Playing through the Single Player Missions

[Generic_Amateur]

I've been playing SC for nearly one year. Problem: There's a two-year gap between Day 358 and Day 359 (read: I've stopped playing SC for about two years).

Mind you, I was still a n00b when I dropped SC in favour of my studies. Anyway, to get back into the flow of the game, I followed my friend's suggestion to play through the original and then the expansion single player missions . . .

Right now, I'm kinda stuck on (original SC) Terran mission No.10 : The Hammer Falls. I suppose it would be easier if I'd not insisted on only using the following for both offense and defense:
SCVs
Marines
Vultures
Goliaths
Siege Tanks
Missile Turrets
No bunkers.
And beating the mission in under an hour, completely destroy all enemy units and structures.

But my metal rushes kept getting jammed by my lack of skill =/. So, besides further improving my basic gameplay, is there anything that I should bear in mind? Hints? Tips? TvT strategies (I've no TvT experience to speak of)? Much appreciated.

[MidnightGladius]

God, campaign missions...

Been so long since I played through those, but I can tell you this. Simply mass 3/3 wraiths with cloak and systematically hunt down their units one by one. Once they're all dead, drop in masses of tank/goli and raze the empty base.

Dance your wraiths around missile turret fire and you'll be fine.

[Aqo]

What I did in that stage was simply massing wraiths, and believe me, it works like a charm (finished the level in 10 minutes).
Just build up one or two stargates and keep building wraiths till you have 24 of them, hotkey them into two groups (Ctrl+number) and send them all around the map on the upper edge to the Ion cannon, than just order them to attack it (while cloaked... make sure to research cloaking first).
The silly comp will send some science vessels, but your wraiths will pwn them and than he won't have detectors to see you.
Till he gets more vessels and starts building turrets all over around the cannon, the mission is already done.

[MidnightGladius]

Er...one or two? Someone clearly doesn't know how to macro... I personally used a total of 6ports in that level.

[Generic_Amateur]

I. Did. It.

Units used: Marines, Vulture w/ Spider Mines, Tanks w/Siege, Goliaths.

And dropships for the Ion Cannon.

Hmm, I've never tried mass 3/3 Wraiths before. o_o; Should really make a difference to the casualty rate. <_<;;; The computer simply didn't produce units half as quickly as I did - though I really should've proxied some factories. Time elapsed: 1:00:02 T_T (for moping up the last few Missile Turrets).

Geez, I'll miss them Spider Mines. ;__; *moves on to Zerg campaign* I have zilch Zerg experience. Barring "keep producing units/Ovies", is there anything I need to bare in mind when using the Zerg? (as in, marked differences between Zerg strategies and Terran/Protoss strategies?)

All I know is their unit production rate is much higher (three hives = 18 zergling o_O), and that . . . er . . . they have no ComSat/Spider Mines/Siege Tanks. T_T

[Basan]

Geez, I'll miss them Spider Mines. ;__; *moves on to Zerg campaign* I have zilch Zerg experience. Barring "keep producing units/Ovies", is there anything I need to bare in mind when using the Zerg? (as in, marked differences between Zerg strategies and Terran/Protoss strategies?)

All I know is their unit production rate is much higher (three hives = 18 zergling o_O), and that . . . er . . . they have no ComSat/Spider Mines/Siege Tanks. T_T

Altough I don't play with Zerg that much, they're more focused in massing (units) 'cause they're usually cheaper than it's other races counter parts. Hydras are Hell in numbers when matched to 'Goons, for instance. As for Marines... Well, they put up a damn good fight, especially if you don't upgrade the Hydras skills.
*Counterparts comparison*
Ovies for the Zerg are the ComSat's counterpart but they only have one damn problem... they're f**kin' too slow, so as soon ya can upgrade their speed at the Lair/Hive. And since you need'em to keep producing units (control purposes), you'll almost always have a detector around to assist your units.

For Spidey Mines, just try to place a few burrowed units (Hydras + 'Lings groups hotkeyed and using U key to snap'em out of ground fast) for ambushing purposes, especially at passing way points of maps. Remind yourself that burrowing won't be as effective as the campaign proceeds to nearly damn inneffecient against Human players. :)

As to match up for Tanks ya have Guardians, but they're only available later in the campaign. Eh, since Zerg are supposed to mass you'll take most enemy units down by sheer numbers. To counter Tanks in Siege if they're alone, simply drop some 'Lings / Hydras from upgraded Overlords (read Ventral Sacs at Lair/hive). I did it, in one of it's earlier missions.

Now for the cake topping... I've realized that Larvae production (aka Zerg's basic any unit building block) is higher when it no longer is a Hatchery. For sums, Larvaes pop up faster if the building is upgraded from Hatches' to Lairs or even to Hives (from Lairs). ;)
Side note: Against Human players it's not always good to spend the upgrading money on morphing Hatcheries into Lairs...

[MidnightGladius]

48 hydra doom drop against toss can do wonders. I've overrun 2 successive toss mains (2v2) with my same drop force...fun!

[TomTheSaint]

Don't forget that you can burrow a few lurkers outside the enemy's base to piss them off ( works nicely against protoss but less so against terran w/comsat. From what I've seen (not much, newbie here) zerg have the worst transport/detectors ( SO SLOW) but are guarenteed to have them throughout the game, so it's a trade-off. They're also cheap and expendable, which is nice. Because of that, it's hard to use any strategy involving cloaking or stealth against them ( read: Nukes).

In advanced games I usually see zerg players zergling rush, then move to hydralisks and mutalisk air fleets. They then drop/run the 'lisks into the enemy base and wreak havok.

[Modred]

Heh, you and your obsession with speed. I always put around six tanks in siege mode on the ridge outside of white's base, nuked red's supply and then rolled through they're bases with a mixture of tanks, goliaths, marines and science vessels. It took a bit longer (1:15 is my best with that strategy), but it sure was fun. It was like being in a playground.

And if you just like overkill, you could mass BCs. That's what the guide recommends, but let's face it, the guide isn't always very smart.

And of course, the advantage to destroying their bases is they use all their units to defend the bases and taking out the Ion Cannon is really just an afterthought.

[Aqo]

Er...one or two? Someone clearly doesn't know how to macro... I personally used a total of 6ports in that level.
I played the campaign three years ago, before I entered bnet for the first time.
Besides, it worked just fine against the poor comps.

[Basan]

Don't forget that you can burrow a few lurkers outside the enemy's base to piss them off ( works nicely against protoss but less so against terran w/comsat.

*Cough*SC campaigns*Cough* :rolleyes:

/me adresses to almost everyone else *
And it seems that we got a 'tad' sidetracked here... wasn't he/she (thread author) speakin' of Zerg campaign missions, or is it just me? :devil:

[Zeratul106]

i use at least 100 hydrs split them on secton remeber zerg makes back up and nostop attacking enemy fo adantage

[CreepColony]

Basan, I dunno where this thread has gone to buddy. lol

It seems the author beat his mission he created the thread for, and now its off to discussion of all Zerg types until he comes back with something else. :)

[Ecthelion]

Yep, it's a runaway thread. I'll wait untill it gets back on topic. Or ends. Either way is just as good.

[Modred]

And it seems that we got a 'tad' sidetracked here... wasn't he/she (thread author) speakin' of Zerg campaign missions, or is it just me?

Nope, Terran 10. It's purely TvT. I have no idea where anyone started talking Zerg...my last post was on topic...

Bah, nevermind. He moved on to Zerg. I really should read more carefully.

[ares232]

Just build a few nukes and nuke the cannon's platform and clear the base next to yours. The left base (Red player) is easier to destroy and if you nuke the platform it shouldn't take long. Just remember to send units to bunkers build science vessels and tanks, and to create a ton of SCVs to harvest enough minerals and gas!

[ReD_ICE]

no comments on campaign missions..touched those once, and i withdrew....NO thanks.