"Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."
-YourRoleModel
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| One on One: Whaddaya mean, two choke points?!? | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 05/12/99 08:05 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | Starcraft(1), Text Only(1) | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 7, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for Dev: 7.8723 |  | I started a One on One game on Entanglement. My opponent entered, and I was shocked to learn that he wouldn't mind playing on Fast game speed (I figured there were two strikes against me when starting the game: it wasn't BGH and it wasn't on Fastest). We both chose random races. I drew Terrans at the 3:00 (middle left) starting position.
I started by building a barracks with my eighth SCV, then a supply depot and a bunker positioned so it could cover my SCVs. I sent a scouting SCV to the north start location, then waypointed it to the 9:00 starting position. It encountered a protoss base. I saw a pair of gateways with an assimliator warping in, and three zealots. I ran my SCV back away as the Zealots gave chase, but moved it back and forth between the 12:00 and 6:00 starting positions so as not to give away my starting location too soon. Sure enough, once the SCV reached the middle of the map, my opponent's zealots gave up the chase.
I was worried that my opponent was going for massed zealots, with two gateways and late gas. While my SCV was running, I had started gathering Vespene and quickly tossed up an Academy. When it finished, I used my two barracks to produce four firebats and two medics to supplement the four marines and two medics I had already amassed. I also added a comsat station to my command center and scanned his base, looking for the citadel and templar archives that would tell me if he was going to DT rush me.
I didn't see either of the two buildings, but I DID see a probe departing his base for the 6:00 expansion location. I quickly gathered my unbunkered troops (which at this point numbered four marines, two firebats, and two medics) and moved quickly to that location. As I left, I made sure to start a factory to begin producing siege tanks. When my infantry arrived at the 6:00 base location, they encountered a warping nexus and a ready assimilator and pylon. The probe had just begun warping in a photon cannon when I attack-moved in.
Two zealots were waiting for my advance; but my medics stuck close to my firebats and I quickly cleaved through them without losses. My troops were able to destroy the photon cannon before it finished warping, and my opponent wisely cancelled the nexus before I could attack it. As my troops begun razing the pylon and assimilator at that location, I returned my attention to my production. One siege tank had rolled off the assembly line at my factory, and I positioned it defensively, in siege mode, next to my command center and first bunker. Somewhere around here I rembered to put up an Enginerring Bay and three Missile Towers. I scanned his base again and saw a cybernetics core, but a large mass of photon cannons guarding his choke point. ONE of his choke points; I noticed that there were two ways in to the front of his base, and one was heavily defended with photon cannons and zealots, but there other was bare.
I quickly changed my mind about my defensive posture, unsieging my tank and collecting one additional tank before setting off to attack my opponent's main stronghold with four marines, four firebats, and four medics in support. I walked through the empty choke without incident, sieged my tanks, and began pounding on his easternmost gateway. First two zealots, then five more, rushed out to attack. Between the direct hits my tanks were scoring on their way in, and the infantry I had in support, I was able to fend them off with the loss of one siege tank. I moved in to destroy the single photon cannon at the north edge of his base (by his gateways) and then settled in to pound on his unit production facilites. Another tank, produced at my main, rolled quickly to join my attack force and soon his gateways were reduced to rubble with minimal losses. As the last fell, I noticed a small train of six or seven probes headed north, just outside my siege tank range, and assumed he would attempt to rebuild at the north location, abandoning his main.
I moved my attack force into position to destroy the nexus at my opponent's main base, ignoring his choke point completely, and gathered the marines and single tank at my main base to destroy my opponent's fledgling expansion in the north. I arrived and sieged up in time to see two cannons being warped in; I was able to destroy both before they finished construction. My main attack force finished off the enemy Nexus, and with that, my opponent left with a 'gg'.
Lessons learned: Scout. Scout, and Scout again. Due to my knowledge of the map's layout and my comsat scans, I was able to see and destroy my enemy's gamble for a first expansion. Also, know the map. When I noticed multiple choke points, I immediately decided to centralize my base and defend it from around my command center, taking advantage of the long range of Terran stationary defenses. My opponent did not notice this, and consequentially gave me a free pass to destroy his production facilities.
Thanks,
-Dev |
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