Starcraft II

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Just finished the campaign and although what there was of it was very enjoyable I found it to be a bit on the short side. 10 missions more or so would not have gone amiss. Wonder what they will charge for the expansion and how long the wait will be?

 

I'll probably do the campaign at least twice, doing some of the earlier missions on hard difficulty to try to unlock more acheivements.

EDIT: There's also a ton of "challenges" (of increasing difficulty) and 1v1 computer matches. Probably a necessary time investment prior to even considering making the leap to multiplayer.

 

I am having a blast playing multiplayer, I am slowly improving mostly thanks to some ole WoW buddies who just happen to be "leetkids". If anyone in Europe is interested in a few games PM me and we can add each other. 1v1 is fun but the most fun is team play, 2v2, 3v3 but I must say that 4v4 was probably the most fun but it is not often you have three friends online up for a few games.

 

Nah. Well, maybe if you've never played a RTS in the history of ever. Otherwise, no. You really don't need to.

 

OK, I made significant progress in the campaign this weekend. I'm probably at least half way though now. I've done all the Zeratul missions - all fun - especially the last one, where I got the "Blaze of Glory" acheivement. I killed over 2000 zerg before perishing, and I saved the archives.

I would have lasted a lot longer, but for one oversight on my part. While all of my stuctures were built and well secure in my inner base, a large percentage of my pylons (which raise your troop limits) were located in the outer area of my base. When the archives were secured, I pulled my troops into the inner base, that I had loaded up with photon cannons.

I planned on continuing to replace my lost units just as I had before, but with the advantage of just having to hold the two ramps located close together into the inner base instead of the 3 entraces of the outer base that were far apart. The problem was when the outer base got overrun, I lost a large number of pylons, which put me over my troop limit. Since I covered just about every square centimeter of my inner base with photon cannos, there actually wasn't a heck of a lot of room to stick additional pylons, especially not the number I needed to replace the ones lost in the outer courtyard. And that's when the battle really turned, as I was unable to replace lost troops. Eventually, you start to lose photon cannons, and the zerg rushes come quicker and quicker, so that eventually there's no time in between to replace the lost cannons. Then you start to lose troops, and without the ability to build more as you lose them, the battle goes south in a hurry.

While it does not appear that the Zeratul missions advance the campaign (they may be entirely unnecessary for all I know), and while they don't give any credits as a reward, there are a TON of research point opportunities available on those missions. I've completely maxed my zerg research, and now the Moebius scientists buy any additional zerg research points I find at 10,000 credits a piece. I have found quite a bit of protoss research as well, but I have not yet received the final advancement. I'll definitely use that last advancement to combine the effects of a tech lab and reactor into one add-on. The convenience factor alone is worth it - without it, you either have to build two factories/barracks/starports, or lift up your existing structure, move it, and build the second add-on, and keep moving it back and forth depending on what units you need. (I typically opted for the former of those options.)

Other "done" paths up to this point include Dr. Hanson - she left the ship after I saved the colonists on Haven, so I guess I won't get any additional missions from her. I also think the Tosh missions are done. I reached the branch point in that mission (and it seems like the branch points end paths), and I opted to help Tosh free the inmates at the prison. That decision was based completely on the respective abilities of the ghost compared to the spectre.

Both classes have the ability to cloak, and both classes have the ability to call in tactical nuke strikes. So the decision came down to the last ability, and IMO, the decision wasn't even close. Spectres have "Mind Blast", which deals damage and stuns a group of enemies for 10 seconds. Ghosts, on the other hand, have "Snipe", which deals 45 damage in a single shot to an enemy. That's great - if the enemy happens to be something like a drone, zergling, or baneling - you'll kill those in one hit. Not so great against just about anything else, as it will survive the shot. Since I hate being a micromanager - probably one of the reasons I don't fare well in multiplayer - the spectre's abilities seemed far more suited to my playing style.

So the only remaining mission choices I have now are ones offered by Tychus and Horner. (Although I have done missions from both of them - I did the train mission with Horner, and I had the drill mission with Tychus.) Based on what I've read, it's not necessary to complete all the missions in a given group to complete the campaign. In fact, some paths can be skipped entirely (I suspect this is true of all the Zeratul missions).

I probably have not taken the most efficient path in reaching the end of the campaign, but the diversionary side tracks seem worth it. In addition to earning additional research, it appears each mission you do unlocks new units - units you wouldn't otherwise have available to you, that may be of great use in other missions.

I've already seen this in action. The first time I tried to save the Haven colony, I failed the mission, and the mother ship hosed my base. So then I went and did the Horner train mission and got Diamondbacks. With Diamondbacks available to me, I completely owned the Haven mission on my second attempt. I was able to destroy the mothership before it even reached the third base, and I stopped the carrier attacks with my vikings on the other bases. The difference was the first time I was using the Viking as dual use - main aerial attack force and support for ground troops like marines and marauders. With my diamonbacks taking on most of the ground forces and my vikings only knocking out whatever air defenders the base had, it was much easier, and freed my vikings to use their abilities strictly as a mobile air-to-air attack force.

 

The Zeratul missions are definately obligatory, can't advance without them and when you are done with those you are actually not that far from the end.

 

Except that I only have choices currently of missions from Tychus and Horner. It appears that one of the main paths must necessarily run through one of them. When I finished the last Zeratul mission, I didn't get any new missions open up - my four choices after the last Zeratul mission were the same four I had before:

1. Decide whether to save or raze Haven.
2. Decide whether to help Tosh, or help the ghost (forget her name).
3. The Horner mission to get the pirate guy to decrypt Mengsk's robot thing you find on the train mission.
4. The Tychus mission to save the Moebius scientists being attacked by the Zerg.

I have since done all four in the order listed above. The first two ended paths, and the second two opened up new missions for Horner and Tychus - break into UNN and broadcast Mengsk's plans, or moving a base mission - respectively. Thus I concluded that either the Tychus or Horner pathways were the "main path" by process of elimination.

I know that some missions require you to complete "X" number of missions before they are available, but I've already completed 19 - which another poster said is the minimum you need to complete the game if you follow the main path. If 19 is the minimum necessary to complete the game, then certainly some of what I have done is unnecessary - and further that lack of completed missions is not why I have not seen any new paths. . Since Tosh, Hanson, and Zeratul all ended up as dead ends, if I had to guess, I'd say that the Tychus missions are the main path - even though I trust Tychus the least - because he's the one that keeps giving me artifact missions, and I keep running into Kerrigan on those missions.

 

Well, iirc the conclusion of the game is a direct follow up to what you saw in Zeratul's crystal but you have to do the broadcast mission at least first.

 

I'll find out soon enough I suppose. I'll do the broadcast mission tonight. I think that by far the best research points spent up to this point are vehicles that automatically heal. No more SCVs needed for repairs. While the regenerative ability won't save you in the thick of a fight, I notice that vehicles heal quite quickly, provided they survive the battle. I'm relying less and less on infantry and more and more on vehicles as a result. Although now that I have a Medivac as a unit, that may change. The medivac is simply incredible in its healing abilities, although you do have to be a bit careful as anti-air units target them. (The medics are better at staying out of harm's way.)

 

The science vessel acts a medivac for vehicles.

 

True, but the science vessel needs to be researched, just like the auto-repairing vehicles, and you can get your vehicles to auto-repair before you gain the ability to make science vessels. Furthermore, if you don't have auto-repair, SCVs can do the job just as well. IMO, it doesn't make sense to build a very expensive vehicle like a science vessel if the primary purpose is to repair your vehicles, because you lose the ability to make Ravens, a far more versatile unit, especially for countering enemy rushes (drop autoturrets, and the missle attack does splash damage - excellent for massed enemy troops). I must concede that I do not know offhand what technology I gave up in order to get the auto-repair ability, but in making that selection, science vessels became superfulous.

I actually ended up doing two missions last night. Horner made it sound like the mission was to steal the Odin and broadcast the mission - which is true, but he made it sound like it was during the same mission. So I actually did two missions last night.

I read on the battlenet forums that there is a building on the southeastern corner of that map, where when you blow it up, it opens a new mission. I did that too, so all I have now, besides the special mission is the one remaining Tychus mission (unless he gives me another new mission after completing that one), which I suppose brings me into the final missions of the game.

 

I've got bored of this after having it for a week. I completed the campaign pretty quickly, although it became a chore towards the end. The v AI mode is boring and repetitive. I haven't played online yet, although I probably won't as I'll just get dicked by saddo's who play it too much as I usually do when I go online with a game.

 

There is a ranking system that if you give it a chance will put you in among the right bunch of saddos.

 

Agree with joa. From Battlenet:

 

The practice league, incidentally, is a good place to learn bad habits. By which I mean, skip it. Maps have walls that prevent early rushing, and guess what you damn well need to learn how to deal with? Early rushing. So much for practice being helpful.

 

Stupid plot twists! Finished another two missions yesterday, and while I don't want to spoiler anything, I'm heading back to Char now. I know it's a game, and so the "willful suspension of disbelief" has to factor in, but that's a completely unrealistic storyline turn. There are a few missions left, but they got some serious 'splainin to do here. Raynor would have to be retarded to agree to this otherwise.

 

Wasnt too fond of Raynor's actions and attitudes in the last few missions or his decision to go to Char either.

 

OK, I guess I got three missions left. I didn't have much time to play last night, and I only completed one mission, and I was disappointed with it. Going around with a big hulking fleet of battle cruisers and nuking rift generators on sight is not a particularly interesting mission. There really wasn't much in the way of tactics involved. (I also am a little peeved that I made of point of releasing all four groups of prisoners, yet I didn't get the bonus acheivement for compleing all mission objectives - those were the only ones that came up - get the artifact, clear the rift generators, and release the prisoners.)

 

Well, played multiplayer today for a bit. I played 5 or 6 of the beginner games, then skipped it and started the 5 league games. I lost 3 and won 2, which placed me 58th in the bronze league apparently.

One of the wins was pure jam, this protoss was killing me, until I fired out about 6 banshees and sent them straight to his base, he didn't have any anti-air and all his stalkers just died at my base, so the banshees cleaned up house. I can't believe I won that, I was done for totally...

I think more losses than wins are on the cards though. I played one Zerg guy who was rushing me with zerglings before I had even built a barracks... this other guy killed me with 1 reaper and 1 SCV... some right dirty players out there!

 

Lots of cheese in the lower divisions but it is all possible to counter. A really early zergling rush can be beat with two marines and all your workers and then the zerg has 0 economy.