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Zero Hour
Conflict Second Great War Date Early October, 2504 Place Backwater Station, Mar Sara Result Raynor's Raiders evacuated
Combatants
Raynor's Raiders Mar Sara Separatists	Zerg Swarm
Commanders
Jim Raynor Tychus Findlay Matt Horner	Kerrigan
Metacampaign Objective(s) Hold out until extraction. Optional Objective(s) Save trapped rebel forces Hero(es) Hyperion Reward 55,000 credits New Tech Bunkers, Reactors

Zero Hour is the the third terran mission of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

Raynor's Raiders prepared to leave Mar Sara with the "liberated" alien artifact. However, they were suddenly besieged by invading zerg. The rebels held out until Hyperion evacuated them.^[1]

HistoryEdit

BackgroundEdit

The stolen alien artifact was transported by truck back to Backwater Station. The trip was uneventful despite fears of Dominion pursuers. The Raiders' timing was impeccable. As they neared Backwater during the night, zerg spores began landing at the abandoned dig site. The infestation spread rapidly to the outskirts of Backwater within an hour. Pockets of Mar Sara Separatist troops desperately held out in hope of relief.^[1]

The Raiders immediately requested support and evacuation from their mobile base and headquarters, the battlecruiser Hyperion. For the second time in five years, Jim Raynor was fleeing Mar Sara in the face of a zerg invasion.^[1]

An Old Familiar FeelingEdit

The Raiders were entrenched in a defensible position accessible from the ground by only two bridges. The rebels received regular appeals for help from terrans in the area. The zerg attacked from nearby nests and were reinforced by sacs and nydus worms.^[1]

As dawn broke, the zerg made a final large scale push. The Raiders were saved by the timely arrival of Hyperion. The ship finished re-entering the atmosphere nearby and blunted the immediate threat with its weapons.^[1] The Raiders had boarded by 06:21.^[2]

Escape from Mar SaraEdit

Starcraft 2 Cinematic 4 - Escape From Mar Sara(02:16)
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Hyperion fought through mutalisks to make the warp jump from within the atmosphere. To his horror, Raynor learned the zerg attack was part of a larger, sector-wide invasion. The Queen of Blades was on the move. The Second Great War had begun.^[1]
Jim Raynor received a distress call from Agria, but was also given a lead on a job by Tychus Findlay. The Raiders could take one job, leaving the other for later.^[3]

Conversations after MissionEdit

Main article: Campaign quotations

Gameplay & Video WalkthroughEdit

A strong defense is required to finish the mission. On lower difficulties, place two or three bunkers at each entrance, supported by two or three SCV by each. Build missile turrets along the cliffs to ward off mutalisks. On Casual difficulty, engineering bays and missile turrets may not be built, and are unnecessary.

Neutral buildings outside the base provide vision. These are destroyed by the zerg on Hard and Brutal difficulties. On lower difficulties, a dozen marines with medic support may be used to rescue rebels to unlock an achievement; rescued rebels become controllable. A larger rescue force is needed on higher difficulties.

On Hard and Brutal difficulties, the enemy becomes better equipped and more aggressive, requiring an even stronger defense. Enemy units receive armor and weapons upgrades, roaches (and banelings on brutal) are used, advancing creep across the map allows spine crawlers to move forward, and sacs regularly bombard the base and deposit zerglings and creep tumors.

Several dozen marines and at least eight medics are required to achieve the objective of destroying four hatcheries. When attacking zerg bases up ramps, move the marines up several steps to allow marines in the rear to fire.

Zero Hour Starcraft II Brutal Mode Walkthrough (HD - Max Settings)(12:49)
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AchievementsEdit

Zero Hour Points 15 Criteria Complete all mission objectives Notes Keep marines and medics on hand to rescue survivors.

Hold the Line Points 10 Criteria Complete mission on Normal difficulty Do not lose or salvage any structure Notes Structures lost during the ending cutscene count toward this achievement. Do not build structures below the missile turret to the right of the western bridge, or in the center of the northeastern bridge; multiple nydus worms emerge in these spots in the ending cutscene and destroy structures above.

The Best Defense...
Points	10
Criteria	Destroy 4 enemy hatcheries on Hard difficulty
Notes
Establish a strong economy and defense. Aim to have three bunkers with supporting missile turrets and blocking supply depots by ten minutes. Use three barracks, two with reactors and one with a tech lab, to assemble a force with 5 marines for every medic; aim to have the army ready with 8 minutes remaining. Continue building more troops to reinforce the attack. Attack the north-east zerg base with three hatcheries, then move west and attack the middle base from the high ground. Ignore other buildings to destroy the single hatchery there. Alternatively, attack the western base with two hatcheries. There are fewer defenses here. If done early, the zerg will rebuild the hatcheries, allowing them to be destroyed again,

DevelopmentEdit

The following achievement was removed during development.

On the BlizzCon 08 version of the "Escape from Mar Sara" cinematic, Matt Horner updates Jim Raynor of the situation while the Hyperion is still travelling through warp space.^[5]

NotesEdit

Zero Hour shares a similar premise to the third StarCraft mission, Desperate Alliance. Both are holdout missions with two entrances to the main base.

A tauren marine may be found at the central upper section of the map, in between the zerg bases. It disappears into a "tauren outhouse" when approached. When clicked several times, the tauren outhouse lifts off and flies into space.^[1] This unlocks the flying outhouse in the background of the armory and the mission "Maw of the Void", and the song Terran Up the Night on the jukebox in the cantina once the campaign has been completed.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Wings of Liberty, Zero Hour (in English). 2010-07-27.
2. ↑ Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Cinematic: Escape from Mar Sara. (in English). 2010.
3. ↑ Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. General dialog (in English). 2010.
4. ↑ Zero. 09/08/17. July 20, 2009 Wings of Liberty Single Player Info. StarCraft Legacy. Last accessed: 09/08/17.
5. ↑ Dustin Browder, Rob Pardo. 2008-10-11. Blizzcon 2008: StarCraft II Gameplay Discussion Panel (Part 3). Youtube.com Accessed 2008-10-11.