Warning: this battlereports does not contain any (good)
pics. I also wanted to thank .Praetor for his great battlereport “The Tao of
FFA” on which I based mine.

Last Saturday, I played one of the most fun games I’ve
ever played with Starcraft. Together with 3 friends that I know irl, I played a
FFA on Lost Temple (yes I know). Let me introduce the players for a moment.

Angel(FS): Angel(FS) is irl my girlfriend and she didn’t
stole her name J.
A real angel and I’m happy that she came from heaven to me (getting a bit
emotional here). But when she plays Starcraft, you better be on her team, cuz
she’ll kill you 10 times before you hit the ground. Like a real
Kerrigan-wannabe, she always plays with Zerg and she uses all the advantages of
her Swarm to win.

MidnightSunrise: I respect this dude. He is an excellent
Protoss player that drives you insane with his Reavers and High Templars. I
almost beat him up at school the day after I lost to him because he f*cking
irritated me with his Reavers and High Templars J.
The only weakness is that you will never see him with groups of Dragoons or
stuff. Micro > macro he says and he proves that to anyone that disagrees by
kicking their butts, hard.

DaWnDeAtH: Every time I play with this guy it ends up with
me getting pummeled by him or me apologizing for sucking as his partner J.
He always uses Terran to kick butt and he’s damn good at it. I think that
Heartcutter would have A LOT of problems to get this guy down TvT.

Spear(FS): Me. Think myself as a newbie and I probably am
one, but I love the game and that’s why I play.

The map: Lost Temple.

Races of the players and start positions:

-Angel(FS): chose Zerg (started at 9 o’clock.)

-MidnightSunrise: chose Protoss (started at 12 o’clock)

-DaWnDeAtH: chose Terran (started at 3 o’clock)

-Spear(FS): went Random and received Protoss (started at 6
o’clock)

Oh boy, everyone chose there kick-ass race and I received
my worst. This was going to be a nice game. I thaught first about the tactics of
the other players and with what I could counter that. MidnightSunrise was probably
making High Templars and Reavers. DaWnDeAtH always comes up with something else,
but mostly he attacks with a large force of Battlecruisers or a Tank push or
something. I feared Angel(FS) the most though; she uses every unit to it’s full
capacity and she’s damn good at it too. I came up with my plan. Now it is not required to have a plan yet,
that can come with scouting. But, it is dangerous to play without direction.
First, I thaught about early expanding to my natural, but then I thaught about
I’m playing against DaWnDeAtH and MidnightSunrise. That means: High Templars or Tanks
on my cliff to kill of my Probes. Or maybe even Reavers, but MidnightSunrise always
first techs to High Templars and I could always use Scouts later in the game to
get rid of the big metal worms. I decide on an early expansion to an island,
probably the right bottom island. First I would make 12 Scouts to harass and
defend my expansion(s). My main strike force would consist of Dragoons and/or
Carriers, probably Carriers. I did this because I never use carriers so nobody
would expect it from me. During the time that I’m accumulating the resources
my defence would consist of High Templars and Dragoons.

I build
my first above my Nexus, followed by 2 Gateways, while I was building Probes
non-stop.I made an Assimilator and a Cyber. Core and scouted clockwise. I found
a Hatchery morphing at the 9 o’clock natural. Oh shit, Angel(FS) was next to me,
hopefully she knew I was no threat to her (or anyone else). My Probe scouted her
main and i saw she had 2 Hatcheries, a Spawning Pool and a Creep Colony morphing
to a Sunken Colony. I retreated my Probe before the Sunken Colony was ready and
would lick my Probe to death. The Probe scouted the 12 o’clock main and saw 3
Marines fighting against 2 Zealots. During this big, bloody battle, my Probe
could scout the base and saw 2 Gateways, a Cybernetics Core and an Assimilator.
That reminded me at my base. My mineral counter indicated about 300 and I built
3 Zealots, while I waited for the gas to hit 200 so I could build a Robotics
Factory and fly away with a Shuttle (R Kelly-style). Meanwhile I received the
gruesome message that my forces were under attack. A space-bar later I saw my
probe getting beat up by a Zealot. So the 2 Zealots won from the 3 Marines?
Surprise, surprise…I retreated him to the 3 o’clock main but before he could
climb up the ramp he was killed by a Marine that stood guard at the entrance to
DaWnDeAtH’s main.

Back in my base, my 3 Zealots stood guard at the ramp and I
started a Robotics Factory and a phew moments later, when my minerals and gas
allowed me, a Citadel of Adun. I scouted again with a Zealot and build a Forge
to have some cannons when Angel(FS) came with Mutalisks or MidnightSunrise tried to Reaver-
or Templar drop me. I scouted to Angel(FS) but I retreaded quickly because the giant
tongue of a Sunken Colony that was placed on the ramp of her main base started
licking my Zealot. I decided to scout DaWnDeAtH because I didn’t knew what he
was doing. My Zealot killed the Marine that stood guard (I had my first kill,
yay!) and before he was blasted to pieces by the Arclite shells of a Siege tank
I noticed a Command Centre that was building at his natural.

At home, I started 2 cannons at my Peon line, a Shuttle and
a Templar Archive. When the Shuttle finally finished, I loaded a Probe and flew
to the right bottom island. Phew, no enemies… I unloaded my Probe (actually he
was kicked out of the Shuttle because he was in love with the robotic Shuttle
pilot) and started a Nexus, an Assimilator and a Pylon there. At home, I build
another Gateway and started making some Dragoons. At that time I knew there was
something going on between MidnightSunrise and Angel(FS) (in the game I mean) because Angel(FS)
was not to happy about something. I asked what it was and MidnightSunrise responded
that he had a Templar with 14 Drone kills at the moment. I knew enough. I saw a
Teal dot in my minimap at my Peon line and checked out what it was. Three
Mutalisks, no big deal, I had cannons there. Two Mutalisks retreated and the
third got killed and crashed (Concorde, eat your heart out).

The Templars Archive was finished and I started training
three High Templars and Researching Psi Storm. If I got attacked I would have
had at least some defence. Ok, I got 2 Zealots and 2 Cannons but try to hold of
a horde of Cracklings with that. I built some cannons on my cliff for defence
and started pumping Probes out of my 2 Nexus’. I transported the one I had in
my main to the island to gather minerals and gas. I threw down 4 Stargates in my
main and built a Fleet Beacon. After that, I was broke. I decided to scout and
grabbed 3 Probes, I sent them to each one of my foes. The Probe that scouts
Angel(FS)’s base saw a morphing hatchery at the 9 o’clock mineral-only, guarded
by about 10 Hydralisks, a Queen, some Zerglings and an Overlord. They don’t
pay any attention to the Probe and the Probe scout further. Strange… he
don’t get attacked by the Sunken Colony on the ramp. Remains of Angel(FS)’s
expansion are still visible. Only a bleeding Extractor tries to survive while a
new Hatchery is being build there. I order my Probe to go into the Zerg main
base. He’s so surprised by my order that he slips over the Creep 3 times; sigh.
I see the remains of 3 Zerg buildings, probably a Hatchery and two Colonies.
When the Probe goes any further it get’s killed by some Zerglings, but not
before he sees a Siege tank and a couple Marines getting slaughterd by
Hydralisks and… ULTRALISKS ? Oh man, she is quick. Angel(FS) got a Hive already. I
look for my other Probes, but the one that was ordered to scout MidnightSunrise died to
Cannon fire (I think) at his mineral-only where I saw a building warping,
probably a Nexus, and 3 Cannons. My other Probe spotted a Command Centre in
progress at the Mineral-only of DaWnDeAtH. That Probe is also killed when an
Arclite shell fell on it’s head. I saw the shell get fired from a Siege tank
on the cliff of Dawndeaths main.

I hear “Our forces are under attack” and I hit
space-bar to see a High Templar that is dropped in my main base and one Storm
has already went off. I try to get the rest of my Probes away but only 3
survive. The High Templar tries to escape in a Shuttle, but it’s get blown to
pieces by my 2 Cannons. Damn, lost a lot of Probes. I rebuild Probes and spread
some more Cannons in my main to discourage future drop attempts. Aha, I got
enough minerals and gas so I built 4 Carriers and researched the +3 Interceptors
thingie. I built a new Nexus at my natural but I when it’s build, a double
“BANG” fills the air. Damned, DaWnDeAtH dropped tanks on the cliff. I should
have known. I built an Observatory and loaded up my 3 Zealots in my Shuttle. I
flew over the tanks, but shait: a bunker with Marines and a Turret. Grrr… I
wait until my Carriers are finished, got 8 Interceptors each and kill the Terran
bastards on my cliff. A shame that I lost the element of surprise, just hope
that DaWnDeAtH doesn’t tell anyone I have Carriers. After this little skirmish
I built a new Nexus at my natural, a Pylon and an Assimilator. The Carriers stay
positioned over the cliff to guard it and I drop a Templar there just in case.
Speaking of Templars, I trained three more and start researching Khaydarin
Amulet for 50 more Energy.

At that moment, I hear Angel(FS) say:”You’re so dead,
MidnightSunrise.” He responds with a simple: “Huh?”. I asked what happened and
Angel(FS) responded that she lost about 100 units until now only by Reavers and Psi
Storm. I sent an Observer to the cliff of her expansion, trying to fly around
the sight of an Overlord. I see a huge Zerg Air Force that flies to the top left
island. I contains about 12 Mutalisks, 12 Guardians and a whole lot of
Overlords, probably filled with Hydralisks or something. At the island, where
Angel(FS) has expanded, they turn right, to the main base of MidnightSunrise. I try to fly
my Observer out of the range of the Mutalisks before they spot me thanks to the
Overlords. The Guardians attack and destroy several Photon Cannons before Scouts
attack the defenceless Guardians. Mutalisks come to the rescue while the
Guardians attack further. The Overlords unload their troops: Cracklings,
Hydralisks and even Ultralisks and Defilers. Many Psi Storms are released and
many Zerg die, but they keep coming. Defilers use Plague on packed groups of
buildings or units and spread a Dark Swarm over Mutalisks and Guardians.
Dragoons from the other join the fight, about 12 of them. You don’t see that
much of MidnightSunrise. They can’t do anything against the Zerg Swarm and MidnightSunrise
says “GG”. We all allie him and give him vision so he can observe the
action.

I look back at my main and see that I have about 4000/3000
in the bank. I get out of my chair, go to the hallway and then run against a
wall with my fat head (poor wall). I make 8 Carriers and FINALLY I upgrade
Shields and Air Weapons. I send another Observer to scout but at my entrance I
see 3 bunkers, 4 Turrets and about 10 Tanks in siege mode, seperated so a storm
can only hit one of them and some Ghosts. I crap my pants at the sight of it. A
new bunker is being build in front of the others. When it’s finished Marines
of the last bunker unload, and load again in the new bunker. Two tanks unsiege
and place themself after the bunker, seperated again. They manage to shoot at my
Nexus. Damned. I storm the tanks with my Templars but none of the tanks get
killed. I lost my 6 Templars on the other hand L.

The tanks are being repared by SCV’s and continue to drop
their eggs on my Nexus. My other four Carriers are finished and I have now
eight. I retreat my Probes back to my main base and lift off my Pylon (wtf?).
After a closer investigation, I see it was an Arclite shell that blew it
skyhigh. I wait until all my Carriers got 8 Interceptors and attack. The Ghosts
come in and Lockdown five of them. A Science Vessel does EMP on my Carriers and
6 Battlecruisers finish my Carriers. I know that there isn’t anything I can do
anymore so I say “gg” and I can observe.

At this moment, I can see that Angel(FS) has 4 expansions, two
of them are out of minerals. She got her own natural, her mineral-only, the top
left island and MidnightSunrise’s mineral-only. DaWnDeAtH has 2 expansions. His
natural, his mineral-only and his Command Centre that was standing in his main
floats happily towards my mineral-only with about 24 SCV’s following. I see
Angel(FS)’s troops divided. Her Mutalisks and Guardians are above the main of
DaWnDeAtH and the Overlords, filled with units at the cliff of his natural. The
Overlords were quick enough (?) so that the floating Command Centre or the
SCV’s couldn’t see them. Queens take Siege tanks out with much precision
before she decides to finally attack. She drops 4 Defilers and Plagues bunkers,
Turrets and every unit she sees. DaWnDeAtH knows that he’s going to be
attacked in a very short time and sends all his troops back to his main base.
His six Battlecruisers find the loaded Overlords and Angel(FS) is forced to unload
them. She is able to Plague the Battlecruisers and they die due to the swarm of
fully upgraded Hydralisks (Hydracracks? Cracklisks?). The Guardians attack the
top of the main and the Mutalisks follow behind them. Six fully upgraded
Battlecruisers and about ten Science Vessels are making a mess of the Guardians
and the Mutalisks. In less then a minute, Angel(FS)’s air force is no more. But
the Hydralisks, Cracklings and Ultralisks are still destroying his main (they
already killed his expansion). Due to the overwhelming power of the upgraded
Battlecruisers and Irradiate, the strike force of Angel(FS) dies. DaWnDeAtH lost 3
Battlecruisers and one is heavily damaged and 6 Science Vessels. I see he has 6
Barracks pumping units and not very long after that he has about 5 scores of
them.

He attacks Angel(FS) but she has Defilers burrowed all over the
map and uses them wisely to Plague the Marines. When the Marines arrive, they
die quickly to 3 Sunken Colonies and a whole bunch of Cracklings. The
Battlecruisers try to kill the little bugs, but about 20 Scourges show up and
make short work of the flying behemoths. Angel(FS) attacks with her Cracklings and
DaWnDeAtH must surrender. “GG” is said by everyone and I was sooo happy that
I didn’t die first :p. I told you I suck with Protoss…