Wings of Liberty campaign mechanics theorycraft

Campaign Discussion
1

Something that bugs me, having recently replayed the trilogy, is that the Terran campaign is straightforward and rigid compared to the next two. HotS and LotV give you ways to change up your army composition, which gives the campaigns a lot of replayability and lets you strategize your army for each individual mission. But WoL, you’re given a finite number of credits and your spending choices are locked, as are your research choices. Besides that, some upgrades you flat ALWAYS get no question, like the Orbital Command.

I was pondering how to make the Terran campaign’s mechanics more flexible, and, using the Covert Ops mission pack as a base, came up with this.

Each of Raynor’s units has two equipment slots that can be switched around between missions. These equipment items can be purchased from Swann to let Raynor deploy more units with the tech as the campaign continues and you build up the money to buy more. However, the people Swann deals with can’t do too much business with him or risk being caught, so there’s a limit to how much they’re willing to sell him of each item.

Armory Equipment

  • Stimpacks (Limit 3); damages unit to boost attack and movement speeds - Marine, Reaper, Firebat, Marauder
  • Napalm Rounds (Limit 2); unit’s attacks ignite ground around target, dealing continuous damage - Firebat, Marauder, Vulture, Hellion, Thor, Banshee
  • Piercing Rounds (Limit 3); unit’s attacks ignore armor - Marine, Reaper, Ghost, Spectre, Goliath, Viking
  • Advanced Targeting AI (Limit 3); unit’s attacks have increased range - Marine, Goliath, Diamondback, Wraith, Viking, Battlecruiser
  • Hi-Sec Tracking System (Limit 2); unit can attack while moving - Vulture, Goliath, Hellion, Wraith, Battlecruiser
  • EMP Rounds (Limit 2); unit’s attacks deal increased damage to shields and damage target’s energy - Ghost, Spectre, Siege Tank, Thor, Viking, Banshee
  • Irradation Rounds (Limit 2); unit’s attacks deal increased damage to biological and have small area-of-effect damage - Vulture, Goliath, Thor, Wraith (air only), Banshee
  • Concussive Rounds (Limit 2); unit’s attacks deal increased damage to armored and slow their movement and attack speed - Marauder, Goliath (air only), Siege Tank, Wraith (air only), Viking (air only), Banshee
  • Superheated Reactor (Limit 3); unit’s movement speed is increased - Vulture, Hellion, Diamondback, Wraith, Viking, Banshee, Battlecruiser
  • Turbocharged Weapons (Limit 3); unit’s attack speed is increased - Hellion, Goliath, Diamondback, Wraith, Viking, Battlecruiser
  • Apollo Reactor (Limit 2); Cloak consumes 50% less energy, cost to activate reduced to 10 - Ghost, Spectre, Wraith, Banshee

Lab Equipment

Alongside Swann being able to outfit individual units with equipment, Stetmann will research tech, sometimes yielding new equipment for units, or yielding new units and structures. All Lab upgrades are permanent acquisitions like in the campaign, some grant equipment that can be equipped to a unit or even an entire tier of structures, others grant you new units, structures, or passive support. Units produced by Stetman’s research cannot have equipment attached to them, and all equipment he researches is unique.

  • Zerg Tier 1: Perdition Turret (same as original) OR Fire Suppression Systems (same as original)

  • Zerg Tier 2: Advanced Filtering AI (units cost 25% less Vespene) OR Advanced Construction AI (units build 20% faster) - can be equipped to Barracks, Factory, or Starport

  • Zerg Tier 3: Regenerative Bio-Steel (same as original) OR Reinforced Plating (units have +20% HP) - can be equipped to Barracks, Factory, or Starport

  • Zerg Tier 4: Predator (can leap towards targets, uses shockwave attacks to deal area damage) OR Hercules (same as original) - unlocks unit for production

  • Zerg Tier 5: Psi Disruptor (unit’s attacks temporarily Frenzy Zerg nearby) OR Cellular Reactor (unit has +100% energy regeneration and +100 max energy); Disruptor can be equipped to Marauder, Goliath, Siege Tank, Thor, Viking, or Banshee, Reactor can be equipped to Medic, Ghost, Spectre, Medivac, Banshee, or Battlecruiser.

  • Protoss Tier 1: Ultra Capacitors (same as original) OR Vanadium Plating (same as original) - can be equipped to Barracks, Factory, or Starport

  • Protoss Tier 2: Orbital Command (same as original) OR Auto-Refinery (same as original)

  • Protoss Tier 3: Raven (same as original) OR Science Vessel (same as original)

  • Protoss Tier 4: Defensive Matrix (unit has Protoss shields equal to 25% base HP) OR Cloaking Module (unit is permanently cloaked); Defensive Matrix can be equipped to Marauder, Goliath, Thor, Wraith, or Battlecruiser, Cloaking Module can be equipped to Reaper, Hellion, Diamondback, Viking, or Battlecruiser

  • Protoss Tier 5: Tech Reactor (allows dual-construction of any unit) OR Orbital Pods (units are deployed right to the rally point) - can be equipped to Barracks, Factory, or Starport

Overall intent with this system is to give more replayability to the campaign by encouraging players to try different equipment load-outs and unit compositions for each mission, and giving them to the tools to make those changes feel like they make a difference in how their army performs.

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A good way to start would be rebalancing the units so the outliers (Reapers, Diamondback, etc.) are a bit more useful outside their specific introduction missions - if they are useful at all (Wraith).

When I first played WoL I pretty much used only Diamondbacks and Hellions (with some mercs) and it was freakin’ 'ard. In my second playthrough I’m using bio and it is so much easier. For my future third and fourth campaigns I want a Banshee-Wraith-Viking and a Goliath only run.

I’d just rework the whole thing from the ground up and let people use the research points where they want it. I want both the Vanadium Plating and the Ultra Capacitors, bite me.