Part 2: Protoss missions strategy guide and general tips. In the second part of our guide to the StarCraft missions, Mark Asher looks at the Protoss campaign and offers some general tips and advice.
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The Protoss missions
1. First Strike
Goals: destroy the Zerg and keep Fenix alive.
Cross the river and head towards the Protoss base. You'll skirmish along the way, so keep your force together. Once at the base, build probes to gather resources. Protect your base with photon cannons and build an attack force. A mix of zealots and dragoons is all you need to sweep the map free of Zerg ╨ 5-10 of each will work.
2. Into The Flames
Goals: keep Fenix alive and destroy the Zerg Cerebrate.
Start in the NW corner. Protect the ramp to your base with photon cannons and expect to be attacked repeatedly. Start a second base in the SW corner of the map. Fenix will arrive in the NE corner after 15 minutes. The Zerg base and the Cerebrate occupy the entire SE quarter of the map.
The Cerebrate itself is in the SE corner. Build an attack force and hurry to the Cerebrate ╨ again, zealots and dragoons are what you need. Ignore the Zerg sunken colonies ╨ better to run past them in this case. You can use Fenix and his attack force for a combined assault, but keep Fenix alive. Again, protect your initial base, start a second base and protect that, and attack with a large forceonce Fenix arrives.
3. Higher Ground
Goal: destroy the Zerg.
Start in the SE corner. There are two Zerg bases, one along the middle-western edge and one in the NE corner. Build probes and gather resources, and use photon cannons for defense. You will be attacked repeatedly. Start a second base on the SW corner of the map, but escort your probe with troops to protect it from burrowed Zerg. Your second base will also be attacked so protect it well.
Now build up a strike force and take out the Zerg bases one at a time. Use the scouts for air power, and nibble away at sunken colonies to clear the way for your ground troops.
4. The Hunt For Tassadar
Goals: find Tassadar, and escort Tassadar and Jim Raynor to the beacon.
Start in the NE corner; Tassadar and Raynor are in the NW corner. Head NW and take the first right turn available. Then take the next left turn. Then take the next right turn and, after circling a bit, head NW down a corridor to find Tassadar. Use the templar's psionic storm to attack Zerg you find along the way.
Once you find Tassadar, immediately begin to build a base and protect it. You can build templars (and archons!) in this mission, so do so. The hallucinate option distracts attacking Zerg and can also be used to make phantoms of Raynor's vulture bike, which can then be used to scout the map.
The best way to know when to escort Tassadar and Raynor safely back to the beacon you started at is to build an attack force and see if you can work your way down there. Once you can, protect Tassadar and Raynor and move them to the beacon to end the mission.
5. Choosing Sides
Goal: move Tassadar and two zealots to the beacon in the SE corner.
Start in the NW corner. There are three Zerg islands, one in the center and one in each of the SW and SE corners. The beacon you need is in the SE corner.
While you attack the middle island, use a fleet of scouts to occupy the air defences so you can use shuttles to unload zealots and dragoons. Once the middle island is secure, start a new base there and build even larger armies to attack the SE island with the beacon. Additional resources can be found along the northern edge of this map.
6. Into The Darkness
Goal: rescue Zeratul and escort him to the beacon. Zeratul and Tassadar must survive.
A maze mission, and the toughest one yet. You'll find a variety of reinforcements throughout. Find beacons to unlock doors. Finally, be wary of burrowed Zerg ╨ especially infested Terrans, who can immediately kill Tassadar. Use Tassadar's hallucinate spell to create phantom zealots to scout the way ╨ never lead with Tassadar! His psionic storm spell can take out burrowed Zerg if you know where they are. Often you can move close to them, watch them unburrow, and move away immediately, causing them to burrow once more. Target that area with the psionic storm spell. Refer to the map for directions to get through this one.
7. Homeland
Goal: destroy the heart of the conclave and keep Zeratul, Tassadar, and Fenix alive.
Retreat your forces under fire to your base. Harvest and build, expanding due east to a second resource area (expect your base here to be attacked). There are three enemy Protoss bases, one along the eastern middle edge, one in the SW corner and one in the SE corner. The SE corner base has the conclave (nexus) you must destroy. Ignore the eastern base. Take out the SW corner base (use a large force of combined arms) and then stage the final assault from here. Move along the bottom edge of the map, from west to east, to destroy the forces protecting the conclave located right in the SE corner.
8. The Trail Of Tassadar
Goal: destroy the Stasis cell and keep Raynor and Fenix alive.
Start in the NW corner. The map is bisected diagonally by water, but you have enemy bases to the south and to the east on your side of the water. Protect your base with many photon cannons. You will need a strong attack force of scouts as well, as the enemy will use reavers to destroy your base defences from long range, so you'll need to engage them quickly. Use Raynor's battlecruiser to help, but be careful ╨ you can't repair it.
Take out the base to your south first, using several waves of scouts to soften it up. Take out the photon cannons (Raynor can help here). Now build an attack force and take out the base. The second base to your NE simply requires a normal, albeit heavy, attack.
Establish a small base near some crystals in the eastern edge of the map across the water. This area is lightly defended. The Stasis cell holding Tassadar is heavily defended in the SE corner. Simply mount an attack from your new eastern base and prepare to pay a heavy price.
9. Shadow Hunters
Goal: Zeratul must destroy the Zerg cerebrates, and Zeratul and Fenix must survive.
Start along the southern edge of the map. There are resources in both the SE and SW corners, so pick an area for your initial base. Build lots of photon cannons to defend the central bottleneck passage into the southern edge of the map. Establish your second base in the corner you didn't pick for your first base. While all this is going on, take Zeratul and carefully walk him around the map. He can take out a surprising number of Zerg defences and stray Zerg units. The cerebrates he needs to kill are located in the NW and NE central edges of the map. However, you will need to secure these areas before you can risk sending Zeratul there.
Beware Zerg defilers in this one. Use arbiters to cloak your units so the defilers cannot target them with their plague attack. To win, produce a large attack force and sweep the map clear from south to north. Use observers to find burrowed Zerg.
10. Eye Of The Storm
Goals: defeat the Overmind and keep Tassadar, Zeratul, and Raynor alive.
A spectacular final mission! Start with two bases, one Terran and one Protoss.
The key is securing enough secondary resource areas to build enough units to survive the ongoing Zerg onslaught.The Zerg defences are comprised of a large base containing the Overmind in the center of the map, surrounded by four smaller Zerg bases. Expect to take out two to three of these smallerbases before the final assault.
The Terrans start in the NW corner. To their south you will find more crystal ╨ unfortunately, a Zerg base is right next to the crystal. Soften up this Zerg base with air attacks, and then establish a couple of missile towers along the ridge overlooking their base. Support the towers with marines and then roll up a couple of seige tanks and put them in seige mode overlooking the Zerg crystals. They will destroy all the Zerg drones and several Zerg structures. Now take an attack force and roll down the ramp into the Zerg base to destroy it.
While all this Terran activity is in progress, you also have to keep your Protoss busy. After securing your initial Protoss base, take an attack force and a probe and move due west. You'll find some undefended crystal to harvest. Build a base here (expect to be attacked). After you have these additional two bases (one Terran and one Protoss), work on the remaining Zerg bases. Pinch the Zerg base to the north of your new Protoss base with Protoss attacks from the south and Terran attacks from the north. Once you eliminate this base, the mission is well in hand. Build large attack forces and attack the other satellite Zerg bases to the east of the Overmind. Establish mini-bases near new crystal deposits you gain control of, and drop in Gateways and Barracks and produce a stream of soldiers. The final assault simply requires a large force. The Overmind is difficult to kill, so expect to hammer on it for a bit.
General tips
Build quickly and have a plan. If you don't build quickly, you're dead. If you don't have a good plan, you waste time and you'll probably end up dead.
When rushed, don't be afraid to use your workers to attack the enemy. I build workers until I have eight,and then build a 'farm' (overlord, supply depot or pylon) that supports a greater population. Then I add a few more workers and then build a soldier-producing structure (gateway, barracks, spawning pool). Now I produce both workers and soldiers (zealots, marines, zerglings) at the same time. I want about 20 workers gathering crystal, and another four gathering vespene gas - that's at my first base.
Establish a second base quickly, otherwise you'll lose the resource war.
Take a worker and scout after you have produced 15-20 workers. Start building a second base and send a squad of soldiers over to protect it.
Scout your enemy early and adjust your building pattern based on what you see.
Every race has a long-range attacker (guardians, reavers, and siege tanks in siege mode), so understand how to deal with these units or else they will knock out your defensive structures from afar. Generally, air units are good for dealing with these. However,
a smart opponent will support his long-range attacker with anti-air support. Be
prepared to pay a price to take out these long-range units.
Combined arms tactics are essential to prosecuting a successful attack once the rush phase is over. Use ground forces to take out anti-air, and air units to take out ground forces.
The Zerg race
a) Playing as them
You can go for the quick win with a Zergling rush. Get about 20 and hot-key them to two groups, and then use the hot keys to move them rapidly. Keep hatching more Zerglings as the first wave attacks. You may need several waves to win. Like any rush tactic, this is usually an all or nothing gambit.
Build and upgrade hydralisks, mutalisks, and guardians. This is your basic attack force, and often all you need. Use the guardians to take out the anti-air defences. This will force the enemy to come at you. When they do, retreat your guardians and let your muties and hydras meet the flushed out enemy. For shock value, burrow your hydras and have them emerge in the midst of the enemy. Bring along an overlord or two to spot cloaked units and to spot for guardian targets.
The Zerg finesse units, the Queen and the Defiler, aren't really necessary to win. They can be quite helpful, of course. The Queen's broodling attack can be used to take out a biological-based unit like a dragoon. The Defiler's plague attack is nice for weakening powerful units like the battlecruiser. The ultralisk is a nice ╘terror' unit, but hydralisks in numbers are better.
Use Zerglings to explore the map and burrow in key spots to remain as scouts. Put them near neutral resources and surprise the enemy when it attempts to build that second base.
b) Playing against them
Playing against another Zerg opponent, build a Nydus Canal from your creep to his and instantly attack him. Use an overlord to transport a Defiler close to a Terran or Protoss base, and have the Defiler plague-attack the buildings. Terran buildings will be destroyed if not repaired promptly, and Protoss buildings will be permanently damaged to one hit point (doesn't affect their shields though).
The Terran race
a)Playing as them
The Terran forces are suited for defensive play and mobility. Two barracks filled with marines, backed by two seige tanks in seige mode and a couple of missle turrets are very effective at halting the enemy advance.
To rush, do so with marines. Research the stim-pak option. Jacked up marines are fearsome. Remember that the effect is temporary, so only stim them right before they encounter the enemy. No matter how you play, the upgraded marine is your best unit. Put seige tanks in seige mode near the enemy encampment, and shell the enemy structures. Protect them well with other troops. You need marines. You need a few goliaths for anti-air. You need a science vessel to detect cloaked units.
Put ghosts in bunkers. Their lock-down missles are excellent defensive weapons against Terrans and Protoss. Be sure to hot-key some ghosts for fast selection though.
Battlecruisers with yamato cannons are a good way to take out anti-air defensive structures. These must be protected by a combination of ground troops and wraiths, however. Adequately protected, their laser attack is quite powerful.
Cloaked wraiths en masse are extremely effective, but expensive. Don't let them be destroyed by nibbling at the enemy in small numbers. Remember that while a few wraiths are a nuisance, 12 wraiths can be a base-wrecker.
b)Playing against them
The science vessel's EMP missles will destroy Protoss shielding in the area the missle strikes. Very effective.
The vulture bike's spider mines are lethal. Seed secondary resource areas with these.
Build a secondary base in your initial base and then fly the second base to its ultimate location. Fly a barracks or factory to an opponent's island and quickly build soldiers or siege tanks to surprise him. You'll need to find an unwatched place to land though.
When attacked, use SCVs to repair missle towers and bunkers during the attack. Those extra few seconds the bunker or tower may stay alive might be the difference.
The protoss race
a)Playing as them
Protoss units are powerful but expensive. Zealots and dragoons are your basic ground troops. Photon cannons, while weak, are great in numbers as they attack both land and air targets. Build them close together so several will attack at once.
The scout is your basic air unit, and is more powerful than the Terran wraith or Zerg mutalisk. Scouts in numbers can wreak havoc.
Archons are very effective units, albeit quite expensive. If you can afford them, use them.
Reavers are great at destroying structures but are slow. Best to use shuttles to get them in place and pick them up and retreat when they are threatened.
Carriers are good for base defence, although a bit slow to use on the attack if you expect to have to retreat them back across the map.
The finesse units for the Protoss are the templars and arbiters. Templars with psionic storm can be effective if there's a bottleneck into your base. Build photon cannons to slow up ground attacks ,and use your templar to storm the attackers at the bottleneck. Arbiters are great for cloaking an attack force en route, but their own uncloaked presence tips your hand to the opponent. Use their stasis to freeze a battlecruiser while the battle rages, and then when the spell wears off you can concentrate on the battlecruiser.
b)Playing against them
Shuttle templars near enemy crystal deposits if there's a safe area for them to land. Use the templars to psionic storm and kill the enemy workers, and then load them back up again and retreat them. Use their hallucinate spell to copy a scout and get two free units to scout the map. To confuse the enemy, hallucinate copies of archons and carriers before you attack.
Put reavers on patrol right next to your outer photon cannons. They will then target any seige tanks that attempt to set up and attack your cannons. Don't do this if your opponent is the Zerg, however.
Use an arbiter's recall spell to quickly bring offensive units to the area. This is great for bringing in reavers quickly.
