Unlike most missions, you start this one without any structures. Luckily, a fair-sized town is readily available directly to the West. You'll encounter a few burrowed Zerg, but they shouldn't pose any problems. When you enter town, you'll see that to the far right of the minimap, the units defending the Norad II are also available for control.

Bunker your marines, fight off the Zerg, and begin repairing your Goliaths. Back at base, populate the top-most bunkers with your existing marines, but don't make any more just yet. Repair your bunker, and your engineering bay just so its health is in the yellow - once out of the red, your structures will no longer continue to burn up. You need the money right now to repair the Norad II and you can finish Engineering Bay later. Start your SCVs on minerals immediately. When you have 5-6 SCVs, build a refinery and start a few SCVs on gas - you'll need it to finish repairs on the Goliaths and the Norad II. Your town will be OK as is. If you press the attack, the computer won't bother assaulting your town too much. After you've gotten 10-12 SCVs, start building a couple of extra bunkers and missile turrets around your perimeter, and one by your mineral patch, and that should be fine for the rest of the mission.

Build another Barracks and 2 Factories, and then an Armory. Start building marines to populate your bunkers. Remember to keep up SCV production at your Command Center! When the Armory is done, start building Goliaths. Your attack force should consist almost wholly of marines and Goliaths. When you have built at least 6 Goliaths and 8 marines, send them Northwest from your base to the left center of the map(ignore the Zerg creep directly North and Northeast from town). There will only be two Hydralisks defending this plateau. Take them out, and bring a couple of SCVs to establish a new base at the mineral patch. Use your second SCV to build bunkers to the Northwest of the mineral patch.

Don't completely wall this passageway off, however, as it will be your primary avenue of attack. With your Goliaths and marines, stand on the Eastern ledge and instruct your units to hold position - they'll attack the Zerg base directly below you. You should be able to take out a spire, evolution chamber, and a couple of spore colonies from the safety of the ledge.

Also, your Goliaths will easily keep any Queens, Mutalisks, and Overlords at bay. Be careful, due to a bug, some sunken colonies can spear units close to the ledge. Take them out from the top with Goliaths, replacing and repairing damaged ones as they go. When you have the resources, you can alleviate your Goliaths by building a few missile turrets along the ledge. Remember to keep cranking out Goliaths and Marines - you'll lose quite a few in this fight if you're not careful, and you'll definitely need reinforcements. At your main base, build a Starport and Control Tower - you'll just need a couple of Dropships later in the game.

Send a force of 12 Goliaths and 12 Marines, and a couple of SCVs North, and take out the Hive. A good way to do this is to position your units at the edge of the creep and use hold position (H) - they won't chase enemies onto the creep and into the spires of sunken colonies. Once the enemy units and nearby buildings are destroyed, the creep will start receding. At this point you can rush in and take out the sunken colonies and the rest of the structures on the creep. Remember to call back damaged units and have your SCV repair them. Continue East, reinforcing your troops with fresh marines and Goliaths. You'll find a formidable Zerg stronghold at the top middle of the map. Instruct your SCV to build bunkers near the edge of the creep.

While it's building, cover the SCV with your troops. You can now station some of your troops here or retreat into the bunkers if you face a lot of enemy resistance. It should only be a matter of time before you take out the base. Continue east and down the ramps. Travel south a short distance and you'll encounter another ramp. Send your units up this ramp and the only defenses you should see are LOTS of spore colonies and a couple of Scourges (both useless against your ground troops) and a few sunken colonies. Concentrate your efforts on the sunken colonies and Scourges, and then take out all of the spore colonies.

You might want to save your game at this point. You should now be able to safely load up Raynor into one of the Dropships and fly them to the Norad II. Important: be careful not to fly your Dropships over any remaining enemy towns or units. Remember that you bypassed an entire Zerg base (complete with spore colonies) at the center of the map, and flying through that with slow, unarmed Dropships, carrying a key hero isn't a good thing to do, especially this late in the mission. When the Dropships reach the beacon by the Norad, the mission will End.

You start this mission under heavy attack, with Kerrigan, 3 marines, and a probe next to a science facility and a Starport/Control Tower. Lift off your Science Facility and Starport, and have all of your units and structures retreat to your main base, at the south of the map. The Control Tower cannot be saved, so just ignore it. Likewise, there are three marines protecting two supply depots to the bottom center of the screen. Have the marines retreat, and leave the Supply Depots to the enemy Siege Tank. You can deal with him later.

Begin pumping out SCVs and start your economy. You'll need to fortify your base lightly before setting out for the enemy base. Build additional bunkers next to each of the bridge entrances to your base, and rocket turrets around your perimeter (near the bunkers and by the shoreline.

Build another factory next to your existing one, and add machine shops to each. When you have the money, build an armory. The modest mineral supplies at your base will run out within 10-15 minutes. You'll have to start thinking about expanding, and the best place to do so is to the right (where your two supply depots were destroyed at the beginning of the game).

Once your factories are done, click on the machine shop and research Siege Mode for your tanks. These will comprise your main fighting forces for this mission. Add a Control Tower to your Starport, and start construction of another Science Vessel. You'll be ready to attack when you have a force of at least 8 marines (you can vacate the marines in the bunkers covering the Eastern entrance to your base if necessary), 4-5 Goliaths, and 3-4 Siege Tanks. Tip - Siege Tanks can be used as "super-towers" for protecting your base against enemy ground troops - place them in Siege Mode a few steps behind your bunkers and turrets, and watch the enemy forces melt under its cover fire. Just be sure to have turrets and bunkers or Goliaths nearby to protect against stealth/airborne units.

Bring your troops across the Eastern bridge. Have your Goliaths and marines, along with a Science Vessel form the front line, and your Siege Tanks trailing slightly behind. The Science Vessel is a mobile Detector unit so it is essential in locating cloaked or burrowed units. Select your Siege Tanks and place them in Siege Mode along the ridge above the mineral patch. Fly your Science Vessel over the upper and lower ridge to expose elevated enemy troops.

Your tanks' extreme range should cut them down in no time. Your marines and Goliaths will provide enough air support to keep enemy fighters from harassing your tanks. Once the area is cleared, take your Siege Tanks and place them in Siege Mode to the right of the mineral Patch the enemy will stream in and attack you from this direction. Remember to keep your marine/Goliath escort in front of the tanks. Around this time your original mineral patch should be expiring. Start a new expansion base by the mineral/gas patch you've just liberated. Remember to keep cranking out military units to replace ones KIA. Note: In general you should never wait until you are this low on resources before looking for expansions!

When you have a force of 5-6 tanks and enough ground troops to cover them, it's time to start sweeping through the enemy forces. This method works incredibly well - place your tanks in Siege Mode in a phalanx formation towards incoming troops (place your troops in front of the tanks to protect them). Move your troops forward a few steps to expose far-range troops. Your tanks and troops should easily kill any of them. Take half of your tanks out of Siege Mode, and advance them right behind your front line, and place them back in Siege Mode. Advance your troops a little more, and have your trailing tanks move up behind them again.

Repeat. Doing this, you should methodically raze everything in sight, with enemy forces never getting near enough to do any damage. Just in case, have an SCV behind your tanks to repair them as they are hit. As always, don't forget to bring a Science Vessel to protect against cloaked units.

It should only take you 5-10 minutes this way to get your forces to the enemy beacon. The key is to effectively use your Siege Tanks, and remembering to repair and replace damaged/killed units. Once you've secured the area, bring the SCV carrying the emitter onto the beacon. You'll notice that you've bypassed the brunt of the enemy forces (the entire top half of the map will remain unexplored), and quickly and efficiently accomplished your mission with minimal losses.

You start out in the bottom right corner of the map. Take your scouts and Norad II to the West, there you'll find building add-ons left over from another force. These passive friendly structures are now yours. Land your buildings next to the add-ons to use them. I would suggest forgoing the Nuclear Silos on at least one of your Command Centers - the Comsat Station is far more useful, and your best bet is to brute-force this mission with standard units.

Start your economy, and build another barracks and factory. Have your SCVs place missile turrets all along the perimeter of your base. You can Dropship your SCVs onto the upper ledge to gain more visible space and protection. Bunker the Northwest entrance to your base in case your first assault falls short. When you have Siege Tanks (don't forget to research Siege Mode), start your familiar tank line (protected by marines and Goliaths at the front line).

When you start attacking to the Northwest, the enemy will start sending a fair-sized army to stop you. With enough tanks and marines you should do fine. Make a Science vessel to accompany your main forces throughout the mission - you'll undoubtedly encounter a few cloaked Wraiths away from the protection of your turrets.

Use the Norad II to your advantage - It's incredibly powerful and has a lot of health. It's also got great line of sight. Have it scout out enemy territory (always pay attention to where it is because it IS slow, and a group of enemy Goliaths might just end the good General's day on a bad note), and use its Yamato Cannon on enemy missile turrets from long range. Make a number of Wraiths to cover the BattleCruiser, and slowly advance your ground forces at the forces you recon. Your BattleCruiser will inevitably become damaged as you scout out new terrain, so be sure to send it back to base and have a few SCVs repair it whenever it drops below 500 health. Tip: Using multiple SCVs on the same unit will repair it much faster than a lone unit would.

You'll find a number of expandable resources near the center and the top left of the map (after taking out the enemy base), which should aid greatly on the final assault to the Eastern enemy entrenchment. Warning: Watch your Wraiths closely. Even if you take out all of the enemy's missile turrets, the computer is smart enough to Comsat your cloaked forces - exposing them to their troops. Tip: Don't just settle for the barracks and factories at your main base. You've got plenty of resources and should be building units from each of your towns as you expand - not only will this allow you to make more units faster, but you'll also be able to get troops onto the front line sooner if you build from a closer factory.

You'll start this mission near the top left of the map. Surrounded on three sides are the Zerg - which you should not attack. The first order of the day is to beef up your defenses, more than for any base you've ever made. The Zerg will first attack your base from the Southwest, but you want to build at least one bunker for each entrance to your town, especially at the ramps to the Northeast and Northwest. Build another barracks to help you crank out marines for your bunkers. Also place a couple of missile turrets near these ramps. Wall off the ramps from Zerg attacks by placing supply depots directly blocking the ramps. Again, the Zerg forces will ignore these buildings and attempt to run around them to get to your bunkers - a double benefit.

When you have fortified your base from the Zerg and from the Protoss forces which will occasionally come from the bridge to the Southeast, send a couple of SCVs over to the middle left of the map. Build a couple of bunkers and turrets at this ramp as well. You'll want to leave an SCV near your defenses at each ramp, because Zerg forces will attack you throughout the mission, and your bunkers and turrets will inevitably take damage. You can also use your Siege Tanks as ground defenses, but BE CAREFUL! The extreme range of your tanks will likely being to strike Zerg spore colonies along the ridge. The blast radius of the tanks will also damage your own structures, so use them with care.

Building all of these defenses will definitely start taking a toll on your resources, so expand quickly to the unprotected mineral patch at the middle left of the map. There is a Vespene Geyser directly to the East as well, but it's rather far away and more convenient to just build a new Command Center next to it. Remember to fortify this base, as it's beginning to encroach on Protoss territory, and a few zealots and Dragoons are bound to show up. You can also sneak some units right underneath the Protoss' nose by bringing them to the South of the map.

A few units may come to harass you, so bring along some marines and protect this mineral patch with 2 bunkers. Instead of building a sizable ground force, I decided to see what kind of damage I could do with the BIG units. The Norad II from the last mission was so useful, I had my entire strike force consisting of BattleCruisers. They're very expensive, but not prohibitively so. They take up 8 supply slots, so you'll probably have to build a supply depot for each Cruiser. Build around 6, and let them charge up their energy before attacking. Start by taking out any Scouts and Dragoons you encounter - these are the only units you'll encounter which can attack your ships. Comsat the Protoss bases to the Northeast and Southeast, and note the positions of the Photon Cannons. Attack these bases directly, first by killing off any Dragoon defenders, and then having one of your BattleCruisers Yamato any Photon Cannons. You can ignore the Zealots until you take out the Gateways and Stargates, as Zealots cannot attack air units.

Once you take out the last Protoss structure, a huge wave of Zerg forces will begin to assault your town. Don't worry if you are overrun though, as this is part of the plot. You'll still end the mission in victory (much like the 30-minute Mission 3). However, if you started the game paranoid like me, you might have enough defenses to keep all of the Zerg attackers at bay. And that's it, you're now on to the last Terran mission!

First, start your economy and fortify your base. You'll have plenty of gas and minerals at your starting base, and generally won't need to expand (imagine that!). Build bunkers and fortify them with Siege Tanks in the two locations that are past the ramps just outside your base. Then build some fortifications on the platform that is to the right and north from your base. Also, build multiple turrets near these encampments, because the enemy will be sending in cloaked Wraiths and possibly multiple BattleCruisers to take you out. Build 3-5 turrets by the top of your mineral patches as well.

With your base properly defended, you should start building your offense. Build three or four BattleCruisers, and back them up with a wing of eight Wraiths and 2 Science Vessels. The Science Vessels are crucial, as you'll need them to EMP enemy Science Vessels (who will attempt to EMP you) and Irradiate enemy Ghosts (remember to research these upgrades at your Science Facility). Load up a Dropship with 5 marines and 3 SCVs. Take this force, and fly them North along the rift in the map that goes right up the middle of the map.

Take all of your ships near the Ion Cannon Platform, and use your BattleCruisers to Yamato any Turrets you find along the way. You'll want to park your fleet along the Northeastern edge of the Platform. Unload your troops, and heavily fortify the right edge with missile turrets. Build a barracks and start producing marines. Place a few marines near the southern edge of your occupation zone - they'll keep stray Dropships away and help your turrets shut down enemy resupply lines. Add a few missile turrets along the entire edge occupied by your fleets - they'll keep enemy Ghosts visible (and away from Locking down your ships) as your marines take them out. The enemy will begin to throw forces at you, mainly consisting of several Science Vessels, a few Wraiths, and an occasional BattleCruiser. Yamato their Cruisers to keep them from harming your Wraith squadron. You may notice the enemy attempting to send a number of Dropships your way - they're usually loaded with a few ghosts each, but your turret array should be plenty to down them before they can drop off their dangerous cargo.

When you have 16 marines, unload your bunkers and file them all into Dropships. Send in a BattleCruiser and Yamato the missile turret at the top edge of the plateau. It's time for an all-out assault. Empty your Dropships at the edge of the plateau. Send all of your forces in to attack the Ion Cannon plateau. Keep your cloaked Wraiths attacking the various marines and Goliaths left to defend the cannon. If you encounter enemy BattleCruisers, remember to Yamato them with your own before they can do much damage. With your remaining marines and turrets keeping away enemy Dropships, they'll run out of defending forces quickly. All that's left to do is take out the Ion Cannon, which only has around 2000 Health, 500 more than your standard Command Center. If you destroy it, you should be proud of yourself for completing the terran campaign. But don't get to excited because the zerg campaign is a whole hell of a lot harder! Good Luck!