Some research is done from the Zerg and Protoss artifacts
foundthroughout your travels in StarCraft II, but the majority of it
will be
from good ol Swann and some Terran ingenuity. Your mission
profits will have to be spent wisely as there are far too many upgrades
to afford all of them. Some are essential, and some will have
you throwing your hands up and saying Why did I buy this?
later on in the campaign. We break down which is which so you
dont make the same mistakes we did when investing your hard earned
credits!
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style="font-style: italic;">No upgrade will make you as
deadly as a Dark Templar. Deal with it.
Infantry
Marines
- Stimpacks
o Price 50,000
o Activated Effect Does 10 damage to
the Marine, and boosts attack/movement speed for 15 seconds.
o Worth it? Absolutely.
Marines are a staple of your armies in the campaign and with Medics and
Medivacs to keep them alive, there is no reason not to hit this and
melt your foes.
- Combat
Shields
o Price 60,000
o Passive Effect Increases Marine HP by
10.
o Worth it? If youre using Marines
often, and you will be, this is a no brainer. One of the best
bang for your buck upgrades you can get.
Medics
- Advanced
Medical Facilities
o Price 60,000
o Passive Effect Medics no longer
require a Tech Lab to build
o Worth it? Many people look at this
and think it can be safely ignored, but with a Reactor barracks alone
you can make a full attack force. But if youre going for the
Tech Reactor research, this is completely worthlessbut would you go
for the Tech Reactor over Orbital Strike if you were going for an
infantry-centric attack force in the campaign? Decisions, decisions
.
You should probably skip this.
-
Stabilizer Medipacks
o Price 105,000
o Passive Effect Medics heal 25% faster
and consume 33% less energy doing it.
o Worth it? When 50 Marines hit
Stimpack, the Medics go into overdrive and heal everything around
them. The Marines actually taking the fire up front arent
getting healed immediately by the Medic AI, so the faster the Stimpack
damage is healed, the faster the Marines getting hit will be healed by
the auto-heal AI. As for the energy reduction, thats just
icing on the cake. Get it if youre a Marine and
Medic man.
Firebats
-
Incinerator Gauntlets
o Price 40,000
o Passive Effect Greatly increases the
area of effect on the Firebats attack.
o Worth it? - Probably
not. The times your wider attack would actually hit more
units are few and far between, and Firebats themselves arent too
impressive to begin with.
-
Juggernaut Plating
o Price 85,000
o Passive Effect Increases Firebat
armor by two.
o Worth it? Again, a tough
sell. Firebats will be the first units to die in your army at
the front lines, but also wont put out that much damage either before
they bite the dust. This will help, but not much.
Reapers
- U-238
Rounds
o Price 60,000
o Passive Effect Increases damage to
light by 3, and increases range by one on all Reapers.
o Worth it? Hell no. Youre
paying to increase the damage of a unit that is rarely allowed to sit
behind your forces and potshot them, and you have many other units that
can be used to dominate Light units throughout the campaign.
- G-4
Clusterbomb
o Price 75,000
o Active Effect Reapers can blow up
clusters of troops with this handy tool.
o Worth it? Again, this is a skill that
requires immaculate micro and positioning. Some
will love it, but most of you will despise it.
Marauders
-
Concussive Shells
o Price 70,000
o Passive Effect - Attacks slow the
target in a small area. The same as the campaign, but in an
area on attack!
o Worth it? Probably. Youll
use Marauders throughout the game. Just beware of the fact
that they cant slow massive units and unload on those with everything
youve got!
- Kinetic
Foam
o Price 90,000
o Passive Effect - Increases HP of
Marauders by 25.
o Worth it? Chances are if youre
building Marauders, theyre going to counter something that is thrown
at you. All you have to do is make sure they live long enough
to fire on them, and their slow will save you so much grief.
Get this!
Base Upgrades
Bunker
? Projectile Accelerator
Cost - 40,000
Passive Effect : Bunkered units gain +1
range.
Worth it? : A powerful upgrade for the campaign on defensive maps, and
there
are a lot of them. This will enable your Marauders to slow targets much
sooner, and give
Firebats the punch they need to kill units before they reach the
bunker. A pack of Marines in
a bunker or two will take out Mutalisks before they even get off a
shot. Buy this, its cheap!
? Neosteel Bunker
Cost - 50,000
Passive Effect : Bunkers gain 2
additional slots.
Worth it? : Combined with the enhanced range of the above upgrade, this
give you more
firepower faster for less of a bunker investment. In addition, the
firepower is concentrated
much faster since all 6 units can open fire at once and bring down
units faster than if you had to
space out two bunkers worth of units..
Missile Turret
? Titanium Housing
Cost - 50,000
Passive Effect : Missile Turrets gain
+75 life.
Worth it?: The problem with Missile
turrets isnt their life, thats for sure. Anytime one
missile turrret wouldnt cut it, youd be better off building two and
getting double the damage and
life out of your defenses. In heavy defense missions, youll be using
SCVS on repair anyway,
so the life of your turrets isnt an issue. Skip this.
? Hellstorm Batteries
Cost - 80,000
Passive Effect : Missile Turrets gain a
second attack that does area damage.
Worth it?: The times youll come against large clusters of air units in
the campaign are
few and far between. The additional attack only does 8 splash damage to
begin with, so it isnt
a significant upgrade. You have great anti air options in the campaign
in Goliathas and Vikings,
or even Thors for splash damage. Missile Turrets are a good supplment
to an air defense, but
even in the final mission with the horde of air units coming at your
base.... this upgrade just isnt
worth your credits.
SCVs
? Advanced Construction
Cost - 60,000
Multiple SCVs can build a structure.
Each additional SCV reduces build time at no
additional cost.
Worth it? : So the fast build from
WarCraft III makes it into StarCraft IIs campaign.
Is it worth it? Doubtful at best. The times you could get a big benefit
from this is when your
defenses are ruined from a big attack and you have to rebuild in a
hurry.... but you could
just send multiple SCVs on separate build commands and g et the same
effect basically.
Command centers would be a good investment with this build, but again,
there are very few
times you need to expand in the campaign compared to multiplaer. Skip
this for sure.
? Fusion Welders
Cost - 80,000
SCVs repair twice as fast, for units or structures.
Worth it? : There are a few missions
this will prove absolutely invaluable. Maw of
the Void and Engine of Destruction are going to be absolutely hellish
on Brutal without this
upgrade. In addition, you can just repair faster and get your scvs back
to work that much faster
with this upgrade in place. Since defense maps revolve around a lot of
repairing to begin with,
and offensive mech builds have so many repairs needed over time, this
will save you time and
possibly units or buildings. Pick it up if youre going for harder
difficulties.
Terran Building
? Fire-Suppression System
Cost - 90,000
All structures repair themselves to 50%
life, and all structure fires are automatically put
out.
Worth it? : Its expensive, and the only
real benefit is that you dont have to pay as much
attention to your defenses if theyre about to fall. The repair rate is
not that fast to begin with
though, and if you think you can rely on this to repel attacks that
would not normally be repelled,
think again. Defensive positions should have SCVs on standby to repair
structures under attack
anyway, so this upgrade is not only underwhelming, but pretty useless.
Avoid this.
?Orbital Command (12 missions completed)
Cost - 125,000
Grants the Scanner Sweep and Calldown:
MULE abilities.
Scanner Sweep: Reveals an area in the
fog of war, and reveals stealth.
Calldown: MULE: Calls down a temporary
robotic miner that mines vast amounts
of minerals.
Worth it? : This obligatory upgrade in
multiplayer is of questionable use in the campaign.
First, the upgrade is free and instantly applied to all command centers
you build.
However, your economy is generally in place and powerful by the 5
minute mark and
Vespene gas becomes your limiting resource, and thats a resource MULES
cannot
help you with. Scans are invaluable in multiplayer as well, but in the
campaign stealth
is never an issue to detect or deal with. For the immense cost, it
simply isnt worth it!
Vehicles
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Hellion
Twin-Linked Flamethrower
Cost - 40,000
Passive Effect -
The Hellions attack width is doubled.
Worth it? : I can
count the missions I used Hellions on one hand. You probably
can too. When youre done torching zombies and infested
terrans, the Hellion is ready to be retired. The situations
it excels in arent enhanced all that much by this, since when youre
kiting the enemy they line up nicely enough for Hellions as is.
Thermite
Filaments
Cost - 60,000
Passive Effect: Hellions do an
additional +10 damage to light armor.
Worth it? : If you love Hellions, this
will make them dominate anything that isnt a Roach or Ultralisk
basically. Pick one anti-light unit and max it out, and this
is essential if youve chosen Hellions.
Vulture
Cerberus
Mine
Cost - 50,000
Passive Effect :Increases mine blast
radius and mine trigger radius by 33%
Worth it? : The mine trigger radius is
pathetic in StarCraft II compared to the original. If you
plan on using Vultures like the old days, by all means.
Theyre a cheap unit that you can throw at the front of your mechanized
armies after dropping your potent field of
mines.
Replenishable Magazine
Cost - 60,000
Active Effect : Allows Vultures to
replenish mines in the field for 15 minerals.
Worth it? : Not really.
Vultures are a throwaway unit once their mines are down for defense,
and if they die, they die. They served their purpose of
dishing out some damage and dropping the mines, and you might as well
build another one. There are better places to put this 60,000
credits, basically.
Goliath
Multi-Lock Weapons System
Cost - 50,000
Passive Effect : Goliaths can fire both
weapons simultaneously.
Worth it? : Goliaths are an average
unit, but if youre a big fan of them from the original, you need this
upgrade to make them worthwhile. Honestly, the upgrade is
useless without the following one as well, as the chances of an air and
ground unit coming into perfect range for both
weapons at base range just isnt
happening.
Ares-Class Targeting System
Cost - 80,000
Passive Effect : Goliaths gain +3
missile range and +1 cannon range.
Worth it? : Yes, but only in conjunction
with the above upgrade to let all guns blaze from afar.
Diamondback
Tri-Lithium Power Cell
Cost - 75,000
Passive Effect: Diamondbacks gain +1
range.
Worth it? : Diamondbacks are
very expensive, so an upgrade like this only benefits small skirmishes
with them. Retreating while firing will win you virtually
every mobile battle in the campaign, but the problem is that defense
and objective based maps really ruin this unit
Shaped
Hull
Cost - 90,000
Passive Effect: Diamondbacks gain +50
life.
Worth it? : For the cost,
Diamond backs are rather fragile. 50 HP is considerable, and
is worth taking if you plan on using this unit outside of the train
mission. Itll give you more of a cushion when you botch your
micromanagement of your hit and run tanks.
Siege Tank
Maelstrom Rounds
Cost - 105,000
Passive Effect : Siege Tanks do +40
damage to primary target.
Worth it? : Hell yes. Siege
tanks already are a staple of your defensive army the moment they hit
the field in The Dig, Forty bonus damage leads to a
lot of two shot kills and the idea of one shotting Hydralisks is enough
to make any Terran player smile.
Shaped Blast
Cost - 140,000
Passive Effect : Siege Mode splash does
75% less damage to friendly units.
Worth it? : The higher the difficulty
you play on, the more likely your Tank lines will be overwhelmed and
suddenly splash damage is your enemy and not your friend.
This upgrade negates it more or less. This upgrade is near
mandatory if you want to use Siege Tanks on All In, as the Brood Lords
will cause your tanks to blow each other up quickly without it and you
will be overwhelmed a few times on the non-air version..
Starships
Medivac
Rapid
Deployment Tube
Cost - 50,000
Passive Effect : Medivacs deploy loaded
troops almost instantly.
Worth it? : Hell no. The only
mission you really use a lot of drop tactics is The Moebius Factor, and
you get Medivacs on that mission. So its impossible to buy
this upgrade when it could be potentially useful. Its cheap,
but the places and times youd benefit from this are almost nil.
Advanced
Healing AI
Cost - 115,000
Passive Effect: Medivacs can heal two
targets at once.
Worth it? : Probably not. The
main reason is that a Medic is cheaper, and has cheaper upgrades
related to healing. When healing infantry, the speed a single
target is healed is far more important than healing the whole mob since
only a few targets will be taking damage at once (just time your
stimpack accordingly!). So you can spend 150
minerals and 100 gas, and get 2 medics that heal faster and dont
require babysitting around anti-air, or get one Medivac that will run
out of energy very quickly from healing multiple targets simultaneously.
Wraith
Tomahawk
Power Cells
Cost - 80,000
Passive Effect: Wraiths start
with +100 energy when built.
Displacement Field
Cost - 125,000
Passive Effect : Wraiths evade 20% of
attacks while cloaked.
Are either of these worth it?
: Wratihs are absolute garbage. They only have any
worth on the mission they are introduced due to the opponents complete
lack of stealth detection, and that too is negated on Brutal
difficulty. They lack the power of the Viking in air to air,
and they lose to Marines for ground damage. Skip both of
these and dont look back.
Viking
Ripwave
Missles
Cost - 75,000
Passive Effect: Viking missiles do small
splash damage.
Phobos-Class Weapons System
Cost - 90,000
Passive Effect : Vikings gain +2 missile
range and +1 cannon range.
Are either of these worth it?:
This is a matter of taking both or neither. Vikings are your
premier air to air unit, and if you intend on going for the Air version
of the final mission, these are damn near essential. You will
get your moneys worth out of them for sure. If you are
taking the ground version, you could go without. With
however, the mercenary Viking squadron will absolutely wreck incoming
flyers, which is worth it probably.
Banshee
Cross-Spectrum Dampeners
Cost - 80,000
Passive Effect : Banshees can remain
cloaked for twice as long, effectively cutting energy use in half.
Worth it?: The point you get Banshees at
is very late in the game to begin with, and as a result you have to
think about when you could really get the most out of
cloaking. Kerrigan ignores it, so its not worth it for
her. But when going for the Nydus Worms on the ground version
of the final mission, cloaking can go a long way towards keeping your
Banshees safe. The question is, will the reduced consumption
actually be worth taking over another vital upgrade? Probably
not.
Shockwave Missile Battery
Cost - 110,000
Passive Effect : Banshee attack fires
multiple missiles in a line.
Worth it?: The old Warcraft III Gryphon
attack returns! Well positioned Banshees will
absolutely annihilate the ground forces you come across with this,
making them wonderful for cleaning out clusters of Zerg in the final
missions. If you plan on using Banshees at all after
Supernova, take this by all means. Even if you just attack
move, youll probably hit more units, get more kills, and take less
damage as a result of this upgrade.
Battlecruiser
Missile
Pods
Cost - 140,000
Grants the Missile Pod ability.
Active Effect: Does area damage to air
targets.
Defensive Matrix
Cost - 150,000
Grants the Defensive Matrix ability.
Active Effect: Absorbs 200 damage before
failing.
Are either worth it?: The
answer is a resounding no. The Missile Pod ability is only
useful against clusters of Mutalisks, and you have plenty of counters
to those already. Defensive Matrix sounds nice on paper, but
the main threat you have to Battlecruisers in the final mission is
Kerrigan, who instant kills them when she looks in their direction and
doesnt give a damn if you activated your classic defensive
ability. If you got access to Battlecruisers and their
upgrades much sooner, you could find a lot more use and worth for them.
Dominion
Ghost & Spectre
Ocular
Implants
Cost - 85,000
Passive Effect : Ghosts gain +2 range
and +3 sight radius.
Crius
Suit
Cost - 125,000
Passive Effect: Cloak no longer requires
energy, and you actually regenerate it while cloaked.
Psionic
Lash
Cost - 100,000
Active Effect: Grants the Psionic Lash
ability, which does 200 damage to target unit.
Worth it?: This is a
really tough sell because both units are wonderful on paper,
but really annoying to use in the campaign. Ghosts are
*excellent* in bunkers with the range upgrade and will kill Zerglings
and Mutalisks before they even have a chance. Spectres are
one of the ways to really put a hurt on Kerrigan in the final mission,
so picking up the free cloaking upgrade so they can regenerate and stay
safe between waves isnt a bad idea. If you take Spectres,
take both upgrades and put them to good use against the Queen of
Blades! If you took Ghosts, you might just want to divert
your funds elsewhere, but Ocular Implants is nice for defensive Ghost
usage.
Thor
330mm
Barrage Cannon
Cost - 130,000
Active Effect : Improved bombardment
cannon that deals massive area damage and stuns central targets.
Immortality Protocol
Cost - 140,000
Active Effect :Grants the Immortality
Protocol ability, giving destroyed Thors the ability to be reactivated
in the field.
Are either worth it?: More useful than most of the late game unit
upgrades, but both suffer from a single major problem. They
have no effect on Kerrigan. 250mm guns, the basic Thor
ability, will stun her in place guaranteed. You have to aim
your 330mm gun perfectly to ensure shes locked down, which can lead to
costly mistakes and losses elsewhere as you focus on your
micromanagement there. Immortality Protocol is
cool, but again, Kerrigan doesnt care about it and your Thors that she
body slams will not be revivable through it. Since these are
so expensive, you can put your money to use elsewhere on more worthy
upgrades.
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