Replay of the Week #9

The game starts with Heracuross at the bottom left, and Lucky at the top right. Heracuross puts down his first pylon in his natural for an FE, whereas Lucky goes for an overpool and puts his gas down shortly after. The protoss puts down his nexus before any cannons, cutting probes and sending three extra probes to guard his natural until his cannons arrive, blocking off the narrow entrance. Lucky expands, stopping gas mining at 100, shortly after taking a second expansion at his mineral only. As Heracuross's expansion completes, Lucky begins morphing a lair, and a scout attempt by a probe is foiled by a group of lings close to the Zerg main as a gateway finishes in the Protoss natural.

Lair tech finishes for Lucky as Heracuross's cybernetics core finishes warping in. Interestingly, Lucky has not taken his second gas yet, and having only resumed mining from his main gas about thirty seconds ago, has only 100 gas after putting down his spire. With only one gateway in the Protoss base, a robotics facility and stargate are warped in, and Lucky finishes his spire with only a handful of resources after putting down a hatchery at the 4 o'clock expansion. With a very brave army consisting of a goon and two zealots, Heracuross moves into the centre of the map and picks off an overlord with the dragoon, though his first corsair fails to do anything. A shuttle is coming out, with a support bay warping in; a few cannons are scattered over the Protoss mineral lines, though not enough to be expecting a mutalisk attack. A citadel is also warping in for Heracuross, with a templar archives expected to follow, and a few gates are added in the Protoss main.

HERAcuross's brave dragoon shoots down an overlord.
With his fourth base and his evo chamber finished, Lucky begins upgrading missile weapons, though he is quite badly behind in terms of army size due to his continual expanding, having only two thirds of the Protoss supply level. Though he has many scourge, Heracuross's shuttle manages to unload four zealots into his main, which promptly cut down his spire and force his drones out. Lucky immediately rebuilds the spire, and the Protoss makes good use of this by killing off his remaining scourge with his corsairs, giving his reaver-filled shuttle much more security for the moment. With no scourge around, the corsairs make quick work of Lucky's scouting overlords around the map, and then begin guarding the shuttle through some harassment.

A sneaky drop leaves Lucky with a missing spire.

Current Position HERAcuross Lucky Running Bases 2 4 Supply 132/154 82/134 Upgrades 0-0-0 0-0-1 Resources 635/114 692/757

Unit Count HERAcuross Lucky 12 4 6     2 22 4

Feeling relatively safe, Heracuross expands to his second natural, with storm research half completed. Goon range is also researching, having not been needed before, and they will be needed; Lucky is slow catching up on supply having previously had an advantage in economy, and is moving out with an impressive hydra/lurker/ling force. It will not stand against the Protoss army just yet, choosing instead to block off his ridge with lurkers and keep the hydralisks in his natural, where they were needed to fend off a drop in the Zerg main, where a single DT dropped from a shuttle killed twelve drones, hitting Lucky's economy hard. A hive is coming for Lucky, with three evo chambers now upgrading, and a fifth base is not far from completion at six o'clock. Following suit, Heracuross takes the 10 o'clock expansion, and attempts some more harass with his reaver shuttle, but it is shot down by a pack of hydralisks.

A somewhat more sinister drop leaves Lucky with no drones left in his main.
With the hive finished, Lucky starts producing lings en masse, and puts down an ultralisk cavern and a defiler mound in his main. However, he might not get to use them; Heracuross has reached the supply limit, and his army looms threateningly on his side of the ridge. Not for long, though; it charges straight across, obliterating everything it comes across, until some good micro by Lucky, along with his lurkers, kill off most of his zealots and force him to flee the scene with a group of dragoons surviving. Though he has a good upgrade advantage, Lucky does not yet have enough men to attack, losing the vast majority of his hydralisks and zerglings in defending his ridge.

HERAcuross initially tramples on the Zerg army...

...But ends up forced to withdraw.

Current Position HERAcuross Lucky Running Bases 5 5 Supply 143/200 113/145 Upgrades 0-0-1 1-1-2 Resources 2826/130 1117/892

Unit Count HERAcuross Lucky 8 5 5 1 39 9 5

Hatching huge numbers of zerglings from his 9 hatcheries, Lucky sends all of his lings to try and take out the 12 o'clock protoss expansion, but he is delayed enough by five cannons for the nearby Protoss army to rush in, with a good pair of storms stopping the attempt to kill the nexus. With that, Heracuross replaces his cannons with greater numbers; Lucky has yet to hatch any ultralisks, with the armour upgrade almost finished, nor any defilers, although consume has finished and plague is starting.

Deciding on surprise tactics, Heracuross begins making another shuttle and some reavers, although most of Lucky's mineral lines are well-protected with several sunkens and a spore each. Attempting to gradually weaken the Protoss army, Lucky begins plaguing, hitting several zealots and some high templars. Unfortunately, his lurker defence is being rendered obsolete: the newly-acquired Protoss reavers begin shooting down lurkers in the centre of the map, though a good plague and several hydras kill off the reaver and reduce several more of Heracuross's zealots to red HP.

At long last, Lucky has started making ultras, with impressive 4-2 grades and accompanying defilers making for a formidable force. Heracuross has lost his advantage; both players have now reached the limit, but 80% of Heracuross's zealots have been plagued, and will not stand much chance against a better-upgraded Zerg army; his main hope is in the form of his many templars.

Current Position HERAcuross Lucky Running Bases 5 5 Supply 194/200 199/200 Upgrades 1-0-2 2-2-3 Resources 2973/343 1947/136

Unit Count HERAcuross Lucky 18 11 7     3 8     9 70 2

After a long period of stalemate, Lucky decides to attack, with many of Heracuross's archons rendered useless by a dark swarm. The entire Protoss army is decimated, with only a few survivors running home, and Lucky is free to smash down the 12 o'clock expansion. Some good reaver micro from the Protoss kills off a few ultralisks, attempting to defend the expansion, but it is ripped down by a continual line of zerglings. Evidently fearing a mass drop, Heracuross warps in nine cannons on the right-hand ridge of his main, but it will take a miracle for him to come back into this game after suffering such a heavy defeat in the centre of the map.
HERAcuross's diseased zealots are run over by a relentless Zerg army.
Heracuross is behind on supply, but strangely has 6500 minerals in the bank; however, the explanation resides in his army, where only archons and high templars are to be seen, evidently aware of the futility of the rest of his army against Lucky's continual plagues. Lucky also has a huge number of minerals, with 5200 in the bank, and yet both players have under 100 gas. Moving out, the horde of Protoss archons and two shuttles with reavers moves to the centre, engaging Lucky's ultra/ling army. His archons are hit by a swarm, forcing him back, though the combined strength of the archons and reavers sends Lucky's ultralisks running in fear, half of them lying dead on the ground in pools of blood.

HERAcuross might have misread "pylon" for "archon" in the supply warning message...
Heracuross's reavers are doing an excellent job of keeping Lucky at bay, and with the damage upgrade nearly done, are likely to keep doing so, with six reavers now on the battlefield. Several scourges are out for Lucky, hoping to take out the reaver shuttles keeping the Protoss alive, but they have little success. Another Zerg attack hits Heracutoss, with all of his archons being cut down, but the force of his reavers is such that Lucky diverts his attack towards the 10 o'clock expansion, which has just mined out. However, about twelve cannons are stationed there, and the Zerg army is shut down as four reavers are flown in to aid the cannons, though one of the shuttles is killed by a pair of scourge.

A good flank sees Lucky kill all of HERAcuross's archons.
With no minerals left to mine, Heracuross must be careful with his units, even when attacking: every wasted scarab will cost him in minerals, though he does have 4500 left. On the other hand, Lucky has 6000 minerals and strong static defenses, with several sunkens in his two mining bases which will not mine out for quite a while. With inadequate gas income to continue living on archons, Heracuross starts making zealots, while Lucky decimates the 10 o'clock expansion to strike a blow against the Protoss gas income.

Without much hope of a win unless he secures one of Lucky's expansions, Heracuross moves out with a group of zealots, two templars and eight reavers, but although the reavers make short wok of the ultra/ling force, an excellent plague hits six of the reavers. With mainly hydralisks left, Lucky ingeniusly ensnares all of Heracuross's reavers with two queens, essentially cutting out his movement speed, as he cannot afford to make any shuttles.

An innovative use of Ensnare leaves the Protoss army somewhat redundant.
Using his hydras, he manages to kill three of the reavers, but is forced to regroup further back with a new hydra/ling/ultra army. With only 418 minerals left, this is Heracuross's last chance; with only a modest army, he moves out towards the centre, but his whole army is plagued by Lucky and obliterated. With no units left except a large horde of probes, Heracuross gives up. GG.

The last plagued reaver falls.

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