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Campaign/The Devil's Playground

From Liquipedia StarCraft 2 Wiki
[e][h]Wings of Liberty
The Devil's Playground
Mission Information
Mission Objective
Main:
  • Gather 8000 Minerals

Bonus:

  • Locate Tosh's Miners
  • Kill the Brutalisk (Research)
Credits Earned:
110000
Research Points:
3 Zerg
New Units:
Available Heroes:
None

The Devil's Playground becomes available after finishing either The Evacuation or Smash and Grab. A man called Tosh contacts Raynor, asking for his help in a business venture. He's been tasked to mine minerals on Redstone III, a volcanic planet, and he asks for Raynor's help in doing it.

Notes[edit]

You can build Reapers starting from this mission.

Primary Objectives[edit]

  • Mine 8000 minerals.

Guide[edit]

You start in the left middle portion of the map, with only a few structures and some SCVs. Soon after the mission starts, the lava will rise, and you'll have to pull all your SCVs to the high ground. You'll have plenty of warning and plenty of time to get your units to the high ground, so don't worry about that. (If your playing on Brutal Difficulty, the timer will not be available, so you'll have to depend on the Adjutant warning you of the lava rise). Just pump SCVs and start mining.

When you get the objective to go find the missing miners, do so, and you'll be granted a free Command Center and 5 SCVs. If you keep only 5 SCVs mining per Command Center, you can load them all into the Command Center when the lava rises and lift off. However, it's more efficient to just run the SCVs to any high ground when the lava rises instead (It's best to keep them all in a control group to save yourself the trouble of selecting them in a pinch).

The game instructs you to just defend your mining operations, but you can and probably should build up a sizable force of Marine/Medic/Firebat/Marauder and go hunting for the Zerg bases. This will not only stop the Zerg attacks, but you'll find numerous Reaper groups along the way. You will also find a lot of mineral and gas containers which also appear when destroying certain Zerg buildings. Retrieving these resources is very beneficial, as they amount to several thousand of resources and taking down the bases is very manageable, even on Brutal.

Still, you should not neglect defending your main base. Zerg attacks come from different directions. Therefore at least two Bunkers, one at every entrance, with the support of the units you produce, are recommended.

Side Tip[edit]

Since you do not have Medivacs yet, an easy way to conduct mining operations quickly in enriched zones is to build three more Command Centers (two if you find the missing miners, or one if you are willing to risk your starting Command Center) and load five SCVs into each, filling them. Now lift them all off and move them to a mining zone. Land one as close as you can, and hover the other two over the mineral patches you are mining. Unload all your SCVs from the command centers and start mining. If you get attacked or the lava alarm sounds, simply load using your floating Command Centers (they load almost instantly) and then your one on the land then lift that one off. Doing this will allow you to have a fairly mobile 15 miner team that will deplete mining zones very quickly. (You may still want to guard your mining team with some units, but with some micro you should have no problem escaping raids, unless Mutalisks are included, which can effectively pursue the flying Command Centers. *Done on Hard Difficulty*

Sidequests[edit]

The Brutalisk is revealed to you during the mission. It's located in the bottom left corner of the map, and has 1500 hit points and does 50 damage. However, it's relatively easy to take down, and with a decent sized group of units, you can just walk up to it and kill it.
You can actually kite him with a Reaper and not risk taking any damage at all. It's very easy and it's better than risking an army to kill him.
  • Find the missing miners.
The missing miners are located right next to your starting position, and you should send the first few Reapers that you get to save them. You'll encounter a Hydralisk and a few Zerglings on the way there, but they should be easily taken out. The missing miners consist of a Command Center and 5 SCVs. You will eventually get an objective for this bonus objective but you can achieve it before it's officially given to you.

Achievements[edit]

The Devil's Playground
Complete all mission objectives in "The Devil's Playground" mission. 15
Red Lobster
Kill the Brutalisk with lava in "The Devil's Playground" mission on Normal Difficulty. 10
Kite him down the east ramp: You'll be notified (by the scientist guy) that there's a Brutalisk to kill. It'll be marked in the southwest corner of the map. Take an army of about 15 down there and clear the area around the Brutalisk. To the east/right, you'll find a ramp leading down. This is where you want to kite him out from (the north ramp won't work). Lower his health to red (the lower, the better, but also the more risky). Now, start watching your timer. When there's about 20 seconds left til the next lava flood, start kiting him down the ramp with just a few Reapers (or else you might risk losing a big army). Once down the ramp, head north the little bit that you can, keeping the Brutalisk with your Reapers. Notice how there's a ledge to the east. At the last second, get your Reapers on this ledge. Watch him burn. (If you want more insurance, do a wall-off with Supply Depots at the base of this ramp. Lower the Supply Depots (R key), kite the Brutalisk out, and raise them again to trap the Brutalisk in).
Reaper Man
Locate all of Tosh's Crew in "The Devil's Playground" mission on Hard difficulty. 10
For finding Tosh's crew the best way is using Reapers. Most of Tosh's crew can be found near Zerg bases. Just fly around and check all the cliffs once you find a base. There are 26 crew members, Reapers, to be rescued in all. Usually some will charge in and help you fight the Zerg.
Starve the Beast
Kill the Brutalisk without losing a unit to it in "The Devil's Playground" mission on Normal Difficulty. 10

Feat of Strength[edit]

The Scenic Route
Destroy all Zerg structures in "The Devil's Playground" mission on Normal difficulty. 0
As mentioned, shouldn't be difficult considering the abundance of resources.
Brutal Guide

Maximized[edit]

If you avoid this mission for as long as possible, you can complete 20 missions before heading to Redstone III. You should have earned up to 1,815,000 credits and both Protoss and Zerg research should be completed.

The following units can be used in this mission: Marine, Medic, Firebat, Marauder, Reaper, Hellion, Vulture, Diamondback, Siege Tank, Medivac, Wraith, Viking, Banshee, Battlecruiser, Thor

Secrets[edit]

Easter Eggs[edit]

Diablo
Can be found on an Island towards the southeast corner of the map.