"Mark4 WAS still trying to think of ways to micromanage a single observer to victory."
-YourRoleModel
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| WGTour Chronicles: Chapter 5 | | | Author: | | | IP: | pcp01551XXXX | | Date: | 07/18/04 02:07 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 5, Max: 9, Min: 8
Lifetime Rating for Raider: 8.5370 |   | Hi. So you guys did not like the slideshow idea at the end of the last report. Man, give you one hand and you want the whole arm. Well, fine if the writing is what you like, then that’s what you will get.
In the last report I criticized my opponent’s drops. Well, I was going through my replays when I found this beauty. Also from season 8 of WGTour, this game is an example of how the drops should be done.
The Beginning
My opponent for this game was nT.ZeroChance (zero from now on). And wonder of wonders, he stuck with random. Those of you who have played any of organized ladders recently know how rare that is.
For me it meant that I had to start out with my anti-random build. I started at 9 and my build went like this:
-8 pylon
-10 gate
-12 gas
Normally, if I have not discovered my opponent’s race by this point, I make a zealot before starting a cyber core. This game, however, my probe found zero at 12, the first place I looked. He was terran. He was rated C1, 2 levels above me, so I decided to cheese. I was going to be 4 DT drop.
I added a cyber core on 14 and another pylon on 15. My first goon was out and I used it to plug the ramp. Five seconds later the scouting SCV showed up. It took a few shots from the goon and turned to flee. I ordered the goon to pursue it. Normally, the goon can kill the SCV if it pulls a U-turn and attempts to scale the ramp. Zero did something he was not supposed to though. Instead of running straight back, he ordered his SCV to run in a small arc around my goon, which allowed it to get up the ramp with 10 HP remaining. I sent an emergency probe to intercept the enemy worker before it saw my base, but zero pulled another sharp turn and evaded the probe as well. I hate people who micro the workers well. I had to cancel the citadel of adun that I had started moments earlier. No 4 DT drop I guess.
Does not mean I can’t cheese. I started a robofac. Most toss players start theirs around the first goon, so it does not look suspicious these days when you one this early. Shortly, the goon caught up with the intruder and blasted it.
Meanwhile, my probe did a good job of staying alive in zero’s base (well, actually, it was me microing it, but if I said that, this report would lose the cute girl probe factor). The probe stayed alive for a decent amount of time running around the minerals and buildings to avoid the marine that was chasing it. At the time it died, zero had still not started his second factory, so I assumed he was not getting it. Perfect for the reaver since there was no danger of mass tank.
The Other Cheese and What Came of It
As soon as the core was done, I started a shuttle, followed shortly by the robotics support bay. I had 2 goons. As soon as I had 200/200 in bank, I ordered shuttle speed. I figure, if you decide to drop, might as well go all out. If the game runs on, this upgrade pays huge dividends. Besides, I am a Grrrr… fan.
My first reaver came on-line. I loaded it into a shuttle along with one of my goons and headed for 12. At home I started a second reaver and placed a newly-made goon near the nexus. This way I had one goon at the ramp to block vultures and/or SCV scouts and one goon by the nexus to defend against a drop. Flimsy defenses, but this is the best you can do if you commit to an all-out drop.
The shuttle flew into the terran base from the bottom. The Command Center was undefended. I dropped the reaver on the right of the mineral line. This way, the escaping SCVs would have to run by it giving me extra time to shoot them. The first scarab hit a sweet spot right in the midst of the SCVs just as they started to run. At least 6 of the workers perished in flames. The second scarab took another 2 or 3. At the same time, a tank appeared out of the fog of war and fired on the reaver. The third scarab targeted one of the running SCV, but the worker was on mine command, and scarab pathing caused it to explode harmlessly after following the SCVs for a bit. I reacted quickly and popped the slug back into the shuttle before the tank could fire again. The goon I left and ordered it to fire on the tank. Just as the tank was about to shoot the goon, I popped the reaver back out of the shuttle and targeted the tank. The reaver fired, and the tank exploded.
I glanced at the minimap. Damn! There were enemy units in MY mineral line. I clicked frantically to shift my view there. Zero had dropped me too. I was in time to see my lone goon defender spill his insides on the ground. The 2 invading tanks began to siege. My second reaver was still under construction; the fourth goon was still only half way done, and the one by the ramp would not change anything alone.
With a cry “Remember that report where the reporter cried, ‘Remember the Alamo!’” I ordered all the probes to attack the tanks just as they opened fire. Two batches of probes disappeared in flashes of blue flames. And again. And again. The tanks got off three shots each before finally going down. The dropship left had left long ago. At least he did not see my second reaver come out.
I quickly ordered the probes back to work and shifted attention to zero’s base to see what was going on there. The shuttle vision showed me the remains of my goon disappearing into the ground. The reaver was gone too. When I watched the replay, I saw that when zero’s tank died, he turned his SCVs around and used the mine command to get them to completely surround my reaver. The machine got 2 more shots off, killing another 3 SCVs (again too few due to bad scarab pathing) before falling to the fusion cutters. When I looked, I saw that about 8 SCVs were left to mine. The command center was flashing, making more.
Something Happened
I ordered the shuttle back to my base. Its speed upgrade was done, and it sped out of the terran base. We came out of the exchange about even. I had 9 probes left. The second reaver was done and I started one more as soon as I could afford it. I picked up the new reaver and the new goon and headed back to the terran base.
When I approached zero’s plateau, I saw his dropship fly by, heading for my base. It did not turn around. Well, I was not going to chicken out either. Besides, I was closer to his base than he to mine and my ride was faster. At home though, I moved the probes away from minerals and hid them on the far right edge of my plateau. I also moved my lone goon from the ramp to my gateway. My plan was to attack the tanks with 2 goons and probes as soon as the new goon was done. I still had no range and had not even started researching it, but with the help of the probes, I thought I could force zero to flee.
My shuttle arrived at the terran command center and immediately came under fire from a turret. Knowing that zero’s tanks were away attacking my base, I dropped the reaver and the goon as the shuttle did a flyby on the command center and escaped with its armor only slightly damaged. Shuttles with speed really rock.
While the shuttle did great, the rest of my plan was not going so well. As soon as my units landed, I heard the boom of the arclite cannons and two tank shots hit my reaver. WTF?! Where did they come from?? Acting mostly on instinct, I targeted an SCV with the reaver. It got one shot off, killing two of the miners, before the second tank barrage killed it. The goon went down next, not managing to do any damage.
Just as the goon died, I saw a dropship arrive at my nexus. It paused for a second and started a tour of my base, probably looking for the probes. I tried to hide them, but zero found them anyway…and did not do anything. His shuttle just hovered over them. Then it hit me. THE THING WAS EMPTY. Zero left his tanks to defend his main. He must have seen that my shuttle had speed when it was leaving after the first drop and realized that it meant I planned on coming back and left his tanks to defend. His dropship in my base was a bluff. And I fell for it.
All but kicking myself, I ordered the probes back to work. I had this sinking feeling in my stomach that I get when I sense I am 1000 minerals behind in the early game. I needed to do something.
I'll Show You!
Zero was ahead, which meant he would have extra units. Extra units and a dropship meant there was a high probability that he would try a drop again. I needed to do more than just counter that threat. I had to stop it cold.
I had 3 dragoons, so I started a fourth goon and range. My probe count was getting back up, and resources started to pour in again. I added an observatory, a gateway, a citadel of adun, and sent a probe to scout terran natural. I sent another probe to 6 main for expansion purposes. Lastly, I took the three goons I had and sent them (and this is going to sound a bit complicated) to the lower left of the middle of the temple, where I though the most likely path for a dropship coming for my main would be.
My scouting probe reported a fully operational expansion at Zero’s natural. It was defended by tanks and turrets. Zero was beating me.
I had just begun the nexus at 6 and templar archives at my main when I saw a dropship approach my 4 dragoons in the center (I sent one more there as soon as I had it). As it flew at them, my units opened fire. In two volleys, the dropship was gone. Good thing I had 4 goons there. They were still without range, and 3 would not have been able to kill the transport.
Zero cursed (I remember this more than a month later—it felt THAT good).
Feeling somewhat safer now, I moved two goons to block the ramp to 6 to prevent vulture raids from taking out my expansion there. The nexus was almost done, and I used my speedy shuttle to maynard 8 probes to the location.
Something Happened That Was Not Suposed To
I was still behind however and looking for a way to even things out. My greatest fear at this point was that a straight out tank attack move with some vultures would be enough to roll over my forces. To make sure that this did not happen, I ordered 2 DTs made and started researching zealot speed and storm. I had 2 observers at this point and tried using one of them to see the inside of the terran base, but zero’s efficient turret placement prevented me from seeing more than 3 tanks sieged on the edge of his plateau overlooking the choke.
I kept building and upgrading but still felt I was too low on troops. In general, you can pick two of three things: mass troops, expansion, or tech. Here I had tech and expansion, and that was after losing a bunch of probes and not mining for some time. My troop count was definitely suffering. I knew the terran made the same choice as I had, but I still felt that his tech was cheaper than my dual robo/templar combo, especially counting all the upgrades I had to get. Despite us being a good way into the game I was just able to run 2 gates non-stop. I felt that it should have been closer to 5-6 by this point. I needed another resource node, so I decided to try and take my natural and hope that 4 DTs and 8 goons would be enough to stop a ground assault.
Unfortunately, like so many plans, mine did not survive the contact with reality. As soon as I moved my troops down the ramp from my main, they were hit by arclite fire coming from my natural cliff. Zero had put 3 tanks up there and, as my hurriedly recalled observer discovered, was busy constructing turrets with 2 SCVs. Two turrets were already up and running (spinning?). I loaded 2 zealots and a dragoon into a shuttle and circled around the turrets to drop them off on the cliff. At the same time I moved my remaining 6 goons on low ground close to the cliff and opened fire on the tanks uphill. The idea was to draw their fire away from the landing troops to allow the latter to close in.
This plan worked perfectly. The tanks targeted goons on low ground, allowing the still slow zealots to run up to them. When zero realized what I was doing, it was already too late. His last tank exploded to the combine fire from low and high ground. All in all, I lost the goon on top and two goons on low ground, getting some others damaged. Zero lost all 3 tanks and 2 SCVs. I immediately set about clearing the turrets and brought 2 more zealots and 2 DTs to the top of the cliff in case of a repeated drop attempt. As soon as the last turret fell, I started the nexus on the low ground.
The income from 6 began to kick in and I added 4 more gates, 2 in my main and 2 at 6. At this point I realized I still could not make cannons, so I started a forge in the little tech building area above my main minerals.
I had anticipated storm research completing and made two templar that came out seconds after I received the research complete message. I immediately loaded them into the shuttle along with a dragoon and headed for zero’s natural. While the shuttle was on the way, I started another one and added cannons at 6 and started researching +1 ground weapons for my troops. This game looked like it might turn out to be a long one, so I also began the +1 air weapons upgrade. This way, if I decided to get carriers, they would start out with 7 damage interceptors. 100/100 is cheap enough that I get it almost every game that goes over 10 minutes. You really appreciate it when you end up getting air.
My shuttle arrived at zero’s natural, and I unloaded the units behind the natural mineral line, just outside of turret range. I dropped the goon first and let it eat the fire from 2 siege tanks. Then the templar dropped and I cast two storms over a saturated mineral line. This is where click speed really matters. If you are slower than your opponent, he will start running those workers before you can storm. In my case, zero started to run them about a quarter of a second after I cast the storm, which caused the SCVs to bunch up under the storm, taking huge losses. Out of 16 or so workers, 4 made it out of my sight range. I loaded up the templar and headed out feeling good about myself.
Just as I thought I was catching up, 4 dropships flew into view above my natural cliff. 4 tanks, 6 vultures and 4 SCVs popped out. Zero even anticipated that I would have the DTs there. Right before he landed, he scanned. My troops died within seconds getting only a minimal number of kills. A key part of zero’s successful landing was that he landed the troops a short way from my units, meaning my melee had to come at him from one side. If he had dropped on top of my troops, he would have taken much more serious losses. Before I lost vision, I was able to storm the bunched terran units, scoring a few more kills. The next time I got vision there was when 3 remaining tanks opened fire on my nexus. The second shuttle had been ready for a few seconds now. I picked it up 3 zealots and a templar and headed for the cliff.
I got there seconds before the first quartet of turrets was done and dropped the zealots followed by a templar right on top of the 2 tanks that were placed closely together on the bottom left of the cliff. The third tank, a bit away from them, opened fire immediately, as did 4 vultures. I stormed the vultures as they bunched up to attack and killed 2 of them. The remaining two killed the zealots and the templar with the help of the lone tank just as they killed the last of the 2 tanks that they landed on.
The turrets completed and I could no longer just bring shuttle the troops straight in. Once again, I was forced to fly around the turrets and land on the far-away part of the cliff. 4 zealots came out of the shuttle but were instantly vaporized by mines that zero had laid there in anticipation of just that kind of move. As I flew my shuttle back to my main, I saw 2 more dropships approach and knew that I had lost my cliff.
When the first wave landed on my cliff, I already suspected that I would not be able to hold it. So just to be on a safe side I started a nexus and a pylon at 6 natural. By the time the battle for my cliff was over and the zero set about destroying my nexus, the nexus was 2/3 of the way done and I had just started 2 cannons in the mineral line. I selected the probes that were sitting to the side of my natural expansion and sent them there. Just as they got there, the cannons warped in, and zero showed up with 8 vultures. One died to cannons fire and the rest tried to run by onto the main plateau. Remember when I said I had made 2 gates at 6? Well, I was making troops from them constantly and had 4 goons and 2 zealots already. Along with the 2 goons that were guarding the ramp, those troops had no problem eliminating the vultures that tried to run up the ramp. Here zero was denied.
As soon as the last vulture died, I ordered one more shuttle made, started +2 weapons, and focused on the peon control shuttle that hovered over the terran natural cliff. The goon had died during the previous drop, but I saved the templar. Now I unloaded them on the cliff and stormed the workers below. 6-8 SCVs died, and I had to quickly pop the templar back into the shuttle to save them from the arclite fire that came in retaliation.
Let's Not Let It Happen Again
My next concern, or rather my another concern at that time was defense of the 6 natural cliff. I loaded the shuttle I had in my main with 2 zealots and 2 templar and ordered it to trop them off at that cliff. Shortly after that, another shuttle was completed. I loaded that with 2 goons and sent it there as well. Just to be on the safe side, I used the first shuttle to ferry 2 zealots and a goon to the cliff. Zero was not going to catch me unprepared again.
During all this I had accumulated quite an army. Not counting my cliff defense, I had one control group of zealots, one and a half of dragoons, 2 DTs, and 6 templar. I moved them out to the center making sure that the ones coming from my main stayed out of range of the tanks occupying my natural cliff.
While I was mobilizing, zero was not sitting idle either. The observer keeping watch over his choke reported a large troop movement. A group of vultures sped out of zero’s base and laid a minefield in front of 3 o’clock mineral only. At the same time, tanks moved out and sieged behind the minefield. SCVs began to build turrets. As I was moving the observer out of the turret range, I saw a command center float toward the mineral only.
A plan formed in my mind. I saw that the mines and the turret were all right near the top right temple wall, which meant they only protected the tanks if I came in from the south. I ordered all my troops to circle around to position themselves west (means left) of the 3 mineral only, just out of the sight range of the tanks. I had almost 2 full control groups of dragoons, one of zealots, and 6 templar. I brought in 2 of my shuttles there and loaded each with 3 zealots and a templar.
Attack!
I sent the shuttles in first with the orders to drop the troops on top of the tanks. The tanks were spread out in a line stretching out of zero’s choke. One shuttle was sent slightly higher than the other in order to cover a greater area and minimize effects of splash on my units. Right after I ordered the rest of the troops in. I issued a move command to the remaining 4 zealots and an attack move one to the dragoons. The templar trailed. This tactic ensures that the zealots get right into the midst of tanks and do not pause for other targets. This also means that if they trigger any mines, they drag them into the tanks. Dragoons are fine with attack move command. They are actually pretty intelligent when fighting in open areas. Obviously templar have to go behind so that they don’t get killed right away.
The plan worked. My zealots and templar landed among the tanks. Zealots engaged, casing the tanks to damage each other with their splash. I used the templar to cast 4 storms, trying to catch as many tanks as possible.
Tanks firing on the zealots in their midst allowed the dragoons to close in and open fire. Zero brought in the vultures, but they were out of mines and presented little danger to the goons. I cast the storms from the trailing templar targeting the bunched vulture with one and individual tanks with 3 others. There must have been at least 10 tanks sieged around the expansion command center. All of them got destroyed in short order with the majority of my goon army still standing. The 4 trailing templar survived as well. I targeted the command center next and destroyed it quickly.
With zero’s expansion in ruins, it was time for the last stage of my plan. I figured that when zero saw that his expansion was going to fall, he would run the SCVs to the nearest available resource node, his natural. There they would cause oversaturation of the mineral line, and then I would use the templar from the peon control squad that were still in the shuttle over zero’s natural cliff.
So, as soon as the command center blew up, I shifted my view to zero’s natural cliff. I dropped the 2 templar and stormed the mass of SCVs working below 4 times. One of the templar died to siege tank fire. The one that survived had 17 kills. If the other one was anywhere near that, I figured he was cost-effective enough even for Mark4 to pause and take notice.
My opponent’s expansion lay in ruins, yet something bothered me. It seemed almost too easy. At the beginning of attack, I was still under impression that zero was ahead of me. Ten tanks made me wonder, “only ten?”
not fucxking agains
“Our base is under attack!”
A red ping came out of my 6 main expansion. Six tanks were firing on my nexus. And eight vultures laid mines all around my gates and headed out to 6 natural. Mangled bodies of a few goons that I produced during the battle were disappearing into the ground.
Attacking those tanks and mines by ground was not going to get me anywhere. I would lose too many units and it would take them forever to get there. I would have to take the high road. I grabbed 3 shuttles, including the peon control one from zero’s cliff, loaded them with templar/zeal/DT from the center army and headed for 6.
My 6 nexus blew up and tanks started destroying other buildings one by one. At the same time the vultures busted into 6 natural and zero used them to manually target the probes, ignoring the fire from 2 cannons that I had there. I tried running the probes but the vultures still managed to kill about 10 before the last of them was destroyed by the cannons.
The tanks on the plateau continued to work on the buildings. A pylon and a gateway joined the nexus. I quickly flipped to my main and added 2 gates and 2 pylons there to compensate for the losses.
The shuttles finally arrived at 3 (you know you are desperate when speed shuttles are not fast enough). I dropped the troops on top of the tanks and stormed. They died killing only 2 zealots.
6 main still had almost half the minerals left, so I rebuilt the nexus and the lost pylon and gateway. I also started a nexus at 6 mineral only. And I used an observer and a few goons to clear out the mines around my gates at 6.
The tanks on top of my cliff were really getting to me. Despite all my attempts to keep the units coming out of my main out of their range, the tanks got a few of them. The replay showed that the 4 tanks there had 12 kills between them. Considering that some of those kills were my former expansion buildings, that was 8-9 goons or zealots that I would not have.
I grabbed two shuttles. Loaded them with two templar, 2 probes, and 4 zealots and headed for the bottom right island. I dropped one probe on the lower ground of the island and one on high along with the troops. The first probe began constructing a perimeter of cannons, and the second started a nexus. I also noticed that my +2 weapons upgrade was done and quickly started +3.
Suddenly I thought of a rather disturbing fact. During the entire game, I had not scouted top left island even once. I grabbed the one remaining shuttle, put 2 zealots and a dragoon into it and headed for that island. When I approached it, the shuttle came under turret fire. I turned it around and tried dropping the goon on low ground. It was immediately hit by tank fire and died. I ordered my shuttle home. I missed zero taking it. Now the island would not fall to anything short of an all-out assault.
I did not have much time to worry about that. 5 dropships arrived at my bottom right island. Only 2 cannons were done and they were not enough to kill any of the terran transports. Zero unloaded his troops. 6 tanks and 8 vultures. I used the two templar stationed on the island and stormed for all it was worth. 2 of the tanks and 3 vultures died, but the remaining units made a short work of my defenders. The tanks then sieged and opened fire on my new expansion. All the buildings were complete, so I could not even cancel anything and save myself some losses.
Luckily, I had brought the two shuttles back to 6. I quickly grabbed 4 zealots and 2 goons and headed for the island. I thought I might just be able to save the nexus. It did not happen.
When zero saw my shuttles approach, he unsieged the tanks. When my troops landed, he use tank dancing and concentrated fire from 5 vultures to kill all of them without any losses. Moments later, 3 of his dropships came back. They carried over a control group of SCVs and 3 more tanks. The SCVs immediate started creating a perimeter of cannons. I did not try to drop again. I lost that island too.
The Situation Did Not Look Good
The situation did not look good. I controlled my main and all 3 expansions at 6. The main was dry, but the 6 expansions were working full swing, though the main would run dry in about 2 minutes. Zero held his main and natural and both islands. His upgrades were 1/1 versus my 2-0-0. But he also held my cliff, making expansion there impossible for me. Since my 6 main expansion was about to run dry, I figured his natural was going it if it was not dry already. This meant that his main strength came from the islands. Well, I could not crack those without carriers. They would help me clear my natural as well.
I started 3 stargates at my main and a nexus at my mineral only. If you recall, WGTour Temple 2.3 is built so that 9 o’clock mineral only is safe from cliff tanks. I also moved all my ground forces to the middle and positioned them so that no dropship could get to 6 main. I was back to 2 control groups of goons and one of zealots with templar support. I kept making more zealots from the gates to save gas for carriers. I also sent a zealot to patrol 3 main and natural. Thankfully, they were empty. In addition I ordered an observer to keep scouting 12 and 3 mineral onlys. All were clear.
As soon as the stargates were done, I started a fleet beacon.
Suddenly the zealot patrolling 3 came under attack. I saw a command center float towards the minerals on the plateau and the dreaded 5 shuttles unloaded a mix of tanks and vultures. Those troops killed my zealots and I saw in the last bit of dead unit vision that they headed for the ramp.
I could not allow zero to get that expansion. I grabbed 3 shuttles, filled them with zealots, and sent them to 3 o’clock main minerals. At the same time, I sent the dragoons and an observer towards the 3 choke and ordered them to wait there.
The shuttles unloaded the zealots near the command center. There I found peons already hard at work. Zero must have used dropships to ferry them there. 12 zealots made a short work of about half before the rest could flee. Zero lifted his command center. I took the zealots and moved them towards the ramp. At the same time, I ordered the goons to attack.
My observer gave me vision of tanks lined up along the edge of the plateau to fire on the incoming units. It also showed me that all mines and vultures were below the ramp. My zealots reached the tanks at exact same time as the goons opened fire on the mines and vultures. I had to micro the goons to make sure they did not try to go for the tanks that were firing on them from high ground. The pincer maneuver worked. Zealots finished the tanks at almost the same time as the goons killed the last vulture. +3 weapons upgrade completed. Fleet beacon completed too and I ordered 3 carriers and their capacity upgrade.
Who let the dogs out? No, really?
Throughout the game, every time I attacked, zero countered. Unfortunately for me, this time was no different. Just as I ordered the capacity upgrade and a new batch of troops in my gates, 5 dropships appeared over 6 natural cliff. Zero scanned and unloaded his dropships, trying to drop off units some distance from one another. I cursed. This made my storming ineffective. 4 tanks, 10 vultures, and 4 SCVs. Oh I still stormed, but when the dust settled, the small goon/temp/zeal/DT force on my cliff was dead while zero still had 2 tanks and 6 vultures. The 4 SCVs survived too and immediately began making turrets. I ran the probes to 6 mineral only. 6 main was dry, and just like that, I was down to one mining expansion.
Immediately I took 2 probes and sent them to 3 main and natural and started a nexus at each. The force that I used to kick zero out of there stood guard. I brought new zealots to help and loaded 12 into shuttles to be on standby.
Arclite fire hit the morphing nexus at 3 main. I moved my troops there. Goons and shuttles with zealots. I grabbed an observer too. Zero had dropped 4 tanks and 6 vultures on my plateau and was firing on the nexus. A minefield was already in place.
I unloaded the zealots on top of tanks and put goons on attack move. Zero had tanks below the cliff too, but a wide area where units cannot go that 2.3 Temple has on 3 main plateau prevented them from being too effective. I killed the intruders and was pulling back when one of my shuttles fell to concentrated boosted goliath missiles. Before I could reach, another shuttle died. The third barely made its escape.
Zero must have scanned my main and seen the carrier tech. At least those golies were still 1/1.
My first 3 carriers popped out and I ordered 3 more while filling the ones I had with interceptors.
What's its?
Before I had a chance to do anything else, zero arrived at my 3 o’clock front door with a goliath/tank mix. He had around 8 golies and 5 tanks, and he sieged up below the 3 ramp but in range of the nexus. I had about a control group and a half of goons, but they were all on the plateau. In the open, it would have been enough, but there was no way I could use them to attack zero while coming down the ramp with them. I had 5 zealots left too, but they were not going to change anything. I had to cancel the nexus at 3 natural.
I could have brought the carriers over and tried to do something using them, but I thought better of it. We were in a stalemate. I could not go down the ramp, but zero could not come up—my 18 goons and 5 zealots would be enough to stop that. So 3 main was safe at the moment. 9 mineral only also came on-line, and I was mining there full swing.
Instead of rushing the carriers to 3, I ordered them to attack my natural cliff at 9. They were clearing out the turrets when 8 vultures arrived at my 9 mineral only. I did not put cannons there. My probes started dying. I immediately diverted the carriers to defend and moved 4 goons I had in main to assist as well. The carriers killed 3 vultures before zero withdrew them. He tried running them to 6 mineral only, but I had cannons there, and he lost 3 more before withdrawing completely. I started 2 cannons at 9 mineral only and the carriers finished off the last of terran units on the cliff there.
My scouting observer saw command centers land at 12 and 3 mineral onlys almost simultaneously. SCVs started constructing mass turrets there immediately.
I expanded to my natural.
Three more carriers came out of stargates. I ordered 3 more. The new carriers joined the old one in heading for 12 mineral only. 3 turrets were already done there, but they fell quickly to my carriers. I targeted and killed the command center there as well despite zero’s attempt to float it away. A squad of golies about 12-strong arrived and I withdrew the carriers and headed for the top right island.
Zero had been quite resourceful. Every spot of land except some SCVs paths there had a turret. The resources were gone though. It was not worth the fight. I turned the carriers around.
Over a control group of goliaths hit 6 mineral only. I saw that I had no chance and ran the probes to the main plateau there. I saw that I needed my ground army if I were to face the golies. I took the carriers and headed for 3, where the stalemate was still going on with the only development being that zero started a command center at 3 natural.
I, Robot goes down
My carriers arrived and floated over the cliff. It was time to break out. I targeted one goliath with carriers and sent my ground army in. I ordered the zealots to attack move in front and made sure they made it down the ramp first. Then I ordered the goons to move down. I kept between carrier control and targeting one golie at a time while moving the flying behemoths back and forth, and controlling the goons, ordering the ones below the ramp to attack move and the one above to keep moving down without losing the pathing.
I lost all 5 zealots and 3 goons but killed all the tanks and golies. Just as that battle was over, the golie squad that was attacking 6 hit me from the south. At the same time, another squad arrived from zero’s main. I found myself facing at least 3 control groups of goliaths with 12 goons and 6 carriers. I pulled the carriers behind the line of goons, losing one in the process and the turned around the faced the enemy. I was beyond the choke and golies bunched up trying to come through it. Taking the lone surviving templar I had at 3, I stormed them twice. The tide turned and my forces began to push out of the choke, goons leading far enough ahead that golies could not reach the carriers. One by one my goons were falling, and goliaths started to press in again, able to reach carriers now. Two more of my capital ships exploded. But finally, the last of the goliaths fell. I was left standing with 3 goons and 3 carriers, all in carious states of damage. I targeted and killed the SCV that was making the command center at 3 natural. Zero saw it and cancelled the structure.
Three more carriers came out of the stargates. I ordered interceptors and surveyed the situation. Zero had 3 mineral only and probably had retaken 12 mineral only as well. He was also mining the bottom right island. I had my natural and my mineral only and was mining both moderately well. Many of my probes we stuck at 6. I also had a nexus at 3. It was done and I had produced 6 probes there already. I looked like it was coming on-line as well. And I had just destroyed a huge army with comparatively few losses.
A dropship flew into 3 main from the north and unloaded 4 vultures right into the mineral line. They killed the probes. Zero reloaded the vultures and left. Ok, scratch the part about 3 coming on-line.
“Our base is under attack!”
My natural at 9 was under attack from the cliff AGAIN. 4 tanks were firing on it. I grabbed the 3 new carriers and tried to get there to kill them, but the carriers had only one interceptor each at the time. By the time they reached the tanks, the nexus was already in the yellow. It blew up in another 2 volleys. Zero unsieged them, lost one to my carriers, loaded the remaining 3 into dropships and left for his base. In under 2 minutes I was down to one active expansion.
Probes began dying at my 9 mineral only. Apparently zero took his fleeing dropships from my cliff in a big semi-circle and landed just outside my mineral only. He was now firing on it, killing the peon.
When I first saw the tanks on my cliff, I ordered the goons and carriers from 3 to return to my main. They had just arrived. I targeted the 3 tanks with carriers and killed them. The mineral only nexus lived, but I only had 10 probes left at 9 total. I started to transfer some from 6 when zero attacked again. 4 tanks and over a dozen golies hit 9. I tried pulling back and luring golies in to kill them out of tank range. It worked for a bit. I killed at least 6 without taking any losses. Then zero’s next batch of troops arrived. Another dozen of golies. Two of my carriers went down almost simultaneously. I pulled back into my main, but it was only a matter of time. I had no income and called “gg.” Zero responded likewise.
Comments:
-Three expansions gone in under 2 minutes…man. Zero’s drops very effective. He targeted my income and it paid off in the end when I was just unable to keep up. Throughout the game I was off balance constantly having to rebuild stuff or move my base of operations. This is what good dropping is about—keeping your opponent on his toes.
-My main mistake that I see, and that I actually make too often for my taste, is that I did not keep an eye on the top left island. After the game Zero said he expanded there soon after taking his natural. No wonder he was able to put together those huge drops. He had one more resource node than I knew about. Had I been scouting that island better, I am pretty sure I could have won the game.
Thanks for reading this. Hope you enjoyed it, and as always, all comments are welcome, both about the report and the strategies that I and my opponent used.
Raider
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