As I start off my first Terran game is ages, I construct my barracks at 9, depot at 10, then an SCV to scout. Things seem to be going somewhat smoothly, until I look at my base layout more closly.

Crap, no comsat for me. What's worse, even after I noticed this, I constructed a second depot directly below the last! So much for a smooth start. After I had up an academy, 2 barracks, and 2 depots, I remembered gas.

Note to all newbies: this is NOT a good build order!

At this point, my speedy SCV scout has discovered Kappy's base, at the 9:00 location. He has a barracks, 1 or 2 depots, comsat, a single marine, and an academy. The SCV weaved his way through the base, dodging the marine, running through the mineral line, and then back out of the base, marine and SCV in tow. The marines turns back after wounding the SCV, but his happy little miner, obviously insane, chased down my scout weilding a keg of vespine gas. I ordered the SCV to the 12:00 spot, where a waiting pack of my marines tear the crazy yellow SCV to pieces.

Keeping in mind that I agreed to no rushing, I order the marines, numbering ten, and an SCV down to his natural. With the aid of a vulture, three tanks, and another SCV, I constructed a fairly strong blockade at his natural.

After I had set up my blockade, I began an expansion at my natural, and set up a pair of starports at my main. Up goes a control tower, and I upgrade cloaking ability. I have no real plan at thip point, other than to contain him and drive him insane. I finally remember a comsat station, only after I am forced to cancel a depot which I began building where the comsat should go! Perhaps I should stick to Warhammer, where I don't have to worry about things like building stuff.

Flash forward five minutes, I have collected four wraiths, and scan my opponents base. He has a factory with machine shop, starport, and most disturbingly, a science facility with covert ops. I cannot let this go unpunished, and my wraiths mobilize quickly. I have six ready, and another four building. My SCVs are contructing a pair of armories for upgrades.

Then I look at my mineral line. Twenty lazy assed SCV's, sitting around, picking their noses. I send all but six to my expansion, and the others to the 12:00 to start me up a new base. On the war front, my wraiths have killed a turret and a wraith, as well as his covert ops. They retreat for repairs, and their numbers are doubled. Another scan reveals he has began contructing turrets around his base, and has built not one, but two science facilities, with a covert ops and a physics lab. Anothe scan reveals his attack force; two marines, three firebats, a wraith, a battlecruiser, a vulture, a tank, and a ghost.

A ghost huh? I look through his base, which has been covered by the fog of war once again, to see a second command center with the beginnings of an add-on. Fifty bucks says that it's not another comsat, either. Unfortunatly, my comsat is out of energy. Now that my main CC is doing nothing, I float it below my depots and set up a second comsat. I send a dozen 1/1 wraiths to scout out his base, only to have then shredded by turrets. Four limp home, bringing valuble recon. He has a nuke silo, and it's not doing anything. Thic could mean one of two things, he can't afford a nuke (good), or he already has one (bad). A comsat of his choke shows that he has a bunker, six spider mines, a seige tank, and a cloaked ghost, who is moving. The ghost runs right through a spider mine field that I set up (did I mention that?), and is splattered. My only regret was that he was cloaked, so I only heard him die.

So now he must know that something is fishy down at his natural, and a scan reveals three or four vultures with the speed upgrade headed that way. They never make it. I move down there to scan, but stop, seeing something puzzling. There seems to be something charging up near the turrets at my blockade. Before I realize it, a Yamoto blast tears down one. My wraiths are there, and the sluggish battlecruiser is torn to shreds. I grab a pair of SCVs from my expansion, and order them down to his base, and begin surrounding it with turrets. If he's out of money (he must be by now), he'll try to expand. I won't let that happen. I throw up a science facility (eww...) at my 12:00 expansion (because I am out of room at my main and natural), and once the 2/2 upgrades are done, I engage my master plan:

I begin sending wraiths, by the dozens, to different areas of his base, all at once. I watch as Kappy's workers scatter to build turrets. I am amazed by the fact that he still has a single mineral patch with around 300 minerals, and an un-depleted geyser. The one area I do not send wraiths to, however, is crucial. I fail to send them to an area somewhat to the left of my blockade, on his plateau. I hear the dreaded "Nuclear launch detected" message. I scanning my base and expansions quickly, I find a tiny red dot painted on my blockade. Why didn't my tanks pick this up? The turret covering that area with yamoto'd by that battlecruiser a few paragraphs back. The devious bastard had outsmarted me. A comsat ends the ghost's career, but the nuke hits it's target. I am left with a dozen disoriented marines trying to pull themselves out of the rubble.

Now he engages his own master plan. While attacking my wraiths with a reserve of upgraded goliaths (where the hell did those come from?), and flattereing me with comments about my skill: , he slowly moves an expansion force out of his base. A pair of vultures, 3-4 bats, 6-10 marines, and a handful of surviving workers flee the base. My marines put up a valient fight, but are no match for his force, which has been upgraded (infantry and vehicles are at 1/1). Another flight of wraiths end his expansion team. I send a dropship to the far left side of his plateau, and drop a pair of seige tanks off. I then begin systematically wiping out his turrets, and sending wraiths to clean up. Another, "your forces are under attack" message prompts me to look at the turret perimeter around his base. A battered yellow command center has attempted to flee to the 9:00 plateau (he never found my base), and was interdicted by my turrets.

I assume that it will be destroyed, and turn my attention back to destroying his main. Another round of flattery (), and his last building falls. Or so I thought. Kappy apparently has something up his sleeve. A comsat reveals that his battered command center had survived my turrets and floated down to his natural. Another scan reveals a refinery, starport, factory, barracks, academy, the start of a comsat, a marine, 2-3 vultures, and a handful of firebats. How did he get that up so fast (ooh, that one sounded sick too).

My wraiths move down to his new base, attacking his,one marine, the concentrating on his workers. What is Kappy's response? Why, more bats and vultures of course. Aparrently, he has not yet grasped the concept that firebats and vultures cannot shoot at air units! Maybe it's because I taught him how to play (sad, yet true). As the end draws near, we exchange gg's, and his final building goes down.

Lessons learned:

--Well, none really.
--Oh, wait, bats and vultures vs. wraiths = not good!
--And, don't put your depot as close to the right side of your CC as it can go.

Hope you had fun reading, come back next time when I report on another game, equally pointless!