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{{quote|''"[[Suspiciously Specific Denial|This is not]] [[War Craft]] [[Recycled in Space|in space]]! I-it's much more sophisticated!"''|'''Artanis'''}}▼
▲{{quote|''"[[Suspiciously Specific Denial|This is not]] [[
A [[Real Time Strategy]] franchise by [[Blizzard Entertainment]]. It's composed of two games...▼
▲
* ''[[Starcraft
* ''[[StarCraft II]]''
...and several tie-in novels and books. There's also a board game, which was released October 2007.
Set in the "[[wikipedia:Koprulu Sector|Koprulu]] Sector" of space, tens of thousands of light years distant from Earth, the story unfolds between three playable races. The Terrans, human beings descended from outcasts, criminals and [[wikipedia:Confederate States of America|political dissidents]] who were exiled from the Sol system centuries earlier, boast a [[Used Future]] society with a military based around cybernetics, heavy artillery, and "Ghosts" - covert operatives with latent [[Psychic Powers|psychic abilities]]. Their principal adversaries are the
''StarCraft'' was one of the first games to become popularly used in professional gaming competitions, [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|particularly in South Korea]], where ''StarCraft'' matches are played out ''in sports arenas (occasionally jumbo jet hangers), with [[Serious Business|giant televisions displaying the action and simulcast on nationwide networks!]]''
There was also ''StarCraft: Ghost'', a [[Third-Person Shooter]] set [[Gaiden Game|a few years after Brood War]] (but some before ''[[
Also, [[Rule of Cool|sheer awesomeness]] demands that we mention here two [[Fan Film|fan animations]] of [[Visual Effects of Awesome|very high quality]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOxfIapsrJs StarCraft: First Contact], released in 2009, and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kAJSswZPvI&ob=av3e StarCraft: Final Metamorphosis], released in 2011.
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Construct Additional Pylons]]
* [[Spawn Broodling]]
* [[You Require More Vespene Gas]]
* [[Zerg Rush]]
{{franchisetropes}}
* [[Aliens Speaking English]]:
** The
*** Note, however, that they ''do'' have a language of sorts, that can be both written and vocalized. The latter is puzzling, since Protoss have no vocal cords; perhaps they whisper.
** The
*** Only the rare sentient Infested Terrans have been known to occasionally communicate with other species.
* [[American Accents]]
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: Several major characters bite the dust over the series.
* [[Apocalypse How]]:
** Protoss do Class 6 type to get rid of the
** Terrans also demonstrated a capacity to do this, by launching numerous nukes from orbit and reducing the surface of the planet to a black glassy substance. This led to the outlawing the manufacturing of full-size nukes to prevent such an event occurring again, leading to the
* [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence]]: The Protoss often believe that they ascend into the Khala when they die.
** {{spoiler|Executor Tassadar may have actually done this after destroying the
* [[The Bad Guy Wins]]: It happens quite often in the Starcraft universe, mainly because [[Crapsack World|they represent the vast majority of characters]] and because "the bad guy" is usually ''playable'' in that race's campaign, so the bad guy wins [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|because the player wins]].
* [[Base
* [[Bizarre Alien Biology]]: Protoss and Zerg can survive in hard vacuum unprotected, apparently.
** According to the second book in ''The Dark Templar Trilogy'', Protoss are photosynthetic.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: The ending of the original [[
* [[Brainwashing for
* [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]: The Zerg were forcibly changed from a race of peaceful worms low on their world's food chain to the [[Assimilation Plot]] driven [[Horde of Alien Locusts]] with [[Psychic Powers]] we all know and love by the Xel'naga {{spoiler|and the Dark Voice}}.
** Note that some strains of Zerg are actually derived from various species that the Swarm encountered and consumed throughout the Galaxy. The Hydralisks were once the herbivorous Slothien herd animals, the Mutalisks were Mantis Screamers, and the Leviathans used to be peaceful [[Space Whale|Space Whales]].
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* [[Convection, Schmonvection]]: Magma tiles in the [[Lethal Lava Land|Ashworld tileset]] (e.g. Char) act exactly like water tiles on any other tileset, and no units take damage from being nearby. This may be justified though: the Terrans are all either in vehicles or wearing [[Powered Armor]] (which we know can survive hard vacuum, so being heat-resistant isn't much of a stretch), the Protoss have shields and probably other applicable phlebotinum, and the Zerg originally evolved on a similar planet.
* [[Crapsack World|Crapsack Universe]]: The individual factions all suck one way or the other, the only genuinely nice, trustworthy people are the individuals with no real power.
** Terrans act somewhat like locusts, moving from world to world to drain the resources and most of their standing military consists of mind-controlled convicts. Of their governments, the Confederacy was corrupt to its core, the Dominion is slightly better but compensates with its Emperor's extreme narcissism, and the UED are [[A Nazi
*** The lesser governments are the Kel-Morian Combine and the Umojan Protectorate. The Kel-Morian Combine has been compared to massive criminal organization, and is said to practice slavery. The Umojan Protecorate is apparently the only good government, but it is undeveloped and supposedly has a large spy network.
** The Protoss are fairly nice, but they're [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] and have enough trouble keeping peace among their own tribes without involving the other races. [[It's the Only Way
** The Zerg want to achieve perfection... by absorbing every other being they encounter, until they're the only race left.
* [[Critical Existence Failure]]
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* [[Cutscene]]: of the Blizzard cinematic variety. They've only gotten [[Visual Effects of Awesome|better and better]] over the years.
** ''Starcraft II'' also uses the game engine for some pretty high-end cutscenes, that are only inches below the actual cinematics.
* [[Damage Is Fire]]: Terran and Protoss buildings burn. Zerg buildings bleed. Terran buildings on fire take further damage from it until it's destroyed or
* [[Data Crystal]]: The Protoss use these.
* [[Deflector Shields]]: Personal type. Every
* [[Doomed
* [[During the War]]
* [[Earthshattering Kaboom]]: The Protoss doctrine for dealing with a Zerg-infested world goes something like "[[Kill It
* [[Easy Communication]]
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: If Zamara is right, Duran's hybrids are these.
** Also, Ulrezaj in his archon form and their [[Big Bad|boss]], {{spoiler|The Dark Voice}}.
* [[Energy Ball]]: Numerous units can fire these out.
* [[Evil Counterpart]]: The Zerg were deliberately engineered by the Xel'Naga to be an opposite of the Protoss as part of their experiments. The Protoss have "purity of form" while the Zerg have "purity of essence." The Protoss use a telepathic link that connects all of them, the Zerg are a [[Hive Mind]]. The Protoss are graceful and intelligent, the Zerg are bestial and driven by instinct. Even in battle they use opposite techniques, the Protoss army consisting of [[One-Man Army|singular elite soldiers]] who have spent years [[Training
:Of course, this is only a superficial interpretation. The ''Dark Templar'' novels reveal that {{spoiler|the "[[Turned Against Their Masters]]" gig is a Protoss fabrication. The Zerg and Protoss were created in order to unite with each other and create a new iteration of the Xel'Naga ([[Blue and Orange Morality|it's just how those guys worked]]) as part of their life-cycle. The Zerg got corrupted by an [[Eldritch Abomination]] before that could happen, however, and were made to attack their makers and the Protoss}}.
* [[Evil Is Visceral]]: Aspects of the Zerg that do not fit neatly into other tropes: the way that buildings pulsate when they are being constructed, their sound effects (especially if liquids are involved), the Overmind's influence is represented by a big eye. Then there's the growing tissue sample in ''[[
* [[Expanded Universe]]: In the form of paperback novels and graphic novels.
* [[Explosive Breeder]]: The Zerg seems to be this.
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** Zerg are Subversive, with lots of small, fast, weak units suitable for a [[Zerg Rush]], all the [[Suicide Attack|Suicide Attackers]], and lots of [[Body Horror]], [[Hollywood Acid]] and [[Combat Tentacles]]. Their structures must be built on "[[Meat Moss|Creep]]" and result in the consumption of the [[Worker Unit]] used to build them (it [[Organic Technology|grows into the building]]), but all Zerg units and buildings have [[Regenerating Health]] and will heal [[From a Single Cell]], and the other two races can't build on creeped territory. Where a few Terran and Protoss units have [[Invisibility Cloak|Invisibility Cloaks]], almost ''all'' Zerg ground units can [[Wall Master|"burrow" underground]], allowing them to ambush, recon and heal. Finally, because of the way Zerg build units<ref>The other two races can only build one unit at a time from their production facilities, and each facility is limited to a single style of unit: barracks can't make airplanes, for instance, and airports can't make soldiers. The Zerg have only one facility that can build ''any'' type of unit currently available, ''three at a time''</ref>, they can develop their resource operations a ''lot'' faster than the other two races, rarely [[You Require More Vespene Gas|Requiring More Vespene Gas]], and can generate new armies at an instant, in case there's been a [[Total Party Kill]] or you've found some [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]] openings to exploit.
** Protoss are Powerhouse, focusing on an [[Elite Army]] of expensive-but-powerful soldiers. They have impressive [[Psychic Powers|psionic powers]] which they have combined with technology ([[Magitech|psytech?]]), the best [[Squishy Wizard|Squishy Wizards]] in the franchise, and some units which are completely-automated robots. They have [[Deflector Shield|Deflector Shields]] which regenerate over time, supplementing their already-high [[Hit Points]]. All Protoss buildings must be built near a "[[Construct Additional Pylons|Pylon]]." They can't be built outside a Pylon's radius, and they stop functioning if all nearby Pylons are destroyed. Pylons also raise your [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]]. [[Weaksauce Weakness|They are the Protoss' least-durable building.]] Having said that, the [[Worker Unit]] simply opens a [[Portal Door]] (through which the building teleports) and then can wander off to do other things, instead of having to stay temporarily (Terran) or permanently (Zerg), so it's relatively easy to plunk down a whole new batch of Pylons if things go south.
** It's also interesting to compare each faction's basic units. Terrans have the Marine, who has has the lowest [[Hit Points]] of the lot<ref>40 in
* [[Fantastic Rank System]]: The Protoss have a different rank structure, though only three ranks are ever mentioned in the original game:
** Praetor: Probably close to an Army Captain, Fenix held this rank.
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** Judicator: A high-ranking government official, Aldaris held this rank.
** Prelate: The Dark Templar equivalent of either Praetor or Executor. Zeratul was addressed as such in ''Brood War''.
** ''[[
* [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]]:
** The Protoss and Terrans have FTL Warp drives, while the Zerg Overmind can use its ''massive'' [[Psychic Powers]] to tear [[Our Wormholes Are Different|warp rifts]] in spacetime.
** Protoss have near-instantaneous precision warps, to the point that their buildings, infantry and ships are not "built" but are warped in from their homeworld or automated factories. Protoss soldiers even have armor that teleports them out when they are gravely wounded in battle.
** The arrival of the Terrans in Koprulu was actually a navigational accident. The flight computers on their sleeper FTL ships malfunctioned, and overshot their destination,
*** Over time, the Earth Directorate has managed to advance [[FTL]] technology to allow them to get to the Koprulu Sector from Earth in a matter of months.
* [[Fog of War]]
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** It should be noted that the genocide might not have backfired if the sleeper ships hadn't ''missed their destinations''.
* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: All Protoss and some Zerg have them.
* [[Gunship Rescue]]: Subverted in the opening cinematic to ''Brood War'', wherein the UED flagship is seen hovering overhead... and then leaves without firing a shot, [[Kick the Dog|abandoning the marines below to the fury of the Zerg Swarm.]]
* [[Hammerspace]]: Terrans have building components appear and snap themselves together out of thin air.
* [[Hive Mind]]: The
* [[Hollywood Acid]]: Often used as a weapon by the Zerg.
* [[Homing Boulders]]
* [[Horde of Alien Locusts]]: Zerg
* [[Humans Are Special]]: Deconstructed. The Terrans of the Koprulu Sector are only a few generations away from becoming a psionic species. Instead of indicating that humanity is on the verge of becoming something greater, this just means they drew the attention of the [[You Will Be Assimilated|Zerg]], who view their psionic potential as the key to fighting their ''real'' target, the Protoss, on equal grounds.
* [[Humans
* [[Hufflepuff House]]: Both the Kel-Morian Combine and the Umojan Protectorate get no screentime in the original game, beyond a blurb in the manual. The Combine was later elaborated on in Brood War, but Umoja still has yet to make an appearance.
* [[Instant Win Condition]]: In the
* [[Instrumentality]]: The Khala can be seen as a form of this.
* [[ISO Standard Human Spaceship]]: The whole Terran Navy.
* [[It Got Worse]]: Repeatedly in the original. It never gets better in ''Brood War.''
* [[Kill It
* [[Lego Genetics]]: The [[Hand Wave]] for how the Zerg can have unit upgrades.
* [[Magitek]]: Protoss vehicles and structures, as well as Ghost cloaking devices, are powered by psychic energy.
* [[Magic
* [[Mana Meter]]: Energy is used for both technological and psi abilities, and also for units with a limited lifespan such as Hallucinations.
* [[Meaningful Name]]:
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* [[Monster Protection Racket]]: The main reason the Confederacy was experimenting on the Zerg.
* [[Mordor]]: Char.
* [[Neglectful Precursor]]: Early on, it's revealed that the Xel'Naga were trying to create a perfect race: The Protoss were a failed experiment, but they succeeded with the Zerg, up until the point where [[Turned Against Their Masters|they got eaten]]
:In the ''Dark Templar'' novels, however, it's revealed that the Xel'Naga were {{spoiler|''done'' with the Protoss}}; they had completed their work and left to create the Zerg as {{spoiler|a complementary species, which would have, in time, joined with the Protoss to create the Xel'Naga's descendants. [[Eldritch Abomination|Someone]] screwed that gig up}}, though.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: ''Repeatedly''. To their credit though, they are usually aware of it and are appropriately horrified.
** Raynor, and the [[Player Character]], help Mengsk defeat the Confederacy; only for Mengsk to prove himself to be just as bad as the Confederacy and proclaim himself Emperor.
** In the end of the Protoss campaign in ''Brood War'', the Protoss acknowledge that by using that Xel'Naga temple to destroy the Zerg on Shakuras they will greatly weaken Daggoth's forces, which in turn will help Kerrigan. They also state though that doing so is the only way that they will survive.
** Zeratul's killing of Zasz was the first time a Cerebrate actually died, but it also linked his mind with the Overmind and revealed the location of Auir. {{spoiler|Zeratul later killed the second Overmind ending the UED's control of the Zerg, which meant that Kerrigan then had complete control of all the Zerg}}.
** The UED just made ''everything'' worse.
* [[No Mouth]]: The Protoss.
* [[Not Playing Fair
* [[Old School Dogfighting]]: Happens during some cutscenes in space.
* [[Organic Technology]]: Zerg buildings are grown out of a certain kind of Zerg.
* [[Orphaned Punchline]]:
{{quote|
* [[Planet Terra]]: Humans are called Terrans, but strangely, the planet is still called Earth every single time it's mentioned.
* [[Power Echoes]]: The
* [[Power Glows]]: Anything, unit or building, built by the
* [[Precursor Killers]]: The Zerg
* [[Precursors]]: The Xel'naga.
* [[Psychic Powers]]: The
* [[Puppeteer Parasite]]: The Zerg.
* [[Putting
** The uniforms worn by United Earth Directorate officers resemble Nazi uniforms, right down to the grey overcoats and hats. Oddly, their bosses are a Frenchman and a Russian.
** The UED gets bonus points for using the same interior decorators as Nazi Germany. Both have red flags with similar symbolism; the UED shows an eagle atop the Earth, echoing the Third Reich's eagle atop the swastika.
** How about their predecessor, the United Powers League, who rounded up all cyborgs, mutants, punks and "undesirables" from Earth and either killed them of shot them off into space?
* [[Recycled in Space]]: Many of the elements were reused in ''[[
{{quote|
'''Artanis:''' It is, much more sophisticated!
'''Artanis:''' I KNOW it's not 3-d!
'''Artanis:''' What do I look like, an orc? }}
* [[Real Time Strategy]]
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* [[Ridiculously-Fast Construction]]:
** Justified for the Protoss, who warp in their structures and units already constructed from somewhere else.
** Justified for the Terrans; all their buildings are prefabricated, and Starcraft II's better animations show that the SCV is operating an assembly armature that is included in the building kit, rather than welding the whole thing together by hand.
* [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale]]: When the Terrans first arrived to the Koprulu sector, they only numbered approximately 32,000. According to Blizzard's website, there are at least twelve ''billion'' Terrans in the Koprulu sector at the beginning of ''Starcraft II'', and Raynor mentions Kerrigan killing eight billion people during the first game. He might have been including the Protoss but that still means you're looking at more than twelve billion humans living in the sector. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120602233139/http://sclegacy.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6756 As mentioned here,] to have this many people after only 240 years would require the population to at ''least'' double every decade, for 24 decades, not taking into account the deaths that occur from any number of natural and unnatural causes, because the Terrans have a history of civil wars.▼
▲* [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale]]: When the Terrans first arrived to the Koprulu sector, they only numbered approximately 32,000. According to Blizzard's website, there are at least twelve ''billion'' Terrans in the Koprulu sector at the beginning of ''Starcraft II'', and Raynor mentions Kerrigan killing eight billion people during the first game. He might have been including the Protoss but that still means you're looking at more than twelve billion humans living in the sector. [http://sclegacy.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6756 As mentioned here,] to have this many people after only 240 years would require the population to at ''least'' double every decade, for 24 decades, not taking into account the deaths that occur from any number of natural and unnatural causes, because the Terrans have a history of civil wars.
* [[Sequel Hook]]: Dark Origin. Which is notable due to the level being a unlockable secret. Unless you finished the previous mission within a certain amount of time, the player would never learn about the plot.
* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog Story]]: By the end of ''Brood War'', {{spoiler|the Confederacy was replaced by the equally rotten Terran Dominion, which was then devastated by the UED and the Kerrigan. The Zerg invaded Auir, were stopped, but killed virtually the whole population first. The Protoss evacuated to Shakuras, but were still devastated and lost their leaders. The UED conquered the sector, but were defeated and wiped out by Kerrigan. The Zerg created a second Overmind (virtually undoing Tassadar's sacrifice), which was then killed. In the end, Kerrigan is the ruler of the sector, and the heroes have been defeated in virtually every way}}.
* [[Shout-Out]]: With its [[
* [[Shows Damage]]: Type 2 example to buildings.
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism]]: Quickly veers to the cynical side and keeps going until it becomes downright depressing.
* [[Some Kind of Force Field]]: The Protoss shields are invisible until struck forcibly.
* [[Space Cossacks]]
* [[Space Western]]: The general feel of the story from the Terran point of view.
* [[Standard Sci
* [[Status Buff]]
* [[Stay Frosty]]
* [[Stop Poking Me]]
* [[Stuff Blowing Up]]: Everything explodes. This is most obvious with the
* [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]]: The Xel'Naga in the [[Backstory]]. Also, the Protoss ''appear'' to be this at first.
* [[Surprisingly-Sudden Death]]: The
* [[Suspiciously Small Army]]: Rampant, in quite a few missions your enemies have very small armies, or at least small armies that you see. The later missions have larger bases with more troops, but you're still not going to be seeing enemy forces number in the thousands like you would expect from an actual army.
* [[Sweet Home Alabama]]: The Terrans. To the point where a cover of said song appears in ''[[
* [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]]: [[Exaggerated]]. In addition to some units only being able to hit airborne or ground-going enemies, attack damage gets boosted or blunted depending on the opposing unit's physical size (small vs large); the sequel also added bonuses against unit composition (biological vs armored); and, always, [[Zerg Rush|lots of small cheap units]] can easily gang up on a large expensive one. The end result is a tangled web of counters, with each unit being specifically strong against several others and being weak to several more.
* [[Themed Cursor]]: A sonar-like thing whose color changes depending on the alignment of whatever you're hovering it over. Green, yellow and red are friendly, neutral and enemies.
* [[They Look Like Us Now]]
* [[Touched
* [[Turned Against Their Masters]]: Both the
* [[Unobtainium]]: Neosteel, Khaydarin crystals and both Vespene Gas and "minerals".
* [[Used Future]]
* [[Vestigial Empire]]: The Protoss empire, apparently even before the invasion of Aiur. It's implied this is because they've been fighting the Zerg for many years and are losing.
* [[A Villain Named Zrg]]: To quote that page, "What four tropers out of five thought when seeing the title."
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{{reflist}}
{{World Video Game Hall of Fame}}
[[Category:Science Fiction Video Games]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Video Game]]
[[Category:Video Games of the 1990s]]
[[Category:The Nineties]]
[[Category:Real Time Strategy]]
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