MuchTooSexy vs Retinoid
GRUDGE MATCH!!

After dinner on a Thursday night I load up FSGS connect and hop onto the Elders' server (insert shameless plug for The Elders, www.theelders.org, here). A bunch of people are hanging out, including our former King, MuchTooSexy (MTS), and Retinoid, who had complained that he never got a chance to challenge for the throne before a new king was selected. So just to see who would've come out on top had the royal grudge match happened, they decide to duke it out in a 1v1. I ask to observe, and am granted permission.

The Game Begins...

The Players: MuchTooSexy (MTS) and Retinoid

The Map: Snowbound

MTS selects random, draws Terran, and lands his yellow Command Center at 11:00.

Retinoid selects random, draws Zerg, and plants his purple hatchery at 2:00.

Opening Moves

MTS sends his four SCVs to the mines and begins hiring more labor. Despite intense talks with the SCV Operators' Local #322 (Planet Snowbound Office), he is unable to negotiate a pay rate lower than 50 minerals per employee. He builds a depot at 8 control, refinery at 10, and a barracks at 12. When that's done, he starts his factory, followed by a machine shop, starport, and control tower. Preparing for a tank drop, he produces a tank while researching siege mode, builds another tank, two dropships, and a group of marines. He also begins construction of a second barracks.

Meanwhile, Retinoid's drones munch the minerals and his larvae pupate into more of the versatile workers. He sends his free overlord on a scouting mission toward the 11:00 start position. At 8 control he builds his extractor, hatches two more drones, then a second overlord. He morphs a spawning pool at 9 control. His scouting overlord, seeing Terran SCVs mining away, does a 180 and floats back to base. Understandably, it's afraid of being shot out of the sky by marines. Retinoid orders his overlords to keep watch at his base's perimeter. His spawning pool finishes, and he immediately morphs his hatchery into a lair, then begins a second hatchery. When the lair is done, he takes two drones and builds a spire and a queens' nest. Not neglecting basic defenses, he cooks up a group of zerglings to patrol his base, as well as morphing a sunken colony. The queens' nest finishes before the spire, and Retinoid produces a queen. Finally, the spire finishes, and transfers its genetic information through the creep to the larvae, which hatch into scourge. (Zerg reproductive processes are really weird!) Two scourge are ordered to guard the expansion at 1 o'clock.

The Tension Builds...

During this build-up phase, I pondered: which came first, the hatchery or the drones? Zergies start the game with four drones, an overlord and a hatchery. Perhaps during the pre-game chat and countdown, the overlord floats in from the map edge and drops off five drones, one of which morphs into a hatchery while the others loiter about. But, in that case, why doesn't the first overlord come with transporting ability? I just can't figure it out.

In the Terran's case, obviously, the first command center simply flies in, with four SCV hitchikers in the hold. In the case of newly colonized planets, they're special drop-CC's, built at an orbiting space platform, with extra heat shielding to survive re-entry. Protoss, on the other hand, simply bring in four probes with a shuttle. A probe then logs on to Acme Aiur Buildings Co.'s web site and uses its Visa Check Card to order a Nexus through sub-space. Protoss have such advanced technology. The shuttle, having other important missions to complete, flies away. Anyway...

Early Attacks!

MTS takes the initiative by loading up his two dropships with the two tanks, some marines, and an SCV or two. Unfortunately, he chooses a flight plan which overflies the 1 o'clock expansion point -- right where Retinoid's scourge are patrolling. The two living missiles slam into one dropship, blowing it to smithereens, with all hands lost! MTS's other dropship presses on, landing a tank, three marines, and an SCV at the northeastern edge of Retinoid's base. The tank sieges up and takes a pot shot at the sunken colony, but Retinoid's vigilant zerglings dart in and tear MTS's forces to shreds.

While his attack force is being brutally slaughtered, MTS floats his second barracks to the ridge running down the middle of the map, landing it near the ramp to the 10:00 expansion. He also constructs an engineering bay in his base and begins wraith production from his starport.

Retinoid launches a sluggish counterattack by loading zerglings into his still slow-moving (but, presumably, the upgrade is researching) overlords. He also starts making mutalisks at this time. He orders his queen to scout out MTS's base. Rrreeaaaarch, says an overlord, which translates into "Find their weak spot and report back while we get these zerglings ready!" The queen flies over the chasm and spies a freshly built wraith bobbing near the starport. She tags it with her parasitic offspring. Enraged, the wraith pilot heats up the engines and takes off without clearance on a Zergie huntin' mission. It turns into a suicide mission, as the wraith is quickly attacked by Retinoid's newly hatched air force. The pilot ejects but is caught by a ricocheting glaive wurm and sliced in half. Ouch! Then, Retinoid's overlords suddenly engage turbo boost in mid flight, fly to the east of MTS's mineral line, and drop their cargo of zerglings. However, the attack is unsuccessful, as MTS has produced some more marines and a tank, which kill off the zerglings before they can do much damage.

Mid-Game Maneuvering!

Both players pause for a few moments to assess the damage, expand, take a deep breath, and plan their next moves. MTS had built a second CC at his main, and now floats it to the expansion at 10:00. He also builds an academy. Retinoid climbs the zerg air tree, morphing a hive and greater spire, and expands at 4:00. He also sends some zerglings up the ridge, which get slaughtered by two tanks and some medarines. A scouting marine discovers his expansion and starts shooting at the hatchery. Retinoid hatches some zerglings which slice the marine in two.

Retinoid again zergling-drops MTS's main base, attacking supply depots to slow down troop production. The hungry lings eagerly break open two depots, gobbling up the delicious pot roasts and potato chips inside! Retinoid then sends in his squadron of mutalisks. They harass a dropship full of marines, then fly over MTS's mineral line and spit glaive wurms at the SCVs below. Many SCVs pop before marines come to drive the mutalisks away. The SCV Operators' Local #322 sends a threat to MTS -- they'll strike if employees aren't granted hazard pay for working in a dangerous war zone!

Meanwhile, MTS launches a Tank + M&M assault on Retinoid's new expansion. Though the Zerg had built a nydus canal from there to his main base, he doesn't have the troops to send through to save his expansion, so the hatchery, drones, nydus, and extractor are soon blenderized by combined gauss/arclite firepower.

Seeing that it's too late to save his mining camp, Retinoid flies his mutalisks to MTS's expansion at 10:00. Most of MTS's troops are on the other side of the map, finishing their big bowl of Zerg soup, so the mutas have free rein to smash the defenses (consisting of one empty bunker!) and SCVs and begin pounding away at the command center. The CC's health bar is in the red before the marines and medics can return. The mutalisks back off in the face of gauss fire. But wait! A lone queen flies into the maelstrom, enters the CC, and infests it with her slimy spores! The marines open fire on the converted CC, which flies away. Unfortunately, Retinoid can't fly it back to his base, as it's trapped between MTS's main base and expansion's marines, so he leaves it floating in no-man's land.

Both players again take a breath. MTS has repaired the damage to his main base and constructed a science facility and armory. He produces more troops, including a couple science vessels. He also rebuilds the expansion at 10:00. Union negotiations are in a deadlock. If it's not one thing, it's another, eh?

Retinoid hatches up more forces, including queens, and takes the empty 5:00 start position. Soon after the hatchery and extractor are finished, MTS scans the new Zerg expansion. Also, Retinoid floats his infested CC around MTS's 10:00 expansion. My guess is, since he couldn't use it, he thought he may as well scout with it. It is shot down by marines and a valkyrie (whose pilot is much cooler-headed than the late Wraith's).

Retinoid makes another attempted attack at MTS's main, this time with a single guardian to support. Once again, the terrans fight off zerglings with marines and medics, and the guardian gets microwaved by one of the terran science vessels. If only those forces had been held in reserve, the end game might have been different! MTS attacks again, dropping off a strike force of M&M's at 5:00. Retinoid neglected to defend the expansion, so the hatchery is razed by stimulant-crazed marines before mutalisks can arrive and fend off the attackers. However, Retinoid quickly brings up another drone to re-plant thehatchery. On to...

The Final Battle!

Knowing that he's being out-resourced and desperate to gain an advantage, Retinoid loads up another bunch of ovie's with zerglings and takes off for MTS's expansion. About 18 zerglings pounce from the sky onto the nearly defenseless mining base. They rabidly tear into the turret, bunker, chase fleeing SCVs and slash away at the command center. MTS sends in a science vessel to irradiate overlords, and the CC lifts off before entering the "red zone". A queen shows up to claim another trophy for her Cerebrate. But the CC hasn't been sufficiently damaged, and the queen is unable to enter before Terran reinforcements arrive!

MTS drops off a big load of tanks and M&M's behind the minerals at Retinoid's mining camp. Retinoid chose this inopportune time to nydus over drones from his nearly-exhausted main base to the expansion, and they're splattered all over the place by arclite fire. His sunken colonies are placed too far away from the mineral line to reach the attackers, and the last of Retinoid's zerglings aren't enough to fight off the stalwart Terran forces. The expansion falls. With no source of income, Retinoid admits that he is vanquished, concedes, and GGs are exchanged.

A good game! Author's Comments:

MTS and Retinoid seem about evenly matched! The battles raged back and forth across the map, and I couldn't tell which (if either) player had the advantage until near the end. A bit better defense at Retinoid's second expansion, and the tide might have turned in the Zerg's favor.

Queens are muy guapo. They allowed Retinoid to finish off MTS's first expansion CC without losing his mutalisks.

Wraith pilots lose their temper easily. Send medics to calm them down. :-)

And, finally, the SCV Operators' Local #322 didn't get their hazard pay; since the zerg threat was eliminated there weren't any hazards except for Firebats smoking too close to the vespene refinery. :-]

I know I'm just an amateur compared to the really great report-writers at this site! Constructive comments welcome! Thanks to ~CattleBruiser~, Mark4, YourRoleModel, and Phiber~Optik for writing the excellent beginners' guides. Thanks to Ret and MTS for letting me watch this exciting battle. -- YB