Introduction:

This is a text-only picture less battle report. It is based on a 2v2 game on vanilla StarCraft. My limited html skill was used to make whatever improvements I could. The participants are not famous, but the game was intense… I just hope I capture that in this report!

Map:

Dire Straights (I’m sure you know what it looks like.)

Players:

LloydCarr (me), protoss (random), lower left

endiablado, zero (random), lower right

Vs.

I_am_amzing, zero (picked), upper right

[UI]General, terran (random), upper left

Openings:

I can’t speak for our opponents…

I did my normal vanilla protoss build, going straight for reavers. By the time my reaver popped, I had two goons and a healthy number of probes to support. My base consisted of sufficient pylons, a single gateway, and robo facility, robo support, an observatory, and a cyber core.

endiablado went dual lairs for hydra drop, and had about a team of hydras by my drop time. He had speed, but carrying was still researching.

First Action:

I took my first reaver and immediately flew north. At this point, we knew that the northeast player was zerg from his scouting overlord. As I ventured north, I noted a terran command center landing on the island above me. I flew past, with full intent of returning later. The rear of the terran mineral line was well secured with a rather extreme defense of three turrets and two bunkers. I was sure there were tanks somewhere within, so I took my shuttle and flew home. At home, I grabbed another shuttle, along with two dragoons, a zealot, and a probe, and set off for the terran encampment. Although turrets were started at the east, I found a clear landing zone among the minerals and set down my troops. The terran command center lifted off as soon as I arrived, and the island was soon clear. A nexus was started shortly after.

Around this time an overlord at the north end of endiablado’s island spotted an incoming drop fleet of six or so overlords. Endiablado’s hydras were quickly dispatched to attempt to stop them. I_am_amzing had not chosen the top of the island to drop, and none were on the ground when endiablado’s hydras approached. The overlords swiftly veered east under anti-air fire from the defending hydras, and began dropping forces. endiablado’s hydras and few lings would have been outnumbered, but the loss of a single transporting overlord with its load and the fact that the attacking zerg were dropping made the battle much closer. A single purple hydralisk remained at the end, and his vain attempts to kill endiablado’s hydra den were put to an end by newly produced zerglings.

After these minor conflicts, I expanded directly above me with the probe I had dropped, and endiablado dropped to the right middle island, building a hatch on the lower half of the island.

Taking Stock:

LloydCarr (me) had my main and the expansion above me. I had a nexus and two pylons warping on the island northeast of me. My upper expansion was defended by a reaver, two goons, a zealot and five cannons. My main had a few cannons for simple coverage, and I had a goon defending my newly started expansion. At home I had a good number of shuttles along with various ground troops up to templar tech. Upgrades were being started, and observers were being dispatched to various points of interest.

endiablado had his main and a single expansion to his northwest, on the central/middle right island. Neither had any defensive structures to speak of, but he had a good number of hydras and several lings at his main. He also had an evolution chamber for hydra upgrades and a spire was about halfway done.

I_am_amzing, much to our dismay, had started and fortified an expansion on the middle right island. It was well defended with about four sunkens and two or three spore colonies.

[UI]General had not started an expansion yet. We had an overlord over the central top expansion and an observer patrolling the central/middle left island. An observer had skirted the scattered turrets and gotten a good look at his main. He had a pretty decent wall-in, with five tanks and three bunkers surrounded by various production buildings and a science facility with a physics lab.

Second Action:

LloydCarr (me) started immediate scout production for the inevitable battle cruisers. I also placed gateways on each of my two working expansions for quicker templar production. I also set down a fleet beacon and eventually an arbiter tribunal; the former for scout upgrades and the latter for recall capabilities. My ground forces were quite impressive (as they had not, as yet, been used); consisting of a large number of goons, eight zealots, and twelve templar spread between my main and my two expansions. At this point, I was almost positive that we had the game won. I dropped a probe and some other random ground troops on the central/middle left island.

Suddenly, the overlord over the middle top island died to several wraiths, and three dropships whipped in behind it. I sent a nearby observer, and noted a command center landing. (Presumably the one I had forced to abandon middle left.) The troops dropped off consisted of four SCVs, two tanks, eight marines, and two goliaths. The said wraiths hovered overhead for additional air support. Almost immediately production was started on three turrets and a bunker. Before my observer was driven away completely, I caught a glimpse of another bunker and a couple more turrets under production. endiablado had firmly established central/middle right, and I now controlled my main, the nearby small islands, and central/middle left. I only had one nexus (on the top half) of central/middle left, but it was surrounded by cannons and had templar on it.

My attention was soon caught by central/middle right, my partner’s expansion. Many overlords of I_am_amzing’s hydralisks landed at the north end and started an intense battle with endiablado's mutalisks and hydras already stationed there. My partner quickly loaded up reinforcements and drove off the attackers. Soon two battlecruisers and eight marines were dropped on the same island. The defending hydras of my partner were not much of a match, so I attacked with my small force of four scouts. I lost a couple and then retreated; another four or five overlords dropped off more of endiablado’s hydras and the battlecruisers fell quickly. At this point, my partner was more than a little worried about his expansion, and dropped off two drones on the lower half of my defended central/middle left island. I sent a single templar to his expansion, partly because I was busy and partly because I was lazy. (Poor play on my part.) The kicker was ANOTHER set of  I_am_amzing’s upgraded hydralisks sent to the expansion. endiablado’s outnumbered and outupgraded hydralisks fought valiantly, but the arrival of four battlecruisers overwhelmed them. I was little to no help as my lack of attention did nothing but get my full-energy templar killed.

As we were cursing our horrible luck, endiablado suddenly exclaimed “(well, I’m sure you can guess)” I saw a patch of purple in his base, and thought “muta attack!” But when I looked, I was horrified to see the growing forms of two nydus canals! Hydras remaining in endiablado’s main were sortied in an attempt to kill them, but the were not quick enough. Inevitably the two canals hatched and I_am_amzing’s troops poured through. We gave up endiablado’s main for dead, and sat back to think.

Taking Stock:

LloydCarr (me, heh, I just think seeing the color helps  :D) had been relatively untouched. I still had an impressive collection of ground troops, which had not been utilized at all, and a squadron of scouts with both sight and speed. I pretty much had all the tech available, but my supply was close to full.

endiablado was in sore shape. His main had fallen, and his forces consisted of three overlords of hydras dropped on his new expansion on the middle left island. He started a hatch in my main for insurance.

I_am_amzing had his main and middle right, along with a hatching expansion central/middle right. He had an undisclosed number of hydras, but little other tech to be seen.

[UI]General had his heavily fortified main and top middle expansion. We had seen glimpses of a fairly large battlecruiser fleet and a couple of science vessels with EMP.

Third Action:

LloydCarr (me) finally decided to get off his duff and do something. I loaded a large number of troops into shuttles, and launched a full-scale assault on [UI]General’s main base. I failed miserably. There were a ton of tanks behind rows of supply depots, and returning battlecruisers finished off what the ground troops didn’t. After securing his main, they proceeded to assault my central/middle left island. We desperately needed to hold ground, as my partner’s tech buildings were on the island, and less importantly, it was my last mining operation. Strom crackled and scouts soared in, and a few hydras reinforced what I had. We killed all but two battlecruisers, and I soon had the northern defenses rebuilt. I gathered troops for another assault on I_am_amzing’s main, but was repelled in a bloody battle between my zealots and dragoons, and I_am_amzing’s zerglings, hydralisks, queens, and defilers. They slowly fortified the central/middle right island with increasing numbers of spore colonies and sunken colonies.

Taking Stock:

LloydCarr had lost substantial troops in his ill-advised drops on the two mains. I still had seven shuttles, a reaver, three dragoons and several zealots. I had scattered templar with hallucination, two arbiters, and eight scouts, some of which were badly hurt. I still had about 2k/2k in the bank.

endiablado had quite a lot of money, and tech buildings up to lair clustered on the central/middle left island. He had a hatch in the back of my main. He now had many hydras defending our central/middle left cooperative expansion and floating around my main.

I_am_amzing now had central/middle right fully operational and very heavily defended. He had annoying queens parasiting and ensnaring from time to time, but we had not seen any broodling. (perhaps he had just not had the opportunity.) He had nydus canals linking his expansions, and a horde of hydras to switch where needed. Several defilers had made their presence known earlier.

[UI]General had been fairly quiet for a long time. He occasionally yamatoed outlying cannons or overlords, but for the most part his two battlecruisers and two science vessels held position over the middle right expansion. We had little knowledge of his capabilities, with unknown ground troops in his two bases.

At this point, things just slowed down. Much of the board was mined out, and every remaining island was heavily defended and/or worthless. I don’t know if any of you have been involved in this, but things slow way down. Each player has his or her own little “project.” LloydCarr started an intense policy of harassment with his eight scouts. I took out several overlords and isolated hydras. endiablado, still with a lot of money in the bank, continued building hydralisks. [UI]General yamatoed whenever he had energy, and I_am_amzing spent his time protecting his isolated troops from scout retaliation.

Now, endiablado and me were playing from the same room. We realized that this game was in a very strategic state, and discussed our options deciding on carriers and guardians. Unfortunately, endiablado had limited minerals and gas. We started calculating, using a calculator to figure out the tech to guards. He had enough minerals for five guardians, but only enough gas for two. As we sat pondering what action to take, an astute observer pointed out that we had infinite gas. We chuckled over our own oversight and he killed the nexus and assimilator at my main, taking them over for his own collection. I built five carriers, and used up my remaining minerals on several more templar.

Around this time, I_am_amzing commented “This has been a great game.” All the players agreed, and we prepared to continue playing. Strangely, the great game played to this point was ruined by a simple mistake: after our discussion had ended agreeably, I_am_amzing said “his main is better.” We looked at each other, and moved our respective forces to the edge of my island. Sure enough, five dropships and seven or so overlords came soaring over the thin river from the east. endiablado’s hydras and my scouts made quick work of the dropships, and no amount of evasive maneuvers from the purple overlords could save them from my scouts. Some of them dropped off insignificant troops in a vain attempt to save them from certain destruction, but they were mopped up with little problem. Expletives were uttered, but the turning point in the game had passed. A secondary drop was attempted, but upon the appearance of my scouts again, they dropped their cargo at the west edge of the lower right main. I circled hungrily with my scouts, daring him to load back up.

After this point, the game was all about harassment. Every single unit was still important,  and only two zealots were sent to [UI]General’s island. They succeeded, along with four hydras and substantial assistance from our valuable guardians, in destroying every non-mobile building in his long deserted main. It was really of little consequence, as all the moveable buildings had been relocated. Soon after, hit-and-run guardian and scout attacks on I_am_amzing’s main prompted a removal of all his available troops there. (I personally disagree with this, the middle right expansion was much easier to defend.) Upper middle and central/middle right fell to our four guardians and two remaining scouts (yamato and inattentiveness had taken their toll). GG’s were exchanged. I ended up with about forty probes, five shuttles in various states of damage (one was also parasited), three zealots, two critically hurt dragoons, six templar, one parasited arbiter, four carriers with lower-than-capacity numbers of interceptors, and one yellow scout.

The game was a stunning two and a half hours long, and I’m afraid I haven’t nearly done justice to the intensity and strategy involved. The thing that made it quite fascinating was the slow portion that was contained in the last hour. There were countless scout strikes and yamatos, with everything, I mean EVERYTHING, microed to the max.

Thanks for reading; I hope it was at least a little entertaining!