"I guess this is the kind of stuff that most reporters generally gloss over in a single sentence, but I took a lot of screenshots of me blowing up random spaceships and I'm damned if I'm not going to use them."
-|]agomar
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| A Tale of Two Terrans on Temple, Pt 1 | | | Author: | | | IP: | XXXX | | Date: | 05/22/99 11:05 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | Starcraft(1), Text Only(1) | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 8, Min: 8
Lifetime Rating for HydraDropper: 7.6667 |  | This is the first part of a two part story, in which I lose a match, learn a lesson, then apply the lesson in a subsequent match when faced with a similar scenario.
On Lost Temple, I start at 3:00 with my beloved Zerg (chosen). Opponent starts with Terran (chosen) at 9:00.
I start with my usual 10/9 drone (extractor/cancel), quick expand to natural expansion, with a few sunkens at the natural's choke protecting both bases. I get economy going fairly briskly at both resource centers and get a hydra den and start pumping hydralisks. I'm still not a very proficient player and they are the all purpose unit I am most comfortable using and I'm the most familiar with their strengths and weaknesses. I realize that they are vulnerable to psi storm, tanks, reavers etc. but really, it's never a BAD thing to have a whole bunch of hydralisks around.
As usual I go lair and quickly research first overlord speed then transport to give ability to do drops as needed (useful for expanding to islands too). As my economy picks up speed I put a third hatch on top of ramp so I can make some sunkens to block the choke as well, also to make more units quickly. I send a drone off to 12:00 plateau and form expansion.
Soon the first collection of firebats and marines arrive, and the familiar and dreaded boom of siege artillery is heard. No prob, I think, I've got plenty of hydras at this point with range upgrade (maybe 3 dozen or so). He is at the entrance to my choke with his force, the massed infantry in front of a few tanks. Much to my horror, I find that hurling the groups of hydras into the teeth of his force causes them to be chewed up, damaging the suport infantry, but they are never able to get to the tanks! And scv's repair the tanks. There are not even bunkers with this tank push, but I am not beating it.
To make a short story short, I waste pretty much all my hydralisks hurling them into the teeth of the push. Maybe I'm able to destroy one or two tanks but they are replaced from home. It looks grim, as the expansion is being torn down, and the main is sure to follow. In desparation I morph a spire at the 12:00 expansion to make some air units. But it is too little too late, as 3 mutas are easily chewed up by the support infantry while bravely trying to take down the offending tanks. As the drones and buildlings get torn down, the only resources I have left is enough to make a few scourge, and I do so just to take a tour of his base which I have not reconned, before the game ends. As he is demolishing my main, I am shocked to note that his main and natural expansion have no units or defense of any kind. He cleaned out the house to bring to the push, and there were not even bunkers or any sieged tanks at home. Some firebats discovered the 12:00 expand and start tearing it down. Good games were exchanged.
Lessons:
1) I need to play more terrans and practice strategies against the relatively early tank push. This is a meat and potatoes strat that I will see again and again if I play terrans.
2) When massing units, I should have maybe massed them in the center courtyard and spread them out, perhaps reducing the effectiveness of tank splash damage and preventing him from setting up his own choke at my base. Once he was there and sieged, I couldn't get out without murderous losses.
3) Better recon would have showed me the vulnerable base (perhaps an overlord , early zergling, or early flying unit). He was WIDE OPEN for a devastating hydra drop. I could have plugged my ramp with some sunkens and a few hydras, given up the natural for lost, delaying his advance to my main while i grabbed my few dozen hydras and dropped them into the heart of his base. I would probably have cleared out both his main and natural before he would have time to clear my last buildings, or force him to pick up and run back to his base. Terran mobility is slow enough that he wouldn't have made it back in time to keep from being cleaned out. Instead all the hydras died in the futile effort of stopping the early tank push. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. Guardians and queens with broodling wouldn't have come in quite early enough to turn back these super early pushes. In the worst case, if he continued to raze my base while I razed his, I could throw down some of the key tech buildings at the 12:00 expansion and start fresh.
4) I resolved to keep the hydra drop counterattack in mind for a future occurrence like this. (Read Part II!) |
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