Starcraft 2 #15, KEKEKEKE zerg rush!

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Op zondag 12 september 2010 21:05 schreef Omentuva het volgende:

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Welke cheese?

Dat was geloof ik een 8rax met nog een proxy rax in z'n expansion.

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Op maandag 13 september 2010 12:02 schreef WeirdMicky het volgende:
Die tech-keuzes vind ik wel vervelend. Heb vaak geen idee wat ik moet upgraden, want dat hangt veel af van de inhoud van de volgende missies.

Dit topic van het teamliquid forum vond ik wel handig:


Protoss Research

In general, stay away from gimmicks such as instant supply depots, and pick the upgrades that best suit your playstyle (although I highly recommend attack speed over more health). Reactored SCVs are amazing for cranking out an economy for timed missions / achievements and replacing your repairers. Automated refineries are the alternative; they are a strong choice as well if you want to spend less time on macro; they are also more efficient by about 100 minerals / gas, see 4th page for math. The science vessel is amazing in a few missions, I would pick it over the raven without a second thought. As far as the final tier, I would go tech reactors all the way as it gives the most flexibility; yeah you can always build more unit-producing structures, but gas can come at a premium in some missions, and there is no real advantage of the drop pods outside of possibly for a Normal speedrun.

One note about all research - the missions launched from the Laboratory reward a huge amount of both protoss and zerg research. Unlike myself, you will want to do this chain immediately after you unlock it, particularly since you do not need any upgrades or unit unlocks to complete it.


Zerg Research

Do NOT make the mistake I made picking the automated turret. You will not be building bunkers for the (puny) turret, you will be building them to hold a location. Definitely go with PF for the same logic. I picked the Predator but never found a use for him, picked the Hercules on my speedrun and got some good mileage out of him on the Moebius mission (be warned, requires Fusion Core). Mech regen and specialist energy are both good choices, although l would say specialist energy wins out if you opt for nydus worms in All-In. Hive mind emulator is eclipsed by psi disruptor if you want to play the last mission legit (if you prefer MC broodlord cheese, link here)


Armory Upgrades

I will be ranking these on a 1 to 10 scale. My advice is to have enough saved at any one point to be able to pick up at least one extra upgrade for any specific mission / achievement. Read along with the list, found here: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Campaign/Armory - don't really have time to make this all nicely organized.


Base

Bunker: I would upgrade the range ASAP, then pick up the extra capacity midway through the campaign (or skip altogether, see further). Defensive missions and achievements are not very common, but tend to be the most difficult challenges on Brutal. Rating: 9 and 9, less if you choose to fight air on All-In.

Missile Turret: Skip unless you are fighting air on All-In, in which case both upgrades are mandatory. You should not need to build any until then.

SCV: I would forgo the faster build time upgrade for the first half of the game, and leave yourself enough cash to be able to pick it up if you need it later. 2x repair is EXTREMELY important for certain missions, and is nice in general if you plan to be running around with mech units. As you don't actually have too many mech units until the mid to late game, you can hold off spending the 80k on this until you need it. Rating: 3 and 9.

Command Center For auto-repair, follow the same logic as stated above for the first SCV upgrade; it can possibly help but not as much as other upgrades, particularly when credits are tight. Orbital command, you would be nuts not to buy immediately; MULEs are still as amazing as always, particularly for timed missions. Rating: 5 and 10.


Infantry

Marine: Stimpacks you will want immediately, they are too good to pass up, especially with medics being in the game. Combat shields should follow soon after; you will use these buggers all game. Rating: 10 and 8.

Medic: The first upgrade is only for dedicated mm massers, which isn't really a great or very fun strategy on brutal, plus it is extraneous with tech reactors. I wound up picking it for my speedrun; it does make macro easier as you can reactor 2-3 rax and have a tech-labbed one for specialists. The increased heal ability is an amazing upgrade and should be purchased first on any difficulty level. Rating: 5 and 9.

Firebat: I am undecided about these guys. Being a multiplayer vet, I was immediately drawn to hellions to fill the purpose of area splash vs light units. That said, firebats backed by upgraded medics absolutely dominate everything that is not a roach or ultralisk. Pick and upgrade the one you like, and forget about the other. If you pick firebats, you will want them up-front, consequently upgrade armor first. Rating: special.

Marauder: These guys are your ticket to taking down anything that your firebats can't deal with if you are running a bio army. Without stimpacks, though, they are nowhere near as dominating of a force as in multiplayer. I would only take their upgrades if you are absolutely dedicated to your bio army, otherwise I am pretty sure that the mercs come with the slow upgrade, and you can bring them with your bioball if this is your primary concern. Upgrading their health is an expensive waste as they will never become as durable as upgraded firebats. Rating: 4 and 1

Reaper: Just like multiplayer, these guys have a small niche role to play, then they get benched for the remainder of the game. I have toyed with the idea of using them to supplement bunker defenses, but marines, firebats and the odd marauder already do an outstanding job at this. The upgrades themselves are interesting and I may play around with them a bit more on a Hurry Up! It's Raid Night playthrough, but there's just enough for them to do in Brutal.

A few people have pointed out that, as the final boss' armor type is light, reapers do extremely good damage to it. This may be something to pursue if you are playing on normal, but I would still pass on this option for brutal. Rating: 0 and 0.


Vehicles

Hellion: See Firebat above. I will add that I opted for hellions and just kept them behind my bunkers, although I suspect that I would have better off with firebats and neosteel bunkers to begin with. Rating: special

Vulture: They're good in their feature mission, for the simple reason that the mission is not that micro-intensive. You will in all likelihood never use them after the mission. Rating: 0 and 0.

Goliath: Same as above, unfortunately. Upgraded vikings honestly tear these guys a new one for AtA, and I strongly encourage that your factory production to steer towards siege tanks for GtG action. That said, you may find them useful for the air version of All-In. Rating: you will want both if you find a use for them

Diamondback: Are you kiddin' me? This unit is ridiculous, in PRICE. More expensive than a siege tank with a fraction of the versatility. Think of this unit as a very mobile marauder without the slow. Really needs an air attack, special ability, or some use vs zerg to be worth producing, let alone upgrading. Rating: 0 and 0.

Siege Tank: This unit is everything the Diamondback isn't, and everything that you would have been craving to fill a gaping hole in your arsenal. I do not exaggerate that this unit is just about as critical as an SCV for your well-being in the campaign, particularly on Brutal. Grab the damage booster immediately, and absolutely get the shaped rounds before the final chapter if you plan on doing the ground version of All-In; this alone could probably have saved me 40 reloads. Rating: 10 and 9


Starships

Medivac: Great unit for bioball comps, although a bit late as far as availability and expensive in terms of gas. The simple fact is that you will not be bio-ballin much after this mission. You can grab the 2x healing upgrade if you want, however I recommend leaving enough credits in the bank to be able to buy it if you decide that you absolutely need it for a mission / achievement. Rating: 0 and 5.

Wraith: Is it just me or are these things made of paper? Even vikings feel more durable, but they both have the same armor and hit points! I think it's because they are a "specialist" and as such, get insta-gibbed by AI priority targeting. Anyway, I really can't for the life of me figure out why I would ever want to use them instead of vikings, particularly with the excellent upgrades available for the latter. There is just not enough for them to do, and your opponents certainly don't lack for detection on Brutal.

Addendum - I am genuinely surprised at the number of posts praising the wraith. Did you play casual? Do you not understand 150 gas vs 75 gas, medium vs long range, single target vs splash damage? And NO, you will NOT be building them on the ground version of Brutal All-In to escort your banshees, don't be retarded. Rating: 0 and 0, a unit so bad that it actually sucks on its feature mission!

Viking: The prime definition of AtA; their missiles own everything at a huge range. Even so, there are not a lot of huge air fights in the campaign, and you will usually be fine with just the mercenaries + your marines. Definitely take the range upgrade immediately, but hold off on the AoE one until you decide that you absolutely need it (same deal as missile turrets and goliaths). Rating: 5 and 10.

Banshee: This unit is a veritable demigod in the campaign once you get both its upgrades. It is particularly useful for the ground version of All-In. I would grab the shockwave battery immediately, and pick up the cloaking upgrade for the last mission. Rating: 6 and 8.

Cattlebruiser: Like (I'm sure...) most people, I had a nerdgasm once I unlocked this unit and immediately bought both upgrades (going broke in the process). That was before I came to the realization that I was in fact not going to be rolling over everything with mass BCs for the rest of the campaign. Simply put, they are too slow, too expensive, and do not do damage quickly enough without extensive air upgrades. Also, they are a huge waste in the last mission as

That said, they do have some uses, and the defensive matrix can keep a focused one alive in time for your science vessels / scvs to repair. The missile pods are a waste, though, as the unit itself already does exceptionally well vs small targets; Yamato is a much better energy dump. Rating: 2 and 6.


Dominion


Thor: I do not recommend researching either of its upgrades, although you will definitely be using this unit in the last mission. Spoilers below:

The immortality upgrade can be useful as a dead Thor leaves an attackable object behind which can further distract fire, however as pertaining to the final mission:

Ghost: Once you unlock this unit, you may be tempted to upgrade it. I did, then I wound up never building it for anything; it's just not the same ghost without EMP, and snipe is way too micro-intensive to be useful for the situations where you could argue making ghosts. One exception - possibly stick one in an upgraded bunker; huge range and good damage if you have excess credits to spend on the sight upgrade. Rating: 3 and 0.

Spectre: This is actually an interesting unit that I "overlooked" in my play-through. Psionic Lash is roughly 6 times stronger than snipe on a per-click basis; a few spectres with perma-cloak and the specialist energy research could be an interesting micro diversion for those that feel that they have too much APM for their own good. Rating: special.


Mercenaries

Adding a quick paragraph on this as there have been many questions. On all difficulties, I would avoid the marauder, goliath and battlecruiser; the first 2 units don't have a large role to play, and the BC is just too expensive, both as a merc and ingame. The firebats are discretionary; I am liking them on my 2nd run through as they have strong bonuses (much more so than the marauders) and complement my bio ball nicely. The siege tanks are the single best anti-ground unit in the game, period. The vikings - same for anti-air. The banshees are just cool, but only get them if you are planning on doing All-In with Nydus (same argument could be made for goliaths for the air version).