"Anyone who can take 600+ casualties and win is a 100% pure, homogenized, accept-no-substitutes Grade A bad-ass."
-Ash
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| WGT Chronicles: Chapter 4 | | | Author: | | | IP: | pcp01551XXXX | | Date: | 07/17/04 01:07 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 5, Max: 8, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for Raider: 8.5370 |   | WGT CHRONICLES: Chapter 4
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the next chapter of WGT Chronicles. I am back from France and have access to the internet again. Unfortunately, at my GF's parents' house, where I am staying, Brood War and internet are on different computers, which just (DELETED).
Fortunately (especially for you, my gentle reader) that still leaves me with some options. In fact, this intallment of WGT Chronicles owes its existence to my unfortunate computer situation. If BW and internet did exist on the same machine within my reach, you would probably be seeing a new set of reports based on either StarGate of NeoGamei sometime in the future, but right now I would be playing BW intead of writing about it like a total nerd. Cuz see playing computer games is not as nerdy as writing about playing computer games...yeah.
So, about the report you are about to read. Like many bad Hollywood movies, it is based on a true story. The game I am writing about was played during WGT season 8 and I found replays of them in my collection. So sit back and enjoy.
Game 1
It was a rather rainy afternoon in Paris and having lived there for over 8 months by this point, I was not interested in getting wet to see any more of it. My girlfriend was at her internship, and I used my little piece of freedom to play a game of BW. NOTE: I am actually talking out of my ass right now since I don't remember when exactly I played this game, but I need to say something here. Besides, this scenario is quite probable.
My opponent was TouchDown)sl]. He picked terran and I chose my usual toss. Now I wish I could say we played this game on one of the new exciting maps that WGT so generously provides, but we didn't--it was Temple. I warped in at 3 o'clock (do you guys remember that AQD3 report where Mark4 thought referring to positions by the face of the clock was weird? GAWD! what a newb!).
I used my 8th probe to make a pylon and sent her out to scout. I found touchdown at 9, the second position I checked, and he already had a depot finished and a barracks started, completing the wallin. I contented myself with placing the probe near the terran buildings so that it could attack the SCV and shifted my attention to my own base. The gateway was done and assimilator was warping in. I ordered a cyber core on 14, followed shortly by a pylon to block the path behind my minerals. Those of you who have read my previous reports know that I like to do that to prevent the enemy scouting peon from using that path to more easily evade my units. In addition to that, the pylon also provides a nice spot to place all my tech buildings in. Those who have read the book of Heartcutter (and paid any attention at all) will recall that such placement provides the safest spot for your tech and facilitates macro.
Meanwhile, my scouting probe was unable to bag the builder SCV. It completed the barracks, and a newly-made marine chased my unit away. I hid the probe behind the terran natural minerals to spot for expansion.
At home my first dragoon popped out of the gateway and I ordered it to attack the enemy SCV that was running around my base chased by a probe. The SCV, being the unbalanced peon with 60 HP, made it out of my base and headed towards 12. I ordered the goon to follow. Some players prefer not to chase down the SCV and hit the terran choke instead. I think that killing that SCV is more important. Unless you are really going to do a wallin-busting build, those 1-2 goons will fire on the wallin for up to 20 seconds and then get chased away by the tank. That is if the terran does not put 3-4 marines on his ramp and your goon has to turn and run with its armor in the yellow. By going after the SCV you eliminate a scout that can either come back to check out your base later and/or spot your expansion attempt to another main.
My goon caught the SCV at 12. During that time I made robo and an obervatory, started goon range research, and added a second gate.
My first observer headed towards the terran main to see what was going on. I added the 3rd gate and used my 2 goons to block the ramp to ward off any SCV if my opponent got too curious. I also placed a probe at 9 mineral only to serve as advance warning in case of a rush.
I saw an SCV approach and turn tail as soon as it saw the blockade at the ramp. When I saw that, I immediately pulled all but one goon to my nexus to defend vs a drop. A terran that will rush you will not scout with a second SCV. He will just show up. Therefore, my opponent could either be expanding or going for a drop. My observer was still only half way across the map, so I was not sure which one. Drop was the main threat. In addition, I hoped that my opponent saw that I had several goons defending the ramp. I hoped he would take that to mean that my nexus was undefended, which could cause him to be careless and fly the dropship into the waiting goons.
And what do you know? As soon asd the first 2 goons reached my nexus, I saw a dropship fly over my probe at 9 mineral only. I added another goon to my nexus defense. We were going to give that terran a warm welcome.
A dropship flew into my base from the north and immediately came under fire from 3 dragoons. It dropped 2 tanks and the goons targeted them instead. Touchdown tried some tank popping and managed to kill one of the goons, but the tank that delivered the shot was blown up before it could be reloaded into the dropship. Seeing that no more cheese would come out of this situation, touchdown left with a damaged tank in a damaged dropship. All in all, I believe this went my way. His strat failed and I killed the more expensive unit.
I wasted no time during this attack though. A terran that is dropping has less on the ground than you, which means you can expand...to another main. He cannot just push and overpower you there, but if you expand to your natural, you will have to deal with the turbo newbie. So as soon as I realized that my opponent was dropping me, I sent a probe to 12 start.
My observer watching over touchdown's base reported a second factory almost done but no sign of another command center. It looked like I would be able to get my first expansion on-line before him.
I had two goons below the ramp and was ready to begin morphing in the nexus at 12 when touchdown showed up with 2 slow vultures and began laying mines in front of my goons, right under the observer. I chuckled to myself. Slow vultures, honestly! At that same time, I saw a dropship fly to my natural cliff. Ah, so he wanted to be tricky and start his push right from my own cliff. Ok, bud, we've got medicine for that too.
Another goon joined the 2 below the ramp and together they finished off all the mines and the vultures just as the lone tank that the shuttle unloaded on the cliff opened fire. I drew the goons away. I already had a shuttle ready (you really should get one ASAP on temple) and loaded 4 zealots into it. Trying to keep my multitasking on the level, I flipped momentarily to 12 main and started a nexus and a pylon there.
Back to the zealots in the shuttle...there is not much to tell there. Four of them unloaded on the top of the tank and kicked the shit out of it. Like so:
With that threat gone, I ordered what was now 4 dragoons below the ramp to move to 12 main to defend the forming base there. That was my weakest spot at the moment. I was just on time. The 4 goons had barely arrived when a dropship heading for my main (again) flew by and saw the nexus. It dropped 2 tanks and my goons engaged. I lost 2 goons while killing one of thanks and damaging the other tank and the dropship. This attack on the expansion failed, and a good thing it was too since the probes were already on the way (I usually send the probes to the new expansion when the nexus is about half way done).
At this point in the game a new threat appears that you have to keep on a lookout for: mass vulture raids. A dozen vultures will chew through an expansion defended by one cannon in seconds while delaying of even killing the reinforcements with mines. To defend against this possibility, I started a forge at the 12 expansion. I also started a nexus at my natural, feeling pretty confident after defeating 3 attacks, albeit small ones. Meanwhile, the probe at the terran natural kept sending the reports that it was still empty. Good news.
Unfortunately, the empty expansion reports did not come in for much longer. Soon the probe saw a command center land and had time for one last hurt beep before being blown apart by tank fire. By that time though, my 12 expansion was already fully operational and my natural nexus was 80% done. I was running 3 gates and was warping in more at the expansion. Placing your gates at different expansions ensures that those spots are always defended and allows for easier flank maneuvers on the terran since your forces automatically come out in position on different sides.
Around that time, touchdown was conducting a mining campaign with a few vultures. He sent them around the map, placing mines at strategic locations. The hover bikes' rides were brought to an end however at my natural where they ran into 2 newly-formed cannons.
Not thirty seconds after the vultures died, touchdown dropped 2 tanks on my natural cliff. I had 4 zealots there from before though, and they forced him to pick up the tanks and flee again.
At that point, my zealots still did not have speed. I was just finishing citadel of adun. Normally, this would be way too late in the game to not have the speed up. In this case, however, I believe delaying its research was a good idea. I was up on troops early on, so ranged goons alone could hold off most attacks. I spent that money on expansion first.
Touchdown was not quiet for long. I had a few troops in the middle and they saw 10 vultures moving towards my 12 expansion. I had a cannon and 4 goons there, so I was not worried. I moved the goons towards the ramp, smirking to myself. There the goons happily set about slaughtering vultures. Suddenly I did not feel like smiling any more. What were those teal dots doing around my 12 nexus!? Apparently, the 10 vulture attack was nothing but a diversion for the main strike in the form of 5 tanks dropped on the 12 plateau. What I saw when I looked at my nexus there should warm the heart of all terrans out there.
I cursed. Besides the 4 goons at the ramp, I only had 2 zealots on that plateau. Already all but 2 of my probes were gone. The cannon got blown up as well. I ordered the zealots to attack the tanks and sent troops from the middle to go help. Getting through those vultures was going to be a pain. Nothing beats vultures as far as delaying abilities go.
The two zealots did surprisingly well: they killed 3 of the 5 tanks (and they still did not have speed). The remaining two tanks got a few more shots off before the cavalry arrived, in form of 2/3 of a control group of goons, and eliminated them. In the end, the attack looked flashy but accomplished little. 5 tanks and 10 vultures are not worth 8-10 probes and 2 zealots at the stage in the game where there is plenty of probes to go around. In my opinion, a better move for touchdown would have been to unload the tanks near the ramp. That way the vultures and the tanks would flank my 4 goons and kill them quickly, giving them free reign on the plateau. 5 tanks and some vultures are a pain the ass to kill while having to climb upramp. If he needed more beef, he could add another load of tank/vulture to make sure he stayed on the plateau long enough to kill the expo.
I sent more probes from my main to help the expansion out and continued to build up.
Three dropships flew into view above my natural cliff. To my great surprise, only 2 tanks and a vulture came out. Touchdown must have messed up loading the units or something. The 4 zealots stationed on top of my cliff (with speed now) made short work of the terran troops, taking no losses.
We were on the 15th minute of the game. I was at 150 control and knew that my opponent had taken both of his naturals. He lost a lot of troops, so I estimated I was around 40 control ahead of him. A good position to be in, but no guarantee for a win since terran can be so cost-effective. My main worry at this point was a push through the center of the map. To try and secure my lead, I started another expansion at 12 natural.
Touchdown really liked his drops though. Not a minute passed, and his 3 dropships showed up at 12 main again. They took fire from 2 goons stationed at the edge but then 4 tanks and 4 vultures unloaded and creamed my goons. Tanks moved in, sieged and opened fire on the probes. Damn! I had 2 DTs right there and ordered them to attack the tanks.
They got 2 tanks, a vulture, and set off a bunch of mines before going down. More importantly though, their attack gave most of the probes a chance to flee. The remaining terran troops got some more shots in but went down to goon/zeal reinforcements that arrived. Once those troops were gone, I sent the probes back to work.
The constant drops were really starting to get on my nerves. They were keeping me pinned. I knew though that as long as I kept countering them cost-effectively, my opponent would be more frustrated than me.
The 12 natural nexus completed and I sent the probes to work there as well. And I placed a pair of cannons there for safety. I had kept my mineral count down but had a lot of gas remaing, so I ordered a bunch of templar made, planning to morph them into archons. Those things do pretty well vs tanks when used in large numbers along with goons.
I was running a routine scouting mission on 6 o'clock when I noticed the damn dropships fly over my troops in the middle heading for 12 natural cliff. I muttered somehing about his mother while frantically moving probes from that expansion and loading shuttles to deal with the problem.
Four tanks and two vultures unloaded. They killed a pylon before a shuttle with 4 zealots showed up and they had to unsiege. The zealots managed to kill a tank and a vulture before being eliminated. Touchdown never got to resiege his tanks because another of my shuttles arrived. This one contained a goon and 2 zealots. I saw that the tanks did not siege and waited for another shuttle to arrived carrying troops before unloading on top of terrans and killing them finally without too much trouble.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the map, touchdown began his push. Tanks and vultures advanced from his main. My zealots destroyed a few vultures in the beginning by closing in as the former laid mines and luring the mines into vultures, but the majority of my troops were scattered throughout my expansions defending from drops. And the terrans pressed on gaining ground quickly. I even brought some archons from my main to help the mixed force of dragoons and zealots to slow the ever-advancing mine fields, but they would come under tank fire every time they engaged the vultures and were forced to pull back to avoid taking too much damage. I lost the center without being able to put up a good fight.
From the 12 plateau, I saw a command center under construction at 12 mineral only. I could not allow the terran to take that resource node. Luckily, the entrance to 12 main was still relaively safe. I took half a control group of troops and attacked the building under construction. Touchdown canceled it. At that time, I also discovered a command center at the top left island. I sent two shuttles to deal with it, ending that expansion attempt as well. In addition, when I first saw the terran advance, I started a nexus at 6 main with half a control group defending it. At this time the nexus was done.
These small victories did not help me in the center. The terrans were pressing on, pushing me back into my bases. I had to fall back on all fronts. The 12 o'clock was already blocked off and the goon/archon/templar force in the middle was being forced back into my main despite my best attempts to slow the terran juggernaught.
I had to do something. The tanks were some way away from the entrance to 12, so it was mostly just blocked by a minefield. All my observers were away, so I had to use my men. At the cost of a few zealots and a dragoon, I was able to clear the mines right outside my choke. But I was in for more bad news. There was still another minefield between my troops and the tanks a little farther away from the choke.
Meanwhile, at my main choke at 3, I was fighting a desperate battle to delay the attackers.
But I was being pushed back.
For a while I was able to stall, going back and forth.
And when I thought I had a chance, I attacked with everything I had to try and push the terran back as far as I could. I brought the troops down from 12 as well.
Unfortunately, all I had at this point was not all that much, and my counter did not get very far. And in the midst of this, touchdown found my 6 o'clock expansion and razed it.
Touchdown used this victory to bring everything he had to my main choke. I was not bringing any more troops down from my main, and he was able to push straight to the natural. Just as he set up his tanks to fire on the nexus and the probes there, I played my trump card. Touchdown was treated to a sight that haunts all terrans' nighmares.
After losing about a third of his units to the 2 carriers attacking him and to some of my ground troops trying to make to low gound, touchdown unsieged all his tanks and moved them all at my 12 bases hoping to kill as much as possible. Fortunately, I stopped making carriers after 6 and resumed ground troop production. His unsieged tank army ran head-on into a group of dragoons and zealots.
After the loss of his tanks, touchdown tried to stay in the game by using wraiths and attempting to expand to 6 and the bottom island, but after a few minutes he surrendered with a "gg." GG to him as well.
Comments:
-I think the main reason Touchdown lost was his inefficiency with drops. He lost too much without doing any significant damage. One of the biggest mistakes he made was not manually selecting targets for his tanks. Instead of firing on a nexus, they were wasting their time with pylons and out-of-range cannons. He also did not use enough dropships. Later in the game 4 at least is a must if you want to do enough damage. First of all, you'll do enough damage to kill whatever it is you want before the reinforcements arrive. Second, you will actually be able to kill some of the said reinforcements rather than get slaughtered by them. Recycling drops is also a good idea sometimes. Just pick up the units and move on to a new location.
-As for me, I should have tried to storm his peons and kept a better watch on my gateway count. There was a point where I could have used more of them. If I had all the gates I needed, I might not have even needed carriers.
-A note on carriers. Many people go straight carriers once they decide to get them. In my opinion, that is not the best idea. Fact is, golies slaughter them cost for cost. By making 4-6 carriers and using ground troops (goon and templar) for the rest, you are countering golies. If the terran keep up with tank, add more carriers (8-10) and get some zealots to absorb fire. The point is that terran can counter toss air and ground seperately if he has the right units. However, toss air/ground mix is much more difficult to handle and is much more flexible than either of them on their own. You can use carriers to raze an island expansion while holding the center with massive storm and goons.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this report. As always, comments and thoughts are greatly appreciated. They give the reporters the incentive to finish those big projects *wink* *wink*
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