The Date is December 28, 2000, the snow in New York State that has lied on the ground for nearly a week continues to sit there, and stare at the unsuspecting citizens of the United States. Christmas has come and gone, and the inhabitants of the world are still absorbed in their new toys. Undoubtedly this will create an influx of newbies to the starcraft community. However, many of the regular starcraft players are still off playing with their new toys/software, and thus there are very few experienced players on the days after Christmas. Meanwhile, back in New York State, the()vermind is having a ball. After recovering from a very bad cold, he has been re-infected with a mutated strand from his little sister. With a heavy cough, and some slight dizziness, the()vermind (now known as I) gets on bnet and finds a couple of people willing to play. Their names are all familiar, consisting of T_Mac, Illgetdroped, Wangsonn, +AnathemA+ and ++Falcon++.
The players and I agree to play a 2 on 2, with the observers being ++Falcon++ and I. The map will be Lost Temple and the teams will be a bit obscure; Illgetdroped and Wangsonn against +AnathemA+ and T_Mac. The game begins right when all of us get into the game. As the scramble to get into their preferred mouse positions begins, I rush through the piles of papers and reports on my desk, looking for a blank sheet. Finally, right when the countdown reaches zero I find a pencil and a partially blank sheet of paper.
The game begins with the familiar minimap of the Lost Temple lighting up, and letting the player's locations be revealed. To the northern side of the map we find the invincible T_Mac, controlling the powerful protoss protectorate force. His color being teal, T_Mac in probability checks out his ally, +AnathemA+ who controls the Zergish Zerg, clad in red and found on the western side of the map. The other team, consisting of Wangsonn and Illgetdroped emerge with their bases only a mile away from each other. Wangsonn has drawn the tilly tally terrans, with their clothes clad in brown and their command center on the bottom part of the map. His ally, Illgetdroped is found on the right side of the map, clad in white and commanding the protoss prancers all the way from the North Pole!
All four players are well known especially T_Mac. But, since all four players chose random it cannot be determined who will win this match. By far, the best people on the field are Wangsonn and T_Mac, but they are on different sides, and it will be a great battle indeed upon the lands of the Lost Temple.
Stage 1 Build Orders and Scouting Missions
The 4 players begin construction of their buildings, with Illgetdroped gaining the title of the first player in the game to complete a building. What building is it? Well, of course it's an assimilator, or a pylon. Same thing, so Illgetdroped with his massive pylon continues to build. His build order consists of a pylon, gateway, another gateway, 2 pylons, assimilator, and another gateway. To evaluate this, Illgetdroped is preparing for a mass ground troops move. To support this assumption, Illgetdroped has 6 zealots at his main when the first major event of the game begins.
Meanwhile, his ally, Wangsonn commanding the brown terrans also has a rather sane build order. He starts with a supply depot at his choke, a barracks, supply depot, refinery, 2 factories, 3 supply depots, and a machine shop to one of the factories. Obviously you realize what Wangsonn is going for, and if you don't I pity you. Looking at his units, one would know that Wangsonn is going heavy metal! With 6 vultures scattered around his base, Wangsonn is in a position to fend off large attacks of zerglings, marines and even zealots!
But, the other team has build orders as well, with T_Mac leading this team by building the first building after Illgetdroped. T_Mac's build order consists of a pylon, 2 gateways, 3 more pylons, and 2 more gateways. It is easy to assume what T_Mac is going for, but as of yet we can't be completely sure unless we look at his units. T_Mac has constructed a small army consisting of 7 zealots.
T_Mac's ally, +AnathemA+ with his ferocious Zerg horde is located on the western side of the map. His build order is as follows; an early hatchery at his natural expansion, a spawning pool at his main, a creep colony at the expansion which soon turns into a sunken colony, a hatchery a bit to the east of his natural expansion's hatchery, another sunken colony, and an extractor at both of his bases. Needless to say this guy is going for a massive swarm of cheap little Zerg units.
Concerning scouting, both teams send at least 1 unit to explore the unknown. The one who really puts up with it is Illgetdroped, who sends a probe out to both T_Mac and +AnathemA+'s bases. Of course, +AnathemA+, on behalf of his team, sends an overlord south to Wangsonn's base. T_Mac also sends a probe to Illgetdroped's base, thus finishing all the early game scouting of the battle.
The Middle Game Battles
Death was every window, and hell at one dark window for both sides during the game. The leaders of the respective armies prepare for their plans. While T_Mac prepares what appears to be a zealot rush, his ally, +AnathemA+ builds up his defenses. During this time, Wangsonn is attempting to go heavy metal, with almost no defenses whatsoever, except for maybe a couple of marines. His ally, Illgetdroped appears to be going for large amounts of infantry (zealots). All players await the first move of the game.
The players get their wish as T_Mac orders his zealots, all 7 of them, towards Wangsonn's base, which is walled in by 2 supply depots and a barracks. However, behind this wall in are precious few terran forces, a couple of marines at best are at their stations near the supply depots, ready to fend off an attack. The zealots begin their assault on Wangsonn's base, with a single marine firing for all he is worth. The zealots rip their psionic blades through the supply depots as a lone zergling from +AnathemA+'s base arrives, seeking carnage.
However, through the gloom a funny noise is heard, coming from behind the terran barracks. T_Mac looks in horror at the 6 vultures stationed feet away from his troops. As the first zealot is killed from the fragmentation grenades, the zealots successfully destroy one of the supply depots, letting them in. All 6 zealots and their zergling escort wallop through. At that moment the zerglings pops into a pool of blood, shattering +AnathemA+'s chance of taking glory from the field.
Yet, with opportunity staring him in the face, T_Mac orders his zealots to attack the remaining supply depot, letting the zealots take fire from the marine and vultures unopposed. Despite this, the zealots are only heavily damaged, and when the supply depot is completely destroyed, T_Mac sends the zealots on a joy ride towards Wangsonn's command center. On the way, the zealots see the two factories owned by Wangsonn, and immediately begin to rip into them.
Wangsonn, enraged that these zealots have stepped through his main defenses, orders his vultures to make a frontal assault on the zealots. The vultures take heavy damage, and Wangsonn orders the vultures back, to continue making hit and run attacks. When several zealots follow these wayward vultures, the zealots are crushed, and the remaining zealots follow within minutes.
Yet, as the last zealots die their clumsy deaths, a new zealot invasion is taking place. Illgetdroped, realizing when his ally is under is attack, that T_Mac has committed the majority of his forces to the invasion of his ally, decides to take advantage of this massive opportunity. Without telling his currently recovering ally, Illgetdroped orders his entire force of zealots towards T_Mac's base. The zealots march at the head of the column, and when they reach the ramp, they see a bunch of pylons, no resistance. The zealots marches straight up to the primary gateways, still no resistance. The zealots march up to T_Mac's nexus, and finally, emerging from the gateways, comes resistance.
The resistance comes with a lone teal zealot, intent on keeping these invaders out, or until Zerg support arrives. We see on the mini map that a handful of Zerg units are on their way. The zealot dies in seconds, and the probes innocently mining are slaughtered when the Zerg support arrives. The Zerg forces, in the form of zerglings, are able to kill a handful of zealots. Then, T_Mac produces a couple more zealots; these defeat the enemy zealots, and keep the other zealots sent by Illgetdroped at bay (meet zealot with zealot, that's what I say).
Wangsonn, realizing all to late that he has enough vultures to support Illgetdroped's failed attack, masses up his vultures. As the last white zealot into a small jet of blue flame, Wangsonn orders his army of 8 vultures up to T_Mac's main. Unfortunately, at the ramp to the teal base is a bunch of zerglings and photon cannons. The vultures lose 2 speeder bikes before turning back with the fact that they did no damage fresh in their minds.
+AnathemA+, yearning for victory on the battlefield that is not defensive, orders a whole bunch of zerglings towards Illgetdroped's base. All the zerglings are killed, and in preparation for larger assaults, Illgetdroped begins warping in cannons at his choke.
For a couple of minutes, the battlefield is at peace, with no battles or shots of any kind. However, Wangsonn sends a group of vultures out to lay vulture mines on the route out of T_Mac's base. Yet all sides prepare huge numbers of troops, with Wangsonn going for mass tanks, T_Mac for zealots, high templar and dragoons, +AnathemA+ going for mass hydralisks, and Illgetdroped making zealots, high templar and dragoons. The only troop movement is T_Mac moving some of his forces into the middle of the map.
The peace is shattered when messages fly onto the observer's screens with words like "now?" "I guess go." T_Mac and +AnathemA+ speak these words. Sure enough, the majority of +AnethemA+'s hydralisks, and a portion of T_Mac's powerful ground army move to the perimeter of Illgetdroped's base. The troop numbers are as follows, 40 hydralisks, 8 zealots and 2 high templar. Illgetdroped's defenses are minimal, with only 2 cannons, 6 dragoons and 2 zealots at the pass to his natural expansion.
The battle begins in earnest when the word goin' appears on the screen. As the zealots rush at the enemy dragoons, the mass of hydralisks open fire with their lethal green spikes. It becomes evident within seconds of the start of the battle, that both T_Mac and Illgetdroped are preparing psi-storms with their respective templar. The storms effectively began at the same time, with T_Mac storming Illgetdroped's high templar and a couple of dragoons while Illgetdroped, with the templar currently being stormed himself, casts a psi-storm on the mass of hydralisks that are dangerously clumped together. The effects of the storm are more pronounced for Illgetdroped, because he has fewer troops. The storm cast by T_Mac is able to hit the white dragoons in the front line while not hurting T_Mac's zealots that are attacking the dragoons at the same time. Concerning Illgetdroped's storm, it kills a bunch of expendable hydralisks, nothing more.
With the help of T_Mac's psi-storm, the invasion force is able to advance forward and hit the photon cannons stationed near the nexus of the expansion. However, the hydralisks are still dangerously close together, and a psi-storm, cast by a high templar on the cliff, is able to wipe many of the already damaged hydralisks out within seconds. While T_Mac's forces break off from the main invasion force to destroy the expansion, +AnathemA+, with about 15 heavily damaged hydralisks, move up the ramp to face the second to last ditch defense being mounted by Illgetdroped. The hastily put together defense consists of, 2 photon cannons, 4 dragoons, and 2 high templar.
The hydralisks move up the ramp, and many are slaughter with one shot from the cannons and dragoons. Heavy fighting occurs, but the protoss forces are beaten, bringing 11 hydralisks with them. Then, what's this? A zealot is moving in from Illgetdroped's strip of gateways, and at white's expansion we hear gunfire, whatever could this mean?
Well, for those who forgot that this was a 2 on 2, Wangsonn's reinforcements have finally arrived. Also, Illgetdroped's chief zealot slaughters the remaining hydralisks that are already damaged from the previous spurts of combat. Wangsonn's reinforcements are able to overwhelm what is left of T_Mac's protoss forces and Illgetdroped's gateways pump troops out at an astonishing rate. When all of the enemy troops are clear of his base, Illgetdroped has 4 dragoons, 3 high templar, and 2 zealots guarding his intact natural expansion.
Wangsonn, realizing that he has the opportunity to attack +AnathemA+ without encountering the massive hydralisk swarm that has just been eliminated at the gates to Illgetdroped's base, orders a dropship to fill up with tanks. The dropship is ordered to the little patch of land not directly on the mesa which +AnethemA+'s base is located on. The tanks begin their bombardment, and the sunken colony found near AnethemA+'s lair is eliminated within a couple of seconds. Frantic calls from +AnathemA+ begin pooping up on the screen. T_Mac dutifully says, "use your hydralisks." This is because, during the massive Zerg/protoss invasion, +AnathemA+ has been morphing hydralisks, just not too many.
Thus, 8 hydralisks travel from the northern part of the Zerg base to the south, and using their superior ground, are able to wipe the 2 tanks out while only losing only one of their number. With the realization that he cannot expect to have massive swarms of hydralisks at all times, +AnathemA+ begins the morphing of hydralisks in eager anticipation of the battles to come while the other players continue to build up their respective armies. T_Mac continues to build ground troops, focusing more on dragoons than on zealots, Wangsonn is still going heavy metal, and Illgetdroped, still recovering from the invasion, is going for ground troops as well.
The next move of the game is an invasion on the part of Wangsonn and Illgetdroped. Illgetdroped, knowing that T_Mac is the closest opponent, suggests a rather interesting offensive plan. While Illgetdroped believes that his forces do not outnumber T_Mac's, they actually do. Thus, the invasion blueprint is based upon that assumption. Wangsonn and Illgetdroped also assume that +AnathemA+ has a sizable force of hydralisks, which he does. Therefore, the plan is carried out with Wangsonn ordering a huge amount of tanks to the middle of the map, and commands them to take siege mode. A couple of seconds afterwards, Illgetdroped sends almost all of his ground forces, towards T_Mac's main.
A small battalion of troops led by T_Mac, consisting of 10 dragoons and 3 high templar meets the protoss forces. The battle begins with pot shots coming from T_Mac's dragoons, hitting Illgetdroped's zealots. Before the zealots get into hand to hand combat range with the dragoons, a psi-storm crackles above the teal dragoons. Within moments, the zealots make short work of the teal dragoons. +AnathemA+, realizing that his partner needs help, orders his hydralisks towards his ally's main. The hydralisks march right into Wangsonn's siege tanks.
The trap is sprung, with T_Mac in need of reinforcements while those reinforcements, in the form of hydralisks, are yards away to the southwest in heavy combat with terran siege tanks and protoss infantry. The Zerg forces are completely annihilated, but they bring down a substantial part of the terran force with them. +AnathemA+, realizing the dire need for additional troops in the area, sends a group of hydralisks located just above his natural expansion to the battlefield. T_Mac, having lost the only troops he has between the center of the map and his natural expansion, orders ground troops from his main into the action.
By a trick of fate, the 2 counterattacks arrive within seconds of each other. This produces a huge predicament for the invasion force. While the counterattacks in themselves are not very substantial, together they have the ability to beat this invasion force. The battle begins with Illgetdroped's remaining ground troops being attacked from both the pass to T_Mac's base, and from the hydralisks sent by +AnathemA+. Wangsonn's remaining tanks are overwhelmed, but not without bringing the Zerg hydralisk count in the area down to 5. Illgetdroped is able to fight off the main counterattack sent by T_Mac and is able to kill a couple of hydralisks before a new counterattack, straight out of T_Mac's gateways arrive.
The counterattack, consisting of 4 zealots, while very small, has the ability to smash the already damaged protoss infantry. Thus, Illgetdroped orders his remaining forces on an orderly retreat back t his base. The zealots, during the retreat, are able to kill one of Illgetdroped's high templar. When the white forces arrive within range of Illgetdroped's photon cannons, the teal forces halt the retreat and reform near the choke out of T_Mac's natural expansion. The remaining red hydralisks begin to morph into lurkers.
Let's look at the battle at this current point. T_Mac has lost a substantial portion of his ground troops, but it appears he will be back where he was before the invasion within 10 minutes. Remember that none of his buildings were touched during the battle, so we can assume that he will not have to rebuild. T_Mac's ally, +AnathemA+, has lost a huge amount of hydralisks assisting T_Mac fight off the invasion in the center of the map. Overall, this team will not be able to fight of a full scale invasion without assistance from their ally, which might not be possible either way because both players are devastated concerning units.
Meanwhile, the opposing team is in a much better position. Wangsonn has only been attacked once during the entire game, this being an early game rush. During the entire battle to this point, he has gone heavy metal. However, he committed about 60% of his troops to the failed invasion of T_Mac's base. Yet out of all four players, he has lost the least troops percentage wise. Wangsonn still has a substantial number of tanks, goliaths and vultures ready for an immediate attack right after it appears that the storm has lifted. Wangsonn's ally, Illgetdroped, also has had his position changed because of the failed invasion launched on T_Mac. While his infrastructure has not been harmed, Illgetdroped has lost huge numbers of troops both fighting off an invasion, and launching one. However, he still has a large number of dragoons positioned around his gateways. He also has a number of high templar. Overall, he has a much more powerful army than T_Mac of +AnathemA+.
All told, Wangsonn and Illgetdroped are in the best positions, with huge amounts of troops ready for an invasion or a defensive action. T_Mac and +AnathemA+, in the last battle, were treading water like crazy to survive. Concerning teamwork, the medal as of yet has to go to Wangsonn and Illgetdroped, for their stupendous showing of organization in their two pronged attack on T_Mac, even though it failed. However, T_Mac and +AnathemA+ are in a pretty good defensive position with lurkers scattered about on the path to T_Mac's base. However, very few troops and defensive buildings are stationed around +AnathemA+'s natural expansion. For now, peace settles over the battlefield.
The peace is broken when Illgetdroped sends a large force of dragoons towards T_Mac's base. Lurker spines begin to hit the protoss shields, and the white dragoons begin to move around in confusion. A Comsat beam flies over the field, and several lurkers are killed. Yet now, we hear not spines and dragoons falling, but mechanized combat, and tank blasts coming from the west. Here, we find the reason for Illgetdroped's attack, as a distraction for Wangsonn to send his heavy mechanized forces towards +AnathemA+'s base while the majority of Zerg units are off preparing for an offensive on T_Mac's base.
Forced to do without the lurkers, +AnathemA+ orders 9 hydralisks to open fire on the terran tanks. The tanks pound the hydralisks mercilessly, and without taking a loss, kill all of the Zerg troops in the counter attack. +AnathemA+ is now in a rather bad situation. With the majority of his army gone, and his ally in no position to support him, +AnathemA+ must produce a force of troops strong enough to defeat the terran forces.
During this time, Illgetdroped has sent a large portion of his army that was fighting the lurkers towards the main battle on the outskirts of +AnathemA+'s natural expansion. At the same time T_Mac has been delaying these troops with a couple of zealots, while frantically building troops to beat this assault on his ally. The delaying actions give T_Mac a couple of seconds from which he produces more troops.
T_Mac sends his counterattack force from his main towards +AnathemA+'s natural expansion. Dragoons, tanks, and vultures are now attacking the expansion, with Wangsonn having the majority of the troops in the attack. The attack force has cleared the 2 hatcheries at the front of the base, and is now attacking drones. At this point of time T_Mac's counterattack force arrives from the north.
The attack starts as a surprise, with the T_Mac's forces attacking unopposed. But when the Evolutionary Chamber that the dragoons and tanks were attacking is destroyed, the 2 protoss forces begin to open fire on each other. Illgetdroped's forces receive most of the assault, and are thus overwhelmed. When it comes to the tanks, T_Mac's forces are killed before they even get in range. The counterattack is eliminated, but brings down with them the majority of Illgetdroped's forces in the region.
With nothing to stop him, Wangsonn pounds +AnathemA+'s buildings to pulp slowly, very slowly. Relishing every building, Wangsonn destroys the hatcheries on the outskirts of the natural expansion easily. In order to speed up the destruction process, Wangsonn orders a large amount of mechanized forces forward to destroy the Zerg buildings.
In a last minute effort to force the invasion force to return to their respective bases, T_Mac orders a bunch of dark templar into Illgetdroped's base. In addition, +AnathemA+ sends some hydralisks that were loaded up in overlords floating over T_Mac's base, into Illgetdroped's base as well. These forces are easily beaten by a Comsat, and a couple of tanks sent by Wangsonn. T_Mac, desperate to save his ally, orders a large force of zealots towards the invasion force.
The counterattack is doomed from the start, with siege tanks pounding them before they get in range of the marines and medics sent north by Wangsonn. But the zealots persist, and are able to wipe out all of Wangsonn's marines and take out a couple of tanks as well. By the time the counterattack is defeated, the attack force is now down to 1 tank, 2 dragoons and 2 medics.
The invasion force continues on its journey, destroying Zerg units and structures on the way. T_Mac, frantic to preserve his ally, puts together a force of 6 zealots, and 5 dragoons. The forces move in and wipe out what remains of the invasion force, but a new threat are on the way. It's a coordinated offensive made up of zealots and marines on the way to attack +AnathemA+'s base! Worse for +AnathemA+, T_Mac's forces are pulling out back to their own base, not knowing about the threat that's about to descend on the their Zerg allies.
As the teal forces pull out, they encounter the attack force. T_Mac, realizing that his ally will die no matter what, tells his forces to pull out, even if they're in the middle of combat. With their way virtually clear, the invasion force rushes in. +AnathemA+, realizing his time is over, watches helplessly as siege tanks blast his base defenses (consisting of 2 sunken colonies). After giving T_Mac a hardy good luck, and saying gg to the crowd, +AnathemA+ prepares to take his last breath. However, he wastes it on some last words.
T_Mac is now without a partner, but he is not without hope. T_Mac has a large ground army, and a substantial amount of expansions from which he can draw resources. His infrastructure has only been disrupted once, and while he has lost huge amounts of troops both in attacking his enemies and defending his ally + his base, his army is sizable. To be exact, it consists of; 6 dragoons, 3 high templar, and 23 zealots at the ramp to his main.
Mini-Map Update
On the other side, Wangsonn and Illgetdroped are in a bad position. While they have eliminated +AnathemA+, they know that T_Mac is a difficult foe, and fear an offensive when their forces are still no the rapidly disintegrating purple creep found in the former red main.
Their fears prove correct when T_Mac orders his massive ground army towards the center of the map. The Wang/Ill alliance is informed of this movement by spider mines laid by Wangsonn while the remaining Zerg buildings were being destroyed. A couple of losses are sustained, nothing serious to think about. Skirmishes occur as the protoss invasion force advances further and further.
By now, news of this large invasion has reached the alliance members, and moves are being made to retaliate. While the troops found in the ruins of the former Zerg base set a course for the invasion force, Illgetdroped sends 6 templar towards Wangsonn's base, which appears to be T_Mac's target since the troops are not changing course.
Their suspicion proves to be correct when the force of zealots, recently upgraded with speed, race in front of the main column, and receive tank fire from Wangsonn's tanks. Wangsonn's defenses are on the lower side of adequate. With only a couple of siege tanks in siege mode, and a whole bunch of spider mines, the defenses could be overrun by a very strong attack.
To Wangsonn's luck, Illgetdroped's forces returning from the campaign on +AnathemA+ run right into T_Mac's main column. A furious battle erupts between the slow dragoons and high templar representing T_Mac, and the fast, maneuverable zealots representing Illgetdroped. Be reminded that T_Mac outnumbers Illgetdroped's zealots, so don't be surprised if either side wins.
Minutes pass, as both sides reinforce both their own defenses, and build more troops. T_Mac, with his 8 gateways, builds 15 zealots, and hurls them at Wangsonn single file. Wangsonn's defenses consist of; 11 marines, 6 firebats, 2 medics, a tank in siege mode, and 4 high templar sent by Illgetdroped. This force should easily dispatch the zealots coming in single file. But, do to the sheer size of the column of zealots, and their ability to be resilient, this attack just might work.
The attack begins, with the zealot's attack the marines first, then realizing the danger presented by the firebats, turn their attention towards them. When all the firebats are dead, a storm crackles through the air, damaging and killing many more zealots. The remaining zealots charge at the marines, which, with the aid of medics, survive the assault. 2 dragoons sent by T_Mac to support the attack, fall to a psi-storm and marines.
In retaliation to these 2 attacks, Illgetdroped and Wangsonn prepare a large assault on T_Mac's main, correctly assuming that his last 2 offensives drained a large part of his forces. These forces are Wangsonn's troops from the invasion of +AnathemA+ that have taken shelter in Illgetdroped's base, and large amounts of ground troops sent by Illgetdroped. Unfortunately for the allies, a couple of troops remaining from T_Mac's 2nd offensive are returning home, and run into these troops that are assembling at the mineral only expansion outside of Illgetdroped's base. With the forewarning of this invasion, T_Mac orders his new ground army to attack the invasion force while it's off-guard.
The 2 forces immediately catch sight of each other and storms immediately ripple through the air. T_Mac, who has more templar, crushes the majority of the protoss forces that would have made up the invasion force just with storms. At this point, the majority of the attack force lies with Wangsonn's marines. Some of Illgetdroped's remaining force strays a bit too far north, falling into range of T_Mac's zealots. The majority of Illgetdroped's forces are killed, but the remaining ones fall back, with the teal forces in hot pursuit.
Wangsonn, realizing in a flash that he has the opportunity to destroy the only major teal force in between his forces and T_Mac's main, orders his marines forward. The marines bump right into the zealots that are chasing Illgetdroped's wayward forces. The zealots have the advantage for a couple of seconds, where the marines are still moving, but not firing. The marines, a couple of seconds later, open fire, killing 1 zealot before being ordered to retreat by Wangsonn. Right when the marines begin their retreat, storms are cast by Illgetdroped's templar, inflicting moderate casualties on the teal zealots.
Wangsonn and Illgetdroped prepare for their assault by reinforcing the invasion. At that moment a lone high templar moves away from the invasion force, and towards the natural expansion. A storm crackles through the air, killing a couple of zealots, and bringing the units normally available for the defense of the natural expansion down to a minimum. Wangsonn now moves his tanks forward, to be in range of the photons on the top of the ramp leading into T_Mac's base.
In a desperate attempt to avoid defeat, T_Mac orders 6 dark templar onto the scene to cause as much carnage as possible. The templar first encounter a group of terran infantry, sent by Wangsonn to try and destroy the 2 cannons located at the top of the ramp. The templar, in conjunction with the cannons, kill 9 marines before being forced away by a Comsat, which in that amount of time, a dark templar is killed. Wangsonn, believing that T_Mac will not begin another counterattack, orders his remaining 2 marines and 3 medics to attack the cannons still located at the top of the ramp.
Within 3 seconds, the dark templar return, and kill the marines that are firing at the cannons. However, the Comsat has not disintegrated yet, and a tank in siege mode opens fire while Illgetdroped orders 2 high templar to cast storms. Only one dark templar gets out of this fiasco alive. The single tank is ordered forward, and while it's being pelted with photons by one of the cannons on the top of the ramp, converts to siege mode. One blast is issued, while at the same time the cannons fires another photon. Both of the two fighters die instantly.
T_Mac, fearing that this single tank was just a battle between his main line and the enemy skirmishers, orders another dark templar south, to harass the enemy. The dark templar begins attacking a tank, when Illgetdroped orders one of his templar to storm the area around the tank. This does more harm than good, for while damaging the tank, it does little to the dark templar. The tank is destroyed, and the dark templar begins swiping at a marine, who is killed in 2 swipes. When the veteran assassin ventures into a group of 3 high templar, 1 firebat and 2 medics, it immediately begins attack the templar. This is the last straw for the allies, and Illgetdroped immediately storms the area. The dark templar evades the storm stealthily, and 2 templar, 1 medic, and a firebat die.
T_Mac, upon seeing that the attack force that the allies have against him is very small, orders a new wave of zealots, which have just left the gateways, out to engage and destroy this attack force. The opening shots are by tanks, which have reverted out of siege mode to evade the dark templar. The zealots skillfully engage the tanks first, and when all 4 of them are destroyed, they move to kill the remaining protoss and terran infantry. Within moments, what was once the force that could have ended this game has been reduced to a mass of corpses and scrap metal.
This is a more hurtful blow to the allies than you think. The allies have very few expansions that have not been mined out or have been destroyed. While Wangsonn has not been attacked in any major way since the early game, he has mined out his main and natural expansion. He does have a command center at the mineral only expansion to the north of his main, but it has 4 scvs mining it. Illgetdroped, who has been the victim of a couple of invasions already, has 2 probes mining at his natural expansion. T_Mac on the other hand is warping in a nexus at the mineral only expansion near the natural expansion that was formerly occupied by +AnathemA+. He also has the island expansion to the west of his main, and has driven Wangsonn out of the southeastern island expansion, but has not settled there himself there yet. Resource wise, T_Mac is winning the battle.
The allies now prepare a new offensive. A scouting vulture has found the nexus being warped in by T_Mac at the mineral only expansion. Since the expansion has no defense, it falls easily. The force sent by T_Mac to rescue the probes there is stopped dead in its tracks when all of the probes die. The rescue part stopped in the center of the map, and when Wangsonn discovers this, he orders a force of 6 firebats to attack the protoss force of 3 archons, 2 dragoons, 1 high templar and 3 zealots.
Needless to say, the firebats will clearly lose this battle, and Wangsonn knows it. He orders the troops back to his base, with the force in hot pursuit. The zealots catch up, but many are blown to bits by tanks, and others by spider mines. The other ground troops arrive, and are slaughtered by the same two-terran units. Fate it seems wants these three players alive for as long as possible.
T_Mac, with his massive pools of resources, constructs a new attack force, consisting of 8 dragoons, and 6 zealots. The force marches straight for Wangsonn's mineral only expansion to the north of his main. Unfortunately for T_Mac, above the route that his troops took to Wangsonn's base is an observer, stationed there by Illgetdroped. Wangsonn has a couple of seconds to prepare his base for the incoming invasion.
The first resistance T_Mac encounters comes in the form of 2 vultures. Wangsonn, in his haste to prepare his base for the incoming invasion, ordered these vultures to lay mines at his mineral only expansion. These 2 vultures are easily dispatched, and the mines detonate without causing too much damage. The invasion force races through Wangsonn's territory, like malt liquor travelling around the bloodstream, slowly slipping into the brain and causing errr, unusual behavior.
The invasion is finally halted at the command center of Wangsonn's natural expansion where a relief force sent by Illgetdroped and a battalion of infantry sent by Wangsonn from his main unites. The terran force is the first to arrive, about 10 seconds before Illgetdroped's force. The terran infantry force, consisting of; 5 firebats, 4 marines, 2 medics and 2 vultures run into T_Mac's remaining 5 dragoons. Due to a lack of coordination, the 5 dragoons defeat the force of infantry and vultures easily, without a single casualty. However, the dragoons are heavily damaged, and when the 5 zealots sent by Illgetdroped arrive, the dragoons are all killed once again, with the relief force only suffering one casualty.
Illgetdroped, with his remaining forces, mounts an assault on T_Mac. The main reason for this offensive is the hope that T_Mac has committed everything he has to the previous offensive, and has no units left. There is nothing farther from the truth; T_Mac has a force of 3 dragoons, and 6 zealots waiting at the pass to his natural expansion. Illgetdroped's attack of zealots fails miserably, and with his resources gone, and no will to fight left, he surrenders the game.
The game is now a 1 on 1, and it really isn't in dispute who will win now. Wangsonn has lost his ally, and with the majority of his forces gone from both defending his base and making offensives, he knows that no matter what happens, he will lose horribly. No money in the bank, no troops to defend his base, Wangsonn gives a hearty "gg", and leaves the game.
Well, this concludes my second report. If you want to learn stuff from this report, feel free to read it again, and again, and again. It's interesting to think though that while T_Mac still had an ally, he was not doing so well, yet when he lost his ally he gained individuality, and won against 2 separate players. We must now see what the players deserve. To Wangsonn and Illgetdroped, I give the teamwork award. To T_Mac I give the most skillful play award. Finally, to +AnathemA+, I give the, umm, post in the comments section what +AnathemA+ did that was noteworthy. Bye Bye Everyone! Bon Voyage, Chow, etc. PS. Please vote in teh poll below, scroll down past the scores
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