Starcraft 1: Zerglings Only - Part 5

[@Mythmaker12687]

Grant: This run is Zerglings Only. Game: *gives Grant no Zerglings* Grant: THIS RUN IS ZERGLINGS ONLY.

[@Kylel0519]

Welp *loads hydralisc gun* time to do some spring cleaning

[@NoAvailableSpace]

Rules are rules. I don't believe that but the Emperor definitely doesn't, and this proves it.

[@Flamewarden_Honoushugoshin]

The first half of this mission may be the most incredible mix of innovation and sheer willpower I've seen in starcraft in a while! That was incredible!

[@agcat6687]

true XD

[@CaptainROARosaurus]

Agreed. I loved seeing him figure the mission out. Absolutely amazing content :)

[@jollyroger296]

"Damn, an hour long episode, he must be doing two leve-" Sees the starting units... "Oh no..."

[@pingwinger6668]

99% of zergling only on yt: well I will produce only zerglings and sunks and spores and if I have other units, I play with them Grant: Zergling is Zergling

[@PieisDaBest1]

"Let's test right here to see if that turns them on." - GiantGrantGames Zergling-only run 2022

[@MagnificientLlama]

Surprised he didn't get a cobra car. Because he almost asked "how do you turn this on"

[@davidforsling2467]

It turns me on

[@TTMS-Khaz-kun]

@@MagnificientLlama Is that Age of Empires 2 reference?

[@MagnificientLlama]

@@TTMS-Khaz-kun ask the zerglings in that cobra car shooting enemy villagers

[@fonesrphunny7242]

"Show me on the map where he touched you"

[@Jacobstx]

"I won't stand for this. You viewers think you can come in here and question *ME?!?* This thumbnail is over!"

[@nersh46137]

I am shrivelling up inside waiting for a thumbnail depicting the most memorable scene in StarCraft 1: “Looks like you mashed some poor feller’s dog sarge” “It’s a zergling Lester. Smaller kind of Zerg” Your hubris is destroying me.

[@4thSurviver]

I think you mean "Thank god for cold fussion." Although I guess your's is way more relevant.

[@nersh46137]

@@4thSurviver I got your zerg right here

[@Foede]

Man, this missions had every good thing about Starcraft 1 challenge: solving the puzzle of the challenge, almost losing to wacky AI, wacky pathfinding, silly mistakes... it was beautiful from beginning to end

[@fonesrphunny7242]

I was waiting for Grant's reaction when he realizes he can't build Zerglings anymore. Imagine my disappointment when he mentioned the pool is not gonna die off creep. The Mutas attacking it at the perfect time was hilarious. Who knew the Starcraft AI was able to stream snipe.

[@sephose7441]

i felt his soul die when those accidental sunks killed a ling

[@Headhunter1234256]

Emperor grant gaming, do you have a comment on recently discovered thumb nails? The viewers deserve to know!

[@boredalpaca9740]

Is this interview over?

[@Headhunter1234256]

@@boredalpaca9740 only if he walks away and has me arrested. Emperor grant gaming is not known for his mercy.

[@Athelas952]

I love how my first reaction was "oh ok, no zerglings so he's just gonna clear with what he has" And then Grant does the thing anyway What a legend

[@bendystrawz2832]

No zerglings? No zerglings *yet!

[@Rumunsko8]

Seems like Grant's strategy gave a hard time to the mission triggers because at 57:45 the mission elapsed time is 14:55 even though in-game it was around 29mins, however around the 14-minute mark Grant took the base he was supposed to take which I guess activate the muta trigger and internal mission timer?

[@Jacobstx]

Great observation! New speedrun strat?

[@griddmeirax]

In game timer manipulation huh

[@LuminousLead]

Oh weird!

[@Garryl367]

Is it possible that the game timer at the score screen gets reset when you reload a saved game?

[@Rumunsko8]

@@Garryl367 I don't think so.

[@JimboMcBrostein]

That drone seeing unused enemy creep for a spawning pool: It's free real estate!

[@ShiladieSC]

This is exactly the kind of content I watch you for. Tenacious and innovative solutions to crazy challenges that "shouldn't" be possible. Keep it up!

[@monngo838]

This is like somebody analyzed a brick wall at a molecular level before running into it until they phased through.

[@xith1349]

I love how grant looks at this base for the first 30 minutes and thinks that killing any particular structure in it will set the enemy zerg back or that taking out the hatch would mess with the AI, when Starcraft 1 enemy bases tend to just have extra redundant structures like multiple lairs, spawning pool at every base, hydra den etc, and all the bases on the map belong to the same player lol Not complaining tho since this strat is hilarious.

[@LibertyMonk]

Sometimes different bases are run by different "players" so killing a pool might mean that base can't make lings, but a different base can... unless that same player owns a second base that has one or more additional pools.

[@hallymiao2825]

They are technically different AIs. An "AI player" can own multiple, independently acting AIs. These AIs will have their own infrastructure and build orders; but share things like upgrades, supply cap, tech tree unlocks with other AIs belonging to the same player. Each individual AI will never build redundant tech buildings. Redundant tech buildings are the result of having multiple AIs belonging to the same player. Say.. if you set 4 different AIs to the same spot, belonging to the same player in the trigger editor; the AI will try to make 4 sets of tech buildings in a bloated base.

[@matthewhartman1855]

this game's design is so hectic, especially pre-brood war. It really feels like every new mission idea they had they barely refined the details of the map layout, stuff just kinda seems placed around without as much intent. Obviously sc2's design leads to a lot more symmetry and map balance even in campaign, but this campaign especially is really strange to look at what units they start you with, level terrain, base placement, what tech they start you with, speaking nothing to mineral and vespene placement (which I actually find to be pretty cute and flavorful, literal patches of minerals and vespene just kinda around not necessarily all bunched up, even if it makes it hard to figure out saturation). I wonder often what their goals were in this campaign. I appreciate that they had goals of challenge and puzzle solving rather than just tutorializing the player for multiplayer like most modern RTS do >.> Thanks for the content Grant glad to see you still chugging through this (yet to be seen how far we get lol)

[@drakewarrior1013]

Would love to see differently spaced minerals/geysers as a map feature instead of a downside that makes it unplayable on a pro level. Like... On this map you start with less gas in the base, but the next base has 2 geysers, but one of them is spaced away, so you either have to make another command center/hive, or make couple more workers. Same with minerals. SC1 resource placement just looks better to me from a visual perspective. At least it is not boring.

[@shadowarchon7964]

StarCraft 1's development was way more by the seat of Blizzard's pants than their future games. After it was unveiled using the WarCraft 2 engine in '96 and openly mocked, they restarted development completely from scratch. The new engine was created by a single person over a period of two months, and work didn't restart on the game proper until January '97. Given the game was released in March of '98, that's a year and two months to design *everything*. Units, sound design, rudimentary balance, voice work, music, the whole concept of entirely different factions which was new at the time, and so on all likely got more focus than the map making. War2 and C&C, the two biggest RTSes at the time, had factions that were much more closer to being carbon copies, so the skill at making maps that suited widely contrasting faction balance didn't exist at the time. StarCraft 2's development meanwhile started in *2003*. It literally had seven times more years worked on it than its predecessor, and by that time, SC1 was a huge monumental commercial success and had a thriving and competitive multiplayer scene. They simply had the funds and the skill/experience to put incredible effort into the sequel, when they had neither for the first game.

[@eadbert1935]

What i think the point of the unevenly spaced resources is some sort of "this is what it should look like realistically" gameplay-wise it really sucks, because zerg will multi-hatch anyway, while the other races have to strategize around the bad placements. zerg resource efficiency (or mining efficiency) would have to be nerfed hard because they get the resources without any downsides, making the race more distinct, but way harder to balance. iirc, expansions used to be mineral only or gas only, but that was scrapped because going for a gas-only base delayed you so much you had no chance if the enemy saw that. i think in a campaign it can be fine that the placements suck, but on ladder it would be a nightmare

[@Luckysquirrel1256]

I also dislike the perfect base placement of SC2, it really breaks immersion when every base setup is exactly 2 gas geysers and a perfect simi-circle of minerals. While SC1 mineral placement is a bit frustrating, I agree with you on the realism aspect. Same with early Command and Conquer games where you basically harvested from random ore/Tiberium fields instead of a static structure.

[@eadbert1935]

@@Luckysquirrel1256 In defense of "boring" positioning, the realism is lost by the fact that we can't ideally place our CC near minerals. why wouldn't you just place it there? it's not the ground, as you can place other structures there. and hey, why even have workers on geysers? why don't we just make a pipeline? why didn't the protoss mine out aiur before they got attacked? resources make little sense in a space RTS in general. realistically, 90% of fighting would be more like the no-build mission in the UED campaign (the one ending with the battlecruiser v battlecruiser) or the hyperion mission in HotS Why don't more planets have an Ion cannon (last raynor mission of sc1) or drakken pulse cannons (heart of the swarm) that can prevent aircraft from flying away and therefore should be able to also prevent things from entering (they go into it a little bit with gates of hell (WoL) and planetfall (HotS), but this doesn't seem to be standard equipment. i honestly think that the even-spaced minerals aren't the biggest issue in immersion-breaking

[@imafireIsFroent]

I stand with you Grant! These thumbnails will not and cannot be stopped!

[@mixalis295]

I love how the old man progressively tortures himself harder.

[@vaniellys]

This is the best thumbnail you've done so far

[@MrGeorgeFlorcus]

This map gave me some serious WoL Pacifist vibes; obviously, you're still killing things, but just the absurdity of how precisely you need to position your units, and how desperate you are to claw every little inch of economy, while still having enough stuff to not die... It's seemingly impossible task that most people would probably look at and go, "Well, that's just silly, I'm not even going to try." But you look at it and go, "Weeeeelllll.... it's kind of possible, so let's see what happens when I do this..." And you figure it out. Good job, Grant.

[@tzuhan_yen]

After playing for 30+ mins, Grant: We took the base!

[@popeneiad7968]

43:24 look at that, just as Grant is talking about it the drone goes on another weird path to the gas lol

[@7thAce]

That drone pathing at 5:30 should not work. The surprised/confused "what" nails it perfectly.

[@lagg1e]

Brood War pathing in a nutshell. I love that he looked for the patrol button because that's a known trick to get units to behave differently. "For vulture micro, move them towards enemy, then patrol click 135.5° away from the enemy you want to attack to get the attack without delay and without slowing down the vulture". There are also tricks to phase regular units through minerals by selecting them in a group with a drone and pressing correctly on mineral patches. It's literal voodoo magic.

[@The-jy3yq]

@@lagg1e I would like to remind you about: -this one exploit where you can phase units through 3 tiles of mineral fields with proper timing and a flying building -that bug where a unit just kills itself because why not -that one exploit that is at the Amerigo speedrun where your units can sometimes unburrow and teleport -and of course, the infamous "flying SCV" exploit

[@wurgel1]

THIS is the most aggressive proxyhatch i have ever seen. complete with extra-proxy proxy-pool. The perfect parasitic gameplay.

[@LordRunty]

These are some truly amazing thumbnails, I love them

[@VortexofPessimism]

Grant's mad giggling over the spawning pool is just the energy I needed this morning

[@sethmoyer]

This is definitely a top 3 mission for the SC1/BW single-unit challenge runs. I loved this!

[@zacharyschneck8879]

I loved watching the struggle. I always find it impressive the ingenuity that goes into making these challenges happen.

[@Tepig027]

I'll be looking forward to what you say about this mission on the main channel. Well played. Also didn't know you just had to kill buildings. I hunted down everything and killed the last building, last

[@matthewcrowther890]

I’m so looking forward to whatever the main channel video will make of the beggining of this mission

[@KomRade493]

this was a god-tier play 10/10

[@miri.mayhem]

Gotta say, I start really appreciating your thumbnails. Makes your videos stand out!

[@Ryasiko]

THIS THUMBNAIL TEXT WILL NOT BE STOPPED. NOT BY YOU, NOT BY THE DISCORD, OR TWITCH CHAT OR ANYONE I WILL KEEP DOING LOW EFFORT THUMBNAILS OR SEE KZbin BURN DOWN AROUND ME

[@danielbrown001]

-Emperor Giantus Grant of the Twitch Dominion

[@jeffreyhoon]

@@danielbrown001 - Opposed by the KZbin Discord Combine

[@fraserlord4074]

Man that thumbnail text is so perfect, 10/10

[@johnkonig865]

That you actually made this whole thing work is insane. :D

[@Bendetoma]

Okay, when those Mutas decided to go for the Spawning Pool that really made me laugh :D

[@yonokhanman654]

32:21 Game starts here XD This is my favourite "Unit" only run mission so far!

[@JinFreeks]

This was probably one of the most exiting starts to a 'x' only run I've seen. Well done, was a blast to watch.

[@restisant]

Ahh yes, the infamous proxy pool.

[@Cypherwraith001]

My guy literally annexed an entire patch of creep out from under his opponent using only zerglings. My hero.

[@popeneiad7968]

Sorry Grant, but the Zerg AI has infinite money lol. If I remember correctly, there is a looping trigger which keeps setting their minerals to 500 so long as they are harvesting or it falls below a certain point

[@levsonc]

They have something like 40000 minerals and gas from start. It's enough for the whole mission.

[@JimboMcBrostein]

That explains it... I played it last week, they were sending 10 million hydras, and when I got to their base... like, 3 drones on minerals, I was like "what the hell"

[@eni7443]

That’s common throughout all SC1 missions, including custom missions. The campaign AI very literally can’t function without infinite money. Never understood why, though.

[@sintanan469]

@@eni7443 Because the campaign AI wasn't programmed well enough to react to building up a worker bank. The AI in SC1 is *very* basic, just relying on pathing and triggers to properly function in most cases. Before Brood War even came out the AI for custom maps was even more basic than the ones for the campaign missions. In general the custom AI just looks at what is within a radius around its hives/lairs/hatcheries/command centers/nexii and rebuilds anything preplaced that is lost, while building up some attacking units to harass based on the campaign mission. I used to use this when I was a kid for a RPG-like map I never got past a prototype of where the AI would rebuild preplaced buildings and units in canyons the players would pass through to act as "random" encounters.

[@FatherOfConqs]

It's missions like this I wish we could still see twitch chat

[@borticus101]

Infesting their base and destroying it from the inside... Most Zerg-like way I've seen this game played.

[@JessWLStuart]

Always fun to re-watch the beginning of this mission on this playthrough!

[@calebadam2576]

Aww, I was really hoping that battle-scarred hydra would make it to the end, the legend.

[@CyrusVorazan]

23:51 just tested - 8 unupgraded zerglings beat a sunk with 5 full hp zerglings surviving. And yes, in this case there are multiple sunks in range of each other, so the odds are different.

[@Atmapalazzo]

Did you try it in sc1 campaign? Sunks got nerfed pretty hard in bw IIRC

[@CyrusVorazan]

@@Atmapalazzo I tried it in this exact mission

[@Atmapalazzo]

@@CyrusVorazan huh, neat

[@euqinuykcaj]

Tbh, I kind of love this kind of thumbnail. Great job, Grant!

[@bendystrawz2832]

"Oh they've rebuilt an entire civilization over here :)" *hatches an army*

[@hiei49]

When i tried this i spend a lot of time messing around in the first base with a spore, 2 workers and 0 minerals left, trying to avoid every ground unit before lings were affordable. The second base is much more open and it is easier to "hide" from the enemy. Despite this video lasting an entire hour, i have to say that you figured it out very fast

[@baizen1]

Hi Grant, I just want to say thank you for your awesome content. Makes my day every day

[@mortegon583]

This is why I like Grant over other challenge runners. Because nobody needed this. Nobody would've looked at the starting situation and faulted you for calling it a no build segment. Nobody needed any of this, but we got it anyway, and that's what I like about these videos

[@MikeVDrumming]

I laughed alot durring this one. SC1 AI and pathing is pure comedy.

[@whisped8145]

28:00 The Hatch could tank the sunk for a second or two? Then again, that's a lot of zergling-minerals :P This is peak starcraft

[@fare-5174]

Tanking implies that the hatch will be targeted when there's combat units in range, SC1 target priority does not work that way.

[@niko6454]

16:43 lol that drone just exploded like a mechanical unit

[@lordlard2833]

I don't care for SC1 much but leaving a like for the thumbnail alone. Love it. XD

[@Cylindryk]

@GiantGrantGames, I think AI starts at the moment you bulid hatchery or your first building.

[@Alknix]

-Whose army is that? -It's not an army, it's a brood. -Well, whose brood is that? -Zasz' -Who's Zasz? -Zasz's dead, baby. Zasz's dead.

[@Sebak222]

At this point, I want to add my view simply to support your simple thumbnail stance! Stay Strong!!!!

[@Kylel0519]

I love how high effort these low effort thumbnails are lmao

[@JessWLStuart]

I wonder if there is a mod that provides puppy sounds for zerglings...? I want to see you play that!

[@lokalnyork]

I'm officially call this "StarCraft: Cracklings Edition"

[@LuminousLead]

10:30 Isn't using workers to kill enemy units against the spirit of Zerglings only? Also huge props for doing this challenge. I didn't think it was possiblr

[@Mikanoes]

Was anyone else internally screaming when he refused to take the sunken colony down when he had 10 lings? He was acting like it was impossible for 8 to take down a colony. He really underestimates what those little guys can do.

[@Evilmon2]

Spending 50 minerals to build 1 one Drone to oversaturate the gas to compensate for bad pathing: 🚫 Spending 250 minerals to build 2 Evo Chambers to force the Drones to path correctly: 😎

[@spacebumpkin1565]

This was so incredible

[@MyNamesJeff493]

12:36 You accidentally clicked on an enemy drone with your own, and that's why they attacked. I 'think' you could have mined there at the start. 'Think' because I have no idea if that's true.

[@HunterJanos]

To be honest, I'm significantly more invested in the thumbnail drama than the series at this point.

[@foxfireheart8833]

Congratulations! In your attempt to make gas mining better, you have successfully upgraded your mining rate to: Worse than before. The reward for your astounding effort is: Less gas. Please make good use of this new and improved economy until your results are: Satisfactory to upper Zerg management.

[@ZergrushEddie]

Well, this was absurd and incredibly dumb. GENIUS strategy and commitment, but my goodness this was just DUMB! Bravo. Amazing :)

[@shriez]

I cant wait for the video with both normal and Brood War just to hear what Grant says about this one mission

[@griddmeirax]

This could be a revolutionary speedrun strat

[@QuestionableObject]

Making creep do something: A good idea Making that something involve spreading creep all over the god damn map: A bad idea Creep should've been a defensive bonus, spreading with buildings instead of tumors that can be spammed everywhere. But a lot of mechanics in SC2 just exist to occupy APM instead of actually being fun or interesting to interact with so whatever.

[@Project-gr6zy]

Man i remember in your last vid talking about your buddies and you playin n64 i still have the battletanx 64 snd its sequal along with starcraft 64 my first sc experience lol great times growin up!

[@andreconrad5963]

Love the awesome low-effort thumbnails👌

[@whisped8145]

22:40 No! Not an Evo-chamber! Not yet! Too few zerglings! Those sunks need to get away. How many Lings to get rid of a sunk?

[@jst1606]

This was the stupidest thing and I loved it

[@stellacollector]

Best thumbnail ever!

[@MarianokunPony]

I love you Thumbnails! xDDD

[@bobbyferg9173]

Using enemy creep to place a Nydus canal or a sunken colony is one thing, but I did not see the spawning pool proxy coming

[@MasterSonicKnight]

can't wait to see the next episode of text thumbnail :D also u're a madman holy crap

[@ko71k52]

Amazing, gj with that mission! Also about your take on workers being the reason why all the money in SC tournaments were lost, guess it makes them the reason why all those money were won, so it's just a game mechanic

[@SmooreMC85]

Just a thought and I'm sure it's been suggested already but would it be possible to do some of these challenges in Warcraft 2?

[@zygo0]

The insane anti-speedrun strats on the first mission XD

[@wroughtiron7258]

I am in awe.

[@Ghooostie]

Honestly this mission having such a bonkers start, really just makes me concerned about BW Zerg 1. Not only do you get tons of units/sunkens that would need insane control to not kill anything, the guardian hive alone is going to insane, not even sure if doable ? There's like 4-5 guardians and in order to win, I think you need to rescue all the hives and kill all the zerg (which on the final island is going to even harder to control) all before the guardians kill the hive. Like, that's just going to require such insane precision and timing, I'm very curious as to how that one will work.

[@Dank_Lulu]

Even tho this is a Starcraft community and I am expected to get the reference.. I still feel a little giddy, having Mengsk's voice in my head, before I even realised why it's there as I read the thumbnail...

[@Qspajer]

proxy spawning pool made my day today!

[@randomcuttlefish6778]

Can’t wait to see how you phrase all this in the main video.😂

[@oguzhanyigit1326]

Low effort thumbnails are my new favorite

[@fireghost7563]

I feel like I’m the only one that loves these the low effort thumbnails more then I should. I can’t wait to see how the story continues on them.

[@Slimurgical]

Man the next mission is gonna be some crap. Can't Wait!

[@momom6197]

The reason the zerglings could take on the ultras is the difference in upgrades. The ultras had 1 armor instead of 5. Ultras in SC1 are awesome because they're extremely cheap (200/200). They're perfect to give some bulk to your army and soak marine shots while the zerglings around do their thing.

[@Kylel0519]

19:23 play with more honor like I am. As he’s just vulturing off the base

[@MercyPerson]

there is an entire anime arc on the thumbnails

[@SquaredSmith]

Just the way Blizzard intended

[@matt-jn7no]

The thumbnail image is a threat...

[@tysonniese9685]

Everytime he's supply capped after he got the 2nd base, I thought, kill the hydra

[@collinpoe1033]

Did anyone else see the drone explode around 20:00 ? Like it blew up like an scv and that’s not normal for drones. Am I going crazy? Was this an Easter egg?