Starcraft II - Wings of Liberty Credit Usage ******************************************************************************* Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Credit Usage and Upgrade Guide Guide written by rossmacdaddy (SC2 - ArchAvis) for distribution on GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) Version 1.10 ******************************************************************************* Table of Contents I. Introduction [01.INTR] II. Armory Upgrades [02.ARMO] A. Base Upgrades [2A.BASE] B. Infantry Upgrades [2B.INFA] C. Vehicle Upgrades [2C.VEHI] D. Starship Upgrades [2D.STAR] E. Dominion Upgrades [2E.DOMI] III. Mercenary Contracts [03.MERC] IV. Laboratory Research [04.LABO] A. Protoss Research [4A.PROT] B. Zerg Research [4B.ZERG] V. Recommendations [05.RECO] A. Armory Upgrades [5A.ARMO] B. Mercenary Contracts [5B.MERC] C. Laboratory Research [5C.LABO] VI. Frequently Asked Questions [06.FREQ] ******************************************************************************* I. Introduction [01.INTR] The purpose of this guide is to help Starcraft II campaign players make good choices on how to spend their limited credits in the Wings of Liberty Campaign. As with any FAQ, these suggestions are my opinions and nothing more. After repeated playthroughs of the campaign, I've come to realize which upgrades are helpful, and which are mostly garbage. If you haven't played the campaign, here is the first thing you should know - the credits you earn in the Wings of Liberty Campaign are not enough to purchase all of the upgrades available to you. Here are the totals: 2,030,000 from mission rewards and bonus objectives (includes secret mission) 220,000 from excess research points sold to Mobius 2,250,000 maximum credits per campaign playthrough ******************************************************************************* II. Armory Upgrades [02.ARMO] A. Base Upgrades [2A.BASE] Bunker Projectile Accelerator 40,000 credits - Bunkered units get +1 range Neosteel Bunker 50,000 credits - Bunkers gain 2 additional capacity Missile Turret Titanium Housing 50,000 credits - Turrets gain +75 max life Hellstorm Batteries 80,000 credits - Turrets fire second volley of missiles for splash damage SCV Advanced Construction 60,000 credits - Multiple SCVs can build structures faster Dual-Fusion Welders 80,000 credits - SCV repair twice as fast Terran Building Fire-Suppression System 90,000 credits - Structures auto extinguish fire and repair to 50% life Orbital Command Center 125,000 credits - Enables use of Scanner Sweep and Calldown: MULE abilities TOTAL FOR BASE UPGRADES 575,000 credits B. Infantry Upgrades [2B.INFA] Marine Stimpacks 50,000 credits - Marines take damage / Fire and move 50% faster for 15 seconds Combat Shield 60,000 credits - Marines start with +10 more max life Medic Advanced Medic Facilities 60,000 credits - Medics no longer require the Tech Lab add-on Stabilizer Medpacks 105,000 credits - Medics heal targets 25% faster and use 33% less energy Firebat Incinerator Gauntlets 40,000 credits - Firebats gain a 40% larger area attack Juggernaut Plating 85,000 credits - Firebats gain +2 armor Marauder Concussive Shells 70,000 credits - Marauder attack slows all units in target area Kinetic Foam 90,000 credits - Marauders gain +25 max life Reaper U-238 Rounds 60,000 credits - Reapers gain +1 range and get +3 damage to light armor G-4 Clusterbomb 75,000 credits - Enables use of anti-personnel charge with a large blast radius TOTAL FOR INFANTRY UPGRADES 635,000 credits C. Vehicle Upgrades [2C.VEHI] Hellion Twin-Linked Flamethrower 40,000 credits - Doubles width of the Hellion's flame attack Thermite Filaments 60,000 credits - Hellions do an additional +10 damage to light armor Vulture Cerberus Mine 50,000 credits - Increases mine blast and trigger radius by 33% Replenishable Magazine 60,000 credits - Vultures can replenish mines for 15 minerals Goliath Multi-Lock Weapons System 50,000 credits - Goliaths can fire both weapons simultaneously Ares-Class Targeting System 80,000 credits - Goliaths gain +3 missile range and +1 cannon range Diamondback Tri-Lithium Power Cell 75,000 credits - Diamondbacks gain +1 range Shaped Hull 90,000 credits - Diamondbacks gain +50 max life Siege Tank Maelstrom Rounds 105,000 credits - Siege Tanks do additional +40 damage to primary target Shaped Blast 140,000 credits - Shock Cannon does 75% less damage to friendly units TOTAL FOR VEHICLE UPGRADES 750,000 credits D. Starship Upgrades [2D.STAR] Medivac Rapid Deployment Tube 50,000 credits - Medivacs deploy loaded troops almost instantly Advanced Healing AI 115,000 credits - Medivacs can heal two targets at once Wraith Tomahawk Power Cells 80,000 credits - Wraiths start with +100 energy Displacement Field 125,000 credits - Wraiths evade 20% of attacks when cloaked Viking Ripwave Missiles 75,000 credits - Viking missiles do area splash damage Phobo-Class Weapons System 90,000 credits - Vikings gain +2 missile range and +1 cannon range Banshee Cross-Spectrum Dampeners 80,000 credits - Banshees can remain cloaked for twice as long Shockwave Missile Battery 110,000 credits - Banshee attack fires multiple missiles in a line Battlecruiser Missile Pods 140,000 credits - Enables use of anti-air area missile attack Defensive Matrix 150,000 credits - Enables use of energy shield that absorbs 200 damage TOTAL FOR STARSHIP UPGRADES 1,015,000 credits E. Dominion Upgrades [2E.DOMI] *Ghost Ocular Implants 85,000 credits - Ghosts gain +2 range and +3 sight radius Cirius Suit 125,000 credits - Cloak no longer requires energy *Spectre Psionic Lash 100,000 credits - Enables use of psionic attack that deals 200 damage Nyx-Class Cloaking Module 125,000 credits - Cloak no longer requires energy *You can get Ghost OR Specter during the campaign playthrough - not both. Thor 330mm Barrage Cannon 130,000 credits - Improves bombardment cannon by adding area damage and stun Immortality Protocol 140,000 credits - Destroyed Thors can be revived in the field TOTAL FOR DOMINION UPGRADES (Ghost) 480,000 credits TOTAL FOR DOMINION UPGRADES (Spectre) 495,000 credits TOTAL ARMORY UPGRADES (Ghost) 3,455,000 credits TOTAL ARMORY UPGRADES (Spectre) 3,470,000 credits ******************************************************************************* III. Mercenary Contracts [03.MERC] War Pigs (3 squad limit per mission) 0 credits - 4 Elite Marines with +65% Health and +35% Damage Devil Dogs (2 squad limit per mission) 35,000 credits - 2 Elite Firebats with +80% Health and +25% Damage Hammer Securities (2 squad limit per mission) 30,000 credits - 2 Elite Marauders with +25% Health and +20% Damage Spartan Company (2 squad limit per mission) 40,000 credits - 2 Elite Goliaths with +33% Health and +33% Damage Siege Breakers (2 squad limit per mission) 45,000 credits - 2 Elite Siege Tanks with +33% Health and +66% Damage Hel's Angels (2 squad limit per mission) 45,000 credits - 3 Pirate Vikings with +45% Health and +40% Damage Dusk Wings (2 squad limit per mission) 60,000 credits - 2 Rogue Banshees with +25% Health and +50% Damage Jackson's Revenge (limit 1 per mission) 80,000 credits - 1 Pirate Battlecruiser with +30% Health and +33% Damage TOTAL FOR MERCENARY CONTRACTS 335,000 credits ******************************************************************************* IV. Laboratory Research [04.LABO] A. Protoss Research [4A.PROT] Level 5 (can only choose one) Ultra-Capacitors - Engineering Bay / Armory Weapon upgrades also increase attack rate by 5% Vanadium Plating - Engineering Bay / Armory Armor upgrades also increase life by 5% Level 10 (can only choose one) Orbital Depots - Supply Depots no longer require construction time Micro-Filtering - Refineries produce vespene 25% faster (stacks with Automated Refinery) Level 15 (can only choose one) Automated Refinery - Refinery no longer requires SCVs to harvest vespene gas Command Center Reactor - Allows two SCVs to be trained simultaneously Level 20 (can only choose one) Raven - Flying Detector with Auto-Turret, Point Defense Drone, & Seeker Missile - Built at the Starport Science Vessel - Flying Detector with Irradiate / Repairs nearby mechanical units - Built at the Starport Level 25 (can only choose one) Tech Reactor - Combines the Tech Lab and the Reactor add-ons Orbital Strike - Barracks units now arrive by Drop-Pod at the rally point B. Zerg Research [4B.ZERG] Level 5 (can only choose one) Shrike Turret - Outfits all Bunkers with an automated turret Fortified Bunker - Bunkers gain +150 life Level 10 (can only choose one) Planetary Fortress - Allows Command Center to add extra armor and Twin Ibiks Cannon - A Planetary Fortress cannot lift off Perdition Turret - Concealed automated flame turret that does area damage when engaged Level 15 (can only choose one) Predator - Anti-infantry unit that emits an area shock attack - Built at the factory Hercules - Massive transport ship that deploys troops quickly - Loaded troops survive with minimal damage if Hercules is destroyed - Built at the Starport (require Fusion Core) Level 20 (can only choose one) Cellular Reactor - Specialist units start with +100 energy and +100 max energy Regenerative Bio-Steel - Ships and vehicles slowly regenerate life Level 25 Hive Mind Emulator - Can permanently Mind Control Zerg units Psi Disrupter - Slows movement and attack speeds of nearby Zerg ******************************************************************************* V. Recommendations [05.RECO] These recommendations are based on helping you complete the campaign with upgrades that are worthwhile and helpful to complete later missions. Many of these suggestions will also prepare you to complete some of the harder mission achievements by utilizing available units effectively. These upgrades should be obtained as you can afford them. Keep in mind that once you obtain the Zeratul missions after "The Dig", you can rake in a LOT of research points which you can use to finish off your Lab Research or cash in for credits. A. Armory Upgrades [5A.ARMO] Stimpacks (Marine) 50,000 credits Neosteel Bunker (Bunker) 50,000 credits Concussive Shells (Marauder) 70,000 credits Projectile Accelerator (Bunker) 40,000 credits Stabilizer Medpacks (Medic) 105,000 credits Combat Shield (Marine) 60,000 credits Hellstorm Batteries (Missile Turret) 80,000 credits Kinetic Foam (Marauder) 90,000 credits Thermite Filaments (Hellion) 60,000 credits Twin-Linked Flamethrower (Hellion) 40,000 credits Titanium Housing (Missile Turret) 50,000 credits Multi-Lock Weapons System (Goliath) 50,000 credits Ripwave Missiles (Viking) 75,000 credits Dual-Fusion Welders (SCV) 80,000 credits Phobo-Class Weapons System (Viking) 90,000 credits Ares-Class Targeting System (Goliath) 80,000 credits Orbital Command Center (Terran Building) 125,000 credits Maelstrom Rounds (Siege Tank) 105,000 credits Shaped Blast (Siege Tank) 140,000 credits Fire-Suppression System (Terran Building) 90,000 credits Advanced Healing AI (Medivac) 115,000 credits Rapid Deployment Tube (Medivac) 50,000 credits Shockwave Missile Battery (Banshee) 110,000 credits Cross-Spectrum Dampeners (Banshee) 80,000 credits Immortality Protocol (Thor) 140,000 credits TOTAL ARMORY UPGRADE COSTS 2,025,000 credits These upgrades will update the units that you will want to use most often. I've ranked these upgrades in priority order. Depending on which mission order you choose, you might have to purchase these in a slightly different way. In general, try to plan your next mission selections so you'll be able to afford 1 or 2 upgrades after the mission. It is also helpful to have certain units available before you attempt certain missions. For example, It is strongly recommended that you have Vikings before you attempt "The Dig." If you want to get the "Yippee-Ki-Yay..." achievement, you'll want air support to scout for your laser drill. Trust me. THE GOOD Bunker While many players don't like to turtle, it really pays off in the campaign. Fortifying your bunkers will be well worth the investment. Adding two slots is a real help since you can get more firepower out of fewer Bunkers. The Projectile Accelerator adds needed range so the Bunker takes less damage. Once you fortify them with the Zerg Research upgrade, Bunkers are just plain great defensive structures. Missile Turret Hellstorm Batteries shut down mass air units. Put a pack of them around your base and you'll be well protected from air assaults. The Titanium Housing adds life to them as well, which helps since they can be rather fragile if not repaired quickly. SCV Until you can unlock Science Vessel, these guys are your only option to heal mech units. The Dual-Fusion Welders help them complete very fast repairs. They also make great base defenders when patrolling your defensive line. Advanced Construction isn't that helpful because you end up committing too many workers to a building project when you could be advancing your economy. You might get a building much faster, but once your building is up, you have to play catch-up with yourself. Not worth it. Terran Building The Orbital Command Center might seem like pure utility at first, but when you call down your first MULE, you'll realize how quickly they boost your economy. They might fall apart after a short while, but they're free harvesters that are many times more effective than a regular SCV. The Scanner Sweep is a great bonus, especially in the middle of the campaign when your detection abilities are rather pathetic. Fire-Suppression can be beneficial if you're attention is somewhat divided during a mission. Free building healing is always good. Marine Marines are a staple to a Terran army, so upgrading them to full is a must. Stimpack makes them a good choice throughout the campaign when paired with Medics or Medivacs. Combat Shield adds longevity to their usefulness, which is always good. Medic Medics only have one useful upgrade in the Stabilizer Medpacks, but it keeps your units alive a lot longer. The Advanced Medic Facilities upgrade is a waste of credits. If you really need a Reactor more than a Tech Lab, you should probably just throw up a second Barracks and put one on each. Marauder Marauders are amazing. Concussive shells is one of the most important upgrades in the campaign. It slows ground movement for enemy troops, allowing other units to get more shots off before they can retaliate. Adding Kinetic Foam also helps keep them alive longer, which is always a good thing. It's a shame you can't use Stimpacks on them in the campaign. Reaper Reapers are great at destroying buildings, but their upgrades aren't necessary. If you want to use Reapers, don't worry about needing upgrades. Keep in mind that Reapers are excellent when paired with Hellions during Colony missions. They still don't need upgrades. Hellion Hellions are fast and powerful. They have very weak armor though, so be careful. With Thermite Filaments and Twin-Linked Flamethrower, they dish out a lot of pain to ground troops. If you can keep these away from the front of your mobile forces, they will be very useful to you throughout the campaign. Goliath If it weren't for Multi-Lock Weapon System, Goliaths probably wouldn't be as useful. However, if you send them out with a few SCVs, they can handle themselves quite well. The added range from Ares-Class Targeting System is also very helpful when facing groups of enemy forces. Siege Tank Both Siege tank upgrades are very expensive, but with good reason. With Maelstrom rounds, the damage output from a group of siege tanks is crazy strong. Shaped Blast allows your units to move in while under fire without worrying about the siege splash damage taking you out as well. Medivac The Medivac upgrades make them into a mini Hercules with great bio-healing (except you don't need a Fusion Core... ugh). Very useful, even if you do get them rather late in the campaign... Viking When you start to get air power, Vikings are very versatile - and both their upgrades are excellent. Ripwave Missiles improve their anti-air capabilities tremendously. The range upgrade from Phobo-Class Weapons really improves their anti-air, and makes their ground mode much more effective. A mixed group of ground/air Vikings makes a really good strike force for their cost in the campaign. Banshee Banshees are great stealth strike fighters. A group of them is lethal with Shockwave Missile Battery. Cross-Spectrum Dampeners doubles their cloak time, which is really useful in later missions. Battlecruiser Battlecruisers are great to use in the campaign if you can get a few out. However, Battlecruiser upgrades are way too expensive, and rather disappointing. The Missile Pods are a lot like the Hellstorm Battery upgrade for Missile Turrets. However, they require activation just like the Yamato Cannon. If choosing between the two... I always pick Yamato Cannon. The Defensive Matrix upgrade is just like the Science Vessel ability from SC/BW. However, it uses a lot of energy that could better be used on Yamato shots. Thor Thors are great mobile siege units for the Terran army. Their anti-air is a bit lacking, but they make up for it in longevity and raw power. The Immortality Protocol for Thors helps mitigate the cost of their production while allowing you to rebuild them for 200 gas wherever they fall. Since they are rather slow, this might happen more than you want it to. The 330mm Barrage Cannon isn't a BAD upgrade, but for how often you'll use it, it really isn't that helpful. Their standard cannon is enough to take down key buildings if you need to. THE BAD Conversely, some unit upgrades are simply not worth any investment. Aside from the missions where they are introduced, the following units are almost completely useless in the campaign: Firebat I don't know what they were thinking bringing Firebats back in SC2. Marauders outclass them in EVERY way. Vulture Vultures are another oddity. Spider mines are good for base defense in some circumstances, but bunkers and siege tanks are much better. Swann even makes fun of them during the campaign if that's any clue. Diamondback Diamondbacks are good for "chasing" units. Well, since the only mobile target you face in the game happens to be during the mission you GET Diamondbacks, can you guess how useful they are after that? Don't bother. Wraith Wraiths could have been good. However, Vikings are better at anti-air, and Banshees are just plain brutal with Shockwave Missile Battery. There is no reason to use or upgrade Wraiths. Ghost/Spectre It really annoys me how ineffective Ghosts/Spectres were in the campaign. Still, both units have neat skills that you don't get to use all that often. The Snipe ability is really effective if you have a group of Ghosts out, whereas Mindblast can incapacitate groups of enemies for a short period. Yet for some reason, Ghosts/Spectres can't use EMP outside of multiplayer... Unfortunately, most of the enemy bases are swarming with detectors (especially when you're against Protoss). Since you don't get any form of mobile detector until you've amassed 20 Protoss research points, this makes stealth attacks close to pointless (Banshees are the exception since they fly and can make devastating ground bombing runs while cloaked). They're also very costly to produce (150 minerals/150 gas). Ghosts/Spectres are very susceptible to ground based burrowed units and colossi. They're just too weak to be worth any credit investment. Besides, they don't need upgrades to nuke... B. Mercenary Contracts [5B.MERC] Hammer Securities 30,000 credits Spartan Company 40,000 credits Siege Breakers 45,000 credits Hel's Angels 45,000 credits Dusk Wings 60,000 credits TOTAL MERCENARY CONTRACT COSTS 220,000 credits These contracts compliment many of the upgrades mentioned above. Buy these when you don't have enough credits to buy the next upgrade from the Armory console. Jackson's revenge is a strong unit, but it costs a bit too much to only get ONE per mission. Kind of a disappointment. C. Laboratory Research [5C.LABO] Protoss Level 5 - Vanadium Plating Vanadium Plating is the better choice. Those few extra life points really do make the difference. The increase rate of fire isn't that helpful. Besides, if you want to increase rate of fire, just use Stimpacks. Level 10 - Micro-Filtering Micro-Filtering is better than Orbital Depots. If you really have trouble maintaining your army supply, you really shouldn't be playing RTS games. I've never been in a situation where I thought, "Man, I need five Supply Depots... RIGHT NOW!" The increased gas production is very helpful once you start unlocking more gas-heavy units. Level 15 - Automated Refinery Automated Refinery complements Micro-Filtering greatly. Since you don't need SCVs to harvest gas anymore, your harvesters can focus on minerals and structures. Hence, Command Center Reactor isn't needed (especially if you utilize MULEs like you should be!). Level 20 - Science Vessel Many of these choices are easy... except the Science Vessel. Raven's have some really neat tricks up their sleeves that deal great damage without putting it in harms way. However, the usefulness of the Science Vessel cannot be ignored. Like the Medivac, flying mobile mech healing is just too good to pass up. Irradiate is also great against large units that you need to soften up. Level 25 - Tech Reactor The Tech Reactor is just plain awesome. It doubles your production output and grants access to all units at each facility. Drop pods really can't compete with that. Zerg Level 5 - Fortified Bunker The extra life on your bunkers will be well worth it. The Shrike Turret is rather weak, and later in the campaign you'll get frustrated at how easily your bunkers fall. Level 10 - Perdition Turret The Perdition Turret is strong and affordable as a point defense structure. The Planetary Fortress is strong, but you'll want to have an Orbital Command more for scanner sweeps and MULEs. Besides, if the enemy has already made it to your mineral line, you have bigger problems. Level 15 - Hercules This tier just plain sucks for both choices. The Predator is quick and can mow down weak units with relative ease, but can't absorb much damage. The Hercules would outstrip the Medivac in usefulness if it wasn't for the fact that it requires a Fusion Core to make them. That alone badly hurts it's usefulness. Still, if you're going to choose between the two, Hercules is the better choice. It can serve as an early Medivac if you stock it with Medics and ground troops. Just don't expect it to be fast. Level 20 - Regenerative Bio-Steel Since Ghosts and Wraiths suck and Banshees can double their energy efficiency with an upgrade, the only units that will benefit from Cellular Reactor would be Medics, Medivacs, Science Vessels (or Ravens), Thors, and Battlecruisers. Healing is definitely important, but it's not worth passing up Bio-Steel. Unless you really need units to come out of the production line running, the extra starting energy isn't that useful. Free vehicle and starship healing, however, is VERY useful. Level 25 - Psi Disrupter The Psi Disrupter is where it's at. This thing slows down ALL Zerg that approach it. When placed at a choke point, your bunkers/turrets/tanks will shred oncoming Zerg with impunity. The Hive Mind Emulator is neat, but the units have to be in range first, and the battery takes a long time to recharge between uses. You could use your time better by producing more units. ******************************************************************************* VI. Frequently Asked Questions [06.FREQ] Q: How many credits are obtainable in the Wings of Liberty Campaign? A: 2,250,000 credits are available in game between mission rewards and extra research sold. Q: I only got 2,055,000 credits on my playthrough. What gives? A: You probably didn't get the secret mission "Piercing the Shroud." While playing "Media Blitz," be sure you destroy the Science Building at the lower right of the map. If you missed it, you'll have to restart to get it. Q: I forgot to sell my excess research to Mobius before going to Char! How do I redeem these for credits? A: Just click on the "Research Button" on the bottom navigation. Q: Can I get any more credits once I complete the game? A: Nope. There wouldn't be much point anyway since you can't upgrade units after you complete the "All In" mission. Q: I heard that you could play missions over again and collect more research points to sell to Mobius, why can't I get this to work? A: That was a nice little bug that Blizzard fixed. The current credit cap is all you get. Q: How am I supposed to get all the Tech achievements if I don't get enough credits to buy everything? A: It requires some planning, but refer back to the guide to plan out your most vital upgrade needs. Bank credits until you have all the units unlocked for that tier, then save the game. Go purchase all the upgrades for that tier and get your achievement. Reload your save and you'll still have the achievement. Problem solved. Q: Hey! I tried that and I don't have enough to buy all the Starship upgrades? A: The campaign has a credit limit. You can only have 1,000,000 credits at a time. You'll have to buy some upgrades before you can bank enough to do the save, purchase, reload trick (may I suggest upgrading Vikings?). Q: Why are you hating on (-insert unit name here-)? They're awesome! A: It seems the campaign was designed to showcase the new Terran units and give fan service to the units from SC1/BW. Granted, it was cool, but some units just don't shine well. Too bad. Q: How do I get (-insert classic unit name here-) in multiplayer? A: You can't. See previous answer. Q: Isn't there any way to get more credits? A: Well, you could use the "whysoserious" code, but it disables achievements. Have fun, cheater. ******************************************************************************* Version History 11/12/10 - Version 1.00 - Guide Initial Release 11/16/10 - Version 1.10 - Corrected minor formatting errors and improved guide layout - Added credit purchase explanation discussion - Corrected error in FAQ section