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Old Soldiers is the last Char mission in Heart of the Swarm.

Plot[]

Old Soldiers[]

OldSoldiers SC2-HotS Story

The gate to Warfield's compound

Having eliminated the threat of Warfield's Gorgon battlecruisers, Kerrigan moved to the Dauntless Plateau to destroy Warfield's compound.[1] Warfield deployed his nuclear arsenal against the zerg, but not even this was enough to stop their advance. With the aberrations Kerrigan pushed through all the defenses and eventually overwhelmed them.[2]

Conscience[]

"How many innocents have you killed? How many more have to die? What if Raynor could see you right now?"

- General Horace Warfield confronts Sarah Kerrigan(src)

A few terran survived the onslaught and boarded escape shuttles. Warfield instructed them to flee with the wounded, but the zerg were barring their way. The Dominion general confronted Kerrigan and demands that she let the transports escape even going so far as to accuse her of throwing away her humanity and Raynor's efforts to save her, asking what he would think of her actions. The wound of Raynor's death reopened, Kerrigan brutally finishes the terran commander in a fit of pain-driven rage. Afterwards, however, she orders the zerg to let the shuttles take flight.[3]

Walkthrough[]

For the first several minutes of the mission, the player will command Kerrigan with a swarm of zerglings and banelings. Zagara will send regular reinforcements during this period. Using these forces the player has a few minutes to cause as much damage to the Dominion as possible before Warfield calls down a nuclear strike and forces them to retreat. Use Kerrigan's kinetic blast to focus down strong enemies, and banelings to break up clusters of enemies, in order to minimize casualties and thus maximize damage. On higher difficulty levels the player may encounter thors as well, which should be focused down by Kerrigan's kinetic blast and a handful of zerglings. The player has two potential targets, Dominion auxiliary outposts to the north or south. The northern base is heavier defended, but has richer yellow minerals of the type found on Redstone, so it is up to the player's preference. However, there will not be enough time to free both bases entirely.

Once time is up, whatever forces the player commanded are removed, and they receive control of Zagara's base. From now on in the mission Warfield will target the player's army for a nuclear strike at regular intervals. These nukes can target the player's army wherever they may be and do not need ghosts to be aimed, so the only course is to flee before the nuke falls. Warfield will launch conventional attacks both from the ground and from the air over the north-eastern cliff at the player's base, so the player will need anti-air support.

The player should move in to the exposed expansion they freed earlier, and spread creep quickly to watch for incoming attacks. Warfield's forces are comprised heavily of ground-based armored troops, so the new aberrations are powerful in this mission. In tandem with numbers of zerglings and swarm queens for support ranged fire, the player should be able to sweep across the rest of the map and eliminate Warfield's auxiliary bases to seize the second expansion if needed. Once the player has a large enough army, they can assault Warfield's compound. The mission ends once the command building is destroyed.

The optional objective for this mission is to destroy two science facilities. They are each located near the two expansion points under a light garrison. Destroying them rewards two additional Kerrigan levels.

Videos[]

Achievements[]

OldSoldiers SC2-HotS Icon Old Soldiers
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Complete the “Old Soldiers” mission in the Heart of the Swarm campaign.

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NuclearLaunchRejected SC2-HotS Icon Nuclear Launch Rejected
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Destroy 20 enemy structures before the 1st Nuclear Strike in the “Old Soldiers” mission.

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RecalledDownTheThunder SC2-HotS Icon Recalled Down the Thunder
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Complete the “Old Soldiers” mission in less than 20 minutes on Normal difficulty.

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HomeWrecker SC2-HotS Icon Home Wrecker
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Destroy the Planetary Fortress in the “Old Soldiers” mission before the nuclear strike on Hard difficulty.

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Heart10 SC2AchiveImage Early Retirement
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Complete the "Old Soldiers" mission in less than 14 minutes on Normal difficulty.

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Notes[]

  • An earlier version of the mission had the player destroy terran lava pumps, lest they be flooded by lava.[4] Data also exists to summon nydus worms for reinforcements, destroy a bridge control to extend bridges into Warfield's compound, and destroying his nuclear silos to stop him from nuking. There is also data indicating that there was a Mengsk Statue that could be destroyed, as well as a creature named a "nydus behemoth" that could be killed as a bonus objective.[5]
  • According to Phill Gonzales, the mission would initially involve Kerrigan activating a volcano to corner Warfield in his base. A second map design involved disabling his nuclear silos before the final encounter with Warfield.[6]
  • On an island on the eastern corner of the map, there is an outhouse that when scrolled over says "Terran Biomass" with the subtitle "something stinks..." in addition to making morphing zerg structure noises when selected.
  • There are two different versions of the "Conscience" cinematic, depicting Kerrigan in her different forms, depending on whether the player completes the Zerus missions first. The script plays out exactly the same in each version.

References[]

  1. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Heart of the Swarm, Fire in the Sky (in English). 2013-03-12.
  2. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Heart of the Swarm, Old Soldiers (in English). 2013-03-12.
  3. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Cinematic: Conscience (in English). 2013-03-12.
  4. 2014-08-20, Unused HoTS Story Elements. StarCraft Legacy, accessed on 2014-08-29
  5. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Map Editor. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). March 12, 2013
  6. PhilGonzo Deviantart. Warfrields Fortress Devinaart.com. April 20, 2019
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