My Life For Aiur? I Barely Know 'Er! - Lets Play+Read Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Spoiler: Update 4: In Which Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions

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The Protoss lady in charge of the Dark Templar had joined the Hierarch on the bridge, where they were politely disagreeing with each other about what to do next. I could 'hear' their disagreement from all the way across the room, but I figured as long as nobody had their laser swords out it was still a polite one.

My vote's for Korhal. It seems more fitting to try and handle Zeratul's last request than to go snooping around in out-of-the-way spots.

This logic seems sound to me, so I second this.

[The Glyphstone]

Korhal and solar beam are my votes. The warp in reinforcements thing is nice, but generally I dont think 2 zealots and stalkers are worth the 50 solarite it costs to setup. Its nice for an opening move at the start of a mission to get the first units out fast, but otherwise? meh. I would rather melt bases (and faces) with solar beam. Good job on holding the line. To me the worst section is the back with the flying hybrids and the zerg guardians bombarding from long range. I found the best solution is to wall off the area leaving the ground open at the edge with a decent squadron of dragoons able to run forward to get into range and attack the zerg that can hit your turrets from outside their own range.

The khaydarin monoliths can hit back against the guardians, but they fire slowly so eventually they get overwhelmed. And that's assuming the hybrids don't put them in stasis fields.

[lord_khaine]

I do vote for the Solar Beam Cannon!
Since its pure awesome for grilling just about anything you dislike.

[Keltest]

I vote for Korhal and the Solar Beam, with Deploy Pylon as your first ability choice. Youve finished one of two missions where deploy pylon isnt fantastic, Solar Beam is just incredible, and Korhal both unlocks a really solid unit AND makes sense from a story perspective, since it gives Karax time to study the Keystone while youre on Glacius.

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler: Update 6: In Which Spear Beats Shield

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I dreamed I was being chased by hybrids through the streets again, which was nothing new. There was too much smoke and dust in the air to guess where I was, but when I spotted a door that looked intact, I ducked inside to try and hide. Inside, Hierarch Artanis and Matriarch Vorazun were sitting at a table with unopened bottles of beer in front of them, talking.



“-cannot be serious. It is not even Protoss, not to mention entirely untrained, and on this you would wager the fate of our people?”



“I am not yet certain – the potential signs are unmistakable, though they could still be coincidence. But when it is our people's fate at stake, I will turn down no aid or advantage no matter where it comes from.”



“Very well, Hierarch. What about - “

Suddenly I was outside again, and for once there wasn't any hybrid trying to eat me. The skies had cleared, and I could see the shape of the Imperial Palace looming ahead. Dreaming about Korhal made sense from homesickness if nothing else, but everything was getting dark like an eclipse. I looked to see what was blocking the sun...and naturally, woke up.

The hallways were almost empty again when I went for a walk, late at night and with the itchy feeling that came from being in warp on our way to somewhere. Here and there I passed someone else – the population of the ship had jumped immensely with all the refugees off Shakuras - but it was still so huge they bounced around like peas in a can. No one talked to or stopped me, though, and it almost felt like I could hear the faintest sound of music. Following where I thought it was coming from took me to a place I'd never been but had to be the ship's power core room. Aside from all the probes, there was only the guy I remembered with the beard, though now his armor also had some robot octopus arms.



“Why, hello there, Witness. Welcome to the Spear of Adun's solar core. I do not believe we have met yet – I am Chief Engineer Karax of the Khalai caste.” He scratched at his beard with one hand like it was a reflex, and I wanted to ask why every other Protoss I'd met shaved their chin. Instincts told me it might be rude though, so instead I looked around at the room, trying to figure out where the music was coming from.

“Hi, Karax. Call me Nora. I just couldn't sleep, and was curious where the music was coming from. Do you have a robot band down here somewhere?”

He blinked in surprise.



“You can hear the ship-song? That is unusual, your ears must be unusually sensitive for a Terran. What you hear is the hull of the Spear itself – all things Protoss are designed so that aesthetics and functionality work in tandem. It is pleasing for the ship's crew to walk its corridors surrounded by soothing sounds, but unfortunately there is not enough power to fully energize the systems yet. With time and testing, I can safely feed more solarite into the generators.”



“Oh. You don't plan on using me to test your experiments, do you? Or try to explain everything you're doing like I'm a ner....vous person? Sorry, but I've had really bad luck over the last few years with...science people.”

Blink.



“Certainly not. This ship is a relic of our ancestors' Golden Age, many of its functions I barely understand myself. Even its basest of mechanisms would be beyond your comprehension, though I mean no insult to your species. Is it true your people still fight by using contained chemical reactions to propel solid projectiles at your enemies?”

It was my turn to blink.



“Um...I think so? I'm not really a gun sort of girl, but I do have a pistol if you want to look at it?”



“That would be very kind of you. I have never been able to study a Terran weapon properly before. I will endeavor to return it to you in perfect condition.”

I wasnt likely to need my revolver on the Spear, so I handed it over, and Karax happily went off to some workbench or another. Maybe now I could get some sleep again.

A few days later, I felt when we left warp, and got up to head for the bridge. Partway there, we went back into warp again for a few seconds and not smoothly or slowly. Luckily I hadn't had breakfast yet. When I got there, we were in orbit over Korhal, and by the looks of it in the middle of a battle except both sides were Terran battlecruisers shooting at each other. Commander Raynor's face was up on the viewscreen talking to Artanis, though both glanced in my direction when I appeared.



“Miss Colby! Thank the stars you're alive. You just hang tight for a bit more, darling, and we'll get you back down here where its safe once some little problems get taken care of.”

He went back to Artanis while I listened. The bad guys here were Moebius Corps, Dr. Narud's private army...well, they had been until Sarah stabbed him in his stupid shapeshifting face a dozen times. Now they were Amon's army instead I guess, rampaging around and killing people because evil dead gods are real jerks sometimes.



The Sky Shield defense platform had been knocked out of orbit and was about to crash-land on top of Augustgrad, unless someone could get in and repair the stabilizers. Naturally, the Moebius nutcases were camped out on top of them and killing anyone who got close.



Even Dominion battlecruisers couldn't get close enough for strafing runs with the platform's defensive guns turned against them. But it just so happened we had a ancient starship the size of a small moon, and it didn't need to get close.



Something called a Solar Lance had just passed Karax's last set of tests right before we got here, and boy howdy did it prove effective. Three giant laser beams obliterated all the defenses set up around the stabilizer in a single massive blast.



The Dominion wasted no time slipping in some SCVs though the hole we'd opened to start fixing the thing, while Artanis warped down enough troops to make a beachhead on the platform.



Almost immediately he sent down some Dark Templar, who started wreaking havoc among the Moebius troops with their invisibility and that crazy teleporting blade-dance attack they could do.



Something was messing with their shields though, even if nothing could see them – it was something Karax called an EMP scrambler, and he wanted the solarite powering it to help fuel the ship.



The Templar happily complied, tearing it into bits and warping away the wreckage for study.





Moebius Corp didn't like that, and sent in a bunch of reapers to mess up the nexus point. Too bad they decided to walk past the Dark Templar assault squad in the process.





I wanted to feel sorry for the Moebius troopers, I really did. First they got mind-controlled by Amon's hybrid, and now they were being slaughtered by Protoss. But there was just something innately funny about seeing a squad of soldiers standing vigilantly on guard right before they collapsed into a pile of severed limbs and armor chunks. I clearly need therapy. Okay, more therapy.



One very brave Templar volunteered to go up the ramp and spot for the Spear's bombardment. He sadly became a very dead Templar, but it was enough for the solar beams to rain down and annihilate the fortifications.



Commander Raynor warned us that Moebius Corp was reinforcing the remaining stabilizers with extra troops.





Not that it helped them, though, when laser beams of doom rained from the sky. The Dark Templar had to do a little bit of cleanup duty, but that was it. There was more excitement going on back at base, with occasional raids from Reapers and Siege Tanks walking into the invisible meat grinder set up there.



Apparently just to avoid getting bored, they went off and broke another EMP scrambler for loot. The squadron of Vikings guarding it couldn't do a thing to stop them.





Stabilizer #4 was the same story as the other three – a scout poked their head up the ramp, then laser doom obliterated everything in sight. Unfair, really.



The final scrambler had an ambush set up above it, waiting for the Dark Templar to attack. This went about as well as trying to ambush a horde of angry bears or something, except with more stabbing.





One more bombardment and a little bit of cleanup work, and that was it for Moebius Corp's hold on Sky Shield.



There were only a couple minutes to spare, but that was more than enough time to get the stabilizers working again. I let out the breath I'd been holding for what felt like hours, or maybe weeks – it really was good to be home.

Hot dang solar lance was incredible here.

And it's time for Voting, because we've unlocked a new tier of abilities!

Solarite Total: 75

Tier 1:
-Deploy Pylon (0 Solarite): Instant free Pylon at any location.
-Chrono Surge (25 Solarite): Target building acts 1000% faster for 20 seconds, warping in units or researching upgrades.
-Warp In Reinforcements (50 Solarite): Instant free Pylon at any location, but it also comes with 2 Melee Warriors (Centurions) and 2 Ranged Warriors (Stalkers).

Tier 2:
-Orbital Bombardment (0 Solarite): Strike 5 circular locations for 50 damage (+50 vs. Armored).
-Temporal Field (25 Solarite): Freeze 3 locations in time-bubbles that stun enemies for 20 seconds.
-Solar Beam (50 Solarite): Strike 3 line-shaped areas for 200 damage each.

Tier 3:
Nexus Overcharge (0 Solarite): Nexus structures get a photon cannon glued to their roof, letting them defend against attackers. "Your probes are under attack!"
Orbital Assimilation (25 Solarite): Assimilators become automated and no longer need probes to harvest.
Warp Harmonization (50 Solarite): Robotics Facilities and Stargates can transform into Warp Gates, and all warp-in cooldowns get cut by 20%.

[VoxRationis]

Karax doesn't really have a beard, right? It always looked to me more like some sort of bony frill.

[Keltest]

Karax doesn't really have a beard, right? It always looked to me more like some sort of bony frill.

Its not hair, which protoss cant grow, but its a crest on his chin, so people call it a beard. So far as im aware, no explanation for this is ever given.

As for voting, i vote for Deploy Pylon, which will never not be wonderful, Solar Lance because Ditto, and Orbital Assimilators, because saving supply and minerals getting your gas harvesting up is very convenient. I actually prefer the warp gates, but you cant afford both them and solar lance, and Lance + OA is better than the warp gates + anything else.

[Traab]

Its not hair, which protoss cant grow, but its a crest on his chin, so people call it a beard. So far as im aware, no explanation for this is ever given.

As for voting, i vote for Deploy Pylon, which will never not be wonderful, Solar Lance because Ditto, and Orbital Assimilators, because saving supply and minerals getting your gas harvesting up is very convenient. I actually prefer the warp gates, but you cant afford both them and solar lance, and Lance + OA is better than the warp gates + anything else.

Agreed on all points. The assimilators are important due to how resource intensive the protoss are. Getting that up and running is huge. Its especially fun if you keep warping in vespene harvesting as you take over territory. Just a single lone building hanging out grinding more gas for the forge/gates. If it gets blown up in a future attack? Meh, those buildings are cheap and you probably got your moneys worth in gas beforehand anyways. Its been awhile since I played, CAN you get the warp gates and assimilators at the same time? I thought you could only pick one from each category.

[The Glyphstone]

Nope, you are right - one choice from each tier maximum, so no combining Orbital Assimilators and Warp Harmonization.

[Traab]

Faster warping is super tempting. But ive honestly never really had a problem with the speed I get units. Like, ive never been overwhelmed because I didnt have enough summons on tap. But being able to get more units 20% faster? Thats nothing to sneer at, especially since it effects like half or more of your unit creation options. But then you hit the eco bottleneck. 20% faster summons means 20% faster reserve burning. Iirc, without the harmonizing I was generally able to max out summons on 3-4 gateways at a time without running out of resources once everything was setup. Would I be able to still utilize that many at full tilt if they refresh faster? Meh, im sticking with vespene auto gathering. I may want to try a game the other way at some point, but especially for now, there is no real reason seeing as you dont exactly have a lot of ships worth warping in yet.

[Psyren]

Deploy Pylon and Warp Harmonization pair really well to let you drop any of your troops on the front line, get on-demand detection etc.

Its not hair, which protoss cant grow, but its a crest on his chin, so people call it a beard. So far as im aware, no explanation for this is ever given.

He's the neckbeard Protoss for the same reason he's the chubby one - it codes him as the master engineer, just like Swann

[The Glyphstone]

At this point I'm surprised Abathur doesn't have a tentacle beard of some kind.

Also, I'm kicking myself narrative wise right now, I somehow managed to write this entire update without a giant laser callback.

[Psyren]

At this point I'm surprised Abathur doesn't have a tentacle beard of some kind.

Technically he's a mad biologist he's pulling from a different archetype. Think more... Grubwiggler or Seth Brundle than keyboard jockey.

[Lord Torath]

At this point I'm surprised Abathur doesn't have a tentacle beard of some kind.

Also, I'm kicking myself narrative wise right now, I somehow managed to write this entire update without a giant laser callback.

Well, there is an "Edit Post" button for a reason...

That said, if you're mostly happy with your write-up, no need to go back.

[The Glyphstone]

Eh, I'll just call it accidental character development.

[Traab]

Deploy Pylon and Warp Harmonization pair really well to let you drop any of your troops on the front line, get on-demand detection etc.



He's the neckbeard Protoss for the same reason he's the chubby one - it codes him as the master engineer, just like Swann

Aside from harmonization thats my general playstyle. Take an objective, drop a pylon, warp in a full set of reinforcements, take the next objective, repeat. I rarely lose enough units to keep my overall total from growing with each boost. Question, has anyone timed vespene to see if its just as efficient as using probes for gas per minute? Or is there a tradeoff in less probes being wasted on gas but less gas overall?

[Keltest]

Eh, I'll just call it accidental character development.

Nora was just too distracted by the impending planetary impact killing all her friends, family, and everybody within about a planet of them, clearly.

[The Glyphstone]

Eh, Raynor said it would only wipe out August grade.

Question for the people favoring Deploy Pylon and Warp Harmonization; that is 50/75 spent, is the remainder meant for Temporal Field or dumped into Auxiliary Systems?

[Thomas Cardew]

Aside from harmonization thats my general playstyle. Take an objective, drop a pylon, warp in a full set of reinforcements, take the next objective, repeat. I rarely lose enough units to keep my overall total from growing with each boost. Question, has anyone timed vespene to see if its just as efficient as using probes for gas per minute? Or is there a tradeoff in less probes being wasted on gas but less gas overall?

It's the tiniest bit slower. On coop, the devs had to buff the collection rate for Vorazun by 5% to make it match. I don't think they ever patched campaign. For a poor test, I did the first minute of Forbidden Weapons on casual from the archive. With Orbital Assimilation at the 1:00 mark it was at 162 gas. Without it was at 150, but my first probe didn't go in until 0:10. Collecting for another 10s to even out put the probes ahead at 170. So ~ an additional 8 gas per minute per harvester. Keep in mind the mission starts with 50 gas so the difference is 112 harvested to 120.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Spoiler: Update 6: In Which Spear Beats Shield

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Aside from all the probes, there was only the guy I remembered with the beard, though now his armor also had some robot octopus arms.

Dr. Octavius, is that you?

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Oh man, I've missed out on the first two entries entirely, and only happened upon this one by accident. Having performed an archive dive on the two previous threads, I like the common thread of the viewpoint character ending up running with the relevant faction.

As far as the current choice of spending solarite, my suggestion is: Deploy Pylon/Solar Beam/Orbital Assimilation.

Right now, you don't have any Robo or Stargate units to build, you can't even build either of those facilities yet. This makes Warp Harmonization... less useful right now. Don't get me wrong, later on it will be amazing, and I'll be suggesting a switch when it makes sense to do so, but for now it isn't worth the extra solarite for a 20% refresh speed on warp-ins. Meanwhile, your previously listed preference for a low-macro playstyle leads to Orbital Assimilation being a natural pick, plus it frees up three probes per Assimilator that you don't have to build/upkeep with supply. That's basically six supply per base you don't have to worry about, which is not nothing. It also means saturating mineral lines faster since you don't have to divert probes to gas, which is not bad.

Solar Beams are, of course, Solar Beams. Who can say no to Big Freaking Lasers? The only other real option would have been Temporal Field/Chrono Surge. Which is not nothing, but a far more micro-intensive playstyle that you've previously stated isn't really your jam. So yea, let's go with Big Freaking Lasers. Those are always cool.

[Keltest]

Oh man, I've missed out on the first two entries entirely, and only happened upon this one by accident. Having performed an archive dive on the two previous threads, I like the common thread of the viewpoint character ending up running with the relevant faction.

As far as the current choice of spending solarite, my suggestion is: Deploy Pylon/Solar Beam/Orbital Assimilation.

Right now, you don't have any Robo or Stargate units to build, you can't even build either of those facilities yet. This makes Warp Harmonization... less useful right now. Don't get me wrong, later on it will be amazing, and I'll be suggesting a switch when it makes sense to do so, but for now it isn't worth the extra solarite for a 20% refresh speed on warp-ins. Meanwhile, your previously listed preference for a low-macro playstyle leads to Orbital Assimilation being a natural pick, plus it frees up three probes per Assimilator that you don't have to build/upkeep with supply. That's basically six supply per base you don't have to worry about, which is not nothing. It also means saturating mineral lines faster since you don't have to divert probes to gas, which is not bad.

Solar Beams are, of course, Solar Beams. Who can say no to Big Freaking Lasers? The only other real option would have been Temporal Field/Chrono Surge. Which is not nothing, but a far more micro-intensive playstyle that you've previously stated isn't really your jam. So yea, let's go with Big Freaking Lasers. Those are always cool.

He gets immortals in the upcoming mission, so while i still dont think its worth the solarite yet, he does at least benefit from being able to warp in a very beefy robo unit.

[noob]

Solar beam and orbital assimilation is probably the strongest combination here.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

He gets immortals in the upcoming mission, so while i still dont think its worth the solarite yet, he does at least benefit from being able to warp in a very beefy robo unit.

I usually don't switch over to Warp Harmonization until the Void Ray mission. Which, granted, is also coming up pretty soon, but by then you'll have enough Solarite to run both Solar Beam *and* Warp Harmonization.

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler: Update 7: In Which Service Is Momentarily Disrupted

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With Sky Shield on its way back to high orbit, Artanis wanted to get his hands on that artifact ASAP. Commander Raynor had some bad news, though – during the Sky Shield attack, Moebius Corp had used the distraction to attack the Imperial Palace and steal the thing. The Dominion had no idea where it had gone, but they also didn't have the sensors of the Spear of Adun. Phase-Smith Karax had no trouble fine-tuning the Spear's systems to detect strange energies, and spotted it in a convoy headed for Bennett Port. They must have been planning to smuggle it offworld, but with the Spear parked overhead that plan was shot, so instead of the Moebius nuts had fortified the port.



A bunch of hybrids were gathered around the artifact, doing something that felt inexplicably ominous. There was a bright flash of colors, and everything went dark.



Flickers of light, like bolts of lightning, outlined some sort of platform surrounded by water. More bolts of lightning were flying the other way, up into space. Then it was gone, and I woke up on the floor with Artanis standing over me looking concerned. After checking that I wasn't hurt, he went back to the battle and I found an empty console seat to look back at the observer footage.



Whatever that attack had been, it knocked all the Dominion troops silly as well. They were helpless as a Hybrid started tearing through them.



Naturally it was Artanis to the rescue, warping in a couple of big walkers that looked like a Dragoon's badass older brother. They were called Immortals, and apparently that's exactly what they were. We certainly had no shortage of crippled Protoss soldiers to pilot them, at least.



The second wave of hybrids were more than the two mechs could handle, though. Even with their shield generators, the two pilots would be dying a second time if they didn't get help quick.



Like, for example, a barrage of giant lasers from orbit. I might not be aiming them this time, but it's finally good to be back on the side of someone with a suitably giant laser.



While I was catching up on events of the last two minutes – sure felt like longer – the Protoss troops on the ground were already moving to secure some extra resources, and start warping down more Immortals from the Spear's troop bays.



A gang of Moebius soldiers were attacking a science base not far away, and Emperor Valerian offered to return any stolen Protoss tech they had if Artanis would rescue the nerds holed up there. You'd think saving his entire planet might be worth something, but I'm not an empress.



The medics stationed in the facility were more grateful, at least. They suited up and headed to support the Dominion troops who were attempting to make a counterattack against the Moebius defenses.

That weird ominous itching feeling was coming back, and sure enough Phase-Smith Karax was calling Artanis to warn about another power surge in the artifact. I made sure I was comfortable in my chair before blacking out this time.



And sure enough, I was back at the Protoss base above the ocean, and now I could see the lightning was actually energy blasts, with ships in orbit bombarding the platform and big cannons shooting back. Whatever this place was, someone had decided it was worth defending.



Chairs meant for people twice my height aren't super comfortable, but certainly better than waking up on the floor again. This time, Artanis had deployed his much-larger blob of Immortals to defend Emperor Valerian's forces.



The hybrids attacked into a meat grinder they clearly weren't expecting, which seemed kinda dumb of them. A couple of Immortals still got pounded into scrap, but the hybrids were dead.



So naturally, they sent another wave. Giant lasers put a quick end to that idea.



With nothing else to do, the Immortals wandered out to inflict some property damage of their own. It was very convenient that the disruption waves had the same effect on those Moebius jerks.



This made them angry, for some reason. Not that it helped much.



Raynor's Raiders were making some actual progress now that they had Medics to back them up. That was the good news.



The bad news was that they ended up over-extended when the next power surge put them (and me) down for the count again.



Back in artifact dream-land, some sort of huge armored vault was built at the very center of the ocean platform. It had the most guns around it, which probably meant whatever was inside was important. Or whoever was inside? Why did that feel more right?



Somewhere in the confusion one lonely stunned Raider ended up staring down an entire gunline of equally stunned Moebius thralls. Sucks to be him.



The pressure was off, so Artanis send his immortals to go rescue another nearby science facility. This one had Banshee air support, though, and gluing all that extra armor to an immortal chassis meant the mechs couldn't shoot up anymore.





A handful of stalkers warped in to support them fixed that problem handily. Now the Raiders and Dominion forces had Science Vessels backing their armored units up. Of course, there was another power surge inbound. I tried to use my jacket as a pillow, and wondered what this weird artifact dream would do next.



And the answer was 'go to space'. A blue marble of a planet, with a fleet hanging over it and blasting lasers at the surface. A Tal'Darim fleet, specifically! I didn't want those jerks in my dreams, even if the Spear of Adun was there too.





Watching the replay footage was more of the same. At least this time Artanis hadn't sat around waiting for the hybrids; as soon as the disruption hit the Immortals were carving a path through the thralls and meeting the hybrid attack halfway.





Their rampage continued up to where a third science facility was surrounded by zoned-out thralls, soon to be toast. The surviving medivacs there headed out to reinforce the Dominion troops too.



The battle in orbit had been continuing all this time, but between the Dominion fleet and the Spear's own weapons the Moebius ships were all but wiped out. The few that were left tried to shelter in low orbit and protect the port, only to find themselves under the Spear's guns anyways.



Nothing else was left but to recapture the artifact, and the immortals marched out to do exactly that. The timing would be perfect too – they'd hit the thrall's line just as the disruption surge came, and be fighting hybrids inside their own base. Meanwhile, I'd be taking what was hopefully my last surge nap – this was starting to give me a headache.



And of course the dream now had giant lasers in it. My therapist had told me all about how dreams were shaped by our memories in real life, but this was starting to be a bit much.





By the time I woke up it again it was all over. The replay went exactly like I thought it would, punching through the hybrid attack then forward into the Moebius base.





The last few hybrids tried to stage a defense and got blasted into vapor. None of the thralls would surrender, but without any hybrids they couldn't fight worth a damn anyways, and eventually the last ones were gone.



Along with half the city, it seemed like. I couldn't imagine how many people had been killed this time, especially when Amon seemed to like slaughtering civilians just for fun. I think Artanis was hoping to enlist us as allies in this fight, but after this there was no way the Emperor would commit forces to anything except defending our planets. I figured this was going to be the end, at least for me – but Artanis had other plans.



“I have one other request of you, Commander Raynor. Assuming she is willing, I would ask that your Witness continue to accompany our forces further. While it might only be symbolic, to have any number of Terrans present as we take the fight to Amon would be a worthy gesture.”



“If Miss Colby doesn't mind, I'd be more than happy to let her represent us in your little armada there. Doesn't seem like there's going to be much to report on around here for a while anyways.”

It was a perfectly plausible excuse to stick around and keep recording Artanis's crusade. I'd seen for myself how much weight they placed on symbolism and ceremony, so it made sense for him to want a token Terran onboard. And I was convinced that Artanis was lying out his telepathic butt - at least as to why he wanted me to stay on the Spear with them. That same gut hunch told me not to call him out on it, at least not then...

[Ominous musical chord]

Our next stop will be Glacius, of course. But that does still leave us with a Voting option, for our Robotic Assault unit. Currently we can choose from:

A) Immortal – Defensive assault strider, can put up a Barrier that absorbs 200 damage.
B) Annihilator - Offensive assault strider, has a Shadow Cannon special attack that deals heavy damage to a single target, including airborne enemies.

[Keltest]

Personally i find the Annihilator to be the more functional of the two options available right now. Immortals are tankier, but as you probably discovered, they are fat and having more than a handful of them tends to result in them tripping all over each other or taking unnecessary fire getting everything into range. Plus, point and click killing abilities are fun, and it gives you some potent anti-air abilities to compliment your stalkers. Your zealot flavor of choice can tank for the annihilators enough to keep them up without really needing the barrier ability too often.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm getting very little use out of stalkers so far, as it happens - they're just too fragile without proper blink micro. So a more sturdy anti-air unit definitely wouldn't go amiss for now.

[Keltest]

I'm getting very little use out of stalkers so far, as it happens - they're just too fragile without proper blink micro. So a more sturdy anti-air unit definitely wouldn't go amiss for now.

I think in terms of DPS, dragoons have a slight advantage against armored units, and adepts (once you unlock them) will absolutely shred light air and ground. The big advantage of stalkers is that their mobility lets them get in range of units very quickly so they can all fire without pushing each other around.

[The Glyphstone]

I don't think I've ever given adepts more than a second glance, with how micro-intensive it seems to be to move the ghosts around and tag enemies for bonus damage.

[Keltest]

I don't think I've ever given adepts more than a second glance, with how micro-intensive it seems to be to move the ghosts around and tag enemies for bonus damage.

That is true, and ive never bothered myself. But it turns out their regular attack also just kills light units really well, which will be a majority of units that zerg throw against you. Zerglings, Hydralisks, Mutalisks are all light. Roaches are also common, but your immortals can kill those, or frankly just your zealots.