Starcraft 2

[toblix]

Jesus this game is hard. I'm on the relatively early mission where Tychus is walking around in the big battlepants, on normal, and it's killing me. I feel like I'm always behind with doing whatever I should be doing, and the minute I've made a decision it turns out it was a bad one. I can never build what I want because I'm out of minerals or gas or supplies, and the moment this happens I'm dead because my base is being attacked and I have no defense. I must be missing some vital knowledge or experience. I guess I'll have to acquire a sense of when I should start building the various stuff. Right now it's pretty frustrating.

[CaptainFish]

Jesus this game is hard. I'm on the relatively early mission where Tychus is walking around in the big battlepants, on normal, and it's killing me. I feel like I'm always behind with doing whatever I should be doing, and the minute I've made a decision it turns out it was a bad one. I can never build what I want because I'm out of minerals or gas or supplies, and the moment this happens I'm dead because my base is being attacked and I have no defense. I must be missing some vital knowledge or experience. I guess I'll have to acquire a sense of when I should start building the various stuff. Right now it's pretty frustrating.

You can come back to it later when you have better tech. That's how I got the achievements on that one, it's hard.

Edit: I guess I should probably give more useful info. When I beat this I just built a ton a wraiths and had 4 scvs following Tychus, making sure to take out anti armor enemies first. I definitely had issues with defending my base though. You should have a couple tanks there and it should be okay. When I got the achievements I just focused on getting as much money as possible and then built one of every mechanical merc to follow it around, using the infantry ones and tanks to guard my base. Once I built the expansion, I buffed up the force with more banshees and wraiths.

Edited August 22, 2010 by CaptainFish

[Forbin]

Switch it down a difficulty level Toblix, there's no shame in it. Also, always be building SCVs.

[Irishjohn]

I had some issues with it but I got through. Just keep SCVs on Tychus and pump out defensive units back at base as much as you can. I actually expanded too, and took the first mineral field that Tychus opens up. It might have been that I happened to tech up just right before I got to that level, though.

[toblix]

I was wondering about that – is the BUILD ALL THE SCVS IN THE WORLD™ tactic also good for single player? I thought maybe it was a multiplayer only thing...

Anyway, I also went for the second mineral field, but too late... my defenses were spread too thin, like butter on too much bread. Also, will Tychus be okay on his own if I just repair him? I kept sending lots of tanks and dudes to help.

[Nappi]

I was wondering about that – is the BUILD ALL THE SCVS IN THE WORLD™ tactic also good for single player? I thought maybe it was a multiplayer only thing...

It seems to me that it is. I always forget to do that myself and end up having to wait for a long time to build an army.

Anyway, I also went for the second mineral field, but too late... my defenses were spread too thin, like butter on too much bread. Also, will Tychus be okay on his own if I just repair him? I kept sending lots of tanks and dudes to help.

I think Tychus will only have real troubles with the air units so you should build a bunch of the new ships you got at the beginning of the mission. I also had a small army that I sent to follow him, but I let him take most of the beating.

If I remember correctly the enemies mostly attacked your base in between Tychus attacks so you could maybe run your army back and forth between your base and the action.

[toblix]

Thanks for the advice. I'll beat this sucker tonight.

[Cigol]

Perhaps skip that mission until you've maxed out your tech-trees? Having auto-refineries, drop down supply depots, bunkers with turrets (which are good at soaking up pressure), orbital command with MULES... and stuff like that will help a lot.

Also remember that the enemy attacks you in the same way with the same unit composition every single time. So after the initial attack if you prepare for it you shouldn't have any problems defending against it again.

Cordoning off your base to the left is a must - since they will attack there continually. A single thor and some ground units with medics and/or a medivac will kill the attack dead, but you should wall it in with supply depots to be safe. The enemy will also send vikings from directly above your command centre. Two missile silos, and a thor will deal with them. Try not to build too near the ledge, otherwise they can just land on it and then you'll need an air unit (hidden off to the right) to spot them for your units. Remember to have an scv go around repairing after each attack, and that your units can be repaired too.

Make a new base on the mineral field Tychus and the two thors take (and secure the immediate area around) then set up a couple of bunkers with auto-turrets further up the road near the T-junction. Stick one or two SCVs with auto repair on just behind and they should be able to kill and survive any attacks. Then you just build up minerals, make masses of air units, and some siege tanks (4 is more than enough), set up defences around each transmitter, make the transmission, move on... repeat... I'm sure there are better ways of doing it (especially ones that are quicker) but this worked for me.

[toblix]

Jesus, thanks for the walkthrough! It sounds so hardcore, though – did you play it on hard?

[Nappi]

I think Gigol is describing the mission after the one you are in right now, one where you have to make some transmissions. That one is a complete walk in a park on normal, much easier than the one I think you are in now.

Also:

You can find a secret mission on that map.

[Cigol]

Oh yeah, it probably helps to steal the mech first... forgot about that.

I thought that was pretty straightforward as well myself, it was the second mission (I described) which although wasn't difficult, it felt like it was going to be difficult since it's a big map with different stages and you might be confused (as I was) as to how to approach it.

Looking back though, it's really the same deal... except you prioritise cordoning off the rightmost chokepoint instead - with supply depots, a bunker, and a couple of missile silos to take out the vikings (which tend to land right next them, so you'll want something to take them out).

Attacking with 2 or 3 SCV's, air support, and using spectres/ghosts with nuke ability make it easy enough - but again the order you tackle the mission probably dictates that.

did you play it on hard

I wish. I'm a wuss so I play on normal. Starcraft is the only game capable of reducing me to tears.

[Irishjohn]

I wish. I'm a wuss so I play on normal. Starcraft is the only game capable of reducing me to tears.

I am also a wuss. I didn't even try hard! I'm tempted to go back and try after some multiplayer, though.

[elmuerte]

Played the first map where things became difficult yesterday. It was the one with that gas stuff. Could barely keep up building stuff. Completed the level with 2 spare gas thingies (i.e. 5 were closed), and lost quite some units.

And that was on normal.

I really like how so far the mission are quite different

[toblix]

I retried the mission, this time focusing on building Wraiths and getting the second command center up and running as fast as possible. I supplied the two base entrances and the outpost with an assortment of units (I'm not really hip to what goes well against what) and everything went smoothly. Unfortunately I didn't get the huge monster unit, but I guess that's for later, when I've got more tech.

The next mission was the one where you've got the huge laser cannon. This was super fun, and by the end I had just a million jillion siege tanks that turned everything that moved to a fine shit mist.

I'm not sure if I found the

secret mission

, but I found a thing that gave me a new set of them? Is that it?

Also, fucking yes! More of their sweet CGI. I was worried they'd gone over to real-time cut-scenes for everything, but finally I got another real cut scene. SWEET!

[Nappi]

I'm not sure if I found the

secret mission

, but I found a thing that gave me a new set of them? Is that it?

It is in a mission called Media Blitz. You get to control Tychus' mech in that one. You will notice when you find the secret.

[Roderick]

I think we've all been had. Toblix just described the 'Dig' missin with the laser drill, which takes place way before the Odin mission. I think! (Maybe you can play so asynchronously that you can do the Dig before the Odin.)

[CaptainFish]

The laser mission is part of the Mobius line of missions, and the Odin is part of the Rebellion line. You can do an entire line without doing another.

[Forbin]

Media blitz is part of Matt/Mensk mission line, The Dig is part of the Tychus/Relic mission. The mission Toblix was talking about was maybe the one where Tychus is a hero-marine.

[Thrik]

Might have to get this. How strategic is it in the grand scheme of things? I'd probably consider something like Command & Conquer amongst the less strategic RTS games out there, usually being a case of 'hold out and build a billion of unit X and you win'. I'd consider something like Dawn of War or Company of Heroes of the more strategic variety, requiring a lot of very precise actions and decisions to win.

[Nappi]

When playing single player campaign (at normal difficulty) it's definitely much closer to Command & Conquer than Company of Heroes. There is a lot more variety in the missions than any of the C&C games I have played, though, and with some of the missions requiring a lot more strategy than the others. Such is the case with missions where you only control a handful of units.

The game is obviously a lot faster than Company of Heroes and at least I can't always react in a best possible way to a new threat, and therefore sometimes have to throw anything I got to fend off an enemy attack whereas in CoH I usually had time to execute the perfect counter-measure. This is actually why I still hold Company of Heroes to be my favourite RTS of all time, while Starcraft II is just a great RTS.

[Forbin]

When playing single player campaign (at normal difficulty) it's definitely much closer to Command & Conquer than Company of Heroes. There is a lot more variety in the missions than any of the C&C games I have played, though, and with some of the missions requiring a lot more strategy than the others. Such is the case with missions where you only control a handful of units.

The game is obviously a lot faster than Company of Heroes and at least I can't always react in a best possible way to a new threat, and therefore sometimes have to throw anything I got to fend off an enemy attack whereas in CoH I usually had time to execute the perfect counter-measure. This is actually why I still hold Company of Heroes to be my favourite RTS of all time, while Starcraft II is just a great RTS.

I found Company of Heroes and DoWII to be extremely broken campaigns in comparison. If you're having an easy time steamrolling through SC2, adjust the difficulty and you'll have to be more strategic. Marine + Medic will win most missions on normal, but you don't have to play it that way.

[Coldkill]

<snip>

...I felt compelled to go through every dialogue option after each mission, the same way I did in Mass Effect.

I've got to agree with that statement, I went through every dialogue option there was. I must admit, they weren't as engaging as Mass Effect, but I didn't feel they were terrible at the same time.

The entire StarCraft universe is less than believable and in some cases purposefully comedic, which probably detract from the experience as I believe a more gritty game would have served the title better.

Saying that, I believe the story was consistent throughout, and to me that made it playable and enjoyable. I also quite liked how they introduced new units to your arsenal. Overall, I liked the game.

As for the innovative gameplay, look at C&C4 and where that left it? The end of the king of RTS games in a washed up puddle that failed to satisfy fans of the franchise and RTS gamers alike. The gameplay in SC2 was back to basics, and in that sense it was refreshing to see.

[Nappi]

I found Company of Heroes and DoWII to be extremely broken campaigns in comparison. If you're having an easy time steamrolling through SC2, adjust the difficulty and you'll have to be more strategic. Marine + Medic will win most missions on normal, but you don't have to play it that way.

Broken in what way?

Starcraft II is pretty easy but not too easy for me in normal. There is definitely some strategy involved and I have no single tactic to beat every mission. Adjusting the difficulty to hard would probably make the game more strategic but also a lot less enjoyable for me. Like I already said, I enjoy having enough of time to react and not having to pump 4 units or more every minute to stay in the fight. Playing with Korean professional gamers would probably make this one of the most strategic games in the world but also a game I would absolutely loathe.

Company of Heroes and Starcraft II have a very different take on RTS and I just prefer Company of Heroes' more.

[Kolzig]

When playing single player campaign (at normal difficulty) it's definitely much closer to Command & Conquer than Company of Heroes. There is a lot more variety in the missions than any of the C&C games I have played, though, and with some of the missions requiring a lot more strategy than the others. Such is the case with missions where you only control a handful of units.

It's propably no wonder if the game is closer in single player to C&C, Dustin Browder was working on Red Alert 2 and Generals.

[Forbin]

Broken in what way?

DOWII has a number of strategies that absolutely trivialize the game. Some due to itemization, others tied to core abilites like the jet pack jump or constant retreating. Basically anybody paying just a little attention could dominate the game.