History Franchise / StarCraft

[[caption-width-right:350:The three factions.]]

->''"This is not ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' in space! I-it's much more sophisticated!"''

As of March 27th, 2017, Blizzard has [[https://blizzard.gamespress.com/Evolution-Complete-Blizzard-Entertainment-Announces-StarCraft-Remaster/ announced]] that they're remastering the original ''[=StarCraft=]'' and ''Brood War'' in 4K UHD and with fully-rerecorded high-definition audio. It was released in August 2017. In the meantime, over the coming weeks the original game was also released as free-to-play, as basically the Remastered engine with locked out HDgraphics, in the guise of a major modernization patch 1.18, which brought about major improvements to the game. This version of the game officially became free-to-play on April 18th, 2017. The game can be launched offline and single-player campaigns are fully playable without an Internet connection, but the game has been upgraded to use the latest version of the [=Battle.Net Agent=] anti-cheat system to ensure fair multiplayer games online.

As of March 27th, 2017, Blizzard has [[https://blizzard.gamespress.com/Evolution-Complete-Blizzard-Entertainment-Announces-StarCraft-Remaster/ announced]] that they're remastering the original ''[=StarCraft=]'' and ''Brood War'' in 4K UHD and with fully-rerecorded high-definition audio, set for release sometime in summer 2017. In the meantime, over the coming weeks the original game will be released as free-to-play, and see a huge modernization patch, patch 1.18, which will bring about major improvements to the game. The original game officially became free-to-play on April 18th, 2017. The game can be launched offline and single-player campaigns are fully playable without an Internet connecton, but the game has been upgraded to use the latest version of the [=Battle.Net Agent=] anti-cheat system to ensure fair multiplayer games online.

* DamageTyping: Normal (full damage no matter what; only reduced by armor value), Explosive (full damage to Large units, half to Small ones) and Concussion (full damage to Small units, half to Large ones). This is why, for example, Marines take half-damage from base defenses, such as Sunken colonies and Photon Cannons (Explosive damage vs a Small unit, despite the turrets doing enough damage on-paper to one-hit kill the marines). The sequel exchanges damage typing for ''armor'' typing; mechanical, light, biological, armored, massive and psionic, which all interact with damage, usually by giving certain units extra damage versus certain types of armor. It functions as a Keyword structure, with one unit having multiple types. Ultralisks, for example, are "Armored - Biological - Massive," meaning they can be Sniped (250 damage vs biological), take extra damage from armor piercing weapons, and is immune to most StatusEffects.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' ([[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer Windows]], 1998; [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh Mac OS]], 1999; UsefulNotes/Nintendo64, 2000). Also includes the ExpansionPack, ''[=StarCraft=]: Brood War'' (1998)

* UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: In gameplay, many units don't have their crucial features until you specifically "research" it. As an example, Siege Tanks use Siege Mode as a signature ability but until ''Heart of the Swarm'' they needed to "research" it or be stuck in their basic tank mode.

* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: Terran Marines are "Resocialized," colliquially known as "Resoc." It supresses any {{Freudian Excuse}}s and overlays FakeMemories of being a model citizen who joined the army for personal reasons. It also gives them a migrane if they try to access their real memories. Crooks who are immune to resoc are given suicide missions until the problem solves itself.

* ArmorIsUseless: Downplayed. Terran marines wear [[PoweredArmor a high tech suit of armor]] in combat to protect them from small arms fire and radiological hazards and it ''is'' at least necessary to be worn to handle their gauss rifles, but in-game they still get pretty much shredded by anything bigger than them as well as other marines. As the second weakest unit in the entire game, marines' best bet for survival is sticking together in large numbers. This appears to be entirely canon for all intents and purposes since it matches marine armor's protectiveness in cutscenes as well as background text (as such ''Brood War'' mentioning the presence of Medics improving marines' average lifespans on the battlefield...to a whole ten seconds).

* ArmorIsUseless: Downplayed. Terran marines wear [[PoweredArmor a high tech suit of armor]] in combat to protect them from small arms fire and radiological hazards, but in-game they still get pretty much shredded by anything bigger than them as well as other marines. As the second weakest unit in the entire game, marines' best bet for survival is sticking together in large numbers.

Set in the "Koprulu Sector" of space, tens of thousands of light years distant from Earth, the story unfolds between three playable races. The Terrans, human beings descended from outcasts, criminals and political dissidents who were exiled from the Sol system centuries earlier, boast a UsedFuture society with a military based around cybernetics, heavy artillery, and "Ghosts" -- covert operatives with latent [[PsychicPowers psychic abilities]]. While fighting each other, the Terran planets get invaded by the Zerg, an [[BigCreepyCrawlies insectoid]] HordeOfAlienLocusts with the ability to "[[TheVirus infest]]" creatures of other species and assimilate their genetic properties for their own benefit. The majority of the Zerg are drones lacking free will, controlled by {{Hive Mind}}s called Cerebrates which [[TheManBehindTheMan in turn]] are controlled by an entity called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Overmind]], which sees its sole ''raison d'etre'' as [[YouWillBeAssimilated the assumption of all life]] into the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts zerg swarm]]. Soon after, another race enters the conflict -- the Protoss, a race of [[KnightTemplar highly fanatical]] [[WarriorPoet warrior philosophers]] that are determined to stop the Zerg at all costs -- including burning down entire Terran colonies that provide a lot of cannon fodder for the Zerg through infestation. The Protoss use advanced [[PsychicPowers psionic capabilities]] are as important on the battlefield as their advanced weaponry or [[MechaMooks robots]].

* ArbitraryMinimumRange: Siege tanks from ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' and ''VideoGame/StarCraftII''.

* YouRequreMoreVespeneGas: Besides the ArbitraryHeadcountLimit, which starts at 15 but can be expanded to 200, ''[=StarCraft=]'' is a franchise with only two resource types: the Gold is "minerals," which are blue crystal clusters, and the Lumber is... "Vespene gas," a greenish substance which can be found in Vespene Geysers.

** The ExpandedUniverse and ''Enslavers II'' add-on campaign have Ulrezaj, a rebel dark templar who eventually fuses with ''five'' others to form an AxCrazy super-archon of sorts. He's eventually defeated in the ''Literature/DarkTemplarTrilogy'' by [[spoiler:having the last of the templar Preservers [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice herself]] to [[SealedEvilInACan seal him with her into a khaydarin crystal]]]].

In the ''Dark Templar'' novels, however, it's revealed that the Xel'Naga were [[spoiler:''done'' with the Protoss]]; they had completed their work and left to create the Zerg as [[spoiler:a complementary species, which would have, in time, joined with the Protoss to create the Xel'Naga's descendants. [[EldritchAbomination Someone]] screwed that gig up]], though.

** The Confederacy had been secretly using [=PSI=] Emitters to lure the Zerg to the fringe worlds such as Mar Sara. Arcturus then starts using the Emitters against the Confederacy which ultimately destroys them.

** The protoss are telepaths, presumably the listener hears in whatever language they know. Note, however, that they ''do'' have a language of sorts, that can be both written and telepathically "vocalized".
** The zerg, being a hive-mind, have no need for language. Only the rare sentient Infested Terrans have been known to occasionally communicate with other species. [[spoiler:The Primal Zerg in ''Heart of the Swarm'' have no problem communicating with their distant cousins (despite lacking a hive mind), but are never shown communicating with Terrans, so it's not quite clear what is happening there]].

** While most zerg have weapons that are built-in, the Mutalisk would actually look like a small, bat-like creature if it could reel in its hypertrophied, prolapsed reproductive system, which forms an [[OrganicTechnology Organitek]] cannon that launches {{Fuumaa Shuriken}}-like parasites.

As of March 27th, 2017, Blizzard has [[https://blizzard.gamespress.com/Evolution-Complete-Blizzard-Entertainment-Announces-StarCraft-Remaster/ announced]] that they're remastering the original [=StarCraft=] and Brood War in 4K UHD and with fully-rerecorded high-definition audio, set for release sometime in summer 2017. In the meantime, over the coming weeks the original game will be released as free-to-play, and see a huge modernization patch, patch 1.18, which will bring about major improvements to the game. The original game officially became free-to-play on April 18th, 2017. The game can be launched offline and single-player campaigns are fully playable without an Internet connecton, but the game has been upgraded to use the latest version of the [=Battle.Net Agent=] anti-cheat system to ensure fair multiplayer games online.

* ''Shadow of the Xel'Naga'' (2001

'''Kerrigan:''' You made us all into monsters. [[spoiler:Uses pyschic attack that blows up Mengsk and his entire office.]]

--> '''Mengsk''': I made ya into a monster, Kerrigan!
--> '''Kerrigan''': You made us all into monsters. [[spoiler:Uses pyschic attack that blows up Mengsk and his entire office.]]

--> '''Malash''': [[YouAreTooLate The master has already won, Alarak.]] You will lead our people to their doom...
--> '''Alarak''': You're right about one thing, Malash. ''I! will! lead them!'' ''(pushes Malash in the Pit)''

--> '''Narud''': Stukov...you came here to gloat, haven't you?
--> '''Stukov''': No, I came here to say "good night", you son of a bitch! ''(fires a Corrosive Blast that destroys Narud)''

--> '''Amon''': You are but a product of the flawed cycle. Manipulated for the entirety of your existence...
--> '''Kerrigan''': You know nothing about me! I care little for the Xel'Naga's Infinite Cycle or your twisted lies. No, I choose something different. I choose freedom... for all of us. ''(obliterates Amon)''

** Ten years passed between the release of the original ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}}'' and the announcement of its sequel. What were the first word's spoken by a character and the only line in the trailer?
-->'''Tychus Findlay''': ''"Hell... it's about time."''

--> ''[[Series/TheComicStripPresents "Answer that and stay fashionable!"]]''

* ProlongedVideoGameSequel: The two campaigns for each race in the original ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}}'' and its expansion ''Brood War'' had ten missions each, with the exception of the second Protoss and Terran campaigns, that had 8. The campaign of ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty'' is 29 missions long, eleven more missions than both Terran campaigns from vanilla and ''Brood War'' combined, while ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm Heart of the Swarm]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftIILegacyOfTheVoid Legacy of the Void]]'' have 20 missions each.

** ''VideoGame/StarcraftII''s multiplayer adds Xel'Naga towers on most maps, which have a passive DefogOfWar ability as long as an allied unit is standing next to it.

** Then again, humans have been shown to at least be better at fighting the zerg than the Protoss in the games making this a possible [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]. Raynor played a major part in the defeat of the first overmind on Aiur, the [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression United Earth Directorate]] seized control of the second in brood war, and humans took one of the zerg's best defended worlds, Char, twice. Let's also not forget that Sarah Kerrigan, the Zerg's current leader is a former human. Also, Terrans are the only one of the three races that were not uplifted by the local SufficientlyAdvancedAliens.

%%ZCE * HomingBoulders

** Legacy of the Void revealed that [[spoiler:the Xel'Naga's MO actually forbid them from interface with other races. Three guess about who uplifted the Protoss]]

** Legacy of the Void revealed that [[spoiler:the Xel'Naga's MO actually forbid them from interface with other race. Three guess about who uplifted the Protoss]]