"vulture.
vulture-vulture.
vulture-chu?
pika-vulture!!
-DivvyO
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| 6 Way FFA *NOT WAR3* | | | Author: | | | IP: | 206.10.1XXXX | | Date: | 11/02/02 05:11 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 2, Max: 8, Min: 8
Lifetime Rating for Decay: 8.0385 |  |
Hey guys, I'm back again, and with another report. Like all of my other ones, it will be an SC report, not War3. For those of you who only read flashy things and look at pretty pictures, here.
Unlike any of my previous reports, however, this will be on the non-Temple map, Dark Continent, and will also have players that you all know and love. Without further ado, I present you with:
The Map
For those of you who are unlucky enough to have never played on Dark Continent, here's a picture.
As you can see, it is not a symmetrical map, which makes it excellent for FFA's and makes for interesting team games as well. I feel like the map needs explaining, but since I can't seem to explain it myself, I'll just quote SC Legacy's site. "The 8 players on the map are located at pretty random locations on this map. Player 1 is located at 12:00, Player 2 is located at 1:00 and is a simple land bridge away from player 1. There is one expansion in between the two of them in the upper right corner of this map. Player 3 is located in the middle of the map at 12:00 on High Ground, Player 4 is a bit below on a different high ground level. These two spots are the most easily sought after and are usually the prime targets for killing. Player 8 and Player 3 fight for control of an expansion a bit above this player. Player 4 and Player 3 also fight for an expansion in the far right. Player 5 is located at 7:00 and has an expansion nearby. Player 6 is located at 5:00 and has a one way connection to the battle above with the other players. Player 7 is the farthest south on this map located at 6:00, while Player 8 is located right in the middle of that mess in the center. Unusually high for a map like this, 9 Mineral Patches are given to each player to start. Then beyond that the battles of expansions are fought for, they are located very sneakily around the map between two or three players causing for fights throughout the map. These expansions all share one common detail though of 7 mineral patches and 1 gas mine. It's a battle for expansions and every expansion on this map is a fight for life."If you had trouble understanding this, go back and look at the mini map again. :P
The Players |
UeD.LiGhT - A customary NHer, good all around player.
Mep - Also a Nohunters regular, but either he was afk for some of this game or his terran needs some work. =/
HoonJie - A good player who visits NH occasionally.
Mattzarella - An above average player who is usually found lurking in Nohunters. Also, he is a korean man whore. ^ ^
Greggonzola - Another NHer who is an above average player.
CrackHeadJeb - Our very own CHJ, battlereporter, rater, and gamer extraordinaire.
Early Game : The Giants Awaken
The players started out where the color blips on the map indicate, with UeD.LiGhT (Light) choosing the noble Protoss and warping in at the secluded 12 o'clock position, with an expansion on either side and two empty mains between him and his closest opponent, Mep landing his Terran Command Center on the lower center mesa, with only one ramp leading into his main, HoonJie randoming to toss at 7 o'clock, separated from other competitors by three choke points, two of which are bridges, Mattzarella (Mattz) morphing his slimy Hatchery on the upper middle plateau, which also has only one ramp, CrackHeadJeb (CHJ) receiving his own cc on the five o'clock position, and Greggonzola choosing to command the terrans as well, landing in the six o'clock position.
All six players began the game by cloning their peons to harvest the minerals, but in true FFA fashion, one of the players drops before any other peons can even be warped/hatched/built. GW Greggonzola. -_-; 
After he was dropped, the lag settled and the players continued on with their plans. Light began with a semi-conservative build order, going pylon, gate, zeal and then an expo to the high ground to the left of his main base at 16 psi. That expansion was accessible to ground units only through the ramp at his main, and after the Nexus completed, he got gas, a Cybernetics Core, and a Forge for cannons. After the Forge was finished warping, cannons were placed protecting both of his mining sites. Once his economy was booming, he began to mass the powerful Protoss ground units, stopping only to tech to Zealot leg enhancements and Templar. He also later warped in a Robotics Facility and an observatory for observers. 
Mep began the game very conservatively, with a barracks/double depot wall-in complete with bunker at his ramp and gas at 13. He got an academy for the Comsat station, and then began two factories simultaneously. Once they completed, he used the same two SCV's to build a couple armories, which began vehicle upgrades as soon as they completed. His plan was obviously heavy metal, but he was very slow at macroing units out and attacking.
HoonJie opened with a powerful double gateway build order, and massed zealots until his number reached about eight before even warping in a core, although he had been mining gas since 13 psi. Once he had a small army, he chose to expand to the expansion in the south, left of Greggonzola's old main, instead of protecting his mineral lines, which were left wide open.
Mattz did the standard zerg build with an expansion (north of his main, between Light's main and his own), and a pool on 10 control. He then powered for a while before adding sunken colonies at both of his mining sites and a Hatchery at his ramp, which was later the site of more sunkens, effectively protecting himself from any small ground attack. His plan was revealed when he morphed a lair, followed by a Spire. He skipped over the hydra den for now.
CHJ began with a depot and rax, but then expanded quickly to the site above him at around 20 supply. After building a bunker to protect each base, he constructed a Factory, which was followed by the seige ability, a tank, and double Starports, both of which constructed control towers upon completion. He also built and engineering bay. Both of his bases were heavily defended by bunkers, turrets, and tanks seiged in the mineral lines. He began to mass both wraiths and marines with the occasional medic while both of the Starports blinked with the cloak and increased wraith energy upgrades.
Light moved out after massing a dozen mixed infantry units, towards Mattz's expo, while he was researching psionic storm and training some Templar. The force arrived, and after a brief fight in which the drones were nicely microed to sacrifice themselves, giving the sunkens several free hits on the Protoss units, the expansion fell. At this time, Mattz's Spire finished and several mutas were ordered. Light pressed on to Mattz's main, but were driven away when the mutas and lings hatched simultaneously. After retreating and being reinforced by another dozen or so units fresh from Light's base, they attacked again, but succeeded only in destroying two sunkens, and a handful of mutalisks and zerglings before being annihilated. Mattz then counters by sending his mutas to kill all the probes in Light's main, taking potshots from cannons on the way.
UPDATE
UeD.LiGhT 1 expansion, mixed infantry units with a few Templar 
Mep 0 expansions, several tanks and goliaths
HoonJie 1 expansion, mostly zealots, but a few scattered dragoons
Mattzarella 0 expansions, a medium sized force of mutalisks and zerglings
CrackHeadJeb 1 expansion, a dozen wraiths and a small force of m&m
Mid Game : Fall from Grace
During this whole time, Mep had been turtling with his tank force spread out throughout his base, while teching slowly up to dropships, HoonJie had been amassing his force of zealots and dragoons, and CHJ had been bringing his forces to his expansion, closer and closer to Mattz's base. CHJ suddenly decided that it was time to attack, and sent his wraiths at Mattz's ramp. All Mattz had for air defense was his mutalisk army, which had been reduced in number to about eight in the previous skirmish with Light, so they quickly died to the missiles of the Wraiths, which then turned their attention to the remaining colonies and the hatch still at the top of the ramp. After killing the colonies, CHJ decides to be nice and leaves the base quietly, leaving the hatchery intact. Mattz had built a few spore colonies near his mineral lines and tech buildings when he had seen the wraiths, and he now started a hydralisk den to help him quell the wraith threat. He was now expansionless, and his main was dry, with 26K minerals in the bank.
HoonJie continued to quietly sit within his bases with his growing number of units, which now included high templar and their dark brethren as well. Light was also content to sit in his base for a while, although he was pumping observers from two Robotics Facilities and placing them all over the map. CHJ was now continuously pumping medarines out of four barracks, and had ordered up several dropships in each Starport.
Mattz had just loaded up a drone into an overlord to creat an expansion when arclite fire rained down on his hydralisks,  killing most of them in the first few shots. Mep had made his first offensive move of the game, dropping three tanks and six goliaths on the nearly defenseless main. The mutalisks that Mattz quickly became targets of charon upgraded goliath missiles, and the rest of the hydralisks fled to the ramp, which was protected by a couple of sunkens. About a second after they arrived, Light's forces showed up and killed them and the sunkens, and then ran headlong into the base, looking for tech buildings or drone kills. They ran out of the base when the tanks and goliaths began firing on them. He knew the base was finished, and Mattz was unofficially out of the game. He still had a few tricks up his sleeves, though....
The expansion drone had found a suitable site (the nine o'clock expansion) and began a hatchery, which was followed by a spawning pool and a hydra den, as well as a few defensive sunken colonies.
HoonJie was finally getting into the game, by expanding to Greggonzola's old main. Once it was up and running, he was pumping out of eight Gateways, had both templar and robotic tech, and had three forges in full swing, with cannons being warped into the mineral lines. A reaver was put into a shuttle along with a dragoon, and sent north, up the left side of the map. It passed over the site of Mattz's new expansion just moments before the drone alive, which probably saved him from being eliminated right there. The shuttle flew all the way to Light's upper left expansion and unloaded just out of cannon range. The reaver killed all of the probes, was loaded back into the shuttle, and then stupidly flew through the cannon defense and died. With the loss of his reaver, HoonJie set of with much of his army to attack his nearest neighbor, Mep. The ten or more tanks placed conveniently on Mep's ledge quickly ended this, with HoonJie losing two dozen Protoss infantry units along with a couple of templar, and Mep losing 200 hp of one of his wall-in depots. GGNORE!
CHJ then double expands while sending his entire army to Mattz's old exp, the site of one of the new expansions, and exping naked to the two o'clock unused main. Light had an observer placed directly over every exp, and knew exactly what was happening. He began to prepare an assault force and also expanded himself, this time to the upper right corner right of his main and to the ten o'clock position (also an unused main). Once he was ready, Light sent his army down to the defended expansion, stormed the marines, hit the wraiths with his goons, and simultaneously destroyed both the expansion and the main bulk of CHJ's army.
Now, Mep, who was still expansionless, pressed his luck further , by attacking Mattz's new (and only) base. The few zerglings and hydralisks there were no match for the arclite cannons, and the base fell. In the last fleeting moments of his bases existence, just before he would have been eliminated, he dropped a drone on a ridge and began a hatchery. The ridge turned out to be one that overlooked Light's new expansion, the one in the ten o'clock position. Unnoticed, he also made a spawning pool and some colonies with the money he had left....
Light notices this, however, when he sends his probes to mine that expansion, only to find that only three of the mineral patches are not within the reach of the sunken tentacles. He chooses, however, to leave the zerg alone and just mine his upper right exp, as he has several thousand in the bank.
After massing another bunch of medarines, CHJ prepared for a retaliatory strike on Light. Nine dropships of marines and medics were gathered outside of Light's base when suddenly, he has hit hard by zealots at his main, which turned out to be a cover for HoonJie's newest expansion at the bottom right. The attack was foiled, but a few moments after it ended, more zealots and a few dragoons waltzed into the now smoking base and massacred it. The few tanks left were no match, and CHJ was forced to float his buildings to north, to his first expansion. Thinking that the worst was over in the south, he sent his Doom Drop into Light's main. Remember, though, Light had observers everywhere, and had several units waiting just for the marines and medics....
As the first marines were put down, a storm broke out over the dropships, which were very close together.  That one storm killed more than half of the force, with a couple more cleaning up. Those few terran soldiers that escaped the onslaught were cut down by dragoons and archons. The battle had taken less than five seconds, and CHJ had lost his entire army. To add insult to injury, Light counter attacked at his defenseless expansion, while HoonJie nearly simultaneously hit CHJ's only other remaining base. He was forced to float away to the ridge between his expansion and Mattz's former main. Luckily, Marines are cheep, and he had several thousand dollars in the bank. All he had to do was wait for his opening, and quickly rebuild. He had saved nearly all of his SCV's by loading them into dropships, which flew along with his buildings. In less than three minutes, the once powerful CHJ had been reduced to almost nothing. =*(
Now the game was down to two powerful Protoss executors with large armies, in between which was a Terran turtle (which we all know can be deadly). Mep still did not have an expansion.
UPDATE
UeD.LiGhT 4 bases, 1 mining, large army of Protoss ground forces ( 3-3-3 ground) 
Mep 1 mined out base, several tanks and goliaths (2-2 vehicle)
HoonJie 4 bases, 2 mining, large army of Protoss ground units, with emphasis on zealots and dark templar (3-2-3 ground)
Mattzarella 1 base (hatch, pool, and three sunks), two overlords full of speedlings (made with the last of his money, 0-1 ground)
CrackHeadJeb 0 bases, several floating buildings (mostly rax), 3 dropships of SCV's (3-3 infantry)
Late Game : Clash of the Titans
Back in Mattz's old expansion, the one at nine o'clock, Mep finally decided to make an expansion. He fortified it just like his main, with several tanks, turrets, and a few bunkers. A couple of minutes later he also expanded to the base below his main, the only one that had not been mined at all yet. Nothing but the most determined attack would be able hurt any of his bases. Light also expands, this time to the two o'clock main, CHJ's last expansion.
Mep, with his new source of income, decided to attack again. This time the target was HoonJie, and several tanks and goliaths landed on the cliff next to his nexus. HoonJie had just sent his goon army at the cliff (under attack move) when his lower right expansion was attacked by Light, who had been looking to finish off CHJ, but found that job already done. The expansion falls, and so do the goons in his base, when their stupid AI told them to run around the cliff without trying to kill the tanks. Not a single goon fired a shot, and not a single one survived.
CHJ landed the SCV's and barracks that had survived the other attacks, and quickly built a firebase with nine rax and several depots being built simultaneously. With each one rax pumping continuously, it took no time at all to mass a medarine army again. The base came under attack by a small army, sent north by HoonJie to bother Light, but the medarines easily fought it off, with the help of two science vessels to see the dark templar.
HoonJie then decided to attack Mep, but instead of trying to rid himself of the metal units on his cliff, he sent his army at Mep's main base. They passed the budding expansion below it and attacked  the ramp, but arclite fire from above quickly destroyed most of the army. Only a few zealots were able to run home intact. Mep, possibly angered by the attack, decided to use the mother of all terran weapons on HoonJie... the nuke! It hit hard in HoonJie's base, damaging pylons, the nexus, gateways, and all his tech structures, because they were all very close together. Had Mep followed it with another nuke in the same place, HoonJie would have lost his tech, his psi control, and most of his troop producing buildings. Knowing this, he started a few pylons and gateways at his six o'clock expansion.
Light, eager for more action, massed his ground army just outside CHJ's firebase.  Suddenly, he attacked, and the infantry were stormed with many being killed in just a few moments. HoonJie then came from the south and began beating on the defenseless buildings with his dragoons. When the two protoss armies met up, Light's, having the advantage of both psi storm and sheer weight in numbers, rolled right over HoonJie's. He moved through to the bottom right, waited for some reinforcements, and then assaulted the six o'clock main.
Mep also continues to attack HoonJie, pushing further into his main with the tanks. It was leveled without retaliation, and Mep seiged his tanks at the bridge leading to HoonJie's final base. However, instead of catching HoonJie in the trap, the tanks began to fire on Light's warriors, killing them. HoonJie, knowing that whoever would win that small battle would finish off his base, decided to save them the trouble and leave. Another one bites the dust.... <----- Cliché! Cliché!
CHJ, desperately trying to get back into the game, set his cc down in the lower right expansion. Light was quick to deny him this, however, attacking it with an archon left over from previous attacks in the south. Then CHJ did the strangest and possibly stupidest thing all game. He irradiated an archon. Man, I thought he was supposed to be smart.... jk CHJ, ^^
Anyways, the archon walked away fine while the cc was put into the yellow. A few minutes later, he tried again, but this time was denied by none other than... Mattzarella! Yes, Mattz had been saving an overlord full of zerglings since he lost his expansion, waiting for a defenseless enemy to kill. The zerglings destroyed the Command Center, and CHJ's hopes are destroyed.
Light, like HoonJie before him, tried vainly to attack Mep's main. The number of tanks just simply overwhelmed the army, no matter how hard he hit or from what direction he came, so he tried a different approach. Twelve zealots and four high templar were put into four shuttles and flone to the eastern side of Mep's main base. They landed, ran in, and destroyed the tanks that sat in the former mineral line. Then, showing his gosu micro skillz, Light stormed his zealots, killing most of them. The rest were killed by marines in a bunker, which Light also tried to storm. The only successful storm he got off during that attack was one over the gas line, which killed two SCV's. The templar fled back to the Protoss main.
Mep, not wanting that to go unanswered, dropped a ghost on the expansion that Mattz had been preventing from mining extensively with his sunkens, and nuked the nexus. All the cannons around it died while the nexus was taken down to half health. When the ghost began to fire on Mattz's sunken colonies, and he realized that all his overlords were on the other side of the map, he left. CHJ followed suit not long after.
End Game : Victory and Defeat
By now, Light had control of the entire top half of the map, and Mep, the only other player left had just two expansions, one of them nearly dry. Mep knew that he had to attack now, and loaded six dropships full of tanks and goliaths and headed north. He rolled over the nexus that he had nuked, and went onward towards Light's main. When the force dropped, they immediately seiged and killed a couple of cannons, pylons, and the observatory. Light's army arrived quickly, however, and crushed the attackers.
Although Mep had finally gotten his economy and macro going, he realized that there was no way he could still hope to fight the Protoss Executor. Endless waves of zealots, dragoons, and dark templar continuously attacked, and the psionic storms of the high templar were slowly taking their effects on the weary Terran defenses. With a GG, Mep conceded the game, leaving UeD.LiGhT victorious on the alien landscape of the Dark Continent.
Scores
Overview
Units
Structures
Resources
Lessons Learned
1. Powering early in an FFA makes for great macro later.
2. Expanding is always good, the way Mep played in the end,
it seemed like he could have possibly won if he had had more money earlier.
3. Archons can't be irradiated.
4. FFAs are long and hard to battlereport.
5. Pissing everyone in the game off is a good way to die early.
Well everyone, that's it. I hope you enjoyed it! 
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