StarCraft/Terran mission 3: Desperate Alliance: Difference between revisions

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If you can manage to wipe out the Hydralisk Den in the upper left hand corner, it should be easier to take out the base as they will no longer have Hydralisk reinforcements.
If you can manage to wipe out the Hydralisk Den in the upper left hand corner, it should be easier to take out the base as they will no longer have Hydralisk reinforcements.
''''''Alternative Strategy: Guardsman Bass''''''
Although this can be difficult if this is your first time playing Starcraft, this strategy can be quite fun - even after they create the army.
What you need to do is get mining, immediately. Send your SCV over to the burning bunker to fix, but while that is going on, get building scvs. I recommend that you hotkey your command center on hotkey "0"; to do this, simply hold the "ctrl" button on your keyboard and press "0". From then on, when you click on "0", it will be as if you had click on your command center. Do this for your barrack(s) (you will be building two), and if you build it, your ComSat station.
Here's a trick with the "Aggressive Assault" strategy. Bring down all the random marines from the walls, and make sure your starting bunkers are full (4 marines each). Hotkey the gathered marines left under hotkey "1"; you can use them to help protect your base while you build the attack force. Continue building SCVs at your command center, and build a refinery and SCVs to mine it (you need the gas for firebats, and you MUST research the U-238 Range upgrade at your engineering bay). Keep building marines, then firebats when you are ready; ideally you want 2 marines for every 1 firebat, because the computer will use mutalisks (air units) in this mission, and only marines can hit them. When you get a force of 12 (all you can select), put them in a force group (meaning "hotkey them on to a number you can click quickly"), and keep building the next force group.
While this is going on, get your defenses ready. You don't need to build additional bunkers at the entrance if you pull off the attack successfully, so instead make sure they are filled with marines, and repaired regularly by SCVs. Build two missile turrets in a clump near your mineral patch, but make sure NOT to block off the path to the back minerals for your SCVS; that can really slow down your mining. On the top entrance to your base, build supply depots around the front of your bunker so that they form a wall one supply depot deep blocking off the enemies from hitting your bunker. Don't put the supply depots too far forward, otherwise the comps will attack them. Around your bunker, build at least two missile turrets, clumped together. At the south entrance, build two supply depots to force the enemy to go through a narrow passage, but DO NOT block off the entrance; this is where your guys will be leaving. Build a ComSat station at your main base (it's an attachment to your command center; click on the command center and you'll see the option to build it). You can use the Command Center to scan areas of the map, and you'll want this to figure out where the comp's structures are at (principally, the Hatchery).
When you have two mixed force groups of marines/firebats, take them out the south entrance, and using the "Attack" command, send them straight out from the entrance towards the north-center of the map. It helps if you built a ComSat station first to scan - that way, you can see what structures are where. Make sure to keep your force together; scattered marines and firebats are food for zerg. Once you have identified the Hatchery, use the Attack command, and send your forces at it (DON'T click on the Hatchery with it - they'll go straight for the Hatchery ignoring everything else. Click on an open area behind it, so that they attack everything on their way there.)
They will probably meet fierce resistance in the form of zerglings, hydralisks, and mutalisks, but the two force groups are pretty tough for this mission. Make sure while this is going on to continue building marines and firebats using the hotkeyed barracks back at your base; you'll probably need reinforcements to make sure your main force always has at least two force groups' worth of guys. An extra trick is to build a second force group and send it at zerg structures away from the hatchery, so that it will divide their forces.
Once you have destroyed the hatchery and surrounding structures in its "clump", the rest is mopping up. Using the ComSat station to scout, send your forces around using the Attack Command to kill what's left of the Zerg on the map. Then relax - you've effectively won this mission, and you can simply wait for the clock to run down.
You don't have to do the above; you can simply sit tight under massive defenses and wait out the clock. However, doing the above is good practice against the Zerg you will have to fight later in this campaign, since the Zerg both attack and produce new units. It's also good practice for both cordoning off chokepoints (the key to Terran defense), and using multiple production structures to build up forces of guys. 


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