Hostility Incorporated (HI) brings to you....
Another Hostile~SCV Battle Report.

VS.

Intro

It all starts with the well-known player Sunzi looking for someone to take him on in a 1v1. I manage to talk my buddy ThanatoZ into taking the challenge, and a game is set up... the Map? Lost Temple. (Gag)

Sunzi techs to heavy metal really quick while Thana goes for Hydras/Lurkers. I was amazed at how fast Sunzi worked, as he quickly pumped out 12 marines and 3 tanks to overrun the zerg base. Thana, whining about how he hates the Z vs. T matchup, asks for a re-match. I plead to Sunzi to do something besides Lost Temple, even if it was BGH. (okay, not that bad) But a game is made, and as I join, I'm glad to find out that the map we're using is:

Winter Conquest is a Brood War Ladder map. This icy terrain has 6 starting spots, with 7 mineral patches and a geyser. Each base has a natural with 5 mineral patches, and 2 plateaus are in the center which have a geyser and several mineral patches each.  On the low ground, there are 2 vespene geysers located next to the plateaus.

ThanatoZ, wanting anything but Zerg, selects Terran and lands his Green command center at the 12 o clock spot.
Sunzi lets nature decide what race he will fight with, and a Red Nexus warps in at the 6 o clock base in his name.

Terran vs. Toss, eh? That was the match-up in my first report. Terran totally owned the Toss in that game, but this could be different....

It's Snow Time!

Sunzi, of ALL people.... builds a PYLON first. WTF is he thinking? He adds a Gateway, Gasser, and Core. Either he's going Reaver drop, or teching to air.

And what the hell is Thana doing? He's building stuff... in front of his RAMP!!! 2 Depots and a Rax are quickly added there for some awful reason, then he starts Gassing and makes a Factory.

Thana takes a minute to scout red out, and leaves an SCV in Sunzi's base for an extended amount of time. The Roving Reporter then relays to his Terran comrades that a Forge is being warped in. However, right when it left, Sunzi warped in a Robotics Facility. Once that came up, a Support Bay soon followed. I wouldn't have waited, just put it in the spot where the SCV couldn't see.

Thana has made his 2nd factory, and starts to pump some vultures. A starport is soon to follow.

Meanwhile, 2 dragoons are planning an attack outside of Thana's base..

Saravis:  Alright now, Klargen. Praetor Sunzi says he has calculated the perfect plan for us in attacking the Terran base.

Klargen:  Oh yeah?  What's that?

Saravis:  We will attack in a split flank formation, me on the left, you on the right.  If one of us is attacked, we will execute a phalanx pull and join our 2 sides, thus trapping the attackers in the middle.  If there is no resistance within the base for the first 300 feet, we will attack in a leap frog formation, one of us staying in front of the other, gradually proceeding into the base.  If resistance shows up, the one in the back will execute the ultra-secret Goon Dance, and quickly dash to the back side of the enemies.  

Klargen:  How about we just attack the damn guys?

Saravis: I like your style, Klargen!  Let's go!

Sunzi sends Saravis and Klargen to make the first attack of the game, and starts taking potshots at the Depots. They raze one and puts the 2nd one into the red before the vultures come to stop the threat. Thana doesn't bother to repair it and lets it die, but he constructs 2 more away from his choke. What a waste of a hundred minerals....

Following the skirmish at Thana's choke, Sunzi keeps the Terran on their toes by dropping a Reaver and Dragoon(?) into the SCV line. About 5 workers are busted, but a pair of Siege Tanks put the Protoss pair to death. Gregory the SCV goes to clean up the mess of Blue Goon Soup, and the rest of the SCV's continue gathering minerals.

Thana responds to this by running a Vulture with Ion Thrusters into Sunzi's probe line, and kills about 5 before the remaining probes revolt. 4 vultures then go to challenge some dragoons that were camping around Thana's base. The vultures were fended off, but laid a few mines in the area. However, Sunzi had made an Observatory once he saw the threat of Vultures, and had an Obs with his Goons. The Spider Mines proved to be obsolete; hunting practice for Sunzi's goons.

In another move, Thana takes about 5 vultures, sends them flying straight through the dragoons that were still camping, and lays mines in Sunzi's natural. Once again, a goon and an observer stop the threat. Thana really needs to switch to a new strategy if he wants to damage the protoss...

And he does. While Sunzi is busy setting up his new expansion at the 7:30 main, Thana drops 2 tanks in the Ice Pit below Sunzi's probe line. A zealot comes to stop this threat, but a tank unsieges and breaks him up. 2 more Zealots are then dropped in, and stop the threat for good.

At Sunzi's expansion, he has a Stargate and a Fleet Beacon that just warped in. The Stargate begins to flash, and I thought to myself.... Carriers. Although most think it's a newbie strategy, they would be the perfect retaliation to Thana's all-out ground assault. Besides, if you actually let a Protoss begin to mass carriers... you deserve to die. Greatly.

Once the first carrier arrives, Sunzi flies it to Thana's main, filling it with interceptors on the way.  He launches a relentless assault on a pack of tanks that are guarding Thana's natural atop the cliff.  A shuttle flies in for assistance, carrying 2 goons.  The goons are dispatched quickly, as that's all the tanks can fire at. The Carrier manages to kill off 2 of the tanks before they completely unsiege and retreat.  The carrier flies off to camp around the 10:30 main, where Sunzi is rallying his carriers.

Thana has expanded to his natural and the 1:30 Main. Sunzi has taken the 8:30 natural and the main at 4:30. A pair of carriers start harrasing Thana's natural and retreat, seeing that a pair of turrets were being constructed. Thana hurriedly sets up a line of siege tanks, and a few turrets and goliaths at his natural. Once the carrier count reaches 5, Sunzi begins an attack with the Interceptor-packing blimps. A few of them die from the Goliath's powerful Hellfire Missiles, and are forced to go back. 2 more carriers join up soon after, bringing the count back to 5. Sunzi sends some zealots to join up with the carriers and bring down the remaining defense at the natural.

2 more carriers begin their flight over to the Terran main, and the ones there already target the SCV's and command center. With no defense left there, Thana's CC and SCV's fall. Sunzi looks to halt the economy before complete destruction, and flies his 7 carriers to the 1:30 main.

Thana posesses nothing to halt the threat of Sunzi's carriers, and the game is conceded. A well-played game by both guys, but Sunzi came out on top with the Goodyear Blimps.

Scores

Lessons

1. When your opponent starts going Carriers, you need to have some Ghosts with Lockdown on hand. EMP Shockwave is also a good tool to use against Carriers, as it takes their total life down by 1/3.

2. Using Spider Mines is not a priority, but Thana made it seem like it was. He continued to do it after he KNEW that Sunzi had detection. At that point, he should have switched to a new strategy, like Tank/Goliath containment.

3. Whatever you do, stop Protoss players from getting Carriers. Sunzi's expansion which he pumped the carriers from had little-to-no defense. 3 or 4 tanks would have been more than enough to halt the construction of carriers.

4. Both players should have taken advantage of the plateaus in the center of this map, and expanded a little earlier. There was also 1 main and 4 naturals left unattended, along with the 2 plateaus.

5. Keep your upgrades going. Hot-key your Armories, Forges, Chambers, whatever. Check on them periodically and make sure you keep the upgrading consistent. Here is a sample of the upgrades, taken at the end of the game:

(Air Upgrades were at 2 for Sunzi) Well... that's all for today. If you'd like to be featured in a Hostile~SCV Battlereport, E-Mail Me and I'll see what I can do. Bye-bye!

This has been another

Production