The Trial of Tassadar is the eighth protoss mission of Episode III of StarCraft.
History[]
Background[]
Executor Artanis and High Templar Tassadar had returned to Aiur with the dark templar, an act viewed as treason by the Conclave, who considered the dark templar heretics. Judicator Aldaris led the Conclave in an attack on their forces to arrest them, sparking a civil war.[1] Though Tassadar and his allies struck a small victory against the Conclave, the sight of protoss warriors fighting each other was too much for him to bear, and he surrendered to stem the fighting.[2] Fenix and Artanis escaped while Dark Prelate Zeratul and his dark templar vanished.[3]
Alone, Fenix and Artanis planned to strike back against the Conclave. Tassadar was being held prisoner in a stasis cell to await trial, but Fenix was sure the trial would end in Tassadar's execution. With Zeratul and his dark templar gone, Fenix saw Tassadar as their only hope to stop the zerg invasion, and resolved to release him. As the two prepared to move out, they were contacted by Captain Jim Raynor, a terran who befriended Tassadar on Char. Raynor offered his aid in the mission to repay Tassadar for saving his men on Char, and took the field in his command ship, Hyperion.
The three were able to break through the Conclave's defenses and destroy Tassadar's stasis cell, but before they could retrieve him, Aldaris arrived with a large contingent of reinforcements from the Ara Tribe. Aldaris mocked their predictability in staging a rescue attempt and prepared to attack,[4] but was halted by the return of Zeratul with a number of dark templar. Caught by surprise and outnumbered by the dark templar, Aldaris and the Conclave retreated and allowed Fenix and his allies to escape with Tassadar.[5]
Walkthrough[]
The player has a small starting force protected behind a walled-off nexus point. Fenix and Raynor are available as hero units, Raynor commanding the Hyperion. While the Hyperion is powerful, repair is not possible for the entire mission due to the lack of SCVs, so use the Hyperion with caution. The Furinax Tribe (purple) has two bases directly south and east of the player's base, and will attack with zealots, dragoons, and reavers. The Ara Tribe (red) harasses the player with air force of scouts and carriers and occasionally sends in templars through airdrop, which can be devastating to carrier groups if left unchecked. The player should initially build several photon cannons at the southern wall of their base to aid in fighting the Ara, and later accompanying their forces with observers.
The player's starting forces, properly microed, will hold off the enemy for a while, allowing the player to build up their economy and then begin to build their army. This is very important, as the player only starts with 70 minerals, no vespene gas, and has no access to any expansions without a fight. The Ara Tribe is heavily fortified on high ground with difficult to reach entrances, so an air force should be used. The player should eventually build two stargates and construct a force of carriers, researching their interceptor capacity upgrade and air weapons. These carriers can destroy each of the two Furinax (purple) bases, which are heavily slanted to ground attackers beyond dragoons and photon cannons. With one base destroyed, the player can expand to its ruins and continue to build their fleet of carriers larger, then destroy the other base. There is also a mineral field on the far eastern edge of the map the player may wish to claim, but attacking it will provoke the Ara tribe (red) to send a large air composition, including carriers and arbiters, which can make the site very difficult to hold after first taking it. A reliable approach is to attack with the Hyperion and the carrier, using the Yamato cannon to eliminate one of the two Ara dragoons, focusing the other with both ships, and then immediately retreating. The Ara will not reinforce the area after investigating the scene, and a probe can be sent later to quietly build a new base.
The early game is, therefore, quite slow, with only one expansion and only a forge to begin working up the tech tree. The key is to be judicious about gas usage, and to plan a careful defense strategy. A clever and bold opening move is to situate Fenix beneath a tree outside the southeastern wall of the player's starting location. The ideal tree is between the four ramps that make the starting plateau accessible, where Fenix is protected from enemy Dragoons but able to target probes that the Furinax will continuously send between their bases. With the player's starting carrier to back him up, Fenix can hold that position and interdict communication between the bases until the player has enough minerals to harden the site with photon cannons. This will not stop the Furinax from attacking but may slow the rate at which they can build up each wave. Beware, however: Fenix lacks the Khaydarin Core range upgrade, despite being a hero unit. He can therefore be ranged later by Furinax dragoons until the player researches the upgrade. Having Fenix under a tree offers the player a lot of options if he intercepts one of the early Ara scout and carrier waves. With his shields and the cover of the tree, he can hold out a long time before retreating, giving the player time to respond with other forces. Later, the player can reinforce this site with photon cannons and a shield battery, one of several sites along the plateau that, properly fortified, will provide a strong defense against the red protoss forces. With Fenix's roost hardened, the player can build four to five carriers with one stargate, upgrading shields, air weapons, and the interceptor capacity with their excess gas. This small force is enough to take out either Furinax base without losses, and more carriers will be available by the time the player is attacking the other. While the Hyperion can smash cannons at the Furinax bases with its Yamato cannon, it is wise to conserve energy to use the special ability to knock out a reaver in an attacking force, or to take out an attacking dragoon such that the Hyperion and carrier can then attack zealots and other forces with no anti-air capability. Conserving the Hyperion's health is important, especially if the player plans to risk using it in the final assault.
Once the two Furinax bases are consolidated, the player will have access to more gas, and a force of high yemplar is useful to produce Hallucinations of the Hyperion. These illusions are useful for shaping operations, scouting the enemy base, and providing cover for the real Hyperion to use its Yamato cannon to soften up the Ara base. Where the player attacks, the Ara will bolster defenses, and the computer is very skilled at using arbiters with Stasis Field. A fleet of twelve carriers is a good basis for attacking the Ara base, with support from mass Hyperion illusions to distract enemy forces and soak up Stasis Field casts. The final component of a successful attack is a fleet of a dozen scouts, with movement speed and sight upgrades, to escort the carriers, shoot down out Shuttlecraft to hamper troop movements, kill Ara high yemplar before they can cast psionic storm, and engage Ara carriers. If the player takes out the Ara resource node in the southwest corner (unassailable to ground forces as there is no ramp) this will effectively cut off the Ara unit production. A successful raid against the outer defenses of this base, followed by a retreat to heavy defenses set up around the captured southern Furinax base, can provoke the Ara to commit too many of their air forces to a doomed counterattack and set the stage for a swift victory.
Tassadar's prison cell is in the middle of the main Ara base. The area is very well defended with a huge fleet of scouts and carriers, aided by arbiters that may provide stealth service for nearby enemy units and freeze/isolate player's carrier fleet. Even a dozen of full-equipped carriers aided by scouts is not likely to penetrate the enemy defense in a direct assault. Hence, a feint and various hit-and-run tactics are advisable. Aside from Hyperion illusions, the player can also lay siege to the mesa from the riverbank and use a lone scout or illusions thereof as bait to draw down enemy air forces. The enemy air and dragoon force can be depleted in several rounds in this manner. Once the complement of forces is defeated, and in particular if the Ara resource gathering node is destroyed, the Ara do not replace their units very rapidly, and the base will fall. The player can then destroy the prison cell with ease.
References[]
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