Starcraft II: Terran Overload

It’s me again, and we’re back to more blogging about games I’ve played (could be better if I knew how to upload the replays, but that’s me for you).

Beware the Stalkers

In this game, I am playing a 2v2 on (Shattered Temple? I think). It was me and a Terran player (who promptly bailed) versus an old rival, Terran, and his Protoss buddy. This Terran person, ULIZERG (apparently his name was Ulises, but he didn’t play Zerg), was a bit pale the last time I tackled him; he was the poor fella that I crushed in FFA because his base was poorly constructed and, frankly, ill-prepared for the occasion.

This time, it wasn’t a FFA, and it was just me versus him and his (easily competent) Protoss friend. Since my pal flew the coop, it gave me a slight mineral advantage, since I had control of his SCVs, and can use his supply and whatnot to my advantage. Unfortunately, I’m bad enough trying to allocate my own resources, but it was a good early boost. I tried to set up slight defenses for that base (as in a few marines), so it easily crumbled mid-game. I repelled a few early zealots, but stalkers… well, let’s leave it at that.

In my own confines, I decided to try out an unorthodox maneuver: go hellions. Typically a player would go marines and marauders as a base army, supplementing it with tanks or air support later in the game. Against Protoss, that was probably my best bet, especially when my opponent will likely be massing stalkers. He did.

Prior to this game, I played the Tactical Command challenge, which briefed me on unit strengths and weaknesses. I already knew most of them (which therefore made it absolutely stupid that I blindly continued to go massed hellions even after seeing stalkers; I should have switched to marauders or marines, at least), but during the game I learned how to dance with hellions. The technique is very effective against such units as zerglings, which stretch into lines as they chase after your retreating units, making them easy meat for hellions.

This technique I used (imperfectly, I’d say) against the big ball of stalkers. I would say that it worked, to some extent, partially because the Protoss player failed to utilize any of his sentries’ special abilities. I cooked his 10-20 stalkers, but not before losing my entire hellion army.

I then tried to perform a drop on ULIZERG (who had not made so much as contact with me). It was a good idea, in theory; a pair of medivacs dropping eight hellions would be catastrophic behind enemy lines. Unfortunately, it was mid-game by then, and that meant units such as tanks, banshees, and even a thor I spotted. In short, it didn’t work.

As a critique, I would like to point out that ULIZERG’s build was still a bit wacky, following no viable massing route (was he going to mass banshees? Build several thors? Or go heavy in siege tanks? What about marines?). He learned a bit about walling in, though I would not have recommended three supply depots (fortunately for him, and stupidly for me, hellions do not make good base breakers). I would like to fight him in a more head to head fashion in the near future.

But I digress, and return back to my ailing situation. I had nothing but hellions and a small batch of marines, plus maybe one marauder. My foe had a great deal of stalkers at the ready, easily replacing his lost units with what I would assume to be about five warp gates, give or take (my scan showed at least three). This time my dancing wasn’t as effective, as he utilized sentries’ force fields to disrupt my attacks. While I defeated this wave (with, again, heavy losses), I would not last the next.

In the final attack, my dear Protoss friend went to get blink for this stalkers, making them devastating, teleporting demons. Take out the initial defenses, blink through my wall, destroy my base. Game, set, match.

(As a side note, I think I somehow got the Training Day achievement, which asked for ten marines before a preset time. It occurred to me that achievements might only be possible through PvP melee matches, and not games against solely AIs. Either that or I sucked at massing marines before.)

Mules and Discord

In this 2v2, it was a full-on Terran orgy. I went 3rax early on, getting starport quite late into the game for medivacs, though I amassed a healthy number of marines and marauders. My Terran ally went massed hellions, flanked by siege tanks.

So ten minutes in, one of the opponent leaves. Whoop-de-doo, that doesn’t mean much. When I scanned the available expansion, I found what could only be a wall of siege tanks, plus marines and marauders at the ramp (they later stood with the tanks in front of the expansion).

So I got to a bit of experimenting. I had a small chat with David about whether I could use MULEs to cause friendly fire among siege tanks. He said it was a waste of potential minerals to do such a thing. Long story short, I tried it out. Scan the enemy, then drop MULEs in their midst.

It didn’t go as well planned as I had hoped. When I dropped them near the tanks, they did well damage; I almost destroyed one. But when I dropped them near marauders, they got chewed up (and would probably suffer the same fate against massed marines). Since that didn’t end well, and neither our marines, marauders, tanks nor hellions could break the line, I went battlecruisers.

Although my ally decided to go in with his hellions anyway, he suffered more damage than he put out (though retaining a fair bit of his hellions). I used my battlecruisers to hit and destroy a few of the tanks, but then the marines began harassing my battlecruisers. Solution? Move them back, right into the tanks conveniently parked at the ramp. Boom. Gone. That let me finish off the rest of the tanks and marauders with little issue, and the game went south for the foe very quickly.

On the Offensive

Up to now, I would like to point that I figured out why I can’t play Starcraft II to my fullest extent and get to even the theoretical silver level, had I had the full game. I incorrectly stated that I was gun-shy in an earlier blog. No, I’m not gun-shy. I’m just not an aggressive player in any way. I am so hesitant in my next move that I have, in essence, a petrified army. That was why all too often the enemy came to me before I went to the enemy. The only exception to that was when allies pushed forward first; I would then supplement his or her army with my own forces.

It was this reason why I have yet to win an honest 1v1 on Xel’Naga Caverns, nor have been effectively able to stave off harassment techniques. I get pushed around, simple as that. I am not the type of person to take an initiative.

That said, this game may be the only exception to that whole humdrum that will ever happen.

On Discord IV, it was I and a Zerg player versus two Terran foes. The beginning was pretty standard; I holed up the ramp while Mr. Zerg went about his business. After all, Zerg players have no viable early wall-in techniques, short of a pair of spine crawlers deterring the path.

I decided, “what the heck, strike first this time, you pussy.” And I did. With nothing more than a dozen and a half marines, I went off toward the enemy bases. The wall was fairly light; I managed to break the bunker with relative ease, as well as its forces, and entered the area. I wreaked a bit of havoc (apparently enough to make one player quit), but the other player’s marines soon silenced my assault force. No huge loss there, since I prepared this time around, making more marines while my attack army went on its sojourn.

Which was good, since apparently at the same time, one foe decided to send a small battalion of marauders our way. I didn’t realize they were striking (it was just slightly after my army attacked), but between marines and lots of little zerglings, they were easily repulsed.

Then there was a bit of a lull for the next five minutes. My ally was spreading more creep and massing more zerglings (some of which would later become banelings), while I went steroids for marines (supported by medivacs). While I expected the Zerg player to go ahead first (after all, Zerg was genuinely made for rushing, though ironically wasn’t made for rush defense), I went on ahead with my marines.

I tore through all of the defenses; vikings, marines, even the few tanks went down, and though I suffered heavy losses–half the marines perished–I persevered, oddly enough. And just as I mopped up the place (I think I also went battlecruisers in this game as well, just for air support), in rolled the zerglings and banelings, just in time for the demolition derby.

Win.

Damn it, I want to play the full game so bad. I want to be matched up with the horrible players that are in my league, instead of playing custom games with gold and diamond and platinum and plutonium players that could wipe their ass with my army. I’m not too keen on playing the other races, though; I’m having enough trouble with Terran, and playing the others might throw me off more than I am now. Not that I don’t like the Protoss stalker, or the Zerg mutalisk (they’re such a douche to fight against).

Ah well. Nothin’ more I can do but wait.