Does This Mutation Make Me Look Fat? Let's Play Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm

[The Glyphstone]

Warfield is easy to love, I think, because he's...earnest, I guess. A pure soldier who believes in the Dominion as its propaganda paints it, but is still open minded enough to team up with a wanted terrorist in pursuit of a mutual enemy. He plays the good cop to Mengsk's bad cop, leaving out Valerian who is still sorta morally ambiguous in WoL.

But as you pointed out, he's not tactically flexible. So maybe that's the reason to use changelings against him, he'll be too slow to figure out a countermeasure. Heck, their wiki page shows that even grunt Marines have worked out a foolproof changeling detection test.

[Keltest]

Warfield is easy to love, I think, because he's...earnest, I guess. A pure soldier who believes in the Dominion as its propaganda paints it, but is still open minded enough to team up with a wanted terrorist in pursuit of a mutual enemy. He plays the good cop to Mengsk's bad cop, leaving out Valerian who is still sorta morally ambiguous in WoL.

But as you pointed out, he's not tactically flexible. So maybe that's the reason to use changelings against him, he'll be too slow to figure out a countermeasure. Heck, their wiki page shows that even grunt Marines have worked out a foolproof changeling detection test.

That is based on a comment from the Starcraft Field Manual, a golden masterwork of comedy and a pretty great source of unit scales if you ever happen to need one. I got into an argument once that involved me pulling out a ruler and measuring the "for scale" marine for the pictures of two units once, just to understand which one was bigger. I dont remember why this was important, and i may have done it simply because i could at that point.

[noob]

Warfield is easy to love, I think, because he's...earnest, I guess. A pure soldier who believes in the Dominion as its propaganda paints it, but is still open minded enough to team up with a wanted terrorist in pursuit of a mutual enemy. He plays the good cop to Mengsk's bad cop, leaving out Valerian who is still sorta morally ambiguous in WoL.

But as you pointed out, he's not tactically flexible. So maybe that's the reason to use changelings against him, he'll be too slow to figure out a countermeasure. Heck, their wiki page shows that even grunt Marines have worked out a foolproof changeling detection test.

The meme was about telling warfield about the existence of the changelings which is quite not what to do if the objective is using his lack of adaptability: you warn people about impostors if you want to spread distrust else you simply do not warn them that they are being replaced.

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler: Update 16: In Which The Love Story Is Still Better Than Twilight

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March 23, 2506:

Colonel Orlan worked fast, especially with the threat of being given back to Mira Han if he didn't cooperate. Within a day, Prince Valerian and Admiral Horner were calling Sarah with the results.



“So I got good news, bad news, and please don't shoot me news. The good news is, Mengsk has a whole bunch of the people he's been capturing all piled up in New Folsom. We bust that place open, your manpower problems are solved. Plus, the defenses are mainly built to stand off escape attempts and pirate raids, a swarm of angry Zerg is way outside what they'll be ready to handle.



“You don't seem too upset by working alongside the Swarm, Colonel.”



“I'm a mercenary, ma'am, comes with the territory. Plus, it's not my first rodeo either; did some work back in the day, for a guy named Schezar. Had his own pet brood of Zerg critters somehow, and was nuttier than my auntie's Christmas fruitcake on top of that. But anyways – thats the good news. Bad news is, Commander Raynor's not with the rest of them. Seeing as how he's officially dead, they locked him up in Moros Base, a special ultra-max ward built into an orbiting asteroid. Sits up there as a reminder that you can be sent someplace even worse than New Folsom, with real hardass security to boot.



“And what's the worse news?”



“I can't hack a damn thing there, the entire network is kept isolated. Air-gapped systems, hardwired connections, Faraday cages, you name it. There's just one way in unless you feel like tunneling through a kilometer of solid nickel-iron, a damn Yamato cannon would bounce off those doors, and they only open up for prisoner transfers from the surface.”



“My worms can chew their way through but it'll be too slow. We need shock and surprise or they'll kill everyone on the prison deck.”



”What if we...”

The four of them kept talking, but I wasn't really listening anymore. Orlan had said something important, but my mind kept bouncing back to Kate, down in the prison. Had she already been resocialized? Killed? Jealousy or not, she was still my blood.

Blood.



“You said they open up for prisoner transfers, right?”

Everyone was silent, staring at me, and too late I remembered I had been mostly sitting on the floor out of sight of everyone on the Hyperion.



“Who...Miss Colby? How...whatever in the galaxy are you doing here, now? Where did you even come from?”



“It's a long story. Admiral,do you remember how your people got access to the Valhalla base? Where you stole the Odin?”

Horner's brow furrowed.



“Miss Colby, this is a ultra-high security prison. A UNN press pass isn't going to get us past security this time.”



“No, but my sister is down there in New Folsom. My identical twin sister. Can the good colonel fake up a transfer order if he has an authentic DNA map to work with?”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 26, 2506:



The hangar seemed so empty now without Raynor's old shuttle in it. The ship had been my home for months, but it was the only way Sarah could get onboard Moros, even with Orlan's fake transfer. But it worked – they opened the doors, and by the time they saw the paint on the hull it was too late.



To their credit, they reacted quickly to the intrusion, with a whole squad of elite troops thrown in to block her way.



Not to their credit, the poor saps barely slowed her down.





A second squad didn't do much better, but they did delay her a bit, long enough for the security systems to collapse an access bridge. She would have to take an alternate route, one that gave them more time to rally defenders.





The maintenance shafts were cramped, but that just made Banelings all the better. A rolling tide of deadly green landmines preceded Sarah's relentless march through the handfuls of guards she encountered.



As soon as Sarah was onboard, Zagara had launched a full invasion of New Folsom, and brought the Leviathan in close to support Sarah's assault at the same time. Nydus worms had landed all across the asteroid and begun burrowing through, and one finally got close enough to barf out some minions to escort Sarah.



The hellbats been rushing to intercept her got there just a bit too late, and got a pack of angry Banelings to the face.



Back out in the main corridor, they had deployed an actual siege tank to cover the entrance grate. It would cost a lot of Zerglings or Banelings to rush the entrenched position there...



...So Sarah just waded in herself and psychic crunchy blasted the thing into scrap metal.



The next obstacle was an interior bulkhead, one just as tough as the exterior doors. In a tragic lack of oversight, Sarah had forgotten to bring a portable Yamato cannon with her. She started melting her way through the door layer by layer, but it would take time and the guards were coming from all directions.







All they ended up accomplishing was giving Sarah more mind-controlled minions to march in front of her own troops.



Finally, the way was clear, with only a smoking red-hot hole left behind. It was the rare moments like this where I could really appreciate what it meant to be off the scale of psionic potential, immeasurably beyond my non-existent ability.



The captured Siege tanks proved surprisingly useful when brought onto our side, picking off guards from well outside their range while Kerrigan waited to stop any counterattacks.



“Kerrigan, I know you want to get to Jim as quickly as possible, but if you can, please try and capture the base's prisoner records. Too many innocent lives have ended there, and bringing Mengsk's minions to justice will matter just as much as stopping him personally.



“I'll do what I can, Admiral.”



The mainframe terminal nearby had some of the records he wanted. It was no more Zerg-compatible than anything else humans had built, but Sarah had been a Ghost before she was a Zerg. Her own hacking skills were enough to beat its security and strip the databanks clean.



The detour hadn't been without cost, though. A massive blockade was set up in her way, and the time it would take to slowly feed Banelings into the defenses would be too much.



Instead, she seeded a set of Virophages that spewed out a wave of infested to overwhelm the strongpoint's guns. By the time they ran out of zombies, she had broken the barricades.



A last-ditch defense was set up between Sarah and the elevator down to the prison deck. The elevator itself was powered by a separate generator, which a Thor began blasting to pieces.



They really shouldn't have done that, Sarah hated giant robots enough without having one trying to stop her from rescuing Raynor. I'm not sure exactly what you call it when a thirty-foot tall mecha is puréed across the walls of a hangar bay, but it's both terrifying and impressive to watch.



As she started down the elevator, sirens and alarms started going off.



“Kerrigan. I should have expected you to come here, which is why it's good that I did. I've had Jim Raynor in my care for months, and I gave his interrogators very specific instructions. Do you know how many times someone with your face has tortured him? How many times your voice has ripped secrets from the depths of his mind? All that keeps him intact now is hating you, and now you've gone back to the Zerg. It's a pity neither of you will live to find out if this last betrayal shatters what remains of his sanity for good.”





“Kerrigan, we're picking up a massive power surge in the core of the base. It looks like the reactors have been remotely set to overload, and they're practically on top of the cell block where Jim is held. You need to get him out of there.”



Resistance was surprisingly light, with most guards fleeing instead of standing to fight. I heard one poor bastard shout about escape pods, but where he planned on finding escape pods inside a buried moonbase was beyond me.





Plus, it looked like they had problems of their own. Seems the prisoners didn't want to die either, and were rioting out of their cells. Mostly, they just died, but the distraction was more than sufficient for Sarah to overrun the guards from behind.



“Zagara, bring the Leviathan in directly. Tear a hole in this rock until you reach that reactor, then fling it into space.”





The remaining guards were just flinging themselves suicidally into Sarah's army now, I guess to die fighting instead of being blown up by a reactor detonation. The base was shaking noticeably now as the Leviathan ripped city-sized chunks of rock out of the asteroid, racing against time.



Mindful of Admiral Horner's request, Sarah detoured again to hack a second mainframe terminal with more records.



One final desperate group of guards had gathered with their backs against the wall, and it was almost an anticlimax. Between Sarah's invading swarm and sudden reinforcements from the Leviathan, they were utterly doomed. The lights went out briefly and the entire base shuddered as the reactors tore free, replaced by dull red emergency lights.



The door to what must have been Mr. Raynor's cell was locked tight, until Sarah made it cease to exist. She didn't take any Zerg in with her, so what happened inside was a mystery to me. But Raynor walked out first, bruised and limping but alive and apparently not crazy. Sarah followed after a few minutes, with a very familiar set to her steps. A couple's first real fight was always hard, but it was a classic story. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl becomes an alien hybrid abomination and wages genocidal war on humanity. Boy gets girl again, girl loses boy, turns back into alien hybrid warlord...okay, so maybe it's not quite as classical as I thought. They'd work through it somehow, even if I hadn't the faintest idea why I was so certain.

Odd, amusing thing I did notice...they lock Raynor up, manacle him, but are generous enough to let him keep the pack of cigarettes in his sleeve. I guess he'll need them for prison barter?

Anyways, we're back with our regularly scheduled VOTES - two of the three remaining chances in the campaign.

Swarm Host Evolution:
1) Carrion Strain: Locusts now fly, dealing 50% more damage but having 25% less life.
2) Creeper Strain: Generates Creep when buried, and can teleport to anywhere on the map with Creep.

Kerrigan Ultimate Ability:
1) Apocalypse: Massive AoE nuke, dealing 300 damage to all units and 700 to all buildings in the radius.
2) Leviathan: Summon a flying hero unit with timed life. Has a ranged nuke and an AoE stun ability.
3) Primal Drop Pods: Summon a small swarm of Primal Zerg with timed life.

[Keltest]

Theres a really fun Easter egg in this mission if you just hang out in front of the first enemy squad without engaging them.

As far as votes go, i dont really care one way or the other about the Swarm Hosts because theyre both equally unhelpful in my experience. Carrion is marginally better, i guess, since most areas that have creep are ones you firmly control.

I totally vote Apocalypse though for Kerrigan, simply because being able to nuke an enemy base to death is an unequalled joy.

[The Glyphstone]

Oh yeah, I waited to listen to that. Couldn't justify including in the story, but it was quite funny.

[Keltest]

Clearly its a dream Nora has while waiting for Jimmy and Kerrigan to fight it out.

[The Glyphstone]

Regrettably, I didn't think of that in time. Heck, I couldn't even come up with a good title until the last minute - ended up cutting a line of dialogue that felt like forcing the joke too much, works slightly less badly as a heading.

As far as Swarm Hosts, there really is almost nothing they do that Brood Lords can't do plus flying mobility, and flying locusts can't even tank for their spawners anymore. Creeper strain would at least be better for reactive defense of bile cannons on Planetfall maybe? But it's true that I don't expect to use them much this late in the game.

[VoxRationis]

Starcraft has always been, on the scale of sci-fi hardness, somewhere between terrycloth and gelatin, but the part where we see Kerrigan melt through the reinforced doors really stands out in terms of asking, "What does she eat?" Does the game skip the scenes between missions where she scarfs down kilos of butter? Obviously, this is by no means the only eyebrow-raising feat in Starcraft, but I feel like it stands out in terms of A) being a fairly pure expression of energy output, rather than indirect effects, and B) coming from a single character with no technological assistance or connection to a broader energy source.

[The Glyphstone]

Starcraft psionics is basically magic, though, and magic is well-established as drawing energy from thin air. At least, I've never seen a game where wizards eat like sumo wrestlers. The bigger question is why she can't pull stuff like that off in regular fights, against similarly immobile targets like buildings.

[PhoenixPhyre]

The bigger question is why she can't pull stuff like that off in regular fights, against similarly immobile targets like buildings.

The power of love, of course. She could only do that to get to Raynor.... Well, at least that sounds as plausible as anything else...

[VoxRationis]

Starcraft psionics is basically magic, though, and magic is well-established as drawing energy from thin air. At least, I've never seen a game where wizards eat like sumo wrestlers. The bigger question is why she can't pull stuff like that off in regular fights, against similarly immobile targets like buildings.

Well, no, as I said, this isn't a strange inconsistency in an otherwise hard sci-fi setting. I understand well that they've always played fast and loose with physics, and that Blizzard tends to see "power" as something that generates energy at constant output but without consuming fuel. This just, somewhat arbitrarily, stood out especially to me.
That said, wizards needing to eat a lot is apparently enough of a thing in at least some stories that it gets a TVTropes page.

[Psyren]

Well, no, as I said, this isn't a strange inconsistency in an otherwise hard sci-fi setting. I understand well that they've always played fast and loose with physics, and that Blizzard tends to see "power" as something that generates energy at constant output but without consuming fuel. This just, somewhat arbitrarily, stood out especially to me.
That said, wizards needing to eat a lot is apparently enough of a thing in at least some stories that it gets a TVTropes page.

But it's not in others. Protoss don't eat at all IIRC, so why would Kerri need to?

In any event, the ultimate energy source is right in the franchise's name (stars) so both races likely figured out a way to harness that.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Whoo, Nora gets to be useful!

Spoiler: Update 16: In Which The Love Story Is Still Better Than Twilight

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“So I got good news, bad news, and please don't shoot me news.

Love this line.

Spoiler: Update 16: In Which The Love Story Is Still Better Than Twilight

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To their credit, they reacted quickly to the intrusion, with a whole squad of elite troops thrown in to block her way.



Not to their credit, the poor saps barely slowed her down.

And this one.

Spoiler: Update 16: In Which The Love Story Is Still Better Than Twilight

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In a tragic lack of oversight, Sarah had forgotten to bring a portable Yamato cannon with her.

And this one too.

Spoiler: Update 16: In Which The Love Story Is Still Better Than Twilight

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They'd work through it somehow, even if I hadn't the faintest idea why I was so certain.

Because his alcohol stash is still mostly intact?

Kerrigan Ultimate Ability:
1) Apocalypse: Massive AoE nuke, dealing 300 damage to all units and 700 to all buildings in the radius.
2) Leviathan: Summon a flying hero unit with timed life. Has a ranged nuke and an AoE stun ability.
3) Primal Drop Pods: Summon a small swarm of Primal Zerg with timed life.

I’m going to vote for Apocalypse because that sounds like loads of fun.

B) coming from a single character with no technological assistance or connection to a broader energy source.

Broader energy source like the Zerg Hive Mind, maybe?

[Traab]

Starcraft psionics is basically magic, though, and magic is well-established as drawing energy from thin air. At least, I've never seen a game where wizards eat like sumo wrestlers. The bigger question is why she can't pull stuff like that off in regular fights, against similarly immobile targets like buildings.

The Spellsong Cycle is a series of books where music is magic. Singers are sorcerers, and the rules around it are somewhat complicated with interesting loopholes. But the main character does in fact eat like a racehorse if i remember correctly. She also spends significant time recovering from using her magic depending on how extreme her actions are. And a lot of it could be handwaved as being reasonable energy wise because, as an example, her favorite spell is one designed to basically send arrow storms in whatever direction she wants, both to block those used against her and to make the ones her troops send super accurate. And how much energy does it take to physically move say, 2000 arrows? Specifically, the arrowheads for those complicated magic rules I mentioned.

Anyways, on to the entry. Nicely done. An interesting setup with some noncannon interactions to further push the story forward and interesting solutions. As for the upgrade, i agree swarmhosts, despite being lots of fun to play with, especially on defensive campaigns, are mostly useless. I like flying bugs, but the deep tunnel and creep factor is a good one strategically speaking. Being able to place a few swarmhosts behind your own lines as a ready response unit for incursions makes far too much sense. As for kerrigans ability, I say primal swarm. Why? Because I build kerrigan into one woman army mode. Chain lightning, brooodling spawn, baneling summons, and now dropping an army of primals wherever she needs them is just great fun. In these last missions I send her off by herself and an army of disposable minions to another objective and take them both down at once because she can handle them easily. Ymmv on higher difficulty.

[Keltest]

Oddly, Starcraft does make some (weak) attempts to explain where psionic power comes from. The protoss, by default, have access to the Khala, which besides being their communal mental link, also involves them connecting to... somewhere, that all their psionic energy lives. Dark Templar, the Nerazim, can do the same, but they traditionally learn to access energy from The Void, another dimension instead, which is part of the reason why their powers glow green rather than blue. Its never explicitly stated, or indeed known, where terrans get their psionic energy from, but most ghosts (and protoss, for that matter) can only channel so much of it before they exhaust themselves and their ability to hold it (for lack of a better term). Kerrigan, being one of the top three most powerful ghosts known to ever exist, and further being enhanced by the zerg, has substantially higher capacity and shorter regeneration time.

This was actually a plot point in SC1/BW, where the Zerg Overmind and its immediate underlings called Cerebrates, also used Void energy to provide the power to reincarnate themselves within minutes of death. Only Dark Templar could use the Void to disrupt this process and actually kill a Cerebrate or the Overmind.

[The Glyphstone]

I do stand corrected on the casting from calories, at least. I was well familiar with that being a thing for superheroes, especially speedsters, but not actual magicians.

But it's not in others. Protoss don't eat at all IIRC, so why would Kerri need to?

In any event, the ultimate energy source is right in the franchise's name (stars) so both races likely figured out a way to harness that.

Protoss actually do literally eat sun/starlight, IIRC.

[Keltest]

You do recall correctly. Protoss are photosynthetic, although a nod is given to how theyre amazingly more efficient about it, and use a much broader spectrum of energy than anything on Earth does.

[The Glyphstone]

Except on Shakuras, where the entire planet is somehow shrouded in twilight without being tidally locked? There's mention of the Nerazim altering their biology to survive there but not how...do they eat starlight instead at even greater efficiency rates?

[Keltest]

Except on Shakuras, where the entire planet is somehow shrouded in twilight without being tidally locked? There's mention of the Nerazim altering their biology to survive there but not how...do they eat starlight instead at even greater efficiency rates?

Its never fully explained, but its somewhat indicated that the Nerazim take energy directly from the Void (hence making Dark Archons). Once BW hit and the Xel'naga temple was activated, you can see in the cutscene that Shakuras is almost completely shrouded in fog and mists, and that the temple at least temporarily dispersed it, which may explain how the Khalai lived there.

[russdm]

You do recall correctly. Protoss are photosynthetic

So they are half plant? It would explain so much about them

[The Glyphstone]

So they are half plant? It would explain so much about them

It's not exactly the same, largely because as Keltest said, they absorb energy from a far broader spectrum than plants do with chloroplasts.

[Lord Torath]

Glyphstone, Just under your 8th screen shot, you say Zagara launched a full-scale invasion of New Fulsom. I assume you meant Moros, here?

Sadly, it never even occurred to me to use the Infestors to take over the thors and siege tanks.

Regarding leaving Jim his cigarettes, that's nothing. They leave him with a loaded, high-calibre revolver!

As for voting:
I usually pick the flying Carrion strain. I can see where the creeper strain would be extra useful in the Planetfall mission.

I used to always pick the Leviathan, but I think the Primal Zerg Pack is more effective.

[The Glyphstone]

No, that's just my poor wording there - the Swarm is invading New Folsom to free all the prisoners (again), and dropping troops into the Moros base at the same time. There wasn't a super huge narrative need to move Moros, just my instincts towards conservation of detail when it comes to high-security military prisons. But that paragraph does still contain an oopsie where I forgot to change 'moon' back to 'asteroid'.


As far as Jim...It's super dark in that cell, but I'm pretty sure he didn't have a gun with him in there. Kerrigan brought that in with her, presumably looted from one of the dead guards along the way.

[Keltest]

I think she brought it from the Hyperion. Jim didnt have it on him when he was captured.

[Lord Torath]

I think she brought it from the Hyperion. Jim didnt have it on him when he was captured.

I'll have to watch that cut scene again, I guess. I was pretty sure he had it with him when she broke in.

No, that's just my poor wording there - the Swarm is invading New Folsom to free all the prisoners (again), and dropping troops into the Moros base at the same time. There wasn't a super huge narrative need to move Moros, just my instincts towards conservation of detail when it comes to high-security military prisons. But that paragraph does still contain an oopsie where I forgot to change 'moon' back to 'asteroid'.

Poor New Fulsom. Cracked open twice in a single year. It's reputation will never be the same. Assuming it's a single year. I have not checked the dates of when Tosh broke in.)

[The Glyphstone]

Assuming Valerian doesn't just close the place when he takes office with his other reforms.

[noob]

Assuming Valerian doesn't just close the place when he takes office with his other reforms.

As long as valerian does not bring a machine (ex: a vehicle so that you can have only half of the troops due to higher firepower per individual) that does the role of a marine (probably very hard seeing how many machines can not just "shoot up" unless provided with missiles and due to how missile using machines usually lacks manoeuvrability(the Thor is fine but it needs way too much infrastructure before being placed on the battlefield and is probably a bit too much expensive)) I do not believe he is truly getting rid of resocialiseds seeing how the dominating battlefield option for terrans is marines and how those are massively more powerful and more able to survive in great numbers (so reducing marine recruitment would actually increase their death rate).
I am not sure there will be many significant reforms actually happening or doable.
And simultaneously getting rid of that super high security prison and removing resocialisation? You would need to build new high security prison first and that could take a decade.

[Traab]

I mean, there has to be more than one prison in the galaxy. Considering the current prisons are both empty and destroyed by this point due to repeated break ins, its probably not as hard as you might think to just mothball the suckers and get rid of the whole secret ultra max prisons for dissidents.

[The Glyphstone]

Marines might be the optimal unit in game, but in universe they seem much more like cannon fodder against most threats. They could equip Marines in heavily armored suits like Marauders and Firebats get, but instead the cheap mass produced baseline suits get used. So im not really sure they dominate the battlefield that much? If they did and weren't seen as disposable, you'd probably see better gear for them