement of the Matriarch" is simply a ritual after a defeat, or if the Protoss suffered so horribly by the loss of this temple that the taking of the commander's life was a justifiable option. Still, the fact that much of the anti-Protoss strategy formulated by the UED was based on this battle may be an indicator of why the UED fared so poorly against the Protoss in early battles.
©1999, IceShadow Productions |
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