In lieu of the lack of reports gracing this website recently, I received an inspiration to open that notepad out and do another report. I was waiting for a true quality game (and a calling, but I guess I have that now) before putting out another report, but in any case, here goes. This is a Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (hereafter referred to as "TFT") report played on the Sunken Ruins server during patch beta311, and so there is no replay to watch, but only the notes I've written, my memory, and the few screenshots that I've taken. I also have a midterm two days from now, so I won't spend much time on this, I think.
-Augury

The Map: Ice Flow

Ice Flow is a 1v1 ladder map on TFT's beta server. It has four starting locations, each north, east, south, and west of the center of the map, respectively. The minimap pic shown from this game displays the orange-colored Orc player starting at the 9:00 spawn, and the blue-colored Undead player starting at the 12:00 spawn. Ice Flow has four expansion points, each at the corners of the map. They are guarded by several spiders that can be defeated handily between tier one and two stages of a player's game, allowing fast expansions to be an viable option. Nearby a starting location is a set of wolves, three trolls, and a mixed group of trolls and wolves. The center of the map contains a fountain of health, with only four weak level two trolls guarding it, but the entrances have three pandas and some backup, making entry to the fountain during daytime in the early stages of the game rather difficult. The main bases have a drake and a few support troops guarding them. To complement TFT, an unguarded tavern is near each starting location, as well as a merchant shop, which is guarded by the aformentioned wolves.

Our Combatants

Roaddog is a level 13 Orc on the solo ladder at the time of this match. For the Sunken Ruins server, this equates to approximately the rank 300-500 range. He doesn't seem too confident in himself, as he points out at the beginning of the match:


AgentReD is a level 15 Undead on the solo ladder at the time of this match. Apparently, since this game was played under one of those "1v1 with obs" custom games, only high level players are willing to 1v1. What tends to happen is that everyone joins and they're all observers except maybe one person, and then someone else has to step up. Well, AgentReD also has some opening comments to make:


And so, with each player's balls on the table, the game commences and we move onto the starting builds!

Starting Builds and Early Moves

Roaddog
- Barracks
- Burrow
- Burrow
- Altar
- Grunt production commences
- Hires Dark Ranger from the Tavern when Altar finishes
- Creeps trolls and wolves
- Voodoo Lounge
- Creeps SouthWest expansion mine

This starting build allows enough supply to support a continuous production of grunts from the barracks. The altar is built late because Roaddog chooses the Dark Ranger as his primary hero, and he is able to amass a small skeleton force from his Dark Ranger's Black Arrow kills that proves to be quite useful in creeping and absorbing damage. By the time the southwest gold mine is cleared, the Dark Ranger hits level 3. The secondary skill point is placed into Silence. Roaddog also begins building his Great Hall during the creeping battle to get a head start.

AgentReD
- Crypt
- Ziggurat
- Altar
- Ziggurat
- Ghoul production queued to wood
- Death Knight summoned from Altar
- Creeps northeast expansion mine with Death Knight and 5 ghouls. Coil is used to heal.
- Tomb of Relics
- Graveyard
- Upgrade to Halls of the Dead begins

After creeping the northeast, AgentReD creeps the northwest gold mine as well. A ghoul scouter sent to the southwest mine sees the constructing expansion, and the Undead army moves to the center of the map and eliminates the locals at the fountain. The guards in the center passes are sleeping on the job, so the now-level 3 Death Knight and company move uninhibited onward to deal with the upcoming southwestern expansion.

Trade-offs and Pursuits

Roaddog had moved northward after clearing out the southwest mine, and was fighting the mixed wolf-troll group just west of the 12:00 main when he saw the Undead force raining down upon his undefended expansion. Knowing that the expansion was too far away to be saved, he takes his army and cleans up the creeps quickly. The Orcs move east and counter-attack the Undead base. Upon entering, they find a lone Dreadlord and a Halls of the Dead greeting them, and a few stray ghouls on lumber duty. The grunts and skeletons cleave into the buildings, focusing on the Tomb of Relics.

In response, AgentReD finishes razing the expansion and heads northward to the Orc base, leaving his Undead encampment in the able hands of his lone Dreadlord. At the Orc encampment, the troops target the Voodoo Lounge to call it even. He is so happy about the situation that he spells it out for his opponent, typing "trade thx thx~"

Our Orc commander then comes to his senses and realizes that the Halls of the Dead will bring him nothing but death in the 12:00 main, and he promptly leaves after razing the Tomb. Returning home, he acquires the services of a Pit Lord from the nearby tavern before charging up his ramp in vengeance. AgentReD immediately realizes that he is no match for the Orc army and flees. The Orcs break off their pursuit near the northwestern entrance to the center, and decide to creep it instead of facing the blight again. With no living losses from the skirmish and a healthy troop of raised skeletons still ready at hand, Roaddog is able to easily overpower the level-3 classed creeps and continue onward to the northeastern passage entrance. It is here that the Orc army discovers the Undead struggling with the creeps in a heated battle, and the grunts gleefully pincer the unfortunate creeps from the backside. The Undead wisely withdraw northward, where AgentReD is in the process of acquiring higher tech levels. A Temple of the Damned has been built in his base, and he begins Necromancer adept training. Although the Undead army is now a mixed unit of ghouls and fiends, the sheer number of grunts and skeletons commanded by their opponent is enough to give them second thoughts of engaging - yet. AgentReD takes the opportunity to expand at the northeastern mine while his opponent creeps, and after regrouping he circles his forces clockwise towards the east.

Roaddog finishes the northeastern passage creeps and continues clockwise as well, assualting the southeastern guards while his rebuilding Voodoo Lounge and upgrading Fortress finish back at base. A Tauren Chieftain finishes summoning soonafter and moves to join his army as it creeps the southeastern expansion mine. Meanwhile, the Undead forces had cleared out the 3:00 main and were en route to the 6:00 spot. With Roaddog creeping much quicker, the Orc army runs into AgentReD's forces as they move westward after finishing the southeast creeps.

AgentReD manages to kill the Tauren Chieftain, but at the cost of his army. The combination of the Pit Lord's Rain of Fire over the Chieftain and the Orc's brute force in numbers easily overwhelms the opposing force, which had contained less than a control group of units. The surviving Death Knight and Dreadlord flee westward, and the Orcs pursue.

Tricky moves

As seen from the above minimap, Roaddog had started an expansion venture at the southwestern gold mine. The Undead heroes spot it on the run, and hit the unfinished building a few times. With the Great Hall under 150 hit points, the dual heroes leave northward from fear of being caught by the Orc army. The expansion survives, and Roaddog begins a second one at the northwestern expansion in a decisive move to solidify his income. The two Undead heroes manage to slip through the southwestern passage guard's watch, as they are asleep on the job once again. The Orcs let them go, and attack the nearby creeps instead. However, AgentReD doesn't pull a full retreat and doubles back via the eastern entrance to the 6:00 main as soon as his pursuers stop. With his expansion up for quite some time now, he has units continuously rallying to his heroes. He enters the 6:00 plateau with four fiends knowing that necromancer support and additional troops are en route to reinforce the army. Unfortunately for him, the Orcs had decided to creep that exact spot after finishing the creeps just west of the 6:00 hill. The Undead turn tail and flee once again, leaving the creeps to the Orcs. Roaddog is able to defeat them rather handily... except for the drake! At this point the Orc's weak point becomes rather blatent: the only anti-air unit in the arsenal is the Dark Ranger. However, our Orc commander decides to plant his army at the 6:00 main while his dark elf goes to work on the drake.

This allowed AgentReD to execute more of his trickiness as the Undead double back through the center and charge the southwestern expansion. The army has grown now to six fiends and three necromancers which support his level 4/3 heroes. As Roaddog finally finishes killing the drake, his army makes an odd move and teleports back to his main base. Whether this was a tactical move or a misclick is up for questioning. The Orcish force of nine grunts, three new headhunters, one witch doctor and the triple heroes (the Tauren had revived by now) at levels 4/3/1 swept southward to save the important expansion.

The Undead stick around to fight for several seconds before it becomes painfully obvious that they're outmatched despite to effective use of sleep and raise skeleton. Low on health, AgentReD uses an invulnerablity potion his Death Knight had been carrying while the rest of the army retreats eastward. A few crypt fiends burrow near the Great Hall, and are left behind. The Death Knight doesn't stay long, and leaves quickly so that the Orc army doesn't manage to surround him. With the sucessful defense of his expansion, Roaddog moves in to counterattack. He is delayed at the center though, and returns to his expansion when the burrowed crypt fiends unburrow and start harassing the nearby tower. A sentry ward seals their deaths several seconds later when the entire Orc army descends upon them.

At the Undead expansion, two slaughterhouses have been built, and the Undead reamass their army with the new addition of abominations. The Orc do likewise, stopping at their main base to add a wyvern to the army. The Orcs move then move northward as AgentReD is spotted attacking the northwestern expansion with the aid of unholy frenzy. Here, in the most boneheaded move of the game, the Undead begin summoning a Necropolis in the not-yet-razed Orc main, and then the army retreats at the sight of the Orc forces. The necropolis is never cancelled, and the acolyte that had come along with it is slaughtered as well. Roaddog moves through the center towards the top right expansion to seal the game.

The Orcs reach the expansion and are able to take down the defending towers there before the Undead army arrives late from its main base. With an about-face, the Orcs put up a tough fight as they are pressed against the forest. Having no desire to run, the battle is the longest yet the game has seen. Waves of skeletons are raised. Healing wards are placed behind the Orc forces. Obsidian statues emerge from the slaughterhouses and support the Undead army midway through with healing. A rain of fire pours upon the battle field. Sleep is cast and recast. Warstomp breaks the already-dead earth. Silence is put upon the necromancers. Carrion swarms are released. Trolls go berserk. The Undead teleport out.

WHAT?!?? Teleport?? asdf fu!#@%!!!
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Apparently, AgentReD had to heal his hero by buying a potion or two from his tomb, and he charges back into the fight promptly. The Undead aren't out of this yet!

Fourth Quarter. Down by Two.

AgentReD presses Roaddog up against the eastern wall once again with a vengeance, and eliminates the mana-drained Tauren Chieftain as his first victim. The Orcs, already weakened and drained, quickly spring to action and .... teleport... using their fearless hero, the ... Pit Lord. The Undead take advantage of this immediately and rush westward to raze the northwest expansion point, while refilling their own expansion with acolytes and setting up a second expansion at the 3:00 main. However, Roaddog will not allow his advantage to be lost so easily, and restocks from his own Voodoo Lounge while expanding to the 6:00 main. His weakened forces of two grunts, two wyverns, one head hunter, and three witch doctors join his Dark Ranger and Pit Lord as they rush northward to engage the enemy. In a grueling second battle the two opponents each annihilate each other's army and each of their primary heroes reach level six. Even with the assistance of Animate Dead, the Death Knight is still killed, but reacquired only momentarily later from a short run to the nearby tavern. With the dual heroes back in service, AgentReD pulls back and the expansion remains standing. The effectiveness of Roaddog's dual expansions is finally revealed as he is able to outmatch his Undead counterpart in rebuilding after the battle. The Undead focus on banshees, abominations, and fiends in its rebuild structure, while the Orcs continue with their grunts, doctors, and wyverns. AgentReD sends a harassment force to the 6:00 main and draws the Orc army, allowing his main force to hit the northwestern expansion and raze the buildings there. Angry at all the slips that AgentReD has pulled, Roaddog moves in to end the game and meets the Undead just west of the 12:00 plateau.

Once again, the Undead are outmatched and AgentReD retreats slowly into his main, making Roaddog work for every decapitated fiend corpse. Finally, with his back into his buildings and mana drained from his heroes, the Orcs slay the Dreadlord on the blight. Reinforcements flow from both encampments, and the Undead desperately web wyverns and death coil grunts. The tides hold for a few more seconds before the remainder of the Undead army falls quickly, and the Death Knight is the last to go. With nothing left, AgentReD cedes the game.

Game Statistics

Post-Matchup Analysis

Strategy

1. Early game scouting
AgentReD is able to discover his opponent's fast expansion because of his early ghoul scouter. This was probably from experience - Ice Flow harbors early expansions, unlike other maps such as Adrenaline, Islands, or Scorched Basin. However, early scouting is generally a good idea for finding your opponent's position, tech, and first hero, too.

2. Hero Choice
Roaddog's choice of a Dark Ranger as his first hero is an interesting one. Dark Rangers cannot be death coiled (or they can, if by an ally for healing), and the Dark Ranger's Black Arrow skill can create skeleton armies to take hits while creeping, if used properly. The Pit Lord is also unaffected by the Death Knight's death coil, and has his Rain of Fire ability which is an effective AoE damage spell that is good for ghouls and spellcasters. The Tauren Chieftain is also an ideal choice vs the Undead because of his shockwave and warstomp skills, but in this game the Chieftain mainly plays as an efficient sacrificial bait.

3. Capitalizing on battle wins
Roaddog displays a great example of this after defeating the bulk of his opponent's army near the 6:00 main. Instead of rushing in and trying to finish the game fast, he goes for the long game and pulls a double expansion since his troops control the map. Had he attacked instead of expanded, he would've taken the chance of losing his army and his game advantage.

The Miscellaneous Stuff

1. This battle report is only about 600kb total this time!
2. Once again, all pictures were edited using MSPaint.
3. This battle report took approximately nine hours to produce.
4. I have a calculus midterm in 22 hours that I haven't studied for =( Second order linear differential equations suck.
5. Click on the pic to go to the comments section =)
6. Edit: As of July 18th, 2003, this html file is now validated as XHTML 1.0 Transitional! Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to link to player statistics or keep my table border color while still meeting the validation requirements.