StarCraft/Headscratchers

Starcraft originally a 40K game?

 * Why do people think the Protoss are ripoffs of the Tau? I could buy they're ripoffs of the Eldar, but why the Tau? What's Tau about an ancient and long-lived psionic race who use crystal-based psionic technology and love close combat?
 * The visual style mostly. I think they're mainly ripoffs of the Eldar, but with some Tau mixed in. Otherwise they are probably the most original race in Starcraft (not saying much, of course).
 * Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Protoss come before the Tau?
 * Yes, yes they did. If you really, really want to say the two are similar, then you have no choice but to say the Tau ripped off the Protoss. After saying that, the argument usually dies thereafter.
 * I don't get how they're similar at all. The Tau are a ranged-specialist faction with Hover Tanks and humanoid Mechs, while the Protoss love melee and use Spider Tanks and spidery Mechs. The Tau are young, the Protoss are old. The Tau are the most non-psychic race in the WH40K-verse, the Protoss are the most psychic in their verse. They're really different, as far as I see it.
 * Visually, Protoss are entirely original. Only the 'noble elder race split in two halves' concept is the Elven rip-off. But then again, you can see what OTHER thing is a rip-off (hint: elf).
 * Also the Protoss are extremely long-lived, whereas the Tau rarely get past 50.
 * I dunno, they kinda seem to match aesthetics with the Vorlons. At least, ship wise (Especially in Starcraft 2).
 * Starcraft is an amalgamation of Starship Troopers, Alien, and Predator. Similarities are inevitable.
 * The Tau and Protoss are both similar (In my opinion) because of their highly advanced technology, and use of drone robots.
 * The Protoss were introduced in 1998, the Tau 2001 so its the other way around.
 * Why do people consistently say Starcraft formerly started as a 40k game? I can understand the gripe about originality, but that's the rumor thing is strictly a rumor. Is it just idiot-speak to lampoon the originality of Starcraft or do people really believe Blizzard slated Starcraft as a Games Workshop licensed game?
 * A lot of it is that, when you get settled on the idea that two things in the same genre are related, it becomes easier and easier to find connections (after all, the whole point of a genre is that you're grouping vague similar ideas). While there was definite inspiration in some regards, the degree Fan Dumb puts on the subject is absurd. For example, the idea of powered-armor wearing space marines was around before both WH40K and Starcraft in the form of Starship Troopers (the book I mean) and almost certainly other books I've never heard of. If anything, it's better that they dodged characterizing them the same. The foul-mouthed, dying-like-animals, slapping-the-medic's-rear-when-she's-not-looking, disposable space marines of Starcraft are pretty much the polar opposite of the gigantic warrior-hero battle monks of the Adeptus Astrates. Personally I love both for their own reasons.
 * That's kinda Fan Dumb, but it makes for a good theory. Then again with Warcraft being such a rip of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, it might just be that Blizzard can't make original settings.
 * Hmm, it might be true about Warcraft (though I never played anything before 2), I'm pretty sure it has spawned entirely into it's own original universe after Warcraft III.
 * Likewise, I think setting-wise, Warhammer 40000 has nothing on Starcraft.
 * Depending on how one interprets that statement, you're in the unnoticeable minority on that or just wrong.
 * Might it be because Wikipedia for the longest time specifically stated that Blizzard had started development on a Warhammer 40000 game, but negotiations broke down, and so they retooled it into Starcraft?
 * Actually, in the start of the Starcraft omnibus, Chris Metzen says that Starcraft was originally going to be a STARWARS game, not a warhammer one.
 * Let's put it this way: Back when the internet was flooded with pre-release coverage for Starcraft and I was reading tons of it, I happened to stumble on a press release for a computer adaptation of Necromunda. I then decided to read about this ridiculous sounding "Warhammer" game set 40,000 years in the future it was based on, and located GWS's website: " "Eldar", with both light and dark flavors? Space marines in gorilla-shaped space suits? Swarming brown insectoid hive-mind beasties, one of which looks almost exactly like the hydralisk? This HAS to be based on Starcraft!" Reading some more, it became clear that this was actually a very old game, "Hrm, so I guess it's the other way around, I didn't know Starcraft was just an adaptation of some ancient boardgame" It was only YEARS after playing Starcraft (the Mac port) that I did enough reading to discover what a massively shameless ripoff both Warcraft and Starcraft were. If I were a judge, I would have no qualms whatsoever in awarding GWS substantial royalties from Blizzard.
 * Warcraft is, after all, little better; although this troper can't prove it, he strongly suspects the change in name from "Gyrocopter" to "Flying Machine" and "Steam Tank" to "Siege Engine" between Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne was due to GW casting Summon Lawyer.
 * Warcraft I was originally slated to be a Warhammer Fantasy game--hence the green skinned orcs. Games Workshop turned them down, however, and Blizzard was already far enough in the development process that they decided to just change the names and release the game anyway. And now for my arrogant opinion: Yes, Starcraft's races are stylistically extremely similar, and most likely based off of 40K races, but the storyline is unique, and Blizzard deserves credit where credit is due.
 * I am solidly of the camp that Warcraft actually IS part of Warhammer, it's simply an island off the coast of somewhere in the Warhammer world. Crossover MMORPG in the future?
 * The main problem with the Starcraft was a 40k game theory is that back when Starcraft was released tyranids looked nothing like zerg.
 * And Games Workshop has outright stated that since Starcraft came out, they have based the Tyranids off of the zerg. And the appearance of the Tau was based on the Protoss, so it goes both ways
 * Also, a lot of the similarities between the two can be explained by the fact that Andy Chambers, one of the creators of 40K with Games Workshop, now works as a creative designer at Blizzard on the Starcraft series.
 * Tyranids from the 2nd edition of 40k and some Zerg do share some similarities. Hormagaunts and zerglings certainly have some similar features. How much Blizzard pulled from any single specific source is tough to call exactly. I mention 2nd ed. tyranids simply because the picture provided of their cover is highly stylised compared to their models (though they were considerably more goofy looking in 2nd ed. than they are now).
 * Warhammer40k and Starcraft take inspiration from each other making them both better why is that bad.
 * Actually, Blizzard is very good at ripping off. The protoss reaver unit ripped off the Ohmu of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind anime. Seriously, apart from the reaver being a robot they are the identical.
 * Though, thankfully, the protoss reavers do not group together in thousands and go off on a Zerg Rush style death charge. Then again Ohmu don't produce hundreds of exploding drones.
 * Both of them are based on the same type of real world insect. It's some sort of pill bug.
 * Convergent Evolution. There are hundreds of Sci-fis with totallitarian, xenophobic Dystopias, slender, willowy aliens who espuse Crystal Spires and Togas, a Horde of Alien Locusts, Bug Wars, Psychic Powers, and I-could-go-on-so-long-we'd-be-here-all-week, but none of them get called 40k rips.
 * The Dominion isn't even that xenophobic. Or dystopian. They have free media for Khorne's sake.
 * Free media that is obviously very under the thumb of the Dominion government (even if it is played for laughs in SC2).
 * At this point, most fantasy and science fiction are intermingled with basic tropes. Just read the Five Races, Standard Fantasy Setting, and Standard Sci Fi Setting. These are basic tropes that Blizzard just ran with.

Kerrigan

 * "Whispers of Doom" Why was Kerrigan ready to accept the end of the universe? I can't help but remember her speech to Du Gall. And now "the biggest bitch in the universe" is ready to let The Dark One win? Has she gone mad? Or the voices that she heard brainwashed Kerrrigan? Or her old human personality has come back to life? And if she is so willing to meet oblivion - why even bother with starting the zerg invasion ans searching for the artifacts? I would't be suprised if she decided to deal with Mengsk and then consume the Hybrids. But this.... makes no sense. Especially if Overmind wanted Kerrigan to be free-willed leader of the zerg...
 * That could be why she went AWOL for four years. Remember, the "Whispers" plot arc took place during her self-imposed exile, while the Zerg were all quiet. It's likely that she became aware of the hopeless situation before Zeratul and had a Non-Heroic BSOD for the whole time, before snapping out of it at the start of Wings of Liberty.
 * How is that Kerrigan supposedly masterminded the events that took place during the Protoss campaign of Brood War? They were going to use the Temple's energy anyway before she appeared, and since Zeratul had no trouble with the Matriarch ordering it (during the third mission briefing), presumably she'd have told them to do it without Kerrigan  anyway. The only thing she tricked them to do what kill Aldaris. Furthermore, why is it that Dhaggoth's forces are the renegades when it's them that have the Overmind? Technically they should be the "official" swarm and Kerrigan's side should be the Renegade Zerg because she's the one acting against the Overmind, the "eternal will of the swarm".
 * Bear in mind that "eternal will of the swarm" was, considering what  . Kerrigan saw herself as the heir apparent, therefore anyone in the way was "renegade".
 * Because Kerrigan won. That's why she's the rightful ruler and the other guys are renegades.
 * Also, Kerrigan used the term 'renegade' only after the UED took control of Daggoth's forces.
 * Because Kerrigan hadn't finished her plan yet.  She still won, though.
 * Why does Kerrigan choose to be called the 'Queen of Blades'? If I remember the original Starcraft, she just chooses the title at some point for little reason. It's not as if she's particularly 'blade' themed or anything. What's more, why do all the other characters play along and call her the 'Queen of Blades' too, as if were an official title, or out of respect? 'Queen of the Zerg' would make more sense to me.
 * I think it has something to do with her attack as a Starcraft Hero Unit. She is attacking the enemy with blades on her back (at least from what I can see in that resolution), leading her to call herself "Queen of the Blades". Maybe she thought that was more fitting for her instead of Queen of the Zerg.
 * Plus, of course, she has "godlike psychic powers". If she decides that everybody should call her the Queen of Blades then by God UNN is going to refer to her as the Queen of Blades.
 * Mengsk controls the news media. He probably does not want word to get out that his actions are the reason the Queen of Blades even exists. As such, he keeps everyone in the Dominion from knowing her true name. Lacking that, they have nothing to call her besides what she keeps introducing herself as. As for the Protoss...uh...I dunno'. Honor or something.
 * The cutscene "The Prophecy" sets us up with an awesome battle involving both Zeratul and Kerrigan and her pets. Eventually, when it comes to the last, Zeratul proves unwilling and physically unable to land his swing aimed solidly at Kerrigan's neck, instead just cleaving off an entire wing with his blade of void energy. The selfsame energy and weapon that he easily killed both a cerebrate and an Overmind with. The only force capable of completely bypassing any and all Zerg regenerative powers, up to and including reincarnation. So, what does Kerri do shortly after the fight? She casually regrows it in about three seconds. WHAT.
 * Cerebrates were defenseless by themselves, while Kerrigan is a level 12 psionic warrior and as much agile and strong as Zeratul. Also how was easy to slay the first Overmind? As far as I recall, it involved Tassadar, who is believed to be a reincarnation of Adun, one of the mightiest warriors of all time, overloading himself and what was basically a super-powered Carrier with Void and High energy and crashing on the Overmind's inner shell after the thicker outer layer was torn open by massive gunfire. And even then, he barely succeeded. I don't see the easy part in that. Zeratul, powerful as it is, still wields a single Void blade.
 * Dark Templar energies don't prevent regeneration, they prevent resurrection by disrupting the psychic energies of the Zerg. And he was going for the neck. He just missed.
 * Correct. Regeneration has nothing to do with resurrection in the zerg's case. In fact, since the Overmind is dead and there are no more cerebrates, none of the zerg are capable of resurrecting at all.
 * I'm not convinced. Maybe it has something to do with myself overthinking this, but zerg reincarnation probably had something to do with using that cerebrate's 'template', and then adding back in its personality and knowledge through the overmind's handy dandy hive mind. The only way I can think void energy would be able to stop that would be to corrupt/destroy both mind and 'template'. Needless to say, that'd easily stop any healing as well, given that actual healing is dependent on your gene template, as cancerous cells demonstrate. Maybe I'm making a leap of logic here, but brushing all of a character's physical limitations aside doesn't sit right with me. Also, I know he was aiming for the neck. To me, it looked like he hesitated for a split second, and his reluctance appears to be confirmed by the following conversation.
 * It's more like Dark Templar psionic energies prevent the Overmind from save-stating the Cerebrate's "soul" by disrupting the link between the Cerebrate and the Overmind. When Zeratul killed the first Cerebrate, their similar psionic nature prevented the Overmind from retrieving the Cerebrate's soul, but also allowed it to see the location of Aiur. Cerebrates can be physically obliterated beyond any Zerg regeneration, but the Overmind could rewrite their personality into a fresh body easily.
 * How did pre-infestation Kerrigan not foresee Mengsk's betrayal? She was a telepath after all.
 * Keep in mind that Mengsk is very skilled at "blanking" (Blocking out telepaths.). Besisdes he might have been out of range or something, 'cause he probably wasn't planning on leaving her there the whole time.
 * Also, she could read minds, not see the future. Plus, Ghosts have their psychic powers deliberately limited so they can't go rogue.
 * Funnily enough, Kerrigan claims to have developed clairvoyant abilities in the sequel and in Brood War, her telepathy was powerful enough to control Raszagal before having stepped on the same planet as her.
 * But she only became that powerful AFTER being infested, AND raiding a Confederate Science Vessel to learn how to remove the inhibitors that had been placed in her to dampen her power.
 * Simple answer; Mengsk didn't intend on abandoning Kerrigan the last time she was close enough to read his mind (and according to Liberty's Crusade she managed to force her way past his blanking and see what he was really like). After that exchange Mengsk thought her loyalties over, the Protoss invaded, and he decided "Hey, why not throw her at the Protoss, and if they don't kill her wait for the Zerg to get stirred up and overwhelm her?" Pretty much a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness example.
 * How is that Kerrigan, a single infested terran, is able to control the 100% of the Zerg swarm all by herself? I mean, the Overmind even needed cerebrates to keep control of it (when Zeratul killed a cerebrate, the Overmind was unable to control said cerebrate's brood). It'll be a bit more understandable if Kerrigan still used some cerebrates or something...
 * She still uses cerebrates. Who do you think you're playing as during the zerg missions?
 * Except probably not, considering 1. Blizz has said that the cerebrates eventually died out after the Overmind's death, as they were technically of it and part of it; 2. Presumably there was only one cerebrate left after the Brood war, and Kerrigan would have no way of producing new ones. It could possibly be that Kerrigan's swarm is simply far smaller than the Swarm controlled by the Overmind. Its clear that sizable chunks of the Zerg remain out of her control (the Zerg on Auir for instance) and the reason for this may be because she's hit the upper limit of the number of Zerg she can control.
 * According to the Heart of the Swarm teaser trailer.
 * Who will be leading the zerg now that Kerrigan is deinfested? Really want to know who will Blizzard have as main character in Heart of the Swarm...
 * Could still be Kerrigan. She clearly isn't entirely free of the Zerg transformations.
 * Some fans believe that she will still be able to control Zerg but obviously at a much lower level. The initial information about Heart of the Swarm says that it will be like an RPG where Kerrigan is slowly gaining more power and control of the Zerg. When I read that before Wings of Liberty, it didn't make much sense, seeing as how she was the sole leadership but taking the events from the Terran campaign into consideration, it's possible that Kerrigan is slowly trying to gain control of the Zerg again.
 * Word of God confirms that the protagonist of "Heart of the Swarm" will be Kerrigan, somehow.
 * My guess is that Kerrigan will still control the Zerg to some extent, even as a human, and I'm hoping that her de-infestation will pave the way for the return of the Overmind. He was awesome!
 * Just a minor thing, but in the final mission "All in", after you send Kerrigan away for the last time, she yells out "You will pay for this treachery!". What does she mean by treachery? The Dominion/Raiders alliance made no effort to hide their intention on Char: to stop her (just the method, but that doesn't count). For all the sense it makes, she might as well have yelled "You will pay for this Hippopotamus!". Was she just being artistic?
 * Blizzard, and game creators in general seem to word the script oddly sometimes. The word 'Treachery' in particular appears to be thrown around like candy. Remember Warcraft? If you pay close attention, the word 'mortal' is actually used as a general purpose insult there.
 * Plus who's the provider of the artifact which is about to go off? The Mobius foundation, led by Narud. Right...Why does that name sound so familiar...
 * Well, she did spare their lives in the previous game and expanion pack and then leave them alone for several years. She's probably not happy that this is her reward.
 * Kerrigan having chitinous high heels growing straight out of her soles. Just...why? Ok, actually I know exactly why, but still...why? It's so not Kerrigan, it's unKerrigan.
 * That scene made this troper laugh out loud. Presumably, though, they make Kerrigan look taller and thus more intimidating. Alternately, judging from how often the camera pans down there, the director of cinematography has a fetish.
 * She evolved blades on her feet. She is the Queen of 'Blades' after all. Now she can cut you with every apendage on her body.
 * Blades on her feet making high heels? You mean those things you use for standing and keeping your balance? And she still fights partially in melee? Yeah, let me know how that works out.
 * She has other limbs to compensate and hold her balance and has telekineses, if she wanted she could fly around as a spinning bladed wheel of death. Sure, blade heels might be pointless, but so are her breasts.
 * They are, but at least they'd been there from the start. Heels would have to be grown specifically.
 * What I wonder is; Where did Kerrigan go? The purple bimbo with her name in Starcraft II isn't anywhere near what Kerrigan was like, just a general ineffective villain sue and fanservice (that hopefully pisses more people off than actually enjoy it. :P)
 * Honestly, this troper doesn't see much of a difference between the Queen of Blades in Wings Of Liberty and the one seen in previous games. Let's take a look:
 * STARCRAFT: Once infested Kerrigan acts arrogantly, seeks personal power, declairs herself Queen of the Zerg and is about as subtle as a chainsaw until Tssadar knocks her down a peg.
 * BROOD WAR: Kerrigan uses the Overmind's death to trick the protoss into believing she's back to her heroic behaviour and mind controls the Matriarch to further influence them, a skillful display of subltey and tactics....which is completely destroyed when she drops the act the second she achieves a lesser goal of killing Aldaris and ensuring the destruction of the zerg on Sakuras. Yes they were mad at her for interfering but she could have played it much differently and kept the lines of manipulation open for the future instead of needing to resort to cohersion via kidnapping. She screws the UED using Duran, much as she used the Matriarch, but we have no idea how hands on she was when instructing Duran on the necessary goals as she doesn't appear until the end of the final mission where she merely shows up to taunt the UED. Then there's the zerg campaing where she plays friendly to Raynor and Fenix, who are unaware of her manipulation of the other protoss forces and basically forces Mensk to help and then backstabs them the moment she feels strong enough to stand on her own and use the zerg like a hammer, instead of maintaining the alliance and using them to complete her goals. She also seems to enjoy tormenting Zeratul. She simply reused the same trick three times and taunted and smashed at the earliest opportunities.
 * WINGS OF LIBERTY: Kerrigan shows up again, uses her zerg like a hammer and taunts everyone around her. She also enjoys messing with Zeratul (seriously, all that doom and inevitable oblivion talk is likely just to mess with Zeratul's mind, she never bothers with it when confronting anyone else). So she sounds pretty much in character as nobody around would listen to a word she had to say anymore.
 * 1) Kerrigan on Shakuras. No, she couldn't "play it differently". Aldaris was about to expose her and the Matriarh, so she had to kill him. And there were no lines of further manipulation, because Protoss wanted nothing except scouring their world of Zerg and they clearly refused to kill the new Overmind. 2) Kerrigan and the UED. Yeah, she never shows up, but guess what, that's how The Chessmaster works - from behind the scenes and through proxies. Her goal was fulfilled, and the Dominion was destroyed. 3) Kerrigan, Fenix and Raynor. They obviously did not trust her, they were not stupid. They wouldn't help her retake Char and slay the Overmind for the same reasons the Protoss didn't, and they would turn on her any moment. Again, she had no choice but to attack them. Yeah, she enjoyed tormenting her enemies, but she did it after winning over them, which she kept doing all the time. In "Wo L" her role degraded to "I'll get you next time, Raynor! NEXT TIME!!!".
 * Admittedly, I judge by the trailers, but since it's a prevalent theme in them, I guess, it's legit. What's the deal with Kerrigan's obsession over killing Mengsk? Were the twats who'd written this even familiar with their own continuity? Kerrgian HAD a chance to kill Mengsk after she'd betrayed him on Karhal in BW. She REFUSED to do it, instead opting to let him live amidst the ashes of the Dominion with the knowledge that he'd created her ever haunting him. What, did she go like: "Hey, this asshole had the audacity to rebuild the Dominion and is not angsting over what I did to him, like I intended him to? Oh, well, I guess then I hate him again. Gar-r-r-r, Mengsk must die!!!!1111" That's just stupid.
 * The one who left Mengsk to angst and suffer was Infested Kerrigan, a sadistic sociopath with massive psychic abilities who could feel him suffering from her emotional torment from far away, same as she was doing to Zeratul and Raynor. The Kerrigan from the upcoming game is largely Sarah Kerrigan, a Terran Ghost who is not a sociopath and is massively pissed over what he did to her. Killing him was the final goal of both but Sarah is less inclined to torture and just wants him dead.

Weapons and how/when to use them

 * Why do the Marines' gauss rifles have muzzel flash and go 'BRRRT'? Hell, one of the novel covers has casings coming out of the side of a rifle!
 * Railguns do produce muzzle flashes, because the rounds go so fast they leave a fireball behind (Second result of a google image search for "Railgun")
 * But gauss guns and railguns are different weapons. Besides, the casings?
 * For crying out loud, id doesn't matter what propels those bullets as long as they are fast enough to ignite the air around them.
 * Not all marines carry gauss rifles. The gauss rifle is the standard rifle for marines, but some tote rocket launchers, RPG launchers, automatic rifles, etc.
 * Because, as long as gauss rifles haven't entered mainstream production, what exactly constitutes one is still fair game.
 * No, what constitutes one is a device that uses magnetic coils to propel ferromagnetic projectiles. No propellant, no muzzle flash, no casings.
 * They could use a two stage process to accelerate the rounds up to speed, a powder charge provides the first stage with magnetic coils further accelerating the round. Because of the initial powder charge the weapon would look and sound much like a modern rifle when firing, but because of the coils its refered to as a gauss weapon.
 * The above explanation may be truth. From a cut scene in SC2 of marines fighting, there is an electronic whirring sound as they fire. Additionally it would take either a significant barrel length or immense power bank to propel a charge to be as potent as they are displayed in game. Having a chemical, initial propellant followed by coils would be the best method. So that if the gauss component were to fail, they could still fight.
 * Rule of Cool. Possibly a bit of Reality Is Unrealistic as well. If the Terran's Gauss Guns did work like they should in real life, they'd look and sound "weak," (Again, Rule of Cool) and probably wouldn't be very visible on the screen. "Are my marines even shooting?"
 * This, and that Blizzard thought (Viewers are Morons) that want to see casings, like in first person shooters where the case shouldn't eject across the shooter.
 * Actually, gauss would sound ballistic weapons becuse of sonic booms generated by firing the rounds.
 * Muzzle flash: a gauss rifle is harnessing extremely high voltage electricity to do its thing. That tends to make spectacular arcs. The projectile then leaves the barrel at supersonic speed, resulting in a sonic boom and Glauert singularity, which reflects the light from the arcing and looks just like a muzzle flash. Casings: the Gauss projectiles are encased in a plastic cup sabot for ease of loading, handling, and corrosion resistance. Upon firing, the dart leaves the sabot (vice modern APDS ammunition, wherein both dart and sabot are projected forward by the explosion and the sabot must then fall off as the projectile travels downrange: there's no reason for the sabot to accelerate forward in a gauss design if the sabot is nonmetallic) and the sabot is ejected out the side to allow for the next one to be loaded.
 * You are thinking about railguns there; a gauss gun works like a nail-and-wire electromagnet, only the nail is a hollow tube and the current gets cut off when the round enters the tube. A rail gun has current going through the bullet and uses the Lorentz force acting on the electrical current to accelerate the bullet, and therefore has the arcing and part of the bullet being plasmafied.
 * How exactly are stim packs supposed to work for marines? In-game the stim packs are supposed to get the marines to move faster and double their rate of fire. Sure the move faster part makes sense, but given that the marines seem to be using a fully automatic weapon, one would think that no amount of adrenaline/steroid enhancement will give the effect of bullets flying out of a machine gun faster no matter how hard you're pulling that damn trigger.
 * Marines never actually fire on full auto in-game, they fire in bursts. Stimming just reduces the time between bursts presumably due to enhanced reflexes allowing them to control recoil and aiming better.
 * The game images are merely representative- marines aren't doing 6 damage per bullet, that 6 damage is probably an entire clip. Stimming helps him reload and re-aim faster. The bigger problem I see is why they'd move twice as fast if they're already wearing Powered Armor. My guess is that it also dulls pain so that the suit can move even faster than the safe parameters for a human body- hence the 10 health hit.
 * -10 HP is from tissue damage from the drugs themselves.
 * OK, every few missions in the Terran campaign of vanilla Starcraft, the Terran and the Zerg would go battling it out. The Terran would lose and evac somewhere else. Then the Protoss would come by and obliterate that planet with some massive fleet they keep somewhere in their socks. Then suddenly, when the Zerg start getting really powerful, these massive, planet-nuking fleets simply disappear. Blizzard didn't really think that one out, did they.
 * Maybe it was more a planet-nuking weapon, rather than a ridiculous amount of Carriers. It also mentioned that Tassadar started holding back the big guns, and tried to expunge the Zerg while sparing the Terrans. Possibly this divided up his fleet so much that the attrition they suffered against the Zerg whittled down their numbers. And thus, when Tassadar took the fleet to Char, it was already weakened, and Aiur had declared him rogue, so he wasn't getting any reinforcements. Finally, assuming a planet-buster weapon, they couldn't very well use it on Aiur once the Zerg infested the place.
 * This is basically what happened. The Sara colonies and Antiga were fringe worlds so Tassadar could afford to hold back the big guns until the colonists had been evac'd (Although he did fry Chau Sara without warning, but the guilt from that made him reconsider his tactics). There was even a mission dropped from the Terran campaign where he helped the player evacuate the Antigan colonists before sterilizing the planet. Then we have Tarsonis, which is the most populated coreworld in the sector. This, plus the fact that virtually every zerg within light years had been drawn to it made evacuation pretty much impossible. This left Tassadar with two choices; burn the planet and every Terran on it or attack the zerg directly hoping to save the planet. Tassadar chose the latter, which turned out to be a nigh suicidal venture thanks to Terran internal conflict (I.E. Sons of Khorhal WANTING the planet to be overrun). Tassadar suffered heavy losses, making sterilization impossible and forcing him to return to Aiur with the remnant of his fleet. When he decided to go to Char instead, only a handful of vessels went with him.
 * Maybe the Protoss have to deploy specialized weapon arrays in planetary orbit to burn a planet. If the arrays are glass cannons, which is plausible given the look of Protoss technology, they'll need space superiority over the planet to keep the enemy from just destroying the arrays preemptively. With the Zerg fleets concentrated above a single world (Char or Aiur), the Protoss can't maintain control of orbital space long enough to set up their heavy weapons.
 * The Protoss fleet was also destroyed by the massive Zerg invasion of Auir and the subsequent war with Kerrigan's Zerg hordes.
 * The Protoss Fleet was only likely able to glass so easily because the Zerg had relatively little presence there, and no air presence. If the Zerg make full use of their airpower and wormholes, they'd either be able to destroy most fleets or evacuate from any they couldn't beat.
 * I'm pretty sure that these are the Mothership units that are got introduced in Starcraft II. They were holy shrines for the Protoss and there were so few left that the Protoss decided to send them away to keep them safe, presumably because they did not know the need would arise for them again. The planet-destroying capabilities of the Motherships certainly fits the description.
 * Does anyone else think the complicated battle hellion animation seems out of place on the hellion unit? In setting terms, the hellion gives the impression of a vehicle that has the advantage of easy "put some standard/spare parts together" construction, which is the sort of unit that a complex transformation seems out of place on. (The transformation requiring a lot of careful design, good quality control, and specialized parts, ruining one of the apparent advantages of the hellion.) It seems to me that a simpler transformation (Perhaps the hellion contracts lengthwise and bulks up), seems a better transition for the unit (Since, for gameplay, I can see why the unit would be useful.)

Psionics

 * During the original Starcraft, a big point is made (All There in the Manual) that the Zerg Overmind is interested in humanity for their untapped psychic reserves. In order to challenge the Protoss, the Overmind knows it needs psychic powers to level the playing field, and Terrans are the first step to get these powers. Hence the corruption of Kerrigan. Okay, they recall back to Char to plan and consolidate. Then the Protoss and Dark Protoss attack, the Overmind learns the location of the Protoss Homeworld, and launches an assault... Leaving Kerrigan, his supposed Ace in the Hole (And the only one WITH psychic powers) behind. I can kind of accept that maybe the knowledge of the homeworld allows the Zerg to surprise attack the Protoss and thus even the odds without psychic powers, but it still feels like Blizzard forgot a main plot point half-way through, when I think about it too much.
 * Blizzard will probably reveal the truth in SC2; but as far as speculation goes,
 * Kerrigan was meant to come later in the battle, probably to assasinate the Judicators and other authority figures.
 * This troper always assumed that the overmind attacked without kerrigan on purpose with full knowlege that he was going to end up losing, he knew that if he stayed on char then the dark templar would finish their dispute with the high templar and then unified they would kill his cerebrates and render him powerless then kill him, leaving kerrigan to deal with the unified protoss of shakuras and aiur and the humans, she wouldn't have lasted very long against that so instead he sacrificed himself to destroy aiur while the dark templar and the high templar still hated eachother and in the desperation of the moment he was able to cause the most powerful protoss (tassadar) to sacrifice himself to destroy him, decimating the protoss and leaving kerrigan with only shakuras and the humans to deal with, and the cerebrates merging to become a new overmind was likely not planned by him at all and just a rogue cerebrate.
 * The way I always understood it was that the Zerg couldn't resist the psionic abilities of the Protoss (Maybe the Protoss would have been able to wrest control over zerg minions psionically). They needed to infest another psionic creature (Kerrigan) in order to develop psionic resistance among the strains, thus leveling the playing field against the Protoss.
 * According to Word of God, Protoss cannot be infested because their connection to the Khala somehow prevents it. The Overmind's masterplan hinged on doing just that, so I'd suspect it needed a highly psionic human to find a "back door" or something.
 * So, does that mean they can infest Dark Templar? They chop off their neural links to prevent this connection.
 * Their channeling of the Void prevents this.
 * And Tal'darim?
 * In SC2 it is revealed that  It makes more sense in context.
 * Why do they bother making the Ghosts from psychics when their abilities end up getting suppressed anyway. If they just wanted to prevent psychics from throwing a wrench into their works why not just shoot them? If they wanted psychic soldiers then why don't they do anything useful with them? If the ghosts stealth was a result of say a combination of psychic masking and electronic counter measures (it is) it'd at least be justified. The best Kerrigan does pre-reversal as a ghost is read dirty thoughts. If I forgot a piece of lore please point it out.
 * That's because the masking is generated by their psychic powers. Also, the lockdown ability is dependent on their psychic powers.
 * I'm not sure if this is something I read or something I made up or a bit of both, but I was always under the belief that ghosts psychic ability worked in conjunction with their specialized equipment to survive in hostile environments. I mean, they ARE seen running around on space platforms and having the same number of hitpoints as a suited up Space Marine.
 * Ghosts wear powered skinsuits woven with artifical muscle fibres.
 * Because they want some psychic power, but not too much, so the supressor keeps psychic powers at a good level. (By a broad analogy, think of how engines are run hot, but not so hot they melt themselves, or otherwise damage themselves.)
 * They run so fast because they focus on getting there, and SCII says that they're the only ones who can use C-13 canister rifles, because something about their psionics lets them use them effectively, whereas a normal terran thinks "Shit, this gun sucks.".

Humanity and the UED

 * Okay, I have to ask: why the hell everybody in This Wiki refers the UED and its leaders (DuGalle and Stukov) as bad guys? I mean, they just went there to check (and neutralize) a possible alien invasion. Sure, they wanted to conquer (not erradicate) the protoss, and they're far away from being beacons of justice and goodness, but they weren't as bad as Mengsk or the Zergs. They just wanted the welfare of mankind.
 * Because they did oppose the protagonists of the original Starcraft, that's why!
 * It's said in the manuals that when the UED was formed, it was pretty much a facist police state, and most political dissenters were arrested. The initial colonization fleet was more their 'humane' way of getting rid of the dissenters, shipping then into Deep Space. Kerrigan mentions this to Raynor as a reason to work with her, saying that he knows what the UED will do once they control everything. Of course, you have an excellent point that it's still pretty nice compared to Mengsk and the Zerg. Then again, neither of those two are thought of as heroes either. At the very least, better the devil we know (Mengsk) than the devil we don't. (UED)
 * I always thought of Stukov as fairly heroic in his own right, and DuGalle as a Well-Intentioned Extremist at worst.
 * DuGalle and Stukov were certainly Affably Evil, but consider the goals of the UED: they wanted to use the Overmind to breed pet Zerg, just like Mengsk planned to. Also, as Kerrigan said to Raynor, it has a history of severe totalitarian rule.


 * Jealousy at the Russian accents.
 * Because their goals conflict with those of every other power in the Koprulu Sector, so unless you're playing the UED campaign, they will be your biggest enemy. Their mission is specifically: Bring the Terran colonies under UED control (thus making an enemy of Mengsk and his allies as well as any Terran planet wishing to remain independent), Take control of the Zerg swarms (thus making enemies of both Kerrigan and the Overmind loyalists) and use it to prevent the Protoss from threatening human interests (thus making enemies of the Protoss and, by extension, their friend Raynor, who's already aware of earthen reputation).
 * DUDE. How come nobody's mentioning how they acted during the battle of Char, when Kerrigan used the Zeratul to destroy the new Overmind. The UED and their zerg shared their bases, and I don't mean they were close, I mean they had terran buildings right next to zerg ones of the same color. They even controlled infested command centers. These people used the zerg to infest other humans. If that's not evil, I don't know what is.
 * Similarly, how come no one has mentioned their introduction in the opening cinematic, where Dugalle exposits on how different studying Zerg in a lab is from unleashing the Zerg on mankind? While their later portrayals during the campaign were neutral, that was positively cruel when they left their allies to die brutally at the hands of the Zerg.
 * They were allies?
 * Hardly. They mention that "the colony will be overrun", and they'd just arrived - these were apparently just some locals. And you get Dugalle's speech a bit wrong. He is talking about how different dissecting a dead zerg is from watching them in real combat. He wants Alexy to pay attention.
 * Where are the other countries of Earth? While the Terrans in SC II are obviously hamming up the imperialist colonialism angle and the "Confederacy" needs no introduction, it seems odd that there are no major Asian ventures within the Terran dominion, or at the least a greater racial diveristy within the non-caricature officers' ranks. The UED in particular, which I would expect to have serious Chinese involvement, only seems to have Russians among it. The only person in the StarCraft universe with hints of the African or Arabic states is Samir Duran, and he
 * It was said that the UED removed all cultural barriers and outlawed all languages except english, so after years of mixing their might not even be any races left on Earth anymore. As for the Terrans, maybe all of the political dissenters were from the deep south?
 * There is a Jamaican in Raynor's Raiders in Starcraft II.
 * What do you mean, a Jamaican accent? That be a troll accent, mon!
 * The Thor pilot an Austrian accent. Well, a Schwarzenegger parody anyway. Also, the UED Admiral is French.
 * Look around the cities. There are plenty of Japanese, Chinese and Polish writings on buildings on Korhal and Tyrador has a Russian movie theater. And Hel's Angels are mentioned to worship Hel, not just use her name as a moniker. And the Hercules pilot is an obvious Glaswegian. So, other cultures still exist, at least whats left of them. I would say the reason why we don't see them is the same as why we don't see Chinese people too often in Firefly: Convenience and stylistic choices.
 * In addition, while Duran  may not be human, nobody bats an eye at their appearance or accent, implying that Arabic and   ethnicities exist in Korpulu.
 * How come the technologies of Earth-Terrans and Koprulu-Terrans are exactly the same despite having been apart for centuries?
 * You're forgetting that the first few missions of the UED campaign involved them recruiting allies and stealing Dominion materiel. They brought relatively few troops and ships with them, relying on the technological advances they could apply to Dominion tech to save them.
 * 2 things. First, medics, valkyries, Charon boosters and such were canonically introduced by the UED. Chris Metzen also said something along the lines of not knowing why the UED didn't bring their magical nukes and super trachyon lasers with them.
 * Cost. It was cheaper to take and use technology that was plentiful in the Koprulu-Sector than bringing your fancy toys and having to drag along all the industry and support facilities to maintain them because nobody else has that level of tech.
 * The terrans units in starcraft 2 presumably don't represent the entire array of weapons and soldiers used if the terrans actually existed. A similar idea applies to the UED. the way I figure it is that the UED probably has different sorts of technology to the Koprulu terrans, but it is broadly similar (especially compared with protoss and zerg technology), and that the terran units are close enough to what the UED uses to symbolize them as well.
 * Also note how much more powerful mercenaries are in Starcraft2. Most of them are former UED, with UED equipment by the way.

Story and plot details

 * Where in the Koprulu Sector is the former Magistrate of Mar Sara?
 * Wasn’t the Magistrate deeply involved with everything in Chapter One?
 * I always got the impression the Magistrate/Commander from SC 1 was Matt Horner. It makes a kind of sense, SC2 hints that Horner was present for at least some of the SC 1 Terran campaign, and he's Raynor's second in command in SC2, which implies Raynor trusts him completely, which would make sense if they'd been together since SC 1.
 * How exactly did humans learn the names of Protoss and Zerg? I recall Liberty in "Crusade" was asking Duke the same thing - he never learned the answer. The ordinary Zerg can't talk, and Celebrates\Overmind have no reason to sent a telepatic message like: "Hello. We are the Zerg. Prepare to die". The same goes for the Protoss, who were just hunting Zerg and killing them along with any humans who were unlucky to be around.
 * Zerg never actually call themselves Zerg untill Kerrigan crowns herself Queen of the Zerg/ Blades (they refer to themselves as "The Swarm"), and it's implied the Protoss contacted the Confederacy when Tassadar quit doing the Earthshattering Kaboom on half-infested terran colonies.
 * Is it just me, or are the Zerg Villain Sues? Think about it, have they ever lost a significant battle? And even in the few times they did lose, they were either Pyrrhic Victories, intentional, or just Kerrigan sparing the heroes for no apparent reason?
 * Well, their Overmind got killed for one. Then their other Overmind got killed. And don't forget about Zasz and some other Cerebrates. And Chau and Mar Sara got burned with them still on the planet.
 * Like I said, Pyrrhic Victory.
 * Because a villain that can infest the ancient homeworld of a mighty alien race is badass, but one that is repeatedly suppressed a la most villains in fiction would be a very unconvincing threat when its whole schtick is infesting/conquering worlds. When you think about it the only major zerg victory has been conquering Aiur; you can write off their destruction on Terran planets and Shakuras as "minor setbacks" but really that only works because the zerg are a hive and really not set back much by any particular loss unless it results in total extinction.
 * Keep in mind that at the end of Brood Wars, there were about 10 billion Zerg on Char, and billions were present in the initial invasion of Tarsonis. The Terrans arrived in the Koprulu sector with 40,000 people roughly 240 years before that. Any victory against the Zerg is Pyrrhic, but just living to fight another day against the Zerg is itself impressive.
 * Where do these numbers come from? 10 billion sounds like VERY few for the global population of their primary hive.
 * Keep in mind, the Terrans will likely be subject to accusations of being overpowered now. As Raynor's Raiders and half the Dominion fleet was enough to kick the entire planet of Char's collective Zerg ass with only a single MacGuffin and inspiring speeches. Oh, and Dakka, lots of Dakka.
 * That battle was fairly well-balanced, actually. The Terrans didn't wipe out every single Zerg on Char or win through sheer brute force, they managed to survive long enough to fight their way to the main Hive Cluster and held their position long enough for their MacGuffin to finish charging up. Even then, they sustained massive losses; during the first Char mission, you get to see the wreckages of dozens of destroyed Battlecruisers raining down around you.
 * Why would it be well-balanced when the Zerg supposedly have enough Scourge, Corruptors and Mutalisks in the system to pull them out of orbit by weight alone? It's bloody zerg. Y'kno', "The Swarm"? Granted, it's far less swarm in Starcraft II..
 * It should also be noted that the vast bulk of the Swarm was still elsewhere in the Korpulu sector (though they were reportedly withdrawing, presumably at Kerrigan's frantic summons). What Raynor and the Dominion were fighting was essentially Kerrigan's home guard.
 * Worth noting that it got revealed that  If we consider this to be the case, then the zerg would have picked and chosen their battles very carefully.
 * When the Protoss are trying to retrieve the Khalis crystal on Char, why do they never consider using Dark Templar to kill the new Overmind then and there, especially since Artanis had already suggested damaging it enough to make it lose control of its forces? Granted, they would have had to defeat the zerg on Shakuras anyway, but it wouldn't have really even slowed them down, and would have saved them a lot of trouble later and eliminated their greatest perceived threat (since they didn't know about Kerrigan's upcoming betrayal yet).
 * All you have to do to learn about Kerrigan's upcoming betrayal is to look at her. If she's alive then the betrayal is inevitably upcoming. Seriously, they might've rulled out that option precisely because it was she who suggested it. Keeping Overmind in place ensured Enemy Civil War among the Zerg (mind it, Kerrigan was under protection of the Matriarch, so they couldn't have eliminated her as well). Besides, I get an impression that having lost Aiur and 70% of their population the Protoss fell into "screw you all, just leave us alone" mood and only cared about securing the last place they could call home.
 * The ending to Wings of Liberty. I just....I never face palmed so hard in my life. The only way Blizzard can salvage it is if Kerrigan was pulling off a Xanatos Gambit to subvert/manipulate Jim.
 * User:Kknd 2 An alternative stance is that Kerrigan was just someone pushed way, way too far . In this context, Kerrigans four year halting of the Zerg and comments concerning 'growing tired of slaughter' come across as a My God, What Have I Done?, and 'I'm pretty much queen bitch of the universe right now' as bitterly ironic. Consider, Kerrigan was the only remaining power in the sector, but the only force she persued to destruction was the UED fleet, who she expressed serius disdain for, and who never got their message home about losing. For four years the Zerg did nothing, until abruptly they attack in overwhelming force, but seeking the relics, the relics that accomplished the events of the ending. There is also the possibility that the orders of the Overmind were still messing with her head, and now they are gone, leaving Kerrigan in complete control. Given that she is clearly not completely human, and the second chapter is the Zerg chapter...
 * Another interpretation is that it just weakened her and cleared her mind enough to make her calmer and more rational.
 * The books imply that Kerrigan's sense of compassion and empathy were supressed. the artifact could have just deinfested her enough to shatter the conditioning.
 * In fact, the mission "All In" suggested that
 * What exactly is wrong with
 * The problem is that it wasn't simply brainwashing; it was partly biological and psionic, which made it much more interesting sci fi than your typical "oh no Bob's brainwashed, now he's evil!" trope. Infested Kerrigan even had explicitly stated that she was aware of her new self and "she likes what she is", and her voice acting did not make her sound like some brainwashed minion. The WoL ending implies that Of course, it's not done yet, so we'll see.
 * Not really; she had darkness before, now that her sense of morality and compassion was surpressed she's free to go hog wild.
 * That's just it. It's too happy! WHERE IS THE ANGST! WE NEED IT!
 * Considering that there are still two whole campaigns (which, if they are the same length as the Terran one, would imply somewhere between 50-60 missions) left, I'd say there's plenty of time left for that. If anything, the maybe-happy ending of SC:WoL only leads to a bigger fall once the situation turns out to not be all that rosy. Remember
 * Mind you that everything else in that story pretty much ends horribly anyways. Frankly, it's more of a bittersweet ending considering the Raiders are a mere shadow of what they started off as (though by the end of the game the revolution is picking up a little momentum the Raiders may make a comeback), world after world being consumed and left useless by the zerg (Antiga is still just ruins even though the main force of the zerg had abandoned it), some unknown Dark Voice is cropping up threatening not only the Korpulu Sector but the entire fricken universe, and everything else is more or less generally bleak. So excuse Blizzard for introducing a ray of sunshine in your perfectly dark and bleak world.
 * It's also lazy storytelling. Blizzard seems to have this thing for making sure their major fallen heroes don't stay that way, and it's getting predictable (redemption for all - no work necessary!). Personally, I spent the final third of the campaign wanting to smack Raynor upside the head. Did Zeratul not make it clear enough that we need the Queen of Blades? Find a way to contain the Zerg? Good idea. Save the Commander's semi-girlfriend! Er...what? I'm with the OP in hoping the Zerg campaign salvages the situation.
 * What. This is completely insane. Are you honestly telling me that its not feasible or fair for Blizzard-in a complete and TOTAL shift from their usual storytelling practices with Arthas and the player's tragic realization that their original character died PAINFULLY as the vessel for Lord or Terror's return in Diablo-that FOR ONCE, they decide to give a happy ending? That hope and being the Big Damn Heroes really does achieve something? What the hell, people!? Kerrigan may very well have known what she was doing, but the Zerg part of her was always known to be something worse and worse and worse and that there was something in her left to save. Are you all really against happiness like that? What the hell?
 * We're not against happiness. The ending would've been fine if they got to it WITHOUT raping the story to infinitesimal pieces of Old Shame. We're against Horrible Horrible Writing/Storytelling.
 * I'll elaborate on this point. Zertaul specifies that Raynor will hold Kerrigan's life in his hands. Raynor was already collecting the artifacts, which would have led him to Valeran, which would have led him to Char anyway. So even if Zeratul never spoke to him (like what would have happened in the bad future), Raynor still would have used the artifact, because the chain of events leading up to it was well underway by the time he got the warning. The difference between the two timelines is that in the bad one he let his desire for Vengeance take hold, and he either killed Kerrigan or let Tycus do it for him. In this one he's seen what will happen if she dies and knows that she has to survive.
 * Was Fenix or his death even mentioned in the whole campaign? Raynor was at least as close to him as he was to human Kerrigan, and she murdered him (not to mention the rest of his troops) in a completely unnecessary betrayal. How can he go from "I'm gonna be the man to kill you someday" to that sappy-ass carry-her-in-your-arms scene at the end? I can understand the ZOMGKERRIGANWILLSAVEUSPROPHECY, but this is ridiculous. There's no hint that she was acting under anything but her own free will in the entire Brood War campaign (Duran notwithstanding)
 * Dude, she was infested by the Zerg. That pretty much takes "Free Will" out of the equation. Shame nobody mentioned Fenix though.
 * Right after Zeratul says "she has to live" Raynor gets angry meaning that Raynor is still angry at her. He hasn't forgotten
 * I think it's sort of like how you can love a friend or family member who's an alcoholic, but hate them when they're drunk. This troper speaks from experience; they're like two different people. I love one and hate the other.
 * Agreed. On the other hand, it could be that he had a real chance to save her, and they were close. Unlike Jim with one of his best friends Fenix, of course.
 * Not to mention it's blatant Chickification on Kerrigan's part. Kerrigan won in the events of the Brood War but come the second game,
 * Back in my days, someone like Kerrigan would be called a "total bitch", not a "strong female character". Or did the two concepts become linked somehow?
 * Yeah, she's a total bitch, but she's a strong female character AND a total bitch. Whatever imposter took over in Starcraft II is pretty much just a Villain Sue Bimbo of Fanservice. She's not the least bit impressive whatsoever. Compare to the actual Queen Bitch of the Universe.
 * She didn't loathe him; "You pig!" notwithstanding, she was starting to come around to him quite a bit by the time she got sent off to die.
 * No, not that. I meant that Kerrigan despised being treated like she was weak. She was more than capable of handling things on her own and Raynor seemed to have some differing views on that.
 * Actually, what she says is more along the lines of "the Knight in Shining Armor routine suits you sometimes * chuckle* just not now." She may hate being treated like a damsel all the time, but she clearly thinks Raynor's protective nature isn't a negative trait.
 * Regardless of how she felt about it, there are quite a lot of fans who aren't pleased with this development. Blizzard did something similar to Arthas  The Overmind said that Kerrigan had retained most of her personality after her infestation, so it wasn't like she was Brainwashed and Crazy.
 * Sure she was; the part of her personality she didn't retain was the bit that says "destroying all with your vast and all-consuming swarm is a bad thing". The fact that she's not actually drooling like the rest of the infested Terrans and can remember who Duke is is not the same as saying she's the same person.
 * According the books Kerrigan did have issues prior to infestation (brutally executing her sadistic handler from the ghost program.) The only difference was that the infestation supressed her sense of compassion and empathy, allowing her to go hog wild with her dark side.
 * THIS. Well, alright, it's ultimately wild speculation, and we'll have to wait for Heart of the Swarm to see how it plays out, but Blizzard's track record with strong female characters is...inconsistent, y'know?
 * As a final point in this debate, it seems irrefutable that Kerrigan underwent some(Total) personality Badass Decay. I mean, she's the person who gave us "Queen bitch of the universe," and in the final mission of Starcraft II its all "You fools [generic threat]" and "You will pay for this treachery!" Seriously? When did she turn into an 80's cartoon villain? Not to mention in the Prophecy cutscene she just spouts generic "Them dark threats over yon hill" stuff you get in every overly dramatic movie trailer. I dunno. I just hope that the whole thing was a Xanatos Gambit by Kerrigan herself to get uninfested for whatever reason. I even thought I saw a little of it too... did anyone else see anything calculating about that fawning look she shoots Raynor before he kills Tychus?
 * That might actually be it. We know that she wanted to get deinfested on some level: Her short psychic message of "don't give up" near the end is proof of that. On the surface, it looks like her original personality finally gaining strength for a few moments, but maybe it was just another part of the gambit, to make Raynor think the infestation's mind control can be removed?
 * Hopefully, that is the case.
 * In the intro to Omega her unflappable demeanor is temporarily shaken when the three fleets catch her with her pants down. She's a lot tenser then usual. Now her throne world has been invaded and not only is the enemy failing to fall, but their about to activate an artifact that can decimate her army.
 * I still cannot believe that Blizzard dared to offer such an Alternate Character Interpretation for the Overmind. (I mean, seriously? The Overmind kills billions of Protoss as part of his plan to… save the universe? And he was a slave to hybrids without any Cerebrate, or Kerrigan, then having any inkling of what was going on? With the Hybrids being dormant?) Of course, it's not like Blizzard hadn't already done such reframings before…
 * I'd question the labelling of the Overmind as a Complete Monster myself, mostly because it was pretty clearly operating on nothing resembling human (or protoss) morality- we have tropes for that. It was always scary because of the implacable sense of purpose about it, and the absolute belief in that purpose- that SCII reveals the purpose was different than we thought and actually had long-term positive effects doesn't really change that, IMO.
 * Simply put, the Zerg are still always going to be the chaotic alien swarm race, and killing the Overmind still NEEDED to happen (it was still brainwashed by the Fallen One and wanted to die). It's just now we've learned the Zerg were altered from their original, peaceful, Xel'Naga origins. I don't think we need to worry about Hydralisks with monocles ordering from Khorhal Cafe just yet. Remember, the Hybrids can control Zerg as cannon fodder. Heart of the Swarm will likely include Kerrigan subverting PART of the swarm to counter the Fallen One.
 * Peaceful? We are talking about parasites that take over hosts Goa'uld style. Also, they say the Zerg were brainwashed, not that they were "nice" in any way. Considering how efficient the zerg are at colonising, they would probably have been a hundred times more dangerous if they decided to expand outwards and conquer everything in a pattern one might expect. Basicly, its focus on the Protoss might very well have saved everyone (including the protoss) from being consumed by an organic Grey Goo scenario of zerg.
 * User:Kknd 2 Suggests considering that the Overmind's goal was freeing itself from enslavement, not the salvation of others. The enslavement was to the goal the hybrids had forced upon it. Kerrigan's ability to think totally seprate from the Overmind, like the lesser Cerebrates before her, was an attempt to cleverly get around the More Than Mind Control. If you enslaved something that dangerous to you will, you would clearly prevent it from actually telling anyone about it, lest they help it get free. Taken further, you could consider that the semeingly overconfident decision to manifest itself on the protoss homeworld is part of its gambit to get free, once it 'died' Kerrigan was not enslaved to its will (and thus its enslavers will). When the Overmind's masters are slain, it can reincarnate freely. With the results of wings of liberty, this may be going a little off track.
 * A logical explanation is that the Overmind, while still Always Chaotic Evil, resented the purpose of destroying/assimilating the Protoss imposed onto it, and thus brought Kerrigan in to give the Zerg "free will" once he died. If you'll notice, Kerrigan in Brood War is far more interested in securing her dominance in the sector than in enslaving anyone, even the Protoss. The reason why the Zerg didn't wipe everyone out in the 4 years between Brood War and Wings of Liberty? They posed no threat to Kerrigan, so she didn't see it as important to kill them. The only times she actually sends the Zerg out to fight is for specific purposes, to claim important assets like information or the newly emerged Xel'Naga artifact fragments.
 * Having just played through the Zeratul missions, I got the impression that the Overmind was trying to protect the zerg specifically. Protecting everyone else was more a happy accident than anything.
 * Personally, I like to think the whole "Kerrigan is good" thing is just a Xanatos Gambitby the Overmind.
 * It's probably safe to say that the overmind's whole Evil Plan, regardless of what it actually turns out to be, is a Xanatos Gambit with that as one possible route to one possible victory. Heck, they imply that
 * I thought the whole point is that the Overmind was forced to kill those billions of Protoss.
 * Is it me, or did the SC continuity went straight to hell in between Brood Wars and SC 2?
 * Nope, I think you got it right. Something died inbetween (shortly before Burning Crusade I believe).
 * Mar Sara was sterilised by the Protoss, however here it is once again habitable and even supports plant life.
 * The Dominion has terraforming now, maybe?
 * Even if they don't, the process heals eventually. Braxis is fine, apparently.
 * Braxis is an ice ball. It doesn't need much to be "fine", except for the evaporised ice to refreeze. Are you seriously telling me that a molten mess of stone can recover enough to support life in several years? As for terraforming, fine but why didn't they terraform Korhal in this case?
 * They did terraform Korhal. Play Media Blitz and you'd notice that Korhal went from blasted nuclear dustball to far more verdant than it had any right to be in just four years. It's easy to assume that Terran terraforming is just 'that good. I mean, to take another lore example, look at New Folsom. Entire chunks of the crust were essentially missing, so the Dominion hired terraforming engineers to build platforms to replace those chunks. Obviously, when the Protoss Purification happened and Mar Sara's minerals became more valuable... somehow, they returned to fix Mar Sara and mine it's resources.
 * It's also worth noting that Mar Sara's oceans are now completely gone, whereas in Starcraft it didn't have many, but it had some surface water. General consensus is that the protoss boiled away its remaining oceans and the terrans haven't bothered (since there certainly is enough water in the universe) to replace the water yet.
 * The Dominion was thoroughly and utterly trounced not once but thrice (by the UED, by the Zerg and by the Zerg again in the last mission of BW) yet in four years they are once again the reigning power in the sector.
 * Who else would the dominant power be now? Kerrigan pulled the Zerg out of the sector to undergo the next phase of their evolution, the protoss are almost extinct and certainly in no position to expand, and the UED failed in their mission and lost interest in the sector.
 * Nobody. There should be chaos and turmoil with various factions (including the remains of the Dominion) fighting for power and Raynor desperately trying to instill some order and bringing warring sides together in the face of the new Zerg threat...
 * The worst of all - Raynor's weeping over Kerrigan. The last time they met Raynor swore to kill her in the most badass way possible! It was a clear indication that he saw no trace of humanity left in her. And now he's keeping a picture of her uninfested self in his desk? Are you kidding me?
 * He loved the old Kerrigan and feels guilt for failing to save her on Tarsonis. The new Kerrigan is a monster.
 * He's an alcoholic now. You should know how moody and depressed people can be as drunks. It's also possible he learned more about infestation and the possibility of a cure.
 * This is pretty much the case. There is a mission in the N64 port of Brood War where the Protoss develop a cure for Stukov's infestation. While it probably wasn't potent enough to work on Kerrigan, it probably did give him hope for the possibility of a cure for her.
 * The N64 port isn't canon (Blizzard has gone on record saying "How did we ever think that was cool..."), but that's beside the point: At the beginning, Raynor was planning on killing Kerrigan. Remember what he said to : "You're infested. You're already dead." He wasn't carrying around the picture of the one that got away--he was carrying around a picture of his dead girlfriend as a reminder to kill the thing that is desecrating her corpse. Then Zeratul shows up and throws all that into question, then Valerian reveals . Made perfect sense to me.
 * The Stukov missions are the one thing from the N64 port that is considered canon by Blizzard
 * A lot about "Safe Haven" bothers me, especially if--as the special DVD would suggest--it is the "canon" decision. How could Hanson have possibly managed to find a cure, using only the Hyperion's facilities, where everyone else in the universe had failed? This isn't just an infection we're talking about, it's Zerg infestation. Your faculties and brain have been completely replaced by spikey slimey Zerg stuff! Besides that, it wasn't just infested Terrans down there, there were mutalisks and Zerg structures. If you could "cure" all of that, you'd have single-handedly won the entire war! And beyond all that, Safe Haven makes Tosh (who was right about everything else) dead wrong about Hanson being a "honey trap". (Buzzin' little bees, mon). The only way the plot makes sense is if Hanson really was infested from the start, deliberately drew the Zerg to Agria and Meinhoff, and then lied about finding the cure to Raynor.
 * It also has other issues. Like the fact that Hanson's miracle cure is never brought up during Raynor's confrontation with Valerian. Valerian claims to be the only one able to cure Kerrigan of her infestation but if you helped Hanson and she cured the colonists and herself, there's absolutely no reason she shouldn't be able to help Raynor instead of Valerian.
 * She, personally, was never infested to begin with in the canonical timeline. There is no cure; the pen full of infestees on the west side of your base is where all the infestees get dumped, and eventually they'll all die or be put out of their misery. Everyone else is fine. Raynor is right about Tosh being a lunatic/totally sane in the Tosh mission stream; why is it so hard to believe he was right about the degree of infestation on Haven?
 * The zerg "honeypot" plan still works even if Hanson isn't infected. Any number of the Agria colonists could transmit the virus once they reached the core worlds; it doesn't have to be Hanson personally.
 * It's actually not hard to believe it if we assume the cure was for not really for the infestation but for the virus that caused it. Hanson carried the virus and was working on the cure. If Raynor abandons her, she loses the will to fight it. Otherwise, she retains her resolution and manages to cure herself and the colonists, before they begin to mutate. Many illnesses have varying effects depending on the the patient's state of mind.
 * This is a classic case of the story changing based on your decision. If you chose Safe Haven, then there are no hives or mutalisks flying about or zombified humans eating everyone in sight. There are some people with early-stage infection that advanced and high-powered treatment can put into remission (think high-intensity chemotherapy). Of course that would feel very nasty (and a bit dull) slaughtering helpless civilians, so if you chose to sterilize the world, you have a much, much later infestation with hives sprouting up across the planet, and Ariel's hope of a cure is far, far too late.
 * "Of course that would feel very nasty (and a bit dull) slaughtering helpless civilians" - Prince Arthas begs to differ, but sure, you're right, that's what happened, AND IT'S BULLSHIT. The story should change as a consequence of the heroes' actions, not retroactively to make them look nice either way!
 * It doesn't change retroactively. Different choices cause different events and take different amounts of time to occur. If you choose to protect the colonists they isolate the infected, gather the healthy into one place, reducing the infestation or significantly slowing it down, and the misison likely happens sooner as the colonists are helping. Choose to do the dirty work yourself and the colonists remain together, spreading the infestation even faster and spreading it out throughout the area, Raynor's forces aren't recieving colonist cooperation so establishing a base and scouting the area would taek longer and Dr. Hanson panics and makes mistakes on her cure, rendering it ineffective and she gets so desperate she infests herself to prve it will work. There's also nothing to indicate that choosing Nova over Tosh is the right choice if you do it. Nova doesn't help you beyond the single mission, suggests she'll be coming to kill Raynor soon and is hiding in the Armory, all that suggests Raynor makes the wrong choice.
 * James Raynor: Tomb Raider! Isn't it just a wee, tiny bit out of character for him to suddenly go rummaging through Protoss holy sites, kill their guardians and make off with their relics? And for what? Profit? It's just incredibly good fortune that all those sites happen to be claimed by Tal'darim, else Raynor might actually have to sit down and think about what he's doing. Tl;dr - for all the pre-release talk about choice in the campaign, there's not a whole lot on offer.
 * If they weren't Tal'darim, then Jim could practically say "HEY BROS, CAN I BORROW THIS?" and get "SURE THING DUDE!" back. He can nuke Selendis' forces to hell and back and they'll still think he's a pretty cool guy.
 * Because eh kills zerg and doesnt afraid of anything.
 * He did ask "HEY BROS, CAN I BORROW THIS?" but got "NO WE'RE GOING TO KILL YOU NOW." in response.
 * It's not really out of character for Jim since he's operating out of a single battlecruiser when we first see him. He needs cash, and fast, and grabbing relics was the best way to get that cash fast. As for the specific enemies, the non-extremist Protoss are off doing important things like trying to save the galaxy, while the Tal'darim are sort of playing "I'm taking my football and going home." And the other two groups are the Dominion and the Zerg, which Jim wouldn't have any problem beating up anyway.
 * The Tal'darim are a bit of a cop-out in order for Raynor to fight Protoss in the first place. However, I'll accept them for purposes of story. Also, it would have been in character if he would have refused to retrieve the artifacts if the Protoss military had said no. It's not worth sacrificing your best allies for a quick buck.
 * Okay, so the Overmind had a vision in which the Dark voice enslaved the zerg, so he/it infested Kerrigan and blah, blah...the point is that, when Zeratul killed Zasz, if he was able to contact the Overmind's mind, how is that he didn't see this?
 * This information was buried deep. The way I see it, after the Dark Voice or whoever programmed the Overmind to assimilate the protoss, there was only one tiny part of the Overmind left that resisted. That part subtly influenced the main part, suggesting infesting Kerrigan, then suggesting manifesting on Aiur, not taking Kerrigan with it, and so on. Basically, the Overmind has Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Zeratul only read one of its minds.
 * Also, keep in mind that the Overmind was a godlike concsciousness (and indeed, might well be considered in a sense the god of the Zerg)- attempting to process it's entire mind likely would have driven even Zeratul insane from sheer information overload. He got information that pertained to the protoss, not the plan that was so secret even Kerrigan and the Cerebrates knew nothing (or at least very little) of it.
 * The overmind also did not seem to read Zeratul's entire mind either. The mind contact was pretty much an accidental, unexpected event for both of them, and I imagine that only thoughts that were on top of each being's mind would have transferred. (so if Zeratul was thinking something like "must protect Aiur" before the kill, the overmind would learn the location, plus perhaps some understanding of how the protoss were attacking, while zeratul would glimpse the overmind's major plan, but not get information on, say, where other cerebrates might be or any specific details of the zerg invasion plan.) As written above, its unlikely that Zeratul would have been able to catch any glimpse of a more secretive plan.
 * More Safe Haven/Haven's Fall bugginess. First off, where are the Virophages and other zerg buildings in the Safe Haven mission? It seems they take place at approximately the same time, so the zerg buildings would presumably have had time to build themselves up. Secondly, what exactly was Jim doing in the "Haven's Fall" mission, completely killing colonists, or only killing zerg infestor structures and infested buildings? If the first, it seems strange that he'd interfere rather than letting Selendis do it. If the second, what exactly is the problem? Infestor structures would need to be destroyed anyway, and infested terrans would almost certainly attack and need to be fought off anyway. (Gameplay wise, of course, the missions make good sense, and a bit of Gameplay and Story Segregation certainly might come in, its mostly these story details that seem a bit odd.)
 * It seems like both missions were intentionally designed so that no matter which path you chose, it would look like Raynor made the right call. It also helps that Word of God confirmed that Safe Haven is canon and Haven's Fall is not.
 * How did Duran join with Kerrigan anyway? It would be somewhat strange if, say, some human were to talk to Kerrigan and volunteer to join with her, since just about no humans know who she is or her role in the swarm. A random infestation, however, also seems chancy, as Kerrigan would have to get quite lucky to stumble onto Duran by accident, and she doesn't seem to mention any sort of attempts in game to try and do something similar at any point. (It is suggested that Duran might be good at predicting the future, so he might be able to arrange an infestation, but the other part does seem strange.)
 * Duran was not just a random guy - he was the leader of the Confederate Resistance Forces, working against the Dominion. Apparently, having gained news of the incoming UED fleet, Kerrigan sought out the CRF, captured and infested their leader to plant him into the invading force as a spy, as it would look natural if one anti-Mengsk group joins another.
 * Is there any information on the origins of the Xel'Naga device, that is used in "Wings of Liberty"? Who made it, what for, why was it split into separate parts, why didn't the Protoss seek it out earlier?
 * Wasn't this addressed elsewhere? It was probably a fail-safe device, basically a neutron bomb that only destroys creatures modified by the Xel'naga (presumably not including the Xel'naga themselves). It's been a while since I played the campaign, but the fact that half the pieces were buried (in Terran space, no less) and the other half were in the hands of the Tal'darim explains why the Protoss weren't assembling it themselves.
 * This seems the sort of question that the next two campaigns will answer. (Some answers from Metzen at blizzcon 2010 suggest this as well.)
 * At one point Dr Hanson says something to the effect of "this device would drain the life right out of a Protoss," so it makes sense that its a fail safe device for both created races. Could be why Zeratul was antsy and weakened being on the Hyperion and fled quickly, among other reasons.
 * Don't forget the Xel'Naga temple from Brood War's Protoss Campaign did essentially the same thing in wiping out the zerg en masse, but being larger it affected the entire planet. Also note that in "In Utter Darkness" the hybrids there use an artifact (possibly the same one?) to clean up the Zerg after the Protoss are wiped out. It seems that the Xel'Naga created the artifacts to reign in the Zerg. Not that it did them much good but it serves to reinforce the point that the Zerg are going to be pivotal in defeating them if they return.
 * As regards them being in Terran space - the Xel'Naga would have just set them whereever they pleased, with no regards to what might become Protoss space later on. Additionally, Protoss space is implied to have receeded quite a bit in recent millenia. Even Kerrigan asks why a protoss relic, one of the twin crystals, is on a Terran world.
 * Two communication issues. First, how did a confederate adjuctant manage to record a conversation taking place within the Son of Korhal? If these sorts of conversations about future plans were being recorded by the confederates, they would have had a major advantage in fighting against the Sons of Korhal attack. Second, how is no one worried about Kerrigan apparently intercepting, or somehow receiving, transmissions on Char? (Whatever allows her to give the very specific taunts to Raynor). Again, seems something the dominion will want to fix, given the huge advantage it would provide to the zerg.
 * I think Raynor just mistook the adjutant to be a Confederate one. It's implied that it might actually be the one the Magistrate used.
 * (original poster) I've read that idea somewhere else as well, and it does make a lot of sense. (Though still has the issue of Raynor being classes as a criminal, but that may be a magistrate mistake in not updating Raynor's information properly on it.)
 * Actually if the adjutant is actually the same one used by the Magistrate then it IS a Confederate adjutant. Remember the magistrate was a governing official under the Confederacy.
 * Why is it that the most controversial part of the Raynor's broadcast in Starcraft 2 the part when Mengsk talks about his own desire for power? Seems like the reveal of Mengsk using the zerg would be a far bigger deal, given that Mengsk has based a big part of his public image on keeping terrans safe from aliens, plus people knowing the victims of the zerg attack. Also, a politician grabbing for power is something that would seem expected to some degree already, so having Mengsk revealed, especially if stressed or angry, to be desiring power does not seem that big of a reveal.
 * I think his comlicity in the fall of Tarsonis ''did' affect people. The news anchor that was one of his biggest supporters suffered a nervous breakdown after muttering about losing a brother on Tarsonis.
 * No question it does, it just seems that the reporters and dialogue don't focus on that angle as much. (For example, the reporter asks about "selflewss devotion to the people" and plays the "will not be stopped" clip, instead of asking about Mengsk's claim to be protecting humanity from aliens and playing the "who authorized the use of psi emitters" clip.)
 * What's up with the poison that  gets hit with? Hydralisks don't cause any kind of poison damage in-game, and I'm sure that Blizzard could have implemented that if they wanted. I don't know of any canonical poison from hydralisks in the game manuals, either. The whole "poison" thing even seems unnecessary. Couldn't   arm just have been damaged too much to be used in combat and need a replacement for that reason? Why bother invoking this whole "hydralisk poison" thing when it seems so unnecessary? It's particularly odd when most other in-game features are depicted surprisingly accurately in cutscenes.
 * You mean like the under-barrel mounted grenade launcher that the space marines feature in the intro to Brood Wars? Cutscene Power to the Max!
 * The hydralisk poison may be assumed to be part of its normal damage in game. It may also/otherwise be a side infection, or a side effect, of something else on the hydralisk spine, in a similar way to how, say, dirt in wounds might cause infections.
 * It might not even be actual poison, but just foreign bacteria and organisms that the human immune system can't fight effectively against, similar to how a Komodo Dragon is not venomous, but its saliva contains enough bacteria to kill you anyways.


 * General answer to everything related to the Tal'Darim: They're servants of a crazed (and dead) dark archon and either are currently on pyschoactive drugs or suffering withdrawal from said drugs, plus said drugs mean they're all cut off from the Khala. So the explanation for anything strange that they do boils down to being crazy and/or on drugs. This is explained in the Dark Templar book trilogy
 * What was the Hyperion doing while Raynor was on Mar Sara?
 * Probably getting supplies or repairs. Mar Sara isn't the most technologically advanced planet out there, so most likely they dropped Raynor and some guys off, went to take care of some business and happened to pop back in at the right moment.

Other
"I'm thinking that they just couldn't come up with enough story-based reasons for these two races to engage in all-out warfare, which explains why only 6 out of 57 missions have any Terran vs. Protoss conflict whatsoever."
 * If protoss reinforcements are being sent in from Aiur,
 * Another possibility is that protoss gateways actually teleport to each other, so the troops that come out of your gateways are actually warped in from another gateway somewhere else in the galaxy, but not necessarily on Aiur. As for the training and manufacturing facilities, they have probably moved them from Aiur to Shakuras at some time after the second mission of the BW protoss campaign.
 * I always figured that plenty of protoss buildings, at least, survived intact. A Templar Archives here, a Robotics Support Bay there, and the odd base that was abandoned because it had no strategic value. As the Protoss elsewhere needed new buildings, they continued to warp them in from Aiur. If someone were to hang around on Aiur long enough, they would notice buildings vanishing periodically. Eventually, they'll run out, but hopefully they'll have enough new buildings on  to fill in.
 * It took the Overmind several cerebrates to properly control the zerg swarm, but it only takes a single infested human to do the same?
 * It's likely that the Cerebrates were simply commanders who helped to micromanage the Swarm as a whole. The Overmind could probably control all of the zerg at once, and because Kerrigan was infested to be the Overmind's successor, she could do the same.
 * Also, it's mentioned that, the Zerg Swarm went berzerk and destroyed everything around, including large portions of itself, leaving   with what amounts to about 30% of the remaining swarm.
 * Related to the betrayal plot: Findlay's little stunt in the Odin effectively costs Mengsk his Empire and it's established he can pull the plug on Tychus whenever he wants. Why doesn't he do it? One hypothesis is that he doesn't know it's his pawn in the cockpit--highly unlikely, as checking up on him is probably the first thing he'd do when hearing of the whole action. The other one is that he wanted to, but wasn't allowed to. Mengsk is hinted at being part of the Voice's little conspiracy and the only thing that matters to the Voice is the death of Kerrigan. This would also explain the ridiculous Gambit Roulette involved in having Tychus infiltrate the Raiders on the off-chance that Raynor does a 180 and goes after Kerrigan instead of continuing his private war against Mengsk.
 * The link was between Tychus and Arcturus personally. It could be Mengsk never even looked at the link before the Raiders went to Char. Welding someone in a big cumbersome suit and threatening their life doesn't exactly motivate them to go out of their way not to wreck your capital city and reputation with a high-rise sized walking deathmobile.
 * I don't follow this response. The JBM here is "why didn't Mengsk ever look at the link before Char", when he knew that Tychus was with the Raiders (if he didn't know this, then what exactly was Tychus's mission as a secret agent, and why was he released at all?), and knew that the Raiders were likely suspects for two operations to a) steal the most powerful weapon prototype in the Dominion and b) spread information that would pose the greatest civilian threat to Mengsk's rule since the Dominion's founding. If the answer is "he wanted to keep Tychus's cover intact just in case Raynor randomly went to Char and decided to rescue Kerrigan even though he hasn't done anything but fight the Dominion for four years", then, yeah, that's a pretty insane gambit, hence the JBM.
 * Maybe he can't locate Tychus that exactly. He did know tychus was with the raiders on Korhal, but didn't know he was the one piloting the Odin. Staying with the raiders is his mission, so there would be no reason to flip the kill-switch.
 * There's also the possibility that only Tychus can initiate a link. Transmission can be detected, and contacting Tychus while he's surrounded by the Hyperion's sensor equipment could lead to premature exposure. Tychus would probably be expected to contact Mengsk at irregular intervals while outside the ship or at least in an area far away from the sensor suite to minimize the risk.
 * If Mengsk had killed Tychus the moment he noticed something was going wrong, it would've already been too late to stop Raynor's plan. Up to the point where the Odin started attacking the Dominion soldiers, nobody knew there wasn't something right. And even after that it took some minutes till even all the soldiers present were informed. Had Mengsk killed Tychus when the news got to him, it wouldn't have changed much, since Raynor already had set up a base and could send more troops to make up for the loss.
 * In the first and second mission you liberate the people of Mar Sara from the Dominion's rule. By the third mission your objective is to hold out from the zerg till rescue comes to pick you up. But you leave behind most of the people of Mar Sara to zerg.
 * Or not: Mar Sara is in the process of being resettled and therefore sparsely populated. Other than isolated groups and frontiermen, most of the population would be located around Backwater Station which Raynor took over and, when Horner showed up, evacuated.
 * Just to add what has already been said, this troper recalls Swann saying something later about trying to find some use for 'all these colony ships' they had on their hands (hinting at the Hercules, which is modified from the Colony Ship) which suggests Raynor did indeed pick up refugees at some point (though that specific line may refer to the Haven colonists it still seems likely Raynor evacuated all the civilians on Mar Sara he couuld, even if not explicitly stated)
 * Very likely this is the case. The dead Raider on Char that Raynor takes the dog tags from is from Mar Sara. It's within reason that Raynor rescued them and took them in as volunteer for the Raiders.
 * Actually, I'm pretty certain that the marine with the Mar Sara Militia dog tags was supposed to be one of the ones that joined up with Raynor at the beginning of the first game. The idea, of course, being that it would make the player care more about this particular random marine's death.
 * Raszagal. Zeratul was really, really upset about her death, and mentions her maybe.. once?
 * He does swear by her memory when you use him as a controllable unit.
 * He kinda gets over it during the Dark Templar Saga, which acts as a prequel to the game. Not to mention he quickly finds out that there's much larger things at stake.
 * Just what the Hell does the Firebat say for his unit trained quote?! This has bothered me since the game came out. Everyone reassures me that he is saying "Need a light?" But I swear that I hear something more along the lines of "Nedo ay esca"
 * It is "Need a light?", but there's flames roaring in the background (as with every Firebat voice clip). You can also hear engines in the background of the Vulture and Vulture-riding Raynor clips, if you listen closely.
 * If you go to Blizzard's site, they have a tool that will pull out all of the game sounds for you. Here is the Firebat's sound on creation, for example.
 * Why are artificial, manufactured space platforms home to vast tracts of naturally-occurring mineral and gas deposits?
 * For the same reason there's usable resources next to a thousand-year-old sacred temple: because otherwise you couldn't play the game.
 * It does mention in the manual that those space platforms are built on space rocks containing those resources.
 * Horner handwaves it away in one mission by mentioning that the centuries-old platform has minerals and crystallized vespene scattered over it as a result of long bombardment by asteroids, but... yeah. In all other cases it's not discussed at all. Chalk it up to Gameplay and Story Segregation.
 * Why in campaign missions, the enemies come off with weirdest builds which don't seem to work at all?
 * Each campagin mission is the Day in The Limelight for a given unit, hero, gameplay type or tactic. Jee, its sure a good thing we got those battlecrusiers in time for the big mission against people with rip field generators. ect.
 * The second last mission, if you go after the airborne units. Tychus asks: Why can't they nuke the airborne platforms? One of the other characters points out the units you're trying to neutralise are nested too far beneath the surface of the platforms. What you gonna do to kill them? Destroy cooling towers placed on top of the platforms. So why can't you 'just nuke' the cooling towers?
 * The zerg likely have some kind of point defense systems in place to shoot down the nukes. Even if the missiles were programmed to explode when destroyed (most nukes will not explode early, ever), that would still likely not be enough to kill the towers. Note that you can use ghosts to launch nukes no problem--presumably, when launched from the surface they stay below the point defense range. Or maybe its Gameplay and Story Segregation, and when Raynor "really" attacked the platforms, he couldn't use nukes.
 * Well in that case you'd think they make Raynor give this as a reason instead of the nonsense about "the deep nests", wouldn't you? Besides, it doesn't make sense either. If the platform has point defence that can target a missile, then how the hell are you supposed to land troops there not to mention buildings?
 * Why not just nuke everything from orbit the moment the fleet warps in? Kerrigan's got God Mode on, she'll be fine, and she won't have 17,852,654,905 zerglings to throw at the landing sites. Hell, why didn't Mengsk or DuGalle or Artanis slag Char back in the day, after (or even better, before) Omega? It's not like any of them was worried about the prophesy.
 * They might not have had the resources. On the other hand, it could have been like the Protoss, and they just plain couldn't get into a position that was safe to nuke the place without dieing from Over 9 million mutalisks.
 * Maybe that was the goal of those gas cannons on Char? Intercepting nuclear missiles. On the other hand, scourges could probably intercept some as well. In addition, most of the zerg forces are deep, deep underground (like a mile)
 * Nuking an entire planet is generally something that requires managing to complete an orbit of the planet. Given the rate at which battlecruisers were getting shot down by the space forces and the planetary defense spore cannons, that was not going to happen. Longer ranged fire would simply get the missiles shot down.
 * Well, it's stated in the first game's manual that after the nuking of Korhal, there was a huge negative reaction, plus the Confederacy was afraid of the same tactic being used against them, so they scrapped all of their largest nuclear missiles, saved the "tactical" ones, and designed them in a way so that only Ghosts would have the power to launch them. Logically, having his homeplanet destroyed by nukes, Mengsk probably didn't bother changing the system. Simply put, they couldn't nuke the site from orbit. They would need a Ghost to get in close to paint the target.
 * Where's this Professor Narud everyone keeps talking about? I played through all the missions, including the secret mission, and I haven't seen him anywhere. Am I just blind?
 * He's the head of Moebius- he's the guy you can sell zerg and protoss artifacts/biosamples to after you've hit all your research, and appears in person in the mission "Moebius Factor". The Sdrawkcab Name and emphasis on researching those two species are what make a lot of people think he's.
 * Considering, it makes one wonder just what is Doctor Narud doing with all those samples you're selling him? They'd certainly be the right stuff for that sort of thing.
 * The manual to the sequel isn't even in the same league as the first one. Having to dig through the website to find out who the hell the new characters are and what the story is with the new units is just not the same. Just compare.
 * Can you elaborate? The first manual had to set up the entire universe. The second manual assumes you've read the first manual, because the second game is a sequal to the first game. As for finding out the deal with the new characters, weren't most of them carry overs from the books, or being introduced in the game?
 * Blizzard took different approaches with I and II on how to get exposition across. The first game manual included a full history of pretty much everything right up until the start of the game and only really addressed immediate plot events within the game. The sequel, aside from following the industry trend of more barebones manuals, has a much richer in-between-missions environment allowing for more character and backstory moments. It also takes pains to establish the origin of each new unit as you unlock it via briefings beforehand and the armory afterward.
 * That said, there's still plenty of backstory that is simply not available to the players via the games, such as Horner's background. Making players buy tie-in novels in order to fill in relevant plot and character details is always going to draw these complaints.
 * Also, printing out millions of multi-page instruction manuals is far more expensive than just setting up a web page anybody can read.
 * Matt Horner's uniform. Don't get me wrong, most of it is pretty nice looking, but in close ups you can see that underneath his naval jacket he's wearing a heavy woolen sweater. Does the guy just have body-temperature-regulation issues or something?
 * Does anyone but Jim NOT wear layers on the bridge?
 * Maybe the heating on the ship just isn't all that good? It was already an old vessel beaten and battered from combat before Raynor and company seized it, and creature comforts probably haven't been their top priority. It's probably a minor miracle that the life support is working at all at this point.
 * Frankly, I was too busy boggling at the notion of spaulders on a uniform jacket. Then I realised I was being silly.
 * What was Maar doing on Zhakul anyways? He certainly didn't look like he was gathering information.
 * He might have been "born" there
 * Or he was there specifically to stop Zeratul.
 * When invading Char, it is pointed out that planet Char has at atmosphere that can 'burn a man alive'. Fair enough. So why can marines survive on Char with their helmets open? Is it artistic licence, with the helmets * really* closed, but visibly open so we can see their faces? Are Terrans somehow genetically augmented so the atmosphere doesn't bother them? Then why did they say the atmosphere was dangerous if it wasn't dangerous for most Terran marines? The worst offender is, who seems fine in the toxic atmosphere despite being basically naked.  'burned alive' by the atmosphere?
 * Its been made clear that Terran environmental suits are enough to survive Char; either its not so bad that they can't survive with open helmets for limited periods of time, or it is artistic liscense, as stated. Likewise, its pretty clear that
 * The content of the atmosphere is safe enough, it's the heat that's the problem. According to the Starcraft 2 site the average temperature of Char is 48 Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) with maximum temperatures over 800 Celsius (1472 Fahrenheit) so it must also get pretty cold to arrive at an average temperature like that. The average temperature of Earth is 14C (57F) but obviously the entire planet isn't that temperature. Seems clear that the Zerg settled in one of the cooler areas and that's why the terrans can open their helmets.
 * Unprotected terrans on char also appear in starcraft 1, see here, starting at 53 seconds.
 * The key word is CAN. Just because something can do something doesn't mean that it will. I assume that depending just where you are on the surface of Char has a lot to do with it. It may also have to do with time of day, seasons, and Char's current position on its orbital path. If Char's orbit is eccentric enough it may change distance from the sun enough to cause major surface temperature changes.
 * Why are the enemy forces in campaign horrible at microing and not being able to harass your economy at all?
 * 1) They're not trying to win. They're trying to challenge you. 2) They're not humans.
 * Not to mention, some of the missions stick in things like a flaming wall coming after you. If campaign enemies were even half as competant as the average online player, it would be nearly impossible to win the campaign, what with being in between a rock and a hard place.
 * American Trilogy making it to the far future is one thing, but Sweet Home Alabama? Do the Terrans even know what an Alabama is?
 * Do many Americans today understand the context of old folk songs from across the Atlantic? Do even many Britons? If a song is popular enough it often outlives its context. Besides, the terrans all have American accents and the Confederacy has the literal C.S.A (battle) flag. Were you expecting hyper-realism? It's all thematic.
 * Not to mention that the initial Koprulu colonists had access to a database that essentially contained all of Earth's knowledge at the time, "classic" songs probably included.
 * Dear God, what a cunning plan with the Odin. So, you run into a secret development lab, guns blazing, leave it a smoking ruin, and not only doesn't any news of this reach the government who funded the project (forget distress signals or assorted bureaucracy, the workers and scientists were apparently hermits without friends or families), but somehow the Odin gets delivered to the capital, HOOKED UP TO THE STATE BROADCASTING SERVICE (why?), and set up at the heart of a parade without anyone noticing that there's a psycho mercenary inside. Even he we assume that Mengsk, didn't Raynor or Horner ever think of consulting a random five-year-old kid before proceeding with this plan?
 * Didn't Matt mention in one of the following cutscenes that he had used every contact he had in order to keep word from getting out? There's a lot of space between Valhalla and Korhal, it wouldn't take much to stop word from getting out. Especially if the Odin was being transported form Valhalla to Korhal, rather than people from Korhal stopping by to check up.
 * Also, it's explained before the mission on Valhalla that Matt Horner will use the Hyperion to jam the facility's communication systems to prevent any signal from reaching the Dominion.
 * Not to mention the facility on Valhalla is so damn secret or has such strict security measures that it would be difficult to contact them even without Matt's efforts.
 * Emperor Mengsk. Really? I'm not sure whose Genre Blindness bugs me more: the people for not spotting the red flag earlier, or Arcturus for putting on a show of taking up the heavy burden of shepherding his people through trying times and then blowing his altruist credibility by taking the title of emperor. He might as well have gone straight for Arch-Generalissimo Father-of-His-Country and be done with it.
 * In his coronation speech cinematic he doesn't just throw the word out there, he specifically plays the image. Its a helluva speech about the letting no terran be divided, letting no man consort with alien powers, all united under one single throne. Remind you of a certain other Emperor of mankind, yes? There's always been a bit of bleed through back and forth between starcraft and 40k. Seems Blizz acknowledged it fairly firmly here.
 * The Confederacy was a super-corrupt oligarchic dictatorship made up to look vaguely like a democracy, and the Heaven's Devils prequel novel makes it pretty clear that the only other power in the sector, the Kel-Morian Combine, is little better. Simply put, I think they found his honesty refreshing.
 * Would Mengsk declaring himself emperor even be a problem? Napoleon declared himself emperor of France, after the France grew tired of the Revolution. There have been empires throughout human history, and across all nations. The problem here isn't "Mengsk wants to be emperor;" since he could call himself "General Secretary" or "President" and still wield the same authority. Mengsk also has most of the guns and his regime did push the Zerg out of Terran space, while pointedly avoiding conflict with any non-imperial world. This would look great when compared with the Confederacy.
 * Because any negative conotations the word emperor may have is more or less a modern invention. By definition, an empire is a group of states governed by one guy who's office title is hereditary, which is exactly what the Dominion is. Besides, considering that he's technically a dictator, calling himself anything else just to sound more democratic would've sounded even more villainous.
 * Not to mention most people didn't really have any other alternative. What else could they have done? Say "no" to Mengsk, who is essentially runs the most powerful and stable Terran government in Koprulu? You'd either get conquered by him, get left to fend for yourself against the Zerg, or be forced to join a weaker third party like the Umojan Protectorate or Raynor's Raiders.
 * Since Tychus is sealed into his armour, presumably it deals with bodily functions for him; so why does he care if the Odin can do it too? For that matter, how does he even fit in the cockpit in his armour?
 * Big vehicle. One would think it's a spacious cockpit if it can accomodate a commode.
 * One would assume that the relief tanks on Findlay's armor are of limited capacity. Maybe the Odin's W.C. contains the equivalent of a sewage hookup?
 * Alternatively, the armour has the powered version of a zipper and buttflap.
 * A huge amount of Fridge Logic kicks in when you find out
 * This troper always thought that
 * How does that agreement even work?
 * I always thought that
 * Especially since letting Tychus live cost him nothing. He may have changed his mind after the Media Blitz mission, but in the beginning it was high possibility of reward with virtually zero risk.
 * The  seems to imply the Mengsk and
 * Good point. That would also explain why Mengsk let Tychus run amok through his city - he must have ached to pull the plug at that time, but the artifact missions had already come along that far that he knew Raynor had a real chance of reaching Kerrigan. More to the point, something knew Raynor had a real chance and made its pawn Mengsk hold still despite pretty much costing him his empire.
 * Of course, Mengsk Sr. would have looked into his only son and heir apparent springing the associate of someone wanting him dead, figured out the plan (for that matter he could even have had a ghost following Valerian around), and cooked up the extra spice of welding Tychus in his armor and giving him the deal to kill Kerrigan. Also, why is  using   in  ?
 * Probably because people have been visiting this page for Starcraft I a long time before these II spoilers came along; the new game is less than a year old. Admittedly, the two should probably have separate sections to avoid over-taggging.
 * How much of an idea of the starcraft 2 story had been worked out in starcraft 1? On the one hand, there's the Dark Origin mission suggesating that some outline had been worked out, on the other hand, almost nothing else of the Dark Voice plot was suggested in any part of original starcraft.
 * The Dark Voice was touched upon in Dark Origin. Despite the naming similarities, Duran talked about how he "served a far greater power." I think it will become more clear in the sequels.
 * (original poster here): The buggy part comes into play even with that mission (as mentioned in the first bit). It does mention the general idea of the second story, but is light on details, and nothing else aside from this mention mentions the other stuff going on in the game. (so it's pretty clear that something was planned along these lines for the future, but how much of the exact details involving the overmind, exact nature of the big enemy, etc., are the confusing parts.)
 * What exactly happend to Fenix's blades in his cutscene in SC1? He sees the hydras, ignites the blades...and then they flicker and extinguish. The hell? What, did he forget to recharge them the previous evening?
 * We don't know how the psi-tech works. Maybe the batteries died because he had been killing zerg all day. If its powered directly by his mind (or soul, or wherever psychic power comes from), maybe he was really tired from killing zerg all day. Maybe the crystals were out of alignment--whatever. The point is: He had been using them a lot, which increases the chances of them failing, as with any other mechanical device.
 * The CGI was put together before fluff was finalised - they originally were energy tech based - hence the inconsistency.
 * He should have went with Duracell
 * The Zealots' arm gauntlets are most likely needed to focus the psionic energy of the protoss warrior into a solid blade, otherwise you would probably end up with a bubble of blunt energy without devoting great effort to making it flat and sharp or having absurd mental training. I know Zealots are supposed to have absurd amounts of training anyway, but that's in all disciplines. Makes since to me to have technology that could make the awesome blades for your foot soldiers without having to tire them out just maintaining their basic weapon (hence the lack of energy bar on Zealots). What happened to Fenix is that either a)he was tired from all the fighting and just didn't have the mental strength to feed psi into his armbands any more, b)The mechanisms in the armbands were damaged in all the fighting and just happened to fail at that moment, and Fenix didn't have the raw power and/or skill to make the blades unaided, or c) some combination of the above
 * In a more meta set of reasoning - they flickered out and died because it was the only way the story could kill off Fenix realistically in a cutscene. If he'd been up to snuff, his action would've been a lot more like is scene in SC2 with Zeratul and the hydralisks, and while Blizz loves and is loved for their cutscenes, back then it'd have been quite the job to make all that action or make Fenix fight like a wuss. The only way to avoid both is to drop the bridge.
 * Why does Jim get a thank-you banner for saving the people of haven from the Protoss (which, depending on how you played the mission, might not even have grazed a single colonist) but not from the Swarm, a much more imminent threat that had literally walked up to the colonists' doorsteps and snarled at them before Jim saved them at the last second? They certainly seemed thankful enough while you were still doing it.
 * I imagine it has something to do with the fact that you had to slaughter about half of them to save the rest. They're grateful, they just don't want to remember it.
 * It wasn't just a thank-you banner, it was in commemoration for the founding of their new Sovereign planet. If you choose to purify them, it doesn't inspire them to rebel against the Dominion.
 * All that money spent on developing fancy suits for marines, and no-one thought to include anything to protect against something as simple as a flashbang? What is the point of those darkened visors? Are marines rendered completely helpless when they have the sun in their eyes?
 * Why are you assuming it was a normal flashbang, and not some advanced ECM weapon that screwed with their combat suits?
 * Call me an idiot, but I have a question about the mission "Ghost of a Chance": it takes place on Avernus Station, in orbit around the planet New Folsom. The station is apparently built into the shards of a broken asteroid and while it does seem to have a working interior, the surface (on which the mission occurs) seems to be completely exposed to the void of space. This avoids Fridge Logic very nicely because all terran units are either vehicles or infantry in big, environmentally sealed power suits... All terran units except Nova, the focus of the mission, who wears nothing more then a Spy Catsuit and a pair of goggles (on her hair). Why is she alive and well? If she was a protoss I could except that maybe there is some invisible Phlebotinum field involved but...
 * Batman Can Breathe in Space. Other slip-ups include
 * Because when Warfield said "burn a man alive", of course he meant that literally. Because the Starcraft universe humans have no concept of poetic exaggeration.
 * Batman Can Breathe in Space might be justified, she does have psionic powers after all. Maybe one part of ghost training is the instinctive ability to maintain a shell of atmosphere around your body without bulky, unstealthy armor. Hell, if I had a squad of psychic special ops commandos that take frequent missions in space, it's one of the first things I'd do.
 * Or, for the simplest explanation: she's actually wearing a full suit, but her transmitter icon shows her face so you know who's talking.
 * There's also a bit of a Hand Wave that most large orbital platforms actually have some semblance of atmosphere around their exteriors, or else Banshees would not be able to fly over them.
 * I have one question. If Kerrigan was created by the Overmind to, why the hell was Duran  HELPING HER? It seems completely counterproductive to the plan of 'neutralise Kerrigan, hatch hybrids, dominate universe, ????, PROFIT!' Wouldn't it just have been easier to shoot her in the face while she still trusted you?
 * In "Dark Origins" Duran hinted that the reason behind him helping Kerrigan was to study her to learn how to produce hybrids. Why Duran didn't got rid of her once he didn't need her anymore, is unknown. Maybe he thought she was no threat. One would think that a single infested protoss would be much stronger than an infested terran.
 * Duran DID try to get rid of her once she outlived her usefulness; he abandoned her to the mercy of Mengsk, Dugalle, and Artanis when they attacked Char. He didn't expect her to beat them all back.
 * Perhaps the Dark Voice and Duran didn't quite realize what Kerrigan's true purpose was at the time. After all, the Overmind went through great efforts to keep its plan secret.
 * It seems like Duran was trying to make her the enemy of the entire sector. He was probably giving her bad advice to get herself killed. I believed that Duran somewhat succeed in the last mission "Omega". Nobody, not even Duran would expect that Kerrigan would survive.
 * It Just Bugs Me that Arcturus Mengsk didn't even threaten to hit Tychus' killswitch while he was rampaging through Korhal. I mean, I get that maybe he couldn't kill him right then, but the threat of death would probably have been enough to dissuade Tychus, and it really seems out of character for Mengsk to just shrug and take Tychus stealing his biggest, most badass mech and going on a joyride.
 * MENGSK: Finlay, you stop that shit right now or I pull the plug. FINLAY: Dude, we're going to go kill Kerrigan after this. MENGSK: NVM, kthnxbye.
 * Perhaps he just didn't know it was Tychus inside? The Dominion clearly didn't attempt to identify the Odin's pilot before deploying it on the streets of Korhal. Which was utterly moronic of them, but oh well...
 * I am amazed that it took me so long to realize that. Almost everybody you fight in the campaign of Wings of Liberty constantly makes use of units and buildings they shouldn't have access to! The Dominion, for example, use Ravens all the time, even though the Raven was only made possible by a discovery the Hyperion's scientist made by mistake! (Dropping the nano-fabricator into the tank with the protoss crystal). And Colonel Orlen on Deadman's Port has tech reactors on some of his buildings, another invention he couldn't possibly have access to. And what about the protoss? The Tal'darim make use of Stalkers and Void Rays, very new (especially by protoss standards) Dark Templar technology that is probably only available on Shakuras, a planet on which the Tal'darim probably haven't set foot in aeons. Same thing goes for the corrupted guardians of the Zhakul preservers.
 * Who says the Dominion isn't advancing their tech while you're advancing yours? They sure as hell have more researchers. The fact that their advancements are identical is Law of Conservation of Detail; their Raven may move 10% slower or whatever, but there's really no need to show that in-game. And maybe the Tal'darim stole from the other protoss.
 * The Tal'darim stole Dark Templar technology? The same Tal'darim that always threaten to incinerate you and everything you hold dear for trying to steal their stuff? I was under the impression they had some sort of thing against stealing.
 * Moral Dissonance and Double Standards? In my Knight Templar Scary Dogmatic Aliens? NO WAI!
 * And in "The Gates of Hell", some of the Dominion escape pods that you can rescue contain Thors. Even though, in-universe, the Thor is a machine unique to the Raiders, reverse-engineered from the stolen Dominion Super Prototype by your onboard mechanic.
 * Well, by that time Raiders and the Dominion (some of them) teamed up, so that particular case was not surprising at all.
 * Actually Egon didn't invent the Ravens. He simply discovered a way to build them through the use of protoss technology. I mean he didn't invent the Hercules drop-ships either. There were a couple of old ships rusting in storage, and he simply found a way to fix them up and make them space-worthy.
 * So... are Zerglings afraid of lemon juice?
 * If they ever were, it probably wasn't for long.
 * You ever got lemon juice in your eye? Stings like a son of a bitch.
 * The "Great Train Robbery" mission. So, the Dominion is shipping some artefact by train, but you don't know which of the regularly cruising trains will have it. So you have to destroy eight of them to "hit it for sure" and you can't let more than three trains escape, or else you "risk missing the artifact". Uh, guys, that artifact is not the freaking Shroedinger's cat. It's either on a certain train or it is not, and whether it's one way or another should be pretty clear once you blow that certain train up and ransack it.
 * Likely due to Rule of Fun. A mission where you immediately fail because you missed just one train (keep in mind that they come about every two minutes or so) out of many isn't going to be as much fun.
 * I know it was fun, it's just that they could easily made it fun and making some freaking sense. For example, you raid regular trains just for resourses (as you do anyway), so you can hold on and build up a force, and then the intelligence inform you that the Dominion is sending that heavilly guarded extra-durable train (boss train, if you will) that apparently contains the artifact. There, almost nothing changed in the mission mechanics, but the stupid is removed.
 * Doing it the above way would make it harder to justify missing a train and not failing the mission (Which goes against how Blizzard has designed other Warcraft 3 and starcraft 2 missions), though I do agree that another story explanation could have been invented. (Something like "our goal is to capture a certain amount of resources", with the adjutant being a complete surprise.)
 * The "Haven" mission. So the colonists get infected and the Protoss arrive to burn them. Wait a second, wasn't it the big turning point of the first game when Tassadar refused to carry on sterilizing infected worlds? What, did they just change their mind? I mean, that Protoss chick Selendis who was in charge of the cleansing greets Raynor with "En Taro Tassadar" and then just procceds to shit on his legacy, and Raynor doesn't even calls her out on that! What. The. Hell.
 * Back then their homeworld wasn't overrun with Zerg.
 * Which further reinforces my point. Pre-Starcraft Protoss were all-powerfull masters of the galaxy (well, at least they thought they were) disdainful of lesser races and with little else to do. The Protoss of Starcraft 2 were severely beaten by the Zerg and weary. Was one Zerg-infested planet in the galaxy mostly controlled by the Zerg really such a big deal, they felt the need to send their precious mothership and antagonise their allies?
 * Except Selendis is NOT Tassadar. Tassadar disliked fighting in general and had moral objections to incinerating lesser species. Selendis on the other hand is portrayed more as a Proud Warrior Gal who thinks with Honor Before Reason, and she was going against Raynor, who she considers a Worthy Opponent. Of course she'd pull out all the stops in that case! Plus, just because you revere a guy doesn't necessarily mean you follow his message to the letter. Case in point, religious groups like Christians would justify horrible things in Christ's name, even though the real Jesus would have been mortified.
 * In "The Dig", it's explained that a specialist team from the Moebius Foundation went to Xil to extract a Xel'naga artifact and were promptly obliterated by the Tal'darim. You then pick up where the Moebius team left off and use their leftover laser drill to finish the excavation while fighting off the Tal'darim. Wait... if the Tal'darim were so intent on preventing anyone from taking the artifact, then why didn't they destroy the laser drill when they killed the rest of the moebius team?
 * They tried, but they kept getting that "CANNOT TARGET INVULNERABLE UNITS" error and just gave up.
 * They could have at least built a base around it. And it's not just the laser drill, they didn't even bother to destroy the rest of the moebius team's leftover buildings!
 * I thought there was a base around it--or at least a good chunk of units. I haven't seen the intro for that mission recently, but I don't remember anything saying that the Moebius team happened years ago. Maybe it was a few days before you show up, so they didn't really have time to do anything.
 * The only area the Tal'darim didn't have a base in was the area immediately around the laser drill, which was still occupied by the moebius team's leftover base. A few days would have been more than enough time for the Tal'darim to clear that base away and secure the laser drill themselves.
 * Perhaps they were just happy enough to eliminate the personnel and weren't too concerned with the equipment. It's not like the Tal'darim are very rational anyways, since these are the same guys who would set up a base on planet about to be roasted by a supernova just to stop Raynor.
 * Zeratul's second mission. Upon seeing the Hybrid, he exclaims "Abomination! Who could've made it?!". Uhm, Zeri? "Dark Origins", Duran, "I've seeded hybrids on many worlds"...rings any bells? I understand that since that mission was secret, one could argue that not everybody played it and thus might not understand the reference, but come on, I'm sure, everybody who's into Starcraft at least heard about it.
 * THIS. Especially annoying because "Dark Origin" was where Blizzard introduced the whole Hybrid plotline. Apparently Zeratul has, like, Protoss alzheimers now.
 * Viewers are Morons, but a justified form--its a secret mission (that's actually pretty hard to get if you're not cheating), so not everyone will have played it. Blizzard just wanted to make sure it was clear. Probably could have done it better, but oh well.
 * How do the zerg travel via warp space without the aid of the Overmind or cerebrates now that their all dead?
 * Kerrigan did it. Flippant but true - she had massive psionic ability, amplified by her infestation and grooming to be a major power in the swarm.
 * And now for this week's episode of "Why are the Tal'darim such idiots?" Tonight subject - the "Supernova" mission. With the very sun above their heads preparing to go kaboom, and a huge all-obliterating firewave approaching their base, why the hell don't they attempt to relocate and ultimately escape from the planet? Are they fine with burning to death along with their precious artefact?
 * I got the vague impression (it might be my imagination) that the Tal'darim may have somehow set off the supernova themselves to prevent Raynor from getting the artifact. Whether this is true or not, they may have some twisted thought process where the artifact must remain on its home world, and/or that having it get destroyed is better than having it stolen. (Tal'darim do seem to worship the artifacts, so may well have a twisted view of how to act towards them.)
 * They are the Protoss version of a Knight Templar. Logic was never a part of the equation.
 * The scene of Raynor's rendezvous with  looks like a carnival of sheer idiocy.
 * First, there's s Raynor. Everything about the situation screams "IT'S A TRAP", he doesn't know if his quarry is even on the ship, his partner has a killswitch apparently operated by the very people he's going against, yet he rushes in like a bull who saw a red flag.
 * Then, it's : Why the hell doesn't he just contact Raynor via a comlink, like every sentient being does all the time?! Instead he risks Raynor a) just bailing, b) blasting his ship from the sky, c) getting killed during the assault, d) killing him despite his offer. I understand that these can countered by saing "He just knew Raynor well", but my point is why do it in the first place? They speak via the link afterwards, so why use such a convoluted way that, by the way, resulted in his men getting killed for nothing? Is that how you win people's hearts?
 * If Valerian contacted Raynor by comlink, Raynor could just hang up on him; in fact, that's exactly what he does when they communicate by comlink for the first time. The only way he could ensure that Raynor would listen was by speaking to him in person. And he couldn't just walk up to the Hyperion...
 * Back to Raynor: Seeing WHO his employer turned out to be, isn't Jim a bit too trustful and eager about his proposal? Ok, since this version of Jim Raynor is a wuss, and Brood Wars apparently never happend, I understand the eager part, but what evidences he has that, who had him running his errands, is not after personal gain? Jim's whole crew is vehemently against the idea, and he just shoves them off like a total jerk! Even if he decided to run along, he could at least implement some safeguards, like inviting his employer to spend time on the Hyperion as an honor guest/hostage.
 * Right now Jimmy's mind was confused. He's been nursing conflicting feelings about Kerrigan and now he knows he has to save her. He's always been a passionate individual and after 5 years of doubt and guilt it's not that shocking for him to accept. as for a.) Raynor hates mengsk and isn't a coward to run from that situation, b.) Valerian had 3 other cruisers with him so it's not like Raynor would have time c.) He most likely deliberatly understaffed them and d.) He knew that Raynor loved her and would do anything to save her. Raynor has cooperated with people he's loathed in the past (mengsk during brood war) so it's not that much of a stretch.
 * A better question is what made Raynor think that he could drive his old and busted battlecruiser up alongside another one that was supported by a fleet without getting blasted out of the sky?
 * The secret mission. What dumbass would attempt to destroy a lab (positioned in an asteroid, mind it) by blowing up the core reactor, when he possess a powerfull warship perfectly capable of obliterating both the lab AND the asteroid from a safe distance?
 * The lab was a weapons lab if you recall. Raynor probably figured that by spending a strike team in they might be able to get some more info or steal some prototypes of whatever Dominion weapons were being worked on in the lab before blowing the place to bits. After all they managed to liberate the Odin that way after all.
 * Don't get me wrong, going in to investigate the lab and look for pilferable tech was perfectly reasonable. My point is that afterwards it'd be just as reasobale to return to Hyperion and annihilate the place instead of destroying the reactor while still inside in a wild hope that they'll have enough time to escape.
 * Except the lab is buried inside a freaking ASTEROID, with god knows how many meters of solid rock protecting the facility. The Hyperion's weapons aren't THAT powerful.
 * Oh, sure, they can destroy a reinforced battlecruiser, but a rock? That's a stopper. Not to mention that the Heperion's weapons are much more powerful than those of a regular cruiser - in Brood Wars it destroyed a Wraith with a single shot.
 * There are also a number of other ways they could more safely destroy the lab. (Send a large group of raiders, kidnap/evacuate the scientists, and set demolition charges, for example), which could be used if the Hyperion was not powerful enough.
 * Wasn't the main reason for destroying the base the immortal Protoss/Zerg hybrid that was running loose? Destroying the reactor while still inside ensures that the place will be blown to hell quickly and kill the hybrid. If you return to the ship you can't get back down to the facility with the hybrid on the loose, and there's always a chance that the Dominion will send someone to check up on the base while they're in the process of shooting it.
 * Nope, the Hybrid got loose because they blew up the generator thus making their plan that much stupider.
 * What's with Blizzard's woobiefication of ALL it's villains, in general, making them all Good All Along regardless of how little sense it makes? First they retconned the Orcs as having been corrupted by evil demons, then to Evil Sorcerer Medivh, and THEN to the Always Chaotic Evil demons who had corrupted the orcs in the first place. And now it's the Zerg's turn, and as it happens they are the savior's of the galaxy, and the Overmind actually did a heroic sacrifice. Why can't my Plagues of Alien Locusts *stay* Plagues of Alien Locusts? Why does Blizzard keep doing this? Not only it doesn't make sense story-wise, but it makes those characters far less interesting.
 * Amen, brother.
 * Allow me to object. The orcs were far more interesting as good guys rather that a just another horde of Always Chaotic Evil brutes ripped directly from Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Medivh never really looked like a woobie, he was more of The Atoner than anything else. The Eredar don't really have any excuse, but they were retconned in World of Warcraft [so they don't count]]. As for Kerrigan and the Zerg, well for crying out loud, give her a chance. She's got an entire frikin' game dedicated to her so she will have plenty of time to shine. However she will change is still unknown but if you'd rather see her being a two dimensional backstabbing bitch, than there's nothing left I can say to you.
 * Word of God from Blizz Con 2010's SC2 Lore panel also says the Zerg are NOT going the same route as the Orcs and will still be evil.
 * Even the Eredar are still fucking scary; does it really matter if they now have a less simplistic backstory? If there was a magical process to purify them into Draenei, that would be lame.
 * Why can't Protoss move their pylons? They're hovering, just push them a bit.
 * Apparently pylons exude a strong electromagnetic force that makes the ground they're on "impenetrable by normal means." Presumably it has something to do with not being able to cancel that once it's started.
 * In Brood Wars when the Zerg were about to attack Char to kill the enslaved Overmind, Duran mentions that only a Dark Templar can kill it for sure, but it turns out Kerrigan got it covered by "inviting" Zeratul to partake in the fun. Wait, where did this come from? I understand that a DT is required to kill a Cerebrate, since only they can disrupt the psychic link between Cerebrates and the Overmind and thus prevent the latter from ressurecting the former. But who was going to ressurect the Overmind?
 * Recall that the Overmind wasn't actually physically incarnate before the end of the Zerg campaign in Starcraft. Half the Zerg campaign was actually hunting down the magic crystals it needed to be 'made manifest' on Aiur. Its consciousness was apparently dispersed amongst the Swarm. Presumably the new Overmind would just regenerate somewhere else.
 * Except that the new Overmind had to be created through the merge of all the remaining Cerebrates. Apparently it couldn't just "regenerate" out of nothing.
 * I don't understand what you mean. Of course the new Overmind came out because the remaining Cerebrates combined themselves; the old Overmind was slain by Tassadar's fusion of Dark and High Templar energies, meaning it couldn't just psionically start elsewhere. Again, the Overmind did not have a physical form before the end of the first game's Zerg campaign, the Cerebrates and Overlords it used as processing hubs were sufficient. Also, the Cerebrates likely fused because they themselves would then be able to take control of the majority of the Swarm. Incidentally, the Overmind's genetic... stuff is located in each Zerg. Doctor Stettman even reverse engineered how the Overmind controlled the Zerg just from this stuff, and worked out how to control limited amounts of Zerg.
 * If the Protoss communicate telepathically, how can they have their own language?
 * The Protoss "speak" Khalani. They cannot transmit ideas, just words, so they communicate in a manner similar to, but not entirely unlike, talking. The only reason Protoss like Zeratul can speak with the terrans is because they can somehow transmit English.
 * Actually, some Expanded Universe content suggests that the protoss (and the zerg) communicate with a large telepathic/emotional content alongside any "words". They may have a language of their own, but it seems unlikely it's as nuanced and subtle as English in terms of syntax, metaphor, or imagery. This actually goes a long way to explain the stilted, flowery nature of protoss speech; they never developed some of the linguistic sophistication and multilayered nature of English or other human languages because they had no need for it.
 * So I can get why marines can do so much damage to a battle-cruiser relative to it's size. (It's such a large target, that all of the rounds hit). I also get why they'd do far less relative damage to a hydralisk. (Smaller target, less rounds hit. That's probably also why stim packs increase damage.) What I don't get, is instead of battle-cruisers spending so much resources on weapons for ship-to ship combat, that they just don't strap 12~20 marines on the outside of the hull every time another enemy ship happens by. Or hell, just use a 5 marine guns strapped together and have a computer aim, instead of various lasers that do far less damage to ground targets and to air.
 * Combat in-game is an abstraction of what is "really" happening. You aren't actually building a dozen battlecruisers each mission.
 * The lack of healing and repair capabilities for some races in the first game and its expansion. According to the manual, "All Zerg units are entirely biological, and as such will heal themselves over time." Okay, so Firebats, Marines, and Ghosts aren't biological? At least Brood War addressed the Terran side with medics, but what about Zealots, High Templars, and Dark Templars? And then there's the super-advanced Protoss, and their startling incapability not only to heal biological units, but also to repair robotic units and buildings. I suppose giving the Protoss healing and repair abilities on top of their regenerating shields would wreck competitive balance, but it still bugs me. They could've made auto-healing a variable factor among races, instead of the exclusive property of one, i.e. "Zerg heal fastest, Protoss heal slowest, Terrans heal at medium rates."
 * Whaat. What kind of humans do you know who heal up from wounded to full strength by themselves?
 * For the Protoss: I always figured the issue was not repairing in general, but repairing in the field. This is where the suggested "terran units are more jury rigged/modular" and "protoss units are more intricately constructed" explanations suggested in the manual come in.
 * (same poster as the protoss explanation) For the Zerg: Presumably the faster self healing is something the zerg evolved, which human and protoss have not figured out how to do naturally (instead having medics use whatever they are supposed to use, and protoss presumably using some other long, complicated process that isn't practical in the field.)
 * The lack of any good Terran vs. Protoss campaigns in the original game -- never at any point are the full strengths and tech tree of either side deployed against the other. A rundown:
 * 1st game, Terran 9: A "meet the Protoss" introductory mission that usually ends with a fleet of Terran Battlecruisers curb stomping basic Protoss infantry and air units.
 * 1st game, Protoss 6: Is mainly Protoss vs. Zerg, where you have the option of engaging a Battlecruiser and a Wraith squadron that defend a few inactive Terran outposts.
 * Brood War, Terran 6: The Protoss spend more time fighting off Zerg attacks than fighting you, and they don't even make use of Reavers, Arbiters, Corsairs, Dark Templars, or High Templars (beyond raw materials for Archons, so no Psionic Storms).
 * Brood War, Protoss 4: Both you and the Terrans lack key parts of the tech tree.
 * Brood War, Protoss 5: "Installation" type mission without any resource-gathering or construction on either side.
 * Brood War, Bonus: More of an exercise in Mind Control than anything else.


 * Oh, come on man, the game came out in 1998. In 1998 you were lucky if campaign missions were actually playtested.
 * This is something that bugged me as well, though not in a "why didn't they do this" type of way, since I just assumed the story reason given above. It did seem strange that they didn't adapt the story somewhat for such missions, though.


 * The choice between Tosh and Nova is perhaps the weakest choice-dependent campaign mission in the entirety of Starcraft's existence. However, Blizzard was smart enough to.
 * Nova is a member of the Dominion, specifically an assassin who could kill Raynor; why does she think talking to Raynor and convincing him that Tosh is unstable going to work? What benefit does she get out of it other than getting someone else to make her job a breeze? Why does she think Raynor would be stupid enough to believe her?
 * If you talk to Tosh throughout the campaign, he helps you in so many ways that getting rid of him would not only be strategically incompetent, but a You Bastard move which would make Raynor out-of-character. . Note that Tosh himself shows no signs of mental instability or evasiveness outside of after "Welcome to the Jungle," but that is only to try to make the choice difficult for the New Folsom mission. His mystic advice proves to be true throughout the campaign, and given that he's a psychic...
 * After the mission "Devil's Playground," when Raynor is told that Tosh is just as disliked by Mengsk as he is, Raynor remarks that he "likes" him "already". Furthermore, outside of "Welcome to the Jungle," Raynor only gets annoyed at Tosh when he tells Raynor that he "smelled a Protoss" on the Hyperion. However, chances are that Tosh was just pulling Raynor's leg as part of the Deadpan Snarker role and the scene is likely for comic relief.
 * Hanson's mentioning of different elements used to enhance psychic powers throughout the Covert missions baffles Raynor, but not once does Raynor confront Tosh about Jhorium in the minerals.
 * Tosh is honest with you throughout the whole campaign, especially when he mentions the Ghost Academy as his source of knowledge about the Queen of Blades. Not once is it implied that Tosh is lying.
 * Gee, who's Raynor met that was a Ghost and his practical best friend, as well as a good giver of advice and a telepath to boot? Why would you side against someone who reminds you of a long-lost friend somehow?
 * Hanson herself proves Nova is lying, especially after "Breakout".
 * Its All There in the Manual - Spectres are eccentric. Nowhere does it mention that they are homicidal, murderous, etc.
 * Nova got her memory erased about a year after Tarsonis fell. With Starcraft Ghost canceled, we don't have enough knowledge of her backstory and motivations to know why she thought a known terrorist would work with her.
 * Fridge Brilliance: This seemed like a problem at first, but in fact there is a good solution. The events of SC2 take place only a few years after SC 1 (indeed less time than the time in Real Life!); yet in that time, Korhal has somehow gone from a deserted wasteland to a thriving metropolis. How did this happen so fast? How did billions of people get moved in only a few years?
 * The solution? TERRAN BUILDINGS CAN FLY. All that infrastructure (or a good portion of it, at least) was simply FLOWN from other planets onto Korhal. The people could have been transported in the buildings or in colony ships.
 * I was under the impression that most of Korhal is still a wasteland. You don't restore a planet's ecosphere overnight. The capital city of Augustgrad existed as early as Brood War, as Mengsk relocated there after defeating the Confederacy. What's puzzling is that the city you attack in SC2 is apparently not Augustgrad: it's called Korhal City. Huh.
 * How can the Dominion both maintain an effective Propaganda Machine, and have the premier news network be an example of Kent Brockman News?
 * That is, the UNN we're shown does not mesh with what we are told of the capability of Dominion propaganda.
 * It might be that Dominion propaganda is effective, but in a more subtle way. Though the starcraft 2 news reports do include information that points against Mengsk, the overall tone, and final lines of the reports, do usually line up with what Mengsk wants to here. It would make sense (and fit with how some types of propaganda work) that the Dominion allows a bit of alternate point of view into the news, but not enough to be threatening, which creates an illusion of a more open news source with still strong censorship. (This is, from what I know, how some actual governments have/do handle censorship.)
 * That works less well if the final line lines up with what Mengsk wants by blatantly ignoring what the actual reporter on the field says, or in some cases just cutting the report by saying "breaking news" and then going to advertising after fumbling around for something to say.
 * The reports are probably exaggerated for Rule of Funny, but the general idea for how they work is still there.
 * Mike Liberty wasn't available.
 * What exactly does Tosh's consume-like spell do in "reality". The world isn't a standard magical fantasy where "life force" has some mysterious property that provides it with energy, and Tosh is not a defiler, so he can't simply eat the target and digest it quickly like a defiler presumably does. It also leaves open the question of what exactly Tosh is taking from the other soldiers, how he would get to it through powered armor, and whether soldiers would allow a possibly painful procedure to occur. (Obviously, Gameplay and Story Segregation comes in hard here, but this requires more of it than other issues.)
 * He might be draining them of mental energy to boost his own Healing Factor. That's why it's not lethal - he doesn't harm them as much as causes exhaustion and monster headaches. As for how they allow it, well, they are conditioned into obedience and besides, Tosh is invisible.
 * During the attack on Char, Raynor says something along the lines of, "A frontal assault is stupid because Kerrigan is prepared for it." and implies Warfield is incompetent for doing one. But what else could they have done? Sneak past the massive defenses that completely cover the planet? Nuking is also not an option; it requires orbital control and trying to carry it out while under attack by millions of zerg would just get the fleet obliterated. Sure, the losses are pretty brutal, but when the objective is to take and hold a location in the center of an enemy-held planet you just need to accept them.
 * It might be that some sections of the planet are not watched as carefully be the zerg, and Raynor knew how to find and sneak through these areas (Which is presumably how he was able to land on char during the original game missions, and how some other factions like the protoss did so as well.) That does still leave Warfield looking strangely imcompetent, but perhaps these ares are not near the main zerg hives that he wanted ot reach, or taking a roundabout route would take a longer time which Warfield did not want to do.
 * Protoss Immortals. Supposedly, the 'toss lost the tech for Dragoons/Immortals when Aiur fell. Well, you've had almost half a dozen years to reverse engineer fully working and even damaged Immortals/Dragoons and the Dark Templar have their own tech that works very much the same. Why not just rebuild the facilities elsewhere? If not on Shakuras, on a Khalai colony at least. Even creative sterility doesn't cut it here; all they'd be doing is fixing what they already have/rebuilding what was lost, just like they've been doing for everything else since Aiur fell. They have had FOUR YEARS from the end of BW. Even if the original process is lost, they at the very least have something close enough to continue the process without much change given they sitll 'warp out' upon defeat.
 * Immortals are those dragoons that survived the fall and have since been modified to be very good at going on surviving, and kicking metric tonnes of ass whilst doing so. And while yes, the Protoss are somewhat unimaginative, the reintegration of the Dark Templar with their society has lead to the Stalker, which is very much a stop gap to fill the niche.
 * Subsequently, the dragoon was someting of an honoured promotion for a fallen warrior, requiring the body of the individual and was as much a ritual as a stratagem of war. Nowadays the Protoss aren't much in a position to go fetch their nearly dead from the field of battle anymore. Its not so much they lost the tech as they lost the temples dedicated to the process, and have no incentive to try to rebuild them.
 * Maybe Stentmenn was right about the protoss having creative sterility. Let's hope it's brought up in Legacy of the Void, because I'd like to see an answer to this.
 * The Dark Templar seem more imaginative, and getting buddy-buddy with their High counterparts has lead to things like Void Rays. Even 'toss aren't sure how the damn things work.
 * Aldaris' last words, "She has been manipulated by de-"... What could he have wanted to say that started with the syllable "de"?
 * "She has been manipulated by devilish forces most foul indeed! By the vile concubine of the Zerg, if you and your ilk continue to so blindly follow her, merrily dancing to this unholy monstrosity's tune, surely we shall be lost!"? I dunno, but it would fit Blizzard's cheesy, melodramatic way of making the Protoss talk.
 * Oooh, that's a good one. I was going to say "...by DEM TITTIES", but yours makes more sense.
 * ...by da Zerg, man!
 * "by deceit most foul" was what I always figured
 * More of an out of game one than an in game one, but did anyone else kind playing the campaign kind of weird during the 2011 Middle East protests (It is still 2011 when the comment is being written, but I;'m writing the year out to make it clear for the future.) Sure, there's no Raynor equivalent, but a lot of other things are in common (Generic corrupt dictator being revolted against, several types of people being involved, a history of dictatorships/authoritatian governments in the areas revolting, uncertainty about the future, etc.) Didn't effect my opinions of either as far as I know, but it was a weird experience.
 * So how many protoss are there exactly? After losing their homeworld and a large portion of their population you'd think there wouldn't be very many of them. However after "In Utter Darkness" Raynor is talking to Matt and states that "More protoss than we ever knew existed, and they still weren't enough to stop the hybrids." (Possible misquote, let me know if I did) This doesn't make much sense to me because it can't have been more than a few years after SC2 since Kerrigan is mentioned so she can't have been killed too long ago. So unless they have a hidden empire somewhere, where'd this "More protoss then ever existed" come from?
 * The Protoss lost a huge amount of its population on Aiur, but in the Starcraft 1 manual, they were stated to be operating on roughly one-eighth the sphere of influence of the Xel'Naga. I assume that most Protoss are off of Aiur, but Aiur is hugely significant to the Protoss collective psyche. Why they didn't recall all their troops... I guess it takes longer to recall them than the time it took for the Zerg to conquer it.
 * Ok true, I forgot about that. Still you think if there were that many on just one "distant shadowed world" as Zeratul put it, which probably wasn't a very important or populated world, where were they during the events of Brood War? That many protoss probably could have ended it easily. (Please let me know if I got anything wrong or misquoted anything.)
 * The Protoss were too scattered to come together and show their combined power. Up until the Zerg showed up the protoss had nothing that could really threaten them. They are Purity of Form, one man armies with advanced technology and massive psionic power. So they spread themselves out and did not take the Zerg threat as seriously as they should have. Even in the middle of Aiur being invaded by nearly the entire Swarm their rules thought it best to fight against Tassadar and try to execute the Dark Templar rather than focus on the Zerg or recall their forces. They thought they were winning the war so they weren't trying their best and it cost them a lot. Their homeworld is lost, Shakuras only housed a single tribe of Dark Templar, the others have scattered throughout the galaxy. Even after all this there is still significant friction between the various Protoss factions, they simply can't come together as a whole until the hybrids force the issue. It's the same with the Terrans, they probably could acomplisha lot more than they do but they won't stop fighting amongst themselves and just end up slaughtered. The most cohesive alliance we've seen was at the end of Brood War and Kerrigan squashed that with a single Brood despite being caught with her pants down. Now she's had four years and no infighting to build up with Swarm, the other factions are simply too outnumbered to fight the ever evolving Swarm and not get genocided.
 * Well that makes sense. I remember reading somewhere that Artanis was having trouble keeping the remaining protoss together so if thats just the ones we know he is the leader of he probably can't keep the rest together. Thanks for the answer, it was bugging me for a while.
 * What sort of backstory will be used to explain some of the oracle abilities? A general spy function (Preordain, somewhat building disruption), makes sense, but stopping mineral mining seems tough to explain the usefulness of in "reality". (Which presumably would not have armies extracting the resources they need for short battles from easy to access clumps.)