Shatter the Sky

Previous	Gates of Hell
Concurrent	Belly of the Beast
Next	All In
Shatter the Sky
Conflict	Second Great War
Date	2504
Place	Space platform above Char
Result	Space platform destroyed 80% of zerg air support destroyed
Campaign	Wings of Liberty
Combatants
Raynor's Raiders Terran Dominion
Raynor's Raiders Terran Dominion
Zerg Swarm
Zerg Swarm
Commanders
Jim Raynor
Jim Raynor
Infested Kerrigan
Infested Kerrigan
Strength
Zerg forces 1 Leviathan
Zerg forces 1 Leviathan
Casualties
Devastating; platform destroyed, resulting in zerg air support being crippled for some time
Devastating; platform destroyed, resulting in zerg air support being crippled for some time

Client	Horace Warfield
Alternate mission(s)	Belly of the Beast
Objective(s)	Destroy the coolant towers to destroy the platform.
Optional Objective(s)	Destroy the leviathan.

Shatter the Sky is a StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty mission. Completing it in place of the mission "Belly of the Beast" prevents the zerg from using mutalisks, brood lords, corruptors, Sacs, and the leviathan in the mission "All In".

History

Background

A Terran Dominion and Raynor's Raiders battle group attacked Char early in the Second Great War to use a xel'naga device to deinfest Infested Kerrigan. However, the initial landing did not go as planned. A foothold was achieved only after heavy casualties and the initiative of Jim Raynor.

Securing the Skies

Generator and coolant tower.

The leviathan

A push on the main hive was impossible without a preparatory assault elsewhere. On General Horace Warfield's advice, Commander Jim Raynor opted to ensure air superiority in the short time available. Eighty percent of the enemy air support was based on a cluster of tethered space platforms in geostationary orbit. The hives were too deep to be destroyed by nuclear strikes. However, the platforms still had power; destroying the coolant tower located on each platform would cause catastrophic meltdowns and demolish both the platforms and nests.

The Raiders established a base on one of the platforms and systematically proceeded to destroy the coolant towers. A large section of the platform was destroyed as each coolant tower was disabled. The zerg counter-attacked with a leviathan, but it was not enough to prevent the terrans from leaving the platform a burning wreck.

Aftermath

With enemy air support crippled, an assault on the primary hive cluster was now possible. Assembly of the xel'naga device was completed and it was delivered to the front for deployment.

The next article in this series is All In.

Gameplay

The first generator is directly to the southwest of your base and is minimally defended. A small fleet of battlecruisers should be more than sufficient to take it out. Once a coolant tower is destroyed, you have less than a minute to pull your units to safety until it blows.

There are vents near each tower which constantly spawn mutalisks when you have units near by. Vikings, wraiths, and goliaths are more than capable of handling them.

Once the first tower has been taken out, Matt Horner will point out that the towers in the northwest and southeast corners are heavily defended against ground and air attacks respectively. Like the first tower, the other three aren't very deep in the zerg bases, but a larger force will be needed to breach them.

For the southeast tower, diamondbacks are invaluable in getting in and getting out. Their fire on the move allows them to be retreating and attacking once the tower has been destroyed. Bring a few goliaths to handle the mutalisks that spawn. Again, the tower is not very deep in the zerg base.

For the northwest tower, banshees and vikings supported by those battlecruisers used for the first one are your best shot. Banshees will devastate anything on the ground while the vikings handle the mutalisks.

The southwest tower has a combination of both air and ground defenses. Take both your aerial and ground forces used to take out the previous two towers and attack.

After the second tower goes down, a leviathan will spawn and will move very quickly towards your base, but not into it. It will patrol the middle platform, and only attack if you go into range of it. It spawns scourge, mutalisks, and brood lords, and has powerful ground and air attacks. Throw whatever anti-air you have at it: battlecruisers, vikings, wraiths, and goliaths are your best bets. If you researched science vessels, keep them near by to patch up your units. Don't bother with irradiate, the energy is better spent repairing your units.

Achievements

Shatter the Sky
Points	15 (Final Mission)
Criteria	Complete the mission
Notes
Its icon is very similar to that of the "You Shall Not Pass" achievement.

Demolition Man
Points	10 (Final Mission)
Criteria	Complete the mission without losing a unit to a Platform explosion on Normal difficulty
Notes
The towers aren't very deep in the platforms so getting in and getting out is quite easy. Once the tower has been destroyed and the countdown has begun, order all your units to retreat to safe ground. There's more than enough time between the destruction of the tower and platform explosion to get your units to safety.

Speed Too!
Points	10 (Final Mission)
Criteria	Complete the mission on Hard difficulty in less than 25 minutes.