(Click image for enlarged view) Labyrinth 192x256 Pouncing in the Labyrinth The_Cat's_Meow vs. Pinky

Oh how! I love watching the little mouseys running through the maze! I have two little mouseys: A Big Head mousey and a Big Nose mousey. I don't like Big Head mousey, he keep saying things like "In case anyone is still unaware, the front-gate Terran wall-in prevents all medium sized units such as *blah blah, blah blah, SCVs, blah blah, blah blah* etc from being able to get past your *blah bablah blah blah blah* " I much prefer to watch my lovable Big Nose Mousey get the cheese and say things like "I think so Brain, but the wall-in is useless if we bring in an attack from the air. *po-it*"

(Note: this report is not graphically intensive. In fact, you've just passed the largest graphic in the entire battle report! If you're looking for graphics enough to makeup an entire review of Starcraft, look elsewhere, like here. =p

Introduction

Using my ultimate Blizzard-endorsed Map Hack (i.e. full color 8" x 11 1/2" print outs of the enlarged maps), I sent two probes on an around the world search for Pinky's (no, not his real name) base: one clockwise, the other counter-clockwise. Because of Labyrinth's wonderful build, the AI pathing left these two probes stuck somewhere in the middle.

Seeing as how it wasn't time-efficient to look for him this hard way, I started up a cy-core and Robotics Facility to get Shuttles. In the meantime, I started up 2 zealots from each of the gateways.

While I'm waiting for all of this to warp in, I send one of the little probes, we'll call him Ducky, into the top right start point to start a nexus. But before Ducky can get it started, however, he finds a little SCV standing all alone there. The SCV defends itself from Ducky's barrage of "meows" but in the end, Ducky makes a run for it. Fortunately, he's not followed and has at last learned the race of our opponent. The dreaded TERRAN!!!

OOOOHH!!! The little robotic frog looks so cuddly wuddly! I'll put a little pink bow tie on his head to make him all so cute! I'll hug him and squeeze him and love him all over! Now where are all the other cuddly wuddlies?

Hide-and-Seek

A quick look at the minimap reveals that the terran base is right below mine (teal in the above map)! I quickly grab the four zealots enroute to the SCV and load them up into the shuttle. I queue up another two shuttles , while the fully loaded one heads over to Pinky's mineral line.

His building placement is a horrid mess as the closest bunker to the mineral line is huddled behind two barracks. Three tanks are sieged to the lower and right parts of his base, but nowhere near enough to help.(I guess he was expecting a land attack) I drop the zealots in his mineral field and queue them up to take out the SCVs. I then take Ducky to search out the lower parts of the map and start up a nexus in the lower left when he sees that the coast is clear. The zealots, meanwhile, take out all the SCVs and then start heading towards the bunker. In a rather short amount of time, the zealots die, but the damage has been done. His economy is shot (for the time being).

Midgame

Here's something that really shocked me about the reaver. I clicked "r" five times then immediately loaded it up into the shuttle. Then grabbed the two zealots. Remembering that I should actually have scarabs ready BEFORE I unload the slug for battle. I unload the reaver at my base and LO AND BEHOLD, the reaver already has 5 scarabs ready to be launched. I know scarabs build quickly, but this was just a bit too fast. Could this be a revival of the dreaded Reaver drop?

As the first shuttle is enroute, I grab another four zealots with another shuttle and send them towards Pinky's main again. Pinky's managed to move the tanks a bit closer to his mineral line and so the zealot/reaver combo I land there aren't as cost effective as the first drop in the game. However, I notice that his tanks are arranged in a right triangle around his buildings...all within firing distance of each other Using the wonderful invention of splash damage, I drop a zealot at the "right angle" tank and watch him disappear.. along with the tank he was next to. I pull the shuttles out of there as I see him building up some turrets and starports at the top part of his base, but during the battle, I managed to sneak in an observer . I note that he's low on minerals which explains the marching SCVs outside his base. Because of my horrid scouting early in the game, he still has no idea where I am..

I take a look at what the Dark Templar I sent to the expansion is doing and he's looking forlornly at the floating in-the-yellow Command Center. I send him over to destroy the refinery there, then let him "attack" the floating command center. (Seems that the little trick of having a unit follow something it can't attack, just doesn't work for Dark Templars.) Knowing that I'll soon be expecting wraiths (but not too soon as he's building towers galore , I queue up some high templar and research psionic storm.

In the mean time, Ducky's expansion in the south is humming along pretty well and I have him start up two stargates and later a fleet beacon.

I load up the templar and more zealots into three shuttles and enter Pinky's base from the right this time. No towers! (woohoo!) I drop one zealot over the tank and the tank's buddies do their worse (again). I drop the zealots in his now defunct mineral line (SCVs still hanging around there) and take out the refinery. I unload the templar and storm his barracks which have five marines standing in a line just outside. As the marines die, I see the barracks start to hum. I take the two newly warped in carriers and head them towards Pinky's base. Then 6 wraiths come to attack the zealots. I storm them and true to form, the tin-foil fighters crumple in upon themselves. I merge four templars to make two archons, but new marines manage to take out one of them before the merging is complete. Some minor microing on my part and I manage to stall the marines in time for the carriers to do their worse. Most of his tech buildings are taken out before he eliminates my attack force.

End game

I send them in and take apart his base with the real carriers. A few hallucinated carriers pop too early due to some tower defense, but on the whole his main is mine.

We ended the game with a nice rendition of "catch the floating Terran Buildings"

GG's are exchanged and as his last building is in the red, he asks "Where was your base? I never found it?"

Lessons learned

Apologies to Shockwave and TheRubberDucky. This is all in fun, right? =p

EEK! Where did all the cute cuddly wuddlies go? What's this kitty doing here? OOH!! It's so cute! I'll put a bonnet on it and hug it and squeeze it and love it to pieces!