This last prophecy mission's achievements are actually pretty though to obtain. Fortunately you only have to play the mission in normal mode but to get both achievements you need to get 2250 kills, which I think is the same as brutal mode.
The worst part of this mission is that it takes a very long time, about 45 minuets game time, and if you fail it is quite probable you will have to start over from the beginning (unless you are fairly close to the goal, at least over 2000 kills). There are some videos for it on youtube but nothing with a solid instruction of how to do it. Basically what I will write is a guideline of what to think of to get through the phases of the mission.
Before you start you can set the gameplay speed lower, you can actually set it as low as slower and this is very useful if you are not great at multitasking or have slow reaction time (I played it at normal speed when I succeeded).
Phase 1, the beginning: early on the pressure is not high and this is when you have time to build up your economy. Keep building probes at all times, build a dark shrine so you can get dark templars, a robotics bay so you can build colossi, build an additional 3-4 gateways and upgrade all gateways to warpgates, this is very useful as you can spawn several units anywhere very quickly. Build a few additional cannons in the north early on to help you with the first part of the first wave and get a few cannons for your western and eastern chokes once you can afford them. In the beginning each wave will come north - west - east and the pause for a while. During your first, or possibly second pause, or actually immediately after the west attack in wave 1 or 2 you should expand to the gold; set up your nexus a few pylons and cannons to block the choke.
In this phase the easiest way to handle the attacks from different directions is to set up a couple (4-8) dark templars on each of the chokes, the rest of your troops can be on standby in the middle (or the north since the first attack is there) and be ready to move out and engage enemies wherever they attack. The dark templars will be enough to hold of any early attacks for long enough time for your forces to get there. Use your phoenxes to take out mutalisks and make sure your colossi are not killed.
Phase 2 is when the hybrids start showing up. At this point you should have your gold fully saturated and a lot of both minerals and gas to pump out units from most your facilities. Build at least one additional forge (even two are a good idea) and one fusion core so you can get all your upgrades simultaneously, upgrade as much as possible when you can afford, this will make a huge difference when you max out your army. It is important that you don't lose too many expensive units; pull units that are hurt out so they don't die and rebuild any cannons that are destroyed, use your voidrays to focus down hybrids early on and use the phoenixes gravitaion beam ability and Zerathul's void prison to incapacitate them.
It is also time to set up cannons throughout your base so that no area of the base is uncovered by at least two cannons, this is for the nydus worms that will appear at the end of the phase.
Phase 3 is when the nydus worms appear. If you have set up cannons appropriately in your base they will die before they fully spawn and won't do any damage. This is also when the carriers will show up to aid you. You can now build carriers and you should do so from both your starports. You should have a pretty powerful economy by now and should have no problem pumping out carriers continuously as well as having several dark templars in front of each choke, take care not to let them run too far during attacks as they might end up running out to the zerg defenses (which they usually can handle until enemies start spawning and they get completely owned), and several colossi behind each choke as well. Set auto build interceptors in your carriers!
At this point I just grouped up all my voidrays, carriers and colossi in the middle and set them to group 1, the dark templars could keep the enemy at bay for long enough so that I could get there with my main force and destroy them then replace any cannons and dark templars before the next attack.
I do have another idea that probably would work better. A. 5-8 Dark Templars in front of every choke B. 3-4 colossi behind every choke C. Carriers, as many as you can build, patrolling between the three chokes, make sure the patrol route is not such that they start attacking zerg defenses or the omegalisk D. Voidrays grouped as 1 ready to focus down hybrids and E. Phoenixes grouped as 2 to take out broodlords and use gravitation beam on hybrids.
Phase 3.5 Once you have mined out the gold (and this will be fairly quick, you can pull back your probes to help with the mining in the main base as well as using the high ground "bridge" for your forces rather than the low ground choke. Make sure you get fully upgraded for all weapons, armors and shields!!!
Phase 4 Once the archives is finished you should start preparing to fall back; build more cannons on the high ground of your main base and build more pylons; as soon as you leave the low ground the zerg forces will start destroying your pylons and your psi/supply level will drop from 200 to around 140 rather quickly and unless you have prepared for it you will be supply blocked.
Phase 5 you have finished your first 1500 kills and your mothership has spawned, it is really time to pull back to the high ground now. You will actually have quite some time to do this as the zerg forces will take their due to destroy the lower base, use the time to arrange your forces and build more cannons.
I would still set carriers patrolling, this time between the two ramps. Colossi together with all ranged ground units on the high ground between the ramps and all melee ground units, on or just above the ramps, mainly to stop the zerglings and ultralisks to get up the ramps and destroy towers. Use the voidrays to focus down hybrids and ultralisks but be careful not to let them fly too far out or they will be destroyed by corruptors, also use the phoenixes to lift up hybrids. Keep the mothership above your ground forces to keep them from harm's way.
You will probably still be rather well off with money but at this point your income will decrease significantly and your biggest mineral sink are your carriers that need to rebuild their interceptors constantly. Therefore you must save your minerals and build with gas instead, I found that at this later stage archons are very good; build templars and try to use their psistorm on zerglings (it is rather worthless against hybrids) then merge them to archons. These archons might be the save you need at the end when you are swarmed by zerglings, mutalisks and corruptors they will get you those last 50 or so kills you need to finish the achievements.
At the later stages of the game there will be nydus worm attacks at random places in your base, these are fairly easy to deflect as long as you have at least two cannons in range of the worm they won't finish spawning and won't do any damage at all.
Good luck!!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
More zerg
So I tried to play zerg in 1v1 instead last night. To begin with I wasn't entirely sober so that might have come into play but probably not by much. The problem I faced was that I'm not really clear on how to counter everything or even how to prepare for most stuff. One round I was attacked pretty early on by three banshees and I only had two queens who could shoot air, safe to say they died rather quickly. Should I set up a spore colonly or two early on to prevent this or is it better to just try and get out some hydras or mutas?
I did win one game out of the three or four I played and that was rather satisfying as that player was actually in silver league. I actually do tend to meet several players from silver and win those just as much (or little) as I win the bronze leauge opponents, maybe the differences are quite subtle.
I did win one game out of the three or four I played and that was rather satisfying as that player was actually in silver league. I actually do tend to meet several players from silver and win those just as much (or little) as I win the bronze leauge opponents, maybe the differences are quite subtle.
4v4
Tried to play a 4v4 now and we lost pretty badly. I played as zerg, Cannan as protoss, A as terran and our other friend A2 (maybe I should use B?) also as terran. I tried the harassment and expansion style but got smashed down, and they harassed us and expanded instead. Anyway, we survived for a decent time considering it was our first 4v4 game ever.
For the Swarm!!
Well, I went outside my comfort zone and started playing zerg instead.
I should start from the beginning though; me and A played a few 2v2 in the beginning of the weekend both playing terran. We won a few placement matches but we still ended up in the bronze league (of course) where we still played fairly decently (for our level) and won maybe half our match ups. Later I played with C, who I will from now on refer to as Cannan because that is his in game alias, and I decided to try out playing as protoss and zerg, and Cannan also decided to try out other races.
After getting destroyed as protoss in one match I switch to zerg and I kinda fell for the swarming game style and easy way to expand that they have, Cannan kept playing as protoss and soon we had kicked ass three matches in a row. Our tactic was fairly simple and rather easy to counter actually, as long as you did it in time; basically I tried to get a few zerglings with speed upgrade and try to swarm around at all expansions available, then tech into mutalisk and be even more aggressive with them, even harass enemy bases and really contain everyone to their main base. Cannan at the same time would start teching heavily and get a couple of carriers and with those we could destroy our enemies utterly.
As lone as no one gave us very early or even just normal early pressure this would work fine but we have serious problems with our defenses if we are attacked; the speedlings might be good at controlling the map and harass expansions but they suck at defending bases, and if anyone comes with tanks or something like that I am screwed.
I should start from the beginning though; me and A played a few 2v2 in the beginning of the weekend both playing terran. We won a few placement matches but we still ended up in the bronze league (of course) where we still played fairly decently (for our level) and won maybe half our match ups. Later I played with C, who I will from now on refer to as Cannan because that is his in game alias, and I decided to try out playing as protoss and zerg, and Cannan also decided to try out other races.
After getting destroyed as protoss in one match I switch to zerg and I kinda fell for the swarming game style and easy way to expand that they have, Cannan kept playing as protoss and soon we had kicked ass three matches in a row. Our tactic was fairly simple and rather easy to counter actually, as long as you did it in time; basically I tried to get a few zerglings with speed upgrade and try to swarm around at all expansions available, then tech into mutalisk and be even more aggressive with them, even harass enemy bases and really contain everyone to their main base. Cannan at the same time would start teching heavily and get a couple of carriers and with those we could destroy our enemies utterly.
As lone as no one gave us very early or even just normal early pressure this would work fine but we have serious problems with our defenses if we are attacked; the speedlings might be good at controlling the map and harass expansions but they suck at defending bases, and if anyone comes with tanks or something like that I am screwed.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Welcome to the Jungle
This is another one of those achievements that were pretty hard. Mostly it's because you are misdirected by the Goliaths you get for the mission and although they can be used to succeed in the normal mission they are too weak for their cost to be used effectively. There are a few ways to prevent all the capping and the most direct one I could think of was to learn the sequence and the timing for all attacks and capping, this however is very time consuming and you will have to play the map several times to get to know it exactly.
What I figured, and I also got this suggestion from several other sources, was to mass out infantry. For this you would want all the marine and medic upgrades; Combat Shields (marine hp increased by 10), StimPack (marine attack and movement speed increased by 50% for 12 seconds at the cost of 10hp), Advanced Medic Facilities (allows medics to be produced without the tech-lab addon) and Stabilizer Med-packs (medics heals 25% faster and for 33% less energy, basically making each medic close to twice as efficient). Start producing SCVs, add you a reactor to your barracks and start producing marines and medics. You don't actually have to push out and get any gas until you have secured the whole map but you can if you want to finish up faster.
You need to push out to block the first cap in the west side though, and eventually in the east. I basically left my western force in place and trained a complete new force to push out east after the first assault on the base. Build a second barracks and attach a reactor to that one too, you basically want each of your forces to have a 3:1 composition of marines to medics and a force of perhaps 10 marines and 4 medics can take down most early assaults. As you have a pretty high production of infantry you can easily reinforce both your troops as well as building up a third force in your base. This third force should push out and take down the Protoss base to the immediate north of your own base and set up an expansion there for extra income. Also make sure to get the upgrades for your infantry.
You don't actually have to go through all this as you can probably cap all seven of your gas canisters by now but I found it entertaining, as well as safer, to take control of the whole map before I even started capping anything. From this point you will have a lot more income also so you can build a third barracks, on which I put a tech-lab to make marauders to make an easier job with the ground units and towers as well as producing Goliaths. You can easily push out further and basically make static defenses outside the Protoss base entrances, there are two, one in the west and one in the east, but make sure you take out all Protoss buildings and units outside the base, especially the pylons and warp prisms so they can't warp in more units behind your lines.
When your forces are strong enough you can pretty much get out seven SCV's and simultaneously cap all seven 7. You can also muster up a big enough force of marines, medics, goliaths and marauders to destroy the protoss bases for the feat of strength achievement "You'ze So Crazy!".
What I figured, and I also got this suggestion from several other sources, was to mass out infantry. For this you would want all the marine and medic upgrades; Combat Shields (marine hp increased by 10), StimPack (marine attack and movement speed increased by 50% for 12 seconds at the cost of 10hp), Advanced Medic Facilities (allows medics to be produced without the tech-lab addon) and Stabilizer Med-packs (medics heals 25% faster and for 33% less energy, basically making each medic close to twice as efficient). Start producing SCVs, add you a reactor to your barracks and start producing marines and medics. You don't actually have to push out and get any gas until you have secured the whole map but you can if you want to finish up faster.
You need to push out to block the first cap in the west side though, and eventually in the east. I basically left my western force in place and trained a complete new force to push out east after the first assault on the base. Build a second barracks and attach a reactor to that one too, you basically want each of your forces to have a 3:1 composition of marines to medics and a force of perhaps 10 marines and 4 medics can take down most early assaults. As you have a pretty high production of infantry you can easily reinforce both your troops as well as building up a third force in your base. This third force should push out and take down the Protoss base to the immediate north of your own base and set up an expansion there for extra income. Also make sure to get the upgrades for your infantry.
You don't actually have to go through all this as you can probably cap all seven of your gas canisters by now but I found it entertaining, as well as safer, to take control of the whole map before I even started capping anything. From this point you will have a lot more income also so you can build a third barracks, on which I put a tech-lab to make marauders to make an easier job with the ground units and towers as well as producing Goliaths. You can easily push out further and basically make static defenses outside the Protoss base entrances, there are two, one in the west and one in the east, but make sure you take out all Protoss buildings and units outside the base, especially the pylons and warp prisms so they can't warp in more units behind your lines.
When your forces are strong enough you can pretty much get out seven SCV's and simultaneously cap all seven 7. You can also muster up a big enough force of marines, medics, goliaths and marauders to destroy the protoss bases for the feat of strength achievement "You'ze So Crazy!".
NotBeyBlade vs Ynot
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Mar Sara Missions
Mar Sara Mastery achievement is quite easy to get, the only one that presents any difficulty is the Zero Hour mission's The Best Defense... achievement.
On Liberation Day there is not much you need to do except making sure you find and kill all enemy units and take care not to let any civilians die, basically you can save before you run up the last part of the map where all the civilians are so you can redo it if anyone dies.
In the outlaws mission you just need to be fast; pump out lots of SCV's to get your economy going and build two barracks, one with tech-lab for medics and the other one you can exclusively get marines. There is actually not much you can do to make this easier except you massing out marines and work on your micro skills.
It is in Zero hour you will encounter problems; the mission in its own isn't that hard and I could even do it quite easily on brutal difficulty, but killing hatcheries for the "The Best Defense..." achievement is problematic, especially if you want to do "Hold the Line" as well. I Recommend doing the two achievements separately. For hold the line you just need to keep SCV's repairing, it shouldn't be very troublesome if you do it on normal.
For "The Best Defense..." you might get into more problem, the trick is to mass up marines; first you salvage second line bunkers then you will need at least three barracks, one with tech-lab and the others with reactor, build the barracks when you can afford to build and still produce with all your facilities (barracks and command center). Keep producing SCV's at all times and train marines and medics at all times you can afford. You also want both the weapon and armor upgrades before you push out. At about 13-12 minutes left you should push out through the western choke and move north, kill anything that gets in your way and head to the northern camp, there you can kill a few buildings and two hatcheries. After you kill the TWO hatcheries you fall back and hide in the northwestern corner to await your reinforcements. Produce as many marines and medics you can muster over the next 30-120 seconds and then push out with your second force to join your first, by the time you get together the two hatcheries will have been rebuilt and you can kill them again, getting all your four kills from only two hatcheries. Fall back and defend your base for the last few waves of enemies.
On Liberation Day there is not much you need to do except making sure you find and kill all enemy units and take care not to let any civilians die, basically you can save before you run up the last part of the map where all the civilians are so you can redo it if anyone dies.
In the outlaws mission you just need to be fast; pump out lots of SCV's to get your economy going and build two barracks, one with tech-lab for medics and the other one you can exclusively get marines. There is actually not much you can do to make this easier except you massing out marines and work on your micro skills.
It is in Zero hour you will encounter problems; the mission in its own isn't that hard and I could even do it quite easily on brutal difficulty, but killing hatcheries for the "The Best Defense..." achievement is problematic, especially if you want to do "Hold the Line" as well. I Recommend doing the two achievements separately. For hold the line you just need to keep SCV's repairing, it shouldn't be very troublesome if you do it on normal.
For "The Best Defense..." you might get into more problem, the trick is to mass up marines; first you salvage second line bunkers then you will need at least three barracks, one with tech-lab and the others with reactor, build the barracks when you can afford to build and still produce with all your facilities (barracks and command center). Keep producing SCV's at all times and train marines and medics at all times you can afford. You also want both the weapon and armor upgrades before you push out. At about 13-12 minutes left you should push out through the western choke and move north, kill anything that gets in your way and head to the northern camp, there you can kill a few buildings and two hatcheries. After you kill the TWO hatcheries you fall back and hide in the northwestern corner to await your reinforcements. Produce as many marines and medics you can muster over the next 30-120 seconds and then push out with your second force to join your first, by the time you get together the two hatcheries will have been rebuilt and you can kill them again, getting all your four kills from only two hatcheries. Fall back and defend your base for the last few waves of enemies.
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