Starcraft 2 Single Player Basics

Before you launch any mission in the Starcraft 2 Campaign, you'll be informed of the rewards that are available for completing the mission. There are often a list of Main objectives and a list of Bonus objectives. Main objectives are required that you complete them to beat the mission. The Bonus objectives are optional, but often give extra rewards if you do complete them.

Most missions that you'll play will give a credit reward, unlock a new unit, and provide research points for you to beef up your army. As long as you're careful to complete all the Bonus objectives in each mission you'll unlock all the available research options and have plenty of credits to upgrade the most important units in your force.

Economy

Starcraft 2 is a game of economy. You have your Command Center where you can make workers (SCVs) that go out and mine minerals and Vespene gas so you can contruct buildings and train new units. The ability to multi-task and always remember to create new SCVs (in most cases, the more the better!) while climbing up the tech tree, attacking, and always creating new units is essential. This is called Macro.

Starcraft 2 can be broken down into 2 major aspects: Macro and Micro. Macro is your ability to control the big stuff like I just mentioned. Micro is your ability to be quick with your mouse and manage the small battles that go on. Without a doubt, it's more important to be good at macro than micro, so don't worry so much about the small individual battles and focus more on making lots of workers and a big army.

If you don't work on your macro you won't have any chance of beating the Starcraft 2 Campaign on Brutal difficulty, so start there! Be sure to read the Macro Guide below if you're having problems keeping up.>

>>>Read The Starcraft 2 Macro Guide Here<<<
 

The First Upgrades You Need

When you first start out in the Campaign you will only have access to Terran Marines. Then you'll get Medics, Marauders, Firebats etc. as you complete more missions. One of the most important upgrades you can get in the Starcraft 2 Campaign is the two for Medics: Stabilizer Medpacks and Advanced Medic Facilities. With these two upgrades your Medics will help your Infantry survive a lot longer as it makes them heal extremely fast and efficient.

Using an army of Marines, Medics, and Marauders is a great way to beat many of the missions on Brutal difficulty. This combination of units is very powerful against most all forces since the Marines can shoot both ground and air targets, the Marauders can take out armored targets very fast, and Medics can heal them both to keep them alive. Because of this getting the upgrades for Marines and Marauders is almost essential if you want to have a chance of beating the Campaign on Brutal.

Other Important Upgrades To Make The Starcraft 2 Campaign Easier

After you complete "The Dig" mission, you'll get access to Siege Tanks. These are very good in missions where you need solid base defenses. Plus they will come in very handy when you get to the last mission in the Campaign: All In. While the Siege Tank upgrades are quite expensive, they are definitely worth it in the long run. One of the biggest drawbacks of the Siege Tank is that they do damage to both enemy and friendly units, which means will blow up your own Marines and Bunkers. The Shaped Blast upgrade will help this greatly and make your Siege Tanks much more useful.

Another very useful upgrade to buy is the Base upgrades that increase the life and effectiveness of your Bunkers and Missile Turrets. You'll need to build these defenses often in the Campaign, and the stronger they are and more damage they put out the easier it becomes to defend your base. You should also get the Orbital Command upgrade as soon as it becomes available. It lets you call down MULEs which greatly increase your income for a short time.

Upgrades To Avoid

Like I said earlier, you won't be able to buy EVERY upgrade in the campaign, so you need to skip some of the less useful ones to buy the real important upgrades. Here's a list of units that I hardly ever used and didn't spend any credits upgrading:
 

• Firebats
• Reapers
• Hellions
• Vultures
• Goliaths
• Diamondbacks
• Medivacs – Medics are way more effective
• Wraiths
• Thors

Personally I don't find any of these units that useful in the Starcraft 2 Single Player Campaign, so I wouldn't bother wasting any credits on them. Instead save up for the really important upgrades that I talked about above.

To get them you'll have to work hard and put the time in to accomplish them, here's a brief overview of each Starcraft 2 Campaign Feat of Strength and the easiest way to get it.

Monster Mash

To get this Feat of Strength you first have to get access to the Secret mission. You do this by destroying the Science Facility in the mission "Media Blitz." During the secret mission you'll come across a robot called the A.R.E.S. You have to use it to kill the Brutalisk up ahead in the mission. To get the achievement, wait to activate the Robot until you find the Brutalisk. Use Raynor's special attacks to take out the big vehicles in the hangar instead of the Robot. Then when you get to the Brutalisk, you can run a Marine back, activate the A.R.E.S. then drive it up and take out the Brutalisk easily.

You're So Crazy!

To get this achievement you have to kill the entire Protoss force on "Welcome to the Jungle" on Normal difficulty. So load the mission up and don't worry about gathering any of the Terrazine gas. Once you kill the last Protoss you'll beat the mission automatically. The trick to getting this Feat of Strength is to expand early by taking out the small Protoss base right in the middle of the map and building a Command Center there. With 2 bases up and running you'll have a lot more resources to be able to make more units to take out the Protoss base.

The Scenic Route

To get The Scenic Route you have to kill every last Zerg unit in the mission "The Devil's Playground." Your main objective is to mine minerals until you have 8000 stockpiled. To get this achievement you'll need to make enough Barracks to keep your money spent and not go over the 8000.

Build up a force of Marines, Medics and Marauders and you'll be able to march around to each of the Zerg bases and take them out handily. This feat of strength really isn't that hard but as it's name implies, it does take a bit longer to get it.

To get ALL the achievements in the Wings of Liberty Campaign, check out my Starcraft 2 Campaign guide that reveals the easiest ways to beat every mission in the campaign.

At each level, you'll have to choose between 2 options that will make your army better in different ways. For example, the first Protoss research upgrade you'll get is a choice between +5% attack speed for each weapon upgrade, or +5% life for each armor upgrade. It's up to you to pick the one you think will help you out most.

While many of the research options in the Starcraft 2 Campaign will not make a huge difference to your success either way, there are a couple that will make your life much easier as you reach the harder missions on Brutal difficulty.

Best Protoss Research Options

Command Center Reactor: This is one of the most important Protoss research upgrades that you can get. It allows you to create 2 SCVs at a time which helps you get your economy up extremely fast. This is especially helpful on missions with a time limit or achievements that limit your time.

Science Vessel: Personally I think this is one of the most powerful units in the Starcraft 2 Single Player mode. It's ability to heal mech units will help your vehicles and ships stay alive a lot longer and make them much more powerful. Much stronger than the Raven.

Best Zerg Research Option

Cellular Reactor: This upgrade gives all your specialist units +100 max energy and +100 starting energy. This includes everything that uses energy like Medics, Science Vessels, Battlecruisers, Banshees, Ghosts, etc. I personally think this is much more powerful than the Regenerative Bio-steel upgrade especially when coupled with a Science Vessel from the Protoss tree. It will help your Science Vessels and Medics heal more, your Banshees to stay cloaked longer, your Ghosts to snipe more and your Battlecruisers to Yamato more. Hands down one of the best.

Starcraft 2 Single Player – How To Have a Self-Sustaining Army

So what do I mean by self-sustaining? Simply that your army replenishes it's own health so every battle doesn't make your force smaller and weaker until it doesn't exist anymore. When you get this kind of unit composition out, it makes the missions much more manageable and takes a lot of pressure off of your macro game.

The Starcraft 2 Terran Campaign has 2 units in it that can heal others nearby. They are the Medic and the Science Vessel. You get access to Medics almost right away, while Science Vessels will only be available later if you choose them over the Raven research option (on the Protoss side).

Medics can heal other biological units nearby, while Science Vessels can "heal" mechanical units nearby, which are pretty much everything else (Vehicles & ships)

When To Use Different Unit Compositions

In the beginning of the Starcraft 2 Campaign, the most powerful unit composition you can use is the Medic, Marine, Marauder attack force. With enough Medics your Marines and Marauders will stay alive for a very long time and always be at full health when battles end. Be sure to upgrade your Medics in the Armory (On the Hyperion) to make them as effective as possible.

In later mission of the Campaign, infantry simply isn't an option. Missions like "Shatter The Sky" and "Supernova" will be way too hard to beat only using infantry. More advanced units like High Templar and Archons shred infantry too fast to replace them.

So instead of using Medics, Marines or Marauders at all, you can switch to a completely mechanical force and rule the skies. After researching the Science Vessel you can build them at your Starport if you have a Tech Lab on it. Making a force of Banshees, Vikings, and Science Vessels is an almost unstoppable force in these missions.

Like Medics in the infantry army, Science Vessels will hang back and heal the damage done to your Vikings and Banshees, making them much less fragile and able to stay alive without SCVs repairing them. Plus if your force starts taking too much damage you can simply retreat and let the Science Vessels heal them up to full health and go in to attack again.

So if you're having trouble with a certain mission, try getting Science Vessels and mech units instead of the standard infantry force. You'll be amazed how much punishment they can take with Vessels constantly healing them.

For more advanced strategies and tactics to beat the Wings of Liberty Campaign, grab my Starcraft 2 Campaign Guide, which will show you the secrets to beating the Campaign on Brutal and getting all the achievements.

Use A Starcraft 2 Campaign Walkthrough To Save Hours Of Time

The hardest part about mastering the Starcraft 2 Campaign is how long it can take. If you want to beat every mission on Brutal difficulty, plus get the bonus objectivs, plus get the achievements, plus get the feats of strength, you're going to need to play each mission at least 2-3 times. You may even find that no matter what you can't get through certain missions on Brutal because they are so difficult. Blizzard really didn't hold anything back!

This is where using a good Starcraft 2 Campaign Walkthrough can come in handy. Rather than playing each mission over and over again and getting frustrated, you can follow someone who's beat the mission before to tell you exactly what to do and when to do it to get the upper hand and complete the objectives.

Doing it yourself is like walking in the dark, not knowing when you're going to be attacked or where to go next. Using a Campaign Walkthrough guide is like turning on the light so you see what's coming and the path to victory.

Click Here To Check Out The Most In-Depth Starcraft 2 Campaign Walkthrough Guide Available

Starcraft 2 Campaign Walkthrough – Upgrades & Research Tips

As you keep progressing through the Starcraft 2 Campaign on Brutal difficulty you'll earn credits and research points that you can spend on upgrades. Spending these wisely can make your army very strong and help you beat the missions on Brutal much easier.

Don't waste your credits or research points on upgrades that you won't use. For example, don't research the Perdition Turret if you're never going to build one. Or don't buy the Reaper upgrades if you're never going to train Reapers in your missions. Spending your credits only on the equipment that you'll use most often is key to beating the campaign on Brutal.

The units that I used the most in the Brutal Campaign includes Marines, Medics, Siege Tanks, Vikings, Banshees, Bunkers and Turrets. There are some others that come in handy, but those definitely get the first upgrades in the Armory. In my Starcraft 2 Campaign Walkthrough I detail when to buy each upgrade and when to save your credits for the future to make it easy to know what's most effective.

Starcraft 2 Campaign Strategy Tip #1 – Research Upgrades That You'll Use A Lot

In the Starcraft 2 single player campaign you will earn credits for each mission that you complete (well, most missions). You can use these credits to buy upgrades for your units in the Armory on the Hyperion. But which upgrades should you buy?

It can be very easy to get excited about a new unit that you have access to, and immediately want to upgrade because it's cool and seems useful at the time. But then when you play the next mission you get access to another unit that is even more useful and you don't ever seem to make the first one.

A good example of this is Hellions. It seems like a great deal to be able to upgrade their attack to do a ton more damage, but in reality it's really not that useful. Personally I never made Hellions once in any mission when I played through the Starcraft 2 Campaign on Brutal. They just don't do enough damage to non-light units to be worth it.

So be careful with your credits and only upgrade the units that you'll be making a lot of to get the most bang for your buck.

Starcraft 2 Campaign Tip #2 – Economy Is King

If you want to have a chance at beating the Starcraft 2 Campaign on Brutal, then you need to really focus on your economy. To beat the hard Starcraft 2 missions on Brutal you will need a lot of resources so you can build a lot of units. This is especially true of the missions with timed achievements where you need to beat them fast.

Just like in the multiplayer version of the game, you need to have good macro. Macro means you're creating lots of workers, unit producing structures, and combat units. When you do this you'll have more resources and be able to muster a bigger force to beat down the computer AI in record time.

To learn more about macro and how to improve it check out my Starcraft 2 macro guide.

Wings of Liberty Campaign Strategy Tip #3 – Use Infantry

In the Wings of Liberty Campaign you get to use Medics, which are ground based troops that heal your Infantry. When you upgrade these gals at the Armory they become extremely effective at healing your troops. Just a few Medics in your Marine force will make them last a lot longer and do a lot more damage.

Infantry is one of the most powerful forces in the Campaign because of their ability to be healed by Medics. In most of the Starcraft 2 Missions you can simply make a mix of Marines, Marauders, and Medics to dominate the mission no matter what difficulty level you have it on. Use them often and you'll see much more success in the SC 2 Campaign.

If you're really serious about beating the Wings of Liberty Campaign on Brutal difficulty and getting every achievement while you're at it, check out my Starcraft 2 Campaign Walkthrough Guide.

If you’ve been struggling with the Campaign on Brutal difficulty then this guide is for you. It has detailed step-by-step walkthroughs of every mission in the Campaign, including the Secret Mission!

These aren’t just videos showing you that I can beat the Campaign on Brutal difficulty, it’s a complete written walkthrough that will tell you exactly what to do and when to beat the mission. Plus you’ll get all the achievements along the way.

I explain exactly which upgrades to buy and when to make your Terran army most effective to crush your enemies. You’ll get all the Zerg and Protoss research abilities fast, which will make your fleet even more powerful.

Keep on the lookout of this page, the guide is coming soon!