| The blockade | | | Author: | | | IP: | 05-058.0XXXX | | Date: | 05/24/00 12:05 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 6, Min: 6
Lifetime Rating for _I_AM_: 7.6250 |  | The Blockade
This will be the last time I apologize for lack of screen shots in my battle reports because Ive decided that I am not going to use them. I am sorry to those people who prefer visual aid over words but I just have a feeling that this is my style, to write the report as if I were writing a novel.
Furthermore I am not going to use proper punctuation or proper english for that matter. I am going to begin sentences with 'And' and use hyphons where I shouldnt. Because that is the way I speak and, after all, that is what I like to do. I like to speak to my readers.
Also, I have cut and pasted this report from notepad because it took me a long time to finish and last time I tried something like this the paragraphs all ran together. I hope that this is not eh case this time.
So without further ado I give you my report.
I knew as I began this game that I would report this battle regardless of the outcome. If I won then that would be good, if I lost then that would, in a way, be better. The report awaits you and I will not ruin the ending.
The opponent I would be facing tonight was called Ucbfresh and he had chosen the Lost Temple. I had often taken a moment while going through the procedure of my initial build to think of my opponents title and why they had chosen such names as the names that they chose. Where did these names come from? Ucbfresh.
Away with it. There were matters at hand.
Ucbfresh had chosen to face me incognito, selecting random for the match and I, as usual, selected random as well. Random in my opinion is the best race of them all.
I can usually guess my race before I see it and tonight I had positioned my left index finger over the 'D' key and my middle finger over the 'S' key. I had guessed that I would draw zerg.
I was wrong tonight. For this battle I was given the protoss. My digits quickly shifted and my state of mind shifted with it.
My first investment was being constructed within the goldish, slanting walls of my nexus when I scooped up the initial four probes that had come standard with the nexus. I appreciated those probes. I appreciated the way that they could focus on the matter at hand. Even while close combat ensued nearby the probes would keep working, knowing that without them there were no warriors and without warriors... there were no probes.
As my eighth shiny new probe emerged from the nexus it hovered there for a fraction of a moment before opening a rift in mid-air. With a crackle the floating sphere began small and quickly swelled to full size, shimmering and glowing like a ball of caged lightning. It was the beginning of our first pylon and I was always glad to see it because it meant that the first gateway wasnt far behind. Once it had began the rift the probe sped off toward the ramp and out into the jungle where eventually it would find Ucbfresh.
I went back to my task of manufacturing probes at the nexus and I began to wonder what sort of enemy I was facing. Possibly the tenacious terran with their thundering machines of war and their small but armored marines and their quick, shadowy planes. Or perhaps the ferocious zerg, with their groups of spitting hydralisks and their galloping zerglings and their winged, screaming mutalisks. And even worse yet, maybe my opponent would draw the noble protoss and use my own weapons against me. Whatever the case would be one thing was certain: I would need gateways and when my supply had reached ten a gateway I began. Tightly I placed it with the pylon, keeping all of my buildings close together in case I was visited early by six gallopers.
No sooner had my probe gotten half way to the 6:00 position when something in the distance caught my eye, coming in from the southeast. At first it seemed to be a distant cloud or some kind of flyer that was native to this land and that I was not familiar with but as it drew nearer its form took on the unmistakable shape of a zerg overlord. Boldly it moved, positioning its bulk directly above my proud nexus, taunting me, knowing that I could only watch helplessly as it lumbered above. Its many legs dangled from underneath its grotesque body and it moved in an unnatural way. Ucbfresh had found me but that was alright, because I had found him too.
I knew that fresh was at the 6:00 now. It wasnt a very long run from my base and as my first gateway materialized I began summoning a zealot. This lone zealot would be my first attack.
When the probe reached the natural expansion of the 6:00 position I was surprised to see that there was no hatchery morphing there. Usually the overmind would try to get an edge quickly by establishing an early expansion there. I suppose he didnt feel lucky this time.
The probe glided by, relaying the information before darting up the ramp. And there was the second hatchery. He had chosen to place it here so that he could better guard his ramp from early assaults while he did whatever it is that the zerg do back behind those sunken colonies.
But it hadnt completed its building process yet. It still convulsed as the drone somewhere within it was slowly, hideously turning itself into the alien structure. The probe darted past and made its way to the main hatchery to see how far along the spawning pool was. If Fresh had delayed his pool even a little bit considering how close I had started to him then he may have an early problem on his hands.
But it was not to be this time. I found the pool and it was halfway complete when my zealot touched down. But I sent the zealot anyway and pulled my probe back away from the creep, faking toward the ramp and then shooting up to the edge of his base where it would be out of sight and hopefully out of mind.
Additional pylons were warped in back at home and another gateway was on its way. The zealots arrived one after another and were immediately sent to rally at the zergs natural expansion. If he hadnt taken it by now then he would have to fight me for it.
As my zealot came near the enemy ramp I sent the probe back down to check the zerg base out and to see if the zealot would have a chance to disrupt Fresh. As it moved downward it passed by two rallying zerglings that was heading for the ramp and it followed them, ready to provide the zealot with support against them but as the probe slid onto the creep suddenly it became ensnared by something unseen and it was dragged down below where a sunken colony ripped it to pieces.
Needless to say the zealot stopped.
Two gateways were now operational at my base and both structures had their rally points set to the zergs natural. I began my assimilator, then my forge and then my cybernetics core. The overlord was still hovering above me and so I hid the cybernetics core as far out as I could in order to keep it a secret from Fresh. Getting that spying overlord was one of the highlights in a battle against the zerg.
As soon as I had collected enough vespene gas I began the weapons upgrade at my forge. I have recently made it a habit to upgrade as soon as the forge warps in in order to have an edge on my opponent as early as possible.
My cybernetice core had finished now and I called in a dragoon to deal with the overlord but fresh had caught sight of the structure and now he was moving his overlord away, out toward the ledge and in the direction of his main. I would have to hurry if I wanted to kill it.
The large, spider-like soldier emerged from the gateway but it was too late, the overlord was too far out. So the dragoon headed for my natural. There had been a second overlord there, observing troop movement and now it too was heading for the cliff that overlooked my expansion. Again I was too late.
I had one last chance to get an overlord kill. Hanging above my zealots that had been gathering up below the enemy was yet another overlord. The dragoon moved out toward the last overlord but it began to float away long before my dragoon arrived.
All of his overlords had escaped me. We will see if his luck holds out.
Soon after the dragoon had arrived and removed the zergs free recon from my base I opened a rift that would bring down a citadel of adun. More and more zealots were gathering outside the zerg main and as soon as the citadel was completed I upgraded the leg enhancements for them.
But before the upgrade was complete the first skirmish of the battle broke out at the zerg natural. A large number of hydralisks had slithered quietly down the ramp and had grouped up a short distance away from the zealots there. They silently moved into position and then the sinister cobras spread their hoods...
The hydralisks began sending volleys of spines into the flanks of my army, and my army, in response, charged headlong into the deadly missiles. The spines shattered and splintered off of our plasma shields as we came but the forcefields held long enough for us to close with the beasts and begin hacking and slashing our way through them. All around the sound of death reverberated, death cries of zealots and hydralisks alike and it began to look as if the zerg would route us out of their territory. Alot of zealots had fallen and it still looked as if the zergs hydralisk count was dangerously high. But that fear only lasted but a short time as my warriors began to overpower the cobras and when Fresh realized that he was losing he pulled the remnants of his once dangerous hydralisk army back up the ramp and behind the sunkens that he had there.
We had won the first conflict.
I built a templar archives when the smoke had cleared and I began dragoon production and the range upgrade for them. Three cannons went up around the probes at my main to thwart any small drops or mutalisk raids. I follow them up with two templar, one a dark templar and one a high templar. The high templar I sent to my frontlines and the dark templar I sent to patrol from the 3:00 main to the 12:00 main.
But before my templar could reach the zealots and dragoons that still sat at the zerg natural fresh tried another break out. A second wave of zerg hit us, this time a zergling and hydralisk mix. My troops defended their tactical position with the tenacity shown by all protoss warriors on the field. The zealots shreaded the zerglings as the dragoons blasted the hydralisks from a distance and once again our blockade had held. But this battle had cost me much and I felt that it was time to back off a bit. I moved my army back to the mineral only expansion, leaving a single dragoon to watch over the 6:00 natural.
At this point I expand to my own natural, reinforcing it with a few cannons and a single templar.
I was feeling more comfortable now. Two strikes from my enemy had been beaten back and I had a nexus warping in at my natural for myself. I had actually expanded before a zerg opponent with protoss.
But Fresh was not going to let me contain him like this, he would expand and now he made his move to do so. The dragoon that I had stationed at his natural came under attack by a number of hydralisks and was quickly killed but not before I could see that he had many, many of them. I had a fair number of zealots and dragoons outside his vision and one templar with enough energy for one storm. I decided to bide my time and not press my luck.
Instead I sent a probe up to the 12:00 main and began a pylon at the top of the ramp. My gateway count had been steadily growing since my expansion at my natural and I began to get comfortable again. I could let him take his natural and I would still have plenty of juice to roll him over soon. One after another my troop upgrades were made and my army began to grow powerful.
But I couldnt help but to be curious, I was wondering just how many troops Fresh had guarding his expansion and so I sent a single zealot on a suicide mission to gather some intelligence. He charged into the midst of the zerg forces stationed there, ignoring the barrage of missiles from the hydralisks. Disregarding the claws of the zerglings and moving onward, onward until he reached the site of the forming hatchery down by the natural.
And that is where his noble life was ended. As he came within reach of the infant structure the ground beneath him came alive and spat unearthly dust into the air before him as great, impaling stakes emerged from all around him and ripped through the dirt on their way toward him. He had time enough only to see the morphing hatchery before the spines tore into him from beneath and lifted his heavy, armored body completely off the ground, rearranging his alien entrails before pulling themselves back below the soil. The zealots body collapsed to the ground while his spirit joined his many fallen brethren in another realm where Adun waited to welcome him.
So Fresh was using lurkers to hold me while he expanded. True, I could not attack him yet but at the same time he wasnt going to move out of this coral any time soon. I sent a probe to the 3:00 main and began a pylon there.
As the probe turned to move up the ramp I caught sight of something moving up to the plateau. Fresh had sent an unupgraded overlord to the 3:00 to see if I was expanding. I figured that there was probably another on its way to the 12:00 as well. My dragoon would have yet another chance to down an overlord.
As the dragoon moved out toward the 3:00 to greet the overlord I began construction of a robotics facility back at my main and added two additional gateways to the 12:00 expansion as well as a few cannons there. For now I would have to be content with being held at bay but my observers would be here soon. And as my robotics facility a rift to bring down an observatory was sat next to it.
But lurkers had other uses as well, not only were they good defense but their concussive damage was very effective against small targets such as zealots, marines, zerglings... probes.
And it was now that Fresh decided the time was right to take a swing at my probes.
The lone templar that I had stationed at home was the only one to see the lurkers approaching after an unseen overlord had unloaded them onto my plateau. He watched motionless as the zerg creatures slipped past the first defending cannon as it rose up out of its casing and began to thump the beasts relentlessly as they went. Deep into the heart of my lifeline they headed in an attempt to find a safe place out of cannon range to burrow and begin their pitiless assault against my probes.
But that was not to be. The three cannons that I had erected around my nexus were in close enough proximity so that they fired on the lurkers no matter how far into my probe line they went. The zerg beasts scurried around each other for a moment seeking relief from the barrage of cannon fire until both were executed before ever being able to get to the false safety of the underground.
The zerg apparently had transport able overlords now and that could mean trouble in the form of a drop or an island expansion and here I sat with no airforce and no shuttles. I would have to act quickly.
When my first observer had arrived I sent it to the top left island to make sure that there were no sneaky zerg infestations there.
Nothing. An empty island.
I left the observer there and soon my second had arrived. It was sent on its way to the bottom right island. As the tiny spy headed out toward the island I began another cannon at my main in case he sent another drop of zerg units to see me.
My second observer was approaching the bottom right island now and as it moved over the small ledge it relayed the message; the zerg were expanding there.
A shuttle was quickly called up back at my robotics facility in preparation to end the expansion before it had gotten started. I set my rally point for the facility right above my troops and soon the shuttle appeared and began ponderously sliding through the sky toward the waiting dragoons who would board it and head for the island.
I could see that the island would be protected soon by two morphing sunken colonies but my shuttle was drawing near. My force of two dragoons touched down onto the expansion before the defenses could be completed and they opened fire upon the drones there, attempting to stay back away from the sunkens that were almost morphed and the shuttle turned back out toward my waiting army.
The drones at the expansion turned on the dragoons as the sunken colonies finished forming and soon my forces found themselves being quickly overwhelmed. The combined weight of the sunkens and drones were enough to bring the dragoons down.
But soon another shipment was being delivered to the island, this time four zealots were dropped onto the expansion and they immediately headed toward the already damaged sunken colonies that began trying to repel them. Newly created zerglings hatched from the cocoons there and soon the zealots were caught in a vice between sunkens and zerglings. My attempts to eliminate the expansion were foiled yet again.
The second shuttle out of the facility joined the first and I prepared a third drop on the island. Four dragoons this time, dropped as far away from the sunkens as possible. They commenced their attack, blasting the zerglings that drew near them and the shuttles turned to collect another payload of protoss troops.
At this point I remembered the two lurkers that Fresh had dropped on me earlier and I decided that it was time to repay the favor. Before my dragoons were brought down by wave after wave of freshly hatched zerglings I noticed that there were no overlords hanging above the expansion. Two dark templar were loaded this time and they sat out for the island, coming in from the top and unloading the templar.
The sound of the shuttle unloading could be heard by the zerg at the island but it must have been strange not to see anything emerge from them. Fresh must have been confused for a brief moment until his zerglings began popping one after another. The drones were the next to go, helpless as they were they split in half as the warp blades of the shadowy templar met with their scaly flesh. And now there were only two more obstacles to clear before the expansion was totally annihilated. The sunken colonies.
The colonies were bleeding heavily from the previous assaults on them and now the templar moved in to finish the job. But as the first colony fell the second began attacking the templar who were suddenly revealed by three overlords that moved in to hover above the island. The templar turned to silence the tongue of the sunken before it could do much damage but it was a powerful structure and it took its toll on the shimmery assassins before they finally dispatched it.
Both templar were injured gravely before the sunken had exploded into a mass of alien blood and tissue. And it was at this time that the three overlords began dropping some cargo of their own; zerglings.
The templar readied their powerful claws but they knew that the end was near as the zerglings dropped in clusters to the ground and set feral eyes upon them.
Back at my containment camp four shuttles equipped with speed upgrades hung in the open air above twelve zealots that boarded them one by one. Soon the shuttles were on their way again, bound for the island expansion for the final assault on it. The defenses of the expansion had been worn down from the numerous drops that had been executed against it and as the pack of transports arrived over the island Fresh knew that his new-found source of income would be cut off.
At this time I exanded to the 3:00 position.
My blockade had been thinned out now by the numerous drops I had to commit to the bottom right island and only two control groups remained there, one of powerful, upgraded zealots and another of tall, spider-like dragoons with a few templar back a little ways to provide storm support in case of an all-out attempt by fresh to route me.
It was at this time that Fresh made his boldest, most crippling move.
My forces suddenly came visciously under attack while I was building pylons at my 3:00 expansion. I tapped the spacebar expecting to be taken instantly to my blockade where I would grab a templar and begin storming accordingly over the zerg that were attacking. But instead of being taken to my blockade I was taken to my main where four cannons and one templar were faced with a drop of massive, countless zerglings.
Like army ants they came, spreading over my entire base, toppling useless cannons that just couldnt kill the animals fast enough. The templar was able to get off one storm before being dragged to the ground and torn apart and on my minimap every single structure in my main was flashing red.
My blockade had been bypassed and now I would have to pay for my carelessness. The troops that had emerged from the gateways stepped down and immediately headed for the ramp, knowing that there was no possible way to pluck the offense from my main. They were struck at as they ran but they kept going. Zealot and dragoon alike descended down the ramp, stampedes of zerglings on their heels, trying desperately to reach the safety of the blockade that was now moving in two control groups toward the falling main.
The cannons at my natural expansion opened fire upon the zerglings that tried to follow my fleeing forces and the zerg were pulled back to finish off the main and the nine or so gateways there.
At the 12:00 expansion I began building several additional gateways to compensate for the loss of my others as well as another cybernetcis core. I had lost everything. Pylons, gateways, the templar archives. The only structure left in my main was a single pylon that had been in a corner and overlooked by the horde of zerglings.
But my garrison was charging up the ramp now, zealots first and dragoons following closely. Powerful, cybernetically enhanced legs pushed my zealots into the swarm and they began bringing their blades down upon the creatures in furious arcs as the dragoons provided long ranged support fire.
Another glance at my minimap revealed yet another attack thrown at me by fresh from another direction. He was assaulting the remains of my blockade. Zerglings and hydralisks poured out of his base and my storms began to crack the sky all around but the zerg swarms were spread out, minimizing the sting of my templar. The zerglings were numerous and my few dragoons and zealots there struggled to repel the attack. I quickly took two templar and merged them into one of the most powerful units the protoss have to offer: the archon.
When the archon had finished its merging it began burning the droves of zerglings with its powerful splashing psionic attack. With the newly formed archons in my ranks the battle at the blockade swung in my favor and the last of the zerglings was destroyed.
Back at my ruined main the battle was coming to a close. The zerglings proved to be no match for my upgraded army and after my victory there the remaining troops linked up with the survivors of the battle of the blockade.
It was time to finish off Fresh and give myself a rest after a long match against the never ending swarms of the zerg. My forces crept forward as my observer moved up to spot the line of lurkers that waited for me somewhere down beneath the ground. The silence was broken by the crackling of the psionic storms that came down upon the buried fiends who were trapped and had no time to surface and run before the storm tore their ferocious minds to pieces. And as the last of the zerg garrison was swept aside by the advancing zealots and dragoons the zerg natural expansion came under attack for the first and last time of this match. The sunkens there fell fast due to the overpowering nature of my warriors and not a stride was broken as they moved through the natural to claw their way up through the sunkens at the top of the zerg main before breaking the feeble defenses, opening the way to the heart of the whole zerg operation that lay ahead of them.
It was at this time that Fresh spoke to me for the first time in the match and I was given those famous two letters. Ucbfresh then left the game.
This concludes my battlereport. |
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