StarCraft/Terran mission 8: The Big Push


 * Location
 * Tarsonis Space Platform


 * Difficulty
 * 5 out of 10


 * Mission Objectives
 * 1) Eliminate the Confederate forces.
 * 2) Duke must survive.


 * New Unit
 * Terran Ghost


 * New Enemy Unit
 * None


 * Special Unit
 * Norad II (Duke's enhanced Battlecruiser)

General Duke has devised a plan to attack the Confederate forces on the Tarsonian platform. Duke himself is leading this attack, and you must destroy every single enemy structure on the map.
 * Mission Background

This will be a very long but fun kill-everything-on-the-map scenario. When you start, all buildings are floating and all units are on a small platform. Before you say, "Well, what in the world do I do now?!?!" notice the two Dropships you have. Load everyone into that, and fly the entire fleet and all buildings northwest until you come to land. Set down all buildings next to their respective add-ons (you have two Command Centers and two Nuclear Silos) and set your workers to, well, work. You have lots of minerals but only one Geyser, and it's inconveniently located far away from the southern Nuke Silo. You'll have to put about seven or eight SCVs on gas to get a full stream, but if you don't want to do this simply don't place the second Command Center next to the Silo. If you need more Nukes later, just move it back then.
 * Walkthrough

While this is going on, have Duke and the Wraiths scout out the immediate area to get an idea of the surroundings. Stop when you see some bunkers and Missile Turrets, northwest of your base. Take the Norad II and press Y (for Yamato Gun), then left-click on the closest Turret. Not only is the Yamato Gun (often referred to as the Y-gun) powerful enough to take out a Turret in one shot, it has far superior range than almost any anti-air defense. As Duke charges up, have him Y-gun down more Turrets and, when you can't get within range of a Turret without getting shot at, bunkers. If the enemy sends Goliaths or something to counter, have Duke fight them, but try to return him to base before he takes serious damage. When he does return, select about five working SCVs and have them all repair him at the same time.

You have a lot of minerals available, so put a bunch of SCVs on it. Then start building every single structure available and churning out your army, upgraded as much as possible (especially the Ghost--try to upgrade everything for him). You can do this at any pace you're comfortable with, but realize that the longer you stall, the more Wraith attacks from Orange base you'll have to endure.

To take out the Brown base northwest of your own you'll need 12 Marines, 6 Goliaths, and 6 Siege Tanks. Take Duke along too. Really, the Siege Tanks will be doing the dirty work here: everyone else is just for anti-air support and cleanup after the defenses are broken. For this assault to work, you need to micromanage your tanks. You will be "leapfrogging" them. Here's how it works: say you have 6 Tanks. When a target (or targets) is/are visible, have them Siege there and destroy it. Then--this is the important part--you un-Siege three of them and leave the others in Siege Mode. Now advance with the mobile ones until some new targets are visible. Have the three Siege there, and now have the other three un-Siege and advance while the three in Siege Mode pound on the enemy. This is a very effective tactic to take out enemy bases while protecting your Tanks from melee or other close-range units. Refer to the screenshots (coming soon) for additional help.

Grind along the Brown base, breaking their Turret and bunker defenses as you go. After you've finised the whole place off, bring some SCVs and start another base near the huge resource deposits in the northwestern corner of the base. Take your remaining units and station them northeast of the Vespene Geyser. The enemy will hit this spot repeatedly throughout the mission, but if you have your Tanks in Siege Mode you should be fine. In the second base, build a second Armory and a second Factory to speed up research and production. A second Barracks and Starport are not necessary, but helpful. Also, at this time build a Science Vessel--it will come in very handy later. Then take either Duke or some ground units and clean up the Missile Turrets and the Starport on the raised platform near the second base.

You should have a lot of money coming in now. Use it to upgrade everything for your units and to build up a force of 3 Ghosts, 2 Nukes, a Science Vessel, 2 to 4 Dropships, and 12 of each of the following units: Marines, Wraiths, Goliaths, and Siege Tanks. Train another group of 12 Marines, but don't feel obliged to hotkey them as they won't be in your final attack group. Obviously, all of this will take some time to accomplish (that's why you have two Factories, right?), so during the downtime feel free to explore the rest of the map (don't get close to the enemy bases on the corners of the map, though) and harass the enemy with light skirmishes and Yamato strikes.

A thing you must do during this time: clear all Missile Turrets on the platform east of your second base. To do this, set up some Siege Tanks close to the ledge. Then move a Science Vessel near it until you can see a bunker or the Turrets themselves. Since the Vessel is spotting for them, Siege Tanks can fire on the targets. Continue moving down the entire platform this way.

Here's a very good light attack to attempt on the Orange base during the downtime. You need those 12 Marines that you didn't hotkey, a Ghost with Ocular Implants and Personnel Cloaking, 2 or so SCVs, 2 Dropships, a Nuke, and the Norad II. Load everyone into Dropships and fly the small fleet to the platform you should already have cleared of Turrets. Unload the SCVs on this platform. Then have the Dropship with the Ghost unload him just beyond it, on the lower ground. Immediately Cloak the Ghost, and cautiously move him forward until the Factory is in sight. Now move back until the Factory is shrouded by Fog of War, then press N (with the Ghost selected) and left-click on it. Your Ghost will automatically paint the target from a range that won't get him killed by the Nuke. Right after the Nuke hits, bring in the 12 Marines and Duke to finish the Factory off. Then have Duke retreat and be repaired while beating back attacks while the Marines, as a suicide force, all StimPack to do the most damage possible before dying.