StarCraft

StarCraft overview

Type: Strategy
ESRB Rating: Mature
Release Date: 03/31/1998
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment

From the same computer Software Company that brought you Warcraft and Diablo comes StarCraft.

In StarCraft, you have the capability of choosing from three different species: the Terran Humans, Alien Protoss, or the Voracious Zerg. When purchasing StarCraft, you will get free access to Blizzard's Battle.net, which means you can play with thousands of different players throughout the world and play up to eight players at a time. Or use StarCraft's multi-player capability to connect with friends through a network or modem.

With a free campaign editor included, you can create maps or download other custom maps and scenarios, making StarCraft have endless possibilities of games you can play.

System Requirements: Microsoft Windows - Apple - Linux

Screenshots

Species

One of the greatest advantages to Terran is the capability of moving structures; this is great when resources have run out and being able to move your command center without having to build another. Also, if under attack by ground units, you can lift your bases into the air to prevent damage. Unfortunately, if any add-ons are on any of the structures, they will be left behind and lost. Another nice feature about the Terrans is the ability of repairing buildings and mechanical units; this is excellent for times you are attacked or damaged, your bases can be repaired and any mechanical units can be repaired.

Another great advantage is that your buildings do not require any other special power sources to be built, which can be excellent in building extra buildings in remote locations. Terrans are also Protoss's worst nightmare; when building the necessary items to get a Science Vessel with EMP technology, you can discharge the Protoss shields for a short period of time.

Disadvantages of the Terrans are when building a base, the SCV must stay at the base and continue building until complete, unlike the Protoss. Also, Terrans have weak air defense against Zerg's Guardians, unless a large fleet of Wraiths are built.

Arguably one of the most powerful species in StarCraft, Protoss can have shields over any unit that help make the units more resistant to attacks. Also, Protoss are the fastest Species at building structures with a new technique of transporting facilities with your probes; once the building process is started it can begin building other structures, which can be excellent to build up a defense fast. However, to warp items into your area, a pylon is required that will cover a certain range of area to build new structures, once that area is filled another Pylon is needed. If a Pylon is destroyed, the energy that it provided to the structures is lost and will not be restored until another Pylon is built, which is a huge threat. Although life cannot be re-charged or increased, Protoss can re-charge their shields.

Disadvantages of Protoss are that they have expensive units, which means units cannot be built as fast as some other species. Protoss also can be extremely weak against Terran; if the Terran opponent has a Science Vessel with EMP capability, it can drain your units' shields within a large area. An enemy can destroy Pylons, effectively disabling many buildings at once.

Arguably the fastest building species, which is great for players who plan on rushing enemies at the beginning. When creating Zerglings, it will create 2 at a time, which can produce a large army quickly. Unlike any other race, a builder of the Zerg race morphs into the structure, which means you lose a worker for each structure that is created. Zerg also have one of the best distance ground defenses. Guardians have the capability of firing farther then any other species weapons can at ground targets, which means you can destroy enemies without having your units get hurt or destroyed. Zerg's units and structures can gain life if not being attacked, meaning you can have a 100% recovery if left alone for a period of time.

Disadvantages of Zerg are that Overlords are not fast unless upgraded and also require that transport be upgraded. In other words, you must upgrade two separate things before having the capability of transporting.

Tips

Siege tanks are one of the Terran's most deadly offensive and defensive weapons. After building the Command Center, ensure that you attach the machine shop and research siege capability. Lots of Siege tanks can be deadly to ground forces, however, they are useless to air attacks.

Ghosts are deadly to both air and ground units. With the nuclear strikes and cloaking capability, you can walk into the enemy's base and literally destroy or damage a good portion of the base. To get nuclear strike, you must have a Nuclear Silo attached to the Command Center; the more nuclear Silos you have, the more nuclear bombs you can create... only one per Silo. While the ghosts can be invisible, various units and buildings can detect them.

Another powerful weapon is the Battle Cruiser, which is an excellent offensive weapon and when grouped can be lethal. However, ensure you research the Yamato Cannon before attacking any units.

Templars are one of the Protoss's greatest units. When using their Psionic Storm, you can wipe out large armies of men or other units very fast, if they are grouped together. As such they an excellent unit to use against the Zerg's Guardians.

The Archon is another excellent unit and very powerful with the capability of destroying ground and air units and something that is great to move around units that can't attack air/ground.

The Reaver has a very powerful defense against ground units and also good against structures, but is an extremely slow unit. A great tip is to use your Transport to transport Reavers to the enemy's base and drop the Reavers behind the enemy's line of defense. If you have at least 5-10 Reavers and continue to keep them loaded on their ammo, you can take out an opposing enemy.

Finally, the infamous Carrier attack is used by many players that play Protoss. If used effectively, they can completely wipe out an opposing enemy. To use this strategy right you need to research cloaking capability and build 5+ carriers fully loaded and go into an enemy's base.

Guardians are one of the most feared air units against opposing players, as these units can destroy enemy ground units from a distance that the opposing force will not be able to attack unless you or the units advance on the location of attack. When using Guardians, we recommend that you include a large quantity of Hydralisks, which help with close ground and air defense. It is also a good idea to keep one or two Overlords with this army to help detect any units that may be invisible.

Hydralisks are very powerful units once upgraded. Upgrade all available options for the Hydralisks as early as possible.

Because Zerg is the fastest building species, it is a good idea to build up defense and offense by creating Zerglings. They can usually weaken the enemy's base very early in the game by attacking as early as possible. However, if this strategy is used improperly, this also causes you to lose the game. Note that this strategy can only be used when playing multiplayer.

Cheats

All the below cheat codes are for single player only and will not work over multiplayer or Battle.net. There are no cheats available for multiplayer.

• Power overwhelming - God Mode
• Show me the money - Gives you 10,000 gas and 10,000 crystal
• Operation CWAL - Speeds construction of buildings and units
• The Gathering - Gives unlimited energy to all casting units
• Game over man - Ends your game as a loss
• Staying Alive - Prevents the mission from ending due to victory or defeat
• There is no cow level - Completes the current mission
• Noglues - Disallows the player's enemies to use magic
• Something for nothing - Gives all upgrades
• Medieval man - Free upgrades to units
• Whats mine is mine - Free minerals
• Breathe deep - Free Vespene Gas
• Black Sheep Wall - Shows entire map
• Modify the phase variance - Ability to build all buildings
• War aint what it used to be - Disables fog of war
• Food for thought - Ability to build units beyond the support limit
• Ophelia - Enter this to enable level skipping cheat. Then enter the mission you want to skip to (e.g., "terran10") to go there.

Game Types

With the availability of a map editor, users can create unique StarCraft games. Below is a short description of some of the more popular made games played on Battle.net.

• Paint Ball - Although there are different paint ball games, the general concept is the same: one shot, one kill. The majority of Paint Ball games are teams, such as 4 on 4, and the object is to get the other players' flag and bring it back to your base without getting killed. Other Paint Ball games are usually Free for alls (FFA), where whoever has the most amount of kills in a certain time wins.
• Bunker Wars - Object of bunker wars is to destroy the other players' bunkers without having yours killed. Each time a new bunker is created or at the beginning of the game you will get one fire bat, ten marines, and one observer. Each 500 points that you receive for killing another player's base or men you will receive more troops ranging from tanks to other species. Usually to win the game you must accumulate 30,000 in points.
• Tank Wars - Played with up to 7 players with the 8th player neutral, the object of this game is to kill the other players' tank. If a yellow tank is found and moved next to you, you will gain control of that tank over time, possibly having a small army of tanks (all tanks have capability of siege mode). To win this game you must have the most kills or highest score when the time runs out.
• Brave Heart - The concept of this game is to bring your armies of different units into a main fortress and destroy it without allowing Brave Heart to die; while this is a good concept, unfortunately there are thousands of units so the game can run slowly.
• Godzilla - The object of this game is to build a strong enough defense to kill Godzilla before you are killed; unfortunately, we have never been able to win this game unless we are actually Godzilla, therefore he or she is usually the only one enjoying the game.

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