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style="font-style: italic;">No, you cannot research the
Laser Drill.  Wouldn't it be fun to sick that thing on
Kerrigan though?

Picking up those artifacts littered throughout the
campaign is such a pain. But when the rewards are as substantial as
these research upgrades are, you have little choice but to pillage the
land for Zerg bones and Protoss relics. Every one of these upgrades is
useful, but since you can only choose one , we’re here to help you make
the decision that will serve you best through the higher difficulties
and challenges that you’ll face as you progress through the campaign.
If you feel like you made a mistake, you can always reload a previous
save or start the campaign over entirely to get a fresh start.



Protoss Research



Tier 1 -
Ultra-Capacitators vs. Vanadium Plating




The former will increase your attack speed by 5% per weapon upgrade,
and the latter increases your units’ HP by 5% per armor upgrade. Both
have their uses and will make your units better on the whole with
upgrades, but the best offense is killing your enemies with
Ultra-Capacitators before they have a chance at getting past your base
HP and into the bonus HP of Vanadium Plating.



Go the offensive route here.



Tier 2 - Orbital Depots
vs. Micro-Filtering




We can either build supply depots instantly, or crank out 1 more gas
per load of vespene mined from a refinery. Gas is always going to be
your limiting factor when building units and it’s impossible to
increase your efficiency beyond 3 SCVs to begin with, so making those
SCVs that much more efficient is without equal. Orbital Depots is
really nice when you mess up and need to crank out Supply Depots in a
hurry, but generally has really limited application in the heat of
battle once you start noticing your supply count getting close to your
cap and preemptively building depots.



More gas will always be useful, so take Micro-Filtering.



Tier 3 – Command Center
Reactor vs. Automated Refinery




A really hard choice presents itself here. Cranking out two SCVs at
once will increase your early game potential tenfold, and help you on
missions that require great speed to pick up achievements or survive an
early rush. At the same time, each Automated Refinery spares 3 SCVs
from the task of mining gas, effectively saving you minerals and 3
supply per refinery you would have built. There comes a point where the
Reactor stops being useful in a mission though, and the Refinery
doesn’t have that problem. Even as you expand and take more bases, the
Automated Refinery will keep working and keep cranking out more gas
with zero effort on your part.



Saving you from having to build SCVs is better than being able to build
them twice as quickly. Take the

Automated Refinery.



Tier 4 – Raven vs.
Science Vessel




This choice is entirely based on your comfort with spellcasters. A
Raven is completely worthless if you don’t use its spells in the
campaign, as stealth/burrowed units are never a threat. Auto-Turrets
are invaluable defensive tools during the final mission, and Hunter
Seeker Missiles are wonderful in the campaign since the AI will never
run away from them and you can always hit the sweet spot in crowds for
maximum damage. But will a crowd ever live long enough for the missile
to hit with your lines of bunkers and Siege Tanks? If that answer is
likely no, Science Vessels are the way to go. While their spell is near
useless, their auto-repair ability of nearby mechanical units is
incredible when using large numbers of air or factory units. Since
almost all of these units will requires a good chunk of gas to repair,
a Science Vessel is an investment to keeping the army healed and happy
for a fraction of the cost of repairs over time.



This one is your call, but I’d suggest Science Vessel to most players
for ease of use.



Tier 5 – Tech Reactor
vs. Orbital Strike




So we have the option of cranking out any two units from any production
structure, versus buying a set of drop pods reserved for the
mercenaries and giving them to our barracks units to deploy instantly
to their rally points. This is another personal call based on your play
style. 95% of players should opt for the Tech Reactor, which costs less
than building a reactor and a tech lab separately, and that’s not even
taking into account the cost of the main structure itself! Those of you
that like to hit hard and fast with large packs of infantry, and have a
good command of teams and rally points will benefit more from the
Orbital Strike upgrade. If you pick up the respective Medic and Marine
armory upgrades, all you need are reactors and you can produce a
dangerous force with great speed and reinforce it on the move at any
given time. This can be a lot of work when mobile, but will improve
your macromanagement skill and teach you one of the more valuable
multiplayer skills in offensive rally points. But, on the other hand,
we could produce two tanks, or two Battlecruisers, or two Marauders at
the same time.



If you’re an offensive infantry player, take Orbital Strike. If you’re
a defensive player or like using high tech units, go for the Tech
Reactor.



Zerg Research



Tier 1 – Shrike Turret
vs. Fortified Bunker




Adding a Shrike Turret basically gives every bunker a free Marine. It
can shoot air, and it doesn’t require anyone inside to function, making
an empty bunker still a threat to the AI and will buy time for your
more valuable targets behind them. The main downside of this turret is
that it cannot be upgraded like the Marines inside, and on the higher
difficulties the AI will max out its weapons and armor upgrades fairly
quickly. So a respectable 6 damage turret will only do 3 damage a shot
once those upgrades are done, and at that point you’re much better off
with the Fortified Bunker upgrade for its 150 HP boost.



If you’re playing on Casual or Normal, the Turret will go a long way
for you. On Hard and Brutal, you’re going to need that durability from
the Fortified Bunker and the turret will be less effective.



Tier 2 – Planetary
Fortress vs. Perdition Turret




A unique pop up turret that resembles something out of Total
Annihilation that roasts lines of approaching Zerg and is invulnerable
when not firing… sign me up! Costing only minerals, the Turret is an
invaluable tool in defense maps that have you coming up against large
waves of enemies. At the same time, the Planetary Fortress can dominate
medium size armies single handedly. The fortress is less effective in
single player than it is in multiplayer since the building upgrades
that benefit it with +2 armor and +1 range aren’t in for single player.
The other downside is that the upgrade is not free like the Armory’s
Orbital Command upgrade. You still have to dump minerals and gas into
it to make it the stationary death star it is. It can make a stellar
addition to a defense on All-In, but requires such an investment (of
time, mainly) compared to the Perdition turrets that it’s not
worthwhile except in some extreme cases.



 Take the flaming death turret unless you're playing on
Brutal, since then you'll want Planetary Fortresses for the final
mission.



Tier 3 –Predators vs.
Hercules




This is probably the most pointless choice of all. You have a melee
area-cleaning specialist, and a massive dropship. Dropships have very
little use in the campaign in general aside from The Moebius Factor
mission. Every single factory unit aside from the Goliath and Thor is
effective at dealing with charging Zerg hordes already, so the Predator
doesn’t have much of a role either. To be honest, you aren’t going to
use either one during the campaign aside from once to see it in action.




Pick whichever, but on Brutal you can get some mileage out of the
Hercules.



Tier 4 – Cellular
Reactor vs. Regenerative Bio-Steel




Both of these are really good. Cellular Reactor makes your offensive
spell casters far more dangerous. Ravens can potentially fire two
Hunter Seekers, Spectres can stun multiple times, and Battlecruisers
can fire the almighty Yamato twice. Regenerative Bio-Steel on the other
hand gives all of your factory and starport units the Zerg’s
regeneration rate. This can go a long way to making sure your tanks
don’t die from Mutalisk splash damage, or your packs of Vikings
patrolling the skies can keep patrolling the skies longer. Banshees can
raid all day and take a few hits along the way without caring all that
much. You get the idea.



If you like offensive spellcasting, take the Reactor. If you don’t,
Bio-Steel will serve you very well in its place.



Tier 5 – Psi Disruptor
vs. Hive Mind Emulator




A rather silly finale to the Zerg research tree, both of these will
dominate the final mission. The Hive Mind emulator requires you to
control it carefully though, and the Psi Disruptor is best used when in
front of your defenses to maximize the range that the Zerg are slowed
to a crawl and thus demolished by the defensive tank and bunker fire
before coming anywhere near your bunkers. Both of these are fragile
towers that are a little on the expensive side. Spamming Hive Mind
Emulator towers is a viable way to beat the aerial assault version of
All-In if you can micromanage them well enough. The Psi Disruptor is a
better call if your attention is elsewhere though.



If you’re going for All In on brutal against the air force, you’re
going to wish you had the Hive Mind Emulator. If you’re too lazy to
control it, take the Psi Disruptor and you won’t be disappointed.


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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