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"Well, the Confederates have Omega and Delta Squadron troops defending the platform. They're nothing compared to my Alpha Squadron boys."

- General Edmund Duke(src)

The Big Push is the eighth terran mission of Episode I of StarCraft.

History[]

Background[]

After the loss of Antiga Prime to the zerg, Arcturus Mengsk and the Sons of Korhal invaded Confederate Space and attacked their capital world of Tarsonis. General Edmund Duke, the commander of Alpha Squadron formerly under the Confederacy, had defended the planet in numerous battles, and knew its defenses well, thus Mengsk chose him to lead the attack. Tarsonis had three major defensive platforms in orbit that serviced the Confederate fleets, and Duke believed an assault on the central platform would cause enough chaos to allow the Sons of Korhal to break through the planet's orbital defenses and land on the planet.[1]

An Underhanded Victory[]

Duke led the attack on the platform, which was defended by Confederate Delta Squadron and Omega Squadron. After their defenses on the platform were destroyed, Duke activated a number of psi emitters, an act authorized by Mengsk. Captain Jim Raynor and Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan were horrified that Mengsk was using the emitters to bring the zerg to Tarsonis, but Mengsk told them to carry out their orders.[2]

The emitters lured billions of zerg to Tarsonis, and the invasion destroyed many of the planet's major cities and industrial sectors.[1] In the weeks to come, the zerg invasion shattered the Confederacy's strength, and their standing as the dominant terran power in the Koprulu sector was lost to the Sons of Korhal, which were now reforming as the Terran Dominion.[3]

Walkthrough[]

The player can begin by loading their forces into the dropships and moving forward. The mineral fields the player finds includes several abandoned add-ons that can be taken control of by landing buildings next to them and connecting to them. With two mineral fields the player can quickly establish their base and begin building their forces. An SCV can stay behind on the starting platform to build supply depots and armories out of the way, and with the large number of starting forces, it will take several supply depots before the player has enough supply to spare to build new units.

The player controls General Duke in Norad II as a very powerful battlecruiser hero unit. Norad II can destroy entire squadrons of marines on its own, and can defeat small forces of wraiths and goliaths. Duke is an invaluable force both offensively and defensively, and the player should not be shy about using him to fight, as long as an SCV repairs him afterwards. The Confederate attacks include cloaked wraiths, battlecruisers, siege tanks in siege mode, and goliaths. The player should prepare a strong defense to fend them off including bunkers, their own siege tanks, and missile turrets. A comsat station is also useful for scouting the Confederate bases before attacking.

The major new tech for the mission is ghosts. Ghosts can use lockdown to disable mechanical enemies, and call down nuclear strikes. Nukes cost a lot of resources, but are very powerful. The player should research personnel cloaking, ocular implants, and lockdown for their starting ghosts, and build two nukes at their nuclear silos as soon as resources allow.

The enemy bases will become active after around 4 minutes of gameplay. The Omega Squadron (brown) base to the north is defended by many bunkers and missile turrets, but a nuke can destroy most of the defenders and allow the player to lay waste to the exposed base. Once the player has destroyed the Omega Squadron base, they can begin mining there and build more command centers to support more nukes.

The Delta Squadron (orange) base to the north-east is very well defended behind choke points guarded by siege tanks and other forces, and there is a row of missile turrets to deter air forces. The player should rely on ghosts to break this blockade. With three or four nuclear silos, the player can effectively nuke their way into the enemy base, being careful of missile turrets that can detect their cloaked ghosts. When the Delta Squadron defenses are crippled, the player can move in their army and destroy the base.

The mission objective is fulfilled by destroying all enemies structures, so the player should be keen to track down all stray enemies. This includes a starport south-west of the Omega Squadron base, a starport north of the Delta Squadron base, and a bunker and several supply depots to the far north-west corner of the map, guarding a large mineral field.

Starcraft_-_Terran_Mission_8_The_Big_Push

Starcraft - Terran Mission 8 The Big Push

Notes[]

The hidden mission "Operation Silent Scream" was originally going to take place after this mission, but was removed. Duke's dialogue referring to a ground force slipping through the orbital defenses to land on Tarsonis is meant to lead up to this, and the end mission dialogue about psi-emitters was going to occur at the end of Silent Scream.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Mission: The Big Push (in English). 1998.
  2. Edmund Duke: "This is Duke. The Emitters are secured and on-line."
    Sarah Kerrigan: "Who authorized the use of Psi Emitters?"
    Arcturus Mengsk: "I did, Lieutenant."
    Kerrigan: "What? The Confederates on Antiga were bad enough, but now you're going to use the Zerg against an entire planet? This is insane."
    Jim Raynor: "She's right, man. Think this through."
    Mengsk: "I have thought it through, believe me. You all have your orders. Carry them out." StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Level/area: The Big Push (in English). 1998.
  3. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Mission: The Hammer Falls (in English). 1998.
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