"what does imho mean?? i assume it doesn't mean "i'm a ho" "
-ronin~
|
| Zerg vs Protoss on Dark Continent | | | Author: | | | IP: | 139.57.1XXXX | | Date: | 02/16/00 12:02 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 6, Min: 6
Lifetime Rating for |]agomar: 8.6667 |  | Zerg vs Protoss on Dark Continent
Hi, and welcome to another |]agomar text battlereport. Huk, you say, what? I thought you were going to add pics this time! Ya, well, I still haven't found out to use hypercam, and violent thoughts concerning this miserable program are even now drifting through my mind . . . . But I think you'll like this, however long it is, despite the fact that I wrote it at 5:00 AM. Anyway, on to the feature presentation:
Pregame Report
I coasted into Battle.net on Tuesday, and naturally headed straight for NoHunters, where I met up with a couple breports.com regulars: Drefsab, DoomDragon, -TOOL- and Necrosausage. I talked with Tool about a game he played a couple months back with T-mac, which Bob the Newt reported on, and I had just read. I wasn't really in the mood for conversation, since I was struggling frantically with my HyperCam, yet Tool wanted to know exactly what I thought about the match. I proceeded to tell him, and occasionally cried in capitols whether anyone knew what Hypercam was, and, more importantly, how it was used. Finally Necrosausage said he'd heard about it, proclaimed that it caused lag, then promptly declared he had absolutely no idea how it worked ( aargh ). Tool was going on about whether he won or not, so I replied that he not only lost, but lost hugely and in a very embarassing way. LOLs were heard, but Ducky broke that up by spewing forth masses of lewd information on what he was going to do that night. Now the conversation became more and more pornographic, with Tool wondering why it was necessary to always do it with a girl and sputtering forth observations about his cat's highly unusual behavior with the nextdoor dog ( that's probably where he gets it from ). I became annoyed and yelled that I just wanted to play a game, not chat uselessly, whereupon a another frustrated fanatic wailed that he was there to pick up girls, but it wasn't working for him yet. I told him he wouldn't find too many of those around here, then left to join some game in melee. I found a 2v6 computer, which was won spectacularly, then joined up with a 7v1 comp bash, which I backstabbed on and ended up winning. Now, finally, I stumbled into a 2v2. The map was Dark Continent, the players were cool, and I was ready. 74ls01 ( hereafter referred to as 74 ) was my ally, taking random and morphing in as the evil Zerg at the upper right position. I, |]agomar, had chosen Zerg before hand and found my hatchery raising its vile spines above the dark soil of at the bottom right position, while our enemies, Cryptogem ( his color was actually white, but of course that wouldn't appear on this background ) and Ic'7ler warped in as the noble Protoss at upper left and bottom left respectively. In short: Zerg vs Toss
The Map
Early Game
When the countdown finished and we appeared upon the twilight map, I immediately set my crimson drones to work, each mining a different patch of minerals. Quickly I morphed another drone out of a waiting larva, and sent my overlord on its way. Now I established the building orders for the first half of the game with my ally, and it was decided that I would rapidly tech up to an airforce while he would mass produce hydras. My overlord immediately found Ic7ler , and hovered about above a nearby ridge, out of range of the cannons and dragoons that would soon begin to phase their way in. I should have realized now that I ought to go for cracklings and guardians . . . .
At this point, I was having a very good start. Rapidly I had established a solid base defense, mass producing drones and teching up at extreme rates. I was doing far better than anyone else right now, and soon morphed in my first expansion, at Crypto's own natural! I defended this with zerglings and sunkens while producing drones there, as my ally seized the upper right expansion just above him. I skipped hydras altogether, counting on 74 to provide as many as were needed. Next, I created a queen's nest, followed by a spire as I made the first of the flying spell casters at my main. Quickly, I parasited one of Ic7ler's probes, and immediately saw the ominous Templar Archives just warping in at the center of his base. Despite at what our opponents had told us earlier about having played since the game first came out, I believed they would be a complete pushover. All both our foes had were a couple goons, masses of cannons and mutual templar tech trees. Pathetic!
First Blow
I now created a third expansion, at my own natural on raised ground. Resources were flooding in, and I soon had the entire tech tree needed to produce guardians. I created a few more Extractors, since I didn't have a lot of the green vapor at the moment, and so much would be needed to produce the most devastating of Zerg air to ground flyers . . . .
My ally had amassed a full group of hydras and sent them to Crypto's first expansion, where they barelled through all defenses with ease and razed it in seconds. 74 expanded again at uppermost left, while I moved down and created a new base just below my own. We had nearly complete map control, with only a couple patches at bottom left invisible to our peering eyes. I parasited a corsair and later a high templar before my queen was blown violently apart by a blast from a photon cannon, but at least I knew now that Crypto was producing air forces, but luckily did not yet have the economy needed to be more than a nuisance. Spore colonies erected their spiny tubular outlines above my cluttered outposts, while finally my first hydra den burst into existence and began to research the lurker aspect. A number of observers occasionally flitted by our forces, which were often killed within seconds. I now had an impressive army of eight guardians as well as another group of scourge ready, and my ally suggested a direct frontal attack on Ic7ler's first expansion, where the only line of photon cannon defense before his main base had been placed. If we could burst through here, victory would be ours, and I couldn't see how we might be stopped now that I had guardians. Smiling confidently, I hovered my minions above the impatient hydralisks waiting just outside the noble Protoss outpost. I moved my units to engage.
The first cannon fell without warning, heavily injuring one of my fliers. Now I attacked the second cannon, but four High Templar slid in to cast their deadly spells, and three psionic storms crackled about the tortured air all around my guardians! Escape was not an option, so I forced on, killing two of the templar and completely forgetting the cannons, which slaughtered the hydras forcing their way up the chokepoint with without a single loss. Five of my guardians exploded as they struggled within the psionic storm, while three forced their way through and managed to escape well into the red. Unfortunately, half a group of corsairs coasted in, and killed my precious air units with ease, although I managed to kill two of them with my four remaining scourge. Failure!
The Enemy Strikes Back!
Putting the previous loss behind me, I stubbornly continued with my strategy of massing air units. After all, they couldn't have so many templar, and I could always power my way through. They couldn't possibly be that lame, right?!
Wrong.
A lone scarab buzzed through my defense at my bottom right expansion, and promptly blew apart a sunken colony. As the blood splattered amongst my terrified drones, two more scarabs sailed in and devastated another sunken, which was promptly squashed by the waves of dragoons which now flooded into my beleaguered base. The reavers crawled out from under the fog of war while the hatchery collapsed in its own filth, and, as the last drone sacrificed his miserable life for the Overmind, I caught a glimpse of what would be my nemesis for the rest of the game: high templar, en masse.
I was shocked. How could I have never seen this coming? Frantically I summoned a group of mutalisks and five guardians to my Main Base, which now lay undefended before the foe. As these fliers were screaming over to the defend, a lone shuttle unloaded a single High Templar just behind my busy peon line. Three Psionic Storms sizzled the dark landscape over what was to become the greatest battlefield of the game, slaughtering virtually all of my drones! I produced more, but these were automatically rallied to a central expansion, a feature I had used to mass my aerial minions but now had become completely redundant. Unfazed, I morphed in three more and started producing creep colonies. I cried for help, and my friend 74 sent in streams of hydralisks to help combat the encroaching threat. Now three of white's carriers lashed out at my very first expansion ( his own natural ), threatening to annialate it before I sent in three mutalisks, a devourer and six scourge. More scourge were hatched at the expansion itself, and the enemy was forced away with heavy damage to two of his massive ships. All this happened within the space of only seconds, and I gnashed my teeth in despair, cursing to myself. How stupid I had been, taking a win for granted! As my mutalisk force finally arrived in my main, the vast amounts of noble Protoss units surged forward to attack. My ally's hydralisks were still far away, and my sunkens were not yet finished. Indeed, it was the perfect time to attack, and the worst time to defend.
I ordered my mutalisks into battle, guiding them deftly through masses of psionic storms, and succeeded in assassinating a number of templar, two reavers and a dragoon before seeing them tragically stormed into oblivion. My sunkens hatched, yet were easily crushed, already heavily damaged, by the masses of spidery dragoons. I charged a few zerglings into the fray, yet these died immediately to the combined fire of 18 dragoons. Now my guardians arrived at last, and actually managed to kill about five dragoons before they were eradicated by far too generous use of the catastrophic psi storm. My ally was smarter than I, however. His cracklings zipped through the bewildered dragoons, slicing apart the high templar in raging fury at having seen their flying brothers die to the merciless spell casters just moments before. Now his hydralisks directly engaged the nefarious enemy goons, destroying them with unbelievable ease, weathering the occasional psionic storm with their speed and range upgrades. Soon, the high templar had merged with the vapors of this embattled world, and the surviving lings turned upon the last dragoons, smashing them and grinning bitterly at the taste of cold revenge. However, five white corsairs now swooped in upon the Overlord that had been patrolling near Ic7ler's main since the beginning of the game, and the massive speed upgraded transport died with a final groan. To avenge this death, I killed a mindcontrolled Karaku ( ! ) that hovered about aimlessly above my Ally's natural.
Having lost one of my expansions and the majority of my main, not to mention most of my drones, I expanded yet again to the central mineral site where I had previously been amassing my air units, and added many more drones to my existing numbers. At last, I decided to switch strategies. I paused the game for while, so I could think for a moment about what counters I could use. Queens for High Templar, upgraded Ultralisks for Dragoons, scourge for Carriers and defilers to cast Dark swarm about my ultras, allowing them to penetrate the cannon defenses. Alright, I was ready to resume.
Ultralisks were first on the list. Quickly I researched speed upgrade, and began to create the dreaded leviathans from three different hatcheries at once. My ally ferried in ever more units to my embattled main, which luckily still had an operational hive and a number of drones, not to mention tech structures like a Hydra Den and an Ultralisk Chamber. Unfortunately for me, my Greater Spire has been blown to bits in the last conflict, and I was unable to find the time to morph a new one. I quickly created another Ultra Chamber at my natural, fearing a renewed attack on my main, and beefed up its defenses with another sunken at the ramp and eight hydras. My defiler mound now finally burst into existence, and soon I hatched five of the feared spellcasters into being, moving two to my main, another two to my central expansion, and a single one to my natural. I also brought two lurkers to guard my main, and hatched another two for my natural. When yellow sent an overlord down to my earlier defeated expansion to check whether it was safe to return, they were shot down by masses of dragoons and corsairs just moving up to attack. It was at this time that we first glimpsed the 15+ high templar that now were approaching . . . .
74 readied his forces for defense. I brought in my defilers, and cast a Dark Swarm on top of the first group of 'lisks. I had researched consume by now, so I swallowed two of my drones, while moving the second 'filer over to the leading sunken. I also hatched six cracklings, and moved them to the front near the burrowed lurkers. Then there was silence. We tensed ourselves for the attack, knowing that the quiet wouldn't last for long.
The lead Hydralisk stood still, frozen upon the sickly infested ground. Its blazing eyes narrowed. There, there, what was that?! Suddenly the horizon itself seemed to surge forward, crawling with unending masses of the spidery Protoss machines. The devilish monster hissed, then thrust its spines forward. As more and more of the noble Protoss flooded the landscape, the dreaded beast issued forth a bone chilling scream, lowered its terrifying head, and barreled forward horrifically to its certain death. The ground was a sea of sickly orange horrors as the insidious Zerg swarms streamed into the dark valley as if one gargantuan organism, throwing their evil selves upon their mighty psionic foes . . . .
Indeed, with the hated crackle of psionic storm, the battle was met. The lurkers, now four in all, were the first to attack, slicing apart 3 dragoons before they in turn were set upon. However, they were saved by living rivers of zerglings that erupted from behind our defensive lines, which viciously tore into the dragoons, slaughtering countless numbers of them before they were smashed into the ground. Now, however, the corsairs dwebed the hydralisks, and when the Dark Swarm finally ran out of time, the dragoons moved in and crushed the slithering warriors with devastating bolts of plasma fire. But all was not yet over, as another twelve cracklings pounced upon their blundering prey, cutting down six goons before they were psi stormed to death. All reinforcements were continually stormed, almost so that I gave up in dismay. My hive went down with an explosion of sickening blood as 74 sent in a few overlords, loaded with more zerglings. These were also psi stormed, and went down with ease, setting me to cursing violently about the lameness of such a tactic. However, I still had three larvae left at the beleaguered base, which I now morphed to Ultralisks. Crypto and Ic7ler luckily didn't see this, and merged their templar to archons on the spot, thinking that all resistance had been smashed and they could concentrate on cowardly blasting buildings. Bad move. Now my ally could finally ferry in aid, which unfortunately arrived just too late to help my Ultralisks, who only succeeded in killing one and injuring two dragoons before they were blown into oblivion. However, masses of yellow cracklings finally flooded the scene, crushing the dragoons and terminating the Archons before they could finish their warp. The base was back in my possession, but since it was nearly mined out anyway, I didn't construct anything in addition to the hydra den, Ultra Chamber and spore colony that were all that remained.
A New Hope
Things were going very badly now, even though we both had three busily working expansions and nearly half the map. The momentum was theirs, and I still didn't have queens. What's more, those high temps were slaughtering our forces, and we simply couldn't negate the natural advantage they gave the opposing armies. And just a very short time before I was convinced that victory would be ours within 15 minutes!
I decided now was the time to strike. By this time, I had amassed seven of the enormous ultralisks, and now sent them all over to the remnants of my main. They were impressive sight indeed as they barelled through the narrow corridors and high ridges that made this map perfect for psi storming, dwarfing the comparitively pathetic forces my exhausted ally could spare. When 74 saw the sheer scale of the beasts, however, he was so impressed that he immediately set to work morphing his own ultras, as I qued a group of hydras, another four lurkers and two defilers over to join the gathering minions. Now the Protoss struck again, but I Dark Swarmed a sunken colony, which was able to kill a couple of the hated goons before they moved in close enough to kill the annoying structure at melee range. A group of yellow cracklings eradicated the attack, however, before it could get very far at all. Note that I never showed my Ultras during this conflict, for I wanted them to be a complete and terrible surprise.
Now, finally, we were ready. I nodded, then solemnly moved my forces forward. The time was ripe for the
Return of the Zerg
A puff of orange vapor gave the enemy their first warning. Apparently, they were were both looking there at the moment, for psionic storms instantly washed over the eight Ultralisks, immediately damaging a number of them. Now, Dragoons began to fire, yet I targeted the high temps first, and when they perished, engaged the miserable goons with masses of hydras, lings and of course the kaiser blades of my behemoths. A nexus had just been built there, and probes had been Maynarded over, but all was smashed and destroyed, the peons never having a chance before the spines of the lurkers. A pylon and photon cannon were easily crushed, and victory was ours at last. I emerged from the bitter fight with seven heavily damaged Ultras along with four lurkers and six hydras, while my ally survived with only a single Zergling! Oh well, all good things have their price . . . .
Now I had gathered another seven ultralisks, and marched them to my first expansion, just below Crypto's main. I also commanded two defilers to join their far larger brothers, and moved this second army forward to just out of psi storm range. My other force was now joined by more of 74's cracklings, and we forced our way onwards to the left, leaving behind the ruins of the Protoss base we just eradicated. We came upon line upon line of photon cannons, but with a simple Dark Swarm these were easily negated. The Corsairs dwebbed the hydralisks, and chased away the Overlords and the single queen I had just made, yet two cannons went down in seconds, and more were heavily damaged. But now the enemy once more decided to display their lameness for all the world to see, as five psi storms ripped into the battered carapaces of my Ultralisks, and smashed them all horrifically to the ground, as they feebly tried to turn back. The hydralisks attempted to flee, yet their way was blocked by two more psi storms, and with a final gasp they too perished. Now it was my partner's turn to curse as his Zerglings were set upon by three additional storms and blown apart. I blinked. Not one unit survived, and I doubted I could ever again amass such a force. One of my expansions had been completely mined out, and I only had two left. I produced a group of cracklings and sent them over to my last remaining military force: the one in front of Crypto's main. One last assault, I thought, and if this one fails, it's over. If only we could have used EMP shockwave . . . .
The Finale
My minions, supported by two of 74's queens, and four groups of scourge, with another 3 mutalisks, charged upon into the enemy defenses, shielded by four clouds of Dark Swarm. Complete anarchy reigned, with 5 cannons going down in seconds, and 2 Carriers were immediately blown to dust by the suicidal scourge. A smile began to spread itself over my face for the first time since the beginning of the game, yet soon was replaced by the customary frown of anger. Awe-inspiring numbers of Psionic Storm began to sizzle the embattled land, slicing apart all weaker units and severely damaging my Ultras. No less than 20 High Temps were massed behind the Cannon walls, and soon another salvo of storm blasted the tortured twilight ground, grinding even my mighty Ultras to the ground. With seven huge explosions of gore, they died nearly simultaneously, and only one more Carrier perished to 10 scourge before my last-ditch offensive was no more. A few minutes later, 74 ordered in two groups of cracklings in a final, desperate attempt to turn the tide of defeat, yet these only managed to kill a single cannon and damage another before they were stormed to mere puddles of blood upon the twilight land. As a final statement, four of Ic'7ler's moved in and wiped out the last remnants of my main, meeting resistance only from a lone Ultralisk. Cursing with anger, but saluting all with a gg nonetheless ( however little I meant it ), I left the game.
The Last Ultralisk lifts its mighty head far up into the turbulent dark sky, brilliant white Kaiser blades arcing majestically overhead, gleaming in the blackness. With a final roar, it crumples to the ground, silent forever more.
Conclusion: Protoss > Zerg on Dark Continent
And what would one of my long reports be without a lengthy lessons learned!?
Lessons Learned
1) Maps containing many narrow causeways surrounded by cliffs are perfect for High Templar.
2) When your opponent goes for high temps and you're Zerg, heck, it's tough. Spread your forces and make as many queens as possible.
3) Recon is extremely important. As in, wow, this is important. As in there are few things more important in a game than recon. At first, we had excellent recon, with our Overlords and Queens, yet then this advantage shifted to the enemy when he made observers, while we simply couldn't get through his cannons to parasite.
4) Don't join a game with Fastest as Speed, like I did. It's nice at the beginning but absolute hell at the end.
5) Cracklings own goons, but goons own mutas, while mutas, of course, own cracklings ( confused yet? )
6) Ultralisks with defiler support are defeated by dragoons with high templar support.
7) The key to defeating Protoss is to out-produce and out-expand him, for Toss have many outstanding mass destruction units.
8) Cannoning in is much easier to do against Zerg than versus Terran or Protoss
9) Don't be stubborn with regards to strategy. When I saw my air units wouldn't work in the first attack of the game, I should've immediately switched strats. Stupid me.
10) And finally, don't play Zerg vs Toss on Dark Continent. Trust me, it's very unbalanced, except if you want to attack early ( like we should have done ).
11) If you're still here, that must mean you are a highly patient and boring person, perfect for playing 3 hour long 5v3 comp games in which you're guaranteed to win ( lol )
This has been another LONG |]agomar production
|
|
|
|
Home
Forum
Starcraft Tournaments
