Maw of the Void

Previous	Supernova
Next	Gates of Hell
Maw of the Void
Conflict	Second Great War
Date	Late 2504
Place	Sigma Quadrant
Result	Raiders capture the final artifact piece
Combatants
Raynor's Raiders Terran Dominion Captive Dark Templar
Raynor's Raiders Terran Dominion Captive Dark Templar
Tal'darim
Tal'darim
Commanders
Jim Raynor Valerian Mengsk
Jim Raynor Valerian Mengsk
Lhassir
Lhassir
Strength
Tal'darim Guardians Tal'darim Mothership
Tal'darim Guardians Tal'darim Mothership
Casualties
Heavy
Heavy

Client	Valerian Mengsk
Objective(s)	Recover the Xel'Naga Artifact
Reward	125,000
New Unit(s)	Battlecruisers

Maw of the Void is a StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty mission. Raynor's Raiders collected the final component to a xel'naga device on the Sigma Quadrant Worldship, a Tal'darim-occupied xel'naga worldship.

History

Background

After the recovery of the component from Typhon XI, Raynor's Raiders discovered the Template:Moebius Foundation was secretly led by Prince Valerian Mengsk. The prince secured the Raiders cooperation for the coming assault on Char to deinfest the Queen of Blades.

The Foundation located the final component on the Sigma Quadrant Worldship. Mengsk warned the Raiders of the Tal'darim presence and rip-field generators; Tychus Findlay was against accepting the risky mission but was overruled by Raynor. The prince aided the rebels by transferring the schematics for the Minotaur-class battlecruiser.

The Mission

The component's vault was located within a Tal'darim base deep inside an overlapping zone of rip-fields. The protoss survived as plasma shields negated the rip-fields effects. The terran attack was spearheaded by a battlecruiser squadron; the ships destroyed an outlying rip-field generator and cleared an area for a forward base.

As the Raiders destroyed more rip-field generators, the Raiders discovered prisons holding dark templar. The dark templar appealed to Raynor to free them and allow them to join the attack on the Tal'darim.

As the terrans closed on the vault, Lhassir, a Tal'darim executor, arrived aboard a mothership to bolster the defenses. The vault closed over the artifact.

Plot branch : Raynor's Raiders destroy the Tal'darim Mothership.

The terrans destroyed the mothership, taking down Lhassir with it.

Plot branch ends here

Raynor's Raiders destroyed the xel'naga vault and recovered the final piece of the artifact.

Bar Fight

The alliance between the Raiders and the Dominion caused dissent amongst the rebels. While Raynor saw it as an alliance of convenience, some of the crew believed they had been sold out. A drunk Tychus Findlay fanned the flames by agreeing that Raynor could not be trusted. The rebel leader was forced into a brawl with Findlay in Hyperion's cantina. Although the fully armored ex-convict threw tables and the jukebox, Raynor won through superior agility. Raynor convinced his disgruntled crew that the zerg were just as much a threat to terran freedom as the Dominion was, and faith in his leadership was restored. Raynor then demanded that Findlay fix the jukebox.

Conversations after Mission

Main article: Campaign quotations

The next article in this series is Gates of Hell.

Gameplay

A significant portion of the map is covered by an HP-draining aura, produced by rip-field generators. Units with active plasma shields are unaffected; this favors the protoss defenders. Researching bio-steel (accessed via the zerg tech tree) can be useful in offsetting the aura's damage; it won't cancel out the aura, but it will slow the effect somewhat.

Battlecruisers have the health to sortie into the aura; a fleet provides adequate firepower. Withdraw ships for repair before they are destroyed by enemy fire or by the aura. Science vessels make it easier to keep the fleet repaired in the field; SCVs are too fragile to enter the rip-fields.

Freeing the dark templar adds ground support for the fleet; so long as their shields remain they are immune to the rip-fields' effects. Neutralize photon cannons to allow the dark templar to engage undetected. The dark templar may not merge to create archons. Note that even without Psi or pylons Dark templar will add 2 to your supply.

When the enemy mothership arrives stay out of its range. Wait for it to near the edge of the rip-field and strike it with yamato cannons. This will cause it to retreat. Do not engage directly with battlecruisers until it is almost dead. The mothership can teleport from place to place and will often warp-in units near its location. It will also cloak surrounding units. Destroying the mothership is not necessary, and it isn't even listed as a bonus objective, but winning the mission without defeating it is difficult.

Initially, warp prisms are used to power some of the photon cannons. These prisms are used as transports as other prisms are lost. This will leave the cannons unpowered.

Enemy attacks will escalate to carriers and colossi. Both overmatch bunkers and marines, and the former may attack out of range of missile turrets. Reinforce the defenses with siege tanks and air units.

Achievements

Maw of the Void
Points	15 (Artifact Mission)
Criteria	Complete all objectives in the "Maw of the Void" mission.

I Have The Power
Points	10 (Artifact Mission)
Criteria	Destroy all rip-field generators in the "Maw of the Void" mission on Normal difficulty.

Master of the Universe
Points	10 (Artifact Mission)
Criteria	Complete the "Maw of the Void" mission without losing a unit inside the Rip Field on Hard difficulty.

Trivia

The achievements of this mission appear to reference the He-Man franchise.

Maw of the Void uses the same splash screen as In Utter Darkness.