Much Games Offical Strategy Guide Starcraft Strategy Guide Written by Mike Thorne ------------ Legal Notice ------------ This strategy guide is an offical Much Games strategy guide and is legal copyrighted materal of Much Games. This guide may not be reproduced, redistributed or appear on any other website with out the express written consent of Much Games. See http://www.muchgames.ca/index.asp?action=copyright ----------------- Table of Contents ----------------- 1. Introduction 2. Units and Structures 2.1 Terrans 2.2 Zerg 2.3 Protoss 3. Terran Missions 3.1 Wasteland 3.2 Backwater Station 3.3 Desperate Alliance 3.4 The Jacobs Installition 3.5 Revolution 3.6 Norad II 3.7 The Trump Car 3.8 The Big Push 3.9 New Gettysberg 3.10 The Hammer Falls 4. Zerg Missions 4.1 Among the Ruins 4.2 Egression 4.3 The New Dominion 4.4 Agent of the Swarm 4.5 The Amerigo 4.6 The Dark Templar 4.7 The Culling 4.8 Eye for an Eye 4.9 The Invasion of Aiur 4.10 Full Circle 5. Protoss Missions 5.1 First Strike 5.2 Into the Flames 5.3 Higher Ground 5.4 The Hunt for Tassadar 5.5 Choosing Sides 5.6 Into the Darkness 5.7 Homeland 5.8 The Trial of Tassadar 5.9 Shadow Hunters 5.10 Eye of the Storm 6. Cheat Codes --------------- 1. Introduction --------------- Welcome to the Much Games offical strategy guide for Starcraft. In this guide you will see an explation of the units and structurs for the Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss as well as the missions for each. ----------------------- 2. Units and Structures ----------------------- ----------- 2.1 Terrans ----------- Marine Armor: Light Hit Points: 40 Ground Attack: 6 Air Attack: 6 Attack Range: 4 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 50 Firebat Armor: Light Hit Points: 50 Ground Attack: 16 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 2 Gas Required: 25 Minerals Required: 50 Ghost Armor: Light Hit Points: 45 Ground Attack: 10 Air Attack: 10 Attack Range: 6 Gas Required:75 Minerals Required: 25 Goliath Armor: Heavy HIt Points: 125 Ground Attack: 12 Air Attack: 20 Attack Range: 5 Gas Required: 50 Minerals Required: 100 SCV Armor: Light HIt Points: 60 Ground Attack: 5 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 1 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 50 Siege Tank Armor: Heavy Hit Points: 150 Ground Attack(tank): 30 Ground Attack(siege): 70 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range(tank): 6 Attack Range(siege): 12 Gas Required: 100 Minerals Required: 150 Vulture Armor: Medium HIt Points: 80 Ground Attack: 20 Air Attack:0 Attack Range: 5 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 75 Missile Turret Armor: Heavy HIt Points: 200 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 20 Attack Range: 7 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 75 Wraith Armor: Heavy Hit Points: 120 Ground Attack: 8 Air Attack: 20 Attack Range: 5 Gas Required: 100 Minerals Required: 150 Battlecruiser Armor: Heavy Hit Points: 500 Ground Attack: 25 Air Attack: 25 Air/Ground Attack(yamato cannon): 260 Attack Range: 6 Attack Range(yamato cannon): 10 Gas Required: 300 Minerals Required: 400 Science Vessel Armor: Heavy Hit Points: 200 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 0 Gas Required: 225 Minerals Required: 100 Dropship Armor: Heavy Hit Points: 150 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 0 Gas Required: 100 Minerals Required: 100 -------- 2.2 Zerg -------- Zergling Armor: Light Hit Points: 35 Ground Attack: 5 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 0 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 50 Broodling Armor: Light HIt Points: 30 Ground Attack: 4 Ait Attack: 0 Attack Range: 0 Hydralisk Armor: Medium Hit Points: 80 Ground Attack: 10 Air Attack: 10 Attack Range: 5 Gas Required: 25 Minerals Required: 75 Drone Armor: light Hit Points: 40 Ground Attack: 5 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 5 Gas Required: 0 Minreals Required: 50 Ultralisk Armor: Heavy Hit Points: 400 Ground Attack: 20 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 1 Gas Required: 200 Minerals Required: 200 Defiler Armor: Medium Hit Points: 80 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 0 Gas Required: 150 Minerals Required: 25 Infested Terran Armor: Light Hit Points: 60 Ground Attack: 500 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 1 Gas Required: 50 Minerals Required: 100 Spore Colony Armor: Heavy Hit Points: 400 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 15 Attack Range: 7 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 50 Sunken Colony Armor: Heavy Hit Points: 300 Ground Attack: 40 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 7 Gas REquired: 0 Minerals Required: 50 Egg Armor: Heavy HIt Points: 200 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 0 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 0 Mutalisk Armor: Light Hit Points: 120 Ground Attack: 9 Air Attack: 9 Attack Range: 3 Gas Required: 100 Minerals Required: 100 Guardian Armor: Heavy HIt Points : 150 Ground Attack: 20 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 8 Gas Required: 100 Minerals Required: 50 Queen Armor: Medium Hit Points: 120 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 0 Gas Required: 100 Minerals Required: 100 Scourge Armor: Light Hit Points: 25 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 110 Attack Range: 1 Gas Required: 75 Minerals Required: 25 Overlord Armor: Heavy Hit Points: 200 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 0 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 100 ----------- 2.3 Protoss ----------- Zealot Armor: light Sheild: 60 Hit Points: 100 Ground Attack: 16 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 1 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 100 Dragoon Armor: Heavy Sheild: 80 Hit Points: 100 Ground Attack: 20 Air Attack: 20 Attack Range: 4 Gas Required: 50 Minerals Required: 125 Reaver Armor: Heavy Shield: 80 Hit Points: 100 Ground Attack: 100 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 8 Gas Required: 100 Minerals Required: 200 High Templar Armor: Light Shield: 40 Hit Points: 40 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 0 Gas Required: 150 Minerals Required: 50 Archon Armor: Heavy Shield: 350 Hit Points: 10 Ground Attack: 30 Air Attack: 30 Attack Range: 3 Gas Required 300 Minerals Required: 100 Phaton Cannon Armor: Heavy Shield: 100 Hit Points: 100 Ground Attack: 20 Air Attack: 20 Attack Range: 7 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 150 Probe Armor: Light Shield: 20 Hit Points: 20 Ground Attack: 5 Ait Attack: 0 Attack Range: 1 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 50 Scout Armor: Heavy Shield: 100 Hit Points: 150 Ground Attack: 8 Air Attack: 28 Gas Required: 125 Minerals Required: 275 Carrier Armor: Heavy Shield: 150 Hit Points: 300 Ground Attack(Interceptors): 6 Air Attack(Interceptros): 6 Attack Range: 8 Gas Required: 250 Minerals Required: 350 Interceptor Hit Points: 40 Interceptor Shield: 40 Arbiter Armor: Heavey Shield: 150 Hit Points: 200 Ground Attack: 10 Air Attack: 10 Attack Range: 5 Gas Required: 350 Minerals Required: 100 Observer Armor: Light Shield: 20 Hit Points: 40 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 0 Gas Required: 75 Minerals Required: 25 Shuttle Armor: Heavy Shield: 60 Hit Points: 80 Ground Attack: 0 Air Attack: 0 Attack Range: 0 Gas Required: 0 Minerals Required: 200 ------------------ 3. Terran Missions ------------------ ------------- 3.1 Wasteland ------------- The Confederate Secutiry Forces have quarantined the entire planet of Mar Sara and will have implemented a complete lockdown within 48 hours. You must relocate your colonists, SCV's and Marines to the wastelands. En route you'll meet up with Jim Raynor the local marshal, who'll helpyou take out any enemies you may encouter. Your Marines and SCV's will start in the upper-left corner. The Command Center and Supply Depot lie some distance away in the lower-central map area. Divide your troops into two groups, Marines and SCV's, and move the Marines toward the isolated Zergling Groups. Terminate the Zerglings with extreme prejudice. Then move down to provide support for the base. Once the base is secure, move your SCV's down and start mining minerals in earnest. After Retrieving sufficient minerals, biuld a barracks and manufacture the 10 Marines you need to complete this mission. Jim Raynor and a couple of Marines can continue moving around the map mopping up Zerglings, but its not necessary for victory. Remember if you lose any Marines, you must replace them to hit the production target. Also, there's a slight chance you'll lose Jim Raynor in fighting the remainging Zerglings, so you may want to just sit tight and guard the Command Center area. When your SCV's reach the Command Center, place them all on teh mineral gathering duty untill you've banked 150 minerals. Then get one of the SCV's to build a barracks while the others contuine retrieving minerals. During this time, use your Marines to Guard the Command Center area. A few Zerglings may be waiting at various points around the periphery. Once the Barracks is in place, set it to build one Marine after anotheruntill you reach 10, when the mission will end. To see how many Marines you currently have and how many more you need, check out the Marine counter in the upper-left corner of the screen. --------------------- 3.2 Backwater Station --------------------- Backwater Station is under attack from unkown alien organisms. The Confederate headquarters on Tarsonis requests that you don't get involved, but Raynor is convinced the Confederate troops won't take action fast enough to save BAckwater. It's risky, but if you team up with Raynor there's a chance you can get to Backwater Station before it's too late. Your forces are grouped in the lower-left corner of the map, which gives you some measure of protection against the Zerg in the early going. After you've set up your SCV's to collect resources, set your Barracks to produce Marines until you have a squad of 12 ready to kick some Zergling butt. Take advantage of Jim Raynor's awesome power when you hunt Zerglings, and if he gets damaged, simply order an SCV torepair Jim's Vulture. After you have 12 Marines, group them into one attack force and more northeast up the canyon to take out the few Zerglings waiting there. After their blood soaks the ground, move north up the ramp to slice up some Zerg. AS soon as you climb the ramp you'll see the telltale sing of the Zerg's presence, called "Creep", as well as a Zerg structure guarded by a half-dozen Zerglings. Your 12 Marines will shred the Zerglings in the blink of an eye, leaving your firepower free to annibilate the Zerg structure. Now move your group of Marines north until they capture the Backwater Station Command Center. When you get a unit close enough to the Center, all the other structures and units will fall under your control, including two SCV's and five Firebats. Immediately order the two Barracks in Backwater to produce three or four Firebats each. Then park your Marines on the east(right) side of the station. After you've created the Firebats, form another group made up entirely of theseunits. Now you have two groups 8-12 marines(depending on how many have survived) and at least ten Firebats. Move your Marines southeast and have them take out any Hydralisks and Zerglings they encounter while the Firebat group follows up to destroy structures. This on two punch is an effective tatic in these early missions, so keep moving throughout Zerg territory this way. The scenario ends when you destroy the infested Command Center. The infested Command Center lies in the upper-right corner of the map. Begin by sending an SCV to build a refinery on the Vaspene Geyser to the north while your Command Center produces two more SCV's. Have the remaining SCV start harvesting minerals posthaste. Continue creating SCV's untill you have six or seven of them, and leave all but one harvesting minerals. As minerals pour in produce Marines until you have 12. That's it, that's all you have to do resource wise to win this scenario. Your SCV's will continue collecting minerlas while your lone Vespene GasSCV slowly gives you all the you need to create Firebats down the road. This is a nice way to manage your resources in this mission because basically you can set it up and forget it. ---------------------- 3.3 Desperate Alliance ---------------------- Times are tough for the Terrans. The Confederation is falling to provide a cohesive resistance to the Zerg forces. The Confederation has arrested many of the militia that otherwise would provide defence, and the only groups still availabel to fight are the right wing factions. One such group is the Sons of Korhal, lead by Arcturus Mengak. He has contacted you to to request assistance in stemming the Zerg onslaught. However, should you join forces with Mengak, you'll be branded a criminal. Your objective in the scenario is to survive for 30 minutes, and there are a couple of ways to go about it. You can either build your defence and sit tight, waiting for Zergattackers to strike your position, or you can take an offensive stance and attempt to deal a blwo to the Zerg before they come looking for trouble. The latter approach is more fun, and will give you some valuable experience managing an attack force First, you'll need to repair the burning Bunker on the lower road with an SCV. Afterthats's done, throw the full complement of four Marines into each of your two Bunkers, this provides your base with a more then adequate defence as you build up your attack force. Your attack force should consist of two (preferably three) groups of 12 Marines each, and one group of 12 Firebats. Upgrade Marine weapon range and armor strength before you set out. If all goes well, everything for your attack should be in place by minute 15. Group your units into groups of 12, then move then out en masse(Marines first, then Firebats) up the lower road. Begin a sweeping motion that systematically wipes out the heart of the Zerg hive. Generally, Marines are you best weapons against Hydralisks and Mutalisks because they have greater range and there weapons penetrate Zerg armor better then Firebat weaponary. Continue creating marines at your base, you can use them as reinforcements if you need to. Remember, your objective is only to survive, not to obliterate the Zerg. If you launch this massive attack on Zerg positions, they'll have little chance to launch a counterattack. Now you can just let the clock tick toward victory if you want, but you should still stock your Bunkers with Marines. Just to be safe, keep a few extra emergency units(probably Marines) hanging around your base in case Mutalisks fly over. The key to this strategy is speed, if you are too slow the Zerg will have enough time to biuld a vast army. Your first concern is to get the greatest amount of minerals in the shortest period of time. Immediately set your Command Center to produce four new SCV's while the others collect minerals. After you've set six or seven SCV's collecting minerlas, send one to repair the right hand Bunker then have it build a refinery on the Vaspene Geyser. You need no more the one SCV collecting Vaspene, there should be enough to create the Firebats and upgrades you need. At this point, produce a couple more SCV's to do some construction. Have one biuld Supply Depots and the other more Barracks. You'll need at least three new Supply Depots, so keep one SCV making Depots continually. You'll also need at least one SCV to repair damage from occasional Zerg attacks. Before you know it, you'll have the Marine and Firebat groups ready for attack, and can simply leave your SCV's gathering minerals and vespene while your Barracks Produce more Marines. --------------------------- 3.4 The Jacobs Installation --------------------------- Your tenture as a Colonial Magistrate has been suspended pending an official investigation of your affiliation with the Sons of Korhal. The Zerg overrun Mar Sara almost completelly, and the Confederates are abandoning the planet. Mengsk wants you to raid Mar Sara's Confederate outpost and bring back whatever designs or weapon schematics you can get your hands on in the Jacobs Installation. Because this is an "Installation" mission, the map is like a maze, and offers a number of superfluous pathways. At several locations in this mission you'll encounter hidden floor and wall mounted guns and missilw turrets. Stay calm as you move through the installation and don't panic if the floop opens fire on you, simply target the spot and have your marines destroy the turret. As you move northeast you reach a room with a raised area serviced by three stairways. Several Marines and one Goliath defend this area, so don't head in there untill you've grouped your attack force tightly. When you fight the Marines above you remember that they have a height advantage. You have only a 70 percent chance of hitting them when you're lower, while they have a 100 percent chance of hitting you. Therefore, always attack when your numbers are at least three times theirs. Be sure to activate any beacons you come across as you wind through the installation. The first two beacons you come across disable floor-mounted guns and release a numkber of friendly prisoners. The third teleports your men so they can proceed along the optimal path and collect the disks. Once you grab the disks and return them to the starting beacon, the mission will end in victory for you. You can't build new units in thes scenario, so take care not to frivolously waste units. If you end up losing a pile of units accidentally due to a sloppy play, you may have to restart the scenario, so be very careful. -------------- 3.5 Revolution -------------- With the disks secure, Raynor advises you that headquarters is analysing the data and should have them decoded soon. Mengsk is confident your efforts have weakened the Confederate hold on the fringe worlds, but there's more work yet to be done. Sources have informed Kerrigan that the colony on Antiga Prime is ready to revolt against the Confederacy, however, a substantial group of Confederate troops is statined around the colony. Kerrigan will help reclaim the colony, but you must use all your skills to eliminate the confederate base establisehd there. This mission begins with your troops in the upper left corner of the map. Group them and proceed south untill you run into Kerrigan. After Kerrigan and Raynor engage in a brief verbal fencing match, proceed south untill you reach the three missile turrets on the roadway. Destroy them. Continue alsong the road and take out the waiting Vulture. Next, turn north and head to a clearing just left of some Confederate bunkers. Your Marines must take out a Confederate Wraith gaurding this area, but otherwise you'll be safe there for a while. Separate Karrigan from your group, then move your troops in to take out the bunker directly to your right, and then the missile turret beside it. Missile turrets are detectors and can see cloaked ghosts, so you must take it out before you sneak Kerrigan past. When the turret is gone, move your troops back, then cloak Kerrigan and move her up to the beacon. With teh turret destroyed, enemy units can't spot her where she's cloaked, so getting to the beacons will be easy. After the Antigan base is liberated, the Antigan bunkers will destroy most of the Confederate forces near the base. You can move Raynor and the Mairnes in to mop up the last few Confederate marines after the Confederate bunkers succumb. After you liberate the Antigan base, your objective becomes destroying the confederate base. You must get the Antigan base up and moving forward to generate the military oomph it will take to crush Alpha Squadron. Fortunately, the Antiga Prime base is substantial, and you needn't build a lot of infrastructure to win. First repair any buildings that have taken damage, then set your command center to produce as many new SCV's as you can afford. After setting up your resource gathering, start producing Maines and Wraiths, as well as missile turrets, along the base's southern border. The confederate base lies along the lower quarter of the map, so the best staging area for your attacks lies to the south. Build up a strike force of 12 Wraiths(with cloaking ability and Apollo Reactors), and 12 or so Marines with upgraded weapons and armor. Then get ready to mix it up. Cloak your Wraiths and head to the lower-right portion of the map, where a confederate refinery and plenty of SCV's rush resources back to the command center. AS your cloaked Wraiths fire on the SCV's and refinery, many confederate wraiths will fly in to stop the carnage, because your ships are cloaked you can lay waste to them quickly. After clearing the lower-right map corner of the confederate menace, load the dropships with Marines and transport them to the secured area. Move as many as you can, then collect them into one or two groups. Now you'll move from east to west across the bottom of the map with your Marines and Wraiths. There may be spider mines in this area, send lone marines ahead of your main attack force to defonate them. Use your cloaked Wraiths to take out air and ground units while your marines move forward to knock out missile turrets that would give your Wraiths position away. Using this method, you'll quickly sweep the confederate base off the map, leaving only a few straggling units for your Wraiths to hunt down. After capturing the Antigan base, your goal is to quickly amass a small army of SCV's to collect the large amounts of minerals and vaspene you'll need to construct the necessary Wraiths. After liberating the base, set the command center to build five SCV's while the two active SCV's collect minerals and repair damage to Jim Raynor and any buildings that took hits during the fighting. After the resource gathering is in full swing, build several new supply depots to accommodate the strike force. You also must build a comsat station so you can develop cloaking, and an engineering bay to build missile turrets to protect the base from confederate Wraiths attacks. You may want to move your starport down to the lower part of the map, but it also can be beneficial to build a second starport at the southern portion of the base. If you are enterprising, you can build a command center in the south to help speed up the vespen gas collection. ------------ 3.6 Norad II ------------ The confederation is in shock over the Antigan revolt. The remains of Alpha Squadron and its Commander, General Duke, have crash landed in the flagship, Norad II. It's your job to move in and save the colony and Duke, as well. It's a bitter pill for Raynor and Kerrigan to swallow, but Mengsk feels saving Duke will make him a powerful ally. War is hell. Your baseis in disarray following a Zerg attack, and several of your buildings will need repair. Your first priority is to mobilize Raynor(in his Vulture) and the Marines and firebats around him to secure the base. While you're moving your marines into the existing bunkers, use your SCV's to fix up any buildings that are terminally damaged. If a building is in the red zone is not repaired, it will eventually explode and be lost. After thwarting the initial Zerg attack, there's only a short period of time for you to get your defence back up before the next onslaught. Continue repairing damaged structures while you put marines into the existing bunkers. If you can spare the resources, build another bunker near the refinery to protect your north flank. Once you have a defence perimeter of marine filled bunkers, you'll have a shield Zerg ground attacks can't penetrate. Your next priority is to build up a fleet of wraiths and a large contingent of vultures, goliaths, and marines to mount an assault on the spore colonies guarding the airways between the base and the Norad II. When your troops are ready to go, move the dropships to the edge of the ridge east of your base. There's one area where the spore cononies can't hit your ships, but you may still want to throw a wraith or two out front to take hits instead of your dropships. After your troops are up on the ledge, move systematically from one spore colony to the next, clearing an area for a dropship to come through. At this point expert the Zerg to throw plenty of mutalists and some ground units at you, you should have your wraiths ready for backup. As this battle goes on, send one dropship back for reinforcements and the other to pick up Jim Raynor. When you're fairly sure you can sneak a dropship to the Norad II, fly it in and drop Raynor onto the beacon. That's it, you win. The most precious resources to manage at the beginning of this mission are the buildings that have fallen into the red zone. They'll collapse in minutes if you don't get an SCV over to do some repair work. After securing the area and ensuring you won't lose buildings to deterioration, build siz to ten SCV's to start gathering resources. Devote one SCV exclusively to repairing damaged buildings and constructing bunkers. After this tense initial period, you can gather resources in a business as usual manner, making sure you build a starport with a control tower and an engineering bay so you can make wraiths and missile turrets as the game progresses. Whatever your plan, you should use your resources first to repair structures and provide a defensive curtain around your base and then to make wraiths and goliaths. ----------------- 3.7 The Trump Car ----------------- A large confederate strike force readies to attack your position. Thats not the big news, however. You learn the confederation has developed a Trans-planar Psionic Waveform Emitter. When activated, this psi emitter attracts Zerg to its location, as it turns out, a psi emmitter was the heart of the battle on Mar Sara. It may seem like a cruel strike against your race, but your only option is to plant a psi emitter in the command center of the confederation camp, leaving the confederates to deal with the Zerg while you escape. As soon as this mission starts you must pull back some of your units and buildings. The area in the lower middle part of the map probably will be destroyed before you can help it, and the area at the top of the map also come under attack quickly. Let the lower area fall, but try to hang onto the northen camp to use as a staging area for your attacks. Launch the science facility and the starport, and move them south. Immediately send up reinforcments from your main base for defence. To reach the beacon, you must punch a hole in confederate defenses. You can use two routes for this the central path and the northern path leading from your northern staging area. Either way, a fair bit of fighting must occur, but because fewer missile turrets guard the northern route it allows for better use of wraith fighters for attack. Build up a force of about 10 siege tanks, 12 wraiths, 10 goliaths, and 12 marines. Then move systematically along the northern corridor. Its a good idea to send your science vessel ahead of your other troops to warn you of waiting siege tanks. Creep forward using a systematic pattern of goliaths and marines followed closely by siege tanks, with the wraiths nearby for backup. Bring a couple of SCV's to repair damage to your units along the way. Remember to use ground units, such as goliaths and marines to take out turrets, wraiths and siege tanks. When you come to the mineral field at the top of the confederate base take out all the SCV's and the command center to cripple the confederate ability to create more units. Then move your siege tanks into the center of town. Once these tanks enter "siege mode" the carnage really begins, and enemystructuresfall very quickly. At this point, get the psi emitter into a dropship to fly it up to the beacon. Fly the dropship along the pathway your ground forces cleared, otherwise missile turrets may shoot it down. Drop the psi emitter near the beacon, the move it in. The mission ends with Kerrigan wishing that she is never forced to contribute to human death again by luring Zerg to attack. As with most missions, its important to start collectino minerals and vespene gas as soon as possible. Use some of your initial minerals to create a pair of new SCV's to help. Balance your need for new military units with your need for new structures. It may be advisable to build another factory and/or barracks in the northern stagins area, but if the resources are hard to find, simply move your existing structures north fo keep fresh units flowing to the front. Once your strike force is ready, keep building units at your base(s) so you can send in another wave of firepower if it looks like you're losing the battle. ---------------- 3.8 The Big Push ---------------- Its nearly time to take out the confederate base atTarsonic, but to break through defenses you must plan carefully. General Duke has devised a plan to attack the central of the three primary orbiting platforms. These platforms serve as staging areas for the confederate fleet so a sufficient attack on one should cause enough of a panic to allow a small force of troops to penetrate to the planet surface. As this mission begins, all your troops are crammed noto a small plaftorm, along with all your buildings. Load your SCV's and marines into dropships then group the wraiths with Duke and move them left to the deseried base. Once there, have your air force take out the confederate marines and firebats dotting the area. It shouldn't take much to clean them up. Move your structures to the new base, placing your command centers between mineral fields and vespene gysers. You can drop your buildings beside add-on buildings such as machine shops and nuclear missile silos for instant upgrades. Immediately get your SCV's gathering minerals while you create siege tanks and marines. After you're sorted out what buildings go where, move your air units to the raised area above your base. You can also add a few bunkers and any siege tanks you create, so they'll be in place for your slow, grinding assault across the central portion of the map. Build up your forces as you did in the last mission three large groups of siege tanks, goliaths, marines and wraiths. Move these groups up the central and left portions of the map where you can capture vast mineral and vespene deposits. If you build command centers near these new deposits, you can speed up your defeat of the confederates. This is the first mission where you get to use nukes, and if you build plenty of command centers around the extra mineral deposits, you can have extra silos. Several confederate installations on this map have closely grouped buildings perfect targets for the awsome power of a nuclear device. Use a cloaked chost to get in close to a target, then let the nuk go. If you can follow up with a mop-up force, you can take out entire bases in a short period of time. Still you don't need to use nukes to win the mission, A slow assault with siege tanksand support forces works just as well. After you caputer other mineral deposits and knock out the first confederate base on the platform the others will fall with help from siege tanks and nukes. This mission can take quite awhile, but you'll have fun. After you take out the base just move your own, most of the confederate forces lie entirely along the right side of the map. The key to winning this mission is to secure the mineral fields and vespene resource pools above and on the left side of the map. Building command centers near these areas to help take in more resources is critical if you want to win by overwhelming the confederate forces. ------------------ 3.9 New Gettysberg ------------------ Intelligence tells us the protoss are descending on the Zerg hive on Tarsonis. Mengsk worries the Protoss will divert the Zerg from their attacks on the confederation, and has ordered Kerrigan to engage the Protoss forces sot the Zergs can be unencumbered in their attacks on the confederation. A large force of Zerg lies just north of your position, however you can't attack the Zerg actively because destroying even one Zerg building will result in mission failore. Instead you must place bunkers near the ramps leading up to Zerg positions. As resources allow, also place a few missile turrets in the area to protect against Mutalisk attack. In fact, placing these defensive structures along the northern boundry of your base should be your first priorty. Once they are in place they'll do their work withour your attention. Send your dropship with some SCV's to claim jthe mineral deposits to the left center and bottom center portions of the map. The build an armory, a starport, a refinery, and a science station. As this is going on, build a pair of bunkers on the path behind the mineral field at your base. The Protoss eventually will send zealots trhough this area, and if you don't don't have a pair of well stocked bunkers you'll get toasted. You can attempt to win this mission through a bloody ground based battle, but an alternative strategy will save your troops lives. However, it will cost you plenty of resources. After setting up your two new command centers and protecting the main base sufficiently, build an exrta starport, making sure to include a control tower. Once you can build battlecruisers, build them as fast as you can until you can until you have eight or ten. This is no small task, and you must defend your base against Protoss attacks as you amass this force. It ill be worth it in the end however. When you have the fleet of battlecruisers, fly them down to your lower control center and make sure you've researched the Yamato Gun. Finally before you begin your attack, group four to six SCV's as a repair team that can repair badly damaged battlecruisers quickly. use your comsat stations to locate enemy photon cannons, then move your fleet of battlecruisers in for the kill. Work your way along hte bottomof the map until you've wiped out all the structures. If you're getting clobbered, return to base for repair. As you work your way through the Protoss base, don't be afraid to use your yamato guns to take out larger structures. Most structures will succumb after two yamato shots, use this weapon together with the other battlecruisers lasers to go thourgh the base like a hot knife thourgh butter. The remaining protoss structures lie in the upper right corner of the map. Go to it. Once your base is secure from random Zerg attacks, use your dropship to take two SCV's down to the mineral deposits in the left corner and bottom center areas of the map. Next build command centers near the mineral fields as quickly as possible that speeds up this mission considerably. The mineral field at the bottom centerof the map is close to a large protoss installation, so don't venture far. Just build the command center and start collecting minerals. This scenario has a fixed amount of resources, and long, drawn out battles will surely deplete what you'd otherwise need for a decisive victory. Don't fritter awayyour resources during the build up phase, and don't attack until you have at least eight battlecruisers. For best results, gather all the resources you can as quickly as you can as you build the structures you need to create battlecruisers. --------------------- 3.10 The Hammer Falls --------------------- The fleet has lost contact with the ground forces at New Gettysberg. General Mengsk has ordered the immediate disengagement of the Korhal fleet from the Tarsonian system. Meanwhile, protoss and zerg forces continue battling across the core continent of Tarsonis. Raynor is bitter about Mengsk's betrayal to Kerrigan and is set to abandon Mengsk and his self centered plans for conquest. Mengsk threatens to destroy anyone who opposes him, but Raynor is ready to leave Tarsonis as soon as possible. The fleet is ready to evacuate you, but you must disable an ion cannon before the fleet can leave. There are two main groups of enemy Terrans in this mission the Sons of Korhal and the Alpha Corps. The red force, which has troops stationed on and behind the raised area directly north of your starting position, poses the immediate threat to you.Providing a proper defensive barrier should be your first proirty, to build bunkers and missile turrets in the area at the top of the ramps. Take care not to wander too far or the siege tanks just out of your range will smoke you. After securing the area, build a pack of 12 marines and group them together, then grab your two siege tanks and head down the road to the right. At the intersection you'll encounter a group of red goliaths and marines, but they should be no problem ofr your marines. After yiou have secured this area, quickly more north to the next intersection and build a pair of bunkers blocking the road to the left. The red forces will attack along this route from both the air and the ground, so it would behoove you to put a couple missile turrets here to spot clocked wraiths. What you're doing is essentially blocking off key attack access points for the red force. Defending these two areas well wil prevent any red attacks from breaking through. you now have access to a pair of large resource deposits. These will give you the power you need to take out the ion cannon. The enemy won't take lightly your setting up command centers near these newly discovered mineral fields, and will likely launch waves of wraiths at them. To prevent you excursions from becoming disasters, build missile turrets round each command center. These will serve both to shoot down enemy paths of airborne units and to spot clocked wraiths. If you fail to block off all enemy paths of attack, you can still win. Just make sure you establish a strong presence somewhere near the central resources and start packing the area with bunkers, missile turrets, goliaths, and siege tanks in siege mode. The enemy will throw a surprising variety of enemiesfrom all directions, so you'll need to constantly build new units. Build new barracks and factories to speed up unit production in the area. After securing these areas, begin to build a strong strike force of battlecruisers, wraiths, science vessels, dropships, and of cource, the entire gamut of ground units. To take out the ion canon you must move your battlecruisers in first to destroy the missile turrets at the edge of the platform. Once these have been neutralized, you can either land dropships in the clear spot or proceed with your fleet of battlecruisers and slowly annihilate all resistance. If you've managed to develop a fleet of at least five battlecruisers with yamato guns, this latter approach is much easier. Just advance the battlecruisers very slowly using scanner sweeps to reveal ghosts and yamato guns to level missile turrets. Eventually you'll reach the ion cannon. Destroy it with the battlecruisers and victory is yours. After you've secured the new mineral fields in the northeast, you must research the technologies to their fullest. Fortunately, with the new mineral deposits you'll have plenty of resources to upgrade every aspect of your units abilities. After the defensive infrastructure is in place, pour your efforts into building the strike force. The sooner you can take the ino canno out, the less chance the enemy will launch a large attack on one of your positions draining your resource pool. --------------- 4 Zerg Missions --------------- -------------------- 4.1 Amoung The Ruins -------------------- The overmind has set you as one of the greatest of the cerebrates. Theovermind has found a creature that is perhaps the greatest of his agents and charges you with the task of keeping this Chrysalis safe from alien attacks, while you wipe the sector clean of the Terran menace that infests the planet nearby. This mission is a giant leap down in difficulty from the last scenario but you're learning to use a new race, so the reprieve will be welcome. The solution here can be summed up in one word hydralisk. Follow the natural progression of technological advancement and the build 20 hydralisk to crush the inferior terran race. This mission will give you a feel for the Zerg ground units, the zergling and the hydralisk. You can produce them quickly and cheaply, and the hydralisk packs surprising power against everything from wraiths to goliaths. The key to this mission that is worthty of special attention is the chrysalis. Keep a group of at least six zerglings nearby at all times to protect this special unit from terran attacks. Its also a good idea to build at least a pair of sunken colonies near the chrysalis. The enemy will attack along the ground and the sunken colonies will provide an extra measure of support in case you get overwhelmed. After building up two groups of 12 zerglings and hydralisks eash, move up the right side of the mapand take out the installations you come across. Use your hydralisks to blast wraiths from the sky while your zerglings tie up attacking ground units. After you reach the main base, the attack force probably will be down 50 percent a good indication that you should bring up another group of units. If you haven't produced the myet, zerglings are quick and come two in an egg. The only other area you must clear is in the upper middle portion of the map, but you can approach it only from the left. A starport and some light resistance await you there. Once you've swept the terrans away, you win. Although much zerg resource management resembles that of the terrans, you need to know a few key things before you venture forth. First, whenever you create a new structure, you lose the drone that created it. Thats because the drone mutates into the structure becomes it rather than builds it. Drones that have built a structure aren't free to do something else. They are gone forever. In this scenario you should create as many drones as possible early on and build a spawning pool and a hydralisk den. An evolution chamber will help strengthen your weapons, but its not necessary. However, you should explore new technolgies to their fullest in every mission. Being comfortable with the methods and powers of each unit and structure will benefit you later in the game and in multiplayer battles. For fun, you can create swarms of zerglings just to see what it's like to attack in such large numbers. Remember, the overlords are equivalent to terran supply depots, if you plan to create a hugh throng of zerglings, have overlords ready. ------------- 4.2 Egression ------------- The overmind is pleased that its prize is intact. You're considered strong enough now to engage to warp travel with the swarm. The protoss block you exit from Tarsonis, so you must fight your way through to the beacon to warp with the swarm to a new destination. Another Cerebrates Brood will help you if you need assistance during this mission. Your fellow cerebrate has given you the use of six hunter kilers. These units are essentially double power hydralisks and will aid you greatly in taking out the protoss lying between you and the beacon. Send a unit to the hunter killers to activate them. Immediately you have a force of six hunter killers and three hydralisks. These nine units are strong enough to take out the entire initial string of protoss structures and units. Move forward and attack, but as soon as you start losing, units fall back and nurse your wounds. As your resources grow, you'll gain the ability to mutate hydralisks. Make as many of these units as you can so you canhave two large groups of hydralisks that you can move through the map. After setting up this force, move them down toward the beacon destroying enemy units you meet along the way. If your units falter, build more hydralisks and/or zerglings to replace your losses, then quickly send them into action. Soon you'll secure the beacon. Now, rather than have a drone bring the chrysalis down unprotected, send a group of hydralisks to escort the drone to the beacon. As the mission begins, set two of your drones to collect minerals while the third mutates into a vespene extrator. Again try to exploit the hydralisks power by building a hydralisks den and then upgrading its weapons and movement numbers. Resource gathering in this mission is routine, but be sure to leave some units behind in case the protoss launch a counterattack. -------------------- 4.3 The New Dominion -------------------- The chrysalis's pstonic emanations have lured the enemy to us from the depths of space. We have intercepted a terran transmission, and we know now there will be terran forces chasing our swarms. Engage the terrans with with care. Your priorities are first to protect the chrysalis at all costs, and then to destroy the terrans. Quickly building up a strong attack force will let you take the high ground to your north, speeding this mission along. You'll also want to set up a sunken colony on the upper left edge of the creep to defend against terran attack. After setting up a defensive perimeter, start producing mutalisks and hydrallisk in bulk. The sooner you can amass at least 10 mutalisks, the better. Use your large group of mutalisks to clear the high ground to your north so you can build a hatchery and harvest the minerals and the vespene resources there. Expect at least a couple of waves of terran attacks, all from the left sideof your base. Generally, your large group(s) of mutalisks can stop any of these attacks, but you also should keep three of four hydralisks and a sunken colony or two active around your base just to be safe. Once you have two groups of 20 mutalisks, keep bilding more to replace those you'll lose, then head up the map, aggressively confronting enemy missile turrets and marines. You'll take some hits, but the power of 12 mutalisks focused together against one area is awsome. Turrets fall in a matter of seconds, getting only two or three shots off beore becoming rubble. As your mutalisks fall, fly replacements up to keep the strike force at around ten units or so. You can sweep the terrans off the map, and enjoy doing it. If your're having trouble cracking the terran defensive perimeter, attack with your mutalisks in the upper right corner of the map. This is where the terrans are the weakest, and it'll be all you can do to gain a foothold on their territory. Be wary of marchingground troops north because the terran siege tanks will obliterate anything in seconds. use your mutalisks to take the siege tanks out first. Lastly, if you run into large groups of marines, back off and beef up your attack force or you may get shredded. Begin by creating three new drones while you set the two existing drones to collecting minerals. Then ramp up production as fast as possible. Building a sunken colony near the chrysalis should be a priority. Considering the ferocity of potental terran attacks, it would behoove you quickly to get a second in place, as well. After you're established, put all your resources into a mutalisk strike force that can clear the mineral and vespene area to the north. Once you have this areayou can produce offensive units very quickly with two active hatcheries. ---------------------- 4.4 Agent of the Swarm ---------------------- While Daggoth is occupted with Dominion forces, emanations from the chrysalis lure more enemy forces. The overmind informs you that, although you can destroy these enemy forces, your primary objective remains protecting the chrysalis as it nears the time of hatching. Build up a solid defense matrix of sunken colonies and spore colonies around your base as soon as possible. The terrans will regularly drop in small groups of marines and firebats, and although the hydralisks and zerglings you start with will provide some defense, you'll need backup. After you secure your main base, you should create a modest group of mutalisks to fly over and secure the air space over the central island. You probably won't meet nay resistance at first, but as you begin to build a hatchery the terrans will begin to airlift in plenty of units to hinder your progress. You should take enought mutalisks to defend the island until you can build up some spore colonies and sunken colonies for defense. An overloard must drop in at least one drone in order to start a new hatchery, so be sure to protect the overloard as it lumbers over to the island. Vast terran forces lie in all corners of the map except he upper left, but you neen't battle them all. don't pick fights, just stay cool and establish your base on the central island. Once this base is up and running, continue to build a force of mutalisks to act as your primary strike force against the terran command center. Two full groups of mutalisks should be more then enough. Because the command center can't be reached by land, the air attack is a prudent strategy. You can also take a queen along to infest the command center, if destroying it doesn't appeal to you. When you first begin your aerial assault, bring your ships in two waves, with the first wave taking the missile turrets quickly, and then the second wave to attack miscellaneous ground units, such as marines and goliaths. Mutalisks are good for these kinds of targets because their attacks bounce from one enemy unit to another, inflecting collateral damage on adjecent units. After the misil turrets have been destroyed, you can bring in your queen and infest the command center to win the mission. If you don't like the idea of an all out air attack, you'll need to research overlord transport and pack up some zerglings and hydralisks to bring along. If you choose to go this route, be sure that the first row of missile turrets has been destroyed before you try to drop your troops on enemy ground. This takes careful timing becauseof the slow movement of the overlords, but if you want a ground war, you'll have to transport your troops over. The limiting factor in this scenario is vespene gas. You'll most likly have to capture the central island to get the 5,000 vespene gas units awaiting your harvest. Once the extra vespene is flowing in, you should be able to manufacture the double pronged attack most effective for capturing the command center. To make the suggested air assult, you must build a spire and upgrade it to a greate spire. You'll also need to build up your hatchery to hive status, and research your overlords transport ability. By the end of the mission you'll probably find you've researched the entire available tech tree, anyway. --------------- 4.5 The Amerigo --------------- Now that the chrysalis has hatched and Kerrigan has become an instrument of the Zerg, she's eager to explore the full scope of her psionic powers. The terrans limit the psionic abilities of ghosts so their powers can't be uses against the confederacy, but now that Kerrigan is a Zerg she wants to reach her full potential. You must protect her at all costs as she searches for the supercomputer that will provide the information she needs. This mission offers you only the units on the map. Although you can get reinforcements later on, you can't manufacture new units. The amerigo is a technological maze, so it would be pointless to describe how to wind thourgh to the supercomputer. The only proviso is that there's a teleport pad that takes you directly to the supercomputer area once you've wound through much of the base.You also must walk onto all beacons to unlock all the doors. As you negotiate the corridors you'll encounter marines, firebats, ghosts, and vultures, but usually not more than four at a time. Your ace in the hole is Kerrigan whose 400 hit points, cloak, and powerful attack give you the edge you need. Whenever things get hot, have Kerrigan move in to kick some butt. Kerrigan's cloaking also can help you scout areas where you suspect there may be wall mounted guns or enemy units. In fact, using Kerrigan as a scout who can walk past and flank enemy troops while your hydralisks mount a frontal attack can work very well. There's no resource management for this mission. However if you get low on units, a closed room holds a pack of zerglings eager to help if only you'll pick them up. -------------------- 4.6 The Dark Templar -------------------- Kerrigna senses that the protoss are hidden on Char. She's declared herself queen of the Zerg and challenges the protoss commander, Tassadar of the Templar, to a battle to the death. The Templar voices his disappointment that Kerrigan, once a proud fighter for the terran cause, has fallen to the overmind. Kerrigan, however, is happy where she is and will stop at nothing to see the templar and his forces destroyed. The protoss attack regularly with zealots, dragoons, and, later on,scouts. Don't go looking for trouble by wandering toward the lower left corner of the map or you'llhave reams of dragoons folowing up to your main base. Branch out to the resource areas in the upper middle and left middle map areas, and try to set up defenses for these areas as well. It won't be easy to handle the protoss onslaught up the left side of the map, but you can defend yourselfadequately until you can do the research you need to get guardians. Hydralisks are are relatively cheap, and they're excellent both ground and air units. They're not completely effective against the powerful protoss units, however, so always attack and defend in numbers. Your strike force in this mission should be three groups of ground and air units. You'll need to have eight to ten mutalisks, and convert eight to tenadditional mutalisks to guardians. For the ground units, the hydralisks is unsurpassed. This combination gives the guardians the raw bombing power they need to take out a photon cannon in two vollies, while the mutalisks can deal with scouts that may come to take out the guardians. The hydralisks can serve three purposes: they can attack stray ground units, backup your guardians by attacking air units, and effectively level buildings on their own. Move down the left side of the map, across the bottom, and up the right side. This combined air/ground force should be able to take out the entire protoss installation, but it's not easy, and you may end up losing your attack force. Therefore, you should have a smaller backup force under construction as you make your initial attack run. After you've taken out enough structures, Tassadar challenges Kerrigan to a duel in the central map area. Have an overloard transport Kerrigan over, and make sure that she' isn't near death. When Kerrigan arrives, Tassadar appears and exchanes a few words with Kerrigan, then disappears and the mission is over. You win. Your goal for this mission is to capture the two resource areas in the upper middle and left middle map areas. After setting up a few spore colonies and sunken colonies to defend your starting position, branch out to take the new resource areas. Speed is important in this scenairo the protoss continue attackingin waves as the scenario progresses, and the more time you spend defending against their attacks, the fewer resources will be left for you to mount an attack with. --------------- 4.7 The Culling --------------- Kerrigan is chastised for her aggressive stance against Tassadar because during her fight with the templar, the cerebrate Zasz was killed. The protoss have found an attack powerful enough to nullify the cerebrates reincarnation ability, leaving the Garm Brood rampaging toward the central hive. You must eradicate every last member of the now leaderless Garm Brood. This mission can be tough. Get too aggressive right off the bat, and you're guaranteed to get smoked by enemy zerg. You begin with a sizable force sitting in an area the enemy surrounds. There aretwo paths out of the canyon where you start out, but again, you shouldn't move any units out unitl after you establish a hatchery and a sunken colony for defense. Set up your new hatchery at the mouth of the pathway to the right, then build a creep colony as soon as the creep is established. Group your hydralisks and mutalisks separately, after the hatchery and sunken colony are in place, move your attack force up to the enemy hatchery just to the north of your starting position. The enemy creep is lightly defended and you shouldn't have too much trouble clearing out the Garm Brood hydralisks, zerglings and buildings. As you clear away the enemy base, move your drones up to build another hatchery closer to the vespene and minerals sources. As you build up your base, be sure to build spore colonies and sunken colonies to defend against stray attackers. After you establish your base and take the mineral fields in the lower left map area, build up two groups of 12 zerglings each. Take these zergling groups and follow the path to the enemy installations. Don't let anything panic you! Send your zergling groups in to attack anything and everyone. You'll overwhelm the enemy with these vicious little creatures and sweep through a large portion of hte enemy infrasture before they're wiped out. Now that the enemy's back on its heels, you can take time to build up a solid strike force of guardings and hydralisks to finish the job. Keep going until you've wiped out every last structure, but be wary of Ultralisks awaiting you at the top of the map. These are very powerful and will cut through zerglings quickly, so keep hydralisks and or guardings nearby when moving into enemy territory. You have only a modest pool of resources to work with in the begining, so it's critical that you can establish a hatchery and get new minerals coming in before roving bands of enemy hydralisks kill your drones. Set up your hatchery just above thenarrow area off the right hand path leading out of the anyon you start in. After the hatchery is up, build a creep colony and spawning pool, then convert the creep colony into a sunken colony. As soon as you're engaged in battle around the enemy hatchery, you can send your remaining drones over to sneak minerals back to your own hatchery. After the enemy buildings are destroyed, you can move in and start building your own structures. Eventually, with the help of Kerrigan's psionic storm, you can stem the tide of the mineral field. Next, concentrate on building up requisite structures and researching technologies you'll need later on. You'll have access to defilers in this scenairo although it probably will take you awhile to get them. To use them in your attacks, hold off on the zergling sweep until after you research defiler technology. ----------------- 4.8 Eye fo an Eye ----------------- The overmind is disterbed because the dark templar can radiate energies that are much like its own. These energies enabled the protoss to murder the cerebrate zasz, and have harmed the overmind. But when Zeratul murdered zasz, his mind contacted the overloard's, and all the protss secrets became available to the zerg consciousness. Now the zerg know where to find the location of alur, the protoss homeworld, but you must ensure that the dark templar inflict no more damage on the zerg. When you've got a solid force of drones collectiong resources, build up a defensive force of hydralisks to keep an eye on your base and beacons. If even one dark templar slips by the beacon areas, you'll lose, so it pays to keep a few extra units handy. You can divide the units amoung the three locations or use the nydus canal to send them to attack the sources. The enemy will constantly test the beacon sites, and even attack your bases on occasion, so your hydralisk support forces will serve you well. Build up a force of 10 to 12 hydralisks by your base in the upper left corner of the map, then move toward the resource area in the upper middle area of the map. You'll encounter some protoss resistance, but nothing that a group of hydralisks can't manage. During the fighting consider building a secondary hydralisk force tha can continue to protect the area for a while. If you earned the ability to make mutalisks, you might want to use them for defense instead of the hydralisks. After you've got another base raking in resources in the upper middle are of the map, sit back and concentrate on researching missing structures or abilties. Once you feel you're ready, make an air group of eight guardians and four mutalisks, a ground group of eight hydralisks and four ultralisks, and two single unit groups with a queen in one and a defiler in the other. This will give you the power you need to take out the entire right side of the map so you can seure the resources fields there. Move yore air units up to the edge of the right hand protoss base, just close enough to provoke an attack. Once the protoss come after you, use your ground group to tackle the dragoons and zealots while your air group moves in and destroys any photon cannons. After the photon cannons are gone, the air group can either help with ground unitsd, or pummel the structures into the ground. If a group of scouts starts to give you trouble, use your queen to ensnare them. Likewise to whittle down an enemy structure or group of units, use the defiler's plague ability to leech the life force out of the targeted units. Plagued units usually require only a few hits to destroy. After the protoss force is gone, build another hatchery near the mineral fields and start harvesting the vast resources that line the map's right side. Use these resources to build up anotherattack force, roughly double the size with a few zerglings thrown in just for good measure. The protoss base in the bottom left cornor of the map has plenty of templars standing by, and they won't hesitate to use psionic storms to kick your butt. When you mount the attack on the main protoss base, take four or five queens with you to spawn broodlings on any templar they come across. This will help to take care of most of the templar threat, but you must use mutalisks to ensure that the body of your attack force doesn't get psionic deep fried. After the lower protoss base falls, the mission is academic. You need only sweep the remaining protoss off the map to win. Initially its important to use available resources to build up a defense force of hydralisks at each base and beacon. Of course it's also important to build all the neccessary structures and research the entire tech tree, but before you can progress comfortably you'll need to have at least four hydralisks at each beacon. Once you're secure in your positions you'll need more resources to wipe out the protoss bases, so set up a new base in teh upper middle portion of he map. There's another resource area just above your base in the lower right corner of the map, although you'll need to airlift your drones to that area if you don't want to fight though a protoss base en route. Build up your tech tree to where you can use the defiler's and queen's special abilities during your attacks. These technological extras come in handy against the protoss. ------------------------ 4.9 The Invasion of Aiur ------------------------ The overmind is certain victory is at hand, on the world of Aiur, the zerg will bring the strongest known creatures into the zerg fold. However, before it can incorporate this new species into the swarm, you must prepare the way. You must seize the khaydarin crystals o secure a power greater than any the protoss have ever known. There are enought high end protoss units in this scenairy to pound you into the stone age, so don't attempt a war of attrition. However, that doesn't mean you won't get your hands dirty. Indeed, ther's plenty of fighting ahead. The khaydarin crystal sits just below the center of the map, many protoss units literally surround it. Setting up some defenses is critically important to protecting your base, although you shouldn't pour tons of resources into a massive defense matrix. Stay in defense mode until you can create hydralisks, zerglings, queens, scourges, and overlord transports. Follow the path and use your zerglings as the first wave attackers, with the hydralisks close behind. The zerglings are so plentiful that the protoss units and photon cannons will have difficuilty zeroing in on any one target, leaving the door open for your more powerful hydralisks to do the real damage. The scourge are basically carrier killers, in case one comes after your units. If you do see a carrier on the horizon, send all the scourge at it at once. Don't hesitate for a second, because a carrier can decimate your force very quickly. Once the pathway to the crystal is clear, you can either move a drone down or you can transport it with an overlord. Both routes can be risky, but if you use an overlord you must be careful to follow the path you cleared. If you go as the crow flies, your overlord will get toasted by the array of photon cannons lining hte ridge between you and the crystal. When the drone enters the crystal, it triggers a 10 minute countdown as well as a protoss attack. You'll need to continue to move units down to the crystal in order to hold the location while the crystal is being harvested. Enemy units that are particularly devastating at this point include templars, carriers, and expecially reavers. The reavers can take out a row of hydralisks with just one or two scarabs, so stay cool and use guardian air support if you can. If you seccessfully hold the crystal for 10 minutes you will win the mission. Don't go picking any fights either, the protoss forces in the lower left and right corners of the map don't need to be awakened. Before you get into high end technology development, use your resources to create a large and cheap strike force. This way you can give it a try, if you fail you can fall back on getting superior units. To create the strike force you'll need, it's handy to have a second hatchery going, so build one if you can afford it. ---------------- 4.10 Full Circle ---------------- The protoss can do nothing but flee before the zerg swarm, but you must assault one final site to guarantee your conquest. You must clear the templar that stands on hollowed protoss ground to set the khaydarin crystal in its place. Once you coimplete this task, the overmind will manifest. Build and conquer that's the name of the game in this scenario. Once you've produced a pile of drones and two new hatcheries to maximize harvesting and unit production, build sunken colonies and spore colonies galore around the perimeter of your base. It's also a good idea to have a team of 12 hydralisks ready in case of protoss attack. After fending off protoss attacks and climbing the tech tree until you have guardians and upgraded hydralisks, build a force of 8 guardians and 4 mutalisks, one group of 12 hydralisks, another group of 12 hydralisks, and a group of mixed units. Hotkey these units to keys 1-4 and move them up the map toward the temple. Destroy any phonton cannons or offensive protoss units you come across. The guardians can take out protoss structures quickly, so sweep a clean path for your drone to follow with the crystal. En route to the temple you'll face some stiff opposition from photon cannons and ground forces, and a carrier awaits you at the temple. Target it first to eliminate that threat. When the enemy presence at the temple is almost gone, hit it with your guardians while your hyrdalisks mop up zealots and nearby structures. When the crystal drone appears, grab an overlord and transport the drone to the beacon near the temple rubble. You don't lack minerals in this scenario, but you need an air force to win decisively, so you'll need gas and that's not plentiful. However, mount your attacks effectively and you can destroy the temple without securing new minerals or gas locations. You have a vast supply of minerals at your disposal right away, so produce lots of drones to engage in frenzied harvest of minerals and gas. Set up plenty of spore colonies and sunken colonies to protect your base. Otherwise, just concentrate on climbing the tech tree until you can create guardians and your hydralisks have maximum benefits. If you need more resource areas, the one in the map's lower left corner is most vulnerable. ---------------------- 5 The Protoss Missions ---------------------- ---------------- 5.1 First Strike ---------------- Theconclave has sent Judicator Aldaris to counset you. The formor executor, Tassadar, disregarded orders and attempts to destroy the zerg while sparing the terrans from the flame. The concclave dictates that the first priority is strengthening defenses. You must reinforce and defend the outpost at Antloch. This mission starts in the lower right corner of the map. You must move your units up and around the body of water and through a couple of zerg patrols to get to the base at Antloch. Once there, you can liberate all the units simultaneously by capturing the nexus. As you set up your base to produce more units for your attack, it's a good idea take all your offensive units and group them into an squad. Take the attack squad up into the main zerg base and wreak havoc. Beware, when there appear to be no zerg, there often are. Many zerg units on this map are buried, so keep an eye on your attack squad as they move across the map. When you run into sunken colonies and hydralisks, move your zealots in aggressively and take out as much as you initialy can. This quick sets the zerg back on their heels and gives you time to build structures to create the group of dragoons you'll use to clear the skies of the mutalisk menace. When you have a solid finishing force six zealots and six dragoons will do nicely you can sweep the rest of the map and take out the remaining zerg infestation. This is the first protoss mission, so take your time and get used to protoss conventions. Specifically, pylons equate to supply depots and overlords, and you can build new buildings only within a specified radius of one of these structures. Once a probe opens a warp rift, the rift will continue to open by itself, leaving the probe free to perform other tasks. You're given a substantial enough force in this first mission that you needn't sweat the resource gathering/building process. Instead, take you time and learn the nuances of the protoss technologies as you build up your structures. Note that the protoss units are comparatively expensive, so you'll need a larger fleet of probes to finance a large army. ------------------- 5.2 Into the Flames ------------------- Your defense of Antloch ahs restored Aldairs's faith in the templar castle. Tassadar, who has been missing for sometime, contacts Aldaris and admits he's had contact with the fallen ones the dark templar. Tassadar has learned that the zerg's strength lies in their unity, and that the overmind's control over the zerg is dispensed through underlings called cerebrates. If you can destroy the cerebrates, perhaps you can exterminate the zerg. First you'll need to place your existing offiensive unite near the ramp leading up to the platform where your base sits. The zerg will launch attack after attack on this position, as well as an attack or two from the plains north of your base. As with the last mission, plenty of zerg units lie in wait underground, so remember that nothing is as it seems. As soon as your resource pool is rising, build a pair of photon cannons at the top of the ramp. This will save you hugh amounts of trouble later. Photon cannons are particularly handy because they can engage both land and air targets equally. Build up an army of zealots and dragoons and just sit tight until the requisite 15 minutes have passed. After 15 minutes, Fenix and his group of units will appear in the upper right map corner. Distract the zerg forces with careful but annoying attacks against their base, just below fenix's troops. At the same time, move your attack force out of your base and head toward the lower right map corner, where the cerebrate awaits his death. There are plenty of sunken colonies and buried hydralisks and zerglings en route to the cerebrate, so pay close attantion, above all, keep moving forward. Consider using a pincer attack, with your two forces meeting up just before the final push toward the cerebrate, but take care to keep fenix alive or the mission will fail. The area around the base has all the resources you need to develop a solid force to take out the cerebrate. Once your defenses are set up, concentrate on gathering as many resources as possible, protoss units are costly. It's important to use photon cannons around your base so periodic zerg attacks don't smoke your expensive zealots and dragoons. ----------------- 5.3 Higher Ground ----------------- The zerg cerebrate that was thought dead has arisen, and even now drives its brood in preparation for the next zerg offensive. The conclave is bitter about tassadar's betrayal, and believes the protoss can overcome the zerg only if the conclave focuses all its power. The main strike force will proceed to the province of psion, while praetor fenix stays behind to guard against counterattack. This is a good old kill everything on the map scenairo. You begin with yourforces nicely established in an enclosed area in the map's lower right corner. There's only one entrance/exit to this area, and for the first part of the mission this confined area makes for a great defense. The goal is to build up an attack force sufficient to take out both major zerg populations, but it won't be easy. First group your available group forces into one squad that can react to zerg attacks. The zerg consistently will mount attacks against your base, so you must be ready from the start. Build pylons so you can build photon cannons around the perimeter of your base, then build eight or nine photon cannons around your base so they will support each other. A funnel of six to nine photon cannons can turn back the early zerg attacks, and ultimately will leave you more time and resources to build up your attack force. After building up a force of eight or so zealots and a couple of scouts, move them toward the map's lower left conner, where you'll find a large resource area. Beware of burrowed zerg units when you explore this area, and don't just send a probe to build a nexus or it will get smoked. Once you've secured the area, have a nexus in place, and are harvesting resources, take the time to build pylons and photon cannons to defend against an attack from down on the left side of the map. Once the zerg know you're establishing a new base, they'll mass forces along there for a counterattack. After seting up your second base, continue building up your forces as you research what remains in the tech tree. Although it may be possible to take one very large force and wipe out the entire zerg presence, it's not easy, it's much easier to take the two main zerg bases out one at a time with substantial attack forces. Build up at least 12 zealots, 8 scouts, and 10 dragoons, then move up the middle of the map to take out the base on the left. With the scouts providing air cover, move your attack force into the left hand zerg base and attack aggressively. It wont be pretty, and you can expect to lose about half your units. As this battle rages, the other zerg base ferries units over to help out, but your scouts shouldbe able to catch them before they disrupt your attacking forces. Once you destroy the left had zerg base, build a nexus and harvest any remaining minerals and gases. For that matter, you can move north safely to an area where there are even more mineral fields. Having destroyed half the zerg, you can sit back and rebuild your attack force, this time making it a little larger. When everything is in place, mount an attack on the right hand zerg base. If it falters, it should be very easy to get a mop up force in place quickly. Immediately use the 300 minerals you start with to build six new probes, set them all to harvest minerals. Continue this process until the money starts building up. Once you have some extra cash and haveplaced the extra pylons and photon cannons near the gate, begin building up your technologies. In this scenario it helps a great deal if you can follow the tech tree as fas as you can, given the zerg's overwhelming numbers, weapons are important to your forces. There's a large mineral and vespene field in the map's lower left corner. Although you can win without making a new base in this area, building a nexus there and harvesting those resources is a very good idea. In the end, having extra resource pool makes your job a lot easier. ------------------------- 5.4 The Hunt for Tassadar ------------------------- You were reluctant to leave Alur in its dim hour and you still grieve the loss of Fenix, but your is not done. Tassadar is now considered the greatest threat to the protoss race, and you must stop him from spreading the dark templar's tainted influence. The judicator senses a lingering darkness on this world, and you've been summoned to locate the source of the darkness. You begin this mission in the lower right corner of the map with a small but potent force of protoss units. The goal is to find tassadar, who's at a protoss base in the upper left map corner. Follow the path on the map to find tassadar, and prepare to face zerg resistance along the way. As you work your way toward tassadar, try to use your templar's powers to ease your task. The psionic storm can take out entire groups of hydralisks or zerglings at once, saving the lives of the units you start with. Once you hack your way up to the base, a dialogue will ensue between the judicator, tassadar, and raynor. At the end, you'll learn you must return both raynor and tassadar to the beacon. That may sound easy, but large numbers of zerg have appeard and, in fact, block the path to the beacon. There are a couple of ways to approach the task of getting tassadar and raynor back to the beacon. You can take your troops, turn around, and hack your way back to the beacon or you can build up a new army and beat the zerg back decisively as you make your way to the beacon. The first option can be risky, because the zerg can be overwhelming in numbers and you could lose raynor or tassadar. The second option, on the other hand, allows you to climb further up the protoss techtree and learn to use the high templar. When you're ready to make your move toward the beacon, try to ensure that the units you take can fight units in the air. Several large groups of hydralisks also wait along the route, so include a pack of zealots. This mission gives you a good chance to explore various high templar abilities. Funnel substantial resources into building up structures and abilities so you can experiment on the zerg on this level. This mission isn't easy, but you'll still have room to learn about your new protoss units. ------------------ 5.5 Choosing Sides ------------------ In following tassadar and attempting to rescue the dark templar, you openly defied the will of the conclave. The judicator is disillusioned because he believes that tassadar is lost to the protoss. Tassadar learned much from zeratul, and knows now only the energies of the dark templar can truly harm the zerg. Therefore, to repel the the zerg you must save zeratul. You must take tassadar and raynor to the beacon which lies in the lower right cornor of the map. Your starting point is in the upper left map corner. The terrain around the six main islands is impassable by land, so mounting an air attack is top priority. Take time to build up a substantial base before venturing into the unknown. Once you have a fleet of six scouts, take the time to move around the map and define the perimeters fo the zerg bases. The base of greatest interest to you is the island roughly in the center of the map. You need it as a staging area for your assult on the southeast bases. When you have six to ten scouts and three or four loaded shuttles, move in and attack the central island. Have your scouts take out air units while your ground troops concentrate on the ground units and spore colonies. Be sure to follow up your initial attack with supplementary shuttles with dragoons, zealots, and a couple of probes. Next, set up a nexus and begin to build a solid base to launch from. Continue producing ground units and scouts as you gather the central island's resources. Many many spore colonies as well as guardians, hydralisks, and zerglings defend the southeast island. Therefore it helps if you balance your force carefully with scouts, zealots, and dragoons. After assembling the strike force move in your scouts first to occupy the spore colonies, then quickly move in your shuttles and drop your zealots so they can begin the ground war. Including a strong force of scouts can make your assault on the sourtheast island much easier then launching a simple gound attack. The scouts will occupy the enemy spore colonies long enough for your shuttles to get the important fighting troops on the ground. Once the are is secure you can bring in tassadar and a couple of zealots in order to satisfy the victory conditions. Immediately spend your available resources to produce as many probes as you can afford. Spread out and build a nexus at every major resource area near your starting location. You may need to develop shuttles before you can reach some of these areas, but the added resource revenue makes a big difference to how quickly you can amass the troops you need to win. Once your resource gathering is in place at multiple locations, build up your technologies until you can manufacture high templars, scouts, shuttles, and archons. Remember, the protoss must develop many levels of shields, weapons, and skills if you're to have the most efficient units. After capturing the central island, build a nexus and concentrate on harvesting the vespene, you'll need it to build ships to take out the southern zerg colony. --------------------- 5.6 Into The Darkness --------------------- Tassadar senses Zeratul and his brethren are close, but he's unable to contact them. Tassadar insists the protoss scour the area to find the dark templar and prevent the zerg from destroying them. It won't be easy, however, because the infested kerrigan is leading the zerg troops. Her renacity won't have diminished since her last encounter with tassadar. As you move your protoss units into the installation, you'll come to a room where terran marines have been slaughtered. However, five marines still stand around waiting for something to happen. Walk up to them to get control of them, you'll need them. Follow the path through the installation. Along the way there are plenty of wall mounted guns, burried zerglings, and infested terrans. The infested terrans pose the biggest threat in this mission, and can take out tassadar single handedly, so take care as you walk the halls. Infested terrans also pop out of secret hiding areas in the floor here, so lead with and expandable marine or terran civilian rather than risk losing tassadar and, thus, the scenario. As with the other installation mission, you must get to a beacon to unlock a door that wil admit you. As you make your way towards the cell blocked area you'll face many zerglings and infested terrans, so be sure to liberate teams of terran civilians and marines, ghosts, and firebats along the way. These extra units will help get tassadar to the beacon. At the beacon, four guns pop up out of the floor, taking your forces by surprise. Take them out with whatever you have. If you're low on units the psionic storm can do the job. Once you step on the beacon, the dark templar's cell door will open. Take tassadar into the cell to meet them. It's not easy to see the templar initially, so don't worry. They'll appear when you walk into the room far enough. ------------ 5.7 Homeland ------------ Although fenix fell to defeat, the protoss recovered his ruined body and he lives on within a dragoon. Fenix tells tassadar the aldaris and the conclave have branded him a traitor and seek to destroy him and zeratul the dark templar. Tassadar and fenix vow to protect the dark templar from the other protoss. It pains them deeply to do so, but they understand that only by protecting the dark templar will they eradicate the zerg menace. Tassadar and the dark templar are under attack from protoss forces. Fall back to your base right away. Don't stay to fight. Enemy forces will follow you back to your base, and your photon cannons will take them out before they can break through your line. Then start harvesting minerals and gas posthasts. Use the cash you have in reserve to build up a defensive force of zealots, dragoons and at least three scouts. Continue building your attack force while you warp in every available structure and research new technologies. Your attack force should comprise at least 8 scouts, 10 zealots, and 10 dragoons. You may also want to use some archons as well, but they are ultimately very expensive. When this attack force is ready, move down the ramp at the front of your base and secure the open area beyond. This area will have enemy units constantly flowing into it, so you must be vigilant in eliminating enemy activity. The enemy probably will throw a couple of larger attacks at you as punishment for expanding, so be ready for that as well. Group your scouts into one large group or two smaller groups. If they are in two smaller groups the two can support each other and it gives you greater protection from arbiters. Also enemy scouts and arbiters will fall quickly to two large groups of scouts pounding from two sides. Once you've secured the central area, move a probe up to the mineral deposits in the map's upper middle protion and build a nexus. Start harvesting resources from this aera as fast as possible, and continue building units to replace those you'll lose during the skirmishes that follow. When your second base is up and running, move your troops down to the bridges in the map's center. Zerg bases lie on either sied, but the one you want is in the lower right corner. Airlift three or four reavers in to round out your attack force, then move in for the kill. Have your reavers target the photon cannons while your air group of scouts moves deep into the base to take out ground units. Your zealots and dragons can follow up and destroy any structures that remain. As you push on toward the nexus, you'll probably come up against a pair of enemy carriers. Attack these one at a time with the full force of you air groupd and dragooons and they should give you no trouble but don't ignore them. If you don't take a pair of enemy carriers seriously, they can ruin your day. Once you've destroyed the enemy nexus, you've won the scenario. Initially you'll have sufficient raw resources at your disposal to meet your needs later on, however, you must seek a second source. It lies in the map's upper middle portion. The enemy dosen't defent it heavily, but don't go after this mineral field until after you secure the center of the map. Don't hesitate to build 20 probes to harvest resources. The more you have working the faster the minerals and gas will come in, making it easier to mount an attack force before it dwindles in defending the base. Research to maximum levels, you're facing off against other protoss units, and if you haven't got an edge, you'll soon become a heap of twisted metal. When your attack force is in place, keep producing scouts, zealots, and dragoons. Use these units to form new groups of replacements for the casualties that mount as you attack enemy positions. The second base area is important for generating these backup units, because you'll use up your original resources building your attack force as you research new technologies. ------------------------- 5.8 The Trial of Tassadar ------------------------- Fenix believes that all is lost, but nonetheless insists you continuse to fight onward to fine tassadar and release him from the judicator before they can execute him for treason. Tassadar offers the only hope for unlocking the dark templar's powers to defeat the zerg onslught. Zeratul and his dark templar have vanished, leaving the protoss to fend for themselves in this dark hour. However, help has arrived from an unlikely source. Jim Raynor, the terran has offered to help find and rescue tassadar because tassadar helped him in the past. May luck be with you as you search for tassadar in this dark hour. Your base lies in the upper left corner of the map and is mercifully contained by a large wall that has only two entrances. This, however is not nearly enough to protect you from the constant attacks during this mission. Therefore, you should place photon cannons in bunches at the entrance of you base. This may sound excessive, but a group of six photon cannons probably can't hold off the attacks so put a fully loaded carrier at each entrance as well. Obviously, this mission will involve some hunkering down to defend the base while you build up your forces to the point that you can make an effective strike at the stasis cell. The stasis cell lies roughly in the central lower portion of the map, and is on a somewhat isolated island that's defended by the aratribe. The best way to reach the stasis cell is to move two groups of carriers and scouts in from the air, with raynor in his battlecruiser as backup. The enemy will continually launch attacks at the two openings in your bases' walls, but don't waste too many resources on these defenses or you won't be able to assemble an attack fleet. Keep building photon cannons to replace any that are destroyed, and build zealots as backup. After you have four fully loaded carriers and six to eight scouts, group them into two equal units and fly toward the stasis cell. Take care not to get too close to the ara tribe bases along the way. When you get to the island that houses the stasis cell, be preparded for some hot and heavy action, including getting put into stasis by an enemy arbiter. If this happens, the stasised units cannot be harmed, but they also cannot move or attack effectively, and so become temporarily useless. Keeping your attacking units physically distant from each other is your best defense against a stasis attck, so we recommend using two smaller groups of ships in this scenario. When you hi the island, all of the photon cannons, scouts, dragoons, carriers, and arbiters giving you their undivided attention may prove distracting. But, any attempt to clear out all the enemy units will only result in failure, so you should move straight for the stasis cell and attack hard. If you're having trouble punching through to the cell, divert the enemy units with one group of scouts while your carriers make their move on the cell. The stasis cell falls quickly under heavy fire, so being aggressive can bring you victory. The limiting factors in this scenario are vespene gas, and to a lesser extent, minerals. Although resources can get tight near the end of the mission, there are certainly enought to support your defenses as you build up a solid strike force capable of punching through the ara tribe's defense. To prevent unnecessary resource drains due to heavy defensive losses, build up a large number of photon cannons right away. It may seem like a waste of resources, but the enemy attacks in large waves and only groups of six to ten photon cannons on each exit will tem the tied. Keeping some zealots and later, a carrier at each exit will help to keep your expensive buildings safe as you research the tech tree. When you run out fo resources around your base, you won't be able to get resources from enemy positions. The one resource area left is fairly distant from your starting location. Therefore, watch your resources carefully and try not to get into any shooting matches where you must battle it out with tons of enemy units. If this happens, you'll probably lose. ------------------ 5.9 Shadow Hunters ------------------ Now that tassadar and zeratul are free, zeral reveals that he contacted the essence of the overmind when he slew the cerebrate on char. Zeratul's mind was filled with the overmind's thoughts and now knows that the zerg have come not only to conquer the protoss, but also to conquer the galaxy. Fenix will engage the primary zerg hive clusters in an attempt to weaken their defenses. Once the zerg numbers are thinned, zeratul and his companions can infiltrate the clusters and assassinate the cerebrates. You begin with a small contingent of units the includes fenix and zeratul. You also have some probes you need to put to use building several nexil in the minerla fields near your starting point. You must build up a grid of photon cannons in the central area of the map to take care of the zerg that will flow frewuently down from the north. Build up a group of at least six carriers and four scouts, the nadde your arbiter. After you build up all the structures you need and research the tehc tree, buildinga fleet of carriers complete with eight interceptors in each wont be easy. You'll have to scrape together the resources if you want to do it in a timely manner. Send this attack north to clear out the lower middle area of the map. Once this area is secured, park your carriers at the mouth of the three pathways and use them to take out any zerg units that come south. You can now prepare for the final push. Start building templars by the handful so that you can create a lrage group of archons to compliment your air force. Once you have seven or eight archons in place, move them up the central pathway along with eight or so zealots and zeratul. When you come to the first cerebrate, clear out all the enemy units that threaten zeratul. Then use zeratul to kill the cerebrate. If you need any extra support at this time, move your carrier force up to clear out or distract any enemy units that are getting in your way. Move to the right along the top of scene with zeratul. Begin by using your initial minerals to build two nexus structures near the two mineral fields at the bottom of the map. You start with 1000 gas units, so you can wait a short time before building a nexus near one of the geysers. Generally, the distances between the geysers and the mineral fields make it easier and more efficent for you to build a nexus at every single resource source. When you've set up every nexus, you should have three geysers and three mineral fields being harvested simultaneously. This may seem like overkill, but you'll need att these resources to punch a hole in the thick zerg defense that guards the two cerebrates. As soon as you've got all your income sources flowing, it will help you to build the structures you need to climb the tech tree quickly. --------------------- 5.10 Eye of the Storm --------------------- Zerg defenses are broken and the path in the overmind laid bare. The overmind has come to destroy all the protoss hold dear and seeimilate every being into itself. It's time to strike down the overmind no matter the cost. This mission is the game's greates challenge, as it should be. It may take a few tries to get established enough for victory. You start with two bases under your control one protoss and one terran and you must cultivate and protect both against massive and unpredictable zerg attacks. First, hotkey the terran command center and the protoss nexus to keys 0 and 9. This way you can jump quickly from base to base without having to scroll across the map. Managing two bases is very important in this mission, and you'll probably end up with four or five before it's over. In the begining, both of your bases are vulnerable to zerg attacks, so build up defenses in both locations if you want to survive the first half hour of play. In the terran base it's hard to beat a line of bunkers filled with upgraded marines, but you can be sure that the zerg will throw a group of 12 mutalisks at you, so build missile turrets or more marine filled bunkers behind your front lines. The protoss have the dark templars and tassadar as backup, but take care not to lose either zeratul or tassadar or the misssion will end. However, these special units afford you an extra measure of protection while you set up a grid of photon cannons and build zealots and dragoons for defense. After moving out to harvest some of the extra resource pools scattered across the map, concentrate on upgrading all your units abilities and technologies. As this is going on, build up a massive balanced attack force comprising at least eight groups of 12 units each. Zealots, dragoons, scouts, carriers, firebats, marines, wraiths, and battlecruisers. If you like, assign your last hotkey to dragoons. Hotkey all your groups to keys 1 through 9 and your comsat station to 0. When all your groups are ready to fight, you can defeat the overmind using a simultaneous terran protoss double pronged attack. Using your comsat station, expose the overmind, then quickly move through your groups, telling each to attack the overmind. All 100 plus units will make a run for the overmind and attack in a flurry of interceptors, acid sprays and bloodshed. If you've constructed your groups properly, the overmind will die before the last of your units bites it. If you don't want to endure the final battle as all units converge on the overmind, move against the overmind's position slowly by inching siege tanks toward the objective. Zerg defenses are thick, however, and a long, slow battle may drain your resources before you get there. The large strike provides the spectacular conclusion a great game like StarCraft deserves. This map is StarCraft's richest in resources, and you'll need them to reach the overmind. Large mineral and vespene stores lie around the perimeter, and you must get harvesting to build up the attack force you need to penetrate zerg defenses. After you've set up a solid network of bunkers, photon cannons, missile turrets, and ground units to protect both initial bases, your resources probably will be substantlally reduced. Because your main bases are well protected, move some SCV's and probes to new mineral and vespene areas. the zerg don't defend the new areas directly, but periodic zerg patrols sweep the are, so keep some protective units on hand while you set up new command centers and nexuses. In this scenario it's important to build up a huge attack force before making your move, so try to exploit every free mineral and vespene area on the map. When you've banked 10,000 minerals, you may be tempted to take a run at the overmind, but you really should wait until you've assigned every hotkey a group of 12 units. Expand to the areas on the map,s central right hand edge, central left hand edge, and lower left cornor first. Do this rapidly, and you'll quickly amass your attack troops. If you're short on vespene, the four geysers in the map's upper right corner contain enough vespene to make anyone happy. One nexus or command center can sit amid the four vents and receive a constant stream. ------------- 6 Cheat Codes ------------- To enable cheats from inside the game, press enter, type in the cheat code, and press enter again. Instantly win current level: there is no cow level Instantly lose current level: game over man All units are invincible: power overwhelming Receive 10,000 minerals/gas: show me the money Receive 10,000 minerals: whats mine is mine Receive 10,000 gas: breathe deep Free upgrades to all units: something for nothing Reveal entire map: black sheep wall Fast build mode: operation cwal Disable level victory: staying alive Free technology upgrades: medieval man Disable tech tree: modify the phase variance Disable food/psi requirments: food for thought Inifinite energy: the gathering Disable persistent fog of war: war aint what is used to be Enable level skipping: ophelia After enabling level skipping from inside the game: type in the level you want to jump to