Starcraft + Linux + Touchscreen = New way of playing games

[source: gadgetroad.com]

Aren’t you tired of gaming in the same fashion, pointing the mouse, keeping your left hand on WASD combination and looking concentrated at the screen. Wouldn’t it be nice to control everything in a more natural way? Well, what do you say about Starcraft on a touchscreen monitor. The next video shows how it can be done in Linux. Pretty amazing. I hope someone tries to bring this idea to masses.

Read full article: Starcraft + Linux + Touchscreen = New way of playing games

Top 5 differences between Starcraft 2 and Warcraft 3

Gamespot has a detailed interview with Blizzard’s top creative talent, including Rob Pardo.

Here’s some of the key points that have surfaced about Starcraft 2 gameplay:

[source: maxfreak.com]

1. Quantity vs. Quality

As opposed to Warcraft III where the player controls a few units with many different special abilities, Starcraft 2 will be a numbers game, says Pardo:

Starcraft 2 [units] will instead act as “movers and shooters”–mostly autonomous forces that generally lack special abilities, but will instead be used in large control groups to “do their own thing” in battle, rather than requiring the micromanagement of high-level Warcraft III play.

2. More emphasis on economic activity

Another comparison to Warcraft III which had relatively little emphasis on the economy, so players can focus on battles instead. Starcraft 2 will have its pronounced emphasis on bases and expansions as a means of achieving victory.

3. Rushing - strongly encouraged

Unlike Warcraft which introduced neutral creeps to keep the players occupied, Starcraft 2 will put more emphasis on rushing. Engaging the enemy early and keeping him occupied will distinguish good players from mediocre ones. Which leads us to…

4. The good, the bad, and the GOSU

According to Pardo, Warcraft III was more forgiving to beginners (and lamers!). In Starcraft 2, the gap in the level will be a lot more evident. Pro players will be able to mow down their opponents in record time by way of builds, multitasking, and quick expansions:

Starcraft 2 … will appeal to hardcore fans by being geared toward “highly competitive, skill-based gameplay,” as well as by efforts to “continue to drive new features onto Battle.net”.

5. Beyond rock-paper-scissors

Starcraft 2 units will introduce more and more subtle ways to counter the opponent’s strategy. The key to good counters will be timing, maneuverability, and position (there’s a brand new implementation of higher ground - more damage, fog of war).

The protoss phoenix, a flying unit, has a special “overload” ability that creates a damaging energy field around itself, then renders it immobile and helpless shortly afterward. In a simulated battle between a player with six phoenix units and another player with only four, the player with six phoenixes apparently chokes and uses the overload ability too early, allowing the other player to dodge out of harm’s way, then arrange the four phoenixes around the now immobile six in a loose formation and overload the six into oblivion.

Read full article: Top 5 differences between Starcraft 2 and Warcraft 3

StarCraft 2's Gameplay Balance

The evolution of Blizzard's RTS mechanics.

[source: ign.com]

There sure are a lot of panel discussions at Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational 2007 in Seoul, South Korea, and they're all focused on StarCraft 2. In fact there's so much buzz about StarCraft 2 you may forget the traditional focus of this event, mainly the high-intensity professional StarCraft and WarCraft 3 tournaments. This time the panel's focus was specifically on gameplay elements, and featured Vice President of Game Design Rob Pardo, Senior Game Designer Dustin Browder, and Creative Director Andy Chambers.

Pardo kicked things off by tracing Blizzard's RTS history. WarCraft II was the root of Blizzard's competitive RTS game experience, as it was one of the earliest to go online. When StarCraft came out, it was the first that Blizzard did to feature three truly asymmetrical factions. Then it was WarCraft III's turn, which Pardo explained as a drastic departure from the gameplay underlying StarCraft. It slowed the pace of gameplay, focused battles on smaller numbers of units, introduced more RPG elements, powerful heroes, and more micro-management of unit abilities.

With StarCraft 2, "we're really going back to our roots," says Pardo. By this he means the sequel will be more StarCraft, more focused on fast-paced gameplay and lesser amounts of micromanagement, rather than an evolution of the WarCraft 3 formula. There won't, for instance, be anything approximating WarCraft 3's "creeping," whereby players hacked away at NPCs on the map to increase hero experience levels and acquire items. Unit abilities in StarCraft 2 are largely automated, and there will still be a focus on proper resource management, at least to a greater extent than in WarCraft 3.



One of Blizzard's primary design goals with StarCraft 2 was to cater to professional gamers' demands. "A lot of the concepts we put into the unit design [in StarCraft 2] is so there's skill differentiation," says Pardo. By this he means that truly skilled players will be able to absolutely crush those of lesser ability. This differs from WarCraft 3, says Pardo, in that skill level had a lesser impact on the game's outcome, or at the very least prolonged games featuring players of widely varying skill levels.

Though few details are available at this point, Pardo says Blizzard is aiming to, "provide a great solo experience." He continued with, "We're really going to focus in on the story; we have a lot of new ideas for how the campaign unfolds." Andy Chambers filled us in a little more during the question and answer session by saying Mengst's Terran Dominion would act as the main Terran force, "Raynor's been having some adventures," and the Xel'naga will have, "a rather epic tale for StarCraft 2." He went on to say, "A lot of those plot elements [in Brood Wars] get played out to their fullest extend in SC2" says Andy Chambers. The interesting point is the implications of the final secret mission in Brood Wars and the mention of a Protoss-Zerg hybrid race. Note that there will only be three playable races in StarCraft 2, the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg, and the storyline takes place four years after the original.

Pardo highlighted a number of bullet points for design goals in the new game, mainly speed, saying the longest a StarCraft 2 match should take is around 20 minutes. Blizzard is emphasizing each races significantly different play styles, though they won't yet reveal how the Terran and Zerg can hope to counter the impressively powerful abilities of the Protoss' Mothership. Specific attention was paid to low-level tech tree abilities, as Pardo explained Blizzard has taken steps to expand the available options and make early-game mechanics more varied.



One small gameplay difference revealed during the panel was how unit positioning is affected by the fog of war. Now when one unit attacks another from higher ground, the fog of war surrounding the higher unit is no longer automatically revealed, meaning the unit at the lower position can't return fire. Obviously this makes having high ground positioning much more valuable. It affects mechanics for new units like the Protoss Stalker, who can blink forward and traverse differences in terrain height. They can't, however, hop up to a higher ledge if the fog of war at their destination has yet to be revealed. This can be rectified by flying in an air unit to push back the fog a bit, letting the units to blink up to the ledge and assault whatever lies beyond - an excellent tactic for surprise attacks. The Stalker blink ability is also useful for kiting enemies, which was demonstrated with a group of them blinking around zealots and blowing them to bits.

Dustin Browder explained a few more unit specifics. He again explained the Protoss Immortal's ability to put up near-impenetrable shields when under heavy fire, such as that from siege tanks, yet being vulnerable to weak attacks that won't activate their shields. The Immortal is designed to be a slow moving unit, so they're not skilled at escaping an attack. Though they possess heavy armor, their maneuverability is a severely limiting factor when fighting Zealots, Marines, or Zerglings.

Explained again were the mechanics of the Protoss Pheonix, which can perform an overload attack to shoot out multiple energy blasts. After the attack the unit is rendered inert for a short while, meaning careful implementation of the overload is required. Finally he demonstrated an advanced use of the Protoss' warping ability, which can be done within phase fields surrounding Pylons or the new Phase Prisms. He warped a few Zealots to cut off an enemy's advance into his base, trapping the invaders between the units and a structure. He followed up by warping in Stalkers to pepper the enemy with laser fire from behind a barrier row of Pylons.

There was no date announced for the eventual StarCraft 2 beta, but Pardo said they'll eventually take applications for play and accept a certain percentage. A number of professional StarCraft gamers will also be specifically invited. In response to a question from the audience, Browder noted, "we have no plans at this time for naval combat." Yes, naval combat in space…

We'll have more as soon as we can.

Read full article: StarCraft 2's Gameplay Balance

Why You Should Be Excited for Starcraft 2

"What I’m presenting to you now are several reasons you should, in fact, be excited for Starcraft II."

[source: critical-hits.com]

If you look through the limited information that is on the game’s website, you begin to get a glimpse of what is behind the curtains. At this point they’ve revealed a very small amount of the Protoss’ new units each with great descriptions and backgrounds as to how they’ve been changed since the original game. Here’s where you find one of the first cool additions to the franchise, toward the end of the page for the returning basic units the Zealots:

Some Zealots have even developed the ability to turn their body into pure energy for a few microseconds. This allows them to move at lightning fast speeds and strike suddenly against an enemy that thinks they are out of range.

Zealots used to be a very tough and effective melee unit, and once mid/late game hit they could be upgraded to become an extremely fast tough/effective melee unit. Now, what we see is that they are focusing in on this idea and giving the unit a special ability which functions in a more direct and circumstancial way then simply an overall speed boost. Instead of being fast all the time, they are now fast when in a charging situation, which causes you to put much more consideration into how you use the unit in combination with others.

As you continue through the page, you come to the unit that is replacing Dragoons (I assume) as the protoss’ primary ranged unit, they are now aptly called Immortals. At the very beginning of the history for this unit I stumbled upon a very intriguing tid-bit:

The sacred shrine that was dedicated to the creation of the dragoons was infested by the zerg and lost along with the protoss homeworld itself.

There you have it, Blizzard is basically smacking you in the face with a not-so-subtle hint that the Zerg are changing in just as many ways as the Protoss. They’ll have some amount of access to infested Protoss units, possibly only as Dragoons but maybe more? This prospect in itself is very exciting, as the Zerg becomes more of a amalgam type race and begins to use their enemy’s units and strategies against them. Furthermore, the Immortal unit illustrates how Blizzard is changing the basic workings of the game. In the first Starcraft each unit had a certain type of armor and a certain type of attack, and some attacks did more/less damage to different units depending on what type of armor they had. This was amazing, and could be used quite effectively to turn the tide of an entire game, the biggest problem was one of the few places you ever really read about it was in the game’s manual or from a player who knew all of it and could explain it to you. The use of different types of attacks against different units was not intuitive within the game, it required something outside of the game to let the player know how effective it was. These new units, Immortals, have shields that activate and surround the unit preventing a large portion of damage ONLY when they are struck by very strong/heavy attacks. Light munitions and weapons go through this shield and do a lot more damage to the unit, and so there is very obvious and clear attention being paid to unit/weapon/armor choices as the player fields their army strategically across the battlefield.

There does not seem to be much beyond the obvious coolness of the Protoss having access to Dark Templar Dragoons, called Stalkers. They can blink, which is a clear development from Warcraft 3, and I have to admit I’m happy to see it here also. Next we come to a new Protoss ship, the Phase Prism, which has the ability to transform into a temporary/portable Pylon and spread power to distant parts of the map. This allows the Protoss to not only return power to disabled buildings, but also to expand quickly and easily. In combination with the new Gateway ability to transform into a Warp Gate, which allows the player to build (actually, teleport) new Protoss units to any part of the map that their power grid extends to, and you can see that they are focusing the Protoss race on being just as strong, elite, and high-quality for high-cost as they were in the first game but also combine it with unique methods of mobility and speed. They will be able to fast expand, and quickly reinforce these locations with various types of units.

The last big reason that you should be excited about this game can be seen in the Gameplay trailer, which if you have not seen is 20 minutes of excellent footage that reveals even more Protoss units than the website shows. One of these is called the Colossus, which is a very War of the Worlds-esque giant walker with fire beams. The most interesting aspect of this unit is the introduction of the ability to walk between low/high ground without being a flier. In the original game, ground units had to either find a ramp or air-transport to get from one-level to another and no units could travel between the levels freely. Now we see the introduction of an additional layer of complexity, as you get Air Units vs. Ground Units, and Small Ground Units vs. Large Ground Units. You spend a lot of time placing your siege tanks up on that cliff to take out that ‘Toss expansion, only to find he has a handful of Colossus’ waiting to stroll on up there and take them out at a close range? Nothing like this happened in the original game.

To me, this displays outsanding potential for greatness in this game. With the announcement of only 6 units for one of the three known armies, we have a healthy list of new features that change the ways the fundamental game works, while still retaining the feeling of large armies fighting one another on futuristics worlds. Think how much can change with all of the new units for all of the races and potentially a new race on top of that? Get that bitter taste out of your mouth and look at what’s new that’s being shown to you, and above all else ask yourself: How different do you want this game to really be? Do you want it to be as different as Dawn of War was to Starcraft? Or do you want it to look, play, sound, and FEEL the same as Starcraft, but be something new at the same time?

Read full article: Why You Should Be Excited for Starcraft 2

Dota abilities already in SC2

Some guys from DotA Allstars community simply can't explain themselves that their favorite Wacraft III map is not the center of the world...

[source: forums.dota-allstars.com]

If you downloaded the gameplay video of Starcraft 2, you may have noticed.

At 14:45 the Protoss Mothership activates an ability called Time Bomb, which is very similar to Darkterror's Cronosphere, except that it stops projectiles too. It's also a big blue ball, with better graphics, of course.

At 16:45, this same Protoss unit creates a Black Hole, sucking air units inside it. Enigma FTW?

That means at least two things.

1. Blizzard never supported DotA (other than mentioning it as one between thousands of custom maps on their mods site), BUT they kept an eye close and now are using its ideas on their new project.


2. We gonna have a lot of pre-made DotA abilities on SC2, making it easier to migrate, if at some point the crew decides to.

Now, don't be surprised if you see a new robot called Pud-G hooking... I mean... pulling units with a laser beam and dismembering them with his mechanic arms.

Read full article: Dota abilities already in SC2

Blizzard outlines Starcraft II gameplay

Studio's top creative talent discusses Starcraft II gameplay details at a Worldwide Invitational panel discussion.

[source: gamespot.com]

Believe it or not, even though the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2007 event is home to music concerts and some of the biggest game tournaments in the world, one of the most intriguing activities is actually sitting quietly in a theater. Three of Blizzard's top creative talents--creative director Andy Chambers, senior game designer Dustin Browder, and vice president of game design Rob Pardo--sat on a panel to discuss gameplay details for the company's newly announced sequel, Starcraft II.

Pardo began the discussion by revisiting several of the studio's previous games, going back as far as Warcraft II, which the vice president cited as the first Blizzard game to garner a significant following as a competitive multiplayer game. Pardo explained that the original Starcraft arose from the team's desire to create a fast-paced real-time strategy game like Warcraft II, but in a different universe, then described how Blizzard's subsequent RTS project, 2002's Warcraft III, took a very different approach by offering slower-paced gameplay with smaller armies, hero units, and many units with activatable abilities to appeal to "the average gamer." Pardo suggested that the units in both the original Starcraft and in the sequel will instead act as "movers and shooters"--mostly autonomous forces that generally lack special abilties but will be used in large control groups to "do their own thing" in battle, rather than requiring the micromanagement of high-level Warcraft III play.

Pardo continued to contrast Warcraft III against Starcraft II, explaining that Warcraft III had less of an emphasis on economic buildup to allow more focus on battles. The 2002 game, suggested the VP, also was much less about early-game victories. While that game did introduce "creeps"--neutral creatures that could be fought to gain experience points for your hero units--early armies in Warcraft III were generally capable of only harrassing your enemies, not defeating them outright. Pardo suggested that "with Starcraft II, [Blizzard is] really going back to its roots to make a true sequel to Starcraft"--a sequel where resource management will be much more central to gameplay, with less micromanagement of different units with special abilities, and in which full-on early-game "rushing" (making an all-out assault at or near the beginning of a new game session) will be much more viable.

In fact, the VP went on to state that the game will probably offer more early "tech tree" options--different development paths players can take by building different structures and researching different upgrades--which will make early-game scouting more important, and will make early-game rushing a more diverse, deeper strategy.

Pardo also suggested that Warcraft III might have been a more forgiving game for beginners--differences in skill levels seemed less pronounced in that game. The VP said that in Starcraft II, there will be many more nuances that will separate highly skilled players from beginners, and good players from great ones. So in contrast to the sometimes-protracted matches of Warcraft III, Pardo expects the average Starcraft II multiplayer match to last about 20 minutes of real time, possibly even as little as 15 minutes when played by the pros. Pardo pointed out that there will be numerous subtleties added to the game that expert players will learn to use to their advantage, such as a revamped "high ground" system. In the previous Starcraft, ground units that had a height advantage by standing on high ground gained attack bonuses, but would also reveal themselves when attacking. In the sequel, units with high ground will still gain the attack bonuses but will remain concealed by the "fog of war" (the black shroud that covers unexplored areas)--a fact that can be used together with other line-of-signt nuances to your advantage.

Pardo ended his part of the talk by emphasizing that Blizzard remains committed to making the three factions distinct, and to making Starcraft II's gameplay true to the original game, but also different and new. For instance, the VP cited the new Protoss units and abilities that have been shown, such as the ability to "warp-in" to different locations, and the powerful mothership unit. Pardo said Blizzard could have also attempted to create a "Terran version" and a "Zerg version" of these new units and abilities, but the team did not. It is instead looking to balance the factions against one another while keeping them distinct.

Pardo suggested that Starcraft II will, like the original game, be a game about "hard counters"--how certain units can be directly "countered" (defeated decisively) by specific counterunits. As an example, Pardo showed a brief demonstration of Protoss templar units, which are the counterunit to zerglings, annihilating a swarm of the tiny Zerg infantry with their "psi storm" ability. Said Pardo: "Yes, [Starcraft II] will stil be fast-paced and have 'multitasking' for resources and combat, but it'll be a very different game."

The floor was then given to game designer Dustin Browder, who used his time to cite specific examples of different units in play. To begin with, Browder showed a demonstration of the Protoss stalker, a ground-based unit that can attack both air and ground enemies and isn't all that tough, but can "blink" (warp in and out) to any location to which they have line of sight. The obvious uses of this handy ability include pursuing fleeing units by constantly "blinking in" in front of them, but they can also apparently be used as powerful base raiders.

In addition, extremely skilled players will be able to defeat slower-moving melee enemies with stalkers by sticking and moving, repeatedly blinking in and out of range. The designer showed a demonstration of stalkers up against a group of Protoss zealots, somewhat slow melee units that simply weren't able to close in for a hit as the stalkers kept blinking away and firing constantly, eventually winning the battle.

Browder showed how the new units and new abilties for existing units will help diversify gameplay and work within the counterunit system. For instance, the Protoss immortal, a ground-based tank unit, is extremely tough, but slow. It can therefore be countered by quick-thinking players with enough resources to build up counterunits, and therefore is also unable to effectively flee from a losing battle. However, it does possess a powerful energy shield that is triggered only from heavy-duty fire. This makes the immortal a natural counterunit for the Terran siege tank, whose powerful cannons can't do much against the immortal's energy shield. However, the slow-moving immortals themselves can be easily countered by a large swarm of zerglings, which don't deal enough damage to trigger the immortals' shields, and are too quick for the tank to outrun.

Browder then showed an additional example of the kind of subtleties that will separate skilled players from unskilled players. The Protoss phoenix, a flying unit, has a special "overload" ability that creates a damaging energy field around itself, then renders it immobile and helpless shortly afterward. Browder showed a simulated battle between a player with six phoenix units and another player with only four. The player with six phoenixes choked and used the overload ability too early, allowing the other player to dodge out of harm's way; then the player arranged the four phoenixes around the now-immobile six in a loose formation and overloaded the six into oblivion, which suggests that sheer numbers won't always prevail in the face of high-level skill in Starcraft II.

Browder then showed a demonstration of Protoss warp-in technology, which can be used to mount a powerful surprise offense by summoning a large army seemingly out of nowhere. However, the same tech can apparently be used for base defense; the designer showed how an early zergling raid on a Protoss base went sour as the tiny Zerg suddenly found themselves boxed in between Protoss buildings and a small contingent of melee-attacking zealots, with immortal tanks lobbing fire from a distance. The designer closed by stating that the team's goals are to "recapture the magic of the original Starcraft, which was a wonderful, wonderful game," and to "make Starcraft II about these three unique races by generating new tactics and strategies."

The panel then took questions, which revealed some intriguing new details about the sequel. An audience question about future beta plans prompted Pardo to state that Starcraft II will likely have a "closed beta by invitation, similar to [Blizzard's] other products--though this time, [Blizzard] will also enlist the help of pro players to help test for balance."

When asked about the status of the Terrans (who were decimated at the end of the Brood War expansion pack for the original Starcraft), creative designer Andy Chambers explained that "the UED terran forces were destroyed by Kerrigan's Zerg armies (though a few surviving companies may still be around somewhere)," and that the Terran faction in Starcraft II will primarily consist of the "evil empire" of the Terran Dominion. When asked about the status of lead character Jim Raynor, Chambers replied that since Starcraft II takes place four years after Brood War, "Raynor has been having some adventures for sure," but he declined to comment further.

Chambers also suggested that the ancient Xel'Naga, which helped both the Protoss and Zerg races become what they are (but were later destroyed by the Zerg) will also figure into Starcraft II's story "in a rather epic tale." To cap the presentation, Browder fielded a final question that may come as a relief to some players: There are "no plans at this time for naval combat in Starcraft II."

Read full article: Blizzard outlines Starcraft II gameplay

Zerg

[source: wikipedia.org]

The Zerg are a vaguely insectoid race in the StarCraft universe. The Zerg are separated into a number of broods that are named after monstrous mythological beasts, almost always from Norse mythology. Each brood serves a specific purpose and is controlled by a Cerebrate that is physically incapable of disobeying the Overmind who rules over the Zerg as the leader of the Swarm.
Due to the Zerg's unique use of overwhelming numbers of relatively weak units, rather than smaller numbers of stronger units, the term "to Zerg", (verb) "Zerg Rush" or "Zerging" is the act of using mass numbers to achieve an objective. Furthering this usage of "zerg" is a tactic used by players controlling the Zerg race. Players controlling the Zerg race are able to create massive numbers of "Zerglings", the initial offensive unit, far quicker than most players of other races can produce enough units to counter the "Zergling Rush". It has become widely accepted in a variety of other games, including Planetside, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft, Dark Age of Camelot, World War II Online and other multiplayer games.

Gameplay

The Zerg are played far differently than the Terran or Protoss in StarCraft. Instead of workers constructing buildings (the Terran's method of construction) or the workers warping them in (the Protoss's method of construction), the Zerg gatherer, the Drone, morphs into the soon-to-be structure and it constructs (or perhaps more accurately, grows) the building over a short period of time. The Drone is lost in the process which is unique among the races in the StarCraft universe. When the Zerg need more "control" in order to create more units, they build an Overlord, a unit, instead of a building. In order to build units, a Zerg player must go to a Hatchery controlled by him or her and select a Larva and change into a certain type of unit. After picking the unit to transform into and paying the corresponding amount of resources, the Larva changes into an egg in which, after a short time, the new unit will hatch for service in the Swarm. The Zerg's most popular military strategy is to build far more units than your opponent and overwhelm the enemy with large numbers of weaker units, instead of smaller numbers of stronger units.

History

The history of the Zerg in the StarCraft universe began when the ancestral Zerg species was discovered on the irradiated, unstable planet of Zerus, by the ancient and mysterious Xel'Naga civilization, shortly after they had abandoned the Protoss on Aiur as a failure. The ancestral Zerg organisms were small and weak larva-like creatures, but they contained the purity of essence sought by the Xel'Naga race, being capable of surviving and thriving in a staggering variety of environmental conditions.
With the help of Xel'Naga's gifts of proto-genetic manipulations, the Zerg survived the horrendous firestorms of their world and thrived. As the Xel'Naga pushed their development, they eventually began to develop the ability to burrow into the spinal columns of some stronger creatures on Zerus, parasitically merging with their nervous systems. These new bodies would then be used to manipulate their surroundings as the old bodies once did. The Zerg began to assimilate the genetic strains and processes of these host animals. However, as the Zerg had an undeviating drive to consume only the most advanced species they encountered, they eradicated lesser, weaker species. The Xel'Naga were surprised to find how quickly the Zerg could steer the evolution of their host creatures. Some of the things the Zerg developed in their hosts were armor-piercing spines, razor-sharp limbs, acid attacks, upgrades, and ultra-dense carapaces within only a few generations of controlling new species.
Wary of the chaotic infighting that had enveloped the Protoss, the Xel'Naga created the Overmind, an enormous brain-like entity, to bring order to the Zerg. At first it was only a semi-sentient entity created from the instincts and collective sentience of the Zerg, but it quickly evolved.
The Overmind did not directly communicate orders to its minions. As new species were added to the Swarm, it began to relay orders through Cerebrates, giant versions of the Zerg larvae acting as subordinates to it. Orders were relayed through Overlords, which were then given queens to allow for the Zerg to operate in the most efficient manner possible.

Expansion

The Overmind began to think of its future. In order to continue finding new species to assimilate, it needed to leave Zerus and travel to new worlds. Extending its senses into space, it discovered enormous space-faring organisms. It lured them to Zerus with its psychic abilities and assimilated them into the Swarm as the Zerus races had been. Soon all the Zerg had the ability to travel between worlds with reinforced carapaces to counter the vacuum of space. The Xel'Naga considered this a triumph. The Zerg had not only overcome their weaknesses, but had also retained the purity of their terrible overriding essence.
The Overmind extended itself further into space, becoming aware of the Xel'Naga Worldships in orbit above Zerus. The Overmind then had its psionic link with the Xel'Naga severed — the Overmind effectively hid itself from their view.
The Overmind sent its minions into space, attacking the unsuspecting Xel'Naga. The hapless Xel'Naga tried to pull away from the planet. Despite the ancient race's best efforts, it was overwhelmed as the Zerg crashed into the hulls of its ships, destroying them. Within a few hours the Zerg had laid waste to the Xel'Naga fleet. The greater whole of the Xel'Naga was consumed by the raging, genetic whirlwind of the Zerg, and the Overmind gained their knowledge and insights. Processing thousands of sentient beings into itself caused the Overmind to grow much more powerful. It learned the secrets of the sacred Khaydarin Crystals, and began to incorporate the energies of these Crystals into its own. Through the knowledge gained from the Xel'Naga, the Overmind was able to increase the level of sentience in many of the higher Zerg strains, while still keeping them fully under its control, ironically helping to achieve the goal of the Xel'Naga that it destroyed.
The Overmind dissected the memories of the Xel'Naga experiments with the Protoss, learning of the failure, success, and the great benefit in assimilating such powerful race. The Zerg then devoted their energies to seeking out the powerful Protoss in the hope of absorbing them into the Swarm, uniting purity of form and of essence to create amazing possiblities for development and evolution of the Zerg.

The Determinant

The Zerg did not know the exact location of Aiur, homeworld of the Protoss, but they were able to travel towards it, adding new species (such as the Mutalisk, Hydralisk, Lurker, and Zergling) to the Swarm from various planetary genepools along the way. However, the Overmind despaired; how could it defeat the Protoss with their powerful psionic abilities, when its own were so limited? This question was soon to be answered.

In the shadow of the Protoss lay the Koprulu Sector, a patch of space inhabited by the Terrans. This species had been discovered by Zerg deep space probes. Normally the Zerg would not be interested in such a weak species, but they exhibited a powerful psionic potential. Their probes discovered Terran living on over a dozen worlds.
The Zerg slowly made their way towards the Terran worlds, infesting multiple planets and slowly evolving due to exposure to raw vespene gas. The journey lasted for sixty years, but eventually the massive, extended Zerg Swarm reached the outskirts of the Koprulu Sector. According to StarCraft: Uprising, the Zerg infested a number of Fringe Worlds upon their arrival. The Overmind first subtly infested the surface of the Terran Confederacy colony of Chau Sara with Hive Spores. Then it sent its minions down to the surface to infest the Terran themselves. The Terran were defeated and largely enslaved or killed.
The Zerg were surprised at the Terran response, and were defeated by a sudden attack by the Protoss, led by Executor Tassadar. The Overmind told its minions not to fight back, in order to observe Protoss attacking for the first time. The attack sterilized all life on the surface of Chau Sara, effectively ending the Zerg infestation.
The Terrans did not warn their compatriots on other worlds, enabling the Zerg to infest Mar Sara virtually unopposed. It is at this point that the StarCraft game begins.

New Units

As with the Terran and Protoss, the Zerg gains new units in StarCraft: Brood War.

• Lurker- Evolved from the Hydralisk, the Lurker is a large insectoid creature that attacks with a row of subterranian spikes, causing linear splash damage. Two unique features about Lurkers are that they have the burrowing ability without the player needing to research it first, and that they attack from underground, making them a very ideal as a ground-based defensive unit.


• Devourer- Available as a secondary evolution for the Mutalisk (the other being the Guardian), Devourers are air-to-air units that attack with acid spores. Though slow-firing, the acid spores cause targets to take more damage and have a slower fire rate. Acid spores can also be "stacked", with a single enemy unit having up to as many as nine spores.

Plot advancement in StarCraft

As Episode I begins, The Zerg have infested Mar Sara and are killing the native Terrans. They conquer the planet, but the Protoss fleet under the Executor, Tassadar, destroyed all life on it. Though the Zerg were used by the Confederacy to attack disloyal worlds, the Sons of Korhal turned it against them by using Psi Emitters to attack the Confederate capital world of Tarsonis itself. During the attack, they take Sarah Kerrigan to infest her and turn her into Infested Kerrigan. This ends the Zerg participation in I.
In Episode II, the Zerg take the Crysalis that holds Infested Kerrigan to the planet Char where it hatches. After this, the Zerg destroy most of Tassadar's forces and invade the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. After taking Xel'Naga crystals and gaining a strong foothold on the planet, Episode II ends.
In the final part of StarCraft, Episode III, the Zerg begin to lose ground. They are halted in their advance and have Tassadar and the Dark Templar escape their custody on Char. After this, two of their Cerebrates are killed and next, the Overmind itself. With the death of the Overmind, Episode III and StarCraft completes itself and goes on to StarCraft: Brood War.

Plot advancement in StarCraft: Brood War

The Zerg were originally controlled by the Overmind, who was destroyed by the Protoss, Tassadar (at the cost of his own life) at the end of StarCraft Episode III.
By Episode IV, it was revealed that the Zerg had formed a new, young Overmind on Char, the adopted Zerg homeworld, but it was captured by the United Earth Directorate in Episode V. In Episode VI, the final act to date, Infested Kerrigan, the self-claimed Queen of Blades, a former Terran Ghost telepath soldier who had been infested (transformed) into a Zerg/Terran Hybrid, had the second Overmind killed and claimed leadership over the entire Zerg Swarm.
With the Terran Dominion decimated, the expeditionary fleet of the United Earth Directorate destroyed, the Protoss home world Aiur conquered by the Zerg with the survivors fleeing to Shakuras, and every Zerg under Infested Kerrigan's command, the Zerg currently stand as masters of the StarCraft universe.

Zerg Control

All Zerg are directly subject to the will of the Overmind. In fact, it is a biological impossibility for them to oppose its directives. Only Cerebrates, Infested Kerrigan, and possibly Overlords and Queens, have sentience, and control individual armies (called Broods), using Overlords as lieutenants to directly control the warriors and workers. The lesser Zerg minions are wholly dependent upon the Cerebrates and the Overlords for order. Should a Cerebrate die, its brood may run amok; the animalistic natures of individual Zerg emerge. When an Overlord dies, a Zerg player loses control points and must create more Overlords to replace the loss. Without these control points, additional Zerg units cannot be built until existing units die or more Overlords are created. Even Zerg buildings are living organisms and aren't built but grown. They act as organs in the body of the Zerg Hive Cluster.
Though Zerg are incapable of disobeying their masters, their masters can change. When the Overmind died, the Cerebrates had freedom to do as they please. Though the Cerebrates themselves chose to remain loyal to Daggoth, Infested Kerrigan did not and fought with the Cerebrates for control over the Zerg. However, the minions under each Cerebrate were completely loyal to it and followed all orders even to fight another Zerg.
Zerg's broods are mostly named after Norse mythological monsters (Jormungand, Garm, Surtur, etc.). However, at least two broods have been named from another source. The Leviathan Brood was named after the Leviathan, a Hebrew mythological sea monster and the Grendel Brood was named after Grendel, the evil monster in the epic poem, Beowolf.

Comparison of Zerg to Other Fictional Species

The Zerg share many characteristics to many species in science fiction novels or other computer games. The Zergs' design is most likely based on Tyranids in the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000 which has been around since 1987. They bear strong resemblances in physical form, intelligence, hostility, and hierarchical authority, with the xenomorphs from the Alien film series. They share many characteristics with the Borg of Star Trek in that they roam the galaxy assimilating species they encounter into themselves. Lastly they share a hive mind ruled by the Overmind, much like the Borg Queen, as well as the Formics from Ender's Game.

Read full article: Zerg

Official Gameplay Video

A 20 minutes video showing off several new units and abilities featured in the upcoming StarCraft sequel... Must watch!™

[source: StarCraft 2 Movies]

GAMEPLAY VIDEO (1280 x 768)

# Date added: 5.20.07
# Format: DivX
# Requires: DivX for PC or DivX for Mac
# Size: 449mb
# Download:

GAMEPLAY VIDEO (720 x 404)

# Date added: 5.20.07
# Format: DivX
# Requires: DivX for PC or DivX for Mac
# Size: 268mb
# Download:

Read full article: Official Gameplay Video

Terran

[source: wikipedia.org]

The Terrans are the name given to the human colonists in the StarCraft universe used to distinguish them from the humans of Earth. They have a genetic history of psionic power, but are generations away from reaching this full potential. Most have no psionic powers. The Terrans have found themselves in the middle of a war between the Protoss and the Zerg, and have struggled to survive amidst the war while also dealing with civil wars. However, some seem to also have made alliances with the Protoss.


Prelude

The ancestors of the Terrans travelled to the Koprulu Sector as a result of a botched colonization experiment conducted by Doran Routhe. They consisted of political prisoners scheduled for termination by the United Powers League, but were instead placed onboard four faster-than-light spacecraft and sent to the world of Gantris IV, but ended up across the galaxy.
They settled three colony worlds: Tarsonis, Moria and Umoja. Eventually the three colonies developed subwarp and warp travel, went to war, and expanded to incorporate multiple worlds. The colonists of Tarsonis formed the Terran Confederacy, which became the most powerful Terran government in the Koprulu Sector.
Ahead of the initial campaign there is a prelude-campaign which outlines the Confederacy stamping out a Korhal-initiated rebellion and the discovery of their research specimens, the Zerg on the planet of Chau Sara.
However, the Zerg still manage to break loose and spread to surrounding Confederate colonies. Marshall James Raynor (known as 'Jim Raynor' to friends) takes up fight with them on his home planet of Mar Sara, but needs the support of the Sons of Korhal to fend them off.
In Episode III and afterwards, Raynor seems to be accepted among the Protoss as an ally. They became true friends in the last chapter in episode III when he, Zeratul and Tassadar fought the Zerg Overmind together, when Tassadar sacrificed himself to destroy the Overmind.


Plotline attributes

• Basically the same as humans of the 21st century, but they are slowly evolving into a psionically potent race, and, of course, are much more technologically advanced, but still within the same "style" (They still use projectile firearms and rely more on metal and fossil fuels than plasma).


• Originally were criminals rounded up and cast out on settler ships on a one year trip to a colony world. However, the navigation computer shut off during the trip and they ended up in stasis for 31 years. They ended up scattered across three colony worlds (Moria, Tarsonis, and Umoja).


• After reuniting with the other colony worlds, Tarsonis established several colony worlds and formed the powerful, dictatorial Terran Confederacy. One colony, Korhal, went into rebellion that was later put down largely through the use of nuclear weaponry. Arcturus Mengsk rounded up a force of rebels, the Sons of Korhal and began to wage a type of guerilla war against the Confederacy.


• It is in December of 2499 when the Protoss and Zerg arrive in Confederate space, attacking the outlying colony worlds of Chau Sara and Mar Sara, respectively. However, the Protoss were obliterating the Zerg infestation of Chau Sara that had gone (supposedly) unnoticed.

Gameplay attributes

Some noticeable traits of the Terrans.

• Average power, at a reasonable price
• High unit efficiency, if the player uses good micromanagement
• Very high adaptability: only race without location restrictions (can "lift off" and redeploy most of their structures without restriction)
• Moderately efficient building method
• Forces are comparatively fragile (although quite powerful offensively) and can easily be overwhelmed by Zerg unless prepared (e.g. marines and firebats stimpacked or in bunkers, tanks in siege mode, etc.) or upgraded
• The Space Construction Vehicle, or SCV (basic worker unit) can repair all buildings and mechanical units (such as the Battlecruiser), and has more health than the other worker units. It can also itself be repaired.
• The Medic (Only in the Brood War expansion) can heal all biological ground units, blind enemies with its Optic Flare, and their restoration ability makes terran the only race able to remove harmful effects. Unlike SCVs, who can only fix Terran vehices, Medics can heal biological members of other races (all Zerg ground units, Protoss Zealot, High Templar, Dark Templar).
• Every offensive unit is ranged – even the Terran Firebat has a range of 2 matrix squares.
• All units except the Valkyrie (Brood War only) and the Goliath have a "special" or "secondary" ability.
• With the exception of heroes, the Battlecruiser has the highest hitpoints (500) for a non-structure unit in the game.

Unique abilities

• Repair — unique SCV ability; it costs minerals and possibly vespene appropriate to the unit or building being repaired. Multiple SCVs can repair the same unit or structure at a faster rate. SCVs are the only unit in the game that can repair structures or mechanical units. However, they may only repair Terran structures or mechanical units.


• Cloaking — Ghost and Wraith ability; It allows the Ghost or Wraith to become invisible to the naked eye. The ability costs 25 energy when activated and consumes 1 energy/second for the duration of its use. However, it is possible for opponents to see a cloaked unit's "silhouette", and therefore, guess where it is and make "splashed" damage around it with certain units or spells (e.g. Psionic Storm or Ensnare). Ensnare spell and Devourer attacks can also make visible all cloaked units in their splash radius. Also, detecting units of opposing teams will render the Ghost or Wraith visible and vulnerable to direct attack.


• Spider Mine — Vulture ability; When upgraded, each Vulture comes equipped with 3 Spider Mines that cannot be replenished. When a Spider Mine is set, it "burrows" into the ground and becomes invisible to enemy units without detector support (in a similar manner to the burrowing ability of Zerg units). When a ground unit walks near it (excluding all three worker units, Archons, and Vultures because they are hovering units) or when planted near burrowed units, the spider mine surfaces and skitters toward the enemy unit, even if they are cloaked, causing 125 splash damage upon impact. Spider mines themselves do not render cloaked or burrowed units visible to the player, even if they may do so indirectly by attacking.


• Lockdown — Ghost ability; it costs 100 energy and makes any non-biological unit (both vehicles and robots) immobile and "useless" for around 60 seconds. The affected vehicle remains vulnerable to enemy attacks in this state but can still be repaired (only for Terran units) or have its shields regenerated by a Shield Battery (only for Protoss units). Only mechanical units can be affected by this, making it extremely effective against Protoss or other Terrans, and making it completely ineffective against Zerg, who use only biological/mutant units.


• Heal — Medic ability: using 1 energy for 2 health, the Medic will automatically restore the HP of any biological unit (including friendly Protoss and Zerg units) in its sight range. Medics can only Heal one unit at a time, and only one Medic can Heal a unit at a time, so multiple Medics are typically needed for optimum efficiency, which also enables medics to heal each other, since it can't be cast on oneself.


• Stim Pack — Marine and Firebat ability; it lets the affected units fire and walk twice as fast, with the cost of 10 hit points. Often used in Brood War as the Medic can quickly heal the Marine or Firebat who used the Stim Pack. However, the effect is not cumulative, meaning that using the ability several times rapidly has no greater effect than than using it just once.


• EMP Shockwave — Science Vessel ability; it drains the energy from everything within the shock radius and, on Protoss units and buildings, drains all shields. This ability is ideal for the preparation for a Nuke against the Protoss, or countering Protoss Archons.


• Irradiate — Science Vessel ability; it deals up to 250 damage to any biological unit (I.e. any Zerg unit, as well as some Terran and Protoss units) and does splash damage to the units near the irradiated unit. An irradiated zerg can "burrow" and avoid spreading the damage, although it will still take damage itself. For biological Protoss units, it will drain the shield first, then move onto the unit.


• Defensive Matrix — Science Vessel ability; places a temporary shield with 250 hit points on friendly units that limits incoming attacks to one hit point damage. It can also hinder the damage from Irradiate.


• Nuclear Strike — Requires a nuclear missile to be built in a nuclear silo (add-on to the Command Center); then a Terran Ghost can "paint" a target for the nuke by pinpointing a red dot on screen. Note that all players will be notified that a nuke is being launched. After a short time, the missile lands, doing 500 or more damage to all nearby buildings, and killing any unit except a Battlecruiser within the blast radius. A nuke will deal either 500 damage or ⅔ of the affected unit's original hit points in damage (armor decreases the damage taken by one point for each point of armor; a Battlecruiser survives a single nuclear strike by virtue of its initial 3 armor) to the target, whichever is greater. Anything within a 4 matrix tile radius of impact will receive full damage; units 2 matrix tiles beyond that receive 50% of the damage; units 2 matrix tiles beyond that receive 25% of the damage. Thus, the nuclear missile explosion has an area of effect of 8 matrix tiles in every direction from the point of impact. If the Ghost does not flee after launching, it will be killed unless it has the Ocular Implants upgrade, which increases the sight radius of the Ghost, thus keeping it out of harm's way (assuming the Ghost targeted the Nuke from its maximum sight range). While the Ghost is guiding the nuke, it can't move, attack or cast other abilities; however, it can remain cloaked if it was cloaked before the Nuke was launched. Killing the Ghost during the "painting" phase of the Nuclear Strike (after the screen has indicated the Nuke launch and before the red dot disappears) cancels the launched Nuke, which is then lost.


• Yamato Cannon — Battlecruiser ability; it uses 150 energy to charge up and shoot an energy blast that has a range of 10, one of the longest ranges in the game. The blast does 260 explosive damage (100% damage to large units, 75% to medium units, 50% to small units). However, the range of the blast is longer than the sight range of the Battlecruiser, so it is best to scout the target before firing to achieve the longest range. Note that if the targeted unit is destroyed while the cannon is charging up, the cannon will not fire, but will still consume the 150 energy. It is conceptually based on the wave motion gun of Space Battleship Yamato and bears its name to reflect this.


• Siege Mode — Siege Tank ability; When used, the tank extends stabilizers from its base and changes the weapon in its turret to the Arclite Shock Cannon. It takes a tank around 2 to 3 seconds to deploy in and out of siege mode. While in siege mode, the tank is immobile and has a minimum attack range of 2 matrix squares (making it extremely vulnerable to melee units like the Zergling, Firebat, and Zealot). However, the tank gains the ability to fire high-powered shells (that do 70 explosive damage, plus splash damage to the surrounding area) with a range of 12, farther than any other unit in the game. Note that this range is longer than the sight range of the tank, so it is best to use a scouting unit ahead of the tank.

( a Soviet unit in Yuri's Revenge acts in a similar manner to the siege tank, but the unit is a helicopter, not a tank.)


• Scanner Sweep — When a ComSat Station is attached to a command center, Terran players can perform Scanner Sweeps, which can be used for temporarily revealing areas under the fog of war, as well as cloaked and burrowed units. It can also be used as a scouting ability to increase the range of a weapon for some units such as the Battlecruiser's Yamato Gun and the Siege Tank in Siege Mode, or to allow the placement of a Nydus Canal by a Zerg ally.

Strategy and Techs

Terran players usually follow one of two main general tech trees: Infantry or Metal.

• Infantry refers to producing mass numbers of Marines supported by Medics. This strategy is generally used against Zerg opponents and is also called "M&M," referring to the Medic-Marine combo. Firebats can be used to support the marines as well, as their splash damage is extremely effective against massed zealots while marines are generally weak against them. (Off-strategy note: This only counts for the Brood War expansion.)


• Metal refers to focusing on mechanical units (Tanks, Vultures, Goliaths, Wraiths and Battlecruisers). This strategy is generally used against Protoss and Terran players.

Tank Push
One of the general strategies used to fight against a Protoss. Against Protoss, this strategy will usually start out from the front of the Terran base. Then the Terran will slowly push there way across with Tanks, Vultures, and other addtional units to support Tanks. If start a early push right away and containing the Protoss at front as quickly as possible, could give you the control of the map or any advantages. It is important to create some obstacles, such as your buildings, for the Protoss to make it harder for them. This strategy can only work on certain maps.

Massive Drop
One of the general strategies used against another Terran. It deals with using Tanks and Goliaths inside dropships, and the more dropships you have the better then land them into the enemy base. This strategy requires a large amount of gas to be effective. It also requires you to do some harassments to keep the enemy under pressure. A wraith, for example, can a be a harassment, but it also lets your enemy know you have a starport. This also allows you to expand early to stock up on gas. A Terran VS Terran will usually be a gases battle.

Goliath All-out
An optional strategy that can be used against any race, and most prefer using this against a random. This strategy will require you to construct an early defense and then an early harassment (usually vultures to buy time). once you've succeeded on your harassment, you will now get an early start on Goliaths. Goliaths costs 100 minerals and 50 gas, not too expensive, and not too cheap which makes Goliaths very easy to maintain. Goliaths will require some addition help from other Terran units depending on the race. In addition, Goliaths also have various flaws that you need make sure is prevented.


Terran Tricks

Medic block
By forming a wall of medics around a cluster of marines, a Terran player can prevent his/her marines from being hurt from melee attacks, at the same time healing them from any other attacks. Very effective against any melee unit (i.e. Zerglings, Zealots).

Allied Mines
By using the vulture units, you place mines around a particular part of the map. This requires the Terran user to ally the enemy until the enemy lands on your trap. Once the enemy force has been place on top of your mines, you unally the enemy to allow the mines to explode. It is considered an illegal bug especially in most Starcraft tournaments.

Floating Buildings
Floating buildings can be a form of harassment, scouting, etc. In the case of harassment, Terran will secretly build a production building, such as the Factory, right next to enemy base and float it towards the enemy's ground. Land it on an unseen territory on their base, and begin producing units to destroy the enemy peons. The floating building can also be used to increase sight range for your units such as the Siege Tank (that has range further than its sight range) and to scout.

Terran Wall
The Terran Wall is very commonly used to ensure safety among most lower-leveled players, or used to protect Gosus so that they can tech, etc. This deals with constructing supply depots and usually one barrack at the entrance to completely shut off any enemy units to reach into your base while your ranged units are free to fire. The Barrack is used for allowing you to leave your base anytime like a castle gate; you can lift up the barrack to leave, and land it to close your gate to maintain protection from ground units.

Irradiating Self's Science Vessel
Metal units cannot be harmed by Irradiate but will harm the living units around it. Most players will used two or more Science Vessels to Irradiate themselves since Science Vessels are mechanical units. Once your Science Vessels are Irradiated, you can now use them to attack the enemy's living ground units by moving the Science Vessels up close.

Loading and Unloading Siege Tanks
The user must have good micromanagement to make this more efficient. Only Siege Tanks and Goliaths attack right away when unloading them from the Dropship. The purpose of the dropship is to prevent enemy fire from hitting the Siege Tank. Such as Protoss Dragoon, it takes time for the enemy fire to reach the Siege Tank. You load up the Siege Tank into the Dropship in order to dodge the Dragoon's fire and place it right back down.

Read full article: Terran

Gameplay

[source: starcraft.wikia.com]

StarCraft II retains some units from the original game, although some of these units have been given new abilities. Due to story events from the previous game, some units have been phased out or replaced. For example, the conquest of the Protoss homeworld of Aiur has prevented the creation of more Dragoons - the transplanted souls of Protoss warriors in exoskeletons - resulting in the remaining Dragoons to be redesigned with different weaponry and a shield that absorbs heavy damage and renamed to "Immortals".


Screenshot of StarCraft II gameplay

The demo reveals new abilities that involve more complex interaction with the game environment than StarCraft. Terran units known as Reapers can swiftly leap over cliffs, and Protoss Stalkers are capable of short-range teleportation to pursue fleeing enemies. Additionally, new abilities have been extended to structures. The Protoss are able to warp prefabricated units within range of their Pylons, and also possess the Phase Prism, a unit that acts as a mobile Pylon, providing power to Protoss buildings in the absence of conventionally built Pylons.

The number of units in the game will not change. For every new unit added, one "underused" unit has been removed.

Observations

Several interesting things are seen briefly in the recently released gameplay video. In the beginning of the video, what appears to be a new Terran structure can be seen mining minerals with a laser-like beam and extracting them without the involvement of SCV's or similar mining units. Also interesting is that no Command Centers are seen in the vicinity, indicating that these structures are independent and self sufficient. The use of an advanced shadowing engine is also apparent, allowing shadows to behave realistically and stretch or compress according to the curvature of the texture they are falling upon. Debris and doodads also appear to cast their own dynamic shadows.

It is also interesting to note that a sign doodad seen partway through the video advertises the name Mengsk, feasibly in reference to Arcturus Mengsk whose inclusion in the plot of StarCraft II is the subject of much speculation.

Races
The sequel introduces no new playable races and keeps the three original races Protoss, Terran, and Zerg.

New units

Terran

• Reaper: Uses dual pistols, can jet pack across terrain.

Protoss

• Colossus: A large quad-legged vehicle that fires strong dual lasers in a "wave-like" pattern well-suited to destroying swarms of weaker units. Shown in the video destroying a large wave of Zerglings. This unit can also traverse differences in terrain height due to its long legs. The Colossus has no anti-air weapons.


• Immortal: Replaces the Dragoon. Strong defense against powerful attacks, but vulnerable to weaker attacks.


• Mothership: A powerful flying unit which consumes an extreme amount of resources to produce, but is a unique unit (1 at a time). Has the Timebomb ability, which slows all enemy missile attacks, and the Earth Cracker, a large laser that obliterates anything in its path, in the style of Independence Day. Also has an ability to create a black hole that can suck in ships as large as Battlecruisers. Looks like a floating sand dollar.


• Phase Prism: A dual-purpose unit, able to transport units or act as a mobile Pylon.


• Phoenix: This anti-air unit can overcharge its guns for a multiple projectile blast, but after the blast the ship is rendered inert for a short period. The Phoenix is very weak versus large enemy air units such as a Battlecruiser, but is powerful versus small and medium air units.


• Stalker: A Dragoon-like unit of the Dark Templar, able to blink (short-range teleport) and deliver ranged attacks against air and ground units.


• Warp Ray: Flying unit that deals damage with a blue laser that does more damage as it focuses on the same target. Good versus heavily armored targets like Battlecruisers and buildings, weak against small arms fire.

Zerg

• Nydus Worm: Can be used to transport small units such as Zerglings underground.


• Succubus: Special ground unit. "Infect" ability allows takeover of hostile organics for a limited amount of time, ending in the target unit exploding and damaging everyone around it.

Updated units

Protoss

• Zealot: Will have a new charge ability, allowing a zealot unit to quickly close the distance between itself and an enemy unit.


• Gateway: Has the ability to turn into a Warp Gate that can transport troops around the map.

Zerg

• Zergling: New ability to mutate into suicidal "Banelings", that can roll across the terrain.

New racial abilities

• Protoss: will be able to warp prefabricated units close to any Pylons or deployed Phase Prisms, possibly due to upgrading the Gateway to a Warp Gate.

Hybrids
The Hybrid does not appear to be available as a playable race in StarCraft II, but a strange creature which may be a Hybrid is portrayed in a StarCraft II trailer. The Hybrid may appear in the single-player storyline.

Read full article: Gameplay