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To Chain The Beast is the eighth and final terran mission of Episode V of StarCraft: Brood War.

History[]

Background[]

After the psi disrupter was secured on Braxis, Admiral Gerard DuGalle and the bulk of the UED Expeditionary Fleet traveled to Char to complete the fleet's primary objective; enslaving the Overmind, which would allow the UED to take command of the zerg and use them as weapons to help pacify the Koprulu sector. At Char, the signals of the psi disrupter disrupted the zerg in orbit, allowing the UED to land on the planet. DuGalle tasked the Captain to lead the attack, ordering him to bring four medics to the Overmind where they would use neurostims to pacify the Overmind.[1]

The Overmind was guarded by three cerebrates, each with specialized skills that contributed to the Overmind's defenses. One cerebrate pumped its energy into sunken colonies over the region, making them immune to damage. Another cerebrate concentrated on creating and reincarnating a torrasque, a powerful ultralisk breed. The third cerebrate maintained three infested command centers and sent infested terrans against the UED. The UED ultimately prevailed against the zerg and pacified the Overmind. In the days to come they would become able to control the zerg to a limited degree.

Though the UED was victorious, they had made a number of enemies in the sector. Samir Duran arrived on the scene in the company of Sarah Kerrigan, who maintained her independence of the Overmind and still had command of her own broods. Kerrigan told DuGalle that she and her "associates" intended to end the UED's reign shortly, and she would show him what the zerg were truly capable of.[2]

Walkthrough[]

When the mission begins, the player is quickly informed of the indestructible Sunken Colonies that are all over the map that also effectively surrounds your base. The Sunken Colonies will eventually destroy two of the Bunkers on the expansion nearest the player's base, and these should be emptied of their Marines to avoid unnecessary losses. The player should immediately use their starting minerals to build a Command Center at this resource node, Bunkers around the permiter of the main base, and an Academy to train more Medics to support their marines and upgrade them. While the Sunken Colonies will be unable to reach some structures at the expansion, it can be risky to construct new buildings due to the fact that SCVs move around while constructing. Zerg may attack the expansion, but walling with Supply Depots and Missile Turrets (or the requisite Academy) will protect the remaining Bunker until Siege Tanks are ready. An important map feature to note is that the cliff over the player's base allows a route to the secondary resource node that avoids the Sunken Colonies. The one expansion is all that most players are likely to take; others (with gas reserves) require clearing zerg bases and the effort to defend them is probably greater than that needed to kill each of the cerebrates (see below).

The zerg will attack primarily with Zerglings, Hydralisks, and Mutalisks, with the occasional Queen, Defiler, and Guardian. The orange zerg have access to infested terrans, but will not use them until the brown cerebrate is dead. Priority should be placed upon fortifying your base's defenses, because around the ten minute mark, the Torrasque will come into play, with the player being informed of it via its "tortured roar." The Torrasque is the hero form of an Ultralisk, significantly stronger and tougher with all abilities "researched." The Torrasque in this mission follows from a mechanic in the original game's custom "Enslavers" campaign: respawning once killed approximately every five minutes. The player must always be vigilant, but as a warning the spawn will be announced with a "Tortured Roar" text message and sound effect.

To defend against the Torrasque, it is advisable for the player to wall off their base with Supply Depots and other buildings, using a Barracks or Engineering Bay in the line as a "door". Because the torrasque has upgraded armor (bringing its already tough 5 armor to 8), the player will need powerful units to kill it; Siege Tanks in Siege Mode lined behind fully loaded Bunkers are a good counter, and tight groups of six to the north and east sides of the primary base, with an additional 3-4 inside the walled expansion, will suffice for the first several spawns, particularly as the Torrasque first spawns with 400/800 health and then 600/800 health in the second round. Should the torrasque get within melee range of the tanks as it tears down the player's defenses, the transition time is roughly the cost of four Ultralisk attacks, meaning one dead and one damaged tank with the Torrasque's 50+3 attack.

For destroying the cerebrates, the safest method is to build towards a Science Facility, attach a Physics Lab, and begin building Battlecruisers. The Sunken Colonies make a ground assault impractical, but a reliable strategy is to ferry troops and SCVs to the ridge overlooking the red cerebrate with Dropships. The SCVs can build a pair of Bunkers above the ramp leading up to the ridge, load the Bunkers with Marines, build Missile Turrets for extra air defense, and then ferry over 2-4 Siege Tanks to siege the base near the cerebrate. The red zerg will try to counterattack, but the Bunkers with repairing SCVs will stop them as the tanks continue to harrass. This will reduce red's threat to the player's main base as long as the siege goes on. While there is a Sunken Colony that will hamper efforts to siege the cerebrate directly, it attacks up the cliff for 40% effectiveness. With good micro, two Science Vessels can shield the targeted tank(s) with a Defensive Matrix while four or more tanks attack the cerebrate in Siege Mode. Once the cerebrate is dead, all of the Sunken Colonies (including the one threatening any tanks) will go dormant. The tanks and troops can then return to the player's main base to defend against the Torrasque, and any Science Vessels used in the siege will make good support units to defend the Battlecruisers for the next phase of the assault. (This siege strategy also makes it practical to attack the red cerebrate with just two Battlecruisers, as it distracts and strips away a great deal of red's forces, particularly Hydralisks.)

With at least 6-8 Battlecruisers (preferably 10-12) upgraded with weapons and armor as well as Yamato Cannons, they player is ready to fight towards the brown cerebrate and destroy it. Using pairs or quartets of Battlecruisers with Yamato Cannons against the outlying Spore Colonies and stationary Scourge flocks is a good idea while building up the force, but the main assault against the base should proceed in one effort to avoid provoking the brown zerg into reinforcing against multiple waves. As with other cerebrates, when the brown cerebrate is killed, its brood goes inactive for the rest of the mission, as does the Torrasque it spawns.

A larger fleet of battlecruisers is advantageous because, once the brown cerebrate is killed, the force may be ready to press on to destory the orange (and final) cerebrate) as well. The player can load the dropship used to manage the siege of the red cerebrate with SCVs, have it follow the battlecruisers, and deploy them to repair the battlecruisers as they hold position and make a shooting gallery out of brown's remaining forces. About the only risk to field repairs is one of the scheduled attacks from orange, but the Battlecrusier force itself should be able to repel it. The supporting Science Vessels can patrol the area to detect and kill an attacking Defiler. If the player is worried about a Plague attack, loading the Dropship with four Medics is also warranted--the Medics can protect the SCVs during a ground raid and use Restore to cleanse Battlecruisers affected with Plague.

With the fleet repaired and ready to go again, the SCVs (and Medics) can be loaded back into the Dropship so that all forces can proceed north from the brown cerebrate's nesting ground, over open lava. The orange cerebrate is situated behind two layers of Spore Colonies, but the Battlecruisers can again use their Yamato cannons to punch through. Attacking from the northeast corner of the map and destroying four of the orange zerg's Spore Colonies will open a large hole in the defenses. If attacking with twelve Battlecruisers, the time for repair will likely have let all of them replenish energy for one shot, leaving four charged enough to use Yamato Cannon on the cerebrate and take down more than 2/3 of its health. A swarm of Hydralisks will rally to defend the cerebrate, but the Battlecruisers can easily defeat them or, with Defensive Matrix protection from Science Vessels on the most exposed units, just crush the cerebrate directly.

Once the orange cerebrate is destroyed, the largest and last zerg force will go dormant. If the Dropship following the Battlecruisers has Medics in it, they can be deployed to each of the Overmind's beacons at this time. Or, Medics from the player's main base can just walk to the Overmind's nesting grounds. Or, the player can succumb to a completionist streak and mine every mineral and all eight gas geysers on the map, hopefully going for a jog while their computer continues the game with SCVs on auto-gather. The choice will not have any affect on the storyline or the player's account status.

Strictly speaking, the mission victory is not dependent on the death of the cerebrates, and the player can win without killing any of them. However, getting the medics to the Overmind is very difficult without first killing the cerebrates, and it is simpler to focus on killing them. Should a rapid victory be desired, however, it is possible to load medics into drop ships and make a beeline for the Overmind. With a healthy dose of luck enough medics should make it to the Overmind before they die.

Starcraft_Brood_War_-_Terran_Mission_8_To_Chain_the_Beast_+_Ending

Starcraft Brood War - Terran Mission 8 To Chain the Beast + Ending

References[]

  1. Gerard DuGalle: "Once you have reached the Overmind and crushed its defenders, you are to send in specially trained medics who will pacify the creature with potent Neurostim drugs. Only then will our victory be assured." StarCraft: Brood War. Vivendi Games. Level/area: To Chain the Beast (in English). 1998.
  2. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft: Brood War. Vivendi Games. Mission: To Chain The Beast. (in English). 1998.
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