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YourQueenOfDrops Fracta... er YourRoleModel"
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| An original strat vs guard rush | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 11/21/99 03:11 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 4, Max: 8, Min: 4
Lifetime Rating for UpgradedKakaru: 5.8000 |    | ~~~Zerg guard rushes my teran~~~
I was hanging out in nohunters at 11am , Paris time, and found out that very few people were online (since it was very early in the morning in the US). I decided to try x17, and found some guy named ThinkPink, from London, who had a fairly decent record, with lotsa games, and a 4:1 win/loss ratio. It looked to me as if there could be some interesting challenge here. We played 3 games, each time him being zerg vs my teran. I won the first two games, first beating his guardian rush, then beating his lurker rush.
However the third game proved to be the most interesting one, not only because it was full of suspens and at every moment it was very hard to predict the winner, but also because I will present you a new counter to guard rush, that can work under certain cirumstances, and is quite useful.
Now on to the game:
The map chosen was dark temple, I started with teran at 3 oclock, and he started with zerg at 12 oclock.
Early Game: Da Mad Sunkener
I did my usual 3rax teran vs zerg opening: My build order went like this:
7: scv sent to scout
8: depot
11: rax
13: rax
14: depot
20: rax
22: depot
24: gas
26: acad
I was planning to rush, as I always do. My first wave would be a solid pack of about 10 marines (no meds yet) , shortly followed by a second, more powerful wave, with meds, stims and range. I sent my 1st pack of 10 marines to sit outside his base, and just sent 1 rine to scout his choke and xpansion. Obviously he hadnt expanded, but to my despair he had 6 sunkens at his choke. This didnt look too good. I had planned on a power , low tech build order, designed for a rush that had no chances to succeed. I decided to get a scanner up asap, to know what he was up to.
As I could have imagined, he had opted for a guardian rush. However, contrarily to our first game, where my rush had succeeded, he chose not to expand, so that his sunkens would stand on higher ground and hold his choke more efficiently. My first reaction was to expand. I knew that by guardian rushing, he would have to focus on a very specific type of attack, and therefore couldnt power with low tech units at the same time. I quickly built a factory, then a starport, with a couple of wraiths, and a science faciliyy shortly afterwards. My counter to his guard rush would be wraith, since i didnt have enough time to directly get vessels with irradiate. I was counting on the fact that he wouldnt have any escorting mutas, and his slow Ols would be taken out easily by my cloaked wraith (indeed if he guard rushed he couldnt lose any gas on OL speed upgrade).
For a minute I contemplated tank pushing him, but i figure the assault would take too long, and he could then shoot down my tanx with guards from higher ground, with hydras preventing my wriaths from taking out his guardians.
Since i my economy was powerful ( i had expanded) , i built a 4th rax, and started to upgrade my rifle fire power in the engineering bay. I didnt want to lose to cracklings razing my bases after all my rines would have died to guards...
Middle Game: The fatal guard rush....and my new strat hehe :)
I scan his main again...his greater spire is up, he has a few mutas...I figure i have only a minute or two left. Already i have 2 wraiths up, with cloake research almost done, and i have a huge pack of about 20 marines(useless for now). I carefully study the architecture of his base. I also imagine for a moment that i could start a tank push from the left side, from lower ground...again, this would take too long.
Soon, 5 guards are morphed, 2 attacking my expansion from the cliff, and 3 on my main. My opponent understands that he must now make me pay for my strong economy. He is on low troop count, and the only way he can catchup and expand is to cripple my economy (its more important than killing my army, since his defenses are huge). He starts taking out my scvs, but my wraiths are on him already. Ackk...there are some mutas... i lose my wraith, after killing 4 of the 5 guards. I kill the 5th guard with my remaining rines. My scv number is down to 7 or 8.
Here comes my magic trick :) I have built a dropship.
I scan his main again. He has 3 sunkens placed around his mineral line, to prevent me from dropping him like i did in game 2, as a counter to his lurker rush. HOWEVER, his greater spire, as i notice, is JUST out of range of his sunkens. I load up 7 marines and a medic in my shutle( i could have put a firebat for cracklings but i just needed range in order not to be caught by sunkens...) I drop exactly at the right stop. Then, stim, noises or disguting dead zerglings, and his greater spire is down in 6 or 7 seconds. Hurrah, without this commando, the game was good for him. This drop has bought me some time .3 or 4 minutes is my estimate... enough to rebuild scvs, and start pumping science vessels with irradiate, the ultimate weapon against all zerg air.
In the meanwhile , i scout, and i notice that he has taken his natural. I decide to micromanage a pack of marines so that they will slide on the right side of his expanding canyon, in order not to be hit by the sunkens on upper ground. I take out all his drones, but ackk. a lurker burrow, my scan comes too late, and my small force is taken out. Now i remember my dropship is still alive. Moreover, i have a vessel ready. I load 2 tanks, and tank his cliff, my vessel giving vision to decimate his lurkers.
Then, quite a large pack of hydras exit his main. They are welcomed by arclite blasts and rifle fire. I figure his main must be almost dry of ressources. I myself expand to the 6 oclock start location, and check the other expansions with patrolling squads of marines. Good, he hasnt expanded.
End Game:
In a desperate attempt, ThinkPink, sends a last wave of guards, which is mastered by my vessels. But already my tank push has started up his choke, and his 6 sunkens are taken out one by one. He conceded the game, and we exchange "very good games".
Good game ThinkPink! It was fun.
Lessons learned:
Guardian rush can be difficult to counter. Of course, the best counter to it is first of all good recon. Scout, explore, attack early, rush where the opponent's weak points are, and if you can cripple his economy or cancel his plans, you have done a great job at setting him back, and now you can use your power army. The problem here was that he got sunkens so fast that i couldnt rush him fast enough...I couldnt imagine he would build no lings at all at the start, because i didnt know he was guard rushing (fortunalteyl i got the sweep asap)
I think the 7 rine + 1 medic drop can be efficient. In this case, my opponent only has sunkens near his drones ( and yet they didnt protect his spire) because we had played earlier in a game where i had dropped him. However, if an opponent makes 6 sunkens at choke, it is VERY unlikely he will think about defending the back of his main. Now the drop has to come quite early, otherwise he could have mutas or guards. I my case i was lucky because he had Just lost his guards, and only had a few lings at home. But if well executed, i think this drop could deal a lot of damage, and totally throw down the oppoennts plans, at least for a few mintues, which is enough to get the necesary tech.
I hope you enjoyed this report, sorry no pics :(
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