Hey everybody, sorry for the complete silence on the channel recently! I've been working on another video project (Hopefully done next month?) and it is the most ambitious and time consuming video I have ever made. Ended up deciding to make Zealots Only because I was taking too long with that project and I wanted to give people something to watch. I hope you enjoy the video, and make sure to clear about 3.5 hours in your schedule for next month's release....
In Marine only, it was Mengsk pulling his entire army to defend a side base, leaving a single missle turret to defend the objective. In Zergling only it was that single siege tank completely shutting down the nydus strategy only to suddenly join the assault force several minutes later. And now in Zealot only it was an overwhelming Zerg air force suddenly deciding the abandoned nexus on the bottom of the map was a more important target. 3 iconic moments that exist solely as a result of SC1's quirky AI. Edit: fixed a brainfart moment, apologize for that
The reason the zerg air units left at 33:45 is because the AI was on the script that makes it hunt and search the entire map after your base and army(Send all Units on Strategic Suicide Missions), and because the AI first targets threats over nonthreats, and the 3 photon canons you had across the map were considered more threatening to the guardians and mutas than your entire 200 supply zealot army.
@@teelo12000 I dunno, three seems like a reasonable number, and they were absolutely defending a base. They just also happened to bamboozle the AI with their wild ability to "shoot up"
@@teelo12000 You can't really ask for the AI to work with you so it's really out of his control what the AI does a lot of the times, sometimes it screws him over and sometimes it is a blessing
The Starcraft 2 AI is also miraculous and sometimes marvelous in it's stupidity Remember the time when the Zerg AI on Unsealing the Pas' just decided to 1560 APM those poor Hydras who've been crushed on the way out of the cave with Dropperlords?
The reason why the game "lies to you" in the tassadar no build mission is because the beacons are rescueable in the campaign, meaning they belong to a "player" whose units become yours when you walk by, but the "location" (zone that triggers) that's on top of the beacon probably has a "Player 1 brings at least one unit" condition, which doesn't trigger with hallucinations.
And on top of that , StarCraft only checks it triggers every 1.5 seconds, which means that unless you get really lucky with timing, simply touching the necessary location for a moment wont be enough fire the trigger.
@@NoESanity The base editor does not accept hallucinated units as a real unit, they are classified as spell effects when interacting with triggers. In addition, the trigger located on that beacon is programmed to respond to protoss zealots, tassadar, or dragoons. The reason for that is because if it used the general "any units" trigger,, the rescuable beacon itself would trigger the door unlocking.
@hentaidude666 there is a known bug in into darkness where hallucinations will sometimes trigger the door to open but not always. It was patched out but did again was a well known bug.
@@hentaidude666I thought it would use the units tag that only checks specifically for units. Also I forgot, blizzard didn't use hyper triggers in their maps rofl
About Aldaris' placement not being random: I remember the Starcraft 1 editor have random variables (or "switches" as it called them). Supposedly they can be turned on or off (at random) when you want, effectively creating a coinflip. However, I never tried using this feature. Even assuming I misunderstand how these "switches" work, Aldaris' location could still have been made "random" in a number of ways, like invisibly marking 3 locations on the map and checking in which one the player moves a unit first. Or checking if the player builds 5 Zealots/Dragoons/Photon Cannons first. All this to say, Aldaris' location is probably static by design. I believe it's because the "cutscene" that plays after would need to be done 3 times if his location were random, which is entirely doable but tedious.
Yes, you can easily create coinflips with switches. (A set of 3 triggers and 1 switch; set switch X to random state, wait N seconds, repeat trigger; X being the witch number you created, N being the time interval in seconds you want to do the coin flip.) Multiple instances of this trigger group attached to location boxes and additional flags can be used to create randomness for 3 locations. Pretty sure these kind of triggers even exist in some of the custom map packs released by blizzard themselves.
Realistically, there's extremely little reason for Blizzard to make his location random. Giving him a random location tripples the required amount of play testing and only affects the people that will actually re-play the campaign, while not doing anything at all for the people playing the map for the first time, aka the target audience of the campaign mission ^^'
Your Zealots Only video coming out has restored my faith in the Templar caste, Executor Grant. I admit the lack of uploads had shaken my faith. Also, "Blizzard decided to do their own version of time" is the best way I've ever heard to describe the Starcraft 1 timer. Oddly a feature I've grown familiar with and fond of because of all the UMS timed defense maps I played on Battlenet growing up.
He has the full videos of his attempts saved on his 2nd channel GiantGrantGames Archive. You can watch the marines and zergs only videos there as well.
Man, the streams for this challenge were an experience. Don't forget the fact zealots are unironically good in SC 1, they really do pack a punch. The problem is that marines can shoot and zerglings are just broken.
27:13 i thought about this for a bit and was really confused why it wouldnt be possible for them to randomize the location, because you can actually randomize switches, but then i had a thought that maybe it wasnt a feature available initially. i went to check the patches for Brood War and sure enough the patch that introduced the ability to randomize switches came out *one day* before Brood War actually dropped, meaning it's very likely that during the map making process that feature was not actually available to the map maker. if Blizzard were to have patched the map to properly randomize Aldaris' location it wouldnt be that difficult. here is a solution i came up with in a few minutes that uses 4 switches, 4 triggers, and 3 locations: trigger 1: Trigger("All players"){ Conditions: Switch("Switch4", Not Set); Actions: Set Switch("Switch1", randomize); Set Switch("Switch2", randomize); Set Switch("Switch3", randomize); Preserve Trigger(); } trigger 2: Trigger("All players"){ Conditions: Switch("Switch1", Set); Switch("Switch4", Not Set); Actions: Create Unit("Player 1", "Terran Marine", 1, "Location 1"); Set Switch("Switch4", set); } trigger 3: Trigger("All players"){ Conditions: Switch("Switch2", Set); Switch("Switch4", Not Set); Actions: Create Unit("Player 1", "Terran Marine", 1, "Location 2"); Set Switch("Switch4", set); } trigger 4: Trigger("All players"){ Conditions: Switch("Switch3", Set); Switch("Switch4", Not Set); Actions: Create Unit("Player 1", "Terran Marine", 1, "Location 3"); Set Switch("Switch4", set); } essentially the idea here is we keep randomizing Switch's 1, 2, and 3 until one of them gets Set, which will then allow one of the other 3 triggers to spawn a Marine and set Switch 4 to Set which stops all 4 triggers from executing again. i dont know exactly how SC1 trigger priority works, but most-likely the order they appear in takes priority. so if switch 1 and then either switch 2 or 3 are set at the same time, then the trigger that handles switch 1 is probably executed first and then the other triggers wont execute. this would mean that the switch 1 trigger has a bit of a bias. the same thing would happen if switch 2 and 3 are set at the same time but not switch 1. switch 2 will take priority. but this was just a really quick solution i made in only a few minutes without thinking about it too much and it already appears to give _decently_ random results for where the Marine spawns. EDIT: i came up with another solution that uses 5 triggers and 3 switches instead and i believe this solution removes the bias. first, we randomize 2 switches. then we check if those 2 switches are in a combo of being set and cleared. clear-clear means we spawn a marine at location 1. clear-set means we spawn a marine at location 2. and set-clear means we spawn a marine at location 3. set-set is a special case, if they're both set then we re-randomize the two switches. finally, for each of the cases when we spawn a marine we also set switch 3, and these 4 triggers, the 3 that spawn the marine and the third that re-randomizes the switches, check if switch 3 is clear as well. so when its set, these 4 triggers stop working. the 5th trigger isnt preserved, so it doesnt need to check for switch 3 being set. in theory we could get stuck in a situation where we rerandomize the switches and always get set-set, but each time this happens its becomes exponentially more unlikely to happen again and in practice ive only ever seen this solution have to rerandomize the switches a single time.
@@Santisima_Trinidad They are not in the vods channel. The vods were on his twitch, but twitch keeps them for about 2 months, and since Grant is slow with uploading his vods to the second channel, they are nowhere to watch rn.
@@ThanhLe-ti8nx He completed most of it but zerg (and especially BW zerg) just boils down to muta+guard deathballing every mission so he quit for lack of entertainment value rather than difficulty/proven impossibility.
@@Photoloss his main complain is how inconsistent the AI is, that the most of the time, it's just keep restarting until it does what he want. And restarting for like 20th time just to see if one idea work, is just boring and frustrating. So he rage quit at the BW zerg 8th mission
13:00 This is one of the things I hate about SC2. There is no strategy of how to attack the AI. It doesn't matter if you leave up all of their buildings or wipe the map. They'll just spawn in attack waves of the same strength.
Being able to destroy tech structures to remove fighting certain units is such a cool tactical move that encourages you to fight even when you aren’t maxed
@@bobbyferg9173 and goes a long way to bridging the gap between singleplayer and multiplayer that RTS games always struggle with, without making singleplayer worse.
I remember watching that Tassadar no build mission on stream and it was hell. Just over and over throwing Zealots through the grinder until it finally eked out a win. Congrats on doing that, I'd have given up ages ago
So at the end orange wasn't just going to the bottom nexus but those bottom photon cannons. That was the only thing on the map able to attack air and sometimes in old Starcraft that can screw with AI because, as you said, old Starcraft is notoriously consistent. When I was a kid I tried something like this and I actually did the mine out strat and then built effectively a chain of buildings leading all the way down to the bottom of the map. The AI would just go the closest building so they would often attack my extra bases and then just follow the trail of buildings down to the bottom of the map, and I would have probes follow behind to rebuild when possible so much of the enemy force worked it way down to the bottom of the map and then had to work it's way back up through buildings to get back to the temple.
I wonder if Orange abandoned the middle to attack the bottom left nexus because it had cannons and for some reason as such, was seen as a threat compared to the defenseless middle ? What a way to end it though aha, well played!
I was about to say the same thing. I believe the total lack of damage taken for a long time and sudden damage taken on one muta in the south pissed off the enemy flyers.
"43!!! THERE ARE 43 MINERAL FIELDS, IT'S ACTUALLY TOO MANY MINERALS!!! I TOOK THEM ALL!!! I TOOK A COUPLE OTHER BASES AS WELL" I dont know why but that part had me rolling 😆
Best study break content I've had all week (Except maybe real scale carriers, that's pretty cool too...). Love the work you do to keep the RTS scene fresh and interesting!
I too hat "Into the Dankness". Once i had to go to the toilet during the mission. I didn't pause the game, because i was in a save position. Went to the toilet, came back a few minutes later, sat down, and right as i grabbed my mouse an infested terran came out of nowhere and blasted Tassadar... I stood there for minutes, so that guy must have been EXTREMELY committed to ruin my mood. I wann clarify, i didn't move yet. I had just grabbed my mouse.
It's wild to think that this half hour of condensed strategy and entertainment has MONTHS of work behind it. It's like you're making movies. Incredible stuff too.
ngl Grant, I do miss the main channel videos. I watch the archives every day, but I miss the bigger, most summary version of your runs too. Also, SC1 deathless when?
I think it's gonna be like those vids where it's a deep dive as to why it failed vs can it be done since judging from the streams I watch of him doing it...this made all these things like a cakewalk...it was hell for Grant
Having watched you do this on Twitch, I know this and other SC1 challenge runs have been so incredibly frustrating. That being said, I think this is one of the best videos you've ever made. Really funny and fun. Keep doing what you're doing.
But the firebat is so cool in BW! It deserves better treatment. It hits 3 times in a line and that's just cool. Also incredible work on another incredible video!
This was fun to watch! SC1 AI is quite funky, it's so random, sometimes that makes it harder to know what to expect, but once you get the hang on it, it gets easier. Like when attacking smaller bases, as long as there's a Nexus/CC/Hatchery, the AI will see it as a high priority for defense and will send everything they have, which means that if you defeat their defense and destroy the base, you can actually keep pushing the other bases as they would have moved everything to defend the sameller base, leaving the others undefended. Of course that applies only for the bases of the same AI player. Also it's too common that they don't rebuild infrastructure, so hitting their technology usually allows you to take out their unit production for good. There are exceptions, but iirc it's usually on "Insane AI" used on Custom Maps, not on Campaign AI, which is way easier.
14:20 - I remember replicating this in my own custom campaign back in the day since I wanted only Dark Templar to kill cerebrates/overminds. The game originally just has one "zone" or "Location" (as the campaign editor calls it) for this cerebrate. Normally it's "If the cerebrate dies AND 0 zeratul/dark templar is not at the location, recreate the Cerebrate at Location" Thus when there are too many units, it can't fit. Though in broodwar, it tries to do the "closest spot". I fixed this by adding a second location of the same size next to the cerebrate... thus I changed the logic to: "If the cerebrate dies AND 0 zeratul/dark templar is not at Location 1, move all units in Location 1 to Location 2, then immediately recreate the Cerebrate at Location 1" which happens pretty quickly even in fastest mode. Sadly my custom campaign is lost to the ages so I can't share it. EDIT: Fixed a typo and I recalled something... so you can see this "kinda" happen in the timestamp... some zealots teleport lower. So I recall making a loop to keep moving units and to only create the cerebrate if nothing was there. Fun times!
He posts all the time on his 2nd channel GiantGrantGames archives. That is where he posts most of the actual attempts that go into making these summary videos. He also does a ton of modded campaigns and challenge runs like stalkers-only that he didn't feel would be worth the effort to make as a video on his main channel.
33:50 I had something similar happen while playing "Omega". I was preaparing final strike on DuGalle, all of my units went to north... only for Mengsk to attack from south. I was sure I'm dead, but he killed all the defensive towers and calmly walked through my base, sparing it. He attacked one of my expansions instead. I think when AI picks a target, it will ignore everything else, unless that "else" shoots first, which is why towers get destroyed.
I said this a long time ago, but you still have to go back and replay "Eye Of The Storm", but with Marines only for your Marine only challenge!!!! Also, you need to complete "Return to Char" with Zerglings only!
Literally used to watch all of your vids, went back yesterday and binged like every other video and suddenly I see this post today, Love your content a lot I hope you continue doing what you do
Hey, Grant! I have an idea for a challenge run: A single base run. You're not allowed to get resources from any base other than your starting position. So many missions get trivial once your economy dwarfs the enemy. Imagine if you must make every mineral count. Hard mode: If the mission objective doesn't require it, you can't destroy enemy bases. Imagine "The Hammer Falls" or "Full Circle" with enemy bases constantly harassing you.
Great video! This is one thing I love about Starcraft 1, people can do any kind of challenge on it rather than witnessing deathballs all the time like in Starcraft 2. I like how you make hallucinations an exception due to these units deal zero damage, so they aren't counted as cheating. For 14:04, this was exactly what I had discovered years ago as well. I was wondering: "If Blizzard really had a code that makes certain buildings being destroyed by a specific unit like Zeratul killing the Cerebrate, why is it not in their campaign editor?!" Then I decided to do a test exactly like you did, having an ordinary unit kill the Cerebrate while Zeratul is nearby just like how you would set up certain triggers in the editor and mimic this action, and it works! Imagine the said DID exist, then you'll be in trouble with a Zealot only challenge xD In that case you might have to use some sort of model swap mod if there is any to change Zeratul to a Zealot lol!!
started playing sc1 for the first time completely not too long ago and I was really surprised at the difficulty, I generally suck at rts but compared to sc2 I think it's way harder. Most of the time I spam air units and look up a map to know where it's safe to fly and go the objective unless it's kill everything and then I just pump out air units and send them to their deaths.
Man, I remember these streams of frustration and try-harding, I'm really glad you managed to push through some of the impossible maps, you truly are a (mad) master of the game !
Epic ending to the final Protoss BW mission, having the mutas & guardians closing in on all sides but not in time to kill the temple matches up with the ending cutscene better where they're all swarming around!!
Praised be he who through sweat blood and psy-blades vainquished and came out victorious ! Praised be Grant, Giant Gamer among giants, and En Taro Fenix.
Those videos gave me an inspiration to go back to SC1 and 2 and play through them without cheats. Because no matter how trash I am at them, it won't be as bad as those mono-unit builds. Made it through Brood War and Wings of Liberty so far. What a ride.
I was JUST coming back to rewatch some vids last night and now this, lol. Perfect timing! Looking forward to the big project you've got cooking! Hope you've been well.
For anyone wondering, he did manage to beat both the Protoss and Terran campaign(s) deathless. He got to the final Zerg/UED mission but gave up as was sick of massing air to win each mission. Also the mission would've been impossible due to queens being a thing.
I actually really liked Aldaris' death from a narrative perspective: in the original campaign, his stubbornly clinging to tradition caused a ton of trouble, but in BW, it was what allowed him to die as hero and they really should've listened to him.
Tbf Kerrigan told just enough of the truth to be able to manipulate them. She was right about the cerebrates trying to build a new Overmind and how she wasn't under their control. What she didn't reveal was that they actually needed to die because they were preventing her from fully controlling the Zerg
At the same time he could have just outright said, "Yeah, the matriarch is totally infested guys" but instead just held off until the literal last minute and by then it was too late.
Marines are probably the easiest lets be honest Marines are the best infantry unit(we can call lings infantry right?) They are ranged,can attack air and have high damage output and only cost 50 minerals. In Sc2 there was activity a pro player that pretty much massed Marines and was pretty successful. Though his secret was that he had god tier micro and splits
Loved the video, only one thing to do next, the bonus story maps and campaigns, Dark Origin / Enslavers / Enslavers 2 / Precursor / Stukov Maps / Insurrection / Retribution...
Today is a great day, new grant video, and heavy hints about SC1 deathless, I was bummed when the nova campaign was apparently the last deathless run so I'm pummped
I like how you Foreshadowed that Brood War AI is much more challenging, only to be saved by it in the last mission. XD Fun run, great video! You're a mad man and we all love it.
