Breadth of Gameplay in SC2 - Page 34

On March 18 2012 11:57 whatthefat wrote:
Having watched and played several games on these maps yesterday and today, I'd like to summarize my thoughts at this stage.

At my level (high diamond), I feel like the character of the game is not immensely different. I mean, the timings are wonky and it takes much longer to reach max, but it's still essentially still one large army slamming into another at some point.

However, I did get to watch some master level games yesterday, and I've included a battle report below for a particularly entertaining game between BlingLing (T) and babysimba (Z) that I think showcases the potential for this change. (Thanks to both players for such a fun game!)

babysimba opened with a 15 hatch, while BlingLing went 14 CC.



On spotting the CC, babysimba made the excellent decision to take a third before pool.



With both players beginning to macro up, BlingLing pushed into the Zerg natural with a handful of marines off two barracks. With some good marine control, he managed to inflict some minor damage, killing a morphing spine, killing 4 lings, and getting home with his damaged marines. However, he did not spot the Zerg third.



BlingLing teched to siege tanks and threw down two more barracks. He also added a couple of missile turrets, possibly fearing 8 minute mutas (which are quite frightening if Zerg takes both high yield gases quickly). However, babysimba had delayed Lair in favor of droning and amassing lings. With map control established, babysimba teched to infestors, while Blingling took the gasless third.

With a medivac out, BlingLing pushed across the map.



Baneling nest was complete, but not baneling speed. babysimba did a reasonable job of cleaning up the pressure, but some cute drop micro and excellent tank spread ensured the Terran forces did some damage.



While this engagement was playing out, both players had taken their fourth bases, and Zerg had started a Hive, and amassed a good group of infestors. At the 15 minute mark, both players were around 130 supply. You might note this is a little low given the appearance of the minimap, with both players comfortably on 4 bases, Zerg on Hive tech, and Terran taking a fifth. This is of course a direct effect of the reduced mineral patches.



At this point, things started to get very interesting. Both players began to split their main army into small hit squads, each trying to take advantage of the other's distributed bases. Simultaneous engagements occurred in the chokepoint to Terran's natural, and along the bottom path of the map.



In the meantime, BlingLing snuck 4 marines into the Zerg third to pick off creep tumors, while babysimba pushed back into the Terran chokepoint with a group of lings.



With the dust barely settled on that skirmish, another began below, with babysimba using some clever burrow tactics to ambush and fungal a group of marines.



At the 18 minute mark, Zerg decided it was time to spend his huge bank, and dumped it into 7 ultralisks, bringing both players to about 150 supply.

Terran next attempted a drop on the Zerg fifth. It was quickly spotted, but the distraction allowed BlingLing to move into a strong highground position, cutting off Zerg's sixth. Considering the position too tenuous, he unsieged and maneuvered this force to rejoin his main army.



Terran's macro was now starting to pull slightly ahead, with a supply lead of about 30. That might sound really bad for a Zerg in a ZvT. But in this reduced resource version of the game, falling behind in supply does not seem to be quite as grim. From my limited experience, there seem to be more opportunities to pull oneself back into the game now that the macro moves at along at a more reasonable pace.

With both armies jockeying for position in the middle, Terran dropped the Zerg seventh and sent another two hit squads to simultaneously attack Zerg's third and sixth bases. As these distractions pulled the Zerg forces away from the center, Terran pushed ever closer to the Zerg natural.



As Zerg cleared up the multiple harassments, Terran attempted to reposition his army to higher ground. But the Zerg forces were able to intercept before the tanks were sieged.



While Zerg was able to take out several siege tanks, the ultralisks had insufficient support and melted under the marine fire.

Terran immediately sent a small group to deny any further attempts to expand to the top of the map, while pulling back his main force to consolidate his lead.



In response, Zerg counter-attacked Terran's south-most base.



Without infestor support, Terran's marines were able to clean up the attack, with Zerg trading reasonably.



Zerg's economy was now crippled, with Terran taking an annoying position behind the mineral line at Zerg's fifth base. However, Terran was down to 34 SCVs, and Zerg had cleverly blocked Terran's main mining base with a burrowed zergling.




Seeing a chance to equalize, Zerg pushed through the center with ultralisks supported by infestors, reducing both players to 140 supply.



Both players were fighting valiantly, seemingly able to just continue fighting indefinitely all over the map. The amount of action had naturally disrupted Zerg's macro, however, and he did not have enough larvae to spend his bank of 1300 minerals and 1300 gas before the next engagement.

With the game now in a delicate state of balance, BlingLing was able to clear up the remaining ultralisks, and catch the vital infestors out of position before they could escape.



With BlingLing in a commanding position, babysimba was forced to gg.



Those of us observing were extremely impressed, and grateful to the players for putting on such a good show.