"Scorched Basin: where the women are uglier than the tileset and the peons require state-sanctioned bussing to reach the nearest trees."
- CattleBruiser's Basin Street Blues
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| Death from above! 1v1 on Snowbound. | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 05/10/99 08:05 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 9, Min: 9
Lifetime Rating for Mark4: 8.6829 |  | As I entered channel NoHunters for my nightly games, I was approached by Kryptkeeper. He had enjoyed being the star of my last report and had another game lined up. His opponent, ult]r[alisk (last time I'm spelling out that name =p) swiftly agreed to me observing to create a battle report.
The battle lines were drawn, but the map choice was under debate. I was looking forward to seeing an air battle so I suggested Snowbound. Both sides agreed though neither had played the map before. As the game was created, both players chose to command the mighty protoss. Seeing that it was melee, Krypt asked if they should ally at the end, but Ultra refused, saying "I fight till the end."
The game began and both combatants started out with a gateway first build order. Krypt had drawn the bottom start position and Ultra the right one. I was a little puzzled as gas first is the rule for toss on islands, but it all became clear when I answered the question "Is this islands?" affirmatively. The responses ranged from "I'm not good at islands" to "Oh my ****". Bravely, both gamers continued on with widely differing strategies. Krypt went for quick gas and then teched to a templar archive and robotics facility. Ultra went with a much more conservative approach, opting to get a forge and cannon his island in, then proceeding to stargates.
Krypt was the first to venture off his island. He dropped a probe off at the lower left resource point and began an expansion. His shuttle began a scouting run only to die to two cannons at Ultra's main. Krypt wanted combat, and with the knowledge of his enemy's main he quickly loaded up two shuttles with dark templar and dragoons. He just as quickly unloaded them when three corsairs flew over his base and began attacking his transports. The corsairs were driven off by his dragoons and he loaded his shuttles once more for the drop. His forces came in low over the bottom left portion of Ultra's main, directly into concentrated cannon fire. He managed to drop a dark templar from one shuttle before it was destroyed, and his other shuttle fled to safety. The dark templar swiftly met its end in the stream of incoming cannon fire.
Ultra has been building his air fleet during this time. His corsair revealed that the expansion to the upper right was ripe for the taking and he began setting up a base there. Krypt, not content with having one expansion in full swing expands to the upper left resources. He also decides he will contest control of the sky with ultra and makes three stargates. His first three scouts spot the new ultra expansion and he goes in for the kill. Ultra's new cannon proves to much for him however, and he quickly regroups his scouts out of range. Not to be put off long, Krypt attacks again once he is reinforced with another three scouts. Ultra faces this threat with six corsairs. The corsairs and single cannon kill four of the scouts without casualties and the remaining two withdraw. Infuriated by the continued existance of the expansion, Krypt makes another try for it using two dragoons and a dark templar. He is frustrated once again by Ultra's clever positioning of three cannons on the cliff above his entrance. Krypt loses a dragoon before retreating his remaining units in disgrace.
Convinced that that expansion is the key to the game, Krypt sends in more forces to attack it. This time he uses six scouts and three corsairs. They quickly fall to one scout and six corsairs. Three reinforcing scouts from Ultra's main join with that one and kill the dragoon waiting outside the base. Reacting with his almost limitless calm and prescence of mind, Krypt calls his opponent "You smelly bastard". Not content with a merely verbal attack, Krypt begins making goons from two gates at both his expansions. He marshalls thirteen unlucky goons at the entrance to Ultra's expansion for yet another attack, when he is interrupted by an attack at his main. Ultra attacked the cannon defense with seven scouts. After killing one cannon, Ultra quickly withdrew to face the threat on his own doorstep. The 13 goons patrolled in, attacking the three cannons. They kill one with ease, but the area they attack from is defensive webbed by Ultra's numerous corsairs. The dragoons regroup, then charge in again when the web has worn off. Ultra's seven scouts skirmish with the dragoons a bit, reducing thier number to ten while losing three scouts, but quickly retreat. Krypt destroys the two cannons and is about to wreak havoc on the expansion when the defenders swing into play. Three dragoons fight from the bottom of the cliff, aided by web cast again from the corsairs. Then the two carriers Ultra had held in reserve enter the fray, along with the four remaining scouts. The dragoon's blue blood flowed freely as those still able to fire wasted thier shots on interceptors, not inflicting any casualties on the defenders.
Ultra had waged a successfull defensive campaign, and now felt the need for a small offensive. He droped four zealots at Krypt's main, killing one cannon before losing his zealots. He does get a good glimpse of Krypt's plans, and finds out that Krypt's main has run out of minerals. The shuttle is killed by three carriers freshly made from the stargates, deploying one interceptor each. Ultra's base has run out of minerals as well, and so has Krypt's first expansion. Krypt expands to the left start position to keep his resource advantage. Ultra chooses the top start for his next goal. He occupies it in force with six scouts and corsairs, as well as one carrier. This battle group encounters a templar which gets off one good psi storm before being overrun by the scouts. With the threat eliminated, Ultra sets up a new base at that location. This move comes just in time as Ultra's expansion has been entirely mined out. He moves all of his probes to the top location.
Krypt has been massing his carrier fleet during this whole time. He launches his doom fleet of 12 carriers, 12 corsairs, and two observers towards Ultra's main. As they hit the outer defenses Ultra moves his fleet to respond. Ultra's force of five carriers, four scouts, and five corsairs engages Krypt's fleet and kills two carriers through great micromanagement before falling in turn. Krypt's full upgrades vrs Ultra's 2-1-1 turned the tide in the battle even more in Krypt's favor. Ultra's main is defenseless and falls before the massive fleet. Krypt rolls towards the stubborn upper right expansion for revenge and is met with three dragoons, a dark archon named "Steve", and a templar. Steve's attempts to mind control an interceptor prove futile and the expansion falls. No troops are left, nor production facilities, and Ultra's last expansion falls with a whimper. A well played game by both warriors.
Lessons learned:
o Steve should stick to controlling carriers. Interceptors can't be mind controlled =].
o An early cannon as drop defense can make you safe for a while, but it delays expanding.
o Corsairs absolutely rock scouts.
Mark4
"I truly am the master....comedian.....of protoss air" Krypt
| | Battle Shots! | 
Krypt demonstrates how to lose your scouts to corsairs with style.
The mighty 4 zealot doom drop!
"Steve" the dark archon makes a tactical mistake in trying to mind control an interceptor
Ultra probe rushes the carrier fleet. The probes are heard to be saying "Remember Steve!"
The final stats.
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