Need help with a Tech choice in brutal campaign.

Hey guys, Here's my dilemma:
Should I take the energy boost for my specialist units or the regen for my mech and buildings for the campaign?

Spoiler

I intend to kill air and go for the ground version of all in.

But I'm also thinking of taking ghost upgrades for bunker defence and some sniping

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(it should work well against kerrigan)

How I see it so far:
Pros on cellular reactors(+100 starting/+100 max energy): Extra cloak lifespan for banshees, extra energy for irradiate with vessels, extra EMPs/Snipes with ghosts and extra yamato cannons. Could be missing something. If it works with orbital command(dunno) it should be much better.

Pros on regenerative biosteel: Well, that's a pretty obvious no-brainer upgrade. The passive regen of mech and buildings makes it awsome to have, all-round. Compared with the upgrade that puts out building fires and repairs them to 50% and the extra life on bunkers which I took it should provide my base with much more resilient defences in general, plus will regen the life of all my mech and air which is always good. It's just that the other one has many potential uses that I might be missing that could be way awsome.

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If I went for the air version of all-in though, I think that the cellular reactors would be way better when combined with the pursachable battlecruiser missile pods which do awsome anti-air aoe

Any tips on that anyone?

 

Personally I prefer Regenerative Biosteel - more energy is nice, but each health point recovered is a point I don't have to spend minerals and gas to repair.

 

Plus less workers in the repair buisness are more workers in the mineral lines, no? I'm also leaning towards that too, I was just wondering if anyone could give a good reason to pick the other one(there are obviously good reasons, was just thinking of something specific that would work well in the missions to follow). If no such post arises till then then I'll pick biosteel next time I log on the game

 

Get the energy. Regenerative bio steel repairs so slowly that it is nearly worthless to keep your mech alive. A single SCV with the repair upgrade (which you should get because it is amazing) repairs like 8 times as fast, making it not just useful for keeping your mech at max hp, but also great at healing your mech in battle to save them, something the bio steel is completely useless at. Also, with the energy you actually get better mech repair anyway because the science vessel starts with +100 energy; that's 300 more hp worth of repair given to you for each science vessel you create.

 

I picked bio steel 10 minutes ago and saved the campaign >.< Damn had I logged into the forums a bit earlier, those were some good points there... Oh well...

Thanks for the tip though Will give cellular reactors a shot next time!

 

Regenerative biosteel all the way. Extra energy is nice but less micro in an already micro heavy level is nicer. While it does regen incredibly slowly it regens all the time just like the zerg so it will save quite a few units. Plus theres so freaking much going on in that last game that I personally could not use enough special abilities to make much of a diff and ended up relying on passive defenses out the yin yang.

 

Heck, I might as well say all my tech choices and why.

Ultra Capacitors vs Vanadium Plating
This one is a no brainer. Ultra Capacitors all the way because everyone knows that weapons upgrades are more effective than armor upgrades anyway, and they cost less. Also if you are looking to finish a mission fast, Ultra Capacitors help you far more with that.

Orbital Depot vs Micro-Filtering
Another no brainer. Micro-Filtering because they give you more resources, while the Orbital Depots are nothing more than a slight convenience.
EDIT: actually Orbital Depots do give you more resources as well, since SCV's can just plunk one down and then get back to the mineral line. But Micro-Filtering is still better because it gives you extra gas, which is generally more valuable than some extra minerals.

CC Reactor vs Automated Refinery
Yet another no brainer. Automated Refinery is far better because it saves you 3 SCV's per geyser, with 4 geysers that means 12 supply saved that can be used on army instead, whereas the reactor only really helps at the very start of missions.

Raven vs Science Vessel
The only protoss research option that really could go either way. I think Ravens are just a little more versatile and can be used in more strategies, while the science vessel is only really good when used in conjunction with a lot of mech and the cellular reactor research. But then again, the sci vessel is REALLY good when used with mech and the cellular reactor... so it's up to you.

Tech Reactor vs Orbital Strike
Both sound amazing, but really you have to go with Tech Reactor since it doubles every army structure you have, while the Orbital Strike only applies to barracks units. Also, after thinking about it, I really couldn't find a situation where the Orbital Strike would really help. The only situation is in Gates of Hell, you can drop a marine on each dominion force to "save" them and thus cheese your way to getting the hard achievement. But other than that, Tech Reactor is a far better choice.

Shrike Turret vs Fortified Bunker
Really could go either way. Both help bunkers a little bit, but I prefer the Fortified Bunker just because it fits the role of the bunker better, which is to shield the guys inside.

Planetary Fortress vs Perdition Turret
Tough choice. Both are similar in function as a ground splash defense. However the Perdition Turret costs only minerals and can't be hit by air (because they remain burrowed unless ground forces attack), while the Planetary Fortress has insane hit points. I slightly prefer the Perdition Turret because I think it's a little more versatile, and useful in more missions than just All In.

Predator vs Hercules
Both are actually mediocre units, but the Hercules is at least more useful as it does it's intended role well, while the Predator is pretty much a melee siege tank that sucks.

Cellular Reactor vs Regenerative Bio-Steel
As I said earlier in the thread, Cellular Reactor is useful in many more situations than the measly zerg-style regeneration for you mech and air units. The only time that the Bio-Steel is really good is in Ghost of a Chance; part three of that mission can be very difficult, but it becomes a lot easier if you are able to wait 2 minutes to regen your vikings and banshees to full.

Hive-Mind Emulator vs Psi Disruptor
Another tough choice. Both are amazing defenses for All-In, but because that mission is so hectic, I prefer the Psi Disruptor because you can just build it and forget it, whereas the mind control you have to constantly micro for the rest of the mission. Still, if you are the type that always micros units effectively, I can see the Hive-Mind Emulator being the better option.

 

I generally prefer armor upgrades on more cases than weapon upgrades, but on the campaign occasion that's almost never the case as weapon upgrades matter where armor does not: on defence(marines inside bunkers don't need armor and the same applies to siege tanks in siege mode, so yeah I agree that it's the most effective thing to do.

As for the reactor vs biosteel, I regret picking biosteel. I'm finding myself in many situations where I'm lacking energy whereas whenever I need regen it's generally possible to use an scv, and if it's not I can just call in a mule and have it do the repairs. On cloak missions though(wraith/banshee ones+anywhere you use units with energy esp vessels, reactors rock. I really regret not getting them.
As for ghost of a chance, that was like a casual mission, lol, if you make good use of dominate you don't have to use any other unit(I had all mine parked, except for lvl 3 where I used one banshee for scouting and line of sight on high ground)

As for fortress, hmmm... well there's 2 things with it: 1 it's freaking awsome, it can take a beating and kill loads of units and coupled with the ugrade that auto-repairs buildings and a couple of scvs it can fend off an army, the turrets cannot do that, but on the other hand you can place them anywhere and it only takes a few seconds while to set up a PF fast you NEED to have the multi-worker build upgrade. With that though it could be possible to become versatile enough to use more, but I certainly find uses for it on most missions.

As for micro filtering, I also take it always, but I've seen a guy go with the depots, and it seems like a good choice now that I think of it: Micro filtering will only give you the same amount of gas in the long run before the geyser gets depleted, so you only have access to the gas a little faster, whereas the instant depots will make your workers stay on the mineral line for longer as only 1 scv is enough to build a few and then go back to work. Thinking of trying that one on my next playthrough, now that I think of it it sounds like a good idea.

As for tech reactor and auto refinary, yeah those are quite the no-brainer as both are obviously so much better than the other choice.

On my first run through I picked the hive-mind emulators, but I didn't realise I had to use them myself, lol, and when I did i was on all-in and had build like 10 of them waiting for them to auto-mc mobs and when I realised I had to do it myself I thought, doh my apm sucks so much I can't macro enough and keep up with all the MCing

Oh well, my next run through will be on normal, for hurry up it's raid time, and it'll be around christmas, so I'm not worried about it yet. So far I got like 8-9 missions to go till I finish the brutal campaign and then I'll not bother with it for some time


Thanks a lot for the tips guys!

 

I prefer orbital depots. Lets me get ignore the hated "addition supply depos required" sound.

Hive-Mind Emulator was awesome for me in the last mission- I had an army of mind controlled Mutalisks, being healed by Medivacs to back up the rest of my force.