StarCraft: Brood War/Zerg Mission 5: True Colors

The first six minutes
When you start this level, be prepared for a long and difficult battle. The mission starts with three lurkers destroying some Terran and Protoss forces. Then the Lurks will go into a Zerg base to the centre north of the map. This is your base (the enemy bases will also appear on the minimap shrouded by the fog of war). Meanwhile a six minute counter will begin. During the six minutes the enemy does not produce any new units and they don't attack unless you attack them. However after the six minutes are over they will send a huge army to destroy you, so quickly build up a strong economy—for now just put your drones gathering minerals and start producing new ones.

Meanwhile, burrow two Lurkers to the west of your base (they can only attack while they are burrowed and they can be morphed from Hydralisks after researching the upgrade at the Hydra Den) and send one Lurker along with your initial Zerglings and Hydras to the northern (and smallest) Protoss base. These should be more than enough to annihilate it, although it would be wise to build some more Hydras in your hatcheries. After that build four sunken colonies (these may be inadequate) to the west of your main base and make a Hatchery right where the Protoss base was. By now there should be a few seconds left on the timer so build three more sunken colonies and a spore colony at your new expo and turn one of your hatcheries into a Lair. During those six minutes you should have done three things: built a strong economy (meaning at least eight drones on minerals and three more on gas), built some defenses (that are mentioned above) and secured your first expo.

The first 6min are crucial to making the rest of the game a breeze. The key is to be aggressive enough to put them all out of action within 6min. Start both hatcheries building drones and continually boosting your economy.

You start out with 3 lurkers. Send them into the Terran base, they only have a com station on the middle-west command center, and after the com station is destroyed then your lurkers will be invincible.

Place the first lurker in the NW Terran base, to the west of the command center, this spot is out of visibility range of the towers, and the lurker can slowly destroy the command centre, workers, and any attempt at re-building their command centre.

The second lurker should go in the middle-west base next to the minerals to the west of the command centre. This spot is out of vision of the towers, and after your lurker destroys the command center then they will no longer have com-station, and so can’t detect your lurkers. They will com that lurker once, and then a bike will attack it, though the lurker can destroy the bike, and then the command center, putting their com system out of action. Leave your lurker there for the rest of the game, they will try to re-build their command center, only to have it destroyed. I never saw a science vessel in the game due to their economy being in such a poor shape.

There are a few options for the third lurker. Protos have observers, so it’s best to use it on the Terran. Though their southern base has watch towers next to their command center, so the lurker trick won’t work for the southern base. Luckily they have a nuclear silo there, so they can’t build a com station. My choice of location was in the NE corner of Terran middle-west base, next to the tower between the barracks and vehicle factory. The tower was destroyed within the 6min, leaving the lurker free to destroy the barracks and vehicle factory at will.

Now you start out with a nice force of 12 zerglings and 7 hydralisks; Send 6 zerglings to take out the 6 cannon towers and gateway in the NE base, then reinforce your main force assaulting the middle-east Protos base. Don’t bother attacking pylons, you don’t have time for that as you need to do as much critical damage in the 6min as possible, you can always destroy the non-essential buildings at leisure at a later time. Cannons are good to go for in the 6min as they are temporarily offline. Send a drone to build a hatchery at the NE minerals.

at the same time send 6 zerglings and 7 hydras to the Protos middle-east base. Take down the dragons and zealots that are guarding the base (they will retaliate when fired on), and then destroy their drones, nexus, 2 gateways(on NE side of the base), cannons(that aren’t retaliating, though it’s nice to get them out of the way for later). If you have time take some units towards the middle of the map and destroy the Protos gateway there. By removing their drones, nexus, and gateways it will buy you a lot of time after the 6min as they will have to re-build their unit producing buildings before commencing an assault. Do whatever damage you can do in that time(especially cannons), and retreat your force to your new NE base when the time runs out. You wont have time to destroy everything in the base, though the damage done makes a huge difference to their unit producing capabilities.

Now the Terran has a hopeless economy, stuck with one command center, and not being able to build another(due to lurkers), and the Protos has only their southern nexus, and only have gateways in their southern base, meaning they wont be producing units fast.

When you have about 2min left on the counter it’s good to lay down some defense. Start off with 6 sunken in each base covering the entrance, make about 3 lurkers at the western entrance of your main base at siege tank range from your sunken. Also 3 lurkers southern of your expansion. Leave an overlord out there too for ghost spotting. 3+ lurkers are an incredible defense, manicuring anything coming your way, and after the damage you’ve done to the enemy bases you wont be in for such a hard ride. Pull your attacking force back to your expansion (which takes most of the heat of their initial attacks) and build 6+ hydralisks at the end of the 6min to reinforce the main base.

Surviving the enemy wrath
The extent of the enemy wrath largely depends on how effective you were in the first 6min. If you sit on your bum for the first 6min then expect to be in for a rough ride. However if you played your cards right then the enemy’s “wrath” will be insignificant. I like to place 6+ sunken, 2 spore, 3+ lurkers (at siege tank range), an overlord for ghost spotting, and half a dozen hydralisks guarding the entrance of the base. The lurkers should fairly much finish off everything they send at you. Terran have no com station, so the lurkers are invincible, Protos will send a observer or two, though the overlord+ hydralisks will make short work of the observer.

Terran will have a weak economy due to only having one command center, and no way of detecting lurkers, thus siege tanks will be rendered obsolete in attempting to attack your base. They can be somewhat ignored after you have sufficient defense as their crippled economy makes them little threat. Therefore I turn my attention onto finishing off the Protos.

The Protos is also significantly weakened, with only one nexus in the lower area of the map, and only gateways in their southern base. This means that once you have solidified your defenses you can straight away push out from the NE expansion and finish off the buildings in their middle-east base. Of course they will try and re-build their nexus and gateways, but this buys you enough time that you can press for a 2nd attack and finish off the rest of the base that you didn’t have time to destroy in the first 6min. Protos will probably have a nice force of zelots etc. at their middle-east base, you can use a couple of units with burrow to lure them into the nearby lurker trap at the entrance to your base. Then follow with a hydralisk retaliation to finish off the final buildings in their base by about 10min into the game.

Meanwhile, start upgrading; Research Overlord upgrades and the upgrades in the Hydra den. Also Carapace and Ranged attacks from the Evolution chamber should be at least at Level 2. Turn your Lair into Hive, build a Spire then turn it into a Greater Spire. Also, during this, don’t stop making Hydralisks. When you have 36 of them, attack the second Protoss base at the centre east. The Protoss will put some resistance and they may even destroy your Hydras, but don’t fret about it—a second attack with 20 or so Hydras should finish that base off. Construct a third base there and put three Sunken colonies and two Spore colonies along with some Hydras and Lurkers for defense.

Killing Fenix
After you destroy that Protoss base, the remaining Protoss may send a few Carriers and a Reaver or two to retake it, but after that their attacks completely die off. By that time you probably don’t have any resources left in your main, so quickly move some drones to the new expansion. Then make a force of 48–60 Hydras (the more the better) and 12 Guardians (Air Attack and Armor upgraded to at least Level 2)for the assault on the final Protoss base. Important: before that, make one Queen and research the Spawn Broodling ability at the Queen’s nest. Then send that Queen to the small peninsula north of the Protoss base. There you will find two Photon cannons and Fenix.

When he is discovered, he will speak to Kerrigan and then the game will continue. Quickly use the Queen to broodling Fenix. After that, another conversation between Kerrigan and Raynor will take place. When it is over, move your Queen back to your main and start the invasion. Rush all your Hydras at once and annihilate any Cannons, Zealots and Dragoons that stand in your way. Then move your Guardians to take care of any annoying Reavers and High Templar. After the defences are broken, just let your units run amok (although if there are any Archons and Carriers it would be wise to focus fire on them first). The Protoss base won’t last too long. Next build up another expo there and some defensive structures near the bridge that leads to the main Terran base.

Destroying the first Terran bases
Leave behind a force of 12 Hydralisks and move the rest of the units back to your main. If you have lost any Guardians, then rebuild the force and send it along with 24 Hydras and two Overlords (to detect Spider mines) to the northern Terran base. Rush in all your units at once and focus fire on any Tanks, Bunkers or Goliaths that try to fight you and destroy the enemy Barracks first. After that base is annihilated, the mission becomes considerably easier. The enemy Terran force practically stops attacking you and they don’t produce more units because of the lack of resources. Rebuild any lost Guardians and make a new Hydra force of 36–48 units. Change the Rally points of all your Hatcheries to where the Terran base was. Also, at that point all the upgrades at the Evolution chamber (except the Melee attacks which isn’t needed)and in the Greater Spire should be at Level 3.

Before attacking the second Terran base, build a force of 24 Scourges, which will need later. Then make more and more Hydras (for the attack on the third base). Then send the 12 Guardians and the 36–48 Hydras to the second Terran base and don’t forget the Overlords, as this base is full of Spider mines. Again focus fire on the Tanks and Bunkers first then everything else. Move your Overlords to the southern part of the base, because most of the Spider mines are there and they should be killed with Guardians.

Killing Duke
After this base is history, move all your Hydras and Scourges there. Then hotkey the Scourges in two groups and send them north of the last Terran base. There you will find Duke, two Wraiths and two Battlecruisers. Again a short conversation will occur. When it is over send all your Scourges at Duke. 24 should be enough to bring him down (his Battlecruiser, the Norad III, has 2,000 HP). Wait for the conversation between Mengsk and Kerrigan to finish and build 12 more Scourges. Hotkey them in two groups of six Scourges each and send them where Duke was. Each group should take care of one of the Battlecruisers stationed there. Then select 60 Hydras (if you don’t have them, morph some new ones in your Hatcheries) and load them all in Overlords. Drop them near the place you killed Duke and the two Battlecruisers. Kill any Wraiths that are visible and then move in your Guardians.

Just like before, rush all your forces at once but try to lead with the Guardians this time. They should take care of any Tanks and Bunkers while the Hydras go for everything else. There may be some more Battlecruisers, so kill them quickly with your Hydras. If you have any Scourges left, move them in as well. This base is very easy to take down after you break their first line of defence. However, if this force fails in taking the last Terran base, make 36–48 more Hydras to finish it off. If the mission doesn’t end after annihilating that base, may be you have missed an enemy structure or two. Search the map with your Guardians and the ending dialogue should begin.