Hostility Incorporated (H.I.) Proudly Brings to you...
Another Hostile~SCV Battle Report. (And other wonderful goodies)

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Hey, it's me, the Hoss Bot! From here on out I'm going to have a new edition to my BR's, and that is...

Assassins of the Day!

Ever notice when one of your units has an enormous amount of kills? It's time to recognize those little fellas. And now, the Top 5 Assassins of the day are....

#5:

#4:

#3:

#2:

And the #1 assassin of the day:

Wow, looks like a pretty deadly team there if you ask me. Anyway, on to the BR!

Intro

So I'm just camping out in nohunters, about to play in a 2v2 with some friends. All of a sudden, I'm messaged by Wisest~Yoda, giving me the name and PW to an FFA game. He has yet to mention to me the map. I hurriedly type in the info, and when the screen pops up, I'm greeted with 2 words I'm always glad to see.

The players were names I was rather familiar with. The always lovable Kane-, the blue wonder AzureHeart, the pointy-eared, midgety FFA fanatic Wisest~Yoda, and another person i didn't know so well, Let_Me_Win!!! (to save myself some hassle, he will be referred to as LMW.) After everyone downloads the Obs map, and the always-mandatory trash talk, the game gets underway.

Azure chose the Protoss, and his Blue (coincidence with Azure?) Nexus warped in at 10:30. Kane, Yoda and LMW all let the Brood War gods decide their outcome. Kane was granted a Red Command Center at 12, a Teal Hatchery was handed down from the cerebrates to Yoda at 4:30, and LMW obtained a Purple Nexus from his brethren at 7:30.

Kane choked off his ramp with the standard depot, rax, depot maneuver, and added a refinery before the second depot. Azure went Pylon, Gate, Gate, Pylon, Gas (which is my first 5 buildings as Toss). Yoda made an OL, went for a quick expansion at the 6 o clock main, pool at main, and 2 colonies which became sunkens after the pool morphed. LMW did the same as Azure, but threw down a third pylon before he started his gas.

First blood was rather quick. Before Kane could even finish the barracks at his choke, Azure started attacking the SCV with a Probe. Kane let the SCV continue to work without fighting back, and the SCV gets killed by the Hostile little probe! Another SCV starts to chase the probe around, while another SCV finishes the rax and starts a depot. The probe is eventually cornered and killed.

Soon after, Azure attacks Kane with 2 zealots, and it causes all the SCV's to be pulled off mining to defeat the bladed warriors! 2 marines come to the rescue, and assist the workers in killing the Protoss.

While this is happening, LMW has waited for Yoda's hatchery to finish at the 6 o clock start, and parades in with a few zealots. The hatch was undefended, and easily destroyed!

The 2 Toss players have teched to cores, Kane has made incredible progress through the tree and has a science facility, going for a nuke rush.... and Yoda seems to be doing absolutely nothing at the time being, except trying to restore his main at 6. LMW has went for his natural, and Kane starts a wall-in at the 1:30 base hoping to secure an expansion to make up for the earlier fiasco. I check out his main, only to see a covert ops constructed and a nuclear silo almost on the way..

Azure attacks Kane with around 4 zealots and 4 Dragoons, and a couple DT's. The zealots are taken out by the vultures and marines behind the wall, but the dragoons survive and put Kane into demise. About 8 zerglings commanded by Yoda tear down the possible expansion that Kane went for at 1:30. He manages to fly off his buildings to the upper plateau, but for the most part, Kane is out of the game.

LMW uses one reaver and a pair of zealots and denies Yoda's second attempt at the 6 o clock main. I think to myself, Yoda could already have a sufficient amount of minerals coming from his natural, which would be much easier to defend than an expansion from a distant main. This could possibly hinder him later, but he finally realizes that the base attempts at 6 are rather obsolete. Yoda goes for the 1:30 main which Kane once tried for, and then his own natural. He also has a lair at his main now.

Azure has recently expanded to his natural as well. Both Protoss have Observatories, and Azure also has went up another tech tree, taking an Archives. LMW is making an attempt for the 2nd plateau, while Kane is inhabiting one already. Yoda has constructed a Spire now, and a couple of Mutalisks are flying around his base. I remember that in my last FFA with Yoda, he was Zerg, on this map. He took out me, Alekseyev, and 2 others with an overwhelming Mutalisk swarm. My guess is that he's using this strategy once again... but why against Protoss? Oh well, we will soon see the outcome.

Kane's secret plateau has been destroyed by random reaver drops and mutalisks flying in and out, and he's gone for good. Everyone allies him and he starts flying his buildings all over the map. Kane never fails to amuse me. Heh...

Azure uses DT's and an offensive Cannon to remove LMW's plateau expansion, just as the nexus warped in. LMW brings Reavers there as a possible equalizer, but forgot the ever-precious detection. DT's come and kill the Slug. In a huge move, Azure expands to Kane's main, the plateau he just bombarded, and Kane's would-be natural. LMW goes for the expansion that Yoda has tried for twice, the main at 6, and sends some zealots and probes there in an un-ordinary fashion.

As of now, Yoda has 3 bases he is mining from, same for LMW. Azure is getting stuff from 4 expansions. All 3 players have mined out their mains but continue to gather vespene. Both Protoss have 1-0-1 ground upgrades, and Yoda has no upgrades for his Mutas or Lings.

Suddenly, a transmission from one of LMW's observers is sent to the protoss headquarters.

Observer: Praetor LMW, I see an open opportunity to attack the Teal Zerg colony from the rear.

LMW: Oh yeah? Gimme the scoop.

Observer: I spy a hatchery, a hydralisk den, a spire, a few zer--

LMW: SPIRE? SPIRE? GET THE SPIRE! SEND OUT A CONTAINMENT FORCE NOW AND KILL THAT SPIRE!

Observer: I would sir, but... I'm just an observer.

LMW: Oh yeah... right. WELL DO IT ANYWAY!!!

And after a big arguement with his observer, LMW gets all pissed off and sends out a force in 2 shuttles with Gravitic Drive. He attempts a back-door drop on Yoda's main, with a reaver, 2 goons and 2 zealots. After attacking a close hatchery for some time, LMW's eyes are glazed over as he sees the long, tall, and sexy Spire. He wants it bad. He thinks that if he destroys it, it will be all his. But then he realizes something:

If he destroys it, it will be too lousy to keep.

So he decides to just destroy it.

The zealots draw out their psi blades and get to work. Goons open their cannons and fire. The reaver busts out a scarab and hits it right on the nose... and then mutas come to stop the attack. The reaver is disposed, then the dragoons. The zealots continue to hack away, not running or anything. Right when the last zealot dies, I check out the life on the spire.

23. Damn, Yoda's one lucky SOB. One more scarab would have ended his air for quite some time.

Immediately after, Yoda goes for a hive. He also starts morphing a hatch at the 1:30 main, and sends his generous mutalisk army to LMW's expansion at 6 o clock main, which will be known from here on out in the Starcraft Community, as Persistence Hill. No resistance appears to be coming from LMW, and the expansion is raped.

LMW, seeking revenge, sends around 15 dragoons and several zealots to Yoda's main. But don't look now, LMW, your main has just been dropped on by Azure with an assortment of Dark Templars and Zealots! He panics, and this gives Yoda enough time to pull his Mutalisks over and destroy the purple protoss army outside his base. In the meantime, LMW is taking the ass-kicking of his life. With the blue goon soup residing outside of Yoda's base, and the razed buildings at his main, we can consider LMW out of the game as well.

And then there were 2...

Upgrade Update:

Azure- 2-0-2

Yoda- 1-1 Air, 0-0 ground

LMW brags about how he had around 5300 minerals left once he was killed. Just think- with a lot of extra Psi, he could have made bunches of zealots (or goons and DT's with Vespene) and went mass overrun. To display his stupidity, he builds about 20 pylons, a forge, and a buttload of cannons.

He allied everyone so his efforts were obsolete.

Yoda's massing some huge air forces, yet Azure has been the key factor in putting Kane and LMW out of the game. Now that it's down to these 2 warriors, a victor would be soon decided. I take a peek back at Azure's main, and I see something that could be the key factor in ending this game- Stargates and Corsairs. My money was on Azure, but I didn't doubt Yoda. He now had a Greater Spire. In the meantime, an Overlord and Observer engage in an interesting conversation.

Yoda assumes that taking out expansions first should be the way to go. He brings 24 mutalisks over to the plateau that has been controlled by Azure for quite some time, and "razes" hell. Obviously, Azure is thinking the same thing. He overruns Persistence Hill and the 1:30 natural, but mutalisks prevent the protoss from killing the 1:30 main.

The mutalisk army returns to Persistence Hill, and Yoda starts morphing a Hatchery there. Azure spots a drone going over there with a well-placed Observer, so he shuttles up some troops and sends it over to the Hill. Before anything can even land, Mutalisks blow the shuttle out of the sky.

Azure has began assimilating gas at one of the vespene geysers in the center of the map. Most players don't take this advantage since it's off the beaten path, but Azure's plan is map control. He puts a few cannons around it and rallies some random infantry there, which are now 3-1-3.

Taking a look at Azure's main, I see the possible deciding factor- 0-1-1 Corsairs, about 15. Things look bad for Yoda, if you ask me. However, he's got a crap-load of cracklings outside his main natural, along with 24 2-2 mutalisks, 6 queens, 6 devourers, and 6 guardians all at Persistence Hill.

Azure starts going for more of the map, and warps a nexus next to the other low-ground vespene. The first fight of the war has begun, as 12 corsairs begin their trek to Persistence Hill. A few mutalisks are taken out, but the Acid Spores shot by the Devos along with massive glave wurms bouncing everywhere causes Azure to retreat his air forces! About 4 corsairs are grounded in the fight.

And then, it all happens in one big explosion. The gates of hell open, and out come tons of cracklings. They run straight through the map, ripping up one of Azure's gas expansions. Then from there on, it's Protoss OWNAGE. The zerg air forces come, hoping to end the battle. The 3-2-3 Protoss infantry take out the massive cracklings with ease, and well-placed Psi Storms deteriorate the numbers of the air force. Corsairs come to assist in the destruction of air. And I can just feel it.. Yoda's feeling like shit.

Once the Zerg air is gone, it's pretty much all said and done. Azure sends forces to 1:30 and Persistence Hill, raping the expansions. More forces begin to pour into the main. Yoda can do nothing but watch his whole endeavor to conquer the winter land... fall short. He concedes, and leaves.

Scores

Lessons/Tips/The Obvious

1. In my last BR, I stated that upgrades were a huge, important factor in the game. Azure kept consistent upgrades going, which gave him more and more power as his numbers increased. If Yoda was doing weapon upgrades for his Cracklings, it could have been a completely different battle.

2. It's tough to eliminate a Protoss once he gets powerful. Even when Yoda Ensnared and spawned Broods, it was hell in the end. Defilers could have given the Cracklings a little edge, since the majority of Psi Storms appeared to be focused on the air.

3. Kane has some gosu SCV micro.

4. LMW seemed to be neck-and-neck with Azure until the 3D (DT Doom Drop) caught him completely off guard. A couple of Photon Cannons around his base would have been the equalizer for this, since he did have troops at home. That's also a good suggestion for Island Maps too... really good one.

Well... that's all for today. For your enjoyment, I give you a new closing picture!!

This has been another

Production