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

[Keltest]

Well

Spoiler: actually Char

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From what I remember of it:
If you go and do the Zerus bit and go Primal Zerg Kerrigen then when Warfield begs for mercy for his men at the end of the Char segment, Kerrigen will say a few lines then have her zerg slaughter them. Warfield then says "Damn you Kerrigen" and dies.

If you do the Char segment before going through the Zerus primal zerg segment, you get the scene with Warfield begs for mercy for his men and Kerrigen gives it. Kerrigen will also look human still in the scene.

I remember from when I had played the game. You have to complete the Zerus segment and have Kerrigen go Primal Zerg and then you go through Char, you get that moment

They, Blizzard Entertainment, may have removed or changed the other ending because I did look to see if it was there but I have not found anything yet. I remember seeing that ending on a playthrough and also from playing myself.

So far as I know, Kerrigan spares the men no matter the mission order, but she only does so after killing Warfield in both. The only difference is whether Warfield speaks about her throwing away her humanity figuratively or literally.

[Traab]

I will add my vote for hydras and roaches. They are the bread and butter of the zerg game. Its funny, I have always been a basic player in the storyline. Unless a mission specifically requires the advanced stuff, like the battlecruisers getting the last chunk of the zel naga artifact, I stick to marines/medics for terran, hydra/roach for zerg, and zealot/stalker for protoss. Its simple, effective, and easy.

[russdm]

So far as I know, Kerrigan spares the men no matter the mission order, but she only does so after killing Warfield in both. The only difference is whether Warfield speaks about her throwing away her humanity figuratively or literally.

That is what happens in the ending called "conscience " one.

Spoiler: Char & Zerus

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I know that there was another especially because Kerrigan has her primal zerg look and she gets that from visiting Zerus

[Keltest]

That is what happens in the ending called "conscience " one.

Spoiler: Char & Zerus

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I know that there was another especially because Kerrigan has her primal zerg look and she gets that from visiting Zerus

I know what youre talking about, ive played the game -a lot- since it came out. So far as im aware, the events of the scene do not change with mission order, merely Kerrigan's appearance and Warfield's commentary on it.

[The_Snark]

That is what happens in the ending called "conscience " one.

Spoiler: Char & Zerus

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I know that there was another especially because Kerrigan has her primal zerg look and she gets that from visiting Zerus

Spoiler

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There's two versions, but Kerrigan having the primal Zerg look is the only difference; even the dialogue is the same.

I guess it's possible there used to be an alternate outcome but Blizzard removed it in a patch? I can't find any trace of it online, though. Are you sure you aren't just misremembering? If you don't catch the final radio lines after Kerrigan walks away, I can imagine coming away with the impression you got.

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler

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The cutscene description in the Starcraft wiki seems to back up that its just a cosmetic swap. Kerrigan spares the men after killing Warfield, in both cases because he mentions Raynor and how disappointed he would be.

[russdm]

Spoiler

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There's two versions, but Kerrigan having the primal Zerg look is the only difference; even the dialogue is the same.

I guess it's possible there used to be an alternate outcome but Blizzard removed it in a patch? I can't find any trace of it online, though. Are you sure you aren't just misremembering? If you don't catch the final radio lines after Kerrigan walks away, I can imagine coming away with the impression you got.

Actually

Spoiler: It

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Yeah, I think that it was probably patched. Because I remember clearly that Kerrigan had gone Primal, and that Warfield begged her to spare the shuttles, and she basically says something about might makes right or something about power and lose (I don't remember that exact lines anymore) and has her zerg kill the shuttles. Then Warfield says to her, after hearing his men getting slaughtered and slaughtered, he says to her, "Damn you, Kerrigan" then dies from his wounds. Also, maybe also wants her to rot too for it.

Otherwise, yeah, I think that it may have gotten removed. It has been a little while since I had last seen it/played the game.

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler: Char

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Even if it's been patched, I'm sure its on YouTube in a prepatched format if one exists.

[Keltest]

Actually

Spoiler: It

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Yeah, I think that it was probably patched. Because I remember clearly that Kerrigan had gone Primal, and that Warfield begged her to spare the shuttles, and she basically says something about might makes right or something about power and lose (I don't remember that exact lines anymore) and has her zerg kill the shuttles. Then Warfield says to her, after hearing his men getting slaughtered and slaughtered, he says to her, "Damn you, Kerrigan" then dies from his wounds. Also, maybe also wants her to rot too for it.

Otherwise, yeah, I think that it may have gotten removed. It has been a little while since I had last seen it/played the game.

Spoiler

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In both versions, Warfield is actively listening to his men be overrun while Kerrigan just stares at him. He begs her to let them go because theyre wounded, but when she doesnt react to that and the reports of his men being overrun dont stop, he starts cursing her and invokes Raynor. This causes her to get angry, and she kills him. After which she calms down, and we hear over the radio that the zerg are backing off the wounded, while the poor confused soldier tries to reach Warfield.

I dont think there was ever a different version, im almost certain youre just misremembering it.

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler

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^I did just check the cinematics on Youtube, and Keltest is right here. Kerrigan actually has no dialogue in either version, and Warfield's lines are exactly the same down to the accusation of her not being human anymore. Not that I can blame your brain for wanting the choice to be more meaningful than it is.

[Traab]

Yeah, starcraft isnt really big on the whole "Meaningful choices" thing. You know, aside from upgrade options. The story is the story and aside from MAYBE a cinematic, none of your choices will alter the storyline. Remember doctor hansen? Its amazing how little it matters if jim helped her colony or not. Either way she is gone and never mentioned again once those three missions are finished. Not too mention the lack of give a darn the protoss show if you chose to fight them.

[Lord Torath]

Spoiler

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Since we're already discussing, even though it will be a while before you actually get that far, I always felt she should have crunched his gun instead of driving the beam the rest of the way through him, and herded an apothecary medic or two to him. Oh well.

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler

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How I read the scene:

That would have been the right thing to do, but she's not in the right mindset for it yet. She's still grief stricken,and when Warfield calls her behavior out for exactly what it is - petty revenge - then invokes Jim's name while wearing the uniform of the regime that executed him, she snaps and murders him. But after the object of her rage is dead and it fades, she realizes he's right and Jim wouldn't want her to slaughter the wounded.

Plus, Warfield was probably dead anyways. Being impaled on a beam that big is the slow death of having a big metal spike in you, or the quick death of massive exsanguination from removing it. Without a medic right there, he wouldn't have lived to get first aid.

EDIT: Update!

Spoiler: Update 3: In Which Revenge Is Best Served Cold

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January 21st, 2506:

We came out of warp space around some frozen iceball of a moon. I'd gone back to catch a quick nap, but when I woke up Sarah was still sitting in the pilot seat like she hadn't moved at all, and there was a gigantic Zerg creature in orbit with us. You could line up a half-dozen battlecruisers end to end next to this thing if it didn't eat them first, but Sarah flew our little ship right into something like a docking bay.



The inside of the ship was drier than I expected, at least compared to the worm-tunnels I had been inside on Char. The Zerg running around all backed off when Sarah got close, and I stuck with her until we got to what must have been the ship's bridge. There weren't any consoles or controls in sight, but it had a big open window, and some sort of tentacle-haired Zerg person growing out of the wall that was probably the ship's captain.



Before she could say anything, though, Sarah looked back at me with the sort of dead-eyed stare I'd only seen from that lunatic Tosh. “Run along, Nora. I'll let you know when there's work to do."

I wasn't going to argue, and promptly got myself thoroughly lost while wandering dozens of identical not-quite-slimy corridors. Eventually I came out in a big room full of goo-filled pits; at first nothing moved, then something huge with way too many arms popped out of the closest hole in the floor.



“Organism designation Noracolby. Species: Terran. Purpose: Provide external documentation of Queen of Blades' revenge. Physical structure inefficient. Uninteresting. Go away."

A little bit of Sarah's shell-shock must have brushed off on me, because I just glared back at the critter – at least once I figured out where his head was. “Who are you calling uninteresting? And who are you, anyways?”

“Called Abathur. Created to tailor Swarm genetic strands personally, for maximum utility. Queen of Blades has forbidden alterations to Noracolby. Frustrating. Could make improvements, better perform intended service to Queen.”

“Do I want to know what you mean by improvements? I like me just the way I am, thank you.”

“Sensory organs narrowly focused, limited. Memory storage flawed and unreliable. Common terran deficiencies. Consider upgrades.”

Something splashed its way out of a nearby pit, oozing up to us like the world's biggest amoeba. It shivered then grew upright, solidifying into...well...me. Right down to the dirt and stains on my clothes, despite them being literally painted on in to its blobby skin.

“What the hell is that? Did you copy me somehow?”

“Designation changeling. Shapeshifter. Commissioned by Queen of Blades before de-infestation. Never deployed. Observe. Superior Noracolby design available.” The ooze-me twitched again, then its head swelled up like a balloon, while its eyes grew huge and a bunch of other eyes popped out all over its body.

Nope. Nopenopenopenopenopenope. If I had gotten a chance to eat anything since the Dominion raid, I would have thrown up then and there. “Nope, I'm fine with two eyes and a normal brain. Thanks anyways Mr Abathur, I'm going to go away now, goodbye.”

I promptly went and hid in the dropship, thinking about what he had said. Was that all Sarah was keeping me alive for now? To record her vengeance on Mengsk and the Dominion for killing Raynor? Thankfully, she came back before I had too much time to wonder; she was going down to the surface via drop pod, and told me to follow on autopilot once she had a hive cluster established.



It looked really cold down there; Zerg were lying around hibernating inside ice cubes everywhere. Captain Isha helpfully explained that the flash-freeze storms would immobilize anything that moved while at their coldest, unless adapted to the local environment.



Sure enough, when the next storm hit they turned into a bunch of Zergsicles. Sarah was still wearing her ghost suit, thankfully, even if she couldn't move. She needed to find some native wildlife and feed them to the Zerg, adapting to the cold.



Conveniently, a giant yeti-monster was nested in the canyons nearby; it looked angry that Sarah was trespassing, and made the terribly poor decision of trying to do something about that. Every last scrap of meat was gobbled up, and in a few minutes the Zerg were now apparently ice-proofed.



There was a hive cluster waiting to be freed from ice hibernation, and she promptly took it over. I was entirely surprised when a bunch of Protoss charged out of the snowstorm, but I guess they only saw Zerg who needed to die.



Unfortunately for them, the flash freezes weren't a problem to Zerg anymore, and Kerrigan slaughtered them all before it wore off. The rest of the Protoss were in quite the panic; she had to stop them from calling home for reinforcements or we'd all be dead.



I wanted to maybe talk to them, explain that Sarah wasn't here to hurt them, but the shuttle's radio didn't broadcast on Protoss frequencies, and in any case she got down to proving me wrong really fast. Being able to move around in the freeze bursts let the Zerg chew their way through the Protoss camps.





Some sort of big crystal amplifier sat in the middle of each camp, I guess it was how they sent messages back to their capital, and so Kerrigan smashed it to pieces.



The Protoss really didn't like this, and now they were smart enough to launch an attack after a freeze instead of right before it. A whole bunch of Zerg died, but fortunately – for me, at least – there were a whole bunch more behind them.



The base that launched the assault didn't survive Kerrigan's counterattack. They even had a giant robot, but it turns out immobilizing ice storms are even better than laser drills for stopping them. She still psychic crunchy-blasted it on general principle, it seemed.



Back home in the hive, I heard odd roars right before a bunch of yetis jumped down off cliffs and started killing drones! The poor little crystal-eating critters dug down to safety, but with the Zerg army off breaking Protoss bases the hive was almost defenseless. Sarah's abandoned rifle was sitting in the dropship with me – seeing a way to be slightly useful, I started taking potshots at them out the back hatch. It took most of the clip but I was able to crown myself a yeti slayer eventually. I even scored a nice yeti-fur coat out of the deal when Sarah got back from her raid, albeit stained and odd-smelling from the Zerg digestive enzymes that cured it. Wasn't as good as stolen DNA, but at least now I could go outside without freezing stiff.



Back on the attack, her swarm found what must have been the dead brood-queen who led the local swarm, trapped in a dead-end canyon and killed. It explained why all the local Zerg had gone feral, at least; Kerrigan seemed sad, even though her plan had been to seize control of the brood from the queen anyways.





The last of the psi-link amplifiers was demolished before long, and the Protoss fled in flying transports that none of the Zerg could reach. Maybe now we could collect the local brood and leave, now that they couldn't bring down a giant doom fleet to purify the moon? I wanted to just warn them to run; Sarah was after Mengsk, the Protoss weren't a problem unless they got in her way. Right?

And Voting Time:

First up, we have a Roach Mutation to select:
1) Corrosive Bile: +50% damage versus Light infantry.
2) Adaptive Plating: +3 Armor when below 50% life.
3) Tunneling Claws: Can move at full speed while burrowed, double healing while burrowed.

Second, Kerrigan's abilities are now flexible. Right now we don't have much to pick from, but it'll pick up.
At Tier 1, do we keep Psychic Crunchy Blast Kinetic Blast (300-damage blast to single target), or switch to Heroic Fortitude (+200 max health, +100% health regen)?
At Tier 2, do we keep Crushing Crip (AoE stun and light damage) or switch to Chain Reaction (attacks passively deal 10 splash damage)?

[Traab]

Honestly its been so long I cant recall which protoss units count as light armor so i cant say if thats the better choice or the armor that might let them survive an extra hit or two on average but might as well go with armor. Extra toughness is deadly when dealing with a swarm. And I never cared about tunneling much. As for kerrigan, keep the blast, its huge for smashing the initial hole in enemy defenses or taking down that big unit thats mauling your troops, and I like the chain lightning effect, though it gets better once you turn into one woman swarm kerrigan with the broodling spawns and banelings and feral zerg call down abilities. Chain lightning means more broodlings pop up because she is at least hitting everything.

[Keltest]

Honestly its been so long I cant recall which protoss units count as light armor so i cant say if thats the better choice or the armor that might let them survive an extra hit or two on average but might as well go with armor. Extra toughness is deadly when dealing with a swarm. And I never cared about tunneling much. As for kerrigan, keep the blast, its huge for smashing the initial hole in enemy defenses or taking down that big unit thats mauling your troops, and I like the chain lightning effect, though it gets better once you turn into one woman swarm kerrigan with the broodling spawns and banelings and feral zerg call down abilities. Chain lightning means more broodlings pop up because she is at least hitting everything.

On the ground, zealots, probes, sentries and high templar count as light. This choice doesnt matter a whole lot right now because next mission is going to be hydralisks, hydralisks, and some more hydralisks, with maybe a few queens for healing. Lotta air units. I typically set it to Corrosive Bile and forget about it, because roaches really dont need a whole lot more defensive options. They also sit in a really uncomfortable place in the unit roster where theyre good at building a large, cheap army to fight small cheap armies, but dont scale well at all as games go on, so i dont use them very much.


As for abilities, Kinetic Blast will never not be the best choice to have. Chain Reaction is more fun in general, but i think right now Crushing Grip is the more useful ability due to your small unit roster.

[Traab]

On the ground, zealots, probes, sentries and high templar count as light. This choice doesnt matter a whole lot right now because next mission is going to be hydralisks, hydralisks, and some more hydralisks, with maybe a few queens for healing. Lotta air units. I typically set it to Corrosive Bile and forget about it, because roaches really dont need a whole lot more defensive options. They also sit in a really uncomfortable place in the unit roster where theyre good at building a large, cheap army to fight small cheap armies, but dont scale well at all as games go on, so i dont use them very much.


As for abilities, Kinetic Blast will never not be the best choice to have. Chain Reaction is more fun in general, but i think right now Crushing Grip is the more useful ability due to your small unit roster.

I will be honest, as ive said, im an even split roach/hydra build all the way. But then, im aggressive as heck in the campaign. i consider it a failure if in the upcoming map, i dont shut down at LEAST 1 or 2 of the launch bays by swarming them under before the last ship is destroyed. So I need my infantry to protect my hydras. And roaches really come into their own with that evolution that slows down everything they hit. All ground forces get bogged down in movement and attack speed, which greatly lowers any losses I may take. Same for photon turrets iirc. There is only one campaign mission i can think off offhand where roaches and hydras are an option but I dont take them and thats the kerrigan evolving mission with the swarmhosts. Swarmhosts are hilariously fun to play with and I tend to carpet my base with them and produce a group or two of mutas for air support and call it a day in that mission. Maybe one day I will play around and make a standard swarm to fight the constantly spawning waves of attackers just to see how effective it is.

[Keltest]

I will be honest, as ive said, im an even split roach/hydra build all the way. But then, im aggressive as heck in the campaign. i consider it a failure if in the upcoming map, i dont shut down at LEAST 1 or 2 of the launch bays by swarming them under before the last ship is destroyed. So I need my infantry to protect my hydras. And roaches really come into their own with that evolution that slows down everything they hit. All ground forces get bogged down in movement and attack speed, which greatly lowers any losses I may take. Same for photon turrets iirc. There is only one campaign mission i can think off offhand where roaches and hydras are an option but I dont take them and thats the kerrigan evolving mission with the swarmhosts. Swarmhosts are hilariously fun to play with and I tend to carpet my base with them and produce a group or two of mutas for air support and call it a day in that mission. Maybe one day I will play around and make a standard swarm to fight the constantly spawning waves of attackers just to see how effective it is.

Once you get the evolution mission in, there are worse things you could do than add in a half dozen Vile strain roaches. Or Corpser strain for that matter. But the roach itself is useful only for applying the effect to enemy, so you dont want to overinvest in them. Theyre also trivial to replace, so even if you lose all of them every fight, you can just have them back.

But honestly, i dont think Kerrigan needs a tank unit. HotS is easily the biggest power trip of any of the three campaigns, in terms of raw killing power. your DPS density is so high that you can just steamroll everything with minimal casualties, especially if you build Kerrigan to be like she is in Co-op mode and just dive in ahead of your army and soak all the fire.

[Morgaln]

For the roaches, the choice isn't especially important, but I'll vote for Corrosive Bile. Killing things faster is always good.

Kinetic Blast is too good to give up.
For Tier 2, I vote Chain Reaction. That way, all our energy can go into using more Kinetic Blasts

[Traab]

Once you get the evolution mission in, there are worse things you could do than add in a half dozen Vile strain roaches. Or Corpser strain for that matter. But the roach itself is useful only for applying the effect to enemy, so you dont want to overinvest in them. Theyre also trivial to replace, so even if you lose all of them every fight, you can just have them back.

But honestly, i dont think Kerrigan needs a tank unit. HotS is easily the biggest power trip of any of the three campaigns, in terms of raw killing power. your DPS density is so high that you can just steamroll everything with minimal casualties, especially if you build Kerrigan to be like she is in Co-op mode and just dive in ahead of your army and soak all the fire.

Oh god yes, by end game kerrigan is utterly BROKEN as a unit. Spawn banelings, infest broodlings, chain lightning, summon feral zerg swarm/leviathan, she can go out solo to attack enemy bases and utterly obliterate them with contemptuous ease. She doesnt need an army, she IS an army. If she dies it better be because you fell asleep at the computer. Im sure there are other builds depending on what you want her to do, but I always enjoyed the army options. Chain lightning is hilarious for spawning broodlings, you can setup her banelings to do the pop and split thing so they melt all defenses in the way, or just drop an army on their heads with no way to stop it from happening.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Second, Kerrigan's abilities are now flexible. Right now we don't have much to pick from, but it'll pick up.
At Tier 1, do we keep Psychic Crunchy Blast Kinetic Blast (300-damage blast to single target), or switch to Heroic Fortitude (+200 max health, +100% health regen)?

Psychic Crunchy Blast is a hilarious nickname so I’m in favor of keeping that one. If you swap it out for something else, please give the something else an equally hilarious name.

[The Glyphstone]

Psychic Crunchy Blast is a hilarious nickname so I’m in favor of keeping that one. If you swap it out for something else, please give the something else an equally hilarious name.

Heroic Fortitude is a defensive passive, so it's probably too subtle to warrant getting a funny nickname. Also its just bad. I'll have to come up with one for Leaping Strike when Primal talents unlock and let the best nickname win.

[Traab]

Heroic Fortitude is a defensive passive, so it's probably too subtle to warrant getting a funny nickname. Also its just bad. I'll have to come up with one for Leaping Strike when Primal talents unlock and let the best nickname win.

Zerg Steroids. "If it wasnt for her Zerg Roids, the attack might have been dangerous for her to deal with" that sort of thing. You can describe her as looking a bit like a purple hulk, "KERRIGAN SMASH!"

[Tvtyrant]

This thread is making me realize I played this campaign through wrong at least twice (thrice as a coop.) I went all in on aberrations and banelings.

[Morgaln]

This thread is making me realize I played this campaign through wrong at least twice (thrice as a coop.) I went all in on aberrations and banelings.

Nothing wrong with that as long as it works.
It does beg the question, however, when you played that campaign. I do remember when I first played it, Kerrigan's immortal zerglings also worked on banelings, meaning whenever a baneling blew up, you'd get a zergling back for it. I abused the heck out of that. By now, they've patched it so only actual zerglings come back, unfortunately.

[Tvtyrant]

Nothing wrong with that as long as it works.
It does beg the question, however, when you played that campaign. I do remember when I first played it, Kerrigan's immortal zerglings also worked on banelings, meaning whenever a baneling blew up, you'd get a zergling back for it. I abused the heck out of that. By now, they've patched it so only actual zerglings come back, unfortunately.

Yeah that would change the math I bet. I love free units, almost all of my perks were about getting more free stuff, and I definitely got zerglings out of my banelings.

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler: Update 4: In Which We Conduit If We Try Hard Enough

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January 22nd, 2506:

Some things you don't even want to tell your diary. Things that aren't real until you write them down, or say them out loud. Like being pregnant, or getting cancer.

Diary, I think I'm infested.

I woke up this morning feeling really sore on the back of my neck, like something had bitten me in my sleep. It felt like a scab. But the dropship's bathroom had a mirror, and in it I could just barely see where it hurt...a spot the size of a coin, purple and throbbing. I screamed, and started running for the bridge chamber. Maybe Sarah could stop whatever this was before it grew worse.

She wasn't alone when I got there, even counting the captain. They had a live Protoss in the room, all wrapped up in tentacles like chains, and Sarah was talking to it. Or yelling at it, at least.



We are scientists, colonists. Civilians. We came to this world to try and make it live again. You send your Zerg to slaughter us, but we have done nothing.

It sounded female – I guess you can shout with telepathy too, because I didn't think she was talking to me. She could barely even move her head, but the voice felt angry, not scared.



“Nothing! That's exactly what you did. Jim said the Protoss called him a friend once, but where were you? Where was the mighty Zeratul when his 'friend' was in danger, when Jim needed help? Where was your precious fleet when the Dominion attacked us?”

You would blame us for the death of your mate? We, who have never met him, or indeed any Terrans but yourself?

“I blame EVERYONE who could have been there but chose to walk away! Arcturus promised to rule this sector or see it burnt to ashes around him. I'll make it into a funeral pyre for him and Jim, and slaughter anyone who gets in my way no matter who they are.”



The Golden Armada will stop you, monster. We will send word to Shakuras, and the Golden Armada will come to end your mad rampage.

“We'll see about that.”

SarahKerrigan noticed me then, turning away from the Protoss. “Nora. Good, We're heading down to the hive cluster again.”

I started to talk, ask her about the scab, but she cut me off.

“I don't have time for this, words are slower than thoughts. It's a parasite, nothing more. I Haven't used them since the Brood War but the Zerg never forget anything. It'll allow me to monitor where you are, and use your senses if I need to. Yes, I put it there. You have a job to do, but I can't risk you becoming a danger by running away and warning someone. No, I won't be killing you after. Now go get your coat.”

The only friend I thought I still had anymore, and she betrayed me. I cried in the dropship until she came and flew it down to the hive base, where the drones had apparently been quite busy.



The protoss had also been busy, though. They'd activated some sort of giant warp gate, and were trying to launch shuttles through it to warn their friends.





Kerrigan destroyed the first shuttle before it could escape, with the help of some new Zerg that spat huge spines like bullets at things. Hydralisks, Abathur called them.



The next shuttle died just as fast. She wasn't even psychic crunchy-blasting them, just ripping the defenseless ships to pieces with spine barrages.



After the second shuttle blew up, the Protoss tried to counter-attack, but all that ended up doing was feeding the Zerg more raw materials.



Kerrigan must have been feeling extra hungry, because she went out to counter-counter-attack them back. Some sort of science lab, it looked like, with a stasis pod holding some of the local animals. Maybe this was how they'd built a defense against the flash freeze storms, but to the Zerg it was all just food.



A shuttle tried to sneak past Kerrigan while she was busy eating scientists. It almost made it, too, and I wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad when it crashed. The captured Protoss was right...these people weren't part of our war. They didn't deserve this.



The Protoss finally started sending escorts with their shuttles, as well as launching them in pairs. Even if one got destroyed, the other might escape before Kerrigan's swarm could chase it down.





It was too little, too late. Kerrigan had been breeding Hydralisks left and right, leading a huge swarm of the beasts by now.



She could afford to split the group in two, leading one pack east to kill a shuttle while the other went west and blew up the second with help from the hive's guards.





Finally, the Protoss made what must have been their last-ditch attempt. They threw three shuttles in a desperate rush towards the central gate, with a gigantic Mothership leading the charge. It was the biggest ship I'd ever seen the Protoss build; too big to fit through the warp gates itself, I guess.



Kerrigan didn't even try to fight it, but focused on ripping every last shuttle out of the sky. She ignored the Protoss guards even as they were blasting her, and I even thought she had been killed for a minute – but then she popped up out of the ground near the hive, entirely unharmed. Must have burrowed to safety.



With the last shuttle down, the Protoss broke off their attacks. Smaller shuttles were loading everyone they could carry onto the Mothership, evacuating the colony entirely. Hopefully, this meant they would get to live by running away; Kerrigan didn't have any Zerg who could fly in space except the big Leviathan. I did wish they could take me with them somehow; better killed by angry Protoss than live long enough to be mutated into some sort of infested monster.

Voting Time!

First decision, our Zergling Evolution:
1) Raptor Strain: Zergling deals more damage and can leap over obstacles and onto targets from range. Can jump up and down cliffs.
2) Swarmling Strain: Zerglings hatch in groups of three at the cost of two.

Pretty sure I know how this one is going to go, but votes are votes.

Second, our Hydralisk Mutation:
1) Frenzy: Hydralisk attack speed increased by 50% for 15 seconds, with a 30 second cooldown between uses.
2) Ancillary Carapace: Hydralisk gains +20 maximum life.
3) Grooved Spines: Hydralisk gains +1 attack range.

Finally, Kerrigan has hit Tier 3 abilities:
Option 1: We can gain Zergling Reconstitution, letting Zerglings respawn infinitely when slain.
Option 2: We can get Improved Overlords, letting Overlords morph instantly and generate 50% more supply each.

[Techwarrior]

Raptors, Grooved Spines, and Improved Ovvies are my votes.

I don't know how much you abused this, but Spore Crawlers can actually solo defend the warp gates while your mobile forces kill all the Protoss and get all the side objectives.

I'm actually kinda excited to see how this keeps moving forward. The next mission should be super icky for our poor reporter.

[Artanis]

I also vote Raptors, Grooved Spines, and Improved Overlords.

[russdm]

I say go with Raptors. That way you won't be needing to stick your zerglings in overlords to get them around to certain places as much.

Most importantly: in the previous game, wings of liberty, you may have set up siege tanks on heights with a ramp to blast away at approaching zerg; the Raptors give you a counter by letting your zerglings go up the cliff and not needing to go around to the ramp(s) in missions as much. This was another thing that you could do in the first Starcraft game and its expansion brood wars.

Getting zerglings that jump up and down cliffs is more beneficial throughout the game than being able to get an extra zergling when they hatch out.

Your Hydralisks should get grooved spines for the extra range as that means more chances for them to shoot things.

Both of Kerrigan's picks are good here. The overlords are better if you are planning to build a pretty big army of powerful zerg units with costly supply/psy. If you are going for cheap units, the zergling respawns might be better.

It really depends on whether you plan to throw in a good (5-7+) number of ultralisks in your forces. Or go for a real zerg swarm with lots of zerglings and hydras.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

First decision, our Zergling Evolution:
1) Raptor Strain: Zergling deals more damage and can leap over obstacles and onto targets from range. Can jump up and down cliffs.

Wow this looks like fun. I still don’t know enough about Starcraft II to judge tactical usage for any of these, but turning all your Zerglings into Final Fantasy Tactics-style Lancers sounds awesome.