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StarCraft: Difference between revisions
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''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 ''[[Starcraft II]]'') and announced in 2001. After five years in development and several postponed releases, it was put [[Vaporware|on hold indefinitely]] in 2006.
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.
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* [[Spawn Broodling]]
* [[You Require More Vespene Gas]]
* [[Zerg Rush]]
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== Tropes found across the series include: ==
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** Protoss do Class 6 type to get rid of the zerg. The planet is covered with plasma and magma when they're done. Nothing gonna be living in that mess.
** 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 multiplayer usage of "mini-nukes" that inflict underwhelming damage at relatively cheap cost.
* [[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 zerg overmind in a void-channeled/infused kamikaze attack, quoted stating that "I have not tasted death, nor shall I"}}.
* [[A Villain Named Zrg]]: The Zerg.
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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 by Any Other Name|Space Nazis]].
*** 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 to Be Sure|And Lord help you if the Zerg have seeded your planet]].
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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''.
** ''[[Starcraft II]]'' introduces cosmetic ranks for any standard unit based on number of kills. For Protoss, 0-4 kills is a Disciple, 5-9 is a Mentor, 10-14 an Instructor, 15-19 a Master, and 20+ an Executor. Zerg equivalents are Predator, Slayer, Ravager Assassin and Metamorph, and while hardly fantastic, for the sake of completion, Terran get Recruit, Corporal, Sergeant, Captain, Commander.
* [[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.
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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 zerg Swarm, obviously. The Khala of the protoss is also somewhat like this, only the protoss in the Khala retain their individuality and free will, and can choose not to share all of their thoughts and feelings with others.
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* [[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.
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* [[Puppeteer Parasite]]: The Zerg.
* [[Putting on the Reich]]:
** 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 ''[[Warcraft]] III'' [[Rule of Three|and then re-used]] in ''[[Starcraft II]]''. This is [[Lampshade|lampshaded]] by Artanis's "[[Stop Poking Me|annoyed]]" dialog in ''Brood War''.
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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.
* [[Schedule Slip]]: Anytime Blizzard issues a release date for a full game.
** The novel ''Starcraft: Ghost: Spectres'' has been delayed so long and for so many times, it's aping the [[Vaporware]] game it's based on.
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* [[Shout-Out]]: With its [[Starcraft/Shout Out|own page]]
* [[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]]
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