Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

**Artanis** · 2011-01-21, 10:43 AM (ISO 8601)

So it's been a while since I tried my hand at doing an LP, but I've finally found a game that inspired me to give it another go: StarCraft 2. As an unabashed Blizzard fan, I've been playing waaay too much SC2 lately, and I figure I might as well do something constructive with it

.

For those of you who might somehow be unfamiliar with SC2, it's the successor to StarCraft, which is arguably the single greatest video game ever. SC2, like its predecessor, is an RTS that focuses on three races - the Terrans, the Protoss, and the Zerg - who spend most of their time kicking the crap out of one another. The singleplayer campaign (which is what I'll be playing) particularly focuses on Jim Raynor and his rebels, who are trying to overthrow the Terran dictator Arcturus Mengsk.

In the singleplayer campaign, each mission awards me with credits and (usually) unlocks research and new units. Credits can be spent on upgrading my troops with a variety of things and hiring mercenaries. Research unlocks global upgrades, further new units, and stuff like that. You, the audience, will get to vote on what I spend my credits on and what I research, as well as what order to do the missions.

Now, with that out of the way, Let's Play StarCraft 2!

List of Updates:

The Cast:

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JAMES RAYNOR
"It's time to kick this revolution into overdrive!"

The leader of the rebel group Raynor's Raiders, Jim is trying to overthrow the Dominion's leader, Arcturus Mengsk, preferably killing him in the process. Although he's been drinking heavily, Raynor has still managed to get things going again, culminating in an assault on Korhal itself that exposed Mengsk as the psychotic dictator he is. Raynor is conflicted about Kerrigan, and nobody knows what will happen should the two meet, especially after the revelations from Zeratul's Ihan Crystal.

TYCHUS FINDLAY
"Fear and violence always did bring out the best in me."

Tychus is an old friend of Raynor's who showed up after the liberation of Backwater Station. He was recently released from prison as part of a deal with Emperor Arcturus Mengsk: he would join up with Raynor under the guise of working for the Moebius Foundation research group, allowing him to get close enough to Kerrigan to kill her. Once the job was done, he would go free. In the end though, Raynor was forced to kill Tychus to keep him from carrying out Mengsk's plan.

MATT HORNER
"Vengeance doesn't factor into this. Our revolution is about freedom."

Horner is Raynor's second in command and the Captain of Raynor's flagship, the Hyperion. An idealist, Horner brings his experience and tactical skill to bear against the Dominion in the hopes of building a better future, and was instrumental in the assault on Korhal that brought Mengsk's crimes to light.

RORY SWANN
"Jimmy, you need stuff fixed, I'm your guy."

Swann is the head engineer aboard the Hyperion, in charge both of keeping the ship running and of keeping the Raiders' equipment working and up-to-date.

DR. ARIEL HANSON
"Your medical facilities are medieval and your scientific expertise is non-existent. Perhaps I can start there?"

Ariel is the leader of the colonists from Agria. She joined the crew of the Hyperion after Raynor's Raiders saved her people from the Zerg. During her time with the Raiders, Ariel's medical and scientific expertise proved to be an invaluable asset. After the battle on Haven, Ariel left the Raiders to rejoin her people in their new home.

EGON STETMANN
"Back off, man, I'm a scientist!"

Stetmann is the lead scientist aboard the Hyperion. While most likely the worst fighter on the entire ship, he makes valuable contributions with his research, helping to improve the Raiders' weapons and tactics.

GABRIEL TOSH
"I'll kill Mengsk...and then I'll burn his Dominion to the ground."

Tosh is a "businessman" who joined up with the Raiders after the mission to Redstone III. A rogue Ghost, Tosh is nearly as high on Mengsk's "to kill" list as Raynor, which much of the crew sees as a plus for him. Tosh has recently brought aboard the services of his fellow Spectres, powerful covert operatives who are a match for Dominion Ghosts.

KERRIGAN, THE QUEEN OF BLADES
"You will not die here. Infestation is what awaits."

Once a human Ghost, Sarah Kerrigan was captured and infested by the Zerg during the Fall of Tarsonis. Now known as the Queen of Blades, Kerrigan would go on to lead the Zerg after the death of the Overmind and would ultimately win the Brood War. Now, Kerrigan has returned, and is seeking the same artifacts that Raynor and company are, fearing both their power and that of their Xel'Naga creators. Further complicating things, the prophecy in Zeratul's Ihan Crystal seems to indicate that, despite her crimes, she cannot be killed lest the universe be destroyed.

At the end of the final battle, Kerrigan would be apparently de-infested by the Xel'Naga artifact, and (literally) carried off into the sunset by a victorious - and redeemed - Raynor.

ZERATUL
"I will erase the demons of the past."

Zeratul is a well-known and respected Dark Templar who went into seclusion after being manipulated and betrayed by Kerrigan during the Brood War. He recently sought out an ancient prophecy, leading him to approach Raynor aboard the Hyperion and give him an Ihan Memory Crystal with a vision of the destruction of the universe should Kerrigan be killed.

VALERIAN MENGSK
"I will show the people that I will be a better ruler - and a better man - than my father."

Valerian Mengsk is the son of Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, making him the crown prince of the Terran Dominion. Valerian has formed an alliance with Raynor's Raiders with the intention of using the artifacts to defeat Kerrigan, and in doing so prove his worth as a future ruler.

GENERAL HORACE WARFIELD
"I've led five separate invasions of Char. I held the line while you and your friends hid."

Horace Warfield is a legendary Dominion commander who came out of retirement to lead the fight against the new Zerg invasion. He was badly wounded during the initial invasion of Char, leading to him losing his right arm and handing overall command over to Raynor.

**arguskos** · 2011-01-21, 10:55 AM (ISO 8601)

Several thoughts:
1. If you've been playing a lot, you should join the SC2 GitP sessions.

Check out the SC2 GitP and the just normal SC2 discussion thread for details.

2. The Glyphstone did a quite excellent LP of SC2 fairly recently. I don't have the link on hand, but it's quite good. Might want to check that out for inspiration.

3. I'm looking forward to another SC2 LP.

**Artanis** · 2011-01-21, 10:58 AM (ISO 8601)

I read Glyphstone's LP, and it was indeed really good. I didn't catch it until after it ended, so I couldn't participate in it, but reading it was still really entertaining.

And I'll check out the SC2 thread

**The Glyphstone** · 2011-01-21, 03:25 PM (ISO 8601)

I'll be following this for certain, if only to see the contrast - by Raynor's character bio at least, it looks like you'll be sticking a bit closer to the game's actual plot than I did.

**Artanis** · 2011-01-21, 05:15 PM (ISO 8601)

MISSION 1: LIBERATION DAY

Briefing:

Spoiler

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Jim Raynor was drunk. That seemed to happen a lot in those days. But he had called me in to help him "kick this revolution into overdrive", so there I was, standing in JoeyRay's bar on Mar Sara wondering what had possessed Raynor to shoot at the TV. Well, other than the booze and his undying hatred for Emperor Mengsk. I managed to wrestle the whiskey bottle - and a bourbon bottle and a second whiskey bottle - away from Raynor and ordered him some coffee. When he had sobered up enough to be coherent (if barely), we opened up the comm case and asked the Adjutant if there was any Dominion property worth attacking. Surprisingly, there was.

The Dominion had a supply dump in the aptly-named Backwater Station not far from JoeyRay's which, for some reason, was now under-defended. Mar Sara wasn't exactly the most loyal planet in the Dominion, and the biggest thing keeping the planet from going into open revolt was the fact that the locals would be butchered real quick if they picked a fight with the Dominion. Giving them a giant pile of guns and ammo, however, would fix that problem, and all we had to do was "liberate" it for them.

The Mission:

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Jim Raynor was the undisputed leader of Raynor's Raiders, of course, but he rarely took control over every aspect of a mission. He was usually too busy shooting bad guys to worry about such mundane things as worry about which mineral patches the SCVs were working on. That was what me and Matt Horner were for: Matt controlled orbital operations, I controlled ground operations, and Raynor fought on the line while being in overall command. That - and Raynor's horrible hangover - was what made it a surprise when I was told I wouldn't be needed: Raynor would be taking in a small team himself. I was put in charge of calling down his reserves when he asked for them, but would otherwise be watching on sat-feed.

Raynor was still complaining about his splitting headache when his dropship unloaded him and five Marines near Backwater Station.

It didn't take long for it to become apparent that things were very, very wrong. Burning ruins, trashed cars, the works. And then we got a hint as to why when Raynor's squad ran into two Dominion Marines holed up behind some sandbags.

The Dominion troops fought despite the three-on-one odds, and died almost instantly. Nobody ever accused the Marines of hiring geniuses, after all. It wasn't until Raynor reached the town's main square that resistance really showed up, with a squad of Dominion Marines manning sandbags as a trio of Vikings flew over (and kept on going, luckily). With an actual enemy force to fight, Raynor requested his reinforcements, and I was happy to oblige, dropping them right in the midst of the enemy where they could cause the most havok.

The resulting ass-kicking left Raynor with a sizable squad and a town square full of Dominion corpses.

Next stop: the supply dump. It was there that we found out where all the civilians had gone: they were being loaded into an APC for transport out to some sort of dig site. When a civilian tried to run, the Dominion guards gunned him down...and Raynor and company attacked, cutting down the guards and destroying the APC.

With the guards down and a legitimate force to spearhead an assault, the civilians armed themselves with Molotov cocktails and started attacking the Dominion troops and property. Just where a bunch of captives found a seemingly-infinite supply of Molotov cocktails I'll never know, but hey, whatever works. In less than a minute, most of the base's defenders were dead, and even the Vikings that showed up couldn't halt the attack when they landed to form the supply dump's last line of defense.

And with that, Backwater Station was liberated and revolt began to spread across Mar Sara, powered by the weapons that we had dug out of the wrecked Dominion depot. Raynor gave a really rather inspirational speech about not letting the Dominion control you. Or something. I was too busy calling up dropships for extraction to listen to it.

Aftermath:

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It didn't take long for Raynor to find his way back to JoeyRay's after the battle. I was busy quizzing the Adjutant for targets when a Marine in blue armor stepped through the door and started talking to Raynor.

Turns out the "Marine" was Tychus Findlay, an old buddy of Raynor's, and he had a proposition for us: the Dominion was digging up an artifact nearby...an artifact that could be worth an awful lot of money to the right buyer. And Tychus just so happened to know such a buyer.

Comments? Complaints? Suggestions?

I'm not sure I'm happy with the way the pictures turned out, what with differing sizes and all. Do you guys think it'd be better just to not chop them down, or to only chop out the interface on the bottom, or do you think this way is alright?

**The Glyphstone** · 2011-01-21, 05:50 PM (ISO 8601)

You're keeping the focus on the action, which is good. When I clipped my screens, I used a specific set of 'benchmark points' to crop the images, with the edges of the interface as my guides. It helped a lot to standardize image size, which might be useful when you start having larger battles.

**Inhuman Bot** · 2011-01-21, 05:51 PM (ISO 8601)

What difficulty are you playing on?

**ThePhantom** · 2011-01-21, 06:35 PM (ISO 8601)

Excellent. I will be watching this. Just one thing, for the action, please do not use extra big sceneshots.

**Artanis** · 2011-01-21, 08:40 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

You're keeping the focus on the action, which is good. When I clipped my screens, I used a specific set of 'benchmark points' to crop the images, with the edges of the interface as my guides. It helped a lot to standardize image size, which might be useful when you start having larger battles.

Thank you. I'll give it a try

Originally Posted by Anatharon

What difficulty are you playing on?

Mostly Normal, but I'll be playing a few missions on Hard when the added depth is really needed (Zero Hour is a good example).

Originally Posted by ThePhantom

Excellent. I will be watching this. Just one thing, for the action, please do not use extra big sceneshots.

I'll be trying Glyphstone's suggestion in the hopes of making the screenshots more consistent.

**The Glyphstone** · 2011-01-21, 09:15 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Artanis

Thank you. I'll give it a try

Mostly Normal, but I'll be playing a few missions on Hard when the added depth is really needed (Zero Hour is a good example).

I'll be trying Glyphstone's suggestion in the hopes of making the screenshots more consistent.

Cool. Here's a completely not-at-all-humble example of what I mean:

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From one of the earliest missions where I standardized shots - my 'anchor points were the corner of the Minimap you can see, up to just above the 'Main Objectives' header, then right to just barely encompass the blue icon with the human outline that I don't know the purpose of.

You don't have to use the same anchors I did, but picking things that never change, like points on the interface, goes a long way towards that reliability.

**arguskos** · 2011-01-21, 09:23 PM (ISO 8601)

Uh, Glyph, if by "blue icon with the human outline" you mean the supply counter, I think you need to play the tutorial again.

If not... then what do you mean?

**The Glyphstone** · 2011-01-21, 09:30 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by arguskos

Uh, Glyph, if by "blue icon with the human outline" you mean the supply counter, I think you need to play the tutorial again.

If not... then what do you mean?

I mean the thing in the lower right hand corner. It's a head-and-torso outline, and has the number 0 next to it.

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Right above the Attack button in the block.

**Flying Elephant** · 2011-01-21, 09:35 PM (ISO 8601)

That icon is how many friends you have online, I think.

**Douglas** · 2011-01-21, 09:38 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

I mean the thing in the lower right hand corner. It's a head-and-torso outline, and has the number 0 next to it.

Spoiler

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Right above the Attack button in the block.

Oh, that. The number 0 is the number of your "friends" that are currently online. If you click on it, it brings up the full list of them that you can use to get some status information about what they're doing, send messages to them, and other such things.

**The Glyphstone** · 2011-01-21, 09:49 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by douglas

Oh, that. The number 0 is the number of your "friends" that are currently online. If you click on it, it brings up the full list of them that you can use to get some status information about what they're doing, send messages to them, and other such things.

Aaaaah. I have no friends

and have only played offline or vs. the AI, so that'd explain why it does nothing for me.

Now, back to the LP.

**Artanis** · 2011-01-22, 07:05 PM (ISO 8601)

MISSION 2: THE OUTLAWS

Briefing:

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Tychus and Raynor spent a while getting (more) drunk and talking about old times, back when they were outlaws together. Back before Tychus went to prison and Raynor went legit as a Marshal on Mar Sara. Old times, however, were not the only reason that Tychus had shown up: one of the artifacts he had mentioned was on Mar Sara, and the Dominion was busily digging it up.

The Adjutant's info explained why Backwater Station had been underdefended and nearly devoid of civilians: said civvies were being taken to the dig site, which the Dominion had fortified with infantry, vehicles, and even a bunker. We were going to need more firepower than just Raynor and a squad of Marines could provide if we wanted that artifact. No, we were going to need some real firepower, which meant a full-blown ground op. And a full-blown ground op meant that for the first time in weeks, we were going to need me.

The Mission:

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Our base was in a good location, one with lots of minerals and a vespene geyser, but remote enough that the Dominion appeared to have overlooked it. Probably too busy focusing on the dig site. We had a further advantage in that, with the appropriate infrastructure, we would be able to train Medics alongside the Marines that would be making up the bulk of our forces, adding tens of seconds to my troops' life expectancy. The Raiders and I landed with a bunch of SCVs, a half-dozen Marines, and a Barracks, albeit one without the Tech Lab that Medics required.

I sent the Marines out scouting as I trained up reinforcements and more SCVs. The scouting squad found a treasure trove of abandoned mineral pallets and vespene tanks across the road from the base, plus even more free minerals further along near an abandoned mine.

Just as the Barracks added a brand-new Tech Lab and finished equipping a pair of Medics, we found out why the Dominion was taking so little interest in our base. Apparently, some local rebels - armed with weapons we had so recently "liberated" for them - had been raiding the Dominion's attempts to get through to us. Dominion forces had given up on getting through for the time being, and were focusing on taking down the rebels.

Tychus argued that we should let the Rebels be and distract the Dominion, while Raynor argued that it was our responsibility to help them. It was one of those decisions that a Commander loves: a no-brainer that combines the right thing with the smart thing. Not only were the Rebels along the path we had to take anyways, they also had the high ground, a Barracks, troops, and spare resources. I immediately ordered my forces to relieve the Rebels while lifting off a Barracks of my own to go set up in the Rebels' fort.

I now had a highly-defensible forward base, a sizable standing force, and a constant stream of reinforcements being trained and armed. It was time to launch my assault on the dig site.

The attack seemed to take the Dominion by surprise, as they were only able to scramble a pair of Hellions when the sentry Marines were gunned down. As deadly as the Hellions' flamethrowers could be against infantry, I simply had too many troops to stop and too many Medics for the Hellions to inflict any permanent damage.

The Bunker put up more of a fight, with the four Marines inside managing to kill one of my own before falling to the hail of Gauss Rifle fire. The now-unprotected inhabitants tried to keep fighting, only to be killed almost instantly.

With that, the dig site had almost nothing left that could offer any real resistance. A few Dominion soldiers came out piecemeal, only to be cut down as my troops rampaged through the area, blasting everything in their path as Tychus bragged about his "skills".

With the dig site secured, the Adjutant hacked the crane controls and brought up the artifact. It was a strange-looking thing, bluish-black with neon blue markings. Just what the hell it did, I didn't know, but the money from Tychus's buyer would go a long ways towards helping our rebellion.

Aftermath:

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Back in JoeyRay's bar, Raynor and Tychus did their best to drink the place dry while trading questions. Tychus was interested in the Zerg, particularly the annual Zerg Hunts here on Mar Sara, only to be told that the Zerg were not something you wanted to fight in a full-blown battle. In turn, Tychus revealed to Raynor who his mysterious buyer was: the Moebius Foundation, a legitimate research group that normally wouldn't touch somebody like Tychus with a ten-foot pole. But hey, we needed cash, so we weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

For my part, I counted our newly-earned cash and watched UNN talk about how Raynor and his "terrorists" had attacked an archaeological site while inciting open rebellion on Mar Sara. Donny Vermillion's anti-Raynor rant made me kick myself over not realizing why Raynor had shot the TV not too long ago. I tuned out the noise and finished counting our cash: 45,000 credits wasn't much, but it was something.

Well, we now have some money. Nothing to spend it on yet though

Any comments, complaints, or suggestions? And how were the screenshots this time?

**ThePhantom** · 2011-01-23, 12:00 AM (ISO 8601)

Good screenshoots, and I like the story, its bit closer to the offical one than Glyphstone's. Please keep up the good work.

**Artanis** · 2011-01-24, 12:00 PM (ISO 8601)

MISSION 3: ZERO HOUR

Briefing:

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Things were looking up. Mar Sara was in revolt, we'd taken Tychus's artifact away from the Dominion, and most importantly, JoeyRay's had gotten in a shipment of Umojan Scotch. A dropship was inbound to take us, the artifact, and the thousands of credits we had already earned to Raynor's flagship, the Hyperion. Before we knew it, we'd be on our way to stir up trouble for Mengsk on some other planet.

Then somebody - I still don't know who - uttered the words "too easy". Not five seconds later, Raynor's comm case started beeping as the Adjutant tried to get our attention.

The Zerg had started dropping forces on the now-abandoned dig site. A lot of forces. A veritable rain of drop-cocoons were transporting the Swarm directly onto the surface of Mar Sara, and those Zerg were making a beeline straight towards us.

We found a good position for a holdout: an area protected by a long canyon with only two bridges for access. With less than an hour to prepare a defense, all three of us were immediately sober and rushing out of JoeyRay's towards what would soon become the front lines of a Zerg invasion.

The Mission:

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We were still scrambling when the Adjutant warned us that the Zerg had begun setting up forward bases nearby. We had only gotten one Bunker up at each bridge and a few missile turrets to fend off air attacks. I ordered the two Bunkers we had found on the high ground scrapped and moved to the bridges as the Command Center continued to produce SCV suits for harvesting the extensive mineral fields in the rear of our little fortress. Of the two Barracks we had gotten built, I ordered one be fitted with a Tech Lab for Medics and the other with a Reactor to double the speed at which we could arm new Marines.

The Zerg attacks began as night fell. They were small attacks at first. Probing strikes by Zerglings that tended to get distracted by the civilian structures alongside the road they were taking.

Even with only a couple of Bunkers, they were easily repelled, but we all knew that there would be more. Many, many more.

A further dilemma arrived when a squad of rebels asked for help. They were outside the Bunker line, and would surely die if we didn't get to them. Also, they had troops and resources that would be invaluable in the defense of our strongpoint. I sent out a squad to bring them in, only for it to be ambushed. With Medics still in training and not yet available, losses were high, but we got them safely to base. Once they had gotten to safety, the Rebels revealed that they had raided a Dominion bank the day before. They promptly turned over their loot, which totaled 55,000 credits.

The attacks started getting heavier, with heavily-armored Roaches joining the fight. The undermanned Bunker line took heavy damage in repelling each wave, but the line held. Mutalisks launched an attack against the northernmost point of the base, only to be shot down by missile turrets and my roving squad of Marines.

Zerg attacks continued to intensify, creating a deadly race between my ever-strengthening defenses and the ever-more-powerful Zerg assaults. Another group of Rebels called for aid, and I decided to try to save them. My mobile forces moved out via the north bridge to avoid an incoming attack wave, only to run into something ominous: Creep. Losses were heavy as my troops fought their way to the Rebels. Luckily, the return trip was virtually unopposed as the now-united forces swept westward behind the now-destroyed attack wave.

The attacks continued to grow as the night wore on, with Hydralisks joining the fight.

Sometime around 1am, we got a call from another stranded Rebel group. With attack waves hitting one after the other and the area thoroughly infested with creep and Zerg defensive structures, there could be no rescue. Further, there was no way in hell the Rebels could fight their way out, meaning their only hope was to make a run for it.

Only one Rebel made it through to the Bunker line, half-dead and with his armor consisting more of claw marks and acid burns than of actual plating.

If more Rebels showed up, they would be on their own as the attacks came faster and faster. What's more, Bio-pods had started dropping Zerglings and Creep Tumors behind the Bunker lines, forcing me to redirect the roving troops that otherwise would've been backing up the static defenses.

Finally, the Bunker lines began to falter, with the SCVs' fusion welders being unable to repair the damage fast enough. As the sun rose though, we finally got good news: the Hyperion was on its way. I put in standing orders for the Barracks to continue maximum Marine production, pulled the remaining Raider forces back to the high ground, and put everybody on the firing line. Even I grabbed a Gauss Rifle and went to work on one of the Bio-pod-hunting squads.

Matt Horner showed up not a moment too soon, entering the atmosphere and immediately opening up with a shower of plasma bombs. Zerg died in droves even as they swarmed up the ramp to my last remaining defenses and Nydus Worms carried reinforcements straight into the heart of the assault. Dropships loaded the artifact and the surviving troops while under fire and the Hyperion booked it before it could be overwhelmed, punching its way through a swarm of Mutalisks and warping to safety.

Aftermath:

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We arrived on the bridge of the Hyperion, leaving Tychus in awe that his old buddy had just such a "floating palace". We had survived, but we got bad news from Captain Horner: we weren't the only ones who had been fighting Zerg. Waves of Zerg were slamming into wide swathes of the Dominion's borders, and the Dominion fleet was getting its ass handed to it.

I needed to take my mind off the battle, and half the crew needed a drink or six to do the same. I figured that a few rounds of Arty's Lost Viking Drinking Game (take a drink every time Arty dies!) oughtta accomplish both without too much trouble and headed for the ship's Cantina. Raynor, meanwhile, had his flask, which would tide him over until after he met with Swann in the Armory. Horner and Tychus were already bickering over what mission to take next as we left the Bridge.

Notes: Good God did it ever suck trying to get screenshots for this one

. Yes, I did lighten them, but it was still hard to tell which ones to lighten in the first place...and I'm worried that I might not have lightened some of them enough.

And now it's time for Audience Participation! First in line is upgrades. With 100,000 credits, the available candidates are:
--Marine - Stimpacks: take damage to fight better (50,000)
--Marine - Combat Shields: +10hp (60,000)
--Medic - Advanced Medic Facilities: Medics don't need tech labs (60,000)
--Bunker - Neosteel Bunkers: +2 Bunker slots (50,000)
--Bunker - Projectile Accelerators: +1 Bunker range (40,000)
--Save cash for later

More Audience Participation comes in the form of voting for which mission I'll take next:
--Agria: The Evacuation - Help evac a colony that's under Zerg attack
----Rewards: 100,000 credits, Firebats, +3 Zerg research
--Monlyth: Smash and Grab - Collect another artifact
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Marauders, +4 Protoss research

**arguskos** · 2011-01-24, 12:29 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Artanis

And now it's time for Audience Participation! First in line is upgrades. With 100,000 credits, the available candidates are:
--Marine - Stimpacks: take damage to fight better (50,000)
--Marine - Combat Shields: +10hp (60,000)
--Medic - Advanced Medic Facilities: Medics don't need tech labs (60,000)
--Bunker - Neosteel Bunkers: +2 Bunker slots (50,000)
--Bunker - Projectile Accelerators: +1 Bunker range (40,000)
--Save cash for later

More Audience Participation comes in the form of voting for which mission I'll take next:
--Agria: The Evacuation - Help evac a colony that's under Zerg attack
----Rewards: 100,000 credits, Firebats, +3 Zerg research
--Monlyth: Smash and Grab - Collect another artifact
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Marauders, +4 Protoss research

Votes bolded.

**The Glyphstone** · 2011-01-24, 12:50 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Artanis

MISSION 3: ZERO HOUR

And now it's time for Audience Participation! First in line is upgrades. With 100,000 credits, the available candidates are:
--Marine - Stimpacks: take damage to fight better (50,000)
--Marine - Combat Shields: +10hp (60,000)
--Medic - Advanced Medic Facilities: Medics don't need tech labs (60,000)
--Bunker - Neosteel Bunkers: +2 Bunker slots (50,000)
--Bunker - Projectile Accelerators: +1 Bunker range (40,000)
--Save cash for later

More Audience Participation comes in the form of voting for which mission I'll take next:
--Agria: The Evacuation - Help evac a colony that's under Zerg attack
----Rewards: 100,000 credits, Firebats, +3 Zerg research
--Monlyth: Smash and Grab - Collect another artifact
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Marauders, +4 Protoss research

Likewise, votes highlighted. We should bull through the artifact chain as fast as possible, the better to lulz around all the side missions with Battlecruisers.

**ThePhantom** · 2011-01-24, 01:34 PM (ISO 8601)

--Marine - Stimpacks: take damage to fight better (50,000)
--Marine - Combat Shields: +10hp (60,000)
--Medic - Advanced Medic Facilities: Medics don't need tech labs (60,000)
--Bunker - Neosteel Bunkers: +2 Bunker slots (50,000)
--Bunker - Projectile Accelerators: +1 Bunker range (40,000)
--Save cash for later

More Audience Participation comes in the form of voting for which mission I'll take next:
--Agria: The Evacuation - Help evac a colony that's under Zerg attack
----Rewards: 100,000 credits, Firebats, +3 Zerg research
--Monlyth: Smash and Grab - Collect another artifact
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Marauders, +4 Protoss research

Let the doctor be in.

**Artanis** · 2011-01-25, 04:02 PM (ISO 8601)

Looks like the winners are Advanced Medic Facilities + save the rest, and The Evacuation. I'll get on it right away

**Artanis** · 2011-01-25, 09:14 PM (ISO 8601)

MISSION 4: THE EVACUATION

Briefing:

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The gang was back together. One big, happy family aboard the Hyperion. Unfortunately, it was a big broke family. Revolutions were expensive, and we were going to need plenty of cash to take the fight to Mengsk. Two options had come to the fore: a foray to the planet Monlyth to pick up another artifact for Tychus, or rescuing the people of the planet Agria from Zerg attack.

Horner argued in favor of Agria, and his side was bolstered by the fact that apparently, the farmers' leader, Dr. Ariel Hanson, had managed to scrape together a hundred grand to make the fight worth our while. Even with the money that Tychus's artifact would've brought in, Raynor decided that Monlyth could wait.

The situation on Agria was bad. The planet's defenses, such as they were, had held off the Zerg for all of about six seconds. Refugees were fleeing to the spaceport, only to be cut down by Zerg before they could get to safety.

If the people of Agria were to be saved, they would need somebody to keep the highways clear while they evacuated. That meant us. On the ride down in the dropship, I checked out the Firebats that Swann had managed to scare up equipment for. Their flamethrowers would come in handy against the Swarm.

The Mission:

Spoiler

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The drop itself was uneventful, and resistance was light en route to the colonists' base. Only one real firefight - if you'll forgive a bad pun - broke out, with the two Firebats easily torching a pack of Zerglings.

When we arrived, Dr. Hanson immediately gave me control of the entire base...and I had plenty of work to do, with minimal supplies and only a handful of SCVs. I went to work fixing those two problems while adding a Firebat to the existing force and sending the troops out scouting. It wasn't long before the scouts found a chokepoint defended by an empty Bunker. Dr. Hanson wasted no time in explaining that the Dominion had simply left them there when their troops abandoned Agria to the Zerg.

The first convoy was ready, so I pulled the flame-happy scouts back for escort duty. Zerg resistance was virtually non-existent until we were almost to the spaceport, when an Overlord and a pack of Zerglings tried to get to the road. Putting a couple of Firebats in another abandoned Bunker took care of the ground troops...

...while the handful of colonial Marines helping to escort the convoy eventually showed up to take out the Overlord.

When the convoy reached the spaceport, my troops got another surprise: there was some sort of weird chrysalis-thing just outside the access ramp. I was sure that Stetmann would love to have a sample, so I ordered my troops to take one.

Of course, since my troops were all Firebats, Stetmann would have to make do with Zerg-B-cue DNA samples.

The first convoy's worth of civilians was safely aboard their ships. I ordered my troops to take the long way as they returned, looping around to the west where we'd detected some scattered resource pallets. They found the resources, alright, but they also found another chrysalis.

Thankfully, the civilians didn't need those crops anymore anyways.

More scouting, this time to the east, revealed a third chrysalis. This one too was torched.

I called up the Hyperion and told them about the chrysalises, and Stetmann answered that there was several dozen more, and if I could just send somebody to go and get them and this time not blacken them with napalm...

Then I heard somebody yelling at Stetmann, and moments later Horner came on the air to tell me that three was plenty and that the others were not within a reasonable distance anyways. I liked Horner's version better.

As the second convoy got ready to go and my troops returned to base, I realized that I had a real problem on my hands. I'd seen no fewer than three Overlords barfing Creep all over the roads, something that they were not able to do four years ago during the Brood War. I didn't want to find out what nasty tricks the Zerg had come up with to combine with having Creep everywhere, so I needed to be able to knock the Overlords out of the sky.

I needed Marines.

I canceled the Tech Lab building at the second Barracks that the colonial SCVs had recently finished and had it build a Reactor instead. I'd be able to recruit Marines by the platoon, and thanks to Swann's recent upgrades, I'd be able to train and equip Medics at the same Barracks. The first Barracks, the one that had come with the base, kept its Tech Lab to allow for more Firebat production.

The second convoy moved out just as I ordered that the abandoned Bunkers be manned by Firebats and Marines and be attended by dedicated SCVs. It worked like a charm: there was only three ways the Zerg could get to the highway, and suddenly, two of them were home to giant chunks of armor with a bunch of flamethrowers and Gauss rifles sticking out of them. When my mobile troops' firepower was added to that of the Bunker crews, the Zerg attacks literally melted away.

The Bunkers had worked so well that I ordered more be built and manned. That included sending an SCV to build a pair at the third highway access, at the halfway point between the two Dominion-built Bunkers.

The attempted attacks against the third convoy were significantly larger than for the first two. Thanks to the Bunkers, the convoy made it to the spaceport with little incident. The only fighting was my Marines shooting down a Creep-spraying Overlord that had found its way to the road.

Things were going well. The Bunkers were holding up amazingly, and my mobile escort force was growing by the minute. But with the Zerg, nothing stays easy for very long. Horner called and gave me bad news: some sort of Zerg organisms were entering the atmosphere, and they looked like the bio-pods that had been dropping troops back on Mar Sara. Bunkers could keep the outward attacks at bay, but I'd need to beef up the mobile force even more.

So, I did exactly that.

The fourth convoy moved out as the sun began to set, and sure enough, bio-pods began dropping all around the evac APC. They continued to do so all the way to the spaceport, leading to a running battle between the escorts and the Zerg. While my forces were overwhelmingly powerful, they had to stay on their toes to make sure they didn't get stuck in one spot, leaving the convoy open to attack.

More bad news came as night fell and the final convoy moved out: the Hyperion had detected some sort of tunneling Zerg. I immediately moved to reinforce the first Bunker line as bio-pods continued to fall. My troops were just in time, too, as a Nydus Worm burst out of the ground just below the Bunkers and started spewing Zerg.

The second and third Bunker lines were repeats of the first.

With the Nydus Worms, the Zerg finally found a way past the Bunker lines, bursting out of the ground right next to the convoy just as it hit the spaceport's access ramp. My forces had to scramble away from the Bunker lines to save the civilians from the surprise underground assault. But scramble they did, and the final convoy safely made it to the spaceport.

Sensing that their prey was escaping, the Zerg launched a final, all-out assault on the spaceport as the colonists' ship was taking off. A few brave defenders held the line as long as they could, and bought the precious seconds the colonists needed to make good their escape. Dropships from the Hyperion hastily gathered up those of us Raiders who were still on the ground, and we left Agria to the Zerg.

Aftermath:

Spoiler

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Agria had fallen, but many of the colonists had made it off-world and were en route to a staging area on the planet Meinhoff. Once back aboard the Hyperion, I made for the Bridge, where I ran into Raynor and Horner talking to Dr. Hanson.

Instead of going to Meinhoff with her people, she had stuck around to help us out, and was in the process of giving a scathing - but really rather accurate - assessment of the Hyperion's medical and research facilities.

As Stetmann made an ass of himself trying to impress Hanson, Raynor and I headed for the Cantina. I had a battle to recover from, and Raynor had a meeting with Graven Hill, our main mercenary contact.

Time for more Audience Participation! Between unlocking Firebats and having some more money, we've got more things to spend cash on, including a Mercenary contract.

First in line is upgrades and mercenaries. With 140,000 credits, the available candidates are:

-Mercenaries:
--Devil Dogs - Firebats (25,000)

-Upgrades:
--Marine - Stimpacks: take damage to fight better (50,000)
--Marine - Combat Shields: +10hp (60,000)
--Medic - Stabilizer Medpacks: Heal faster and more efficiently (105,000)
--Firebat - Incinerator Gauntlets: Larger AoE (40,000)
--Firebat - Juggernaut Plating: +2 armor (85,000)
--Bunker - Neosteel Bunkers: +2 Bunker slots (50,000)
--Bunker - Projectile Accelerators: +1 Bunker range (40,000)

-Save cash for later

More voting! Once again, it's up to you guys to decide which mission I'll take next:

--Meinhoff: Outbreak - Investigate an infestation
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Hellions, +2 Zerg Research
--Monlyth: Smash and Grab - Collect another artifact
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Marauders, +4 Protoss research
--Redstone III: The Devil's Playground - Mine the hell out of the place
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Reapers, +3 Zerg research

**The Glyphstone** · 2011-01-25, 09:23 PM (ISO 8601)

-Mercenaries:
--Devil Dogs - Firebats (25,000)

-Upgrades:
--Marine - Stimpacks: take damage to fight better (50,000)
--Marine - Combat Shields: +10hp (60,000)
--Medic - Stabilizer Medpacks: Heal faster and more efficiently (105,000)
--Firebat - Incinerator Gauntlets: Larger AoE (40,000)
--Firebat - Juggernaut Plating: +2 armor (85,000)
--Bunker - Neosteel Bunkers: +2 Bunker slots (50,000)
--Bunker - Projectile Accelerators: +1 Bunker range (40,000)

-Save cash for later

More voting! Once again, it's up to you guys to decide which mission I'll take next:

--Meinhoff: Outbreak - Investigate an infestation
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Hellions, +2 Zerg Research
--Monlyth: Smash and Grab - Collect another artifact
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Marauders, +4 Protoss research
--Redstone III: The Devil's Playground - Mine the hell out of the place
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Reapers, +3 Zerg research[/QUOTE]

Burn, baby, burn!

**ThePhantom** · 2011-01-25, 10:34 PM (ISO 8601)

-Mercenaries:
--Devil Dogs - Firebats (25,000)

-Upgrades:
--Marine - Stimpacks: take damage to fight better (50,000)
--Marine - Combat Shields: +10hp (60,000)--Medic - Stabilizer Medpacks: Heal faster and more efficiently (105,000)
--Firebat - Incinerator Gauntlets: Larger AoE (40,000)
--Firebat - Juggernaut Plating: +2 armor (85,000)
--Bunker - Neosteel Bunkers: +2 Bunker slots (50,000)--Bunker - Projectile Accelerators: +1 Bunker range (40,000)

-Save cash for later

More voting! Once again, it's up to you guys to decide which mission I'll take next:

--Meinhoff: Outbreak - Investigate an infestation
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Hellions, +2 Zerg Research
--Monlyth: Smash and Grab - Collect another artifact
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Marauders, +4 Protoss research
--Redstone III: The Devil's Playground - Mine the hell out of the place
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Reapers, +3 Zerg research

The vodoo says that you must mine.

**Demon 997** · 2011-01-26, 12:43 AM (ISO 8601)

-Upgrades:
--Marine - Stimpacks: take damage to fight better (50,000)
--Marine - Combat Shields: +10hp (60,000)
--Medic - Stabilizer Medpacks: Heal faster and more efficiently (105,000)
--Firebat - Incinerator Gauntlets: Larger AoE (40,000)
--Firebat - Juggernaut Plating: +2 armor (85,000)
--Bunker - Neosteel Bunkers: +2 Bunker slots (50,000)
--Bunker - Projectile Accelerators: +1 Bunker range (40,000)

-Save cash for later

More voting! Once again, it's up to you guys to decide which mission I'll take next:

--Meinhoff: Outbreak - Investigate an infestation
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Hellions, +2 Zerg Research
--Monlyth: Smash and Grab - Collect another artifact
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Marauders, +4 Protoss research
--Redstone III: The Devil's Playground - Mine the hell out of the place
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Reapers, +3 Zerg research

I agree with Glyphstone, having Battlecruiser early would be amusing.

**arguskos** · 2011-01-26, 11:20 AM (ISO 8601)

First in line is upgrades and mercenaries. With 140,000 credits, the available candidates are:

-Mercenaries:
--Devil Dogs - Firebats (25,000)

-Upgrades:
--Marine - Stimpacks: take damage to fight better (50,000)
--Marine - Combat Shields: +10hp (60,000)
--Medic - Stabilizer Medpacks: Heal faster and more efficiently (105,000)
--Firebat - Incinerator Gauntlets: Larger AoE (40,000)
--Firebat - Juggernaut Plating: +2 armor (85,000)
--Bunker - Neosteel Bunkers: +2 Bunker slots (50,000)
--Bunker - Projectile Accelerators: +1 Bunker range (40,000)

-Save cash for later

More voting! Once again, it's up to you guys to decide which mission I'll take next:

--Meinhoff: Outbreak - Investigate an infestation
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Hellions, +2 Zerg Research
--Monlyth: Smash and Grab - Collect another artifact
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Marauders, +4 Protoss research
--Redstone III: The Devil's Playground - Mine the hell out of the place
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Reapers, +3 Zerg research

Bolded are the votes. Also, why oh why are we not getting the best upgrades in the entire game, Stim and Shields? Vote for those people!

**Douglas** · 2011-01-26, 11:40 AM (ISO 8601)

I'm a bit torn on mission selection here. Yes, early battlecruisers would be nice, but the later missions in that line require specific numbers of total missions completed to unlock so we'll be forced to play some side missions first. Of those side missions, it would be nice to complete Haven so we'll have Vikings to accompany the Banshees in Supernova, and Haven has a minimum interval after its prerequisite mission, so we should get that out of the way early. On the other hand, Reapers WTFPWN Outbreak so utterly that it would almost be a crime to not do Devil's Playground before Outbreak.

I'd have to look up the required mission numbers involved to be sure. If it works out that Devil's Playground -> Haven line gets us through to battlecruisers with no delay, then I'd go with that. Otherwise, I'm not sure. Though bringing a fleet of battlecruisers through Devil's Playground would be rather funny if we can arrange the order that way.

**Artanis** · 2011-01-26, 12:29 PM (ISO 8601)

Well, so far, Combat Shields are the only upgrade with more than one vote, and Monlyth is tied with Redstone III at two votes apiece. Keep the votes coming!

**Cieyrin** · 2011-01-26, 05:03 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Artanis

First in line is upgrades and mercenaries. With 140,000 credits, the available candidates are:

-Mercenaries:
--Devil Dogs - Firebats (25,000)

-Upgrades:
--Marine - Stimpacks: take damage to fight better (50,000)
--Marine - Combat Shields: +10hp (60,000)
--Medic - Stabilizer Medpacks: Heal faster and more efficiently (105,000)
--Firebat - Incinerator Gauntlets: Larger AoE (40,000)
--Firebat - Juggernaut Plating: +2 armor (85,000)
--Bunker - Neosteel Bunkers: +2 Bunker slots (50,000)
--Bunker - Projectile Accelerators: +1 Bunker range (40,000)

-Save cash for later

More voting! Once again, it's up to you guys to decide which mission I'll take next:

--Meinhoff: Outbreak - Investigate an infestation
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Hellions, +2 Zerg Research
--Monlyth: Smash and Grab - Collect another artifact
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Marauders, +4 Protoss research
--Redstone III: The Devil's Playground - Mine the hell out of the place
----Rewards: 110,000 credits, Reapers, +3 Zerg research

I like me some marines and I'd like to some red lobsters and reapers.

Thread: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

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Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

Re: Kicking this LP into overdrive: Let's Play StarCraft 2!

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