Victory of a questionable nature
Warning: This post is about gaming, especially StarCraft. Just so you know. Also, it's rather long-winded... *tends to ramble*
I said the other day that I was looking forward to getting into StarCraft (SC) again. Please note that I never made a claim regarding my abilities to play said game. I am, in fact, rather bad at it, but I enjoy it nonetheless. However, sometimes things get out of control. Most of the time, my victories are fairly extreme. I either completely and unnecessarily trounce/squash/obliterate/demolish the competition or I win by the absolute barest minimum. For instance, one of the earliest missions for the Terran campaign involves taking a small force (less than ten units) through an enemy compound to steal some data disks. The only objectives are that you reach the data disk location and Raynor (a storyline character) stays alive. How I beat this mission? My units are slowly picked off until, upon reaching the last room, Raynor and Raynor alone gets to the disks. BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE BIT IT. A similar example is another of the early missions in which your forces need only survive for 30 minutes when drop ships can arrive to relieve you. My definition of survival in this context: At least one unit with at least 5 hit point. Well. I survived. By not much better than my definition (my base was about 80% demolished... in fact it was in the process of being demolished), but I survived.
On the other hand, some of my victories are through ridiculously unnecessary force. I don't mean to, but I like feeling prepared and if that means wiping out my resources just to overcome a relatively modest opposition, then so be it. Perhaps it's overkill, but I got the job done.
So, last night I decided to run through a few missions. I was on #6 of the Terran campaign. The situation is that you have a small force and the beginnings of a base. In another corner of the map you have a damaged, crashed ship, two damaged bunkers, some marines, two SCV units (they do the dirty work: repairs, building, harvesting of resources, etc.), and three Goliath (armored mechs) units. Your objectives are to bring two dropships and Raynor (what can I say? He gets around) to the downed ship. Basic recovery mission. This involves making your way across a heavily Zerg'ed (yes, it's a verb now) landscape while building up your own forces, defending your base, and defending the ship. My first try, I neglected the ship or attempted repairs too late and it was destroyed. Game over. My second try, I attempted a relatively early innitiative to just get the dropships across the shortest stretch of enemy territory. Raynor was shot to bits. Game over. Well damn, I thought, that's no good. I don't have the resources to overrun them and their ground to air defenses are too powerful for my ships. I can't get ground forces there in an effective way because most of this territory is on a ridge, which means either flying or finding a slope. Well, my third try was working a lot better for a while. I'd expanded north and was utilizing the resources up there while successfully holding opposition at bay. I thought that maybe the best way would be to come around the Zerg and find a weaker area of their perimeter to get through. I continued to advance my base and hold off the enemy from this newly-fortified ground. It was a nice vantage point, actually, because it was elevated over a good deal of the greater Zerg base. I say "greater" because it turns out there are two Zerg bases to contend with in this scenario. The second, smaller force, became my neighbor as I expanded. So, I was sort of bracketting one side of the map with the greater Zerg base in the middle and the secondary Zerg along the top.
Problems at this point: Overdevelopment. I was out of resources again, but didn't have the forces to both hold all of the ground I'd gained, defend my base, AND initiate an offensive against either Zerg force. The ship I needed to rescue was doing okay thanks to the SCVs' ability to repair not only the ship itself, but the bunkers in which my marines were stationed AND the Goliath units without which I'd have been sunk. ... Figuratively, of course. There was no water on this map.
I made a rush, not sure of what else to try at this point and, trying the same tactic as in my second attempt, I sent in my two dropships (and Raynor) with a whole armada of wraith (fighter) ships. ONE of the drop ships got through. Fortunately, it was the one with Raynor on it. This was luck. Make no mistake.
And then I was at a standstill. I had my ground and was keeping it. I couldn't make more units because I was out of resources. Because I was out of resources, I couldn't even build a second drop ship, which I needed to complete the objectives. I spent a few minutes looking at the map and figured I had failed, but I'm not one to just give up. I'm one of those people that prefer the suicide run to at least do a little damage before submitting to the greater power. So I rally my now-meager forces to my northern quarter. All types of units (except for SCVs, which were now just hanging around since they were out of resources to mine and harvest). I emptied my bunkers for a dozen marines. I also had a damaged wraith and a goliath. And I stormed the greater Zerg's base from the north. I took out their ground forces and most of their more essential buildings and even managed to get a few of their defensive units out of the way. At this point I was down to a heavily damaged Goliath and about half a dozen marines of various condition. But I'd broken through to the other side. Where there were minerals. I was a little annoyed that I was still playing at this point. I really should've been defeated by now. But. Since I wasn't, I didn't have much choice but to make the ridiculous attempt... I rallied my SCVs. I moved my second command center to a somewhat precarious, though closer position so that I could make use of the minerals that much sooner. My remaining forces escorted my SCVs across the still-hazardous territory to mine the minerals. Now the zerg were focussing on doing to me what I'd done to them and attacking my now-deserted base. While I played "Lemmings" with my SCVs who really wanted to make the return trip via secondary-Zerg territory. So I had to manually usher them across the other way. I had to do that a few times (lead them to the minerals, instruct them to harvest, snag them before they run off the wrong way, lead them back) until I had enough minerals and could use my airport (which had miraculously been overlooked to this point) to build one last drop ship. During this time a few more of my forces were taken out by the remaining Zerg defenses. Then I ushered my drop ship along what remained of my territory to where my other forces were. And we all made a trip across to the minerals. And then south to the closest point to the crash-landed ship where my drop ship was able to get across with only minor damage. And I won. Ugh. What a stupid way to win. In fact, here's my formal response.
I should also mention that, had I been a little smarter, I would have relocated most of my base (since Terran buildings can do that) to more effectively rally my forces in the north. Then I'd only have had to defend two small slopes whil taking the offensive against the lesser-Zerg and seizing those resources. That would have been smart. And easy.
Blah. Whatever. My final total score was 103675, with 178 units produced, 322 units killed, and 114 units lost. And it took me just short of 3 hours. On a side note... I have terrible sleeping habits.
I said the other day that I was looking forward to getting into StarCraft (SC) again. Please note that I never made a claim regarding my abilities to play said game. I am, in fact, rather bad at it, but I enjoy it nonetheless. However, sometimes things get out of control. Most of the time, my victories are fairly extreme. I either completely and unnecessarily trounce/squash/obliterate/demolish the competition or I win by the absolute barest minimum. For instance, one of the earliest missions for the Terran campaign involves taking a small force (less than ten units) through an enemy compound to steal some data disks. The only objectives are that you reach the data disk location and Raynor (a storyline character) stays alive. How I beat this mission? My units are slowly picked off until, upon reaching the last room, Raynor and Raynor alone gets to the disks. BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE BIT IT. A similar example is another of the early missions in which your forces need only survive for 30 minutes when drop ships can arrive to relieve you. My definition of survival in this context: At least one unit with at least 5 hit point. Well. I survived. By not much better than my definition (my base was about 80% demolished... in fact it was in the process of being demolished), but I survived.
On the other hand, some of my victories are through ridiculously unnecessary force. I don't mean to, but I like feeling prepared and if that means wiping out my resources just to overcome a relatively modest opposition, then so be it. Perhaps it's overkill, but I got the job done.
So, last night I decided to run through a few missions. I was on #6 of the Terran campaign. The situation is that you have a small force and the beginnings of a base. In another corner of the map you have a damaged, crashed ship, two damaged bunkers, some marines, two SCV units (they do the dirty work: repairs, building, harvesting of resources, etc.), and three Goliath (armored mechs) units. Your objectives are to bring two dropships and Raynor (what can I say? He gets around) to the downed ship. Basic recovery mission. This involves making your way across a heavily Zerg'ed (yes, it's a verb now) landscape while building up your own forces, defending your base, and defending the ship. My first try, I neglected the ship or attempted repairs too late and it was destroyed. Game over. My second try, I attempted a relatively early innitiative to just get the dropships across the shortest stretch of enemy territory. Raynor was shot to bits. Game over. Well damn, I thought, that's no good. I don't have the resources to overrun them and their ground to air defenses are too powerful for my ships. I can't get ground forces there in an effective way because most of this territory is on a ridge, which means either flying or finding a slope. Well, my third try was working a lot better for a while. I'd expanded north and was utilizing the resources up there while successfully holding opposition at bay. I thought that maybe the best way would be to come around the Zerg and find a weaker area of their perimeter to get through. I continued to advance my base and hold off the enemy from this newly-fortified ground. It was a nice vantage point, actually, because it was elevated over a good deal of the greater Zerg base. I say "greater" because it turns out there are two Zerg bases to contend with in this scenario. The second, smaller force, became my neighbor as I expanded. So, I was sort of bracketting one side of the map with the greater Zerg base in the middle and the secondary Zerg along the top.
Problems at this point: Overdevelopment. I was out of resources again, but didn't have the forces to both hold all of the ground I'd gained, defend my base, AND initiate an offensive against either Zerg force. The ship I needed to rescue was doing okay thanks to the SCVs' ability to repair not only the ship itself, but the bunkers in which my marines were stationed AND the Goliath units without which I'd have been sunk. ... Figuratively, of course. There was no water on this map.
I made a rush, not sure of what else to try at this point and, trying the same tactic as in my second attempt, I sent in my two dropships (and Raynor) with a whole armada of wraith (fighter) ships. ONE of the drop ships got through. Fortunately, it was the one with Raynor on it. This was luck. Make no mistake.
And then I was at a standstill. I had my ground and was keeping it. I couldn't make more units because I was out of resources. Because I was out of resources, I couldn't even build a second drop ship, which I needed to complete the objectives. I spent a few minutes looking at the map and figured I had failed, but I'm not one to just give up. I'm one of those people that prefer the suicide run to at least do a little damage before submitting to the greater power. So I rally my now-meager forces to my northern quarter. All types of units (except for SCVs, which were now just hanging around since they were out of resources to mine and harvest). I emptied my bunkers for a dozen marines. I also had a damaged wraith and a goliath. And I stormed the greater Zerg's base from the north. I took out their ground forces and most of their more essential buildings and even managed to get a few of their defensive units out of the way. At this point I was down to a heavily damaged Goliath and about half a dozen marines of various condition. But I'd broken through to the other side. Where there were minerals. I was a little annoyed that I was still playing at this point. I really should've been defeated by now. But. Since I wasn't, I didn't have much choice but to make the ridiculous attempt... I rallied my SCVs. I moved my second command center to a somewhat precarious, though closer position so that I could make use of the minerals that much sooner. My remaining forces escorted my SCVs across the still-hazardous territory to mine the minerals. Now the zerg were focussing on doing to me what I'd done to them and attacking my now-deserted base. While I played "Lemmings" with my SCVs who really wanted to make the return trip via secondary-Zerg territory. So I had to manually usher them across the other way. I had to do that a few times (lead them to the minerals, instruct them to harvest, snag them before they run off the wrong way, lead them back) until I had enough minerals and could use my airport (which had miraculously been overlooked to this point) to build one last drop ship. During this time a few more of my forces were taken out by the remaining Zerg defenses. Then I ushered my drop ship along what remained of my territory to where my other forces were. And we all made a trip across to the minerals. And then south to the closest point to the crash-landed ship where my drop ship was able to get across with only minor damage. And I won. Ugh. What a stupid way to win. In fact, here's my formal response.
I should also mention that, had I been a little smarter, I would have relocated most of my base (since Terran buildings can do that) to more effectively rally my forces in the north. Then I'd only have had to defend two small slopes whil taking the offensive against the lesser-Zerg and seizing those resources. That would have been smart. And easy.
Blah. Whatever. My final total score was 103675, with 178 units produced, 322 units killed, and 114 units lost. And it took me just short of 3 hours. On a side note... I have terrible sleeping habits.