Flags in the Dust (StarCraft campaign)

[Andrea Rosa]

INITIAL TESTS INDICATE...

THAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE...

"For God's sake, Commander, I asked you to keep an eye

on Dr. Martens, not to indulge his own whims."

- General Edmund Duke

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BACKGROUND INFO

The time frame of Flags in the Dust is set immediately after the events narrated in Shadow of the Xel'Naga by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta (in other words, roughly after the fall of the Overmind and before the arrival of the UED Fleet). Reading the aforementioned novel is not a strict prerequisite for playing this campaign, since the shared narrative elements are summarized in the mission briefings.


THE STORY

A Wraith squadron roars high in the fierce sky above Augustgrad as you prepare to board a small interplanetary shuttlecraft. As a Dominion high-ranking official, you hoped for a better accommodation, maybe a suite in a Behemoth-class Battlecruiser, but apparently there isn't much traffic to and from Landorin. Shading your eyes against the glare, you watch the Wraith formation disappear behind the massive structures located in the core of the city, grab your hand luggage, and head for the shuttle hatch. Competent hands guide you into your small but comfy stateroom, where you will spend the next twenty hours, such is the time needed to reach the godforsaken Outer Colony of Landorin. Diligently, you take some time to review your assignments: your task is to oversee the scientific research program of Epsilon Squadron and give assistance to their chief of staff, Dr. Philip Martens. According to the files in your possession, the Doctor had relocated his Squadron to the outlying planet of Landorin after having suffered a catastrophic defeat on Char at the hands of the Zerg, as a result of which their armored divisions were completely wiped out - the fact that Epsilon Squadron had armored divisions in the first place had always sounded strange to you, after all weren't those guys supposed to do science? Your rationality had always kicked in, telling you the harsh truth: apart from the upscale civilian lifestyle, every kind of activity in the Koprulu Sector demands for a hefty backup of weapons, just in case. As for the Doctor, he was a curious anomaly within the Terran Dominion because of his Confederate past - but then again, the same was for General Duke. However, while Duke had been somewhat coerced in joining the cause of Korhal, it was rumored that Martens had been personally appointed by Emperor Mengsk, who insisted for the renowned scientist to maintain his position at the head of Epsilon Squadron. Go figure, politics will always be weird. You close your eyes and smile at this thought. Eventually, you nod off to the low hypnotic hum of the shuttlecraft. "Scientific research, test tubes, sticky and disgusting samples, high-ranking nerds... man, this is going to be boring as hell", you mutter to yourself before falling asleep, completely unaware of the nightmare that is about to unfold on Landorin.


TECHNICAL INFO

Flags in the Dust was designed to be played with StarCraft 1.16.1: all visuals and text formatting are optimized for the native version. Compatibility with StarCraft Remastered is assured, even though some terrain features will not look as originally intended. It is very important to play this campaign in ORIGINAL mode, because the setting and gameplay mechanics don't call for Brood War units and technologies.


SCREENSHOTS

--- Click to expand ---

It's show time for Epsilon Squadron

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The Doctor will see you now

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Such a bad boy

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Y'all need science

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Don't move, don't speak, even whisper

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This isn't going to end well

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Buckle up, it's gonna be a rough ride

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Close encounters of the spooky kind

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Yet another panic attack kicking in

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Kill 'em on sight, you'll be doing them a favor

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I'm not going to clean up this mess

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Heroes save the day with daring acts

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GET TO KNOW LANDORIN

--- Click to expand ---

Semi-major axis: 1.19 AU

Eccentricity: 0.087

Orbital period: 486 d

Rotation period: 26h 18m

Equatorial diameter: 7650 km

Moons: 1 (Alterra)

Fourth planet in its system, Landorin orbits a K-type subgiant star. Its surface is covered for 80% by water, and most

of its landmasses are merged into a supercontinent. Geological activity is very low, with no active volcanoes present and

very few earthquakes detected: this suggests that plate tectonics might have come to a halt, and that the supercontinent

will never split up again. As one of the most outlying Terran colonies, Landorin played a minor strategic role during the

Guild Wars, when it was disputed between the Confederacy and the Kel-Morian Combine, and it was later absorbed by the

Terran Dominion. Landorin has one natural satellite, Alterra, which is remarkably large compared to its host planet.

NOTABLE PLACES

Port Yosemite

Situated at the mouth of the Albion river, the island city of Port Yosemite is the main settlement of

Landorin. With a population of about 175,000 representing 30% of the planet's inhabitants, Port Yosemite

is a growing community, and is colloquially referred to as ''The Biggest Little City in the Terran Dominion''.

The Outback

To the east of Port Yosemite lies the Outback, a sparsely populated area made up of grassy woodlands

and gravel plains that gradually blend with the much more arid Rabu Desert. The Outback is where Dr. Martens

and Epsilon Squadron have established their new research lab and headquarters.

Rabu Desert

Located further east from Port Yosemite and the Outback, this desert has long been the place where the criminals

of Landorin were exiled. This turned out to be a double-edged sword when those criminals banded together forming

organized gangs of marauders, but the recent arrival of Epsilon Squadron should keep them in line from now on.

Swamps of Tiglartanooga

This inhospitable swampland is an important physiographic region of Landorin. Its wetlands and flatlands are bounded

by prominent rocky ridges. Rainwater percolates down through the soil to replenish the local aquifer system,

the primary source of drinking water for the inhabitants of Port Yosemite.

High Karst Plateau

The northern portion of Landorin's supercontinent is dominated by these highlands, a harsh and unforgiving territory of

ancient mountains, some of which are over three billion years old. The sourhern foothills of the High Karst Plateau reach

as far as the area of Port Yosemite, and most of the materials used for constructing the city come from this region.

Rhanatoa Islands

The pride of Landorin's fledging tourism industry, this tropical archipelago offers lush vegetation, iconic sights,

crystal blue seawater, and radiant silica sand beaches. The Rhanatoa Islands are also marked as a resource-rich

area of Landorin, even though no effort has yet been made to tap such potential.

Katakis Space Station

A former strategic outpost during the Guild Wars, this space station has been restructured and modernized by Dr. Martens

and his crew to serve as a multi-purpose orbital facility. Highly modular in nature, it can be combined with auxiliary

space platforms. Among its many functions, the station serves as the central node for Landorin's satellite network.

FEATURES

ADVANCED TERRAIN - A huge amount of work went into map design and tile editing, in order to craft natural-looking landscapes and visually-appealing spots: the stunning sights of Landorin will remain in your mind for a long time.
DIVERSE GAMEPLAY - Flags in the Dust encompasses many gameplay styles, ranging from classic RTS, to micromanagement, hybrid melee, survival, stealth, boss fights, and more. All of this in just six action-packed scenarios.
AN IMMERSIVE STORYLINE - In line with my previous campaigns, the storyline is consistent with the SCBW canon, while still presenting original elements and nods to popular culture, with an emphasis on character portrayal, interaction and development. Engaging mission objectives both integrate and define the storyline, giving each scenario a unique feeling.
CHALLENGING BATTLES - Standard AI scripts, combined with variable, multi-layered forced attacks and scripted events, attack relentlessly, testing your reaction time, accuracy and adaptability. Blindly charging ahead will often result in disaster, as you are required to devise the appropriate strategy for each fight.


CREDITS

PLAYTESTERS: C(a)HeK, Jon Gunnar Olafsson, Luis Calderari, stalwart ghostess
TECHNICAL CONSULTANT: Luis Calderari
SFX ASSISTANT: stalwart ghostess
MUSIC COMPOSER: Yasuhisa Watanabe
SMOKE AND MIRRORS: Bik75
ORIGINAL ARTWORK: CreationKeeper
MAIN SPONSOR: Pr0doggo, the #1 Roverlisk chow!
QUALITY ASSURANCE: Adolf Hitler, Genghis Khan, Iosif Stalin, Nero, Saddam Hussein

Special greetings to City, David Kang, Eredalis, IlyaSnopchenko, JumpStart, Nekron, Omen, Stanislav Gavrilov, Zergy, Zincoshine


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[Eredalis]

It took a while to find time for the campaign, but I could finally start it over the last weeks.
I was smiling again to encounter Dr. Martens, since he found in my Anniversary Campaign a pretty unglorious death.

Flags in the dust - review

Some thoughts before starting the first mission: As to expect, this campaign couldn't get anything else than hot damn good. And by my beard, it is! Working now for so many years with the campaign editor of Starcraft, having all those extremely outstanding experience in mapping, creating, developing, I didn't expect nothing else than a another jewel from you.

And again you've absolutely impressively proved with Flags in the dust that an awesome campaign has absolutely nothing to do with having fancy modding shenanigans, rather with an well sense for a storyline, fine core gameplay aspects without alterations which let Starcraft only looking weird, and instead of blink-blink a campaign that works with the actual game assets. I like that very much, quite frankly from the start since I've put the first time my hands on one of your great campaigns.

As always, I used Starcraft: Remastered to play your campaign. It worked very well so far.


MISSION 1
Did I mention before that all your campaigns really feels like another installments of the Enslavers campaign? And this great feeling starts with Flags in the dust, too... This time we go deeper into the characters which you added to your enhanced Enslavers universe, and if one have played all three previous campaigns, you are immediately in the middle of the events which have take place before.

So I will not lose too much words of the terrific storyline you fleshed out again, that is up to everyone to find out by themselves. Primarily I will give you again my 2 cents of my experience playing the actual gameplay, so that you can probably gain some informations and make some tiny adjustments.

The main objective and the overall design of mission 1 is excellent and well made. Having this Hive and those Zerglings (aka the Roverlisks from Shadow of the Xel'Naga) available is so cool and it makes so much fun to unleash them over the enemy over and over again. The enemy resistance is well balanced, the resources are perfectly set up, in fact you have to fight for conquering another expansion point. I like how well you've set up the opponents again by only using the standard campaign scripts. I said it numerous times before, those are so stiff and at parts nasty, that it makes hard to use them in an certain environment for a scenario. As a designer, you have to always keep in mind their flaws and ticks, and you did a great job to build around those obstacles. I needed an hour and 40 minutes to beat the mission.


MISSION 2
Well, the difficulty increases a lot in mission 2. Not only because fighting against Protoss while you have to control the Terrans is always a tough endeavor, but when scripted attacks comes in as addition, the shits are going through the rooftop. With that said, I found myself several times kicked in the ass by the onslaught of the Dark Templars, which sliced my base like it was made out of butter.

The scripted attacks begin very early, though. In fact, one single mistake and you are done in the beginning. I would always prevent something like that in my maps, especially in such a early mission, or let's say in such a early stage of the campaign. Such a forced "just try again until you got it right" situation is more fitting for a last mission, or a forelast mission. But anyway!

Since your missions are quality, not quantity, one has to keep in mind that the campaigns doesn't contain much missions, rather every mission here is big and will take its time. This lesson in mind I tried the beginning of mission 2 until there is no tomorrow, I think after a half dozen times I finally got it under control. As soon as I felt I can withstand the following harassment of the Protoss, I realized it's not really easier to hold the defence, which got wiped out quite some times. A save/load mini game was the consequence, and at some parts I felt a bit annoyed of that. It was satisfying, though, when I finally had the mission under control.

The neat little things, like the problem with the science facility, or the benefits of the vessels, are just fitting perfectly in. It is possible to gain the upper hand of this mission 2, and when I say that, one can bet your ass on it. Cause I am for sure one of the most inadequate players in the entire Starcraft universe...

I needed for this mission nearly 2 hours. It took me much time and several days to complete the mission. Sometimes I had to reload, cause the random attacks of the AI protoss in combination with the scripted ones hit me very often very hard. And after that I found myself mostly with the face in the mud..

The resources are well balanced. It is necessary to expand, but everything stand and falls with the detection of the Dark Templar, which can get your worst nightmare in this mission. Overall, great second mission.


MISSION 3
What did I said about the start of a mission? I don't like save/load as a mini game?!
Well, in mission 3 this feature goes one step further. But highly impressive, that is for sure. Getting hunted by Mutalisks and unload your shit of the Dropship as quick as possible, keeping the units alive and build up as fast as you can a defence, that is so cool! It is satisfying when you finally got it. And the following attacks aren't lesser, is quite steady. But absolutely well adjusted, here I thought: "Man, Andrea... Great job, dude! Nobody tells you anymore how to adjust a scenario design."

What brings me shortly to the layout design of the campaign: Like in the three campaigns before, the layout of the maps is again just gorgeous. I know that you was using only StarEdit in the three campaigns before, but you demonstrated how it is possible to create beautiful maps with intriguing gameplay by only using StarEdit. SCMDraft is a great editor, but personally I was always afraid to use it a bit. Because it can easily happen to create game breaking stuff without noticing it, at least that was my experience at some point.

But you nailed the layout once again right to the spot.

After the action loaded start sequence I had all hands full to do to stay alive and withstand the waves of Zerg attackers. It took again some tries until I got it right and could operate on the map, but here I found my first point to mention: the resources are not quite enough! They are, if you concentrate on the main objective. But they aren't enough when you try to complete the side objective. Obliberate the two main broods? With stones and leafs?!

My suggestion is simply to increase the two expansions a bit: add to the left another geyser and to the right expansion some mineral blocks. Right now it is not enough, for my taste. I could hardly exploring the map by getting hit by another attack wave at my main base, which costs me much on repairs and new units. Better players are probably able to handle this frequency of attacks, but when you offer me that secondary objective, my question is from where I can took the resources for that?

So this was my only problem, I was forced to ignore the secondary objective.

After 1 hour and 37 minutes, I completed mission 3. The remaining missions I will play during the next time.

[Eredalis]

MISSION 4
For some reason, I love Installation missions. <3
It reminds me somehow on April 1998, first time ever I played Starcraft, heading through the terran campaign Rebel Yell and being stunned by those dark blue tileset with all the green tanks in the walls, the computer terminals, the automatic doors with that cool animation when they openend/closed and the necessity to control only a few units right in order to beat the mission. Great memories!

The mission 4 itself is awesome! It is falling totally out of the previous raster, I was expecting a 192x192 mission with a playtime of 1,5 hours, plenty of enemies and saving until the ram bars explodes... But no! I expected something else, obviously.

It is a fine and well designed indoor mission with exactly the right adjustments. I don't like it when mappers think they have to go crazy in an Installation map with shitting units onto the surface like diarrhea... Mission 4 of the Flags campaign does it right: Only few units, but always a challenging combating environment. Spiced with some automatic gunfire traps, not too much and not too few. Also the layout of the floors are incredibly good and senseful designed. It is a 128x128 map, but one will need time to make progress. (The tiles on the wall, I guess every serious map designer develops this tick that you really start to click until you made every tile look the same. )

Sometimes I had to rest a bit with my units and had to wait until the Ghosts had recovered their energy. I like the ambushes of the Marine squads, once alerted they try to hunt you down. The cloaking of the own Ghost units is very useful here: The enemy has no chance against your Ghosts, except a ground cannon is nearby. That opens strategic planning how to surpass such obstacles, which brings me to the little boss fight...

The redhaired sniper girl with the vicious laughing was a witch in universal scope. This cowardly fighting style with retreating when she entered my gunfire radius, I could say mens are used to that in real life (lol), but here it was about to who kills whom first... So I did my best to use my nearly non-existent micro abilities and try to hit the little snake. After the ground cannon was deactivated by the Lockdown ability, the lady suffered a nice little payback and I finally got my key card.

In the last part of the mission, only my Ghost units survived. The amount of enemies killed all my Marines. So I sneaked through until I reached the terminal and then I could enjoy the final movie sequence.

A great installation map.
Cannot wait to play the remaining missions...

[Andrea Rosa]

Aw, thank you very much for your flattering words and for playing the campaign, Eredalis. I'm glad to know that you find it entertaining, and I read your remarks with great attention. No wonder I would have liked to have you in my team of playtesters, but unfortunately you were inactive during the development phase. Oh well, I can still benefit from your wisdom now.

Coincidentally, I've just posted an update that probably fixes some of the things you have mentioned: I suggest you to re-download the campaign before playing the final mission, as I've made some adjustments. Needless to say, I will publish further updates if you stumble on some bug or other problem.

And here's my feedback to your feedback:

I was smiling again to encounter Dr. Martens, since he found in my Anniversary Campaign a pretty unglorious death.

Well, not to spoil anything, but as you've probably guessed, it isn't going to end well for him here, either. All this because he couldn't stand being bullied by his boss.

Did I mention before that all your campaigns really feels like another installments of the Enslavers campaign? And this great feeling starts with Flags in the dust, too... This time we go deeper into the characters which you added to your enhanced Enslavers universe, and if one have played all three previous campaigns, you are immediately in the middle of the events which have take place before.

Actually this campaign has the least amount of new characters: with the exception of a Wraith pilot, who is intruduced late in the campaign, and a bunch of random guys in the briefing of Mission 3, all of the characters come from the Blizzard universe. Duke was the most challenging to replicate, because of his slang and grumpy attitude, but all in all I'm quite satisfied with the result.

I know that you was using only StarEdit in the three campaigns before, but you demonstrated how it is possible to create beautiful maps with intriguing gameplay by only using StarEdit. SCMDraft is a great editor, but personally I was always afraid to use it a bit. Because it can easily happen to create game breaking stuff without noticing it, at least that was my experience at some point.

This campaign, too, has been created with StarEdit. I use SCMDraft mainly for tile editing, and only after everything else is in place. There is one golden rule when it comes to using both editors: once the map has been processed by SCMDraft, it must no longer be edited with StarEdit, or the map might become corrupt. By the way, do you remember the glitch with the persistent creep in Champions of Khandia? It's a side effect of SCMDraft, but I've discovered how to prevent it: just avoid to pre-place creep-generating structures near minerals, use triggers instead. Amazing how nobody has ever noticed this problem.

everything stand and falls with the detection of the Dark Templar, which can get your worst nightmare in this mission.

Something that may go unnoticed is that the Dark Templar don't rush at your base (and expansions) like they did in Voices of the Swarm: they gradually gather at certain locations, resting there until they reach a certain number, and then they attack. If you happen to surprise them with your Science Vessels while they sit there, Irradiate can be quite lethal.

It took again some tries until I got it right and could operate on the map, but here I found my first point to mention: the resources are not quite enough! They are, if you concentrate on the main objective. But they aren't enough when you try to complete the side objective. Obliberate the two main broods? With stones and leafs?! My suggestion is simply to increase the two expansions a bit: add to the left another geyser and to the right expansion some mineral blocks. Right now it is not enough, for my taste.

Trust me, your five Battlecruisers are enough to wipe out the Blue and Orange bases, provided you adequately support them with Science Vessels (Epsilon Squadron discount is still in effect), and the more upgrades you have researched, the better. Just keep in mind that you might find Defilers in the Orange base, so taking out Blue first might be your best bet. In the new version that I've just uploaded, the resources have been slightly increased (probably not as much as you would have liked), but I've simply increased the existing ones: I don't plan on adding a third geyser, I want the two expansions to be different, so that both of them must necessarily be taken with the appropriate tactic.

The tiles on the wall, I guess every serious map designer develops this tick that you really start to click until you made every tile look the same.

Typically translated as "professional deformation" LOL

Sometimes I had to rest a bit with my units and had to wait until the Ghosts had recovered their energy. I like the ambushes of the Marine squads, once alerted they try to hunt you down. The cloaking of the own Ghost units is very useful here: The enemy has no chance against your Ghosts, except a ground cannon is nearby. That opens strategic planning how to surpass such obstacles, which brings me to the little boss fight...

There's plenty of energy recharges lying around, even though some of them are not in plain sight. Do you remember, approximately, how many recharges you were able to collect?

Just for fun: the next time you play this map, let the Paramedic guy run over of medical supplies, then persist in trying to heal more men, and enjoy his lame jokes

The redhaired sniper girl with the vicious laughing was a witch in universal scope.

LOL I have a feeling you were about to use a different word than "witch", but then you changed the first letter.

[Eredalis]

Aw, thank you very much for your flattering words and for playing the campaign...

Credit is given where credit is due.

No wonder I would have liked to have you in my team of playtesters..

Better not! You would go crazy with a bad player like me...

Needless to say, I will publish further updates if you stumble on some bug or other problem.

If you withdraw to your core base and abandoned your outer buildings, they get destroyed. But the sight is still there at those spots, I am sure those are still active map revealers, which haven't been deactivated. I doubt this is intended to be like this.

...it isn't going to end well for him here, either.

He is more mysteriously in my campaign, that is for sure. You only get a glimpse of his insanity, after it is already too late and the planet Brontes is getting overrunned by the Zerg. Anyway, I found the explanation why he is appearing in our both campaigns: Dr. Martens has cloned himself!

There is one golden rule when it comes to using both editors:

Yeah, mine was only use StarEdit and make some color changes with SCMDraft. Nothing more than this I dared to do...

By the way, do you remember the glitch with the persistent creep in Champions of Khandia? It's a side effect of SCMDraft...

I remember, and holy crap - what a reason! Confirms for me more not to use it...

Something that may go unnoticed is that the Dark Templar don't rush at your base (and expansions) like they did in Voices of the Swarm: they gradually gather at certain locations, resting there until they reach a certain number, and then they attack.

I noticed that. I crushed their gathering parties more than once in that mission with a sinister pleasure...

Trust me, your five Battlecruisers are enough to wipe out the Blue and Orange bases, provided you adequately support them with Science Vessels (Epsilon Squadron discount is still in effect), and the more upgrades you have researched, the better.

Hm, probably. But that is the only way then, another way is extreme hard until impossible. At least for me. This micromanagement is simply too much for me, and it gives me no pleasure to play. I don't want to lose any nerves when I play a campaign.

Typically translated as "professional deformation" LOL

Yep. I found myself wasting my time doing this sheet than building on the actual campaign back in the day.

There's plenty of energy recharges lying around, even though some of them are not in plain sight. Do you remember, approximately, how many recharges you were able to collect?

I know, and I used every single canister of them. I also found every canister, since I really explored every floor and secret area. It still wasn't enough, at least for me cucumber...

Just for fun: the next time you play this map, let the Paramedic guy run over of medical supplies, then persist in trying to heal more men, and enjoy his lame jokes

One can control this guy? I thought it's an NPC...

LOL I have a feeling you were about to use a different word than "witch", but then you changed the first letter.

I did. Actually two letters: G and L...

I have re-downloaded the campaign before playing mission 5 and 6.

MISSION 5
I was expecting the campaign becoming now difficult again.
And after some restarts, 5 or 6, I decided to attack player blue as early as possible. That is the key in this mission. After the blue player is wiped out, it becomes really easy. I really don't know if you should reconsider this. Otherwise the map is great. Enough turrets prevent the Zerg to attack at all, but after this preventive strike against blue, it is technically no challenge anymore. If I would have been in your tester team, I would had critized this the most, that's for sure...

MISSION 6
Unfortunately, mission 6 is too hard for me. I don't know how to beat it. The longest surviving was 27 minutes, but the combination of all attack waves are too strong for me. Thus I cannot complete this campaign... Sorry!

[Andrea Rosa]

If you withdraw to your core base and abandoned your outer buildings, they get destroyed. But the sight is still there at those spots, I am sure those are still active map revealers, which haven't been deactivated. I doubt this is intended to be like this.

It is intentional. The player is supposed to have full vision of the city area, regardless of the buildings. There are 40 or so map revealers that serve this purpose.

Anyway, I found the explanation why he is appearing in our both campaigns: Dr. Martens has cloned himself!

That seems perfectly legit LOL

Hm, probably. But that is the only way then, another way is extreme hard until impossible.

Yes, as far as I can tell, that is the only feasible way. It makes sense if you think about it, since the optional objective is only activated after Duke arrives.

One can control this guy? I thought it's an NPC...

No, you can't rescue him, but he will work for you. Did you find the narrow corridor in the area with the plasma explosions?

I did. Actually two letters: G and L...

Alright then, the next time I want to offend someone I'm gonna call him "son of a glitch".

And after some restarts, 5 or 6, I decided to attack player blue as early as possible. That is the key in this mission. After the blue player is wiped out, it becomes really easy. I really don't know if you should reconsider this.

Well, the map is actually meant to be played in a more conservative way, letting Blue expand on a couple of islands at least. If you managed to wipe out Blue in its infancy then you deserve my compliments, because there are some triggers that make this kind of approach quite problematic.

Unfortunately, mission 6 is too hard for me. I don't know how to beat it. The longest surviving was 27 minutes, but the combination of all attack waves are too strong for me. Thus I cannot complete this campaign... Sorry!

I'm sorry too. Yes, it is undeniably difficult and time-consuming, with lot of repairing and rebuilding. The best I can do is give you some advices, in case you want to try again. These hints will also be useful for other people who might be stuck on this mission.



- First and foremost, abandoning your defenses and turtling in your core base is NOT a good idea. One of my playtesters actually managed to beat the map by using such strategy, but I don't recommend it. The five bridges are choke points which, by definition, are easier to defend than open ground. If you shrink your perimeter, you give your enemies more room to operate around your base. Moreover, there are some defenses already built at the bridges, you only need to complete the fortification and set up a proper defense: this means at least two Bunkers for every bridge, defensive Tanks, one idle SCV at hand for quick reparations, and adequate detection where the Dark Templar are used to strike (see below).

- Bridge 1 is the only bridge that is never attacked by spawned units. Infested Terrans and Roverlisks will randomly target bridges 2, 4 and 5. Dark Templar will cyclically attack bridges 2, 3 and 4 (but they will change their attack patterns once you venture in the right part of the map, so be vigilant when you go there). The explosive damage of Infested Terrans has been cut in half for this mission.

- Bridge 1 is probably the best place for Duke, but it's also where the nukes will fall, so be prepared. This bridge was spared from spawned attacks, but it will be heavily hammered by the ground forces of the Terran AI (hence you need Duke's firepower). The Protoss AI will focus almost entirely on bridge 2. The Zerg AI is more erratic, but they will mainly attack bridges 1 and 2. As far as defending the city is concerned, most of the action takes place in the upper portion of it.

- Firebats are lethal against Roverlisks and Dark Templar, so make sure to have at least one in your Bunkers.

- When it comes to deciding where to build your second Command Center, prioritize the small mineral expansion over the pre-built Refinery: you need a lot of minerals to build your structures and stationary defenses.

- You always need a Wraith squadron (at least six plus Schaefer) at hand in the upper part of the city, because air attacks are particularly nasty there (Guardians, Carriers, Battlecruisers). Minor air attacks from the Zerg will occur to the south, the west coast must deal with sporadic air incursions by Battlecruisers, while the east coast usually has free skies. Your Wraiths will also be useful for hunting down the few Reavers that may be dropped by Protoss Shuttles. Schaefer becomes very strong when you upgrade him.

- The closest expansion is south of bridge 5: you will find some minerals there (but now you will have two new bridges to guard, let's say 5A and 5B, not shown in the above map, both of which are targeted by Infested Epsilon Squadron), and from there you can proceed further south and access another expansion with minerals and gas, and a chance at destroying one of the Infested Command Centers (save before you try that).

- Build multiple ComSat Stations, that's how you are supposed to scout in this mission (but reserve one, conveniently hotkeyed, for quickly detecting Ghosts).

- Of the three enemy forces, Terran is qualitatively the strongest, as they can reach level 3 upgrades, Protoss goes up to level 2, and Zerg has a meager level 1 (both Martens' Brood and Infested Epsilon Squadron). Once you reach level 3, you will be stronger than the Zerg and the Protoss (you should be able to reach this level with the resources available in the city), at level 5 you will easily steamroll all of your opponents. Taking down Martens is another story though, good luck with that.

- Don't be daunted by the difficulty: my four playtesters had vastly different skills, but eventually they all managed to beat this mission. Just take it step by step, and stay locked in until you feel strong enough to venture outside of the city (it might take up to one hour before you can do so, maybe even more). And never, never forget Science Vessels, even though you no longer have the Epsilon Squadron bonus - surely they are costly, fragile, and require micromanagement, but they give enormous advantages that go beyond the mere detection: Defensive Matrix is priceless in every situation, and Irradiate can distract large packs of Ultralisks when they are tightly congested on the bridges.

[Eredalis]

First things first, I found a interesting thing for your website: If you click with the middle mouse button on one of your links that leads to foreign sites, its brings you back to your own site. I guess that is a glitch of your used website software, since those delaying times comes by clicking with the usual left mouse button on a link, but I thought it is worth to mention.

Did you find the narrow corridor in the area with the plasma explosions?

Yes, like I said, I found everything. But I didn’t understand what you meant with that dialogue of the paramedic guy. Is that a real part of the scenario?

Alright then, the next time I want to offend someone I'm gonna call him "son of a glitch".

Yeah! Glitches are the common enemy of gamers.

Thanks for the tips. I will try some more runs. Though I don’t know if I suceed, or not…

Believe me, I tried several tactics. Mostly the one with holding the bridges, but after the battlecruisers start to harass, and then also the carriers starting to spread their infoceptors like diarrhea – it’s a classical GAME OVER MAN situation.

[Eredalis]

Just a quick side note: I have it under control... Though I am not done yet. Will complete it within the next two days.
I really don't know how I did it, since I was defeated for nearly a dozen times. Look:

► Show Spoiler

And BAAAM... the first of the four infested CC's is down. Right now they are all down, after my last saving.

► Show Spoiler

I am a PRO.

[Andrea Rosa]

First things first, I found a interesting thing for your website: If you click with the middle mouse button on one of your links that leads to foreign sites, its brings you back to your own site. I guess that is a glitch of your used website software, since those delaying times comes by clicking with the usual left mouse button on a link, but I thought it is worth to mention.

Oh, never noticed that. Just one of the many weird things of Bravehost.

Yes, like I said, I found everything. But I didn’t understand what you meant with that dialogue of the paramedic guy. Is that a real part of the scenario?

If you have gained access to the infirmary, then you have probably healed your men by bringing them to the Paramedic. You are allowed to heal up to 4 units (one at a time), after which the Paramedic will run out of medical supplies. If you try to heal additional units, the Paramedic will say that he only has aspirins. Repeat the operation several times, and the Paramedic will crack some health-related jokes. There are a few easter eggs in the campaign, this being one of them.

Just a quick side note: I have it under control... Though I am not done yet. Will complete it within the next two days.
I really don't know how I did it, since I was defeated for nearly a dozen times.

Well done mate, I knew you could make it! Now it's time to set some outposts outside of the city and gather the resources needed for the big fight.

This mission looks very intimidating for a variety of reasons, including the enclosed layout, but if you coldly analyze it, it's only slightly more difficult than the final mission of Champions of Khandia: once again you are up against three AIs, but this time they are not all Zerg, they are three different races. Infested Epsilon Squadron is a major annoyance, but their attacks are not that scary once your units have enough upgrades. Roverlisks looked so powerful in the first mission, largely because they were employed against enemies that did not upgrade past level 1.

Good strategy using Battlecruisers to destroy the Infested Command Centers - attacking them with ground units might be funnier, but it's also very dangerous, and not just for their triple tentacle attack: whenever you are nearby one of these structures, the frequency of spawned units triples, and they head straight to your attacking units, so Tanks need to be supported by units with rapid fire (either Marines or Goliaths).

Well, I can't wait to hear how the rest of the battle goes!

[Eredalis]

► Show Spoiler

MISSION 6
Considering on how often this map kicked me in the balls, I wasn't expecting to beat this map.
I always, always, always didn't paid enough attention to one of my heroes, and the AI is famous for hitting vicious attacks on them when they are more or less defenceless. So with my choosen tactics I wasn't successful at all: I bunkered myself down with several methods. Sometimes I used the chokepoints of the bridges, sometimes I pulled the units from the bridges away to my own base. This works too, by the way. If you building a strong defence line around your base, all enemy units are getting destroyed in the moment they come in sight. Only problem is that they drain you over the time since those second geyser and the few extra minerals are not really in reach.

The insane micromanagement in this map makes me crazy.
You are constantly jumping from one hotspot to another, and the amount of enemy units never seem to stop. It's like a roulette game and the wheel is constantly spinning until it starts all over again. It is really important on which place you put your heroes, especially Duke. His damage in siege mode is brutal, therefore he is able to one-hit every Ghost who wants to sheet nuclear missiles in your base. That helped a lot, that Duke killed them with one shot. So I recommend 11 o'clock defence point for Dukes position. Schaefer on the other hand is a answer to everything and everywhere. He helped to get rid of Reavers, which were able to sneak somehow into my inner base. The damage they did there...

After a lot of tries I realized that the only senseful strategy here is building Battlecruisers from the start. On 2 o'clock comes the most Protoss, since their base is in that direction. I positioned nearly a dozen Siege Tanks there, their concentraded Siege damage ripped every enemy unit in pieces with the blink of an eye. (Thank god the bridges can't be destroyed in Starcraft!) Bunkers are also very necessary, but the real joker in this mission are my beloved Turrets. <3 They do so much damage to all air units and they are so good in entangle enemy units in battles, which creates chaos for the AI in big time.

So a golden rule is just to build Turrets, Turrets, Turrets. I advice this everyone who wants to play this campaign, this saves a lot of stress... The two chokepoints below, namely on 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock... They aren't attacked so much like the two above. Three bunkers and an SCV, sometimes enemy Battlecruisers appears and try to destroy at 8 o'clock Turrets and Bunkers. I always used Schaefer to fight them back while several SCV's repaired his Wraith. After some time I had Ghosts and used Lockdown on the Battlecruisers to put them out the easy way.

The general amount of resources: I think that you should increase the amount of resources "just a little bit". Both minerals and gas. You have some wasted space in that big terran town there, and why not open another attack point which gets analyzed by the AI then as a possible target. What I mean is, I don't know if you know that, but the AI reacts different if you add another expansion point to a map which get used by the player. Right now the AI is mostly concentrating on getting over that bridges. But if you add another expansion inside the terran town complex (not big, maybe 4-5 little mineral blocks with a ratio of 100-500 mineral blocks inside them), the AI will act different and consider more attacks with air units to reach them.

This is a very big map, so the AI has much to do to analyze. You can help the AI to chose good targets, and since the Zerg have a colony in the south, it would make sense that you just add another little expansion into the south of the terran town. To lure the Zerg to that point, so to speak.

Why I recommend this? Because of several reasons:
1.) For my taste a "slightly" increase of minerals would do good to the available account of resources for all player types.
2.) When you use the Battlecruiser strategy it nearly becomes ridiculously easy again, since the big guns are shooting the sheet out of the enemies in seconds. That fact needs somehow a little tiny counterpart...
3.) It is the last mission and such a little tiny tweak would make it perfect.
4.) The stress level has to kept high.

So after I got 12 Battlecruisers together, it was time to start with the objectives.
First I targeted the Infested CC at 10 o'clock. Then the one at 8 o'clock, after that at 2 o'clock, finally this one at 4 o'clock.
After the Infested CC's were out of the way (cool thing with the Sunken/Spore attack of the CC's by the way), I vaporized the entire area in the south of enemy presence. By then the enemy attacks of the three core bases in the north were getting slower, since they were out of resources...

I attacked first the red terran base. My Battlecruisers cleaned the ground with the enemy units, by shooting them so quick into oblivion that I could write something on my phone... I pulled them once again back, though, for repairs. I was surprised as I noticed that some of the red hair witches appeared out of the bunkers. They even attacked me on my base: I was a bit speechless that the AI was using them as unit to attack. Unfortunately, they came into the reach of Dukes tank. And guess what the asshole did: he was shooting the poor girls into pieces:

► Show Spoiler

After Schezar was defeated, the protoss were next in line. The enemies tried to hold against, but over a dozen Battlecruisers is like a... well, you have the first and last word in every battle.

► Show Spoiler

The remaining Zerg colony was obligatory.
Infested Martens could also not do much to withstand against my big boys.
I liked very much this "boss battle". The Scourges were a fine idea and also the EMP field. Such fitting ideas is what makes you special as a map designer, I like that you always show such a fine sense of fitting technology coherences, the broken Science Facility in mission 2 is another example. Martens hit points let him live a little longer, but in the end his vessel explodes and completed the campaign.

It is a great piece of campaign art again that you delivered here. I really hope that you continue making campaigns like this. I would play them instantly.

[Andrea Rosa]

Considering on how often this map kicked me in the balls, I wasn't expecting to beat this map.

I commend your dedication and perseverance. You endured the pressure and overcame the frustration. As for me, I promise I will never make a map harder than Harvesters of Misery. At this purpose, maybe you wondered who these "harvesters" are... Well, everyone in this mission is a harvester of misery: Schezar, Martens and his unfortunate crew, Ulrezaj, and of course the player himself. In the end, everyone suffers and no one really wins, except for the harmless inhabitants of Landorin maybe.

I always, always, always didn't paid enough attention to one of my heroes, and the AI is famous for hitting vicious attacks on them when they are more or less defenceless.

I had a feeling this was the main reason behind your failed attempts, since it happens to me too when I play this map, especially with Schaefer, due to his tendency to chase fleeing Overlords up to their bases. Now I always remember to put him in Hold Position mode when I'm not controlling him.

On 2 o'clock comes the most Protoss, since their base is in that direction. I positioned nearly a dozen Siege Tanks there, their concentraded Siege damage ripped every enemy unit in pieces with the blink of an eye. (Thank god the bridges can't be destroyed in Starcraft!) Bunkers are also very necessary, but the real joker in this mission are my beloved Turrets. <3 They do so much damage to all air units and they are so good in entangle enemy units in battles, which creates chaos for the AI in big time.

Wow, that's a lot of Tanks. I usually use 5-6 Tanks to guard that spot, it's no surprise I always lose a lot of them in the process. Ans yes, Turrets are fundamental in this mission, provided one does not rely on them alone to fend off air attacks, since Carriers and Guardians appear quite frequently, and they easily outrange Turrets.

The general amount of resources: I think that you should increase the amount of resources "just a little bit". Both minerals and gas. You have some wasted space in that big terran town there, and why not open another attack point which gets analyzed by the AI then as a possible target. What I mean is, I don't know if you know that, but the AI reacts different if you add another expansion point to a map which get used by the player. Right now the AI is mostly concentrating on getting over that bridges. But if you add another expansion inside the terran town complex (not big, maybe 4-5 little mineral blocks with a ratio of 100-500 mineral blocks inside them), the AI will act different and consider more attacks with air units to reach them. This is a very big map, so the AI has much to do to analyze. You can help the AI to chose good targets, and since the Zerg have a colony in the south, it would make sense that you just add another little expansion into the south of the terran town. To lure the Zerg to that point, so to speak.

That is something I will have to carefully ponder. In theory, the pre-built Refinery in the southern part of the map should already mark a hotspot, or "town location", that is analyzed by the AIs to direct their attacks (maybe I'm wrong). During my playthroughs, I have seen the southern Zerg colony attack that area with Mutalisks, sometimes even with Guardians (which usually operate in the northern part of the map), and I have also witnessed some units being dropped there, but of course these raids were light and sporadic compared to the Zerg attack waves in the north. I'm not sure I want more action to take place in that part of the map, nevertheless I will take your suggestion into consideration for the next update.

For my taste a "slightly" increase of minerals would do good to the available account of resources for all player types.

Maybe a little more, just a little bit, because as you correctly mentioned:

When you use the Battlecruiser strategy it nearly becomes ridiculously easy again, since the big guns are shooting the sheet out of the enemies in seconds.

...And more resources would further facilitate this "Battlecruiser Gambit". I don't like the idea that players will automatically take that approach when they see how many resources are lying around in the city (one of my playtesters, C@HeK, completed the mission by building almost only Battlecruisers right from the start, but he has great micro skills so he could endure the siege without building many static defenses, and almost no Tanks. Crazy stuff!). I mean, it's okay, but I prefer to encourage players to assemble an assorted force like you did, a force in which Battlecruisers are one of the assets, and not the only asset. If I will decide to increase the resources, I will likely do it in the outer expansions only, so to not encourage more players to go all-in with BCs right from the start.

I was surprised as I noticed that some of the red hair witches appeared out of the bunkers. They even attacked me on my base: I was a bit speechless that the AI was using them as unit to attack.

It wasn't the AI, that would be black magic without modding LOL. Since heroes are quite sitting ducks by default, there are some triggers that order them to attack as soon as the Bunker which housed them is destroyed. You probably did not have units in their line of sight at that moment, so they headed directly to your base.

I liked very much this "boss battle". The Scourges were a fine idea and also the EMP field.

Again, using air units against Martens was a wise decision, as he has two distinct attack patterns: one involves Scourges, the other consists of individual Infested Terrans and small groups of Roverlisks. If you engage Martens with both ground and air units, he will use both attacks together.

It is a great piece of campaign art again that you delivered here. I really hope that you continue making campaigns like this. I would play them instantly.

Thank you very much Eredalis! It is the enthusiasm of people like you that fuels my work, people with a strong inner child who still love an old game released a quarter century ago. But you already know this, because you, too, are a veteran designer. Well, this was likely my last campaign for the original StarCraft. I would like to make something for Brood War, but I have no clear ideas at the moment, just some thoughts running loose. For example, I think what could happen if Mandelius (the antagonist Arbiter in CoK) somehow survived the destruction of the Conclave: when he was banned from Khandia, he was still in possession of the six crystals that could be used to summon the Psionic Hurricane...

Not much else to say. Thanks again for dedicating some of your time to these maps, and for your detailed feedback too!
Tausend Dank!