This article or section contains information from the optional Covert Missions in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.
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- Commander Jim Raynor(src)
The Devil's Playground is a StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty mission. Raynor's Raiders were contracted to mine minerals by the mysterious pirate, Gabriel Tosh.[1]
History[]
Background[]
Gabriel Tosh, an anti-Dominion spectre, sought to restart Project Shadowblade. To do this, he needed to acquire jorium, terrazine, and suitable candidates.[2] The Second Great War worked to his advantage. When the Kel-Morian Combine abandoned Redstone III due to the zerg invasion, Tosh contracted miners to harvest the planet's minerals[1] for their jorium content.[3][4] Communications with the contractors were lost, although they remained alive.
The re-emergence of Raynor's Raiders, another anti-Dominion group, provided Tosh with another opportunity. The spectre hired the Raiders to go and mine Redstone's minerals as well. Tosh sold the operation as a way for the rebels to make badly needed money, and did not reveal his ulterior motive. The planet's frequent lava surges and zerg presence made this an unconventional mining operation.[1]
The Mission[]
Tosh provided assistance remotely. He reinforced the Raiders with reapers; additional units were operating in the vicinity and waiting top link up as well. The spectre provided directions to the last known location of the contracted miners and additional mineral fields. Even with these additional resources, Captain Matt Horner reminded Raynor to carefully manage expenditures to avoid drawing too deeply from minerals being amassed. The rebels promptly departed once their quota was reached.[1]
Aftermath[]
- See: Campaign quotations
Tosh was pleased with the Raiders' efficacy and went aboard the rebel flagship Hyperion; he hoped to entice Commander Jim Raynor into recovering terrazine from the Tal'darim on Bel'Shir.[3][5] Raynor took a tentative liking to Tosh after learning of the spectres' anti-Dominion views.[3][6]
Walkthrough[]
The low ground, where the minerals are, is regularly flooded by lava surges. On all difficulties, except brutal, a timer displays the time to the next lava surge. Even without the timer, the lava will glow brightly and warning sirens will sound to warn of an imminent surge. Units and structures caught in lava are destroyed. Use lift off to protect mining bases on the low ground.
Reapers are adequate for most opposition. Destroying zerg bases is optional, but destroying hatcheries yields resource caches. The zerg do not attack in great strength. Attacks and base defenses may include mutalisks; train marines to support the reapers. On brutal, the zerg base in the map's north-east corner contains infestors and a brood lord. Defend mining expansions accordingly.
Four reapers are received as reinforcements, and the ability to train more, early in the mission. More reapers, and resource caches, are scattered around the map as rescuable units. The reapers' speed and ability to jump up and down cliffs makes them ideal for the map's multi-level terrain. Use the first reapers to move to the north and find a rescuable command center and five SCVs; the command center may be loaded with the SCVs to form a mobile mining base on the lower ground. A group of reapers may be found further to the north-east.
The brutalisk in the map's south-west corner guards resource caches. Killing it yields research points, and an achievement if killed by the lava. Marines, marauders and medics can easily kill it. You can also use multiple reapers to kill it without risking geting hit (by attacking the brutalisk from the right, and when it gets close, jump off the cliff to the right, it'll follow your reapers the long way, so when it starts getting close you jump back to the higher ground again, and repeat), at the cost of some micromanaging. To kill if with the lava, attack and withdraw to lure it into the low ground. Pause regularly during the withdrawal to allow the brutalisk to catch up and entice it to keep pursuing; moving too fast will cause the brutalisk to return to its lair. The brutalisk has to arrive on the low ground shortly before a surge.
Another way to kill the brutalisk requires shrike turrets on bunkers. Building one of those, along with various structures such as missile turrets or supply depots, will keep the brutalisk attacking until all structures have been destroyed. Thus, it will stay, even when the lava starts rising.
Achievements[]
The Devil's Playground | |
Points | |
Criteria |
Complete all mission objectives |
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Red Lobster | |
Points | |
Criteria |
Use lava to finish Brutalisk on Normal difficulty. |
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Reaper Man | |
Points | |
Criteria |
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Edit |
Starve the Beast | |
Points | |
Criteria |
Kill the Brutalisk without losing a unit to it in "The Devils Playground" mission on Normal difficulty. |
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The Scenic Route | |
Points | |
Criteria |
In The Devil's Playground, destroy all zerg structures on Normal difficulty or higher. |
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Development[]
The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.
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Trivia[]
- Diablo, from Blizzard's Diablo series, is on an island at the south-east corner of the map. It is unselectable and can be seen only by moving a flying structure, air unit, placing a scanner sweep or placing a unit at the right point on the cliff border.
- This mission was previously known as Mining Your Own Business.[7]
- The Blizzard custom melee map Burning Tide is set on Redstone III, and features lava surges similar to the ones from The Devil's Playground.
- The map "Old Faithful" in StarCraft had a similar mechanic to this mission, where players had to mine a set amount of minerals, and units on the low ground would be destroyed after a set amount of time.
References[]
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