Media Blitz on hard (getting under 20 minutes)

how in the crap do I get this one done in under 20 minutes?

my best time on hard is like 23-24 minutes. and I thought I was tearin through it pretty quick.

 

I too have been having trouble with this... the best time I can muster is 22:10.

The main problem is base #2 with all those siege tanks and goliaths. They just tear you up unless you have a huge army.

What I'm going to try next is to crush that entire base during the surprise attack, and then when I get control of my base, I will just repair the odin ASAP and send it, with a few SCV's for repair, back to base #2 to keep them from rebuilding. In the mean time I could then mass up a large thor army to attack one of the other bases and take a tower, then just sweep around the map as fast as I can to take the other towers, possibly attacking bases 2 and 3 at the same time.

 

Do you keep the Odin alive? I found that things go by much faster when you have it around. Strategic target firing and use of its special ability can make things a lot easier.

It's really a matter of quickly building a balanced army that can quickly repair itself, and maintain production even as you take the objectives. I take one of the sides, come home to repair, take the other side, repair, then push into the middle (from a side). I also expand to each of the expansions while I am dealing with the associated side, but I don't invest a whole lot to defend it.

I've not gotten the achievement yet, but I'm about 12s short.

 

I do keep the Odin alive. I normally take out the middle base with all the tanks.

then go after the base on the left with 5+ thors and some vikings for anti air, and then go after the base on the right last.

to speed things up, I may send an SCV with Odin into the right base when I clear it (I will clear it with just odin while I mass up thors for the left base, and have the SCV build alot of turrets so that Idon't need alot of gorund forces to keep the right base, and to kill that BC they send

 

How it's done y'all

I had a lot of trouble with this too before reading suggestions. Got my time down from 24 to 18:46 ! The key really relying on just the Odin with 2 or 3 svcs.
I like to sneak the central base b/c you can walk up to siege mode tanks and they cant touch you. This is a big plus, esp if you dont have solid air, i.e. banshees. You can take out all the producing buildings + tanks and still have time to clean up half the right base.
Then just send him back out with the scvs and transmit in those two places. Meanwhile build up some tanks and goliaths. By the time the first set of mercs is available you can launch the group to left base.
Ignore the left forward base (w/minerals)!! It is just a time sink. Maybe they will destroy part of your base while you make the last transmission.. so what? Go for broke.
One last tip - it's critical to keep odin svc's alive. When you see a raven's seeker missile move them apart.

 

got it in 19:43

now I Am having problems on the dig, tryin to get 50 protoss structures on hard... none of my attacks go anywhere! I mean, I cannot even get up any of the ramps.

 

Judicious use of the mining laser to destroy protoss forces and buildings helps a lot.

 

does killing their production buildings cut back on their attacks on your base?

 

Yes.

And there's a really easy trick to do that achievement on the dig...but i shant tell you XD...on reflection i will but you'll kick yourself for not thinking of it

Spoiler

Build barracks and fly them over their base so you can sight the laser

For the media blitz one i destroyed half of the factory and half of the starport bases at the start . Then i kept 3-4 scvs on the odin and basically that was my whole force minus 1 thor and a few reapers. Don't be afraid to run past a bunch of stuff for the last one. Did it in 17:43

Now i'm stuck on doing the final mission with only 1 artifact activation....think my armoury choices are bad for it.

 

To finish media blitz under 20 is easy, use the odin the right side first and demolish that base, imo is the most difficult of all 3. just spam thors, and that's it! Merc up, and get 3-4 scvs following every 2 thors.
Move to the right, taking out the expo, drop an expo, while u move the right beacon, 100% it with w/e forces you got, and move north then west. While taking out west side, you should already have enough thors back at base to push up. Odin's special move on buildings makes this mission a cake walk. Those viking mercs are also a blessing coupled with thors.

The final mission with only 1 use of the artifact achievement isn't too bad as long as you have marines and medic, tank, and banshee armoy upgrades. I did it without mutas and brood lords, so used tank marine defence and banshees to take out the nydus works, using 0 artifact usage.

 

19 Mins

Odin, Thor(s), Tanks, Scv's ( Turrets / Heal )

You have to be fast - (watch your base/keep the attack moving), and take down buildings quick.

I cleared the top right base (so that you can get to top fast) and right middle base.

I started by immediately sending Odin clearing the command center to the right and lower right base.
and building a 2nd command center before it was cleared.

1) Bottom right > Pop out 2 tanks first, the 2 tanks kill buildings seiged while odin takes the hits. once your 2nd command is up heal the odin, and get 3 turrets on the bottom, and 2 more thors support along the bottom then back to healing.

2) mid Right > Then it's a run with all your forces to the mid right. Thors holding off stuff, seiged tanks behind killing any attackers.

3) Top > After last attack on mid right unseige and move before upload completes - Odin in first seige behind and get a thor on to upload before killing the buildings. Odin defends and kills buildings with area attack.

 

Easy! I used Ghosts/Thors + Odin for this map. I made thors attack detectors, and left ghosts to capture the radio stations. The ghosts did not get attacked because they were cloaked

For the middle base, I nuked, ran thors in, and had my ghosts run straight for the last beacon.

 

You know, shooting nukes in a capital city because you wanna tell its citizens their leader is a killer won't get you much support. Just saying

 

Hey now, those are tactical nukes. Those don't hurt nobody but the guys right underneath em.

 

I got a time of 16:25 using the method described below:

I beat it on hard for the achievement with only Odin, 2 Thors, and 3 scvs for repair.

Took out middle base first with Odin and took out 2 of the 4 starports on the left base. Make sure to kill every siege tank and factory at the middle base.

Once next portion starts, build 1 Thor at the very beginning. Build a bunker at the left side to protect you from a few air units that will attack you periodically and fill it with marines(I had the +150 bunker health upgrade and both bunker armory upgrades).

Once you get a Thor from Swan, take it and the Odin with a few scvs to the right base. The Thor you started building previously should finish as the others reach the right base. Send this one to the bottom right to find the secret documents from the Science Facility so you can play the secret mission later.

Send it back to the other two at the right base, have all 3 stand on the ramp and have one of your scvs hold position on the radio tower. Once done, head to the tower in the middle base, and dont bother killing any missile turrets or addons, as killing these will only slow down your units and increase the time it'll take to complete the mission. Again have 1 scv hold position on the radio while the 2 Thors and Odin kill the strike teams.

If you were fast enough at the start, you should've been able to clear out a portion of the left base. Don't bother clearing out the whole thing, just make a pathway to the last tower. Again use hold position with an scv. Have repairing scvs move back if a Raven uses a seeker missile on a Thor so they don't risk dieing to the AoE splash. Don't worry if you lose any of your Thors at this tower, as all that matters is getting the radio signal finished.

To help out, get vehicle upgrades from the armory to increase the survivability of your Thors.

With this strat, all you need to produce is 1 Thor and have enough income to continue repairs and defend against any attacks, meaning you limit the time you have to build up to assault the radio towers.

 

Media Blitz really isn't that hard. All you need to do is hit the 2nd base first, the one that's all tanks and gols and such. Take out the majority of it as in almost all of its facotories, then go to the first base which is primarily air and take out about half of that base. Just don't screw with anymore banshees than the first group on the ramp closest to the factory base you just destroyed or they'll kill the odin making your life much easier. After you get control of the base make Thors as you see fit and hit the remainder of the air base, then back track and kill the last base you have to kill and the missions will be easy due to the lack of enemy forces attacking you. All you have to do is build and army and run through the last 3 bases.