History YMMV / StarCraftIINovaCovertOps

** Super Stimpacks is a ridiculous early-campaign upgrade for Marines, Marauders, Reapers and Hellions. It gives the normal boost of a Stimpack, except it ''heals'' the user instead harm them, and can be set to autocast, making it way better than regular Stimpack with Medics (which Nova lacks).

* GameBreaker
** Nukes auto-construct at a Ghost Academy over 300 seconds (5 minutes) and for no resource or supply costs. Thus you can just build multiple Ghost Academies and let Nova call down a continuous rain of nuclear fire on the enemy, and her nukes only take five seconds to land so even if she's spotted, she'll probably live long enough to see it drop.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** The wrangler in the first cutscene tells Nova to test her cloak... without having any means of detecting her in the chamber. Really, he brought it on himself. Of course, he didn't expect Nova to [[spoiler:put up a warning message to herself before she's mind-wiped]], but seriously, a professional who doesn't prepare for any chance of things going awry? Yeah. Summed up nicely in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DHW_8PkfwE this take]] by [[WebAnimation/StarCrafts Carbot Animations.]]
--->'''Wrangler''': I cannot see you whether your cloaking device is working or not, as you have disappeared from my sight. Nova, can you confirm that it is working? Nova? Nova? I... did not bring detection, why I'm ill prepared--[[KilledMidSentence (neck snapped)]]
** Before that, the wrangler has Nova bound, but the binding for her arms is above her breasts, leaving her arms almost completely free. Then he takes his eyes off her for the next few minutes. Which is what allows [[spoiler:Nova to send a warning to herself]].
** As Nova closes in on the BigBad to kill them, they try to give her a NotSoDifferentRemark HannibalLecture, and claims that if Nova kills them, she'll be just like them. Except that Nova is a Ghost, a SuperSoldier who was trained to be an assassin, ''and'' she's fiercely loyal to the Dominion the BigBad was trying to overthrow. No surprise that Nova kills them without hesitation and spits "go to hell" as she does.

** As Nova closes in on the BigBad to kill them, they try to give her a NotSoDifferent HannibalLecture, and claims that if Nova kills them, she'll be just like them. Except that Nova is a Ghost, a SuperSoldier who was trained to be an assassin, ''and'' she's fiercely loyal to the Dominion the BigBad was trying to overthrow. No surprise that Nova kills them without hesitation and spits "go to hell" as she does.

-->'''Wrangler''': I cannot see you whether your cloaking device is working or not, as you have disappeared from my sight. Nova, can you confirm that it is working? Nova? Nova? I... did not bring detection, why I'm ill prepared--[[KilledMidSentence (neck snapped)]]

** BigBad [[spoiler:General Davis]] tries to give a HannibalLecture that if Nova kills them, she'll be no different from them. Except Nova, as a SuperSoldier whose job is ''[[ProfessionalKiller assassinating political opponents]]'', makes such decisions on a daily basis and has learned to live with that exact issue. Predictably, Nova promptly shoots (or whatever attack the player uses) her with a simple "Go to hell".

** BigBad [[spoiler:General Davis]] tries to give a HannibalLecture that if Nova kills them, she'll be no different from them. Except Nova, as a SuperSoldier whose job description is ''[[ProfessionalKiller assassinate political opponents]]'', makes such decisions on a daily basis and has learned to live with that exact issue. Predictably, Nova promptly shoots (or whatever attack the player uses) her with a simple "Go to hell".

** BigBad [[spoiler:General Davis]] tries to give a HannibalLecture that if Nova kills them, she'll be no different from them. They are telling this to a SuperSoldier ProfessionalKiller who has been ''assassinating political opponents as her job'' for years. Predictably, Nova promptly shoots (or whatever attack the player uses) them with a simple "Go to hell".

** BigBad [[spoiler:General Davis]] tries to give a HannibalLecture that if Nova kills [[spoiler:her]], she'll be no different from [[spoiler:her]]. [[spoiler:She]] is telling this to a SuperSoldier ProfessionalKiller who has been ''assassinating political opponents as her job'' for years. Predictably, Nova promptly shoots (or whatever attack the player uses) [[spoiler:her]] with a simple "Go to hell".

** The 10th Anniversary achievement "Curiosity Killed The Zergling" requires killing '''200''' units with Spider Mines in the second mission. Keep in mind this is a timed mission, your base only has four mineral nodes and one vespene geyser for Reaper production (essentially forcing you to steal Horner's geysers), and the units the Zerg send to attack don't make up to 200, forcing you to assault their bases (that replenish quickly and include most Zerg tech while you are limited to Nova, Marines, Marauders and Reapers) or maximize the efficiency of the side objective Nydus Worms (which eventually stop spawning units) to fill the achievement's quota.

* GoodBadBugs: The 10th Anniversary achievement "One Shot, One Opportunity" requires killing 50 units with a single Nuke. (Un)fortunately, the achievement was bugged in that it didn't consider which faction the killed units belonged to, allowing players to obtain the achievement ''[[RefugeInAudacity by nuking their own units]]''. This was fixed with Patch 5.0.3.

** Also the "Friendly Competition" mastery achievement that requires completing "Night Terrors" without killing any Tal'darim, not to mention that you have to protect several harvest machines that ''cannot be repaired''.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: [[spoiler: Valerian abdicating the throne.]] Many players see this as a tactic, and that he has a plan to turn the tables in the third pack. [[spoiler: Sure enough, it was just a trick to bait Davis into a position where he could have her arrested.]]

* ThatOneAchievement: "Catch Me If You Can" requires the player to finish the seventh mission ''in four minutes''. The player either needs a map or has to know the level layout by heart to know the fastest routes to take, and then you need a specific equipment loadout to take those routes efficiently while also needing to give Nova stimpacks for healing because she'll be too busy running around to the objectives to fight back. The result is a very tight time limit that allows little room for error as you make a mad dash through the level getting shot at from all angles hoping your stimpacks are enough to keep you alive.

** CaptainObviousReveal: TheReveal that [[spoiler:General Davis]] is the BigBad isn't too hard to figure out considering A) this character has never been mentioned before ''Covert Ops'', B) this character is the only major character in the mission pack other than Riegel (who is Nova's MissionControl and couldn't reasonably be coordinating the Defenders of Man under her nose), and C) in their every scene up to the reveal, the character has no relevance to the storyline prior to the reveal, so if they ''weren't'' the Big Bad then their scenes would be a waste of time.

** Also the "Friendly Competition" mastery achievement that requires completing "Night Terrors" without killing any Tal'darim(did i mention that you have to protect several harvest machines that cannot be repaired?).

** The first mission pack hinted the Defenders of Man were remnants of the Confederacy; they operate out of Tarsonis, have access to technologies reminiscent of the ''Deceptions'' map where pirates infiltrated a Confederate research station and hacked their systems, and in their plot to bring down the Dominion by [[spoiler:using psi emitters to spark Zerg invasions of Dominion planets, the same methods Arcturus used to overthrow them]]. This would have paid off numerous hints through the years that the Confederacy was still active and working against the Dominion, and provided a strong plot connection to Nova, who during the reign of the Confederacy was a member of their social elite. Instead, the Defenders of Man turn out to be [[spoiler:Dominion insurgents that are discontented with Valerian's rule and want to depose him, and Nova has no history with them beyond their tricking her into working for them.]]

** There's not even a mention of Gabriel Tosh, last seen in ''Heart of the Swarm'' on the bridge of the ''Hyperion''. Nova has to [[spoiler:acquire and consume terrazine]] to regain some of her lost memories, which would be a perfect opportunity to feature Tosh as just a hallucination or flashback, since terrazine is used to make Spectres and he had previously tried to recruit Nova as one.

* ThatOneLevel: The fifth mission, 'Night Terrors'. On the surface, it's basically a redo of 'Welcome to the Jungle' from ''[[StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty Wings Of Liberty]]'' (fighting a Protoss team for control of several terrazine deposits, first one to harvest five wins), except you also have to deal with a crap-load of Zerg entrenched around all of the terrazine deposits that you have to clear out and will also [[ZergRush swarm]] both your harvesting teams and your base simultaneously. You also have to deal with infested Siege Tanks and infested Banshees. Oh, and you can't reliably nuke in this level, because you risk damaging the harvesting machines.

** Ravens come with their usual Auto-Turret and Seeker Missile abilities, and also get a new ability, a Bio-Mechanical Repair Drone, which creates a mobile drone with timed life that will automatically heal biological and mechanical units. This makes the Raven an all-in-one Medivac and Science Vessel. Oh, and it can be equipped with Spider Mines that are cost for energy and throws out three mines. A flock of Ravens will help shore up base defenses against any enemy force and can help on the offensive too.
** Liberators. They're just as powerful as in melee, but here they're ridiculously powerful, as the campaign (as Terrans are wont to do) tends to focus on base defense while sending out Nova or small squadrons to secure checkpoints, and you're usually informed of when and from where attack waves are coming. Thus, a force of Liberators will almost always have time to get into position to target the spot the enemy will pass by. And for extra brokenness, they don't require a Tech Lab, letting you build them two at a time with a Reactor, and they can be installed with a cloaking module or a transformation module that lets them switch modes almost instantly.

* AngstWhatAngst: If you let Delta and Pierce get killed (or don't rescue them), Nova shakes it off with a "They didn't make it".
** Which can be really glaring if you were a fan of the comics and know what Nova and Delta's relationship is suppose to be like.

** The first mission sees you rescuing three other ghosts from Nova's crew; Stone, Theodore, and Delta. Saving the latter two is optional and they only make a cameo appearance later in the campaign, while Stone appears again just to [[spoiler:provide an obligatory boss battle in Davis' compound]]. Stone and Theodore don't even get unique portraits. This is particularly disappointing with Delta, as she was a recurring character in the ''Ghost'' graphic novels, so anyone who recognized her and got excited to see her will be let down.