Wings of Liberty Campaign Walkthrough Part 2: Armory, Research, and Mercenaries
Posted on September 6, 2010 by: 
Quelex 
(SCII) WoL Campaign Walkthrough, StarCraft 2 
11 Comments
Spoiler Free Walkthrough
This guide is being designed to be spoiler free. But as in any guide, names of characters need to be mentioned. So while this guide will have no storyline spoiling information, there is no way to avoid saying when a Mission Objective lists something like “Raynor must survive” without telling our readers that it is something they need to be aware of.
Intro – Armory – Research – Mercenaries
Hello all and welcome to Part 2 of our walkthrough. This time we’ll be talking about Upgrades from the Armory and Research Consoles and which Mercenaries are a good choice for your campaign. You only earn a little over 2 million credits in a single campaign play-through (unless you use the research point glitch.), and you’ll need roughly 3 million to buy everything. So as you can see, you cannot buy every upgrade and hire every mercenary.
Keep in mind that your playing style won’t be the same as ours’. So while I would not buy any Vulture upgrades, you may love them and want them for your campaign. Take it with a grain of salt.
Armory
Intro – Armory – Research – Mercenaries
The Armory is the chief upgrade center. It allows you to spend credits earned from missions on unit specific upgrades. There are three types of upgrades:
- Ability Upgrades: These types add abilities to the unit. Stim Packs for Marines is a good example.
- Statistic Upgrades: Increases in the Units’ stats including: Attack Range, Max HP, Weapon Bonuses (Such as Splash or Area Attack), Damage Boosts, and so on.
- Tech Upgrades: Upgrades that change the unit’s tech requirements or the units themselves. For a couple examples there is an upgrade that removes the Tech Lab requirement for building Medics and upgrade turning all Command Centers into Orbital Commands.
So which upgrades should you get and which should you avoid? We’ll start with Base Upgrades.
Base Upgrade Recommendations
- Bunker: Projectile Accelerator: Increases the range of all units inside a Bunker by 1.
- Bunker: Neosteel Bunker: Increases max Bunker slots by 2.
- SCV: Dual Fusion Wielders: Repair recovers HP twice as fast.
- Terran Buildings: Orbital Command: Enables Calldown Mule and Scanner Sweep abilities on all Command Centers.
You’ll be using a lot of Bunkers, especially on defend the area missions. So getting both upgrades is a no brainer. SCV’s Repair Ability is one of the most useful abilities in the game on the harder difficulties. Finally, getting Orbital Command abilities on your Command Centers without having to pay minerals or gas in game is pretty sweet.
You’ll want to get these upgrades as soon as they become available.
The Missile Turret upgrades are nice if you use them, but you’ll find yourself regretting spending the credits on it when it could have been used on other things. The multiple SCVs can construct a building to cut down on build time is another nice thing, but situations where that would be necessary are not common and it will distract you from enemies and objectives. The Fire-Suppression is a nice upgrade as it effects every Terran upgrade. However, your SCVs would most likely be there to repair any buildings that should be taking damage (defensive) and if other buildings are being targeted and are on fire then they probably won’t last long anyhow.
Infantry Upgrade Recommendations
- Marine: Stimpacks: Temporary 50% boost of attack and movement speed at the cost of 10 HP.
- Marine: Combat Shield: Increases max HP by 10.
- Medic: Advanced Medical Facilities: Medics no longer require the Tech Lab and can be built with no add on or a Reactor for 2 units at one time.
- Medic: Stabilizer Medpacks: Medics heal faster and more efficiently.
You will find yourself using Marines and Medics in probably half or more of the missions. These upgrades are your primary concern at the beginning of the game. Make sure you don’t skip out. Some people feel the Advanced Medical Facilities is useless if you go with the Tech Reactor with the Protoss Research. This is true, but that will not be happening until mid-late game. Being able to pump out Marines and Medics at the same time with a Reactor is priceless early on.
If you use Marauders, Firebats, and Reapers the upgrades are not that great. You can make Firebats longer ranged fire throwing tanks if you want, but you probably won’t have much use for it later on. Marauders would be an exceptional unit choice if only they had the Stim Pack Ability like they do in Multiplayer. But the HP bonus and Slows Target upgrades are not worth it unless you plan on using them a ton. And the Range/Damage bonus on the Reapers is useless. The C-4 Ability isn’t terrible, but you’ll probably only find yourself using Reapers on the Devil’s Playground and Moebius Factor missions.
Vehicle Upgrade Recommendations
- Siege Tank: Maelstrom Rounds: Increases damage to the primary target by 40, but splash damage remains the same.
- Siege Tank: Shaped Blast: Friendly fire damage taken by Siege Tank’s splash damage is reduced by 75%.
In any defensive mission, you’ll find yourself using Siege Tanks. They’re an overall great unit for that purpose. The extra damage is very helpful since a lot of units do not die in one hit. The Shaped Blast upgrade will prevent any enemies who get close to a wall or any other units/buildings nearby from being blown up in the process.
The rest of the Vehicle Upgrades are really up to you. Hellions are a good unit as they are pretty cheap and effective against light armored units but you’ll probably find yourself focusing more on Infantry or Air for offense in missions. That being said, if you are going to invest in other Vehicles you’ll probably want the Hellions’ upgrades for mopping up Zerg units. Vultures’ upgrades are both Spider Mine related. If you have any need for defense, skipping out on these upgrades and focusing on Bunkers and Tanks will help you far more for less credits. The Goliath has some pretty nice upgrades too. Being able to fire at ground and air at the same time though is a nice luxury but you won’t find yourself using them too often unless you really enjoy the unit. The range bonus does make them a great Anti Air unit to add to your Infantry mix though. Diamondbacks are a Void Ray on wheels, but let’s face it: You won’t use them often and the upgrades are nothing to write home about.
Starship Upgrade Recommendations
- Viking: Ripwave Missiles: Makes the Viking’s attack hit an area.
- Viking: Phobos-Class Weapons System: Increases the Range of Air attacks by 2 and Ground attacks by 1.
- Banshee: Cross-Spectrum Dampeners: Cloaking lasts twice as long.
- Banshee: Shockwave Missile Battery: Makes the Banshee’s attack hit an area.
The two Starships you’ll use the most are Vikings and Banshees so you should make the most of them. Vikings are your best Anti Air unit and the splash attack and range upgrade are a great addition. Banshees get a splash attack too which is great. The cloaking may seem like a waste, but in a lot of missions (especially the last) you’ll find that being able to keep them in stealth mode and take out a specific ground target is far more effective than using Wraiths or Battle Cruisers at a much cheaper cost.
Medivacs are the only transport option other than the Hercules. The deploy all at once makes it a cheaper version of that, but with a healing on the side. It’s a good unit, but in the Campaign Medics will save your Infantry more often than a Medivac because they’ll be blown out of the sky first. The Wraith is not a very powerful unit in StarCraft II. The two upgrades are there to make the Cloaking Ability more effective. You’ll find yourself using Banshees and Vikings far more often and more easily take out the same targets. And let’s face it, Battlecruisers are a fun Air unit. They’re a true power house and the Defensive Matrix Ability would make them even more of a tank. But truth be told, you’ll find yourself only using these in a couple missions because of the large expense.
Dominion Upgrade Recommendations
I can’t say I recommend any Dominion Upgrades unless you have the left over Credits for them. The two Ghost Types, Ghosts and Spectres get a cool Upgrade you can purchase that makes them permanently cloaked. Psionic Lash on Spectres makes for a great offensive Ability because it instantly knocks out 200 HP on the enemy unit. With a few Spectres you can take out just about anything very quickly. However, not that many units have that much HP and you’ll find yourself going with the Marines and Medics over Spectres unless you’re in the mood to Nuke. Besides, most of the time the enemies will have detection and will put an end to your plans before they go into action. I will say Psionic Lash can help against the boss unit in All In though. The Ghost Ability just makes it more of a Scout/Assassin, and it’s not a role you’ll have much use for in Wings of Liberty. The Thor’s 330mm Barrage Cannon is a great Ability too (and is also effective in All In). Immortality Protocol is a cool idea for the unit to be able to resurrect it from the dead at a cheaper price. But just like the Battlecruiser, you’ll find them to be too expensive, too slow, and not worth the Credit investment unless it fits your playing style.
Research
Intro – Armory – Research – Mercenaries
The Research Console gives you Campaign exclusive upgrades that can affect your mission to mission strategy a lot. You’ll earn Research Points as you progress through the campaign and complete optional objectives. There are two trees (Zerg and Protoss) for Research which have two choices for upgrades with each level of points you reach (5, 10, 15, 20, 25). We’ll start with our choices for Protoss.
Protoss Research Recommendations
- Protoss Research Level 5: Ultra-Capacitors vs Vanadium Plating: Ultra-Capacitors.
Ultra-Capacitors gets the victory here. You basically have to choose between Attack Speed (Ultra-Capacitors) vs max HP bonus (Vanadium Plating). Each level of Weapons/Armor/Plating upgrades from the Engineering Bay and Armory will give those unit types a 5% bonus (So up to 15% with level 3 Armor or Weapons) to their Attack Speed or Max Life. I would have to say that the attack speed is the more effective choice because your defensive units will be able to pick apart threats more easily. More life is great, but when you get to level 3 upgrades and your Marines only get a 9 HP bonus you’ll start to feel a bit of regret.
- Protoss Research Level 10: Orbital Depots vs Micro-Filtering: See below.
This is a hard call. If you really want just a plain call, go with Micro-Filtering. But this one really comes down to playing style. I find more in the campaign than other games on SCII that I become distracted and sometimes lose track of my Supply Depots. If you’re not the best micro manager, Orbital Depots can be a life saver. It makes it so that Supply Depots get dropped in so all your SCV has to do is spend a couple seconds making a landing site and then can walk away (like Probe speed) and the Supply Depot will be down in just another second. This is enormously helpful when your Supply gets locked and you need to raise your max quickly.
On the other hand, if you can keep up with the Supply, there’s no reason not to go with Micro-Filtering. Your most common problem economy wise will be being low on Vespene Gas. Combining Micro-Filtering and Automated Refineries takes a lot of that problem away and brings them much closer to your Mineral income. The only loss will be in Mineral income from having to take an SCV to build a Supply Depot instead of just being able to drop one down.
- Protoss Research Level 15: Automated Refinery vs Command Center Reactor: Automated Refinery.
Automated Refinery wins on this one. Like mentioned before, you’ll have no problems with Mineral income for the most part (especially if you quickly invested in MULEs like recommended) so you should go with the thing that boosts your Gas income. This one makes it so that you no longer need to mine with SCVs, the Gas is just automatically mined and added to your total. This is great in missions too where you don’t feel too confident in holding an expansion, but can get an SCV over there to make an Automated Refinery.
The Command Center Reactor is a good upgrade too. It’s just not as good as the Automated Refinery. And just so people know, it doesn’t make it so you can attach a Reactor to your Command Center. It’s just passive and allows you to build 2 SCVs at once at any Command Center. For what it’s worth, it is useful in setting up. In the long run is where Automated Refinery wins.
- Protoss Research Level 20: Raven vs Science Vessel: Science Vessel.
The Sci Vessel comes back in the WoL campaign! This thing has Irradiate again which is nice but not too useful. Where it does win however is with it’s Nano Repair which gives Repair on the Go in combat situations for your Vehicles and Starships. It also of course keeps it’s Detection. The Raven has the same abilities from in regular matches in StarCraft II. But it just doesn’t stack up to being able to bring along a Repair unit that isn’t as weak as an SCV.
- Protoss Research Level 25: Tech Reactor vs Orbital Strike: Tech Reactor.
As if you had to even think about which one wins. Tech Reactor combines the Tech Lab and Reactor into one Add On cutting the build time on multiple higher tech units. This thing is priceless for building an Army fast.
Orbital Strike isn’t a bad idea when you think about it. It makes it so that all units built at Barracks are instantly dropped upon completion at the Rally Point. So as long as you can see where you want to drop the unit, it can go there on creation. Being able to drop a Spectre/Ghost after building a Nuke anywhere can help take out an area of enemies quick. But being able to build up a powerful army using all the Factory type buildings is more valuable.
Zerg Research Recommendations
- Zerg Research Level 5: Shrike Turret vs Fortified Bunker: Fortified Bunker.
Fortified Bunker adds 150 Max HP to all your Bunkers. You will use Bunkers in the majority of missions and will need them to last. The extra HP will help a lot especially if you’re lacking an SCV right next to it for a bit. The Shrike Turret might as well be a free Marine due to the low damage output. Weighing the two, a lot more HP gets the win easily.
- Zerg Research Level 10: Planetary Fortress vs Perdition Turret: Planetary Fortress.
The Planetary Fortress is not as useful as an Orbital Command. So why pick it? Planetary Fortresses make great walls and defensive units but in very limited situations. With some SCVs backing it up with repair, it’s very very hard to kill them. The All In Mission is where these will shine as your bunkers and tanks will fall. Perdition Turrets are basically the Flame Trap from Brood War. It pops out of the ground when an enemy comes near and roasts them with a Firebat like attack. Cool idea, but it lacks on the HP department and that is what really makes the Planetary Fortress the winner this time. You also won’t find yourself using either of them often, so you might as well get the Planetary Fortress for the mission you’ll need it.
- Zerg Research Level 15: Predator vs Hercules: Hercules.
The Hercules gets this one for primarily the same reason as the Planetary Fortress was picked for the last Research level. It will come in handy in the Moebius Factor mission. It’s basically a Medivac on steroids. It picks up units and can drop them all at once. If it dies on the way to the destination, the units will drop out alive. The Predator on the other hand would be more helpful if there were more missions fighting Infantry. It smacks units with a melee attack that releases small radius shockwaves that damage all surrounding enemies. Good for picking off Zerglings, but not much for anything else. I researched this one my first time around and forgot I actually did until the end. When I tried it I was not impressed. At least get some use from the Hercules.
- Zerg Research Level 20: Cellular Reactor vs Regenerative Bio-Steel: Regenerative Bio-Steel.
Regenerative Bio-Steel will heal your mechanical units over time. This is useful for obvious reasons. It’s a bit more effective as the Zerg’s HP recovery, so it’s not bad but not amazing. Cellular Reactor will add 100 max Energy and 100 starting Energy points to your Energy using units. You really won’t use too many Energy units in the campaign (except for Medics), so you might as well get the recovery upgrade.
- Zerg Research Level 25: Hive Mind Emulator vs Psi Disrupter: See below.
I would recommend the Psi Disrupter myself but there is some merit to the Hive Mind Emulator too. Psi Disrupters are defensive buildings that will slow down any Zerg units in their radius in attack and movement speed. This is helpful in any defensive mission against Zerg units as it will take a chunk of the damage away from your troops by slowing down the threat so your Tanks and Bunkers can whittle away your foes. The Hive Mind Emulator is particularly useful in the All In mission though (Don’t get me wrong, Psi Disrupter is too). It allows you to basically Mind Control Zerg units. All In has two different versions: one where you are attacked by Ground Zerg Units, and one where you are attacked by Air Zerg Units. If you mind control Brood Lords with it in the Air Version, you can stun and beat down the boss unit that attacks your base. In the end, you’ll probably want to go with Psi Disrupter unless you are going the Air route.
Mercenaries
Intro – Armory – Research – Mercenaries
Mercenaries can be hired with the credits you earn from the Cantina. Once you buy the contract, you can then use more powerful versions of units in Missions. Mercenaries can be instantly called in using the Merc Compound building. They do have a cool down starting from the beginning of the mission and any time after you call some in. They also have a limit on how many times you can call them in. Mercenaries are typically higher Damaging and higher HP versions of the unit or group of units that are more expensive than the original unit (but worth it in the long run with resources).
If you like using the Mercenaries, then here are my recommendations:
- Marines: War Pigs (Automatically Hired): Useful for Infantry forces and Bunker fillers.
- Marauders: Hammer Securities: If you ended up purchasing the Slows Target upgrade, Hammer Securities are not a bad investment for your Infantry forces and for Bunkers.
- Siege Tanks: Siege Breakers: These Tanks can be quickly called down for a stronger defense.
- Vikings: Hel’s Angels: With the Viking Upgrades these are a great Anti Air unit. Due to the instant Call Down it can make for quick reinforcements too.
- Banshee: Dusk Wings: Banshees have the stealth, but this version has a bit more firepower to add to it. The instant Call Down makes it great for adding to your force fast.
And that’s it for Part 2. We hope this helped you figure out how to invest your Credits and Research Points. Good luck!
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