/----------\
|=========| FAQ Info |
| \----------/
|
| guide version: 1.9
| created on: November 1999
| last update: 12/17/99
| creator: BestGuy9 (BestGuy9@aol.com)
| http://members.aol.com/BestGuy9/index.htm
|
|_____________________
/------------------\
|=========| Copyright Notice |
| \------------------/
|
| All contents of this FAQ
| are copyright 1999 by BestGuy9.
| You must get written permission
| before duplicating any part of
| this FAQ. Only people who have
| also gotten permission for
| previous versions may automatically
| repost this FAQ.
|
|_____________________
Note: This is NOT a FAQ to help you with races, units, etc. This is a
walkthrough intended to help you in completing the single player
campaigns shipped with the game. Non-Blizzard authorized
campaigns are not supported in this FAQ.
WARNING: This walkthru includes storyline details as well as tips on
completing single player campaigns. If you do not wish to
ruin the storyline for yourself, please do not read those
sections.
Table of Contents
-----------------
i. Revision History
ii. Introduction & Notes
iii. Credits
iv. Game Info
*Chapter One: Terran Missions*
Tutorial: Boot Camp
I: Wastelands
II: Backwater Station
III: Desperate Alliance
IV: The Jacobs Installation
V: Revolution
VI: Norad II
VII: The Trump Card
VIII: The Big Push
IX: New Gettysburg
X: The Hammer Falls
*Chapter Two: Zerg Missions*
I: Among the Ruins
II: Egression
III: The New Dominion
IV: Agent of the Swarm
V: The Amerigo
VI: The Dark Templar
VII: The Culling
VIII: Eye for an Eye
IX: Invasion of Aiur
*Coming Soon!*
X: Full Circle
*Chapter Three: Protoss Missions*
*Coming Soon!*
I: First Strike
II: Into the Flames
III: Higher Ground
IV: The Hunt for Tassadar
V: Choosing Sides
VI: Into the Darkness
VII: Homeland
VIII: The Trial of Tassadar
IX: Shadow Hunters
X: Eye of the Storm
-----------------
i. Revision History
v1.0 - November 1999
first publishing
v1.5 - 12/6/99
second publishing
updated formatting and redid layout
added half of Zerg missions
fixed some typos
fixed formatting problem on website
added story section to cinematics
added missing cinematics
other minor changes
v1.9 - 12/17/99
third publishing
added all Zerg mission except Zerg X
corrected Terran Mission III formatting
corrected minor sentence structure errors
added Terran Mission VI addtl. strat
other minor changes
ii. Introduction and Notes
Welcome to the StarCraft walkthru. There are an incredible amount of
strategy guides for units, building orders, races, and things like that.
There seems to be a lacking for a proper walkthru of the actual single
player campaign levels. In fact, the only copy I have found is from
the friendly folks over at Starcraft.org (see credits). So, here is
one for you to use if you are stuck and don't want to cheat. Note that
Brood War missions are not included in this walkthrough - I am writing
those now and they will be put into publication on this site (hopefully)
soon. So, enjoy and use this well. Please note the copyright notice
on the bottom. Other than that, I hope it is useful, and please send
me comments that I can use on future walkthroughs. Thanks!
notes for v1.5 - Sorry, I haven't finished the Zerg X mission yet. It's
a piece of cake compared to Zerg IX, though, so follow your instincts
and you'll be fine. I didn't add Zerg X yet because I wanted to rush
this "to the presses" so to speak. That will come in the next update as
well as some if not all of the Protoss missions. See 'ya soon!
iii. Credits
I would like to thank Starcraft.org (www.starcraft.org) for giving me
the idea, as well as giving me a guideline for my strats. I have
combined personal experience with their FAQs to create this one. I
recognize and thank them. I also used SigZag to create the cool
StarCraft "logo" at the top.
http://www.geocities.com/southbeach/marina/4942/sigzag.htm
Finally, as listed below, Novabird contributed the second Terran
Mission VI strategy.
iv. Other Walkthrus
IN PRODUCTION:
Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
Harvest Moon 64 (Nintendo 64)
Look for these FAQs soon on my guide website and GameFAQs!
http://www.gamefaqs.com
http://members.aol.com/BestGuy9/index.htm
v. Game Info
Name: StarCraft
Genre: Strategy\War (Real Time Stategy)
Platform: PC
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Quick Info: Developed by the famous folks at Blizzard Entertainment,
StarCraft is the semi-sequel to WarCraft II. In the
game, you can take control of one of three races, who
battle for galactic dominance. StarCraft has won many
awards, including Best Game of 1999 from many websites,
and it certainly is one the best games currently out
there. In my opinion, anyway. Expansion Pack: Brood
War. There are no sequels at this time, with WarCraft
III being the next game in line (sequel? I don't know..)
StarCraft II might follow WarCraft III, who knows what
Blizzard plans to do!?
Tutorial: Boot Camp
-------------------
STORY: The first mission isn't actually an official mission, it's
actually an "equipment demonstration" that your advisor organized.
HELP: This mission is really straightforward, since you don't even get
attacked! All you have to do is build 3 Supply Depots, build a
Refinery, and mine 100 gas. Your advisor will tell you what to
do.
Mission I: Wastelands
---------------------
STORY: Since the Protoss have destroyed the colony of Chau Sara, Mar
Sara traffic has increased substantially. The Confederacy,
being the government, has locked down all outlying planets and
will proceed with the Mar Sara lockdown in 40 hours. You have
been instructed to move your base to the Mar Sara wastelands, so
that's what you are doing. The local Marshal, James Raynor, is
to meet you en route.
HELP: There's really only one route to follow, since you will see where
your base is. Raynor will meet you halway, he'll be in his
Vulture. Kill the Zergs to the south of Raynor, then start your
SCVs mining. When you have 150 minerals, you can build a Barracks.
Since you already should have 5 Marines, you only need to build 5
more. Once the 10th Marine comes out, you're done.
Mission II: Backwater Station
-----------------------------
STORY: Your new base is coming along fine. A distress signal comes in
from the Confederate Backwater Station. General Duke signals
you to sit tight at your base - but Raynor convinces you to help
save the station. Defying orders can't be good for your rank...
HELP: This is a longer mission, compared to the other two. You'll
start off with a base, too. Start off by building some SCVs, and
move the marines and Raynor to the north of your base (Zerg can
attack coming down the two ramps). Get your economy going, and
maybe lay some of Raynor's spider mines down for protection. You
don't have many minerals to start off with in your fields, so
you'll need to make some decisions, and fast. Once you have
about 4 or 5 SCVs mining, you should build Marines. Don't worry
about gas yet, we'll get that later. Get about 7 or 8 Marines,
then head up the left ramp and destroy the Zerg and the Creep
Colony that reside there. North is the Backwater Station, head
directly to the purple Command Center to rescue the whole base.
You'll get Firebats, as well as an Academy. You can start mining
gas, build some more Marines & Firebats, then you're ready to
destroy the rest of the Zerg. Head around the corner and destroy
the zerg there, then head down the ramp and right back up the one
across from that. Destroy the zerglings, hydralisks, and
Colonies here. If you die, don't worry, just build more troops
and go back again. At this base you'll find an Infested Command
Center, destroy it to win.
**Cinematic: Wasteland Patrol**
STORY: This cinema scene shows a patrol being killed by the Zerg. Your
advisor will talk about that in your briefing.
Mission III: Desperate Alliance
-------------------------------
STORY: After the previous mission, you're favored with a movie. After
that, General Duke fires off a message to you, upset about your
actions. Since the Confederates continue to avoid action with
the Zerg, and you're unhappy with Confederate regulations, you
are introduced to Arcturus Mengsk, the leader of the "extremist
faction" Sons of Korhal. He promises to send down a number of
dropships to rescue your colony. Unfortunetly, his nearest
forces are 30 minutes away. So, you have to survive that long.
Since you are now allying yourself with him, your last ties to the
Confederates have been broken. You are now an outlaw.
HELP: This is the first mission that I had trouble on. Don't
underestimate the Zerg - there's a massive attack at the end of
the mission. You really need to spend the enitre mission gearing
up your defense. You may think thirty minutes is a lot. It is,
but you can ALWAYS build more defenses. You have plenty of
minerals to work with, so don't worry about running out of money.
There are two entrance points to your base. Thr Zerg can attack
on either side, so build up defenses on both sides. You'll have
to survive numerous attacks, but the hardest is the last one.
You'll need three or four bunkers on both sides. Really that's
all to say - just build up defense and hope you get lucky. One
last tip - remember that Marines on the high ground will have the
advantage against low ground troops. You can't build bunkers on
top of the elevated building, but you can put lone soldiers up
there.
Mission IV: The Jacobs Installation
-----------------------------------
STORY: The Confederates are evacuating the planet, and the Sons of
Korhal are too. However, Mengsk wants a critical piece of
information left in one of the Confederate's installations.
With the confusion of evacuation, Mengsk hopes the installation
will be relatively unguarded. He's right, to some degree.
HELP: You'll have Raynor as a Marine in this mission. He MUST survive.
When you first start, head up through the door. I won't explain
where EVERY marine is - there's some spread out everywhere.
Just watch your back. There will be a door on your left,
there's nothing in there but civilians and SCVs. You can kill
them if you want. Farther up the main hall will be a Missile
Trap in the wall, you attack it like any other unit. Or just
hit S to stop your units, and they'll attack it automatically.
At the end of the hall are two doors which lead into the same
room. The passageway to the left and the big room is actually a
big loop. Back there is your objective, though. Go into the
big room, up the stairs, and hang a right at the intersection.
Head straight, follow the passageway to the yellow beacon. From
there, it's straightforward. You don't even have to get back
out again.
Mission V: Revolution
---------------------
STORY: So, the Sons of Korhal make their escape to the colony of Antiga
Prime, who are ready to start revolution against the Confederacy.
Thirteen hours after you evacuate Mar Sara, Protoss warships
arrive and extinguish all life on the planet. Arriving at the
Antiga Prime colony, you find out that the Confederates have
blockaded the colony. You have to rescue the Antigans.
HELP: You start off with only one path to take - south. From the
start point, you'll meet Kerrigan, she'll reveal a portion of
the map. From here, it's pretty clear cut as to where to go.
Kill all enemies in between you and the base, when you get to
the Confederate blockade, cloak Kerrigan. There are a couple
ways to do this, but I think the easiest is to send Kerrigan and
Raynor straight up into the purple base. As soon as you rescue
the Antigans, they will start firing back on the Confederates.
Raynor might get damaged, but he can always be repaired.
Unfortunetly, Kerrigan can't. After the Antigans have finished
off the Confederate bunkers, you'll be notified that a
"Confederate strike force is advancing on your position." You
now have to finish them off. There's actually a main base and
an expansion - it'll be easier to take the expansion first.
It's directly south of your southern barracks. Use 8-12 cloaked
Wraiths, they won't have detectors, so you can take it out with
ease. After you finish off the expansion, bring over some
Marines to help guard it, and this can also be the main staging
point for your final attack. You can start mining if you want.
At this point, since there's an expansion already in your base,
you probably won't need it. Just gather up lots of Marines,
Wraiths, and attack. Unfortunetly there ARE detectors here, but
if you have enough troops, you should win by force of numbers.
**Cinematic: The Downing of Norad II**
STORY: At this point, we leave Antiga when the storyline takes a twist
to Norad II, the Confederacy command ship which contains
General Duke. You see that it is downed by Zerg (Scrouge to be
specific).
Mission VI: Norad II
--------------------
STORY: After the movie, Arcturus Mengsk comes on and decides to save the
ship in a not-so-futile effort to convert General Duke. Mengsk
Raynor and Kerrigan argue, but agree. So, off you go.
HELP: There's only one way to go. The Zerg will ambush you, so
destroy them. As always, head straight to the Command Center
so you don't have to rescue individual buildings. Repair your
Engineering Bay, and in a few minutes, the location of the
downed Norad II will be revealed. Now, in this, you use common
sense. If you want to make something survive... you REPAIR it.
So, get gas ASAP, as soon as you do, start repairing the ship.
Put your Marines in the bunkers. That should also be a given.
The Zerg will attack you a couple times, but you shouldn't have
to worry about the ship if you put your Marines in your bunkers
and repair as much as you can. One tip: don't go out of the
little circle area. If you try to go up the ramp, Zerg will
come down and attack you. So, don't. One other tip: SAVE
minerals. When I did this the first time and ran out and almost
failed because I didn't have enough guys. Now, to actually save
the ship, you need to get Raynor over there. If you use ComSat,
you'll see that it's encircled with Spore Colonies, so Dropships
are out. There are two ways you can do this, I've succeeded
both ways. You can use waves of Goliaths, going north and
around. Or, use Wraiths it knock out the nearest Spore Colony,
then drop troops on the plateau. Either way should work, but
save as many minerals as possible and don't forget about defense.
ADDITIONAL METHOD:
This additional method was contributed by Novabird. Please note
that I haven't personally tried this to see if it works, so I can't
guarantee the results. Someday if I have time I will get around to
trying the strat ;)
All you have to do to get easy victory is to destroy the bunker
near the ramp and build a barracks in its place. Then, start mass
producing marines and destroy the nearest sunken colony. You can
build a factory but it takes too long to make an effective force
with it. Next get 12 full health marines and build a missle tower a
little bit away from the Norad 2. Then send all the full health
marines on a rampage that does not end until all the colonies and
scrouges on the bottom area are destroyed so you can get the ships
through (though I preferred to destroy about the bottom quarter of
it to be safe because you never know where scourges and mutalisks
will pop up and those spore colonies can destroy even a large force
of Terran fighters). Finally, just send Raynor and the transports
through no problem.
Mission VII: The Trump Card
---------------------------
STORY: The Confederates have decided to, well, punish you. So, it's
back to Antiga we go. They have, apparently, built a camp on
Antiga Prime, so now you have to decide what to do. Mengsk
reveals that the data discs you stole a while back has an awful
secret. Apparently the Confederates have been using the Zerg as
weapons! So, Mengsk decides to turn their own weapon against
them: he's going to plant Psi Emitters (Zerg callers) inside the
invading Confederate base. When the Zerg come and attack the
Confederates, you'll escape.
HELP: You'll start off with a long speech from Kerrigan - long enough
so that you might not notice your base is under attack. They'll
attack the north side. Since your base is spread out and you
don't really start with that many troops, it's a lost cause.
Move Kerrigan and the Marines to the main base, and you can
liftoff your buildings to try and save them. As soon as that
crisis is over, people will start attacking the south end. Jeez!
Again, just abandon the Supply Depots since you have enough
supply anyway. Take a minute to notice the orange beacon
situated directly northeast of your Depots. It's not that hard
to get there. Start mining, and establish a good, strong defense
at each entrance. Orange will attack you with tanks, Wraiths,
and Marines. Build Bunkers and Missile Turrets, plus a tank or
two. Also have a few spare guys that can run around so that the
people in Bunkers don't have to get out in a attack. I call this
your task force. Once you feel confortable with your defenses,
you can move into the space where the Supply Depots used to be.
Make a defense, and you can start mining if you want. To attack,
use lots of Marines and Goliaths. Wraiths won't do very well
because there are lots of Missile Turrets. Once the area is
secured, bring your SCV in with the Psi Emitter. If you are
feeling dangerous and want to finish faster, then have your
fighting units engage in the enemy and bring your SCV in while
everyone else is fighting. If it works well, the enemy units
will be fighting your units, so your SCV should be able to sneak
through. Otherwise, do a full frontal attack, destroy their base,
secure it, and bring your SCV in.
Mission VIII: The Big Push
--------------------------
STORY: In the epilogue to the previous battle, you'll learn that the
Zerg come and destroy the Confederates. Soon after, the Protoss
fleet arrives to destroy the planet. Much like Mar Sara, if you
ask me. In the briefing, Mengsk declares that it's time to
strike the Confederacy in it's heart. General Duke says that
you should assault the main Confederate orbital platform. So,
that's exactly what you are going to do.
HELP: This is one of the more interesting starts - you start with your
buildings in the air and dropships to carry your units over the
gap. Fly your buildings northeast. You'll see (and Duke will
inform you) that many addons were left behind. So, you can
connect your buildings to their appropriate addons. Now, this is
one of the tougher missions. There are two heavily defended
bases. Brown lives right outside your base, and Orange is north.
You can, of course, do a full frontal assault on Brown and then
on Orange. I do things the sneaky way: use Duke to wipe out
Orange. Duke packs quite a punch. Just send him over to Orange
and engage their forces. Every time he drops below 400 or 500
health, send him back. Repair him, and attack again. If you
keep doing this eventually Orange will be gone. At the same time,
build up nukes and you should be able to destroy the majority of
the Brown defense tanks and Bunkers in two or three. As soon as
Duke is done, build a base where Orange used to be. Then, build
up troops, and send them in Brown's front door. Brown troops
will engage, then send Duke in the back way to destroy everything.
Sneaky, huh? As soon as you're done, Duke will place the Psi
Emitters. Note that there are a few buildings north of Brown's
base, which you have to destroy.
**Cinematic: Open Rebellion**
STORY: This is a movie with a rather cool ending. The Wraiths are
attacking a Confederate space platform. While the single event is
not extraordinary, the movie is showing that the Sons of Korhal are
not openly rebelling against the Confederates.
Mission IX: New Gettysburg
--------------------------
STORY: Well, tensions are beginning to grow. Raynor is really upset
about the Psi Emitters wiping out the planet. In the mission
epilogue, you find out that billions of Zerg are lured to
Tarsonis, which destroy the Confederates. In the briefing, you
find out that the Protoss are, once again, coming to destroy
everything. Mengsk is now afraid that they will allow the
Confederates to escape, though it's beyond me how the
Confederates can be destroyed and then escape. Anyway, Mengsk
orders Kerrigan to engage the Protoss. This makes Raynor even
more unhappy - which confounds the problem.
HELP: You'll start off with a ong speech from both Raynor and Kerrigan.
The game is paused this time, so you won't get attacked. Now,
this is one of the more interesting missions in the game. What's
interesting is that you are protecting the Zerg, but the Zerg
will attack you. No Zerg buildings may die, which makes this
mission hard. Build bunkers both in front of your base and
behind. The Zerg will attack you with Ultralisks and Mutalisks,
which are the worst threats because of strength and stealth (you
can't see over the ridge). Build two or three bunkers. Put in
3 Marines (For hydralisks and general-purpose) and 1 Firebat
(for Zerglings and Ultralisks). Build Missile Turrets for
Mutalisk defense. Your Marines can also help there. Finally,
add a Seige Tank or two, as this will be your best general
purpose ground unit. The Protoss won't really attack that much;
just put a couple bunkers and a tank or two by the front of your
base and you'll be fine. The major point to realize here is
that there's a entrance to the zerg base by following the path
from the southwest side of your base. You'll want to secure
that entrance ASAP or Protoss WILL enter the base and destroy
Zerg buildings. If that happens, your mission ends, no matter
how good your main base defense is. To actually defeat the
Protoss, you'll need 8-12 battlecruisers. Now, of course, this
is the easy way. If you want to do it the hard way, you can do
a full frontal attack with seige tanks as your powerhouse,
Marines and Firebats backing them up, and battlecruisers for air
support. With luck and skill, you'll be able to pull it off.
Mission X: The Hammer Falls
---------------------------
STORY: At the end of the previous mission, Kerrigan will be overrun by
Zerg forces, and Mengsk pulls his fleet out. Raynor was already
upset with Mengsk - and the destruction of Kerrigan was enough
to push him over the top. He is leaving, and since you don't
have any say in the storyline, you follow him. Your fleet is
ready to leave Mengsk behind, however, there is a problem.
General Duke has activated the Ion Cannon (which looks strangely
like the one in Star Wars) which is preventing your fleet from
leaving. Your relationship with Mengsk is gone; there's no
salvaging that. All you can do is kill the Cannon and punch your
out.
HELP: This mission, no arguement, will be the toughest so far. There
are two full bases both defending and attacking. Red (Sons of
Korhal) and White (Duke's Alpha Squadron) will attack you with
the entire Terran armada. Science vessels will kill your SCVs
with Irradiate, Battlecruises will cause chaos with Yamato Gun,
and, worst of all, Seige Tanks will attack in siege mode!!! You
can defend against that with air units, providing you take out
the Goliaths first. Also, cloaked Ghosts will attack with nukes,
so keep your detection sharp as well as defenses. ComSat and
Sci Vessels will help you there. Let's start at the beginning,
though. Start your SCVs mining. You have quite a few mineral
fields, though not very close to your Command Center. You won't
get attackers right away, so that'll give you some time to get
organized. You start off with quite a few units compared to
eariler missions, and they are already divided up into neat
little defense groups. How handy. Since there are two entrances
to your base (ramps), put one defense group at the TOP of each
ramp. You can move your single Vulture to defend if you want to,
but I recommend leaving Raynor in your base. The attacking
Seige Tanks will more than likely kill him if you aren't careful.
Save often, that way you don't have to start over if you are
about to win and he dies. Now, after you get your economy going,
start planning what you want to do. You'll find that your base
is blocked in: red's base is to the south and red defenses are
blocking you in on the north. One thing I recommend is that you
save your minerals. You have quite a few, but you WILL run out
if you overestimate. Then when you finally realize you're
running out, it'll be too late to do anything. There are
expansions to the north of your base, if you follow the path and
explore a bit. None of them can be classified as safe. Just
make a good, hard defense and have spare troops that can react
quickly to isolated threats. There aren't any minerals and gas
placed conveniently next to each other, so you might need to
improvise. When you finally decide to attack, you need to decide
on an attack plan. White is easily the most heavily defended.
Since you don't need to destroy enemy bases, only the Cannon,
you can just kill Red and not even bother with White. There's
even a large space to go between the two bases, but be careful
with that one. Dropships caught in attack can mean possible
money losses. To attack the Cannon, don't even bother building
Wraiths. They have a horrible ground attack and cloaking won't
help you. Instead, go with Dropships and Defensive Matrix.
Dropships with DM cast on them should be able to withstand one
or two Missile Turrets while you land troops. To attack the Ion
Cannon, use large forces of Marines and Firebats. Finally, a
few warnings before your attack. They do have air support, so
don't go with Firebats only. They also have ghosts, so be sure
you have Sci Vessels or LOTS of ComSat power. As everyone knows,
mass Battlecruisers also works, but that's the easy way out ;)
One last thing: good luck!
**Cinematic: The Inauguration**
**Terran Ending Movie**
STORY: The Terran campaign ends with a speech by Arcturus Mengsk to the
entire Terran world. Not particularly satisifying, since you
just rebelled and broke away. The neat thing about this movie
is the way the voice has different effects on it in the
different areas.
Mission I: Among the Ruins
--------------------------
STORY: This first mission will be a big break from the "toughness" of
the last mission. This mission basically gives you a feel for
Zerg forces and the different way of building their units and
structures. The mission briefing is mostly this speech from the
Overmind. It's pretty boring, and there's not really anything
you need to know, so you don't have to listen to it if you don't
want to.
HELP: This mission is really straightforward, too. You start off with
the Chrysalis on a beacon, and your troops protecting your base.
Build a Drone, then you'll need to build an Overload, which
provides your "food." Daggoth will be talking to you about Zerg
while you play. If you haven't played Zerg before, you should
listen to him as he tells you how to build things. After you've
been collecting minerals and building for a while, you will be
informed that a Terran base is in the area. Naturally, you have
to destroy it. It's not that hard, but use hydralisks. They
have a bigger punch and can attack air. Also, don't
underestimate their power. They look pretty weak, but are
actually pretty strong and will defend well. Don't worry TOO
much about defense, just station a few hydralisks at the
entrances and you'll be fine.
Mission II: Egression
---------------------
STORY: Now you get to sit through another of the Overmind's speeches. He
tells you that you will be warping to the ash world of Char, and
that you must bring the Chrysalis to the jump beacon.
HELP: This mission is harder than the last, and it certainly makes a huge
jump in diffuculty as compared to the jump between missions one and
two of the Terrans. You'll start off with a few troops, with some
Hydralisk heroes (Hunter Killers). These HKs aren't actually yours
yet, you need to send a Drone up there to "rescue" them. They are
strong, but not invincible. Remember that. Now, make a tight
defense at your base, because the Protoss will attack. Right
outside your front door is a defense checkpoint, consisting of a
Zealot and Photon Cannon. You can use your Hunter Killers to kill
that off, then leave them at your base. Southeast of that is a
second defense checkpoint, and it has two Scouts, a Photon Cannon,
two Zealots, and two Dragoons. Still, though, you can laugh,
becaus twelve Hydralisks will be plenty. If you pull it off
correctly, you should have six or more still alive. Build more
from your two Hatcheries/Lairs, until you have twelve to attack
again. Now, you have a choice to make. South is your goal, but
north is a defense outpost that's close to your base. Go there.
There's three Zealots, two Dragoons and two Photon Cannons, plus
the Protoss will send reinforcements. Your twelve Hydralisks will
be plenty, though. Take it out, rebuild your army, and head
south. South is yet another defense post. This one you should be
destroy, though your losses might be larger than others. Now,
southeast of that is a photon cannon, and your goal. Southwest is
the Protoss main base. Don't worry about the main base, just take
out the Cannon and go up the ramp. Head along the path, but don't
go down the stairs, knock out the three Dragoons instead.
Continue, and you'll find your beacon! Now you need to get your
Drone over there. Station your Hydralisks at the entrance to the
Protoss base, and use your Hunter Killers to escort your Drone.
If attacked, you can do one of two things. Either distract with
your HKs and escape, or burrow your Drone. Easy enough, huh?
Mission III: The New Dominion
-----------------------------
STORY: The Zerg story certainly doesn't seem as in-depth as the Terrans.
The Chrysalis has drawn the Terrans to you, and you must defend it.
HELP: In the last missions, I don't know if you noticed or not, but you
didn't actually own the Chrysalis. It was a neutral unit.
However, it has grown, and it's yours, so your enemies WILL attack
it. In this mission, you need to watch your minerals. White
(Alpha Squadron) is stationed all along the top of the map, and
there is an expansion directly north of your site. However, the
Terrans WILL reinforce this site, so you need to try and secure it
BEFORE you run out of minerals, and not after. Now, as for the
mission. You need to destroy the Terran base. There are two ways,
which are Mutalisk attack against the southern portion, or a full
blown frontal attack through the front door. Neither of these are
very feasible. The Muta attack will probably destroy a few Missile
Turrets, but many Marines will come pouring out of nowhere and kill
you. The frontal attack is almost blown, because their base is
made so that Seige Tanks will fire from above before you actually
reach the front door, which makes losses almost too great.
Remember that you don't have infinite minerals; you can't just
spend them left and right. You might not even have enough for two
attacks. In this case, you'll need to BUILD up for an attack and
make it work. Unfortunetly, you also can't kill two Turrets then
land Hydralisks there, because the Seige Tanks will murder them.
So, what to do? Well, my suggestion is a combined mutalisk and
hydralisk attack. First, knock out the two southern most Missile
Turrets. Build up AT LEAST 24 hydralisks, and load them into
Overlords. Build at least 12 mutalisks, and send them up to attack
Unload your hydralisks while your mutalisks go after the Seige
Tanks. It shouldn't be that hard, but there's one very important
key: mutalisks should attack Seige Tanks ONLY. That's what they
are for. They will be murdered by the Marines, and Hydralisks will
have serious problems with the Tanks otherwise. Only after all the
Tanks are gone should you use Mutalisks for other stuff. One last
tip: take out the Factory ASAP.
**Cinematic: The Dream**
STORY: Interesting. That's all I can say about this movie. It shows
several different scenes of Zerg forces, ending with a vision of...
the Chrysalis... Interpretations can vary. I think that the Zerg
forces are preparing for the hatching of the Chrysalis, but that's
just me. This is a pretty boring movie. That's okay, because the
next movie is truly awesome, so you have something to look forward
to.
Mission IV: Agent of the Swarm
------------------------------
STORY: The storyline still fails to pick up... at least at the beginning
of the mission. The Chrysalis is about to hatch! One of the best
things about StarCraft is the storyline, and how it is so involved.
This is proven in this mission: the Zerg story is now paralleled
with the Terran storyline: we meet up with the rebellious Raynor!
I have to say yay, since he's my favorite character ;)
HELP: You'll start on an island, and a few seconds after you start,
Raynor will be revealed. You have ten minutes until the Chrysalis
hatches. There are more minerals north of your base, and most of
the Terran attackers will be landed on the eastern "foot" of your
island. Really all you have to do is build Hydralisks and Creep
Colonies. Unlike the Terran defense mission, not many strong
attackers will come. Once the Chrysalis has hatched, you'll find
out who you've been protecting. And it is... no, I'll hold that
until later. You should play and find out! Then, you have to
destroy or infest Raynor's Command Center. You should expand to
the middle island, it's fairly safe. Just keep a few hydralisks
there, and you'll be fine. Build up your hydralisks, load a bunch
into Overlords. You can either go south, destroy that base, and
expand, or go east to your target. Either way is fine, just don't
run out of minerals. One tip: you should build Queens and parasite
the dropships that run around. Not only is it fun, but you can
gather intelligence on the Terran forces. Plus, it doesn't even
cost money; you just have to wait for the energy to recharge.
Mission V: The Amerigo
----------------------
STORY: All right. Well, the being? The being you ask? Kerrigan........
Yes, Kerrigan has been reborn into the Zerg Swarm [shudder].
Anyway, now that the whole Chrysalis deal is over, the Zerg
storyline finally is beginning to pick up. Kerrigan decides to
get on the Terran research vessel: the Amerigo. She wants to
learn more about her psychic side to aid her in the upcoming
battles.
HELP: Now you come to the Zerg installation mission. You start off with
Kerrigan, two Hunter Killers. Also, south of you are six
zerglings. They are yours to use, so don't ignore them. The
majority of units in this map are SCVs and civilians. You may kill
them if you wish. You are trying to find your way to the
supercomputer on the southwest corner of the map. This map really
is pretty straightforward. One key to remember is that given time,
your units WILL recharge. Head down the corridor. In the first
room are two wall traps and a Ghost; kill them. Go up the stairs
and into the next room. Kill the Marines, and you'll find two
doors on the southwest side of the room. Go in the north most door
and kill the civilians if you want. Head down the stairs and kill
the Vulture. Head along this long corridor, and along the ledges
will be units firing on you. Just run down the corridor and
weather it; you'll lose more by trying to fight. Kill the six
Goliaths in the next room and the SCV if you want. GO into the
next room, and you'll e faced with a choice. Southwest is an
empty room, northeast is a room full of civilians. Go southeast
down the next corridor. Proceed along around the corner, up the
stairs, and down the next corridor. Down this corridor is an
ambush, but you should be able to handle it. You'll see prison
tanks here, go around them and hit the white beacon to get some
reinforcements. Around the next corner, however, is yet another
ambush. Kill all the Marines. You should be fine, but you can
cloak Kerrigan if you really want to be safe. The next door you
come to is your goal, but it's locked. Doh! So, you have to
proceed up the corridor. Kill all the Firebats. A good way to
prevent damage is to have Kerrigan ensnare the Firebats, then have
your Hunter Killers kill them from afar. At the end, go northeast
into... a trap! Unfortunetly, you have to walk into it because
that's where you unlock the doors. You might want to cloak
Kerrigan here, because there are lots of guys. Kill the missle
traps ASAP, because they will detect Kerrigan. There are two
beacons here, one will reveal a transporter and the other will
unlock all doors in the facility. Head back to the locked door,
and go in the transporter. From here, it's easy. Kill the guys,
go down the stairs and through the corridor. Step onto the white
beacon and you're done!
**Cinematic: Battle on the Amerigo**
STORY: This is argueably the best movie in StarCraft. It's actually the
first that features true blue fighting. The Zerg ambush a team of
saboteurs, they have a gun fight, then blow up the ship.
You'll have to watch it a few times to get the story and the
disguised humor. I'm not even sure if I get it yet. Still,
though, it's a very entertaining movie, and perhaps the best in SC.
Mission VI: The Dark Templar
----------------------------
STORY: Yes, the Zerg storyline has picked up a bit, but it still rather
boring compared to the "intensity" of the Terran plot ;)
Anyway, Kerrigan discovers that Tassadar and his crew have been
hiding on Char, and she wants to flush them out.
HELP: Well, there is not one really good strategy for this mission, and
any attack you make will either require a major investment or you
will fail. That doesn't make it a hard mission, though. I suggest
using a combo of Guardians, Mutalisks, and Scrouge to attack. Use
the Mutalisks to defend against renegade Scouts, and Guardians to
decimate the base. Whatever you do, stay away from Hydralisks or
any other ground unit. Reavers will murder your entire crew. If
you go that way, losses will be far too great to compensate the
victories.
You should win fairly easily that way. If you happen to run out of
minerals, there is a nice expansion on the middle left edge of the
map. It is guarded by only a few guys, and it is well away from
the Protoss base. Now as for defense, keep it tight. You will be
attacked by Reavers, which will be a problem. Keep some air guys
handy to take them out. If an emergency arises, SAVE, cloak
Kerrigan, and take them out one by one.
After you've destroyed almost every Protoss unit, Tassadar will
challenge Kerrigan. You don't need to control the battle or
anything like that, so just relax. Bring Kerrigan to the remote
island, move your Overlord out, and the computer will take over.
The battle is really uneventful. Oh well.
Mission VII: The Culling
------------------------
STORY: Time for the Zerg Twist. That's right, here comes the twist in the
Zerg plot. Zasz has been killed by Dark Templar, and of course
Kerrigan is still steaming from her "battle" with Tassadar. Zasz's
Brood, the Garm Brood, has now gone rampaging and so you have to
destroy them.
HELP: This is actually an easier mission compared to the last one. You
have destroy every last building of the Garm Brood. Guardians will
do the trick, though you might be well fought off by Scrouges. My
suggestion, this time, is to use Hydralisks. There aren't any
Zerg ground units that will kill off mass Hydras, so go with those.
Let's start from the beginning, though. You don't start off with a
base, instead, you have to capture your base. Directly north of
your starting point is your target. It's an easy kill; if you do
it right your 12 attackers shouldn't even come close to getting
killed. Once the base is yours, startintg building. Build a
Hatchery first, and start a couple guys mining. One thing to
remember: with Zerg, NEVER use your last Drone to build. Instead,
build new ones. Get your economy going, then build up your troops.
Your first target should be to the west, which is an orange
expansion. Bring a lot of guys. Orange WILL send reinforcements,
everything up to and including Ultralisks. So, bring at least two
dozen Hydralisks. You might not need this many to destroy the base
but you need at least that many to destroy the base AND hold the
area. Once the base is fairly well secured, send a Drone up and
start building. If you need Gas, there's some north of you, but it
will be rather hard to secure. Fill up a couple Overlords of
Hydralisks, and fly them to the northern most tip of the island.
Land them, and destroy. West of that, on the opposite side of the
map, is another expansion, which you can destroy next if you wish.
You have to destroy all of them eventually, so it doesn't really
matter. After that, you have no choice but ot invade their main
base. Take a moment to notice the setup. The main defense line
it set up on a piece of land seperated to their main island by a
river of magma. It's connected by bridges. You can either storm
the front door, or it's possible to land on the main island itself.
On the very west end of the island, there's a gap that you can
sneak through. Land there, and if you want a guaranteed win, use
mutalisks and guardian support as well as mass Hydralisks. Bingo.
Mission VIII: Eye for an Eye
----------------------------
STORY: According to the briefing, the Overmind has stolen from Zeratul the
location of Aiur. Hence the title "Eye for an Eye:" the Zerg will
now avenge Zasz's death. For now, you are going to kill the cursed
Dark Templar.
HELP: This mission is a bit tougher. You need to keep the Dark Templar
from escaping the map, and there are three locations on the map
from which they can do so. You are guarding all of them. First
thing: keep the Overlords where they are! They are used to detect
the Templars, so you need them. Daggoth will "kindly" remind you
of this if you move them. Second, keep your defense tight at all
bases! I can't stress this enough! The Nydus Canals are used for
quick travel, so use them! Let one base's defense line fall, and
that slight slip could cost you the mission. The Dark Templar are
very strong, so you need lots of defenders (Hydralisks are
defenders of choice here) at every base! Remember that! Also,
save often.
Now, on to the fun part. You of course have to destroy the
Protoss. There are several bases neatly coded in two colors.
Destroy Teal first, they shouldn't be that hard. Use your skills
that you've learned to do that. The main blue base will be the
toughy here, and that's what I'm going to concentrate on. There's
absolutely no good solution to defeating them. Mass Guardians will
be slaughtered by the Templar's (not Dark Templar) Psi Storm.
Mass Hydralisks will be murdered by the Reavers they've got.
Luckily, there's always a loophole to these things. Use Guardians,
attacking one at a time. Keep making them, and have three or four
ready. Attack with one or two, and you should be able to do at
least some damage before you are driven off. Retreat if a guy
comes, and while your Guardian is recharging, attack with a
different one. Easy, huh? Oncy you've destroyed all the Templars
and the Templar Archives, then you can mass your Guardians. Same
for the Hydralisks, Reavers, and Robotics Facility.
**Cinematic: The Warp**
STORY: This is a pretty cool movie showing the Zerg Swarm warping through
space to reach the Protoss world of Aiur.
Mission IX: The Invasion of Aiur
--------------------------------
STORY: We arrive on Aiur and learn that the Overmind must obtain the
Khaydarin Crystals to implant himself on their world.
HELP: This mission is the hardest so far, I think. Enjoy it, too,
because, in my opinion, it's the hardest Zerg mission.
Unfortunetly, the last Zerg mission is rather easy and has a poor
diffuculty rating considering it's the very last Zerg mission. Oh
well.
In this mission, you need to bring a Drone down to the Khaydarin
Crystals, which is heavily defended by the Protoss. Now, in this
mission, keep your defense TIGHT and build guardians AND
hydralisks. The Protoss will attack with air units and Reavers,
which as you probably already know, will tear through your hydra
line. Use Guardians to eliminate the Reavers and Hydralisks to
get rid of air guys. Conserve minerals as much as possible,
becuase that's all you get until you destroy green, which is no
easy task.
Now, for the attacking phase. Guardians won't help you here -
due to Templars. You can't use tactics from the last mission
either, because of the sheer number of troops they have available.
Anyway you do it will result in massive casualties, but I think the
best way to do it is with Hydralisks and Guardian combo.
Ultralisks will help too, but that's at your discretion. GO in the
Protoss front door directly east of your base. Take about 20-30
hydralisks and a few Guardians. Like your defense line, use the
Guardians to take out Reavers and Hydralisks for pretty much
anything else. It might take you a couple of shots to get it, but
destroy all of green. Station your remaining troops to defend, and
you can build a base at Green's minerals, and the minerals found
by going along the path right north of the ledge dividing Yellow
and Green. With two new bases, you'll be bringing in lots of
resources, which you should contribute to your troop fund. Build
up again, and use the same tricks as before to destroy ALL of
Yellow. Note that Yellow is divided into two areas, and you should
probably destroy everything. It's time to take the Crystals - move
a large force (Hydralisks, Ultralisks, Guardians, pretty much
anything in your arsenal) to guard. Bring a Drone down, and he has
to harvest the Crystal for a full ten minutes. You will be
attacked many times. Keep building troops at ALL of your bases -
and keep building more. You can NEVER have enough defense. A tip:
you should never have leftover money in the bank. If you have more
than 1000 minerals, spend it on more guys. When 10 minutes is up,
escort your Drone back to your base. Bet you were wondering what
that get-in-the-way beacon was for, huh? Well, now you know!
