I’m going to post my tale of cruel conquering, since Andrew has posted his.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

On account of the recently completed Calculus midterm, the only Calculus assignment due for submission was a relatively simple Maple Lab, which was a great deal easier than the last one. In celebration of this recently acquired freedom and liberty, Andrew, Binkle, and myself got together to play a little Starcraft. Which turned out to be a great deal of Starcraft, since the whole endeavour spanned from 10:00PM to 5:00AM. It was certainly very spirited, although I often left the game early to pick away at my Maple Lab (which I needed to hand in to boost my Calculus mark ever so slightly).

There came a time where Binkle and I grew tired of being slaughtered by Andrew time and time again, so we decided to take on some computerized characters. I cannot recall what the initial numbers were (3 vs. 2) but we dove headfirst into battle. We were a force to be reckoned with, as we combined the might of all three species: Terran (Binkle), Zerg (myself), and Protoss (Andrew). From the outset, Andrew was the brunt of most enemy attacks. The computers, who will be referred to as Mr. Purple (Protoss) and Mr. Teal (Zerg), began to expand like a plague and assault Andrew’s defenses. Binkle’s relative naivety in regards to the game resulted in him holding back and defending his massive continental base (it expanded nearly 1/4 of the map), while I provided assistance to Andrew in the form of Hydralisks and Overlords.

This became my main strategy throughout the game. I expanded quickly, gaining enough resources to create legion after legion of Hydralisks which would eventually decimate the entirety of the computer’s forces. In an attempt to rescue Andrew, I dispatched my Hydralisks in a clockwise attack-move around the map. The quickly dug through Mr. Purple’s base, exterminating him within a matter of minutes. They proceeded north, where they encountered Mr. Teal’s expansive Zerg outposts. He was nearly destroyed, except for a few hidden bases on rocky cliffs.

The time to strike was at hand.

With three legions of Hydralisks surrounding Binkle’s supply depots, and a legion and a half in Andrew’s crippled base, I withdrew from the Allies and joined the Axis of Kicking Ass. My legions of Hydralisks completely decimated Binkle’s base, eroding the progress of his entire species, as well as his soul. Andrew was more fortunate, having been spared the brunt of the attack due to receiving fewer numbers of attackers. While Binkle was seriously crippled, Andrew was able to rebuild quickly enough to combat my Hydralisk militant police force. After 10 or 15 minutes (maybe more?) of them trying to destroy my single home base - which was relatively small - they finally starved me out through an aerial siege. When Andrew moved in with a few cloaked carriers, there was no chance to defend.

So, while I did have the military might to overthrow them both, I should have redirected my attack at Andrew, as opposed to Binkle, as Andrew was the more experienced player.

However, by the end, I’d gotten sick of merely holding them off with no difficulty, and I wanted to find the small remaining base of the computers that remained.

After they destroyed me, it turned out that the computer’s base was a single extractor, outside Binkle’s base. I’d lost so many Hydralisks by trying to get that extractor.

For some time, I was allied with Binkle and Andrew, including vision, so that I could just kill the computer and end the game. Unfortunately, they exploited the use of vision and continued to attack.

And I held them off until Andrew got well-established. A lesson learned.