"this Jewish Starcraft player has been pulling down games with us even when he learned that we were all gentiles. But we can't seem to figure out why he keeps hogging all of the minerals..."
- mattzarella's The Pentagram Paradigm
|
| WW4 FFA Round One | | | Author: | | | IP: | static-3XXXX | | Date: | 06/17/00 04:06 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 9, Min: 9
Lifetime Rating for |]agomar: 8.6667 |  |
Hi, and welcome to the first |]agomar report in 2 months!
Well, I'm back, after having realized that Starcraft still is the best game ever made. To start off my recovery to Starcraft stardom, I realized I needed an extremely gosu game to br. Searching through battle.net, I quickly came to realize how often we take NoHunters for granted - it seems that nobody has a bloody clue what the heck a battlereport is!! When I tell them I'm going to br, they either diss me way too bad or think I'm nuts! The Fools! Click here for images of my futile attempts . . .
Erm, anyway, eventually I did manage to get into what I thought was a good game - Korang[AOD] vs ScreamStalker. Unfortunately, it rapidly degenerated into a 1 hydra vs 2 wraiths sort of conflict, and soon I lost all interest. What's more, I was kicked off the computer halfway through the match, the official sign that I just wasted 45 minutes :P
Fortunately the gods favoured me a day later. Under the heading of BATTLEREPORTED FFA I started a new game of what was to be extreme gosuity, with Korang joining just a minute after I posted, forcing me to explain why I disced the day before! We both started messaging into nohunters, and within 5 minutes both GOSUISOVERRATED and Praetor-Galen joined the match. I demanded that everyone pick a different race, so Korang quickly chose Zerg, Overrated selected Terran and the Praetor once again chose to favour his beloved Protoss warriors with his awe-inspiring skills ;)
And so began what I hope to be my biggest and best series ever. I will pump everything I have into these WW4 brs; they will be the ultimate clash between all three totally different races. The player who ends up winning two of these games first will be declared the winner.
Early Game . . . .
The Map was one of my favourites: New Venice, a massive Orbital Platform with huge numbers of ramps, winding paths through twisted metal and plenty of space for drops. One of the interesting things about his map is how difficult it is to actually find the resource spots - they are tucked away in niches right beside where you'd expect to find them. What's more, the size of the platform makes this task even harder.
I would say this map is well suited to a Terran: the ample ramps give siege tanks a decisive advantage, and are the perfect launching grounds for nukes. The sheer size of the map make cloaked Wraiths the ideal unit for hit-and-run and interception of non-detector equiped forces. Finally, the expansions are tailor made for a quick Terran presence with use of lifting, and are extremely easy for a Terran to effectively defend. And of course properly supported or even lone battlecruisers can wreak absolute havoc on any opponent, no matter how powerful they are.
So it was that Overrated activated the retro rockets on his Command Center and landed at 5:00, while Praetor phased in his monumental nexus at 7:00 just as Korang raised the vile spines of his pulsating hatchery above the metal of the 10:00 position ( more like 9:30 but oh well! )
All players, after the usual nonsense blabber, a prime example of which is shown here ( ;] ), continued blabbering as they rapidly selected their rather standard builds. Korang chose to amass probes, building a quick extractor followed by a spawning pool, an overlord and two sunkens for a late anti-rush defense. He selected a drone to scout, yet failed to find anything in the large, complicated map. Soon enough, he had qued up some zerglings, sending them skittering in all directions.
Praetor-Galen obviously decided to go with massed infantry, knowing that the Protoss have the most powerful surface warriors in the game. Surprisingly quickly he'd warped in two gateways, and had an ample pylon supply to build from. And before you could say "we owned the forum on Wednesday" he already had twin zealots patrolling above his ramp, vigilent for any early rushed that might come from the zerg above. A pylon had also been dispatched to scout, and had rapidly uncovered the threatening terran presence to the East.
Deep within that very same base, Overrated was also taking a very normal build, erecting a barracks followed by two depots and another rax, all the while pumping SCVs. It seemed like he'd go for early infantry as well, probably opting for a belated rush. He smartly sent two peons into the fog of war, knowing that recon was all-important in a map like this.
Korang's zerglings did a pretty good job as scouting the map. One unlucky 'ling stumbled right onto the Protoss zealots, and was slashed apart before it could even utter an attack grunt.
First Blood
This was the official start of hostilities, and one can almost imagine the Cerebrate's insidious eyes narrow in fury at having one of his most loyal subjects hacked into oblivion so horribly. The Zerg Swarm would have its revenge . . . .
Unaware of the momentous occasion that had just transpired, the Terran commander had just recieved updated intelligence reports from his SCV deep inside Protoss territory. Frantically he ordered away the blundering peon, and just barely managed to save his friend's life. No doubt smiling grimly, Overrated selected his troop of about 9 marines and 3 medics, commanding them to start the long journey to his psionic enemy's territory. Praetor, however, had completed his tech up to dragoons, and was now pumping them forth out of triple gateways like there was no tomorrow.
And that might very well be for him, for the leading marines had just caught sight of the first dragoon on top of the ramp, and prepared to engage. When the durst settled, that dragoon was but a pool of blue goo on the cold metal ground, three zealots were dead and the Protoss were in full retreat. Furious, the Executor ordered them back, only to have two get stuck at the top of the ramp, with the others futilely skittering about, trying to pass their fellows. The marines, totally high off their stim packs, made quick work of these two, and soon Praetor was forced to retreat in earnest. The Terran force, however, seemed hesitant to pursue, instead deciding to focus on containment. Bad move.
Moments later there were some 6 or 7 dragoons at the bottom of the ramp, out of range of the human infantry. A single dragoon moved in, drawing gauss fire, then moved back to his bretheren with the entire pack of m&m in wild pursuit. Suddenly the humans were ambushed from all sides as the Dragoons brutally surrounded them and slaughtered four marines in a single volley, pursuing them up the ramp and finally crushing them as they pathetically tried to escape.
Yet Overrated was not content to simply let that stand, having already teched up to tanks and ordering a far more powerful strike force to follow the tracks of the last. As the army reached the top of the ramp, they found it unguared, and so were free to siege their two tanks and ready the marines for combat. With that distinctive Boom that so many of us have learned to dread, the first volley of tank fire blew away a distant pylon's shields, finishing it off with the next round. Below his base, a sleek Protoss shuttle met up with a clunky Terran dropship, and followed it for a little bit before turning away again.
Praetor had barely been given time to recuperate between the twin assaults, and now had to order the same dragoons to break this attack as well. Frantically, he commanded his minions to engage the tanks, yet it was with heavy losses that this task was finally accomplished. After much fighting, with the goons stuck below the ramp and the infantry firing wildly from above, the terrans were finally exterminated, but only after five dragoons had been reduced to mere puddles of blue soup.
Praetor, although his forces had been depleted, was by no means out of the game. With amazing speed he teched up to Dark Templar, loading his first two into that same shuttle and flew them over to the human outpost. Hovering just to the west of double starports, he first viciously attacked a missile turret providing anti-cloak detection for the entire area. Overrated, having just come out of two intensive campaigns and in the process of teching rapidly to wraiths, had very little troops with which to engage that zealious templar. So it was that the turret was blown apart, but not without moderate damage to both Protoss, who now race over to the second turret and, despite a hail of comsats followed by massive gauss fire, managed to annihilate it as well. With the Comsat drained of energy, the noble warriors have a free hand, and they rain havoc upon the base before another scan can be undertaken. Finally, with heavy losses, the Terrans take back their main base and begin the task of rebuilding.
Yet Praetor was not deterred. With lightning quick speed he loaded four more templar into a shuttle and sent them the way of the last, unloading in roughly the same damage and rapidly engaging a newly contructed turret. Unfortunately for him, however, Overrated had just finished two tanks and a horde of infantry, along with twin wraiths. Needless to say, the templar force was crushed with ease.
Mid Game . . . .
The early stages of the game officially ended when all players decided to make their first expansions. The human Commander was the first to make his move, creating a base a central resource node extremely early in the game. A while later, Korang followed his move, while Praetor waited the longest, only opting to warp in his second nexus after he had finished his next fateful assault.
Indeed, the Protoss Executor was still not finished with his relentless attacks upon those poor 'lil Terrans, selecting his entire mass of Dragoons and Dark Templar, ordering them straight for Overrated's Central Expansion which was just recently spotted by an intrusive observer. Within seconds, the first plasma ball hurtles in towards the Refinery, and soon the entire place is engulfed in a hail or protoss fire and slashing psi blades. However, out of the Fog of war a sizable force of Terran infantry rushes to engage, blowing apart the first few dragoons and making quite an impressive stand before they are slaughtered. The human defense doesn't stop there though: another squad of m&m rush to avenge their fellows, and a pack of wraiths scream in to rescue their expansion. Although the battle is a mighty one, the wraiths are unable to locate the observer before they are pelted to olivion by the dragoons, and the infantry are slashed to bits by the deadly blades of the Dark Templar. And with the destruction of the only missile silo on the map, the quick Terran drive to a nuke assault has been dashed to pieces as well.
A quick look at Overrated's base reveals that the brave Captain is suddenly no longer a factor in the game! His main is completely mined out, and it is doubtful he can even find the money to build a new expansion somewhere safer. What's more, he just lost nearly all his troops to the Protoss, and it looks impossible for him to properly defend a second expo, or even fend of a half-hearted invasion attempt. Writing him off as dead, I now focus on the two remaining powerful players: the insidious Zerg and the mighty Toss. Let's take a look at the state of events for both Commanders during the lull in action that now followed.
First, Praetor's base. He has already teched up to Templar, of course, and has posessed shuttle technology for quite some time now. He doesn't seem to be deviating from his original game plan too much, sticking with mass goons and templar support. He also appears ready to make the move to High Temps, and his forces are 1/1/1. He also has created an expansion at 6:00, along with another at the center ( 0:00? ) where he blew apart the Terran base. Because he has been active in fighting the humans, however, he lacks the sort've doom force he could've had by now.
But look at this. Because Korang hasn't been doing a thing with regards to war for just about all of the game ( :P ), he has amassed a huge amount of hydralisks and zerglings, and shows no sign of stopping. He's also had an expansion before the Protoss Executor even thought of getting one, and now has started to morph a second, which would bring his resource intake to equal that of the Toss. His forces are at 1/1/0 at this point, and I'm hoping he will make some kind of move soon so I can take gosu screenshots =D.
Oh, alright, I'll add the Terrans in as well. Those Control Towers are still blazing from the dt assault - probably because the poor ol' commander doesn't have enough resources to repair them, I figure. The base is pretty much static, and I'm sure that Overrated has let me down, dropping out of the game pathetically before it really even started. Apparantly the other players think so too; the human is ignored, neither wanting to spend a couple units destroying something that's already just about dead.
The short lull is suddenly broken as a medium-size Protoss force engages the undefended morphing Zergish expansion around 8:00. Surprisingly, Korang lets it fall, probably because he has more than enough resources as it is. This certainly appears to be the case, for there are now five hatcheries in the Zerg main!
I now decide to yell at Korang for not doing anything, bitterly naming him a 'mofo' in the process. Enraged, the Zerg cerebrate declares his will to be named by the fear-inspiring title of "Big Mamma Jamma" instead. So, if any one of you sees this hot-headed Zerg expert, call him a mofo =D. Infact, that could become a second name for you, Korang!
Back to more serious matters, that same vile commander of the teal brood orders a drone up to a 11:30 expansion, and soon creates a nice little expansion for himself there. As the creep spreads throughout the little raised platform, an observer coasts in to check up on the happenings. Beeping in alarm, the dinger informs its noble commander of the threat, who quickly ques a large group of goons and dts to wipe it off the map. Minutes later, all that remains of the place is a drone huddling in a corner and a slightly damaged overlord.
Korang, however, has sent a half dozen cracklings to the bottom of the ramp, apparantly to engage the enemy as they try to return to the central Protoss base. Bad move. Naturally the hapless 'lings are slaughtered, yet fortunately they manage to distract the enemy, who doesn't see the frightened, cornered drone. When the last dragoon had dissapeared over the horizon, the drone creeps out of his hiding spot to check for any remaining Protoss presence. Finding none, he begins to morph a new hatchery! Unfortunately that lone observer is still around, just out of the overlord's sight, and repeats the newest developments to Praetor. Enraged, he orders his force to turn back, and a repeat follows. Luckily, the cerebrate spots the returning force and manages to cancel the hatchery and re-hide ( is that a word? ) the drone. The observer takes a more active role, however, and both the ovie and the peon are massacred.
On the way back the Protoss force is ambushed by four or five lurkers. The lurkers were not quite ready for their enemy however, and had yet to burrow! With the help of an observer, all resistance is crushed with only mild losses, testiment to Korang's gosu lurker handling! =/
But wait a minute . . . what's this?! A new blob of brown has suddenly appeared above the first one, and switching to it I notice Overrated has begun a new expansion! A massive defense has already been set up, and about a group of SCVs are busy mining! What's more, a second expo is being created at 12:30, under guard from a dozen cloakable wraiths! Those same fighters had just screamed to the west and back again, barely missing Praetor's detectionless dragoons and dts, going back to the center for the second time now. Who knows how the game might've changed had the Protoss force been destroyed . . . .
No use speculating on what could've been, however. An observer had just settled down and opened beeping frequencies above the newest Terran expansion. With lightning speed, a group of goons was on the way, one by one of course in the gosu way all micromanagement experts align their armies =/. Within second, the first goon had engaged the leading wraith, with full observer protection. Not knowing that there were masses of observers scattered all throughout the map now, Overrated cloaks his wraiths, only to have them picked off one by one. Even a a new wing of the human starfighters couldn't save the beleagured base, and when the dust settled all that was left was a smoking pile of rubble.
An eerie silence settled over the map. It must've been an uncomfortable one for the Protoss Commander, who knew he now had two bitter enemies probably just waiting for the right time to strike. Summoning his inner reserves of bravery, he knew he was going to make a stand against those mindless Zerg and barbaric Terrans right here and now. Looking up into the cold, starry night of deep space, he made up his mind. He'd make an expansion at 11:30, for sure. If he was to die this day, he'd do it fighting. May Adun be with me, he thought grimly.
Late Game . . . .
Indeed, Teal and Brown were doing exactly what the Protoss feared: preparing to attack. Korang morphed a motherload of sunkens and spores at his expansion, then gathered his forces into the middle of his base. Now he selected a group of hydras, ordering them all to morph into lurkers ( does he have a hack or something - where does he get all this money from!? ). The cerebrate was obviously preparing to attack. He had started a queen's nest a while back, and now took to parasiting the Protoss observers, which were continuously sent to the human base, a huge annoyance. Probes were also parasited, and met a similar fate. The queen also has other spells in her book, as well all know: broodlings began to rain across the map, with newly made high temps and goons all falling to the deadly remoras. A rain of terror hailed down upon the Toss minions, who were pitifully powerless to stop it.
Overrated was also far from inactive; if anything, what he was doing was even more of a threat to the Protoss than the Zerg hit-and-runs. Wraiths began to scream in to a central rallying point focused on his expansion; soon, about two and a have groups were there, ready to strike. Upgrades were also researched, and comscans were made of Praetor's defenses. Above the ramp into the human Main base, a reasonable defense has also been perfected, consisting of double tanks, some infantry, a full bunker and a baracks blocking it all form melee units. Gosu.
Naturally, the cerebrate takes this time to send an overlord down to the Terran expo, exactly where the swarm of wraiths has been amassing. Despite the pleas of the Zerg leader to let the transport be ( he claimed it to be empty ), the result is obvious, and the ovie is blown to bits within seconds. Korang is shocked, and protests that there were "5 innocent gay drones" on board, with one having a "little gay baby." He cries that they had been born with "the gay gene" and didn't deserve to die. It does make one mildly suspicious of a guy so adamently defending gay rights, especially a Zerg, and particularly one who declared that he loved me at the end of the game. Because of this last fact, it also makes me rather scared.
But Korang pushes these romantic thoughts out of his mind ( lol ) and concentrates on the task before him. He loads six lurkers into two overlords, then broodlings a Dragoon in the expansion the Protoss stole from from him just below his main base, a warning of what was to come. Now the overlords burst out of the fog of war, and, absorbing a few pot shots from a nearby chobo cannon, unleash their horrifying cargo. The evil Lurkers crawl about mindlessly, looking for a place to burrow and kill. However, six unburrowed Lurks are not usually the preferred counter against two cannons, andobserver and eight dragoons - and so they are smashed to bits just seconds after they burrow, only managing to take for probes with them before they die.
Overrated, unaware for what has just transpired, and takes a last look at his wraiths before sending them out to war. One can almost imagine the thought running through his mind right now: gosu. With what must have been a sigh, he commands his super-fast wraiths to move south, then scream in to engage the Protoss main base in battle formation!!
And suddenly it's a war of attrition. The Wraiths crush the couple defending cannons with sublime ease, then smash a good part of the base before being attacked by 8 or so dragoons. Even this many goons are no match for the now cloaked wraiths, which blow them away with zero losses! Now the entire place is massacred in record time, and Overrated finally has the supreme revenge for all that has happened before, nearly putting his hated foe right out of the game!
Praetor, however, is not content to simply let things stand. Stunned that the opponent he once considered long dead has resurrected so spectacularly, apparantly to give him the death blow, he rallies all his troops and sends them towards the Terran expo, where they meet little resistance and smash the entire place. Yet so far the count is one main base to one expansion - not good for the bewildered Protoss!
And the deadly starfighters are not yet finished with their violent rampage. With the lightning fast speed they are known for, they hurtled down upon the Protoss center expansion, stolen from them so long ago, and eradicate all the defenses! Within seconds, the base is one big plasma vent, with all buildings heavily damaged to the point of destruction!
Praetor is desperate now. He still is dazed by what has happened, yet still retains his expert knowledge of Protoss strategy. Eyes narrowing, he knows what he has to do: assault the primary human base. It may take dozens of lives, but there's a time and a place for hesitation. This wasn't one of them.
As the first Protoss building detonated in a blaze of glory, Praetor's armies engaged the first Terran defenses, cowering under a hail of devastating acrilite fire. After a few casualties the Protoss charged forward, fully focused on the bloody task ahead. A short while and many deaths later, the defenses had been exterminated, and the road, or rather ramp, to the Terran base lay wide open.
The wraiths, perhaps being relayed the dire news on the home front, fought all the more viciously, reducing vital building after vital building to yellow rubble in moments. Yet it was not enough to save their main, which was razed to dust in record time, the bitter Protoss warriors slaughtering all remaining SCVs and blowing apart the Command Center before anything could be done to save it. Only a Science Facility and an Engineering Bay survived that fateful attack - still enough to keep the wraiths fighting!
Suddenly the game had turned around again! Just when it seemed like the lowly Terrans had taken control of the game, the Protoss, with sheer determination on their side, inflicted a blow from which they would never recover!!
Realizing that he had to go back and engage the wraiths directly before they eliminated him after all, Praetor ordered his dragoons to his central expansion. Alas, it was too late, and the entire place, once the center of a mighty Protoss Empire, was finally wiped off the map by the diabolical wraiths. Only seconds later the spidery 'goons, having downed the Science Facility and now with full observer support, rushed in to avenge the deaths of their fellows. They were successful. Many wraiths had been killed already, and with the loss of many of Aiur's finest warriors the terrifying death squadron was finally eliminated - almost. Three of the fighters managed to escape, and flew over to protect the last Terran building - the engineering bay. And yet still Overrated didn't surrendor, resolving to battle on to the very end.
So where, you ask, has Korang been all this time?
Can you say ouch???
A HUGE stream of Hydralisks and zerglings now move in to deal the Protoss their final death blow - at the expansion just above the vanquished central one. Needless to say, the Zerg minions make quick work of the place, in part because those last three wraiths managed to take out Praetor's last remaining templar just seconds before, with two losses!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Home
Forum
Starcraft Tournaments
newvenice.jpg)