1. Players




• Ghar - Protoss - Blue - 12:00


• ASCII - Terran - Red - 6:00
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2. Map




• Lost Temple

After spending several hours looking up on my strategies and working out my mind and reflexes in a 1v1 against a computer I decided that it was time to play a real game. I created a public game and waited for a likely victim to wander in. I wasn't disappointed as a guy walked in just after I started. He picked Terran and said he was ready. I started the game.

I knew he was Terran so I decided that I would go after him with a quick Reaver drop and thought that it might disable him quickly. So I started out, creating many Probes to harvest the plentiful resources at my command and send a Probe up to see what my opponent was up to.

I searched 3:00 first and then headed my trusty worker down to 6:00 to see if the Terran was there. My Probe was rewarded with Gauss fire as he hovered up the ramp but I knew where he was. At home a Cybernetics Core was merrily warping in from the home world of Auir.

I soon had a loaded Shuttle with a bloodthirsty Reaver inside, waiting expectantly to unleash his Scarabs against the Human scum. I skirted the edge of the map on the west side to avoid detection and landed my Reaver close to the his minerals and with my first Scarab killed about 5 of the working SCV's. By before I could unleash another my Reaver was pounded by Arclite fire and I decided it would be best to retreat before my Reaver fell to the onslaught.

At home I had trained several Dragoons in the arts of war and they were waiting patiently to be sent off to battle, and if it was required to die honorably (again that is) for their people they were ready. I waited however, and soon I had another Reaver as well as some Zealots to complement my attack force.

I headed down to my opponents base by land, while at home I constructed some Photon Cannons for defense, and also warped in a Citadel of Adun, with the intention of going for High Templar. My force of 6 Dragoons, 4 Zealots and a Shuttle with dual Reavers I marched into his base, expecting to find his natural occupied. It was not however, nor was his ramp guarded by Siege Tanks or Bunkers. This was strange indeed.

Pausing slightly I considered my options. Could I hurry home to guard against a suspected attack or should I force him to bring his troops home in order to defend against an offensive. I chose the latter however, and soon several Marines had died and a Factory had gone up in flames.

The mission was a success however. I was attacked from the rear by a full group of Marines as well as a half dozen Siege Tanks. I managed to fly away my Reavers but the rest of my forces perished.

By now I was pumping units from three Gateways, two at my main and one warped in at my natural. I had several High Templars guarding both of my bases and Zealots patrolled the cliff overlooking my natural to prevent a "turbo-newbie".

I had several Shuttles and decided to try my luck at a drop and the top peninsula of his base to see if I could sneak in some units there, as I was fairly sure that his choke point was not guarded heavily. I collected 2 Reavers, 4 Dragoons, 2 Templars and 2 Zealots in my Shuttles and headed off, going at the east side this time to check the bases for any possible attempts at expansion. I found nothing at the land bases, but the south-west island was guarded by some Turrets and a Bunker.

I wasn't sure if he had seen me so I didn't know if a drop would really work on there, especially with all those Turrets. But I decided that I couldn't hurt to try so I Hallucinated one of my Shuttles and sent the Hallucinations first to take the fire and then I dropped my units behind them. I Psi Stormed the Marines once the Bunker popped as my units were getting weakened. Then I realized something. I had forgot to get Scarabs in my Reavers. @$*&@#%@!!! I loaded them with 5 a piece and merged my Templars into an Archon.

I was fairly sure that this guy was inept as he hadn't managed to attack me as yet. That was a bad thought however, as a dozen Tanks and a couple dozen Marines were standing outside of my bases drinking malt liquor. I was wondering what to do but I remembered something I had read before I started playing.

I loaded 2 High Templars and 2 Probes into a shuttle and came up behind the force of the Terran commander. I manually dropped a Probe and then a High Templar. The Tanks all blasted my Probe at once and gave my High Templar time enough for 2 Psi Storms before he was blasted. I dropped the other Probe and High Templar and repeated. I had killed most of the Marines and at least half of the tanks. I flew my empty shuttle back to home as several cloaked wraiths winged in, (viewable via Observer) and I send a full group of Dragoons and a half dozen Zealots to deal with the rest of the Terran threat.

I was getting rather tired of the game but the fun wasn't up yet. While I had been busy with defending he had started a turbo-newbie up on my cliff overlooking my natural. I assumed there had been an "You are under attack" message but I had been fighting so I hadn't paid attention. My Zealots were annihilated but I regrouped and Psi Stormed with a Templar and mopped up with a Shuttle full of Zealots.

I warped in another Gateway as well as my first Stargate. I started hoarding units outside of his natural. I knew he was running short of cache (pun intended) because I had Observers covering every possible expansion and he had done nothing.

I had massed several Archons, about 20 Dragoons and approximately the same number of Zealots outside of his natural, as well as 3 Shuttles full of Reavers. As I expanded to my mineral only natural I charged into his first expansion and wiped it out, taking only minimal losses.

I then sent a Zealot up his ramp to check out to see of he had it defended or not. Before I knew what happened the Zealot was blasted to pieces.

I pulled back my force several spaces on the map to protect my self from Siege Tank fire. I decided that I would drop all of my Reavers right up next to the Tanks and they would be helpless. I did so and the ones that were far enough away to fire used the splash damage to help me kill their own troops.

Victory was in my grasp and I headed my Zealots up the ramp to clear the initial space around the choke and then send up my slower, larger, and raged Dragoons to pick things off from behind. I was only slightly started when I saw 3 Battle Cruisers coming from 3 separate Starports but I knew that it was too little too late.

My opponent, also realizing that his situation was hopeless, said "GG" and conceded the game. I had my first victory of the night.

Lessons Learned

• Using good micromanagement, High Templars are able to accomplish almost anything, with the help of other units of course. Using only 2 High Templars and 2 Probes I was able to kill about 20 marines and 6 Tanks. I far out resourced him in that little skirmish.


• Observers rule!!! By using them to cover all the expansion points over the map, I was able to spot his expansion attempts and crush them before he even got them started.


• I don't think that there is any reason that any Protoss player should lose to a Terran. Protoss have good troops, the greatest margin for technique and micromanagement, and IMHO the best scouting available in the game. Go Protoss!!

NOTE: Hopefully this will be my last report without screenshots. I was talking with my computer teacher the other day and he gave me a URL that will let me download a JPEG compressor for free, and won't watermark the image. YAY!!! I hope you enjoy what will be forthcoming. At least I hope it's forthcoming.