"Comment 1 is MINE ALL MINE!@!"
-Whoop
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| The Wall | | | Author: | | | IP: | cust-66-XXXX | | Date: | 06/06/00 08:06 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 2, Max: 8, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for _I_AM_: 7.6250 |   |
I will make this introduction brief.
By now most people who visit this site regularly know what to expect from my reports. Some people like them, others do not. That is alright.
But...
If you do not like them, instead of leaving rude, childish comments just skip the entire report altogether and dont even waste your time reading it. To those who can appreciate what I do, I thank you. To those who do not, I understand. To those who trash talk me, leave your B.NET name.
Without further ado, I give you my report.
There have been mature comments in some of my previous reports stating that people liked the reports but thought that the battle had been one sided in my favor. I agree. When I read a battle report I want white-knuckled, grit-tooth, red-eyed combat. Not some zerg versus zerg game where one guy beats another to the mutalisk rush.
And this is what Ive tried to bring you tonight.
I have been working on my zerg versus everything and I was thrilled when I joined a game on Lost Temple to find that the creater had already selected protoss. He said "hi" and then the count down began.
[[Hyuk]]. That was his name. [[Hyuk]].
My hatchery descended down to rest north of the lost temple at the 12:00 position. I selected a larva, hit 's' 'd' and then cloned my drones to the mineral patches where they glided immediately and began chipping away at the rock with their hideous pinchers. They were mindless and it always tickled me to imagine their blank, wide-eyed expressions as they worked the mineral patches like zombies or insects or robots-
Robots... the protoss were out there somewhere.
More and more mindless drones hatched from their cocoons as my initial overlord approached the 3:00 location. Out from over the water it crept up onto the plateau and soon it caught sight of the enemies nexus there. Then it veered off and began making its way toward the protoss' ramp.
I would see that nexus again.
Nine drones there were when my second overlord screamed free of its tight, leathery cage and immediately rose high into the air to gaze down onto the creep that spilt out and away from the hatchery like thick, greyish lava that poured forth from an alien volcano. There was no time to enjoy its first few moments of life. With a deep breath and a push it began floating ponderously toward the protoss main.
Two gateways had been warping in at our friends base and I had a good feeling that a rush was coming, one, maybe two zealots. And when the bold probe skated into my base to find a second hatchery morphing and no spawning pool I knew that it was going to be close.
A pool was quickly started as well as a creep colony and an extractor. The probe just sat there, right next to my hatchery while my workers carried on. It didnt attack, it didnt even blink, it just watched us like an obedient dog watches its master. That look was making me nervous.
Dual grotesque 'pops' told me that my hatchery and pool had finished morphing. I began an overlord at one hatchery and a pair of zerglings at the other while my creep colony began turning itself into a sunken.
And thats when the zealots came.
Two of them. They charged up my ramp as if all hell was at their heels and I knew that things were about to get rather hairy. Straight for my lifeline they went and here I sat with a handful of dumb drones and absolutely no defense whatsoever. The drones turned on the zealots but their merciless, powerful blades made short work of the workers. One drone fell, then another and then another before the first two zerglings emerged and the sunken finished morphing to provide support. As my zerglings closed with the protoss warriors one of the zealots fell and the other broke off the attack and moved left, out of range of the muscular, lashing tongue of the sunken. I sent the zerglings to see if I could lure the zealot back into its reach and he followed. He didnt last long.
But I had been dealt a mighty blow. Back at his base I could see that there were now three gateways and no assimilator yet. I could expect more zealots. My economy had been set back while his still blossomed. I quickly prepared myself for round two.
Two more creep colonies were built behind a small task force of zerglings that had been growing in my base. My third hatchery should have been arriving by now as well as my hydralisk den but my friend wasnt giving me much breathing room. I loathed building more than one of any kind of static defense at my main and being forced to invest in three sunken colonies that would *never* be able to assault my opponents base gave me a bad feeling... like I was being corraled.
But even before the sunkens could finish morphing six more zealots rushed me and I knew that my force of zerglings was insufficient to hold them. So I ran. I ran around in circles while the one sunken that I had struck out and lashed the looping zealots. Round and round the zerglings went, the zealots hot on their trail, aggravated by the free hits that I was getting and so they turned their attention away from my zerglings and set a coarse for the defenses that couldnt run away. As the protoss warriors closed with the sunkens my zerglings attacked them from behind, clawing through the forcefields that they wore around them.
Hyuk was forced to pull his forces back and he stationed them at my ramp, effectively trapping me within my own base.
I had no zerglings outside of my base and it was difficult to watch the expansions on the other side of my ramp. A single overlord hung above his natural and I waited to see if he would expand there while my forces were held at bay.
I began my third hatchery now and a hydralisks den in preparation to pluck my enemy from my choke. Back at his main I could see that he had began his assimilator and a forge. What I learned next almost put me in shock.
I had sent an overlord to hang above my choke to monitor Hyuks troop count and movement but as I moved nearer I found that he had stopped making troops altogether, instead he made cannons. Five of them there were and all sitting at the base of my ramp. I was in trouble. He had put a cork in the bottle that I sat helplessly... hopelessly... in.
A bad situation I was in and I pondered my options many times without arriving at a feasible plan. I couldnt overrun his blockade, it was too potent. My economy was only just now recovering and I hadnt set foot outside of my own base much less inside of his. He had me boxed in with free reign over the entire rest of the world while I could only sit and watch.
But I wasnt idle. Hydralisks and zerglings alike hatched one by gruesome one from the hatcheries in my main. Three hatcheries total now and one produced solely zerglings while another produced hydralisks only and the third spat out drones and overlords exclusively. The lair was finished on one of the hatcheries and the speed upgrade for my zerglings and the range upgrade for my hydralisks were both completed.
Should I drop him? Should I switch to air? Guardians could pound out that roadblock but they were a long way off and my brood was getting clausterphobic.
I decided the time was right to go for all out. I took all of my forces, two control groups of zerglings and one control group of hydralisks and rushed the blockade.
The cannons opened fire upon my forces as they neared the ramp and the zealots knew that the time to stand had come. They came forward to tie the hands of my forces while the cannons flicked my troops away one by one. An epic battle it had become, and the protoss fought me with every square inch of their might in hopes of keeping me tied down. But in the end the fact that the cannons were on low ground proved to be the factor in this skirmish. My forces were able to thwart the containment attempt by Hyuk and earn their freedom and their right to charge headlong toward the base of my enemy.
As I was clearing away the last of the pylons that had been warped in below my ramp three templar came onto the scene, just missing the battle and arriving in time to be ripped to pieces by the remnants of my army.
It seemed I had broken out just in time. If Hyuk had had templar armed with storm below my choke while I was still inside the game would have most certainly been his.
A rag tag band of units I had now, a few zerglings and hydralisks that made their way through the jungle to the front door of the protoss. Up the ramp they went, contested only slightly by the few zealots that were guarding it before they were forced to pull back. My army followed closely and began marauding the protoss main while photon cannons attempted to warp in around and behind the enemies buildings. Stray dragoons came forth to meet us and soon by the help of additional units from his nearby gateways my counterstrike fizzled out.
I was back in the game now. A quick check of the map proved that Hyuk had not expanded while I had been contained. That was good. But he had stayed on top of troop production rather well. I would have to work to keep up with him and the first stop on my agenda was to expand.
A drone made its way down to my natural expansion and began a hatchery there. The rally point for the hatcheries at home were set at the top of my ramp and I made the range upgrade for my hydralisks. I accumulated another handful of units quickly and it wasnt long after my first strike that I sent another his way.
My forces poured up through his ramp and met there a combination of zealots, dragoons and a few templar. His troops were eradicated but the cannons he had placed previously began firing upon me as I came within range. As I engaged them I noticed a templar shimmering into sight from behind the cannons. I took control of my army and waited... the templar approached... stopped... and I darted to the left as a storm lit up the ground where they had stood a moment before. Then they danced to the right, dodging a second storm. This joker wasnt playing around. He wanted to burn me and I get a little uneasy when psionic storm comes into the picture.
As my hydralisks were dancing out from under storms the cannons had been taking a toll on them and soon my force was nothing more than ashes.
But my expansion was getting underway now. Drones from my main came down to begin harvesting the minerals down below and I added another hatchery at home.
When my initial overlord had left Hyuks main and moved toward the ramp it moved over the choke and came to rest over the ledge that overlooked his natural expansion. And when I noticed the purple dot on my minimap where a moment ago there was none I knew that my friend was trying to expand down there. I mobilized my zergling and hydralisk army and went down to see how things were coming along.
But before I got there the nexus had been canceled much to my displeasure. Somewhere, somehow Hyuk was keeping close tabs on me.
So I backed away and decided I would leave well enough alone. I wasnt going to fight up a hill that templar stood atop of and I figured as long as there was no expansion there was no threat. But Hyuk had not merely decided not to expand, he decided that instead he would hold me out while he did. His forces came down the ramp bearing templar support and I slung my forces into him. My zerglings moved forward to engage the zealots where they would be safe from the storms that would inevitably follow. But the hydralisks, they would have to do some dancing again. Back and forth they went while dragoon fire thumped them relentlessly. My forces were dwindling as I watched the pylon finish warping in at the entrance to his natural and the last of my forces even witnessed the creation of three fresh cannons.
This was getting serious. I had not come this far through an early two zealot rush and broken free of a blockade to be denied. I wanted this game bad and so I was ready to pull out every trick that I had to try to defeat him. I opted for sheer numbers, the essence of the zerg.
Now that my expansion was in full swing I began pumping units like mad, hydralisks and zerglings in even numbers gathered at my choke awaiting the order to move out. And as I would gather a handful of units I would throw them at Hyuk. Against a wall of cannons and zealots and psionic storms my swarms would hurl themselves until zealots perished beneath the mind-ripping energy of their own templars and cannons were left destroyed or smoking.
But the expansion lived on unscathed and that was not a good thing. I had successfully reduced my opponents troop count at the expense of my own but that was only profitable if I had more expansions than him and at the moment we were even. It was time to try to tighten my grip.
By now I had randomly made upgrades all around my base, including overlord speed and carrying capability. Zerglings and hydralisks from within my ranks slithered into the bellies of three overlords and then set out for Hyuks back door.
Simultaneously I would hit him from the front and catch him in a vice. Two control groups of various ground troops made their way toward my enemy and attacked while behind enemy lines three unseen overlords slipped up to drop deadly cargo in the lap of Hyuk. One cannon stood in the way but as more and more troops touched down it was quickly removed.
As my forward assault beat at his front door the small drop was taking a toll on Hyuks main. The nexus fell and so did some probes but for the most part the drop was merely a nuisance to Hyuk. The cannons that he had built previously to combat my first few counterstrikes still presented a problem. They were tucked away nicely so that my forces had to weave in order to get upon them. Stray units that emerged from his gateways came up to meet me and soon my attack began to fizzle out. One final dragoon destroyed my last hydralisk and then moved onward to exterminate my final zergling who had been steadily hitting the assimilator through the entire battle.
Hyuk liked the drop. He enjoyed it thoroughly and he decided that the idea was a good one. And so Hyuk dropped me. But not with a task force such as the one that I had landed on him but with two units. Two templar. The templar unloaded next to the extractor at my natural expansion and the storms came raining down onto my stupid drones. Of coarse the drones kept working while the raw energy from the templar tore their brittle little minds apart. I was forced to manually grab them and have them attack the templar. Another storm. It was beginning to sting. The few sunken colonies I had erected at my natural were just a bit too far away to reach the templar and my lack of preparation was coming back to haunt me. Back into the shuttle the templar went, leaving my economy hurting.
I built a sunken colony next to the extractor so that this would never happen again.
I wasnt going to let him get away with it though. Another force was ready and waiting and away I sent them, straight for the wall that had been keeping me out of Hyuks face. But as my forces began descending down the ramp I caught a glimpse of Hyuks second round. Zealots came charging into my expansion and I could make out the shimmering silouettes of dark templar following to provide stealthy support. The protoss warriors began tearing into the sunken colonies and zerglings and hydralisks while the dark templar simply walked around making things disappear altogether. Quickly I brought in an overlord to provide some detection and finally my forces overpowered the menace.
But the assault had cost me. Even more drones had been eradicated as well as my static defenses and I knew that I had to get my worker count back up if I wanted to stay in the game.
So I expanded to the 9:00 position.
More drones began hatching from the cocoons at my natural expansion while my main hatcheries spat out various ground troops. I sent a single zergling down to the entrance to Hyuks natural to monitor troop movement and as he made his way down he came across a convoy of yet more leg-enhanced zealots bound for my natural.
Grrr...
This time he had templar support but he didnt use his storms against my troops, he let the zealots engage my forces. The templar kept going, past the battle and onward toward my helpless drones where they threw their horrible lightning out onto my workers.
Hyuk was hitting me where it hurt and I was beginning to grow weary from all of the drone abuse he was dishing me. I needed to get him off balance again and so I immediately counter attacked him with the remnants of my garrison. Into the cannon fire my forces dove, caring not for their personal well-being but giving it all up for the overmind. Maybe being mindless wasnt such a bad thing after all.
But yet again my forces dwindled in the face of Hyuks superior defenses. Again and again, time after time my forces were unable to crack the shell he had built in front of his expansion. I would simply have to move around it if I wanted to get to Hyuks soft under belly.
I prepared for another drop.
Five overlords this time were dispatched on a sortie to infiltrate the protoss base and this time they circled around to the front, leaving the rear unharmed and turned back upward above the cliff that overlooked Hyuks expansion. The cargo was dropped right into the midst of the probes there and for the first time this game I was in his probe line. If he wanted to storm me he would have to storm his probes. He began trying to pull his workers out of the chaos but it was difficult trying to maneuver them away from the claws and teeth of my forces. We were taking a toll this time and it was just the diversion I needed to get my 9:00 expansion underway.
I began sunken colonies at my 9:00 in case something stumbled through and as the first one finished morphing a single probe came skating in to the area and was quickly snapped by the powerful muscle of the sunken. I had a feeling things were about to heat up on this plateau.
Three sunkens had completed when the zealots stormed in. The first one fell quickly but the other two were set a bit farther back and as the zealots charged toward them I pulled my drones off mining to block for the sunkens. The zealots stumbled around each other trying to get to the sunkens while the drones made themselves obstacles in their path. Hyuk could see that this was not working and he pulled the few remaining zealots out of my expansion.
A patrolling overlord above the 6:00 natural spotted an expansion attempt and two lone zerglings were sent to try to disrupt it while the remainder of my army moved into position outside of Hyuks natural.
Over the course of the battle Hyuk and I had been trading armies back and forth, mine for his. He had killed many of my drones and I had killed some of his probes. We had both forced each other to build static defenses in order to defend and we had both held a single expansion for most of the contest. It was safe to say that up until this point we had been neck and neck.
But now the weight of the battle was getting heavy for Hyuk. He had lost many expensive units defending his expansion and he was getting low on resources. My newly found 9:00 was just beginning to kick in and new life was instilled in me. I had been refreshed and Hyuk was beginning to thirst.
And as my army took root outside his front door and a pair of zerglings beat down the last chance for more resources for Hyuk he began to feel the hopelessness he had made me feel so long ago at my young main when he gagged me with a row of cannons.
I was disappointed when he didnt give me a 'gg' before he left.
This concludes my battle report.
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