"Check your ledge, or risk checking into smackdown hotel later. Right T_Mac?"
-Fractal_Wave
|
| Industrial Noise | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 10/20/99 09:10 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 3, Max: 8, Min: 7
Lifetime Rating for Judge~Holden: 6.5882 |   | I have been reading AQD3's and Whoop's battle reports with interest; it is good to see the nwtr/nohunters crowd succeeding at ladder play. As somebody else noted during AQD's last report though, he is always protoss, and although Whoop does play terran, I don't think he has reported on a game where he used them. This started me thinking... (this happens rarely!). I have been a long time terran player, and although I random now (thank you, Whoop) in most games, I still like terran the most. And they are by far my strongest race. So why not report on a few ladder games with them?
I had played four ladder games before this one: three vs. zero, and one vs. toss. The three vs. zero were macro affairs, with me losing one and winning two. The one I lost was to a massive 9 (?) OL drop on my main after I thought (doh!) I had containment on him. The other two I won with M&Ms and SVs. If you look them up on the ladder forum, you will see they were against mediocre (at best) opponents. My other win was against a protoss, using largely factory units.
This game was different: a slightly better opponent who went by the name of Sample_, and who picked protoss. The map was, as always, LostTemple. I, of course, picked terran. I played as Judge~Holden (but others may know me as dekerf, or Apparition-X). I started in the 12 o'clock position, and Sample started in the 3 o'clock position. Not good for me, but not bad either (I maintain that the map is actually balanced, even for terran, as each start has its strengths and weaknesses).
My build order was:
8: Depot (not at choke... see why soon!)
10: Rax
11: Refinery
14: Depot
18: Factory
19: Bunker (!)
He scouted me quickly, as about my 12th SCV came popping out of the command center. I scouted equally quickly, and saw a techish bo: two pylons, gate, and core just finishing. His first two zealots attacked, and I had two lowly marines at this time, and my 18th SCV was just starting a factory. I microed as best I could, but his zealots first killed the SCV constructing the factory, then more SCVs. I engaged with my marines, while simultaneously building a bunker. After losing about 4 SCVs I had killed off his zealots. I restarted my factory, sent another SCV to scout him, and began a second factory. Oh yeah (here comes the "see why"): If I had gone for a choke defense, and he hits this soon, you can often lose the choke and the game in my experience. Choke wall-ins usually work only if he holds off attacking till supply is at 20-22.
The scouting SCV confirmed some earlier hunches. He was teching further... a citadel of adun had just finished warping in, and a templar archives could not be far away! Back at home, I was busy researching mines and building vultures. A second wave of 3 zealots hit me then, which I fended off with 3 marines and 1 vulture, losing only a single marine. He probably could have done better, but I was using my buildings to wall-in my peons, and I was hitting and running with the 4 attack units to whittle him down. I built 4 more vultures, and heavily mined my own choke, then sent 3 of the vultures to attempt an attack on his base. A single goon and a couple of dark templar ended the expedition before it even reached his choke... but I did get a valuable piece of recon: 8 probes were leaving his base, and heading due west. Can anybody else say: "Maynard Transfer?"
The DT continued on to my base, and walked straight into the mines. Unfortunately, I had left 4 vultures parked too close to the mines, and as the mines detonated, not only did they end the short lives of the hidden templar, they consumed the vultures as well! Realizing I had a bit of breathing room now (my mines had ended the lives of most of his offensive units, and if he had built another base, he would not have a lot of cash), I built another factory, began construction of a starport, and a 2nd cc to float to the upper left island. The port quickly turned out a dropship, which was dispatched with a tank to upper right. From there, the tank began pounding on his gas.
Eventually, a shuttle with 2 zealots and a goon landed, and ended my little expedition, but not before I had achieved my objective: destroying his assimilator. Although I thought of doing an 8 vulture drop, scans revealed templar and 2 goons just waiting for me... so I aborted that notion.
Scouting confirmed that he had not expanded to his natural, nor 6 o'clock, so I determined that it was time to end his adventures at 9 o'clock. I sent several vultures, mined the choke, then mined the land above the choke, and attacked. He had a single cannon, and I ran to the south of this, losing a vulture. The three remaining vultures killed about as many probes before he ran them away, and had to settle for being put on "hold" and attacking the cc. Wisely, he began to creep cannons towards them, warped in a gateway, and sent several goons to put an end to it all. Unfortunately for him, the goons met their demise in the minefield. However, the creeping cannons and the new gateway ultimately did my vultures in, just as his nexus reached about 250 hp.
Knowing that I was a base down (my island was slow to come online due to the high micro requirements of my vulture and tank attacks), I knew I needed to expand again. I took my natural by floating a CC that I had built on my plateau, and shortly thereafter sent an SCV to construct a CC at my second natural. Again, mines went up in front of the choke before my first natural, as well as an empty bunker (little bit of psychology). I relied on the mines and 2 tanks on my plateau to hold the fort.
Then, an SCV at 6 perished, and I realized that he was taking this resource node too... not good, not good at all. Again, I dispatched vultures to mine the choke at the entrance to 6 and then attack the expansion. Unfortunately, he had enough cannons this time that my vultures died before doing any damage. Fortunately, the mines they laid claimed more zealots and goons (sent, presumably, as insurance by Sample). "I hate mines!" was his comment. "I dont!" was my quick, if not witty, reply.
At this point, I am feeling cautiously optimistic. I have 4 bases to his 3, although 1 of mine is minerals only. I have brought my factory total up to 6, and have 2 ports and 2 rax. I have only one armory for upgrades though, and no science facility! Hmmm...
Then come the carriers. No surprise really, but not good either. They begin by attacking my island expansion. To defend, I have 5 turrets, and 3 cloaked wraiths. A quick scan reveals no observers, so this will have to do. I send the wraiths, and shift queue them against the 5 carriers. I also start a second armory, a science facility (for more upgrades) and add 4 rax and begin researching stim, range, and build 2 more ebays for infantry upgrades. Goliaths become the sole unit I produce out of the factories. Surprisingly, he fled from the wraiths, rather than lose his carriers. (I say surprisingly cause I think he could have killed my base by the time his carriers died... and I might have been willing to make that trade-off).
My philosophy on carriers is this: they suck! If you let them attack where he wants to attack, they are deadly. They have superior mobility and range, and can do a lot of damage if you give them the time to do it in. So the only way to prevent this is attack, and force him to bring them to you. So attack I did!
I brought approximately 4 tanks, 12 marines, and 20 goliaths (1/1 at this point) to his 9 o'clock base, and began the assault in earnest. Templars and cannons alone whittled this down to about 10 goliaths before I even obtained the upper ground. However, I sent another 16 or so goliaths from my base (6+ factories can crank out a lot of goliaths in a hurry) and attacked his base. Some wraiths intercepted 5 temps on their way to his expansion, and after a mutual exchange of hatred, neither wraiths nor templar were left alive. I shift queued the goliaths against 4 remaining carriers, then went back to base management and expanding to the south island.
After destroying his 9, I went to six, and repeated the same process... 3 tanks, 12 goliaths, 3 or 4 vultures, and 16 or so marines with a few medics went south. This time, the base was leveled with fewer losses. My upgrades had reached 3/3 for my factory units, and I knew his main was mined out... finally, the end was in sight.
I sent all my attack units against his main, after first scanning for templars and carriers. Seeing none, I just attack-moved them on the minimap, and let the carnage begin. A few minutes latter, his base was in rubble, and he said "gg".
Lessons Learned:
- If you are gonna mine, mine hard. A few mines are useless. A lot of mines are invaluable.
- Goliaths rock toss hard. Grapeape first mentioned this to me, but it is so true. They do passably well against goons, hurt zealots bad, and annihilate toss air.
- Scout! I almost surely would have lost this game if I had not noticed his expansions as they were happening, and kept the pressure on them.
- Upgrade! 3/3 factory units are very powerful, and in the end, he was only at 1/1/1. This was a major element in my victory.
- As terran, a combination of units is obviously desirable. In the end, my assaults consisted of M&Ms (to combat interceptors), tanks, a very few vultures, a ton of goliaths, and half a dozen wraiths (for cloaked attacks and rapid response). Units I dont find myself using: SVs (no emp), ghosts (too much micro), bats, BCs, valks.
- Build supply depots. A number of times I ran out of supply. This can happen fast with 6+ factories (I may have had 7 or 8 at the end), 6 rax, 3 ports. This can make the difference in victory or defeat against better opponents.
That is all... maybe not all that exciting a game... Sample was only 1030 or so before this, but it was a step. Watch for further reports to see how the tactic stacks up against better toss players.
Judge~Holden |
|
|
|
Home
Forum
Starcraft Tournaments
