Daily Ladder-age #41: Phalanx returns!

Our match is on Neo Planet S. I've been starting to like this map more and more recently, mostly because I feel like it's easier to play the style that I like to play. I do my usual 13 gate, 15 double gas, while Fry goes for a 12 gate, single gas at 14(or15), then going for a faster cybernetics core. I personally love myself some early gas since I always get faaaaaast tech.



In my humble opinion, I do much better in the early game because of my build. Fry's macro appeared to be good, but he had some wasted time due to getting his faster gateway and cybernetics core... but that's just my opinion, maybe what he's doing works very well against some other builds. He goes for a fast stargate (1gate stargate) while I go for my usual DT opener.


No defenses? No problem!

His first scouting phoenix pops out very quickly. I personally prefer to save my phoenixes until I get 2 of them (so that I can pick up a probe by surprise!) but since Fry didn't know what I was doing I suppose that his decision was pretty good. He narrowly misses my proxy pylon, but I do wiff it and allow his phoenix to find my DT shrine. Huge bummer, I probably could have straight up won if he hadn't seen that.


Best scout evah!

I don't like having to be on the side of being suppressed by phoenixes since I used to always do that in WoL, but seeing as that's how it's going down, I throw down my expo AFAP. I'm sure most people can figure this out, but phoenixes aren't very effective at killing off structures. Whenever I open phoenix, the most solid reaction I met was always to expand. And so I did so <3.


Expow! I love it. More bases to have to defend.

Fry gets out his oracle just in the nick of time... in my mind I'm thinking "Whatever, I'll just keep these DTs around and wait for his envision (?) to wear off... Fry says no. His phoenixes pick up my DTs' asses and they get a good ol' laser spanking. I must admit that it was a pretty damn good defense.


NO MOMMY PLEASE! I'LL EAT MY BROCOLIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!1!!

The mid-game section kind of turns into a turtling by me to prevent phoenix damage while teching to blink. I decide that I don't want to be facing him in a macro fight since voidrays are OP, so I aim to get myself up and army and win before that can happen.


Fuuuuu phoenixes.

I may have already said this in the past, but phoenixes are in my opinion the most fun and the most fair harassment units. You can't just make a huge ball of them and harrass then later a-move into an army (if the army doesn't have archons it might go like that though). They also can be stopped pretty dang well by static defense so they're not guaranteed damage. They also require a fair deal of micro to use well. They also are badass since they can move and shoot at the same time.


They even look awesome while flying... dat formation!!!

Looking back at the replay, I actually didn't realize how much of a supply difference there was between Fry and me... about 20 for a pretty good while. If anything, I think that his transition wasn't too good. Since Fry had the advantage in the air, he decided to tech switch into some good ol' Tripods.


I tried to read "War of the Worlds" once... I remember some guy throwing a grenade into a tripod. It actually wasn't too bad.

As blink's research completion is eminent, I move out with my stalker/archon army. I also have +1 attack completed, although Fry also has +1 attack already so there isn't much of a difference there.

By the time I prepare my attack I'm still about 15 supply down... I also have a lot more invested in army than in workers, so the army supply is roughly equal. I manage to catch his phoenixes out of position while moving back, although I don't actually kill any of them. I move in as blink completes.


BlitzKreigBop!

I successfully kite Fry's walk-lots with my archons and stalkers, and the splash and bonus vs bio melts his zealots. My stalkers move in to crush his stalkers, utilizing a forward blink. Fry's colossus, sadly, is still in production. Had that already been completed that battle might have ended differently.



Without any units on the ground remaining, Fry's phoenix fleet gets wiped away too, and I move in for the win.


Poor bastard didn't stand a chance.