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Enemy Intelligence is the third and final mission in the first mission pack of the Nova Covert Ops campaign.

History[]

Lost Memories[]

"I am not the man my father was. I wish to serve a greater good. I think we have that much in common."

- Emperor Valerian Mengsk(src)

NovaGriffin SC2-NCO Cine1

Nova being given command of the Griffin

With the Terran Dominion forces evacuated from Borea, Nova met with Emperor Valerian Mengsk, who offered her his ship, the Griffin and its covert ops crew in exchange for her loyalty. She accepted, and Valerian brought in her new weapons and technology specialist, Reigel. He attempted to use a device to stimulate her neural inhibitor to help her regain the memories she had lost, which gave her memories of Tarsonis City after it had been destroyed by the zerg. Nova and her squad then mobilized to infiltrate the Defenders of Man base on the planet.[1]

Mission[]

"Some will die so others can live."

Nova and her covert ops crew arrived on the planet, and swiftly attempted to garrison the structures that surrounded their landing site after clearing the zerg infestation pustules blocking them. However, their appearance attracted the attention of the feral zerg nearby, and they were attacked. Nova's forces were able to repel the zerg long enough to garrison and secure the surrounding structures. During the battle, a Defenders of Man cargo ship carrying imprisoned Dominion troops—Prometheus Company and Field Response Theta—crashed nearby.

EnemyIntellegence SC2NCOScreen

Nova infiltrates the Defenders of Man base

With the surface secure, Nova descended into the Defender of Man's base. She discovered a monomolecular blade in their armory, and tested it against the Defenders' guards. She entered the coms room, and discovered her presence was noted. The technician in charge received orders, which he considered to be extreme, but moved to carry out. Nova continued in the facility, and discovered they had begun to evacuate, and had activated a psi emitter. Feral zerg began to pour into the facility, attacking the remaining Defenders of Man and Nova alike. Nova still managed to slip past the Defenders of Man, and made it into their command room.[2]

The Defenders of Man[]

NovaTerra SC2-NCO Cine5

Nova killing a Defenders of Man technician

There she discovered the Defenders of Man were planting psi emitters a civilian world to attract zerg to it, with the intent of discrediting Valerian. She stated that they had to be stopped.[3]

Walkthrough[]

The fast approach is required for most achievements, although it can be possible to methodically clear the map for a more exploratory experience and to collect an extra upgrade.

Fast approach[]

Nova's loadout only affects the first stage. To clear the 5 pustules quickly, grenades and the shotgun are ideal, as they can deal damage to buildings. Ghost visor helps detect and avoid patrolling units; sniping is mostly useful against units, and so it and the oculus are less useful with this approach. Stealth is not too useful due to the sheer number of detectors and defenses, so more speed for micro and repositioning Nova is useful. With units, marine stim is essential for running into the garrisons as otherwise they will take damage and move too slowly; the stim helps with healing and with moving faster. For simplicity, the integrated tech for the marauder helps avoid holdups at the barracks, although as only 3 marauders are required so it is possible to forgo this upgrade. Reaper range helps keep them out of trouble.

As usual, train SCVs. Use spare minerals to make barracks and make marines; these garrisons will be the first ones that are targeted. Start by clearing the first garrison (visible on the briefing map to the north-east of the starting location) using the shotgun. On most difficulties except casual, infested structures will generate infested civilians, so clear these as required. Use the abilities to clear the pustule/fungus, stim the marines, and run in. Turn attention to the east side lanes. For the Southwestern garrison, clear the detector turret in the middle of the base, and use Nova with her shotgun to clear the pustule. With proper stim timing afecter the spine crawler 'fires' it should not be necessary to clear the whole encampment.

Around this time more gas will be required; be sure to allocate SCVs appropriately. Supply may be necessary (unless going for the Hard mastery achievement), and the orbital command can help with this, paying back its cost with its calldown double supply ability. Attacks will intensify from the east, and commence from the west. The western garrisons are next, and they has some particularly nasty Abominations and Ultralisks. Abominations do extra damage to armored units, which means they are a priority target for Nova, and they should be kept away from marauders and tanks. First is the far western garrison with marauders; the nuke may come in handy clearing the area. The marauders will start to clear the courtyard in the west. Instead however, turn attention to the two remaining reaper garrisons. With the refineries in full swing and spare minerals accumulating, there should be enough barracks to meet the required counts. Using their jumpjets, dodge the ultralisk in the center-west garrison, and grenade the roaches and ravagers in the northwestern garrison to secure the area.


Slow approach[]

As before, the loadout only affects the first stage. When clearing the map, a good layout includes the sniper rifle, stealth suit, and range upgrade, as she can then outrange the spine crawlers, sniper guardians and overseers, and pick off key targets. This will be helpful as Nova is a strong unit at this point in the Campaign. In addition, multiple ghost academies will allow the player to have several nukes ready to clear out any defences. If patient, Nova can clear most of the map on her own while other units defend.

The first section of the mission is largely about creating defenses and adding to them by pushing out to secure the garrisons. The garrisons also cover the three approaches to the player's base (one covers the north already) and are invulnerable once filled. Groups of Zerg will initially only attack from the north, but will quickly also push from the east then the west. While there are lots of chokepoints to contain them, it is impossible to prevent the waves as they spawn from off the map.

The mission is made significantly easier by focusing on walling off with Supply depots at the beginning of the game. Once the way is blocked off, a few tanks will be the highest priority, as their splash damage will effectively clear out the waves. Making several barracks (a couple reactors, with at least one tech lab for Marauders) will help producing enough infantry to fill the garrisons later on.

Unless rushing for the achievements, establish a series of siege tanks, bunkers, and turrets to ward off attacks. Jump jet upgraded siege tanks will be useful here, as they can stay on the high ground for the initial attacks and not be damaged. While establishing the base, note that ghost academies can auto-build nuclear missiles, so building two or three will allow the player to have multiple nukes ready to clear out zerg blocking the garrisons.

In later stages and on harder difficulties, the enemy will send guardians against the player. These should be taken out using either marines or Nova, as her snipe can one shot them. While super stimpack is useful, if the player has trouble with guardians giving marines the range upgrade will help, because it will allow bunkers to more easily hit them.

Infiltration[]

The second phase involves infiltration with Nova automatically switching to a monofilament blade, stealth suit with visor, and flashbangs. Look for alcoves in the walls and use them as required; Nova's weapon has a dash attack to go through groups of enemies, but this will still trigger their detection/sight range if it's passed through. Flashbangs have a 5-second stun effect which will turn off detectors. Use them liberally on enemy ghosts. If it is not possible to hit all ghosts with the stun, wait for them to turn away so only one is looking at the path to the next room, and then flashbang that last remaining one before sneaking by. In addition, unlike The Escape, gun turrets in this section can be destroyed; however, this is not generally required.

In the later stages of the second section, the defenders are more entrenched, but the zerg will appear. Kill units outside of the sight range of the ghosts, and use stun grenades to prevent units from firing or repairing as the zerg push through them. Zerg kills of the defenders do not count against the achievement. Stun the Overseers and run by as quickly as possible.

Achievements[]

For Fill'Er Up achievement, the player should rely on mupliple nukes to quickly clean up infested areas, especially the area at the left side and bottom right side which is heavily guarded. Nova with Hellfire Shotgun and Pulse Grenade can clear other areas by herself. The jumpsuit is recommended to quickly navigate across the map. The player should setup at least two barracks with add-on, and keep them always in production depends on what unit needed for the current garrison point. There is little need for base defense as early pressure is light and can be managed with just garrisoned units.

For Less Is More achievement, the player should not saturate their base and instead only keep a moderate worker count, while constantly clear up area for garrisons, not only garrisoned units no longer count toward the player' supplies, but they will also help defense the base. The player should complete the mission quickly nonetheless, using the same strategy for Fill'Er Up achievement (in fact both achievements can be complete in one playthrough). Nova can quickly grab the bonus objective with the jumpsuit, but remember rescued units does count to your supply, so make space for them beforehand.

Starcraft_2_NOVA_COVERT_OPS_-_Enemy_Intelligence_-_Brutal_Guide_-_All_Achievements_(Mission_3)

Starcraft 2 NOVA COVERT OPS - Enemy Intelligence - Brutal Guide - All Achievements (Mission 3)

Achievements[]

Enemy Intelligence SC2-CovOps AchieveIconComplete Enemy Intelligence
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Complete the “Enemy Intelligence” mission in Nova: Covert Ops.

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EnemyIntelligence SC2-CovOps AchieveIcon1 Bunker Rush
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Completely fill two garrisons within the first 10 minutes of the “Enemy Intelligence” mission.

Edit
EnemyIntelligence SC2-CovOps AchieveIcon2 The Invisible Woman
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Do not kill any Defenders of Man forces in the “Enemy Intelligence” mission on Normal difficulty or higher.

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EnemyIntelligence SC2-CovOps AchieveIcon3 Less Is More
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Do not exceed 35 supply in the first stage of the “Enemy Intelligence” mission on Hard difficulty or higher.

Notes

The rescued Dominion forces will take up supply and may cost the player the achievement if their supply is too high upon reaching them.

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NCO10 SC2AchiveImage Fill 'Er Up
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Completely fill 5 garrisons within the first 10 minutes of the "Enemy Intelligence" mission on Normal difficulty.

Edit

Trivia[]

The device that Reigel uses to recover Nova's memories bears the symbol of the Moebius Foundation.

References[]

  1. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Cinematic: Lost Memories. (in English). 2016.
  2. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Nova Covert Ops, Enemy Intelligence (in English). 2016-03-29.
  3. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Cinematic: The Defenders of Man. (in English). 2016.
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