Starcraft 2 Cutthroat Brutal and Achievements Guide

Starcraft 2 Campaign Walkthrough --> Cutthroat Brutal and Achievements Guide

In this Starcraft 2 Cutthroat Brutal guide, I will be revealing the best way to beat this mission on Brutal Mode as well as how you can unlock all the achievements!

Many players report difficulty with the Solitaire achievement, but I have found that I actually prefer to train no SCVs when beating this mission on Brutal Mode. This makes getting this achievement very easy!

The only achievement you have to go out of your way to earn is the Minesweeper achievement, but I have discovered a very simple way to unlock that achievement as well.

I will start with the Cutthroat Brutal guide and then go over the achievements.

Step-by-Step Starcraft 2 Cutthroat Brutal Guide

Beating this mission on Brutal Mode is the toughest part out of all the aspects of this mission. The hardest part is easily beating Orlan to the contract. Once you beat Orlan, the rest of this mission is very easy.

• As soon as the mission starts, set all of your SCVs to harvesting minerals.

• Do not train any SCVs - you will not need any additional ones. Do not build a refinery either as you will not need it.

• Have your Marines pick up the scraps around your base as well as the few north of your base.

• Add a Reactor to your Barracks and train a few Medics (if you bought the Medic upgrade - if not just grab a Tech Lab).

• As soon as you get the Vultures, use them to kill off the few Marines guarding the scrap area to the north.

• Lay down a few mines by the southern entrance to your base to protect it from attacks.

• As soon as you get your first few medics, attack the northern base. Micro your Marines so none of them die (or 1 max).

• Kill the northern Command Center, all of the SCVs, and pick up the scrap.

• Train about 5 Medics and get your total Marine count up until 10.

• Use your Marines and Medics to attack the southeastern base.

• Kill it off, grab all the scrap, then kill the southwestern base.

• With ~10 Marines with Stim and Medics, killing off all the bases is very easy.

• Your main base might get hit as you kill off the second base. Kill off the command center and then pull back to save your base.

• It will take the enemy player awhile to kill your base, so no worries if he snipes a building or two, as the mission is almost over.

• As soon as you kill the 3rd Command Center, the enemy's income drops to almost 0, at which point you can collect scraps at your leisure to hit the 6000 mineral requirement.

Not only is this strategy fairly easy to follow, but you also unlock the "Solitaire" Achievement at the same time. Now, to complete the mission, you can execute the following strategy:

• Once you have control of the mercenary base, start building up harvesting operations.

• Build a lot of SCVs are your new base, but also pick up a few SCVs at your old one.

• Use the Barracks in your old base to continue to pump out Marines and Medics. Leave them at this base to protect it from any attacks.

• At your new main base, move your Siege Tanks up to where your Bunkers are. This will provide enough defense for any attack.

• Train Marauders at your 2 new Barracks and mass Marines and Medics at your old Barracks.

• Keep training units until you hit 200/200 and then go in. Bring your 4 Goliath Mercenaries in to kill the Battlecruiser hero once you get to the main base.

• If you lose all your units, odds are you will have still nearly killed the entire enemy's base. Collect scraps from around the map (it respawns) and rebuild your army. You should have plenty of resources to build a second army should it come to that.

Starcraft 2 Cutthroat Video Walkthrough - Brutal

Here is a video guide showing you how to beat this mission at a decent speed on Brutal mode without air units:

Starcraft 2 Cutthroat Achievements

The two achievements you can unlock in this mission are Solitaire and Minesweeper.

Solitaire is unlocked by collecting 6,000 resources without training any SCVs. This is very easy and the strategy for that is mentioned above. All you need to do is get a small army of marines and medics and kill off the computer player and collect scraps as you go.

Minesweeper is unlocked by killing 25 enemy units with Vulture mines. This achievement is also extremely easy. Start a game off in Normal mode and train up a small army of Marines and Medics.

Next, kill off all 3 Command Centers, but be careful not to pick up too many scraps (keep your resource count at around 4,000). Once you do that, train a large group of Vultures (about 20) and lay down about 30 Spider Mines at each entrance to your base (especially the northern one).

Next, sit around and wait. The enemy will keep sending ground forces from the main hidden base which will just die to your Spider Mines. Before long, you will unlock this achievement.

Solitaire Achievement Video Guide

Here is a video demonstrating the strategy mentioned above for the Solitaire achievement:

Starcraft 2 Cutthroat Research Locations

There are 3 Protoss relics here that you can use for research, marked on the map below by the blue Protoss icon and big white square:

Starcraft 2 Cutthroat Brutal Guide Conclusion

Once again, Medics and Marines are the star player in another Terran mission. Mass them up, kill the enemy player quickly, and you can take as much time as you need to collect scraps and unlock achievements!