Badtz_maru: "X17 has players as good as me?"
Scv~007: "Yea i think they have a bot in there".
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| The Appropriately Titled Report With No Title | | | Author: | | | IP: | mblt-ac0XXXX | | Date: | 06/10/04 11:06 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 7, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for maareek: 6.9286 |  |
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This Has To Be A First
I must warn you, if you are looking for good, strategically helpful battlereports this is not one. You should go here or here. If you're looking for graphically amazing battlereports, this doesn't qualify, try looking here or here. If you're looking for the best text only reports ever, try looking here, cause this isn't even close. But if you're looking for a mediocre report of a mediocre battle on a mediocre map, with mediocre players, and a mediocre reporter...you're in the right place. So, get comfortable and read on, because in here, mediocrity is king! Colored text has alternate text, though it's mostly just parenthetical remarks. Not much funny stuff in this report, besides the game itself.
Hanging around in nohunters, trying to find a decent game in the list of pubbies since noone was on, micromachine happens through and asks for a game. 17 game losing streak nothing, I'm gonna play. Blah blah blah, lt blah blah, I have it won blah blah, fuck up and die, typical of my recent games. Watch the replay, hope for somebody else to come through...nothing. So, we re. I don't remember who created the game, but we faced off on Winter Conquest. Which is most famous, at least in battlereports.com terms, for being the site for the first round of the World War Threeway FFA.
It's always a comforting thought playing random on a large map, especially when you're opponent chooses, but no such luck for our hapless hero. So, I'm forced once again into the uneasy position of facing an unknown opponent, but at least he is too.
I had drawn the bottom start position, with my brown Command Center and 4 scvs ready to carve up some...whatever the hell was out there. A semi-decent split ensued followed by hotkey and rally point spamming. I build a depot on 8, followed by a rax on 10. Once my depot finishes, the scv runs out to figure out what we're up against. I put my 2nd depot down at 12 and my refinery at 14. Another depot on 16, and put 4 scvs on gas as soon as it finishes. I build 3 marines and put them behind my wall, just in case things go wrong. I've scouted the entire right side, without seeing a thing...go ahead and build the factory. Finally, I find the bastard, he's expanded to the top starting position. My brave little scv continues on to find the zerg main, though I'm sure he'll get toasted.
I didn't find my opponent until my factory was basically complete, so I decide to do something a little different. Goliath drop on a zerg. Maybe not the best idea, but I have been able to tech, after all. First off, I throw my 3 marines at his expansion, just to get his attention. Then I put up a starport, with an armory right afterward, followed by another factory. My scout arrives at the top left position, ascends the ramp and gets toasted by a sunken...I mourn, I also see a finished lair, pool, hydra den and no units. We're both teching merrily away. Remember those 3 rines? Well, they get to the expansion, but, because I seem to be moving slower than molasses, they all die to 1 not very well placed sunken.
I'm in no immediate danger, so I start an expansion CC and an academy. I keep both factories pumping, and my one rax is flashing away, I may not be using m&m, but that doesn't mean I can't throw a few rines in the mix for flavor. My acad finishes, I have to rescue the poor, claustrophobic scv from his prison behind it, and put him on the other side. Then throw 3 goliaths and 2 rines into the dropship and head for that expansion. With a low troop count, I may be able to take it out, at the very least I should be able to force him to turtle. As my dropships flies to its destination, I float my cc to my mineral-only natural. I drop off my cargo, return the ship, and maynard about 14 scvs to my expansion. Yet again, I don't micro my attack, and only manage to kill about 6 drones before getting smoked by the 2 defending sunkens. Not that good of a drop, but it should do some mental damage. I build a wraith for scouting purposes...or actually more for preventing scouting. I like to keep the information flowing only one way...and I'm the one with the comsat, after all.
My wraith finishes and I send him to the lower left main, check for expos and prepare to escort my dropships. These dropships, all 3 of them, are filling up with goliaths and marines at my main. I hit my supply limit, so I begin 2 depots and another CC, along with the damage upgrade for metal units. I send my wraith to the edge of his plateau, fire on his overlord there, but run when he does. My dropships fly by another overlord on route, and I blow him up real good. I land my troops behind the mineral line, scan, remove the lurker and lay waste to the poor innocent drones. Now that I have you back on my side...I'll continue. About the time the last of them die, 6 hydras and 4 lurkers come racing in. Two lurkers pop before they can burrow, the other 2 get under while the hydras die, then I finally scan and kill off 1 of the lurkers, but I already lost to many to deal with his ling reforcements, and the last lurker lives.
Well, I still have the momentum, though I haven't exactly been capitalizing on...well, anything. Back at home, I begin researching siege and charon booster, and add an ebay and another factory. I load up 2 dropships to see what I can do at his main now. They move out again, with the wraith leading the way, he stops to fire on the heavily damaged extractor, and goes boom. Actually, I take that back, he went BOOM! as did both my dropships. They only unloaded a tank and 2 goliaths, which were quickly dispatched by the defending hydra-lings. I also managed to send my other dropship which had loaded 2 more goliaths to the edge of his plateau, where it also got hit by scourge. Don't you just love when you fuck up your hotkeys? Thought so. I managed to lose a wraith, 3 dropships, 6 goliaths, 1 tank, and a vulture while only killing a single lurker and drone. This attack would not get a cost-effective memorial from Mark4. In fact, it would probably receive a, "What the hell were you thinking!?!" from Mark4. But, in this case, I agree with ElectronicMage.
During the afore mentioned doom drop, doom for myself I mean, it didn't do much to him, I floated that other CC to the lower right starting position. When it lands I add a comsat and maynard about 8 scvs over there, since I do have map control.
Well, seing about 8 scourge plow into my ships with more left doesn't sit well with me. As a matter of fact, it really pisses me off, so I make myself a little promise.
"That spire is coming down." Of course, my conscience speaks up for the first time during the entire game, "And how are you going to take it out?"
Good question. My rax has been going intermittenly during this point and my factories have been pumping non-stop (heh, so I say) so I have a fairly large force on the ground. We'll go through the front door. I send my forces to the center, I group together roughly 6 marines and 8 goliaths and head for his natural. I also sneak a little scv out to build a CC under the edge of the lower island.
I'm in luck, about the time my forces arrive, the brunt of his swarm comes down his ramp. We fight, but I pull it out fairly easily only losing 4 rines and a goliath. Now it's time to scale the ramp, only a couple of zerglings stand at the top, they die quickly. Then, I rush past the sunken, hatchery, and queen's nest to the prize...the spire. Now, you may be wondering, why is he so concerned about a spire, well it's simple. Mutas would threaten my map control and my expos, and scourge are just a pain in the ass...it dies! My 5 gols and 1 rine kill off the lone ling and manage to get the spire down to 121 hp before falling to reinforcements. Perseverence is better than intelligence though, as I had 5 more goliaths just coming up the ramp, and they managed to just barely kill off the spire before the last of them died. Cost-effective? no. A victory? hell yes!
Also under the cover of this attack, I had begun a sci facility and was beginning science vessel production. I was also researching irradiate and getting +2 weapons upgrades. Things seem to be running, if not smoothly, at least my way. I get my CC finished and onto the island and begin gas mining. This had been a problem for me most of the game. I also begin a pair of factories at my bottom right expansion.
It was about this time that I got a feeling. A strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. It took me quite a while to decipher what it was, though I had felt it before, long ago. It was...it felt like...I might win this game! Wow, not only might I win, but at my worst matchup...let's not screw this up.
Containment forces milled around in his natural. 2-1 upgrades hit, 2 sci vessels around, we'll test him. I pour in a few more reenforcements from my main, but they get intercepted at his choke. 6 goliaths stand off against 9 hydra, and die. The hydras then continue on into the natural where 16 zerglings are coming down the ramp, but dying quickly. The 7 goliaths in the natural hold, but lose 2 of their number. Macro is a good thing, however, and 8 more goliaths are on their way to the zerg natural. I load up 5 goliaths and 3 marines in my dropships, land them on the plateau and attempt to scale the ramp with a 2 sided assault. No go, my dropped forces are caught before even getting to the ramp, so I withdraw. Probe a little with my vessels, but find nothing I can exploit. Both my factories with machine shops start producing tanks, we'll break this one way or another.
Unbeknowst to me, he's expanded to the upper central island. Knowt to me is, his main is dry and he has no starting expansion other than 12. Bottom right is mine, I have a marine watching top right, and science vessels keeping an eye on bottom left.
The only plan I've been able to make out of his moves is to survive long enough to tech to something, and now I learn what that something is. 3 defilers are dropped on my bare naked middle island. They burrow immediately, but I go in with my scvs and scan. I get em all. Macro bus is rolling merrily along, I'm about to lay siege to his main with my 3 tanks and I send about 8 goliaths to his expansion, to keep tabs on him. Along the way, they spot about 5 overlords flying from the zerg main to the island expansion beside it, all but one die to charon fire. The one that lived carried it's deadly and much-feared 2 crackling-1 hydra cargo to my island expansion. There the hydra fell before the awesome and powerful fusion cutters of 6 scvs and the cracklings killed an scv and turret while the cerebrate microed the units at his main.
My tanks are sieged, I scan his plateau and open fire on his sunkens, once they die, so does his main. Red globs suddenly hit my goliaths nearest his ramp, then more...unseen defiler from on top of the ramp. Assured in my forces, I return to my macro and when I turn back to check on them, my goliaths are nearly all gone, but so are his troops. As my tanks continue firing on his main, Micromachine bows out.
The Redundant Learning of Lessons Section
- It sucks when you know you're faster than you're playing, but can't pull it off...really frustrating.
- Goliaths are viable units against zerg...very viable at that. Just remember to keep them upgraded and understand their limitatioins (namely sunkens and large amounts of zerglings).
- He did upgrade his units, as most smart players do, he double evoed and upgraded melee and missle attacks, but at the final battle I was at 2-2, while he was only at 2-0, meaning I didn't take any extra damage but he did.
- Micro! Micro! Micro! I could have ended this game much sooner had I microed those first few attacks, I could have brought mining down completely at his expansion as well as knocked out his extractor, then waiting for reenforcements to roll it over.
- If you are going to be cost-ineffective, out-resource your opponent. It sounds simple, and it is, but it's important.
- I stored up a lot of minerals that game, I should have put down 2 more barracks and supplemented my goliath army with marines.
- Don't go with something for too long, that second drop on his main was a bad idea. The drop itself wasn't a bad idea, but location and bravado in lack of completly surveying the area was. I should have scanned for open spaces to land and set up.
- I love winter conquest, great map.
- Oh, and to those few people who have told me that they think I am a good battlereporter, thanks. But, you need to read more reports, obviously. I just ramble until it sounds halfway decent then add pics.
- Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment.
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