Eye for an Eye is the eighth zerg mission of Episode II of StarCraft.
History
Background
While Kerrigan led an attack on Tassadar's forces on Char, Dark Prelate Zeratul used the diversion as a chance to attack and kill the cerebrate Zasz. The attack gave pause to the Overmind and prevented him from reincarnating Zasz.[1]
The Overmind recovered from Zeratul's attack, and explained to its cerebrates that Zeratul was a dark templar, who wield energy similar to the zerg. It is with these energies that they killed Zasz and harmed the Overmind.[2] However, the attack briefly connected the minds of the Overmind and Zeratul, and they could read each other's thoughts. From this encounter, the Overmind learned the location of the protoss homeworld, Aiur.[3]
The Overmind made plans to launch an invasion of Aiur, with the goal of assimilating the protoss. However, first the zerg had to deal with the dark templar on Char, to make sure they caused the zerg no further trouble. The Cerebrate and Kerrigan were tasked to contain and destroy the dark templar.[2]
A Swarm Divided
Kerrigan led the attack on the dark templar encampments, mocking their hesitance to engage her in open combat. Zeratul told her she should abandon the attack, but Kerrigan was undeterred. When the protoss bases were destroyed, the dark templar fled into hiding. The Overmind and numerous Broods departed to launch their invasion of Aiur, while Kerrigan remained on Char with a small force of zerg to continue hunting the protoss remnants.[2]
Walkthrough
The player begins with three hatcheries in three corners of the map. Via the new nydus canal structures, the player can quickly move forces between these three hatcheries. Each hatchery is situated close to a beacon, the three "exits" from the region. Throughout the level, dark templar will spawn and attack-move to the three exits; if a dark templar slips past the player's defenses and escapes the region, the mission is lost. The dark templar are permanently cloaked, so the player must leave their overlords at the beacons to detect them. The protoss also launch attacks consisting of zealots, dragoons, reavers, scouts, and high templar, and will target both the beacons and the player's bases. The southern beacon is closest to the two protoss bases and will see the most action, so the player should focus their defense here. However, the dark templar units that spawn are set to attack all three beacons sooner or later, so the player should not neglect any of them.
Reavers and high templar can cause heavy damage to the player's forces, so the player should be quick to reinforce the beacons if needed. The new unit for the mission, the ultralisk, can take a lot of damage before dying and they are valuable defenders, especially when facing reavers that otherwise decimate the zerg. However, ultralisks are expensive and time-consuming to mutate, so the player should retreat their existing ultralisks and let them heal if they take too much damage. Kerrigan is also a powerful hero to defend, though reavers can quickly kill her if she is not watched closely. The player should leave their initial two ultralisks at the southern beacon, and can move Kerrigan between positions as she is needed.
The two auxiliary hatcheries are both close to mineral fields guarded by small protoss forces. The player should take at least one of these sites for an expansion as soon as they can; a small force of zerglings with support from hydralisks will work. With three hatcheries to start, and two potential expansions they can seize, the player can quickly build up their forces and prepare to attack the protoss.
There is a protoss outpost to the west, but the player's objective is to destroy the two nexuses the protoss control, and there is no nexus at this base, so attacking it is not needed. The protoss bases are on level ground with no choke points and wide-open areas, so a large swarm of zerglings with hydralisks and ultralisks will be very effective at quickly destroying the protoss. There are no dark templar defending the bases, so the player will not need detection. The two nexuses are at the east protoss base and the south-west protoss base. The player can destroy these two bases in either order. When the nexuses are destroyed, the mission is won.
Notes
If the mission is extracted and viewed in the map editor, there is a humorous map description given to it - "You must destroy the Dark Templar who've made you look like such a ninny."
References
- ↑ Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Mission: The Culling (in English). 1998.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Mission: Eye for an Eye (in English). 1998.
- ↑ Overmind: "Yet shall their overweening pride be their downfall. For when the assassin Zeratul murdered Zasz, his mind touched with mine, and all his secrets were made known to me. I have taken from his mind the secret location of Aiur, the Protoss Homeworld." StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Level/area: Eye for an Eye (in English). 1998.