http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=details&id=174710Embedded:
The game starts off fairly normal. I start in the 12 O'clock position and DarekKhort in the 6. Darek uses a 4-2 split, and I use my normal 3-3. If there are any new players out there, that means that he selected 4 workers and ordered them to mine first, transitioning to the last two miners and ordering them to a new mineral patch next, while I grabbed three first and the other three second. I'd also like to note that Darek uses the CORRECT method of queuing his first worker
before he starts his existing workers mining. This method only requires two quick hotkeys before he starts mining with his first few SCVs, which means his first 50 minerals are used before he starts to mine more. A good habit for any player to be in.
I choose the normal scouting path on Lost Temple, which for Zerg is to send the Overlord to the nearest spawn point. Unfortunately for me, he isn't there, which means the Zerg scouting will generally come later than the Terran's. (Note: Darek seems to be thrown off from the Faster speed of gameplay, so any minor early game mistakes should be completely forgiven in this case. However, anyone who does league play should be practicing on the Faster game setting).
Khort scouts to the 3 O'clock position first, barely missing my scouting overlord. If he had seen it, he would have instantly known what position I had started in. From there he sends his SCV towards the 9 O'clock main, seeing my OL for only a brief moment, which is an understandable miss. The only way to save that would have been to keep a keen eye on the minimap.
Meanwhile, I've just made my first expansion on a 15 drone count, before my spawning pool. At 16 my SP goes down, and Kurt starts to build an Orbital Command on 15. My drone manages to get inside his base after scouting directly to the 6 O'clock position, but I try, and fail, to steal his gas and my scout is destroyed. This gives him the scouting advantage, especially considering my late Pool. And here is my first concern regarding Darek's play. He pulls his scout back to his own base to mine some more when he could have stayed in my base longer. Now granted, running my first OL right into his Marines was a stupid move (as seen in the in-game text), but he still would have gained more sight from staying in my base longer with that first scouting SCV.
And here the first major Zerg mistake is noticed. I had totally forgotten about Vespene Gas, and while waiting to make my Baneling Nest, I had made two queens but ignored the Geysers. Big mistake on my part. The best thing that Darek could have done would have been to put early pressure on my natural expansion here. I had my queens, but my Spine Crawlers were only just started, and he had four Marines. Possibly enough to force me to make zerglings and thus waste minerals on less economic units. Meanwhile, at around the 6 minute mark, he creates his first Starport and I finally get around to making my Baneling nest.
Now, at around 6:30 you notice I had a more econ-centric build, with about 25 drones, whereas he had 20 SCVs and a MULE. I also had a good defense of Spines with 10 zerglings. He only has 6 Marines so far, but the potential of Banshees soon as well as Hellions with the thermal upgrade.
At 7:40 Darek has the stim upgrades being researched as well as Siege tech, and a superior army composition. But I have a large advantage with the worker amount and economy. 4 banelings and 6 zerglings are pretty close to 8 Marines, 1 Marauder, and a tank in strength. But the econ advantage remains, with the Z at 49/60 supply and T at 34/35. Here, the best bet for Terran is to move out and put some pressure on the Zerg. Once siege and stim are finished, there can be a temporary contain put on Z easily.
At 9:30, however, Darek puts his army in Medivacs and goes for drop tactics, a very useful ability in T's arsenal. The first drop goes down at 10:30, and even though the Z army seems superior, they are completely out of position and the Terran units do some good damage, which includes the destruction of the Z Spire. The only unit Darek loses in this exchange is the siege tank. Quite a good move on his part.
There is only one downside to his play right now. He lacks an expansion and has only half as many peons mining as the Zerg. If he used this opportunity to expand and also attack the other mineral line he could have gained a good advantage on workers and econ. He does have another CC building, but it seems like it's a little bit late, and he builds it toward the back of his base as if to expand to the other Main spawn area. A critical move in the game, as the time it takes to fly over to his Natural is precious. However, the next Zerg attack is spectacularly unsuccessful, so the time could be considered negated.
At 14:35 another Terran drop comes at the natural, but most drones move toward the third expo at the 3 O'clock expo. DarekKhort rakes in a few drone kills with no unit losses of his own as he moves out.
This, in my opinion, is where the game is lost. Darek's OC has still not lifted off and Zerg's third expo is about to go up with drones ready to start populating it. The disparity in workers is the main reason for the tactical difference. Terran's army is ahead in unit cost, but the Zerg economic machine is just too much to handle. At 16:45 Terran maekes a critical attack on the third Zerg expansion, but even after the attack the worker disparity remains at 40 to 26, a very tough number to catch up to.
The final nail in the coffin occurs at about 17:40, where the Terran drop is placed right in the main base's mineral line, but the Zerg army is there and ready to defend it. The rest is a downhill battle for the Terran defense.
Overall, I think there was some solid drop play here, but Darek's main weakness was his macro/ worker count. With a stronger economy it would have been a very different game. The army composition was good, with the exception of the late game Thors (since the Z army never had any muta play, even though the spire was there). I believe with more bases and higher production, the Terran would have had this game without teching higher than an MMM build.
It was a satisfying game, and I hope this game summary helped. I'm still new to the strategy write-ups, so let me know what you all thought, if there were any differences of opinion. Most of all, I hope this topic catches on and helps us all improve.
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