"Some day there will be little CynicalMagicianettes, casting spells randomly on 30 year old women. Will they steal your wife? Probably."
-SlingsNArrows
|
| A Christmas Present for Everyone | | | Author: | | | IP: | dial208-XXXX | | Date: | 12/24/99 11:12 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 2, Max: 9, Min: 9
Lifetime Rating for Macdonough: 7.6111 |  |
These things are cool = )
This little production is my gift to the StarCraft community at BattleReports.com. So, without further adieu, I present to you a special holiday double-feature...
Intro
Having played the game that I reported on a couple days ago, I realized how much fun Free-for-All's were. So I decided to do another one! This time however, I used a different name because I didn't want to risk damaging my ladder record on Sgt.Mac. So, after 10 "2on1compRush!!!"s Cmdr.Mac was ready to go. = ) I promptly made a game called "4 FFA!" and 5 minutes later it's filled up. Let the mayhem begin!
*Again, if the pictures don't load then hit "reload" (netscape); or if one has an x on it then right-click, "show picture" (IE)*
The Battle Scene
That brown really messes the whole thing up, doesn't it?
Note: These ladder scores don't represent the players very well. Brown and yellow are both good...1100 players I would say.
The Buildup
First of all, :+:][-][:+:Hong starts talking smack to everyone. I)EATH-SENTENCE speaks up before I can,
"boy, you just made the list"
"list for what?"
"to die punk"
:+:][-][:+:Hong has left the game
hah!
Anyway, my build order starts out like the one I used in my last report.
8:pylon
9:assimilator
10:gateway
cybernetics core
robotics facility
I build a forge and 3 cannons somewhere in there too, but I don't remember when because I usually never put up a forge so early. But against 2 Terrans who could wraith rush, it is a good idea.
Once my shuttle pops out, I take a probe and my first and only dragoon to expand to the island directly north of me.
Then I build two more dragoons and start warping in stuff at my expansion...
Then the "fun" Starts!
Out of the corner of my eye I see two yellow dropships appear at the edge of my fog of war and then disappear just as quickly. 'Eh...no big deal, I have 2 goons and 3 cannons.' Well, it is a big deal, for Kelanis87Vet has tanks. So he sieges up out of sight and then sends in the marines. If I had only had a reaver, I could have easily shrugged of the attack. But instead I have 2 dragoons, 2 cannons in the wrong spot, and 1 destroyed cannon. So I do the best I can to stall by getting Kelanis87Vet's marines to chase my goons around while I load up probes. Amazingly, I only lose 1 probe out of all 17. I just can't believe that Kelanis87Vet is attacking early instead of expanding in a FFA. 'That's ok; he'll suffer for that. He's only hurting himself.'
With 16 probes at my expansion, now my main, comes online in no time at all. While my forge and cy core are still standing at my old base, I quickly set up 6 cannons around my perimeter and put up a citadel so as to not slow down my progress. During all this Kelanis87Vet assumes too much about me:
(speaking to I)EATH-SENTENCE) "Well, blue's dead."
"yep"
"gg blue"
"gg"
As Kelanis87Vet destroys my last building, I'm crying, "Goodbye cruel world!" Kelanis87Vet freaks when there is no elimination message.
"heh"
So Kelanis87Vet loads up his troops and heads north to look for me. He catches a glimpse of me and starts skimming the fog of war. This is the funny part: Trying to go up the side and unload, Kelanis87Vet takes heavy cannon cannonfire going in. But once in, he can't find a safe place to land because of my 6 cannons and 2 dragoons; so, instead of just unloading quickly, his dropships start freaking out until they are put out of their misery. 'Cool! I just killed 1150min/300gas at no cost to me.'
Well, it turns out I was right in assuming someone would wraith rush, because a few seconds after Kelanis87Vet's dropships died, a control group of brown wraiths comes streaming through my island on a hunt to assassinate Kelanis87Vet's dropships. Unfortunately, I)EATH-SENTENCE used the attack-move command, so his ships start pounding on my cannons. I immediately select my two dragoons and start shift-targeting.
"stop"
"i'll kill you"
"sorry"
"I was chasing Kelanis87Vet's dropships."
"geez, i only attacked for a few seconds"
"and you already killed two"
"oh"
"ok"
Quiet Time
For the next 10 minutes or so, I say nothing at all. I just huddle on my little island and pack it with buildings, all the while stocking up resources. Oh wait, I did do something during all this...I scouted both Kelanis87Vet's and I)EATH-SENTENCE's base with a DT, but they never knew. Kelanis87Vet was still going for marine and tank drops, and I)EATH-SENTENCE had many a starport, but no physics lab.
Anyway, after accumulating around 5000 minerals, I decide to make my move. I drop 2 dragoons, 1 DT, 1 temp, and some probes on the southern ledge of the top right island. I send my DT to scout the island before I send all my troops to set up camp. There is only a teal Nexus in the starting location that :+:][-][:+:Hong abandoned.
 Instead of killing it, however, I build my nexus up against the edge of the island by the geyser. Take a look at the picture. I position my troops perfectly (there is a reaver in that shuttle too) and start warping in cannons. Putting everything like this allowed me to evade detection by comsat until my probes started mining from the back, as most people only scan the area in front start locations and resource nodes.
Rising to Power
As soon as I have probes and mining minerals and gas, I start warping in pylons around the perimeter of the island. My plan was to put just enough cannons on the edges to keep I)EATH-SENTENCE's wraiths out (by all means, not newbie style), because I really needed the whole island to build stuff. Unfortunately though, I)EATH-SENTENCE conducts a random sweep with his comsat and...
"blue's expanding!"
"kill him"
Instances like this and many other similar ones made me want to name this report "A double-teaming frenzy." All throughout the game 2 of us would gang up on the other, but most of the time it was against me. I hated doubling up on someone, but in this game I only did it to survive. It really pissed me off though when they doubled up on me, as if I didn't have enough problems already. ANYway, I'll get off my soapbox so we can continue the conversation. Where did we leave off? Ah yes...
"kill him"
"bring it!"
"prick"
"coming"
"I'm ready"
All I have is 2 dragoons, a few cannons, and a fully charged temp. Of course I'm ready...except for the fact that my naked pylons can't shoot back = (. I)EATH-SENTENCE gets all cocky and takes out my pylons saying, "You won't expand if I can help it." I don't reply. I just chase his wraiths around with my goons and a temp until they go away.
Realizing that trying to build cannons on my edges is too risky, I make a whole bunch in a circle around the resources and hope Kelanis87Vet doesn't tank push in from the side. I also take out teal's old Nexus and put up a new one of my own to be more efficient. By now I had also made 4 carriers at my "main base."
Uneasy silence
'Hmm, what do I do now?' I can't think of anything innovative, so I put up a stargate at my new base and make some corsair from it, all the while keeping up carrier production at the small island. At this point I still only have 1 gateway and 2 stargates, but tons of money. I knew if I was going to win I would have to conserve resources. Speaking of resources, I send out masses of observers to scout the map and every resource node. I have to stop, though, when I)EATH-SENTENCE catches on and starts hunting them all down.
During I)EATH-SENTENCE's hunting party, I)EATH-SENTENCE sends 2 control groups of Valkyries to the empty location I started out at and comsats it. *POOF* There goes my observer, but before the fog of war shrouds my sight, I see I)EATH-SENTENCE's valks fly back toward his base.
Use it or lose it
 Seizing the moment, I take the 2 probes hidden at the top of the island and start warping in stuff like mad. I must've had over 20 things going at once. I make two rings of cannons: one around the resources and nexus, and one very sparse ring around the perimeter as an early deterrent. In the picture Kelanis87Vet is replying profanely to I)EATH-SENTENCE, who had exclaimed, "yellow, you let blue expand again! ahhh!" when he scanned the spot a minute after he scouted it with his valks.
So what does I)EATH-SENTENCE do in response? He reinforces his status as a the MVP (most valuable prick) of the game and tanks my "main" from across the channel. After he destroys what is in range, I)EATH-SENTENCE starts doing hit-and-runs with his wraiths. One time I actually hit them with a storm but got no kills. Then he came back and kill the temp. 'Grr...now I'm pissed. No one picks on my temps!'
Back in the action
I plop down 3 stargates and a queer beacon (old one got tanked) at my new base. When I have 8 carriers I go to attack Kelanis87Vet. Why him? Because he's been begging me to let him have some mineral patches in my new base. He had run out of money and I)EATH-SENTENCE is smackin him down every time he tries to expand. So I decide to just put him out of his annoying misery.
I gayweb some turrets on the eastern side of his main and charge in. All he really has defense-wise is s bunch of turrets and a few marines. There really wasn't much of a fight because I gut his base so quickly. But then the yellow-bellied chicken tells I)EATH-SENTENCE to attack my carriers. I)EATH-SENTENCE is ever too
 eager to beat me up and sends in all his valks. I make a grave mistake by continuing to raze Kelanis87Vet's base instead of taking the time I had to spread my carriers out. This is just plain stupid, as you can see. I do manage to kill about 16 valks, though.
That massacre really gets my spirits down, but it also boosts my motivation. I transfer all my remaining probes to my new base and mine it out in about 5 minutes. There is still one empty place to expand, the left-center, so I shuttle a probe over there and start warping stuff nude. I'd send my 6 new carriers too, but I had a hard enough time sneaking the shuttle up between Kelanis87Vet's and I)EATH-SENTENCE's turret-laden expansions. Just as my pylons start warping in, I see Kelanis87Vet's starport floating north up the side.
"shut up yellow!"
"shut up!"
"hey brown, blue is expanding left-center"
"Bastard"
'Ugh, I hate yellow so much. I've got to kill him off.' Now I'm officially out of mineral patches, because I don't feel like facing brown again. 'So what do I do? Spend all but 400 of my money.' And that's just what I did. A few minutes later, I have 12 fully upgraded carriers escorted by 3 fully charged, stasis-happy arbiters, a few gayweb-happy corsair (a little redundant there = ), and lots of observers. 'Now what?'
Bust 'em up foo!
 'Alright, that's what I'll do.' I group up at my top base and start a huge sweep westward.
'Wait! Oh no! nononononoooooo' Can you guess what's wrong, my friends? Yep, you're right. It's that "Waiting for Players" screen. I'm sorry to say I)EATH-SENTENCE didn't disc just at the sight of my force...he actually got disconnected. Ah well I would've killed him anyway (I continue into his base, curious to see what he had) I find a control group of goliaths that I could stasis, a lot of turrets I could web, and his wraiths I could stasis as well. I definitely would've pounded him into the dirt.
Kelanis87Vet is still waiting to die, so I go to attack what I left of his base. All the while he keeps blabbering about how the game sucked and I was mean for not letting him have minerals. I remind him of how he was mean for killing my main base, but he thinks it is not near as bad as denying someone resources. What a loser.
So I finish him off and that's that. I gained 29 points from that game. Look at the stats...this is amazing. I was behind for the first 30 minutes and I still collected the most resources. And I)EATH-SENTENCE only beat me on units because he decimated so many of Kelanis87Vet's armies.
Lessons Learned
1. Always make a reaver ASAP. A reaver and shuttle can save your life.
2. People will do anything in FFAs just to win. Show no mercy. Don't double team.
3. Start upgrading earlier
4. Don't be scared to seize opportunity
5. Never give up
Part 2!
Today I made another FFA on Dire. I got top right. Miles-Teg198 was bottom right. Furetto was top left. We were all Protoss. There was a Terran too, but he dropped at the beginning.
Fearing a DT drop, I build 4 cannons at home before expanding with my first 2 dragoons. Just as I start to warp in cannons at my exp (the eastern island), one of my dragoons gets all black and distorted. 'Wth?' I think. Turns out it was one of Miles-Teg198's observers, but that is the weirdest thing I've ever seen.
 Well, in comes an orange shuttle, as expected, and drops two reavers right where a cannon is 1/2 through. I try to micro with my dragoons, but the island is so small and cramped...they die pretty quickly, only killing one reaver. But look! Here comes a shuttle from my main. I wonder what's in it! Oh hallelujah, its a reaver. Well, (a shuttle and reaver) > (an army of reavers). As you can see, I rid my island of the last of Miles-Teg198's worms pretty quickly. Naturally, I follow it up with a big "HA!" Miles-Teg198 only says, "good"
After my exp gets going I have a large surge in income. So I put down a citadel, archives, and an observatory at home, and a robo facility & gateway at the exp. I start pumping observers, goons, temps, and reavers. Now at this time I could've taken out either Miles-Teg198 or Furetto, but since they were both trying to mess with me, I didn't want to take any chances. So I used my force to expand with and deny enemy expansions. I also used an observer-killing posse of 7 corsair to keep out all enemy aircraft.
Next, I expanded to the right-center island with double resource nodes. While I warp in some perimeter cannons I pick up all the unemployed peons at my main and drop them off at my new base. I reinforce the island with a reaver and a few dragoons, while my corsair guard the sky. Then I set down a stargate and a gateway so I won't have to go very far to get temps and corsair.
Getting a feeling that someone is closer to me than I would like, I check out the left-center island. What do I find? Nudity...everywhere. There are a bunch of warps and a clump of orange probes just sitting there (reaver bait) . Well, I get really giddy at the sight of this. I take the reaver and dragoon from my 2nd expansion and drop them right by his probes. *POOF!* 5 of them evaporate simultaneously, and Miles-Teg198 cancels his buildings.
 Thinking my job is done, I start loading up, but out of the shadows come 3 probes attacking my dragoon. But it disappears and reappears as a reaver! *POOF!* I retreat my pimp-squad, smiling.
I shouldn't have been so proud, for Miles-Teg198 didn't like my little attack and decided to drops 10 reavers in my 2nd exp peon line.  'Bastard' I told my 7 corsair to gayweb all in one spot on the ground so it would spread out in a huge radius, but Miles-Teg198 managed to move all of his reavers out from under it = (. The couple cannons that were there didn't do much, and neither did the dragoons or reaver. Well actually they did--they took out 6 of Miles-Teg198's reavers, but that's not enough. I had to shuttle over a temp and a reaver from my first exp to save the day. 1 storm took out 3 reavers, and one scarab from my reaver took out the last one. 'Whew!' Right now I'd usually be pretty depressed, but during all the commotion, I chased down and killed every one of Miles-Teg198's neglected shuttles. (They were all bunched up and said "come get us" to my corsair = )
I rebuild the bottom half of the island and shuttle over all the probes from my 1st expansion. Good as new. 'Now what? Let's see...orange has ground stuff...purple has mass goons and is working on carriers...hmmm' Seeing that any strat against one person can be countered by the other, I once again resort to...
(Carriers)
Except I keep making temps as well to help kill goons and scouts. As I'm building up my fleet, Miles-Teg198 starts in...
"I suck"
"Someone kill me"
"ok"
"would you rather me or purple kill you"
"both"
"just do it, i g2g"
"k"
I take 8 carriers and an arbiter and take out his main, which has nothing but reaver tech everywhere. I d-web all around his 2 templar, but I find out the hard way that temps can still storm from under gayweb. I honestly didn't know this! Furetto and Miles-Teg198 get a good laugh while I express my displeasure with this fact. Imbalance! Imbalance! hehe j/k
So anyway, Furetto has fun destroying Miles-Teg198's TERRAN base in the bottom left. Yes, Miles-Teg198 had mind-controlled the SCVs of the guy who dropped out. Pretty clever, I think. He shoulda made tanks and busted up my expansions from his island. Oh well.
Miles-Teg198 was eliminated
Now it's just me and purp...and my 12 carriers, 2 arbs, and 7 corsair wanna play.
"Knock, knock!"
"Who's there?"
"The grim reaper"
I attack Furetto's main from the top and a bunch of dragoons come running up to welcome me. I gayweb them and then proceed to combat purp's scouts with my corsair because all but 2 of my carriers are currently stasised. 'Bastard.' I saw it coming but carriers are so slow to respond to attack orders. I tried stasising Furetto's stuff too, but he targeted my arbiters right when they got out of stasis. 'Grrr...This is gonna be tough.'
 I finally make it through the first wave and start laying into Furetto's buildings. Meanwhile, I drop off a templar for backup, and two more carriers with an arb are on their way. Furetto uses stasis again and then starts patrolling his scouts and goons around my carriers. *Crack, snapple, pop* 1 well placed storm catches a few scouts and goons with their pants down and scares the rest away. Stasis clears and I kill purp's arbiter. Then I destroy his fleet beacon, archives, and tribunal, and he abandons the base.
When I'm about half-way into busting up the place, a little blue window pops up. 'What's this? No way! This guy is packing fudge.' So I take a screen shot for blizzard and that's the end. An hour long game and I get nothing out of it. Oh well, I owned everybody. Check it...
Lessons Learned
1. Reavers own ur bonez
2. Make more observers so I can be ready for attacks from any direction.
3. Hotkey each arbiter so I can stasis quickly
4. Don't forget to put at least one temp at every expansion.
5. When someone discs on you, punching the moniter is not a good idea. j/k = )
Conclusion
Well I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did playing. Feel free to comment on anything you wish.
This report is just my way of wishing everyone here a good holiday season and giving a big thanks for keeping the site running. I really do appreciate all the staff and contributors in bringing so many fun and informative reports into existence.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
--Macdonough
|
|
|
|
|
Home
Forum
Starcraft Tournaments
