Can You Beat StarCraft 1 With Zealots Only?

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....

Grant: "War Pigs are marines" Also Grant: "Fenix is not zealot"

Overmind: I have the strongest Zerg defense in the game Grant: I have... 42 mineral patches. And 20 gateways.

How the absolute hell, I never expected that Zealots only would be remotely possible in SC1!

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.

A part of my wants to see a Dragoons only. On one hand, they can hit air. On the other hand, pathfinding.

"I choose to beat up the baby." -Giant Grant, January 2023

In the last SC1 mission, you could have used SCVs for mining, instead of probes, so you could have had a whole 200 supplies strong army of zealots.

The yoink at 12:27 was hilarious. The StarCraft 1 ai is beyond bizarre and I love it

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 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.

12:26 A shuttle just Grabs the Reaver while the zealots start to smack it Jesus

That Artosis pylon caught me totally off guard, well done Grant.

That ending - love the thematic throughline of SC1 AI's jankiness being the true hero here.

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.

That tassadar-Jim Raynor trick at the 5:00 blew my mind.

I would watch a 5 hour video of Grant discussing all of his failed attempts to do various segments.

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.

Love how grant casualy confirms sc1 deathless in the middle of the video

After watching the stream's VOD I knew you'd try again at the last mission. Massive respect for the dedication you put into

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.

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.

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

When Grant did his first forshadowing in this video, I instantly thought of Escape from Aiur deathless... oh what a mission for a deathless run :D

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.

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.

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.

Finally, the trio is complete. Zealot, long zealot, and flying zealot.

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.

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!

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!

you may have broken some rules to beat the battle of braxis missions, but it's still impressive you managed to do it with only zealots doing damage

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!

"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 😆

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 love it when Grant narrates the stuff that went wrong. Always makes me laugh.

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.

1:04 "the beginning is always easy" Lab Rats No Death run says hi.

Clicked immediately. Glad to see you upload again, I’ve missed your content so much!

Having their own version of time is so Blizzard.

“I have returned” -Grant after showing up with a protoss challenge run after disappearing for 3 months

respect too you man, love these challenging videos, ik you put alot of work into these

Man, I love these videos. Such a roller-coaster of emotion!

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.

Your runs are insane! Congrats man, really really nice, you have my utmost respect for this!

I spent some time in december and january replaying through the sc1 campaigns, and holy cow, what you did is impressive.

That was amazing to watch and kept me hooked with the story you were telling.

The moment we all have been waiting.

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.

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!

Glad to see you came back to do a true Zealots Only finish to the run. Love the video as always!

An absoulte legend! Always fun to watch those challenges. Great job man ;)

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.

Love this content! Your campaign play never ceases to impress me

That ending was REALLY emotional! Good job!

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.

The lateral thinking, sheer effort, and luck involved in these missions is truly something. Liked and subbed. Well done!

Literally love your content man thank you so much. :)

based video grant, please do more! I love your starcraft campaign challenges. Kinda long time since you did any crazy ones tho, like pacifist and such

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

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 !

-Escape -From Aiur Got a significant chuckle out of me

Props to the editing in this one my man, that Reaver Yoink got me good :D

Love how you basicially outzerged the zerg with your waves of zealots :D

What a nice coincidence, i was just rewatching your videos. Glad to see a new upload. cheers GGG, love your content

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.

yay another upload. i silently follow your archive channel and i must say your vids and vods are really nice ^^

Glad to have you back!!!!!! i enjoy your challenge videos

Hell, it’s about time!! Welcome back! I loved your series on reverse SC2, and the MindHawk challenge.

I always look forward to all of your videos!!

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.

I love the little on-screen text edits, especially the "Yoink" on the Reaver rescue shuttle!

"A minor inconvenience of mutalisks" is like "a flock of seagulls" or "A murder of crows."

I have been waiting so much for this video that I started watching the VODs on GGGArchives !

25s ago released.. and i waited for it so long! Finnaly!

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!

I thought the title was "Can you beat StarCraft with only 1 Zealots?" and I thought Grand really outdone himself!! lol

Yes, been waiting for this one, thank you so much!

i wonder how much these challenges would change if the rule was "marines, zerglings, and zealots only" for all campaigns

A pride of lions, a murder of crows and an inconvenience of Mutalisks. Love it! :)

Escape from Aiur -Escape -From Aiur I literally spend 15 minutes laughing at that. Thx Grant

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.

Thank you again for your time and effort to produce such well-designed videos. I hope you are doing well :)

Bravo for the 4 frame Artosis pylon joke XD

15:46 Reminded me of the Eggman saying "I HAVE 70 ALTERNATIVE ACCOUNTS" haha

Ah yes, long zealots and short collossus. Next up, marines become mini-siege tanks !

Excellent! You have made so epic work. Thx for interesting video.

What an epic come back. Can’t wait for the next video!

i missed theese runs Grant ! good work !

Excellent quality as always, well done

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!!

Was wondering when this would drop. Made my work from home day that much more fun!

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.

You are crazy my guy Good video as always :>

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.

Very cool challenge! I am glad that you somehow finished final mission with zealots only :D Thanks fort he video and the series!

I was waiting for this and it seems hard great job doing this grant oh and can't wait for deathless ( we all know it will be crazy )

I was sooooo looking forward to this! Looks like I'll be late for work tonight!

Dude this stuff is so compelling. You're like the highschool teacher that makes learning about early AI in video games fun and interesting.

Wow this was awesome! congrats with the challenge