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Zalpus VS -=RaRe=-
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 Minimap
Update: At this point, Zalpus has four operational bases while -=RaRe=-
has three. Zalpus is starting another base at the bottom right island,
while -=RaRe=- is starting one at the 3:00 start. All resources -
mineral patches and free vespene geysers - have been colored red to
distinguish them from Zalpus's teal colors. Zalpus's main and natural
expansion are completely mined out, and his only current mineral income
source is the top-left island expansion. =RaRe=- still has mineral
patches in all his bases, his mining operations having been hurt by
vultures and a nuke.While -=RaRe=- has less bases than Zalpus, he
has more mineral patches under his control, in addition to a somewhat
loose control over the center of the map with his dragoons. Zalpus
has his tank network set up in front of his main base with some science
vessel and vulture support. Those teal spots in -=RaRe=-'s main
base are spider mines left there by Zalpus's vultures early in the
game, as is the teal dot on the 3:00 start plateau. All the mineral-only
expansions are open at this point, as are the 3:00 nad 6:00 natural
expansions. This game is pretty balanced at this point - the two players
seem pretty even to me so far. |
| Then came the Shot Heard 'Round The Temple. Some tank or dragoon
decided to get a little frisky and crossed the Red Line, sparking
a confrontation between Zalpus and -=RaRe=- which resulted in the
loss of two Zalpus tanks and a dozen or so of -=RaRe=-'s dragoons.
-=RaRe=- has got to be realizing by now that tanks own dragoons. And
again, -=RaRe=-'s containment is blown. |
 |
| Well, Zalpus by now has a fairly impressive tank network, with a setup that
would make any player think twice before attacking. He has them spread
out on the ground and on the ledge so one storm won't decimate them
all. He has an engineering bay that provided extra sight earlier but
is doing nothing right now, a few vultures, and a handful of science
vessels for irradiate and EMP and matrix. Anti-air, however, is the
weakness of this setup - only one goliath and one turret available.
Of course, Zalpus is banking on the fact that -=RaRe=- is still primarily
using dragoons. While not as impressive as YRM's WW3 FFA (heh) "Tank
Push From Hell," this is still pretty effective against ground,
especially dragoons, -=RaRe=-'s primariy unit of choice. |
 |
| Evidently Zalpus has great stores of money, as he constructs
two command centers, both with nuclear silos, at the bottom right
island expansion. Like the top left island, Zalpus is content to commit
only minimal troops and defensive structures to the protection of
this expansion. |
 |
 |
|
 At
this point, Zalpus starts his invasion on -=RaRe=-'s 6:00 expansion
with a few tanks and vultures, and, surprisingly, some goliaths.
Evidently he's at least wary of some Protoss air. After repeating
the familiar dragoon suicide scenario, -=RaRe=- finally unveiled
his tank counter - leg enhanced-zealots. Not enough to dispose of
Zalpus's threat, however. Zalpus was able to take care of -=RaRe=-'s
defending forces with minimal losses, and went on to threaten the
6:00 expansion.
|
 |
 |
-=RaRe=- tried [again] to attack Zalpus's base defense
AKA tank network. This time, however, in addition to his dragoons,
he enlisted the aid of a control group of zealots he'd been saving
up. The zealots were able to turn the tide and, despite Zalpus's liberal
use of defensive matrix, -=RaRe=-'s forces were able to take out a
sizable chunk of the Terran commander's tanks, though not without
heavy losses. |
 |
| A few dragoon survivors of the battle attempted to pick
off Zalpus's floating engineering bay, but some cloaked ghosts armed
with lockdown quickly took care of that.
|
| Now back at the attack on the 6:00 expansion. Zalpus
has commenced his attack on the base buildings, targeting the vital
buildings while leaving two tanks behind at the ramp as a rear guard.
-=RaRe=-, recognizing the importance of this threat, sent a control
group of zealots and a few dragoons down to save his expansion. The
two tanks are quickly overwhelmed, and the other vultures, goliaths,
and lone tank come under fire as well. They fight valiantly, but numbers
take their toll and -=RaRe=- emerges the victor of the short fire
exchange. However, Zalpus's task force had already done its job in
killing off the probes, razing the nexus, and laying waste to most
of the other key buildings. |
 |
| -=RaRe=- is now feeling the hurt of the
lack of money, mining only from his 9:00 natural expansion. His main
is mined out, his 6:00 start expansion was just shut down, and his
3:00 start expansion is just now getting up to full probe capacity.
Greatly hampered in his troop production by the lack of resources,
-=RaRe=- needs money fast or he's going to be run over by Zalpus.
So he stops troop production entirely long enough to save up enough
money to warp in two nexuses (nexi?) at the 9:00 mineral-only and
the 6:00 natural expansion, along with a prayer that Zalpus doesn't
attack anytime soon, at least until -=RaRe=- gets back on his feet
unit-wise. Zalpus now has the opportunity to take the game. |
 |
 |
Recognizing that -=RaRe=- has less operational
expansions than he does, and wanting to widen that advantage, Zalpus
takes his pimp squad of four vultures and sends them to -=RaRe=-'s
3:00 start expansion. The speedy bikes run past the guarding dragoons
and zealots, and eliminate all probes before going to work on the
nexus. They get it down to half its HP before getting blasted by -=RaRe=-'s
reinforcements. |
| -=RaRe=-'s forces are now down to a handful of zealots
and a few dragoons, while Zalpus has a few tank survivors and a couple
newly-made goliaths. Both players have fully upgraded their units
of choice - Protoss ground and Terran mech - but the difference is
that Zalpus has the economy to produce more units, while -=RaRe=-
is greatly hurting from the lack of income and is still waiting for
his two expansions to finish warping in and enable him to mine. He
is extremely vulnerable, and Zalpus has a golden opportunity to end
this game in his favor. |
 |
| -=RaRe=-, in a last-ditch effort to keep Zalpus from
attacking him while he's vulnerable, launches all available combat
units near Zalpus's base in a delaying-action attack, in hopes that
he'll be able to stall Zalpus long enough for -=RaRe=-'s expansions
to come online and allow him to get back on his feet. Unfortunately,
it was a doomed cause, as his troops incurred minimal damage on Zalpus's
units. Worse, this move left -=RaRe=-'s 3:00 expansion defenseless,
and Zalpus sent his units over to raze the nexus to the ground. |
 |
 Zalpus
drops a ghost off on the 9:00 natural expansion ledge to attempt a
nuke, a move going straight for -=RaRe=-'s jugular. Remember: this
expansion is still -=RaRe=-'s only source of income. The ghost is
followed by a complement of about four science vessels, presumably
for D-matrix and EMP. A guarding dragoon was quickly lockdowned, and
both parties were notified that a nuclear launch has indeed been detected.
For Zalpus, the allotted wait time for the nuke to fall was too long;
for -=RaRe=-, the allotted search time for the red dot was too short.
Regardless, the nuclear missile was launched and acquired its target
successfully, with the ghost's targeting red laser dot centered squarely
on -=RaRe=-'s 9:00 natural expansion nexus. |
 |
Terran Dominion Operation Report
Target damage:
nexus razed.
Secondary target damage:
assimilator, no shields, half health; gateway, no shields, one-third
health.
Collateral damage:
all probes destroyed.
Mission status: successful.
|
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-=RaRe=-, realizing the futility of continuing play when his bases
are wide open (no static defense), his troops are nonexistant (only
a few units left), and his economy is at rock-bottom (no probes
mining), concedes the game to Zalpus.
<-=RaRe=-> fuck it gg dude
<Inssider> heh
<-=RaRe=-> i cant take no more
<Zalpus> gg man
<-=RaRe=- has left the game>
Zalpus emerges the victor.
Obviously these weren't 1600-caliber players,
but they're both probably better than my chobo ass, and played a
great game. Both players were good sports, and gave their consent
for me to create a BR of their game. Thanks to Drefsab for helping
me get my HTML straight for the background color, thanks to you
for reading this BR, please comment, and give me some feedback please
on what I should improve. Oh, and props to Ethermoon
for their hard work on their inagural RTS title Strifeshadow. Thanks,
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Inssider
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