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Youve finally
installed the first part of the
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2">StarCraft
II
Trilogy, the Terran campaign titled Wings of Liberty, and
youre eager to get your killing on. Once
youve logged in to the new Battle.net,
a quick click of
Single Player in the top left will get you right on with the Campaign
and story of Mr. Jim Raynor. Jimmys been through
hell and back, and now hes leading the good fight against
the new Dominion led by Mengsk, but due to his propaganda, only Raynor
and his boys think theyre on side of good. After
youve watched the cinematics of Raynor drinking himself
silly, its time to get this party started!
NOTE
: The following mission walkthroughs reflect Hard Mode gameplay. Easier
difficulty levels will have to deal with more of the same, or
rather, less of the same. But the general tactics will still
apply.
LIBERATION
DAY
-
Objective:
The Dominion
headquarters is poorly guarded. Taking it from Mengsk
will cripple his presence on this planet, and Raynor plans to do just
that. -
Rewards:
As the intro mission into the basics of StarCraft
II gameplay, 'Liberation Day'
does not offer any cash mission rewards. -
Achievements:
Liberation Day [15]
- Complete all objectives in the mission.
Raynor's Back [10]
- Kill 5 enemy units with Raynor on Normal difficulty.
Down with Mengsk [10]
- Kill every enemy unit in the mission on Hard difficulty.
Meta: Mars Sara Mastery [20]
- Complete all the Mar Sara mission achievements.
Walkthrough
You start off with a squad of 5
Marines and the man himself, Jim
Raynor:
Marines
- Providing some of the most reliable damage at range, Marines are
tried
and tested from the first game. Theyve beefed up a
little bit, and now sport 45 instead of 40 HP. They have a
decent range of 5, and excel en masse at pulverizing melee and short
range targets before they can reach them. Stimpacks return to
give you that extra punch for a 10 HP cost, and you can upgrade their
HP to 55 with Combat Shields to make room for that extra stimpack.
Jim
Raynor (Marine) - Raynor sports
some of the hottest tech on his suit, and
is a Marine with 200 HP, 12 damage, and an extra point of range at 6.
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Above:
Raynor
posing for a badass recruitment poster. Not shown: him wrecking his
Vulture in between the events of StarCraft and StarCraft II.
Take your forces and storm down
the road to the east. Dont worry about the dog, he
doesnt
bite. Youll run into a civilian that warns you not
to go on, and then three Marines that arent too happy to see
you. Run over them with your superior forces, and continue
on. Youll see Mengsk spouting nonsense from
holograms, and your first optional objective it to destroy
them. Attack it so you dont have to see his ugly
face anymore.
Continue on through a few more
small packs of Marines, and
youll end up in a Plaza with a larger force. Raynor calls in
extra Marines, but you need to help them as they dive
right into the action. Once those are all cleared
up, take out the Hologram in the middle of the plaza. Theres
one to the southeast and southwest as
well, so take those out before heading west along the road.
Smash into the forces taking
civilians away, and that transport has a
gun on it so mind it and take it out as well. Right next to
it is the 5th hologram. You know what to do. Head
northeast once this is done, and enjoy as close to a heros
welcome as Raynor has ever gotten, as well as your chance to silence
the
final Hologram.
The civilians will join you for
the final push into the base, hurling
flaming death at the defending Marines and structures. Support them and
two Vikings will land and begin gunning down
civilians. Focus fire on one at a time, and bring down the
Headquarters to finish your first big step towards weakening the tyrant
Mengsks reign.
Next
Mission: The Outlaws
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Liberating Backwater Station
was only the first step in Raynors
rebellion on Mar Sara. After you meet up with Tychus in that lovely
bar,
you can click any of the objects with labels to interact with
them and learn more about the storyline. When youre done,
you click the hologram case
to view your next briefing. Just remember you can change the
music on that Jukebox for a little change of pace at any time.
THE
OUTLAWS
-
Objective:
Obtain the alien artefact currently being unearthed by Mengsk at the
dig site.
-
Reward:
45,000 credits -
Achievements:
The Outlaws [15]
- Complete all objectives in the mission.
Cash Reward [10]
- Collect all Mineral and Gas Pellet pickups in the mission on Normal
difficulty.
Be Quick or Be Dead [10]
- Complete the mission on Hard difficulty in less than 10 minutes.
Meta: Mars Sara Mastery [10]
- Complete all the Mar Sara mission achievements.
Walkthrough
Finally,
you get to control a base, however, the enemy has one too. Put your
SCVs to work immediately on minerals.
Youll notice you dont have Jim with you
anymoreall defense and offense is going to come from your
Marines. Group up your Marines, and immediately begin constructing more
SCVs.
A little note about the economy
before we get into the real difficult
missions of StarCraft II:
there is a point of too many SCVs. You want at least 2 per mineral
patch in the base. Generally
that leads to 14-16. You also want three SCVs working in each
Vespene Geyser, and the one that completes it starts working there
immediately, so grab two and put them to work in there once
its done. You dont want to overwork
your resources, but you cant have them not being mined to
efficiency either.
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This
is more than enough to move out with.
Add supply depots as necessary
while training your SCVs, and then a
Tech Lab onto your Barracks. Once thats done, you
can train another old unit that will be invaluable from here on out.
Medics
- 60 HP, 1 Armor, and
heals 3 HP per 1 energy rapidly to nearby biological units. A
little costly, and 2 supply each though. Dont go
overboard on these, they have no attack!
Train 3 or 4, and then go full
on Marines. Remember to add
Supply Depots before your production is halted by Supply
constraints! Youll get hit once by a small pack of
Marines, but if you have a Medic out, you probably wont
suffer any casualties. Once youre at about 12
marines and 4 Medics, add a second Barracks to replenish your forces
should they fall, and move out to the north.
Youll see little
resource crates of Minerals and
Gas. Moving any unit to them recovers them. Youll get a
little scene that Rebels are under attack to the
southwest. There are about 8 marines between you and them, so
your forces should be able to overwhelm them with no
difficulty. Move onto the beacon to rescue them, and you get
access to their Barracks and Supply Depots, as well as control of the
surviving units. Leave some to guard, or train
more, but either way its time to take the fight to
the enemy. Theres a little pocket of minerals to the
north of your base, north of the main road. Its
lightly guarded, so capture them first.
Storm north with your forces.
You should have at least 20
Marines and 4-6 Medics. Youll encounter some
Hellions, line-AoE units that specialize in killing Light units like
your Marines. There are only a few, so you arent
in any real danger with your numbers. Next, youll come
across a bunker. Move your forces into range, and then a
little more so all of your Marines can get shots on the Bunker to drop
it as fast as possible. Roll into their base and annihilate
them slowly with your line of Marines, and get reinforcements from your
base as needed. Resistance should be moderate, with their
units having 1 armor and weapon upgrade when you dont have
the ability to match them. You have numbers and
Medics thoughtwo things that are very potent
together. Wipe out all of their buildings to complete the
mission!
Previous
Mission: Liberation Day | Next
Mission: Zero Hour
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Raynor sure knows how to take
it easy after a mission, with good
company and a bottle. After spending part of that 45,000 you earned
from your last mission on
his piling bar tab, its time to get that artifact off this
rock.
ZERO HOUR
-
Objective:
The Zerg are attacking Mar Sara so you need to hold out against their
attacks at your base until the evac transport arrives. -
Reward:
60,000 Credits -
Achievements:
Zero Hour [15]
- Complete all objectives in the mission.
Hold the Line [10]
- Complete the mission on Normal difficulty without losing or salvaging
a structure.
The Best Defense... [10]
- Destroy 4 Zerg Hatcheries in the mission on Hard difficulty.
Meta: Mars Sara Mastery [10]
- Complete all the Mar Sara mission achievements.
Walkthrough:
Get your base up and running as
usual. Youve got
two main bridges to hold, on the west and east sides. Man
those bunkers. Get another one up for the extra four marines
at each bridge. Youve got 20 minutes to survive,
and the Zerg arent going to make it easy.
Youve also gained
access to some new toys in this mission:
Engineering
Bay - If its infantry
or tech
related, its upgraded here. Weapons and Armor are
essential upgrades always, and weapons especially for your troops in
your bunkers. Grab weapons immediately with your first 100 gas.
Missile
Turret - This hasnt
changed a whole
lot from the original StarCraft.
Its a little tougher and shoots air only with
two shots at once. They work best in clusters, one Turret
wont do much to more than a few air units.
Bunker
- As noted above, he
Bunker also returns as a 400 HP bastion of defense for
infantry. You can now sell them when theyre not
needed, making them a valuable investment for defense that can be
cashed in for offense when they've outlived thir usefulness.
Reactor
- Lastly, the Reactor enables you to produce 2 units at once from that
structure. When you need units fast and dont mind
spending the extra Gas, go for Reactors on your Barracks.
Back to the alien swarm bearing
down on your ass. At about 18
minutes, the swarm first surges from the west, with a large force of
Zerglings. You should be able to dispatch this with your
starting 8 marines on that bridge fairly easily. Bring an SCV out to
repair the bunkers, and consider leaving him there
on auto-repair for future attacks.
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A
wall of steel, with forces of Man behind it. Wait, this isn't Lord of
the Rings...
Youll catch wind of
rebels trapped to the north
east. They look secure at first glance, but there are Hydralisks
and Zerglings burrowed in ambush. If you dont want
to go after them yourself, send an SCV on a suicide mission in their
direction. The Zerg forces will rise up, chase, kill the SCV,
and then go on an attack mission
right into your
bunkers. Then you can rescue the first group of Rebels with
no interruption.
Mutalisks will strike at about
16:30, to the East Bridge.
Theyll hit your nearby Turret first, so unload your Bunkers
and get your Marines over there to provide fire support for the
Turret. Repair as needed, and start massing up additional
forces once your upgrades, base, and defenses are in place.
Youre going to need them, so build Marines and Medics at a
ratio of about 4:1.
The next group of rebels is in
a tight spot to the northwest.
Depending on your timing of rescuing them, youll need to go
through some Spine Crawlers, which arent a threat so long as
you have Medics. There arent any burrowed forces
waiting in ambush here, so pulverize those in your path and get to
them. Collect the resources and get back to base.
The attacks begin to intensify
around the 10 minute mark.
Roaches and Hydralisks will attack with the Zerglings, and 2 bunkers
will barely hold off even with a SCV repairing. When you see
a strike coming, move your forces to the bunkers by that bridge.
The final rebel squad is on a
hill to the west. If you
cleared out that path to the 2nd rebel group by taking the west bridge,
youve already done half of the work and there will probably
be one or two Spine Crawlers and a handful of Zerglings in your
way. Demolish them with your growing forces and add the
rebels to them.
Double up your Missile Turrets
in your base at this point, as the
Mutalisk attacks will start circling around your bridge defenses and go
for your vulnerable base. At 2 minutes, all hell breaks loose
and the full Zerg charge begins from both sides. Split your
forces and support both bridges, and youll survive the
onslaught to live another day!
Previous
Mission: The Outlaws
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