The Epic (And I Mean Epic) Battle

Welcome to another battle report production, by yours truly, GoT GaMe (smurfing under my other nick, The-Lakers).  I was given the opportunity to watch a very good game, between 4 well known people.  The game was a 2vs2 on a not so well known Aftershock.  But first, here is the match up

        And       

Vs.

    And   

Oh yeah, RushinRussian = Talon

I don’t think that any of these guys needs intros, so I will move right along to the map. 

Aftershock is a 6-player map with the starting positions consisting of 7 mineral patches and gas.  Each starting position has a natural with gas and minerals, as well as an island expansion sandwiched between starting locations.  There is only one choke to each main, and that is a ramp.

This game was like one continuous battle after another, so here is the game!!

The calm

ProtectorofAiur is Protoss and goes for a 2-gate build, while his Terran ally Talon goes 2 barracks.

Shockwave is Protoss and also goes 2 gates, but stops for gas as well.  His Terran ally McNasty also goes 2 barracks and he too stops for gas.  Here is the minimap with starting locations.

Shock also starts on gas, has a forge out, and with about 4 zealots, he seeks some early blood.  Little did he know that at the same time, POA and Talon decides to hit Shock, with a combined force of about 5 zealots and 8 marines.  Shock's zealots fight bravely, but are no match for the deadly duo.  POA and Talon march up his ramp and starts laying waste to pylons.  Shock tries to warp a cannon, but the marines take care of that threat.  Almost all the probes are slaughtered, and the pimp squad manages to take down a couple more buildings, before McNasty comes with help.  McNasty's own squad, a group of marines with the odd medic helps to repel the attack.  

Shock survives, but is heavily crippled as he starts rebuilding on his probes.  I think that at this point, Talon or POA could have sent in a token force and walked over Shock's bare base. 

Meanwhile, Talon has quickly rebuilt his army of marines, and throws in the odd medic.  POA has also produced 6 fresh zealots, which prompts him to ask whether or not to attack.  They decide to attack, and coincidentally, McNasty also decides to attack.  

For a moment, both sides confront in the middle of the map, daring the other to attack.  POA and Talon, seeing that they had the larger force, chases McNasty's force back to his main. 

Realizing that Shock is probably in the rebuilding process, POA and Talon make a quick 90^o turn to Shock's base.  He sees this and calls for help and McNasty once again saves his ally.  In fact he is impedes POA and Talon's march to Shock's base.  Shock had also makes a couple more zealots, and together they turn back the attack.

At this point, POA has a cybernetics core, and his tech is geared toward templars.  POA has also mixed in a couple dragoons with his zealots, while McNasty has already teched to factory, and starts making vultures w/ spider mines.

Finally, the team of Shock and McNasty decides that it is time to go on the offensive.  McNasty leads the charge with his group of marines, but because Shock only has 1 zealot to help, POA along with Talon are able to stop McNasty from advancing with their larger force.

Talon then decides to test out McNasty's force, and is greeted by the roar of a cannon.  However, this shows to be a distraction, as Talon has managed to float a command center to the island expansion next to him.

Shock gives chase to Talon's M&M's with about 5 zealots, and forces Talon to retreat back to POA's base.  At this point POA has also started on his expansion, this one being his natural expansion, and defends it with all of his forces, along with 2 cannons.

POA completes his tech to templars, and tells his partner that he's going to make dt's.  As I began to wonder when McNasty or Shock would expand, I notice McNasty taking his natural expansion.  McNasty also has his entire troop of a tank and M&M's in the middle of the map.  Shock also has his zealots there waiting, and McNasty's vultures are busy putting mines everywhere. 

Then, without warning, POA and Talon moves in toward the middle of the map with their own strike team.  All hell breaks loose as Shock's zealots and McNasty's M&M's slowly run over the smaller force of POA and Talon's.  It appears as if Shock and McNasty has finally taken some control of the game. 

Before this, POA took the time to expand to his natural.

POA doesn't like the fact that they have relinquished control, and attacks with his own group of zealots, dragoons, and dark templars.  

Although he is able to push back McNasty and Shock's attack, spider mines disrupt POA's troops.  When McNasty sends in more marines the tide turns slowly toward their side again.

Talon decides that he doesn't like being pushed around either, and brings his own batch of marines and tanks.  The tide shifts once more to POA / Talon's team.  To add further insult to injury, one of McNasty's mine launches itself onto a marine of Talon's, and the splash ends up killing more of McNasty's men (and medics^^).

With what is surviving, POA and Talon heads to attack McNasty, thinking that he is weakened by the attacks.  In the process of heading toward his main, they run smack into the naked command center parked there, and smack the cc down.   

As they try to run up the ramp, a blur starts attacking POA's goons.  Wait a minute.  A blur you say?  Ah yes, that blur is from Shock, as he has finished his templar tech, and seeks revenge.  However, his long dark templar's glory does not last long, as a quick scan blasts the dt back to Shakurus. 

In this confusion, McNasty is able to siege a tank at the ledge, next to his ramp.  I think it gets one blast off, but is quickly killed by marines and goons.  McNasty fights valiantly to keep the intruders from climbing the ramp.  He throws in a vulture or two as distraction to start defending his main.  

He builds a bunker and lays down some spider mines, but a goon manages to waltz past the bunker, and starts to tag a starport.  The goon doesn't get very far, as 2 newly produced tanks come to the rescue.  Sieged next to the bunker, McNasty also d-matrix's one of his tanks.  Once Talon's marines died, the goons quickly turn into goon soup.

McNasty relocates his lost expansion to the island expansion between him and Shock.  

Shock has been very busy, quietly building up his dark templar force, and decides that the time is ripe to attack POA.  He runs into the expansion first, which is guarded by 2 cannons.  However, dt's > cannons, especially when you have 7 of them.  They quickly dispatch the cannons, but the critical mistake is not being able to take out the nexus.  A quick scan from Talon allows POA's zealots and dt's to finish off the dark assassins.  In this sequence, POA must have asked for scan about 5 times ^^.

Any ways, this attack has given Shock time for his first expansion!!  Talon gathers another squad of tanks and M&M's in the middle, while POA rallies his zealots, dt's, and templars at his expansion. 

Here is the mini map at this point:

Shock sneaks in a couple more dt's towards POA's encampment, but manages to do little, as a templar storms the dt's.  

At this point, a standoff has occurred, where Talon sieges up his tanks just outside of McNasty's tanks range.  McNasty also has a science vessel hovering over the tanks, along with a bunker in front of his tanks.  

Talon has taken the time to expand once more, this one being the natural to the bottom left corner.  At this point team POA / Talon leads in expansions 4 to 3 and POA still has minerals in his main.

Meanwhile, Talon and McNasty are still at a standoff with their tanks.  Which is when Shock drops 4 dts on Talon's main.  He kills the comsat station, and proceeds to kill random things, mainly marines.  POA has started on his observer production some time ago, and sends one over to Talon's base.  With or without observers, dt's still chews up marines and looks like Shocks attack will go unabated.  Talon is able to call back a tank and a marine, and although Shock tries to dance his dt's around, POA's observer follows while Talon's tank and marine corners the lone dark templar.

Shock then drops two more dt's, this time on Talon's island expansion, without Talon even realizing until all his marines died.  However, the expansion is saved with the help of the turret as well as some newly made marines, Talon saves his expansion.

Shock then tries to attack Talon's tanks and m&m's with a couple dt's, but a quick scan stopped that too.

Shock, realizing that he needs another expansion, drops a probe to expand to the island expansion next to his main, but he is in deep trouble. 

POA, thinking that Shock will run out of troops soon, sends in zealots and dragoons towards Shock's main.  The nexus expansion is the first to be discovered and dismantled.  Before POA can run up the ramp, though, McNasty saves Shock again with his tanks.  Shock's newly produced dt's also aid in dispatching POA's attack group.

  Little do I realize that Talon has loaded up 2 dropships worth of tanks and M&M's and is heading over to my command center.  After a brief minute, he moves those dropships towards Shock very naked island expansion.  I think you know what happens.  At this point, Shock is very much out of the game, especially when he says that his last option is (gulp) long distance mining.

The game is starting to become one sided.  With no source of income for Shock, he is virtually hanging on a thread.  That is…until those 2 dropships full of Terran troops touches down on Shock's main.  Buildings start to fall, until 8 wraiths cloak and moves in.  Yes, McNasty comes to save Shock's lifeless main once again!!  After some quick micro and maneuvering, McNasty kills the last tank, but does suffer some loss.

I think to myself that maybe, just maybe, the game will last a little bit longer.  That was what I was thinking, until I notice a long line of brown dots moving rapidly, towards Shocks main.  POA seems like he doesn't want Shock resurrecting any more.  POA's zealots come in and terminates the probes that were long-distance mining.  Shock knows that he is dead, and concedes.

With Shock dead, POA warps in huge amounts of dragoons, while Talon masses marines.  McNasty's fall is eminent, but he will not go down without a fight.  He has a science facility with covert ops along with 4 tanks (2 sieged), when POA runs 8+ goons smack into the tanks.  POA also had 2 dt's, but McNasty used his 4 ghosts to lockdown about 4 or 5 of POA's dragoons.

McNasty's troops are battered, and once POA makes a new batch, he and Talon run right over the tanks.  The main falls just as quick, but McNasty still has the island expansion above his dead main.  He has 3 starports there, with 6 or 7 wraiths on patrol.  These wraiths are not enough, as dropships are able land marines and tanks.  Marines with the help of scan, turns those wraiths into metal junk. 

McNasty knows that the game is up and concedes.

Your winners:

ProtectorofAiur and Talon!!!

A big factor later in the game was the fact that POA and Talon upgraded their troops!  In the end, POA had 3/3/3 for his ground units, while Talon had 3/1 for his marines.  I think that Shock had 1 weapon upgrade but that was it.  In all the games I've observed POA, he has always upgraded, and won every time.

POA, being the upgrader that he is, had 3 forge's up.  The only problem was that I completely forgot the game was over.

Fun games are usually non-stop action, which was the case with this game ^^.

It seems that Shock is a magnet for attraction, especially attraction from the opponents.  However, Shock was almost able to pull out of his bad situation.  He should also kiss up to McNasty, for all those times he saved Shock =). 

Heh, using pics as notes is the way to go ^^.

The number of times I said ProtectorofAiur, Talon, Shockwave, and NewbieMcNasty is way too much =X. 

Thanks again to ProtectorofAiur, Talon, Shockwave, and NewbieMcNasty for allowing me to observe this great game!!

Oh and one more thanks goes out to the very cool ^^ ::nobody:: for helping me out.  Although he didn't actually watch the game, he helped me get started with the pics.  So thanks nobo, u stud. 

And I am out.

GoT GaMe