Nowhere is safe from Amon's wrath. Between the endless missile salvos, random nuclear strikes, and a purifier beam in search of something to burn, Veridia's lava flows might be the least of your worries. Get your workers back to base safely. It's their time to shine.
Map: The Vermillion Problem
Missile Command (new mutator) Endless missile bombardments target your structures and must be shot down throughout the mission.
Purifier Beam An enemy Purifier Beam moves across the map toward nearby player units.
Going Nuclear Nukes are launched at random throughout the map.
- The Purifier Beam and the nukes do NOT go into the expansion. However, they do hit the ramps, so changing defensive layouts is advisable.
- Missiles spawn at the very start, from the edges of the map. They slowly fly to the players' bases.
- Missiles deal 100 damage at first. However, the damage increases, and eventually they launch nukes toward our base. Those ones come with a warning sound.
- We can shoot down the missiles, but sometimes they launch Point Defense Drones, so we need to shoot those down first. Also, we cannot stop them from spawning.
- The missiles do not target units or workers.
- The Purifier Beam slowly chases units, but it does not venture into players' bases.
- A new Purifier Beam spawns every 10 minutes.
- The warning spot for Going Nuclear is the large targeting area. However, you only have 5 Blizzard seconds of warning before the nuke hits. There is no indication on the minimap, nor is there a "Nuclear Launch Detected" sound for Going Nuclear, so babysitting your units and workers is advisable.
After playing a couple of games, I noticed some other things:
- Rockets also spawn behind your main bases (top left corner). - Some missiles (the fatter ones) deal damage upon being destroyed. - Artanis' guardian shell is immensely helpful here against the nukes. - Karax seems to be the best commader again, his passive helps against the missiles and he can defend everything while the ally can focus on offense. - Karax and Raynor can stay on one base and be fine, although establishing the expansion area as a forward outpost is helpful as the nukes don't fall on the expansions. - Placing Bunkers around the bases with marines in them is a good way of defending as Raynor since marines have good dps and ignore the PDDs.
Just 1 shot as Karax + Swann, no bonus :-( (next time!)
I initially thought I could orbital strike the missles, its impossible so don't try haha. I put cannons everywhere for missle defense, though I forgot to put energizers down too for the attack buff, that sure looks like it helped a lot with the PDD in the karax + kerrigan video.
karax + swann is a good synergy because karax's repair beam heals swann's buildings. The big missles can take out even my mastery upgrades cannons (level 60), so either putting down enough cannons and energizers to deal with them, or rebuilding after 1 hits is the biggest thing to deal with. The attacks on the expo were strong, but orbital lance usually took out 95% of the group, clean it up with orbital strikes.
Swann was moving around goliaths and seige tanks in large drop ships, with 4-5 scvs every time.
This map has always been about getting the crystals back to the machine. Everything else is secondary.
So this map, no matter the commander combo, is really straight forward. -Figure out how to deal with the missiles -Avoid the nukes -Rebuild after a big missile hit -Defend against attacks -Get the crystals back to the machine.
I did this with Kerrigan, and I feel like she's the best for this. The nydus networks provide great cover for your army, as well as great transportation for your crystal collecting drones. (Unfortunately they can only take them to the crystals, but not back so you still have to babysit them on the return trip.) Kerrigan can clear the expos as soon as she's done defending the first wave, and can pretty much clear most of the high ground areas by herself. Nyduses are also fantastic for defending. You have to be very vigilant about using assimilation aura or you'll have a horrible time economically early on, with all the spores you have to make and the late expo.
Nukes can definitely be annoying. I looked away from maybe 2-3 secs to queque turrets and my army got pinched between multiple nukes and I had two beams and a cliff boxing me in. Lost over half my army. Couple that with a useless Vorazun ally who had no army 15 mins in and playing missile defense and it was GG.
I've tried it ~5 times and allies just keep going way too TD. I found it easiest so far as Aba, as he had easiest time (out of him, Swann and Raynor) to solo clear the areas defending crystals. I imagine all zerg commanders are pretty strong in clearing out the areas. I certainly don't think Karax or Swann are among top commanders when it comes to "soloing" the mission, meaning when you get not-so-good allies.
I really really dig this week's mutation. The minimap is a mess and it's awesome. Kerrigan is okayish, Karax is strong, Artanis passive is a life-saver (duh), usual stuff.
Just don't be like my partner and stay on the lookout for nukes
Cannoned the hell out of the map with Karax, while a Kerrigan went around killing stuff. Got the crystal collection duty too. Nuclears and Beams were an issue just for some straying probes getting crystals back, easy to dodge otherwise.
Not sure they fix it or not in the new patch. There is a stupid trick with vorazun, you can attack the cloak worker with mineral to trigger emergency recall.
Did it as Abathur with an Artanis ally... was a fantastic team comp for this. Abathur mutas are great not just for their mobility, but they also are great for overwhelming those point defense drones and intercepting the nuke missiles. Artanis shield saved me from the scourges.
Completed this as Karax/Vorazun, used DT/Corsair to push out and Clear around the Crystals, while the Karax player defended against waves and missile bombardment while collecting the crystals. Even managed to get the bonus.
Very preliminary ranking for discussion purposes, because I haven't played THAT much. The two main factors in this mission are offensive ability and anti-missile ability. I'll rank both of these traits.
Karax: The best anti-missile commander since his Monoliths ignore PDD and have incredible range. His repair beam is also useful for shrugging off missile damage. His calldowns allow for easy defense while crystals are gathered. Finally, he is actually able to push decently with carriers.
Kerrigan: Kerrigan + Ultra/Hydra along with Nydus allows you the push extremely efficiently. You also get a great start from Kerrigan clearing out the expansions asap. Finally, Nydus allows you to transport workers to crystals extremely quickly.
Raynor: Bunker Turrets ignoring PDD is a big bonus. Raynor can also push extremely well, reinforce directly to the battlefield, and recover lost forces from nukes extremely easily.
Zagara: Pushes relatively well and can go Abberation/Spore to balance out Minerals/Gas.
Vorazun: Pushes well and generally has a huge mineral bank you can use to make cannons out of. Thus, he can function as both an offensive and defensive commander at the same time. Emergency Recall also lets you save fighting units from stray nukes.
Abathur: Below average offensive, decent defense against missles because of the huge mineral bank you'll accrue. He often gets stretched out too thing though.
Swann: Only slightly above average at defense, one of the worst at offense since he ramps up so slowly. He just doesn't have the resources to do everything.
Artanis: Works well with competent allies, but otherwise his offensive and defensive abilities are both quite subpar.
Alarak: Poor at pushing buildings without Wrathguards, which means he'll have to choose between those and ascendents at first. He also really wants to spend all his minerals on Supplicants, meaning he doesn't have excess minerals for cannons. Thus, it's best to pair him up with a defensive commander.
It was pretty easy with Karax. I had Alarak as my partner and he was decent enough. We managed to get the bonus pretty easily. I also managed to get my first six carriers nuked... nuke dropped right beside my expo. My carriers were chilling right side of my expo right beside my Nexus and a nuke took em all out.
I wonder if the nukes are truly random or if they have a larger chance of dropping where there is mass of units.