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Cricketer12
United States14003 Posts
Zerg Mission 8 To Slay the Beast was the longest
Over the past couple of weeks, inspired by my love for PvE content and the challenge runs of GiantGrantGames and Stu I attempted to beat every level of all 3 Brood War campaigns deathless. It was a very fun very satisfying challenge and I wanted to share the details.
Rules were simple. If it counted on the units lost tab it counted as a death. Zerg buildings that are fully constructed don't count, but forward turrets are to be discouraged when possible. Carriers were banned but reavers were allowed.
It's fascinating just how small an army you can get away with in the Protoss and early Terran campaigns, despite Brood War's improved A.I, early tech tree availability and massive enemy fortifications from the word go.
Small is the name of the game however. With how BW handles, having more than 2 control groups of units gets iffy.
The Protoss campaign lets you get away with even less as 6 dragoons and 2 reavers proved enough to kill the Overmind. A really cool aspect of this challenge is the need for efficient Anti-Air solutions, and with Carriers out of the equation, Scouts are oft required. Relying on otherwise mediocre units and finding inventive solutions to problems was a really rewarding part of the run.
Terran wasn't too bad despite bio being a complete handicap. Nukes on level 4, and BC access on 5, 6 and 8 trivialize otherwise big macro maps.
Zerg however took more time than the other two combined, and then some. Missions 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10 all took at least an hour a piece to finish, with 5 and 8 essentialy requiring an attrition game so long, the ai mined out. The frail nature of zerg units coupled with the sheer insane numbers of tanks, battlecruisers, stimmed bio, zealots, dragoons, and archons mean few options are viable other than 12 guardians and 13 mutad/devs. Even on 7 where air is banned, the ramps you have to use to reach each objective coupled with the 6+ dark templar you find mean that even mass ultra can't survive. While air makes it possible, it still takes a long time to get the win. Still, I wish I had other solutions available.
A special shoutout to Science Vessels. Fuck. You. Irradiate on a deathless challenge is an immediate reset. Go fuck yourself. It often felt like the A.I's strategy wasn't to kill my army, it was to try their hardest to get a single kill off.
Still a 10/10 challenge. Just prepare lots of saves.
 
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Norway28929 Posts
that honestly sounds insane. great job.
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Northern Ireland27480 Posts
Nice one, although it makes me wonder if you are some giant masochist!
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Cricketer12
United States14003 Posts
On October 08 2023 23:09 WombaT wrote:
Nice one, although it makes me wonder if you are some giant masochist!
If I can do it without too much trouble so can you!
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Flash in 2024: "Winning the ASL without losing any units was really challenging, but ultimately rewarding. Shout-out to Cricketer12..."
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Do you have any replays? Genuinely curious how you did some of these missions. It's been a while since I played but to not lose a single unit in some of the zerg missions... I can't comprehend it 
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Cricketer12
United States14003 Posts
On October 10 2023 05:23 cha0 wrote:Do you have any replays? Genuinely curious how you did some of these missions. It's been a while since I played but to not lose a single unit in some of the zerg missions... I can't comprehend it
I never thought to, but I'm more than happy to go in depth where I can 
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did you play this on fastest? could be a bit easier on normal or slower.
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Cricketer12
United States14003 Posts
On October 10 2023 17:37 iPlaY.NettleS wrote:
did you play this on fastest? could be a bit easier on normal or slower.
I dropped speed on 1 level (Fury of the Swarm) to avoid deaths at the start. Otherwise fastest is fine.
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Canada8991 Posts
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Calgary26004 Posts
That's really impressive, I wouldn't have thought it possible.
I went through a phase I downloaded a million custom campaigns and grinded through them. This challenge never crossed my mind though.
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Northern Ireland27480 Posts
On October 09 2023 09:48 Cricketer12 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 08 2023 23:09 WombaT wrote:
Nice one, although it makes me wonder if you are some giant masochist! If I can do it without too much trouble so can you!
I’m just getting flashbacks from a Zerg mission featuring DTs which I decided to play basically ling only
Broke the bastards eventually but reavers and Templars made that a lot of fun!
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He went full ghandi. No one gets hurt run
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Cricketer12
United States14003 Posts
On October 14 2023 10:24 WombaT wrote:Show nested quote +On October 09 2023 09:48 Cricketer12 wrote:On October 08 2023 23:09 WombaT wrote:
Nice one, although it makes me wonder if you are some giant masochist! If I can do it without too much trouble so can you! I’m just getting flashbacks from a Zerg mission featuring DTs which I decided to play basically ling only Broke the bastards eventually but reavers and Templars made that a lot of fun!
Dude that level was so damn obnoxious. Essentially had to run a Duran/Defiler infiltration squad with literally 40 sunks/spores at home for defense.
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your Country52798 Posts
I remember doing this for just the first Terran mission, with an additional self-imposed challenge to go through the center. Small was indeed the name of the game. It required a lot of patience. This sounds completely insane for half of the other ones though (which is probably why GiantGrantGames hasn't pulled it off yet). Honestly would have given up as soon as I saw the first irradiate.
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I've seen some of those GiantGrant videos, nice work completing a challenge like this!
Flash in 2024: "Winning the ASL without losing any units was really challenging, but ultimately rewarding. Shout-out to Cricketer12..."
LMAO
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EPT![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/2QcB5oD.jpg)
