I finally finished Starcraft, after a two-year hiatus. I got burnt out on it before when it got tough toward then end. But in replaying Warcraft II, I discovered that you could use CTRL to select all the nearest units of one kind, and CRTL + a number to hotkey those units to that number. I got through Warcraft II and the expansion and most of Starcraft without knowing this. So, this time, I happened to actually breeze through Starcraft. Until…
The seventh Protoss mission, which I remembered as being pretty tough last time. After I discovered that my awesome air force was out-classed by both of the Conclave’s camps, whose units I could just barely keep out of my own camp. I really did not want to have to start the map over and go through this whole struggle again. The Starcraft Battle Chest (did I mention it was $9.99 at Best Buy?) came with the Prima Strategy Guide, so I broke down and looked this mission up. Prima’s advice was a micromanagement nightmare – build these, take over this area, patrol this – and it was too late to follow any of it anyway because I was out of minerals.
Then I noticed that the map they included said “Destroy this Nexus.” What, that one Nexus was the `Heart of the Conclave?’ I sent my two-dozen fliers in, ignoring everything and making a mad run for the one Nexus, and blew it up. Mission ends.
If all I really had to do was blow up one building, why the hell didn’t the book just come out and say so? And then it turns out that I had completed this mission before, because I remembered the ending. I can’t imagine how I managed to do it, with no hot keys and not knowing which Nexus to blow up, but I can clearly see why this mission broke my will to carry on.
After that, all of the sudden I can build carriers, which made the rest of the game easy. Prima’s guide says that carriers are the most powerful weapons in the game, and that you should send a couple into battle whenever you have the chance. What they don’t say is that carriers Fucking Mop Up, and that you should send a couple Dozen into battle, and not bother with anything else. I sent in sixteen to take out the Zerg Overmind, and even at that, I was getting smoked, but this time I knew I really only needed to nork one thing, and when I found it, I made gibbs out of it in nothing flat. End of game.
In light of Prima’s bullshit advice, I’d like to offer my own, simpler strategy guide:
Johnny Angel’s Starcraft Strategy Guide
When the scenario begins, mine like crazy, and keep building proles until you feel quite sure you’re mining like crazy. Then start throwing up any kind of building the scenario allows you to build. If the enemy fucks with you, dispatch them with whatever troops you were given to start with. If they seem locked into a pattern of fucking with you, build a line of death with whatever defenses are currently available. Remember: four towers are better than one. Concentrate upgrades and troop building on your best available unit, which usually means your flyers. Most every scenario can be beaten with just flyers. They can go anywhere without regard to terrain, and they don’t get in eachother’s way. Upgrades can be slow, so build extra upgradeable buildings to cut the time it takes to achieve supremacy down considerably. Build 2-4 dozen and upgrade them to the fullest extent of the law, and hot key them. You may wish to have them sitting in places where they can defend your base while you wait. When you run low on resources, look for more. Sometimes this means smearing some other clan first, in which case, see below.
When you have enough units that you think you’re superbad, pick a spot and muster all your troops there. Now it’s time to wade into the enemy’s camp. Attack one target at a time with all units until it pops. Destroy immediate threats such as towers and shooters right away, and then destroy buildings that allow the enemy to rebuild a threat to you, such as bunkers, and lastly, whomp the shit out of any building that provides for upgrades before moving out of the area. If it’s a scenario where you really only need to destroy one thing, then probably you won’t be able to actually wipe anybody off of the map, so find the bullseye as soon as possible, and lay into it, damn the torpedoes.
In dungeon-crawl scenarios, just wander around, saving frequently. You’ll eventually fumble your way through them.
That’s it. I could go scenario-by-scenario, with maps, but this general scheme works for all of them – I’ve playtested it. Prima charges $20 for its relatively useless strategy guide, but you can have my advice for free. Hey, if you feel like sending me $5, it’s still a bargain.
By the way, none of this bullshit will work in multiplayer.
