StarCraft/Biting the Bullet

"Biting the Bullet" is one of the two unused levels in the Original Terran Campaign of StarCraft. This level has a terrain similar to Enslavers02a in the original enslavers campaign, including similar resource deposits and starting areas. Chronologically, this level comes between the existing missions 6 and 7 in the Original Terran Campaign, but is currently unused in the campaign itself. It is advised that players first learn about their Terran mechanical units before attempting this level, as it may be fairly challenging to new players. In any case, be prepared for a long and difficult battle.

Getting Started
In this level, you begin with only Duke and Raynor, along with 4 SCVs and a Command Center. You also have no resources, so it is imperative that you mine minerals vigorously. You should first liftoff your Command Center to put it closer to the minerals. Build until you have many SCVs, since you will probably spend more minerals here than you will in any other level of the Terran campaign. For now, Duke and Raynor will hold off any attacks to your base. Edmund Duke (the tank) in Siege Mode will do 150 in explosive splash damage, which will effectively stop any Zerg ground masses of Zerglings and Hydralisks, while Jim Raynor can take care of any Zerglings that come close.

When you feel like you have sufficient mineral flow to your base, quickly build two Bunkers, one to the northwest (where the asphalt bridge is), and one to the north (which is where many flying attacks will take place). Fill these up with Marines, and surround your area with Missile Turrets when possible. As soon as you have 400 minerals, send an SCV southeast to where the Vespene Geyser is and build a new Command Center there, as well as a Refinery. You are now ready to pump out numerous Siege Tanks, which will be more thoroughly discussed in "The Trump Card." Research the Siege Mode ability and set your Tanks next to the bridge, behind the Bunkers. Watch as the Zerg ground attackers shred to pieces before they can even hit you! Keep building them until you have at least 10, then build an Armory to pump out about the same number of Goliaths.

First Expansion
Northwest, across the bridge, is a small Zerg territory consisting of only minerals. You will most likely need this resource node to survive this level. As soon as you have your force of 10 Siege Tanks/10 Goliaths (heck, you could even get away with less), move on across the bridge, with the Goliaths in front. You can bring Raynor or Duke as well, but make sure they do not get killed for any reason. While you destroy this small base, watch out for enemy Overlords that will drop units to reinforce the base; they will sometimes drop Ultralisks, which are very large ground units that use Kaiser blades against other ground units, and has 400 HP. If they drop too close to your army of Siege Tanks, you may end up losing several units as they get killed by the splash from your own Siege Tanks. Make sure Edmund Duke is not the target from any dropped unit. Another danger to look out for are enemy Queens; they can use Spawn Broodlings on any non-robotic ground unit (aka all your ground units) which instantly destroys your unit in place of spawning two Broodlings, which melee attack your units. The Broodlings in themselves are not a problem, but when your Tanks' splash damage to the Broodlings hurt your own units, they are. Thankfully, Queens will never use this destructive ability on your hero units, but they may still use Parasite or Ensnare on them.

When the new base is yours, bring most of your SCVs to this new base to harvest. By now you probably gathered more than half the minerals in your starting base, so keep no more than 4 SCVs in your home base. If you're short on gas, there is a free geyser to the north, close to where you will be attacking the Blue Hive.

The Attack on the Hive
The Hive's position as given to you in the beginning is actually on an island near the center of the map. However, the location is to your advantage; you can fire at the Hive with your Siege Tanks using the cliff wall just north of the Blue Hive. Before you assault this Hive, though, pump out at least 10 more Siege Tanks and many more Goliaths; you will need to defend all your bases while this attack takes place. Make sure there are at least 6 Siege Tanks and 6 Goliaths at each base; the Orange Zerg will likely send out chaos of all kinds to your base. For your attack force, take 12 Siege Tanks and 12 Goliaths, as you will need to face Overlord drops, Mutalisks and Guardians throughout your attack. Bring your attack force to the cliff to the north of the Blue Zerg Hive. When all your Tanks are in place, use a Comsat Station or any air unit to provide vision for your Siege Tanks to fire. When the Hive is down, Raynor and Duke will talk, and you will be asked to hold off the Zerg forces for a while. This is when you need to pump out more Goliaths and Siege Tanks fast (a lot of the former, a few of the latter), for numerous Zerg broods will attack you at once. Do not be afraid to take many casualties, as long as you are constantly pumping out new units to replace your old ones.

Protoss Intervention
After you have defended on your own for a period of time, you will receive transmission from Tassadar from the Gantrithor. He will soon appear on the map south of the first mineral expansion you claimed, along with 27 Scouts and 2 other Carriers. You also get one free Terran Marine who rescues this force. Take advantage of this new force; Scouts are mechanically similar to Wraiths, but stronger and more expensive. Keep in mind that you cannot repair damaged Protoss units with SCVs, but that all Protoss units have shields that regenerate when damaged. The Scouts should be responsible for chasing away enemy air units of all kinds, but keep them away from Scourge; they are very vulnerable to the suicidal powers of this miniscule Zerg unit, like most air units. At this point, you will now have to destroy all Zerg buildings on the map. To do this, you may need more resources. Annihilate the entire blue Zerg island and build your own base over it. You need these resources if you plan on creating backups for your existing force. Prepare several Dropships as you head over to the main Orange Zerg island to the northeast. You will need to strike this with a fairly large force; 12 Scouts, 12 Goliaths and 12 Siege Tanks is the recommended size. Drop them on the southeast corner of the main island (the lower dirt, where you can see some free minerals). Using the Scanner Sweep from a Comsat Station, Hit any buildings and units that you see. Let the Goliaths take on the Zerglings, Mutalisks and the Ultralisks while the Scouts take on the Guardians, Queens and Overlords. The rest can be destroyed by Siege Tanks. "Leapfrog" your way up the base and clean up any buildings in your way (this tactic is described in Terran mission 8: The Big Push). To the south of this island is another island with a Zerg Hatchery. Since this area is undefended, though, take a handful of Scouts and just pound on it over and over. Once all Zerg buildings are destroyed, you win.