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154-411: StarCraft is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment . The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance among four species—the adaptable and mobile Terrans, the ever-evolving insectoid Zerg , the powerful and enigmatic Protoss, and the godlike Xel'Naga creator race—in

308-566: A Strategic Defense Initiative in which satellites would be set up to shoot at nuclear missiles. The two authors were Larry Niven , the author of the Ringworld series, and Jerry Pournelle . Along with like-minded colleagues, they formed a committee to lobby the United States on space issues and influence Reagan's space policies. Pournelle advocated a "robust, technocratic military state". In addition to Pournelle's science fiction writing, he wrote

462-792: A board game based in the StarCraft universe. Blizzard Entertainment also licensed Wizards of the Coast to produce an Alternity based game entitled StarCraft Adventures . In 2015, Blizzard released Heroes of the Storm , a crossover multiplayer online battle arena video game in which players can control over 15 characters from the StarCraft universe as playable heroes, such as Artanis, Kerrigan, Nova, Raynor, and Zeratul. The game features two StarCraft -themed battlegrounds, Braxis Holdout and Warhead Junction. Various soundtracks from StarCraft, such as Terran and Zerg Theme, are present as background music in

616-457: A "more disciplined and more realistic notion of the kind of armies which might fight interplanetary and interstellar wars, and the kinds of weapons they might use". In many stories, the usage or advancement of a specific technology plays a role in advancing the plot, such as deploying a new weapon or spaceship. Some works draw heavy parallels to human history and how a scientific breakthrough or new military doctrine can significantly change how war

770-551: A "paper for the Air Force on stability's role in national security". President Reagan read the space advice that Niven, Pournelle, and their colleagues prepared, which influenced Reagan's 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative . "Niven and Pournelle saw an opportunity to shape the great void in their political image, and Reagan viewed space as yet another tool to defend America against the communist superpower...". Science fiction authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov criticized

924-458: A Dominion colony and getting it off the planet as quickly as possible. As with its predecessor, Retribution does not include any new gameplay features beyond its single player campaigns and an abundance of multiplayer levels. The add-on was not well received by reviewers, and instead it was regarded as "average", but at least challenging. Retribution is similarly not widely available, and Blizzard Entertainment offers no comment regarding support or

1078-517: A Leviathan, she controls the local Swarm inside, and starts rebuilding her forces from scratch. She later evolved into a Primal Zerg after a confrontation with Zeratul, leading her to the origins of the Zerg. She became a Primal, after absorbing the spawning pool and killing Primal Leaders to collect essence. With her newfound power, she initially takes the fight to the Dominion after subduing countless Queens. She

1232-510: A campaign against the UED, recapturing Korhal. She turns against her allies, with Fenix and Duke both perishing in the ensuing attacks. Kerrigan later extorts Zeratul into killing the new Overmind, giving her full control over the entire Zerg Swarm. After defeating a retaliatory attack by the Protoss, Dominion, and the UED (consequently destroying the last of the UED fleet), Kerrigan and her Zerg broods become

1386-603: A captain, and are armed with semi-automatic rifles . Eventually, as science fiction became an established and separate genre, military science fiction established itself as a subgenre. One such work is H. Beam Piper 's Uller Uprising (1952) (based on the events of the Sepoy Mutiny ). Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (1959) is another work of military science fiction, along with Gordon Dickson 's Dorsai (1960), and these are thought to be mostly responsible for popularizing this subgenre's popularity among young readers of

1540-500: A development team led by Metzen and Phinney. The game debuted at the 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo and used a modified Warcraft II game engine . StarCraft also marked the creation of Blizzard Entertainment's film department; the game introduced high quality cinematics integral to the storyline of the series. Most of the original development team for StarCraft returned to work on the game's expansion pack, Brood War ; that game's development began only shortly after StarCraft

1694-507: A distant part of the Milky Way galaxy known as the Koprulu Sector. The series debuted with the video game StarCraft in 1998. It has grown to include a number of other games as well as eight novelizations , two Amazing Stories articles, a board game , and other licensed merchandise such as collectible statues and toys. Blizzard Entertainment began planning StarCraft in 1995 with

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1848-480: A form of faster-than-light travel in order to facilitate the enormous scale of interstellar war . The long spans of time (e.g., decades or centuries) required for human soldiers to travel interstellar distances, even at relativistic speeds, and the consequences for the characters, is a dilemma examined by authors such as Joe Haldeman and Alastair Reynolds . Other writers such as Larry Niven have created plausible interplanetary conflict based on human colonization of

2002-519: A future mercenary tank regiment . Drake's series which "helped initiate a fashion for sf about mercenaries", including The Warrior's Apprentice (1986) by Lois McMaster Bujold . A twist was introduced in Harry Turtledove 's Worldwar series depicting an alternate history in which WWII is disrupted by extraterrestrials invading Earth in 1942, forcing humans to stop fighting each other and unite against this common enemy. Turtledove depicts

2156-453: A galactic empire is sometimes a "core world," such as a planet relatively near a galaxy's centrally-located supermassive black hole, which has advanced considerably in science and technology compared to current human civilization. Characterizations of these empires can vary wildly from malevolent forces that attack sympathetic victims, to apathetic or amoral bureaucracies, to more reasonable entities focused on social progress. A writer may posit

2310-413: A last job, the assassination of Jim Raynor. A number of action figures and collectable statues based upon the characters and units in StarCraft have been produced by ToyCom. A number of model kits, made by Academy Hobby Model Kits , were also produced, displaying 1/30 scale versions of the marine and the hydralisk. In addition, Blizzard Entertainment teamed up with Fantasy Flight Games to create

2464-453: A law enforcement setting. Some examples include Richard Morgan 's Takashi Kovacs book such as Altered Carbon (2002) and Elizabeth Bear 's Jenny Casey books, such as Hammered (2004). Precursors for military science fiction can be found in "future war" stories dating back at least to George Chesney 's story " The Battle of Dorking " (1871). Written just after the Prussian victory in

2618-492: A lawsuit against Microstar for selling the add-on, arguing that as the product was unauthorized and created using StarCraft ' s level editing software , it was a breach of the end user license agreement . We believe that we must aggressively combat the sale and distribution of unauthorized add-ons associated with our properties. In our opinion, Stellar Forces meets neither Blizzard's standards nor our customers' expectations. As gamers ourselves, we feel obligated to prevent

2772-510: A leader it is because they choose to. Their lack of a Hive Mind also shields them from specific psionic attacks engineered to counter the Zerg Hive Mind. Zerg have conquered and/or infested many worlds, but only two of them are important: The Zerg were created from the native lifeforms of Zerus, who had the natural ability to absorb the "essence" of creatures they killed, transforming their bodies to gain new adaptations. The Xel'Naga created

2926-501: A leverage against her, keeping the location where he is imprisoned a secret, until she joins forces with the Hyperion to locate and rescue him. Seeing that she discarded her humanity after all the effort he took to restore it, Raynor rejects her, despite her confession that she loves him, and parts ways with her. Kerrigan turns her attention to Korhal and sends her forces to bring down Mengsk once and for all. During their showdown, Mengsk uses

3080-530: A military science fiction story can speculate about war in the future, in space, or involving space travel, or the effects of such a war on humans; at the other, a story with a fictional military plot may have relatively superficial science fictional elements. The term "military space opera" may occasionally denote this latter style, as used for example by critic Sylvia Kelso when describing Lois McMaster Bujold 's Vorkosigan Saga . Examples that feature aspects of both military science fiction and space opera include

3234-527: A new Overmind has entered incubation. Meanwhile, Earth decides to take action in the sector, sending a fleet to conquer the Terran Dominion and capture the new Overmind. Although successfully taking the Dominion capital Korhal and enslaving the Overmind, the UED's efforts to capture Mengsk are thwarted by a double agent working for Kerrigan, Samir Duran . Kerrigan, allying with Mengsk, Fenix, and Raynor, launches

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3388-451: A new Overmind to restore control of the Swarm. Through allying herself with the Protoss, Kerrigan strikes at the cerebrates, causing disruption of their plans. Eventually, the UED fleet takes control of Char and pacifies the new Overmind with drugs, putting the cerebrates and most of the Zerg under their control. Kerrigan retaliates by forming a tenuous alliance with the remnants of the Dominion and

3542-938: A novel that was written by Graham McNeill which focuses on the origins of the characters in the Mengsk family. In January 2010 Keith R.A. DeCandido and David Gerrold authored the StarCraft: Ghost Academy to elaborate the training of Nova as an espionage agent and in September 2011, Simon & Schuster published the StarCraft Ghost: Spectres as a sequel to the novel StarCraft Ghost: Nova . Timothy Zahn released Starcraft: Evolution in 2016. In addition to these, Blizzard Entertainment authorized two short stories in Amazing Stories magazine, entitled StarCraft: Revelations and StarCraft: Hybrid . Revelations

3696-479: A number of StarCraft graphic novels . Two series were announced: StarCraft: Frontline , which is a series of short story anthologies that spanned four volumes, and StarCraft: Ghost Academy , which was written by Keith R.A. DeCandido and follows several characters, such as Nova, during their training as the psychic assassins called "ghosts". There was a Starcraft graphic novel released in 2010, produced by Wildstorm and DC Comics , which features outlaws working on

3850-401: A short but flattering review, describing it as having "definitely been worth the wait" and also drew note to the cinematic cut scenes, stating that they "actually feel like part of the story rather than an afterthought." IGN stated that Brood War ' s enhancements were "enough to enrich the core gameplay without losing the flavor" while GameSpot noted that the expansion was developed with

4004-526: A single game, StarCraft II was split into three parts during development, one for focusing on each race. The base game, Wings of Liberty , follows the Terrans, while two expansion packs, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void , have been released to complement Wings of Liberty and further the story from the views of the Zerg and Protoss, respectively. The story of Wings of Liberty continues from four years after

4158-514: A solid following around the world, particularly in South Korea , where professional players and teams participate in matches, earn sponsorships, and compete in televised matches. By June 2007, StarCraft and Brood War had sold nearly 10 million copies combined. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and its sequels obtained similar praise, and also sold very well. By the end of 2017, the franchise's lifetime revenue totaled over $ 1 billion. In addition,

4312-460: A space colony requiring defense against attack out on the frontier. Gene Roddenberry described Star Trek: The Original Series as a Space Western (or more poetically, as " Wagon Train to the stars"). The TV series Firefly and its cinematic follow-up Serenity literalized the Western aspects of the space Western subgenre as popularized by Star Trek : it features frontier towns, horses, and

4466-448: A subject were collected and marketed as such. The series of anthologies with the group title There Will be War edited by Pournelle and John F. Carr (nine volumes from 1983 through 1990) helped keep the category active, and encouraged new writers to add to it. David Drake wrote stories about future mercenaries, including the Hammer's Slammers series (1979), which follows the career of

4620-790: A successful pro-gaming scene . Pro-gamers in South Korea are niche media celebrities and StarCraft games broadcast over three television channels dedicated to gaming. StarCraft has won numerous Game of the Year awards, is often described as one of the best real-time strategy games made, and is widely credited with popularizing the use of distinct and unique sides—as opposed to sides of equal ability and strength—in real-time strategy games. Although Insurrection and Retribution were not particularly well received, StarCraft: Brood War generally received very positive reviews, with an aggregate GameRankings score of 95.00%. The magazine PC Zone gave Brood War

4774-413: A sudden attack by Kerrigan and the Zerg swarm. After obtaining the exact location, he departs to an ancient Xel'Naga temple where he has a vision of Tassadar, who prompts him to claim the artifact in possession of the Terrans. Zeratul returns to warn Artanis of Amon's return, but he decides to proceed with his plans of leading his army to reclaim Aiur. Amon awakens on Aiur and takes control of the majority of

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4928-449: A variety of tasks consisting of programming and design for levels, visuals and audio effects. In 2001, StarCraft: Ghost began development under Nihilistic Software , with the aim of releasing the game for the Xbox , PlayStation 2 , and GameCube during late 2003. Unlike previous real-time strategy StarCraft titles, Ghost was to be a tactical third-person action game. Although the press

5082-461: A visual style evocative of classic John Ford Westerns. Worlds that have been terraformed may be depicted as presenting similar challenges as that of a frontier settlement in a classic Western. Six-shooters and horses may be replaced by ray guns and rockets. A "thematic subdivision" of MSF are works where "ex-military protagonists [are] drawing on their battle experience for tough and violent operations in (more or less) civilian life", typically in

5236-510: Is March 29, 2016. At the same time, Blizzard has announced that new commanders are planned to be added to the Co-Op mode in Legacy of the Void as a DLC, with Karax to be the first addition given for free. The success of StarCraft spurred the creation of two authorized add-on titles to StarCraft , as well as one failed attempt at a deviation into a genre other than real-time strategy . Insurrection

5390-454: Is designed to be unobtrusive in order to allow the player to focus, with only the music that attaches to the cinematic interludes permitted to become more distinctive. Brower has also pointed out that certain musical themes in StarCraft II become associated with certain characters, a technique borrowed from composers such as John Williams and Richard Wagner . Brower has said that most of

5544-503: Is fairly static, and weapons that would be familiar to present-day soldiers are used, but other aspects of society have changed. Technology may not be emphasized in such stories as much as other aspects of the characters' military lives, cultures, or societies. For example, women may be accepted as equal partners for combat roles, or preferred over men. When the "extravagan[t]" depictions of war in space operas faded along with pulp fiction more generally, military science fiction developed with

5698-619: Is far more centralized than with the Terrans and Protoss; a central hatchery must be utilized to create new Zerg, with other structures providing the necessary technology tree assets, whereas the other two races can produce units from several structures. Zerg units tend to be weaker than those of the other two races, but are also cheaper, allowing for rush tactics to be used. Some Zerg units are capable of infesting enemies with various parasites that range from being able to see what an enemy unit sees to spawning Zerg inside an enemy unit. In addition, Zerg can infest some Terran buildings, allowing for

5852-427: Is fought, the outcome of a battle, and the fortunes of the combatants. Many works explore how human progress, discovery, and suffering affect military doctrine or battle, and how the protagonists and antagonists reflect on and adapt to such changes. Many authors have either used a galaxy-spanning fictional empire as a background for the story, or have explored the growth and/or decline of such an empire. The capital of

6006-457: Is more like that of ants or termites: they are communal entities, a people efficiently adapted by evolution. Every thousand Zerg warriors killed at a cost of one Terran soldier was a net victory for the Zerg; the Zerg Swarm didn't care any more about expending warriors than the Terrans cared about expending ammunition. The Zerg were originally commanded by and unified by their absolute obedience to

6160-489: Is not necessarily set in outer space or on multiple worlds, as in space opera and the space Western . Both military science fiction and the space Western may consider an interstellar war and oppression by a galactic empire as the story's backdrop. They may focus on a lone gunslinger , soldier, or veteran in a futuristic space frontier setting . Western elements and conventions in military science fiction may be explicit, such as cowboys in outer space, or more subtle, as in

6314-561: Is science fiction which is written about a military situation with a fundamental understanding of how military lifestyles and characters differ from civilian lifestyles and characters. It is science fiction which attempts to realistically portray the military within a science-fiction context. It is not 'bug shoots'. It is about human beings, and members of other species, caught up in warfare and carnage. It isn't an excuse for simplistic solutions to problems. In 1980 and 1981, two science fiction authors inspired President Ronald Reagan 's vision for

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6468-573: Is set in a distant sector of the Milky Way galaxy. A Mac OS version of the game was released by Blizzard Entertainment in March 1999. A Nintendo 64 port including StarCraft , Brood War , and a new secret mission "Resurrection IV" was released in the United States on June 13, 2000. The game's story revolves around the appearance of two alien races in Terran space and each race's attempts to survive and adapt over

6622-526: Is written from the viewpoint of a Confederate marine during the early stages of StarCraft . The first four novels, including the e-book Uprising , were later re-released as a single anthology entitled The StarCraft Archive in November 2007. A fifth novel entitled StarCraft: Queen of Blades was published in June 2006. Written by Aaron S. Rosenberg , it is a novelization of the second campaign in StarCraft from

6776-637: The Battlestar Galactica franchise and Robert A. Heinlein 's 1959 novel Starship Troopers . A key distinction of military science fiction from space opera is that space operas focus more on adventurous stories and melodrama, while military science fiction focuses more on warfare and technical aspects. The principal characters in a space opera are also not military personnel, but civilians or paramilitary . Stories in both subgenres often concern an interstellar war in which humans fight themselves and/or nonhuman entities. Military science fiction, however,

6930-650: The StarCraft franchise. Unlike the fictional universe 's other primary races, the Protoss and Terrans, the Zerg lack technological inclination. Instead, they "force-evolve" genetic traits by directed mutation in order to match such technology. Operating as a hive mind -linked "chain of command", the Zerg strive for "genetic perfection" by assimilating the unique genetic code of advanced species deemed "worthy" into their own gene pool , creating numerous variations of specialized strains of Zerg gifted with unique adaptations. Despite being notoriously cunning and ruthlessly efficient,

7084-488: The StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm expansion, which was released in March 2013. The third and final StarCraft II installment, Legacy of the Void , was released in November 2015. In 2016, a single-player nine-mission pack, Nova Covert Ops , was released in form of DLC . The original game and its expansion have been praised as one of the benchmark real-time strategy games of its time. The series has gathered

7238-539: The Franco-Prussian War , it describes an invasion of Britain by a German-speaking country in which the Royal Navy is destroyed by a futuristic wonder-weapon ("fatal engines"). Other works of military science fiction followed, including H.G. Wells 's " The Land Ironclads ". It described tank-like "land ironclads ," 80-to-100-foot-long (24 to 30 m) armoured fighting vehicles that carry riflemen, engineers, and

7392-458: The Overmind to learn the location of the Protoss homeworld, Aiur. The Overmind quickly launches an invasion to assimilate the Protoss and gain genetic perfection. Pursued by his own people as a heretic for siding with the dark templar Zeratul, Tassadar returns to Aiur and, with the assistance of Raynor and the templar Fenix , launches an attack on the Overmind and ultimately sacrifices himself to kill

7546-549: The United Earth Directorate (UED), commissions a colonization program as part of a solution to overpopulation. On the way, the computers automating the colony ships malfunction, propelling the Terran colonists far off course to the edge of Protoss space. Out of contact with Earth, they form various factions to maintain their interests. Intrigued by the behavior and mentality of the Terrans, the Protoss remain hidden to examine

7700-653: The asteroid belt and outer planets by means of technologies utilizing the laws of physics as currently understood. Several subsets of military science fiction share characteristics of the space opera subgenre, concentrating on large-scale space battles with futuristic weapons in an interstellar war . Many stories can be considered to be in one or both the military science fiction and space opera subgenres, such as The Sten Chronicles by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch , Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card , Honorverse by David Weber , Deathstalker by Simon R. Green , and Armor by John Steakley. At one extreme,

7854-673: The Blizzard studios, performed by musicians such as Laurence Juber (formerly of Wings ) and Tommy Morgan . The soundtrack also contains John Bacchus Dykes and William Whiting's hymn Eternal Father, Strong to Save (1860). The orchestral music for Heart of the Swarm was likewise recorded in Marin County, again with the services of Kurlander and Noone, with 80 performers from the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra. Brower stated in an interview in 2013 that he intended to continue

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8008-526: The Dark Voice, Amon. Kerrigan is the protagonist and player character of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. After being deinfested, she was taken in Valerian Mengsk's hideout to research on her, until the Dominion attacks the facility, she escaped along with the rest of the facility, except Raynor, who was captured by Nova. She later learned that Raynor was executed and seeks revenge on Arcturus. As she enters

8162-468: The Overmind and bound the primal Zerg to its will. They gave the Overmind a powerful desire to travel across the stars and absorb useful lifeforms into the Swarm, particularly the Protoss, their previous creation, so as to become the ultimate lifeform. The Zerg are a completely organic race, making no use of lifeless technology and instead using specialized organisms for every function efficiently fulfilled through biological adaptation and planned mutation of

8316-418: The Overmind. The Overmind also possesses the ability to reincarnate its cerebrates should their bodies be killed, although Protoss dark templar energies are capable of disrupting this process. If a cerebrate is completely dead and cannot be reincarnated, the Overmind loses control of the cerebrate's brood, causing it to mindlessly rampage and attack anything. As a result of the Overmind's death in StarCraft and

8470-601: The Protoss race through the Khala, the telepathic bond that unites all emotions for the Khalai faction of the Protoss. Only Zeratul and the Nerazim, the Dark Templar, are immune due to their lack of connection to the Khala, and the Nerazim proceed to save as many Khalai as they can by severing their nerve cords, which connect them to the Khala, with Zeratul sacrificing himself to save Artanis in

8624-1004: The San Francisco Symphony and Opera and recorded at the Skywalker stage at the Lucasfilm Ranch in Marin County, California, under the name "Skywalker Symphony Orchestra", conducted by Eímear Noone . Brower also recalled the use of a 32-voice choir in Seattle, Washington. Both these recording sessions were mixed by John Kurlander, who had previously worked on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Beatles' Abbey Road . The Terran country and blues pieces were recorded at Dreamland studio in Woodstock, New York , and performed by members of Peter Gabriel's band, including bassist Tony Levin and drummer Jerry Marotta . Remaining pieces were recorded at

8778-587: The Shapeshifter's master and only by allied effort, they finished them. Kerrigan left them to her Broodmother Zagara's control. One of the main factors responsible for StarCraft 's positive reception is the attention paid to the three unique playable races, for each of which Blizzard developed completely different characteristics, graphics, backstories, and styles of gameplay, while keeping them balanced in performance against each other. Previous to this, most real-time strategy games consisted of factions and races with

8932-521: The Strategic Defense Initiative. After the 9/11 terrorism attacks, a group of sci-fi authors called Sigma, including Pournelle and Niven, advised the "Department of Homeland Security on technological strategies for defeating terrorist threats." In 2021, Worldcrunch reported that the French military has hired fiction writers to develop futuristic warfare scenarios, including situations that

9086-421: The Swarm , which had a GameRankings aggregate score of 86%. The standalone expansion pack sold 1.1 million copies within the first two days of its release on March 12, 2013, and was the best-selling PC game in that quarter. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void , the third expansion pack, was similarly well received, having a GameRankings aggregate score of 88% while selling more than 1 million copies worldwide within

9240-418: The Swarm , the Dominion discovers where Raynor and Kerrigan are hiding and launch an attack on them. Kerrigan manages to escape, but is cut off from Raynor and upon hearing news that he was captured and executed, she returns to Zerg territory to retake control of the swarm and exact revenge on Mengsk. During her quest, she has an encounter with Zeratul, who advises her to travel to Zerus, the original homeworld of

9394-412: The Swarm through secondary agents called cerebrates. Cerebrates command an individual brood of Zerg, each with a distinct tactical role within the hierarchy. Cerebrates further delegate power through the use of overlords for battlefield direction and queens for hive watch. The quest for 'genetic perfection' is a pseudo-religious concept to Zerg that drives them on a steady state of evolution and conflict;

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9548-419: The Swarm, it is mutated toward a different function within its hierarchy, from being a hive worker to a warrior strain. StarCraft 's manual notes that some species bear little resemblance to their original forms after just a short time into assimilation (an example would be the formerly peaceful Slothien species, which was assimilated and mutated into the vicious Hydralisk strain and so on). The Overmind controls

9702-463: The Swarm. This situation persists until the events of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm . Kerrigan, believing Raynor to have been killed in a Dominion surprise attack, enters the original Zerg spawning pool to become the Queen of Blades again. This time she is no longer motivated to destroy humanity, having kept more of her original mindset due to the non-interference of the Zerg Hive Mind, and by extension,

9856-559: The Vietnam War's influence can be seen indirectly in novels such as Joe Haldeman 's The Forever War (published in Analog over 1972–1975) and Lucius Shepard 's Life During Wartime (1987). The Vietnam War resulted in veterans with combat experience deciding to write science fiction, including Joe Haldeman and David Drake . Throughout the 1970s, works such as Haldeman's The Forever War and Drake's Hammer's Slammers helped increase

10010-464: The Void. In a short epilogue after the end of Legacy of the Void , Kerrigan calls for Artanis and Raynor's help to confront Amon inside the Void to defeat him once and for all. In the occasion, they meet Ouros, the last of the Xel'Naga who reveals that to confront Amon on equal terms, Kerrigan must inherit Ouros' essence and become a Xel'Naga herself, as Ouros himself is at the last of his strength. Assisted by

10164-408: The Xel'Naga artifact, which they sell to the enigmatic Moebius Foundation in order to fund their revolution. Soon after, Zeratul delivers a psychic crystal that allows Raynor to share visions involving an ominous prophecy where Zerg-Protoss hybrids and an enslaved Zerg swarm wipe out the Terrans and the Protoss. The vision reveals that only Kerrigan has the power to prevent the eradication of all life in

10318-458: The Zerg and the Protoss, in addition to increasing rebel activity led by Arcturus Mengsk against its rule. The Confederacy eventually succumbs to Mengsk's rebels when they use Confederate technology to lure the Zerg into attacking the Confederate capital, Tarsonis. In the consequent power vacuum, Mengsk crowns himself emperor of a new Terran Dominion . During the assault on Tarsonis, Mengsk allows

10472-477: The Zerg collective sentience known as the Zerg Overmind , a manifestation of this hive mind, and under the Overmind's control the Zerg strove for genetic perfection by assimilating the favorable traits of other species. Zerg creatures are rapidly and selectively evolved into deadly and efficient killers to further the driving Zerg imperative of achieving absolute domination. After a species has been assimilated into

10626-462: The Zerg invasion of the sector as well as from a rising insurgency . The second campaign has the player directing a Protoss task force sent to clear the Zerg infestation of the colony by any means necessary. In the final campaign, the player assumes the role of a Zerg cerebrate, whose goal is to crush all opposition on the surface. The expansion contains 30 new campaign missions and over 100 new multiplayer maps, although it does not include new content in

10780-413: The Zerg race. It spans 27 missions (20 main missions and 7 side missions). The saga of StarCraft is ultimately completed with StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void , which was released on November 10, 2015. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is a stand-alone game in which new units are added to all three races as well as changing existing units, and also makes groundbreaking changes to the economy-aspect of

10934-518: The Zerg strains. Their buildings are specialized organs within the living, growing organism of a Zerg nest, as are the Leviathans "space ships" that carry them across space. Zerg colonies produce a carpet of bio-matter referred to as the "creep", which essentially provides nourishment for Zerg structures and creatures. The visual aesthetic of the Zerg greatly resembles that of invertebrates such as crustaceans and insects (and certainly draws inspiration from

11088-405: The Zerg to capture and infest his psion second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan . This betrayal prompts Mengsk's other commander, Jim Raynor , to desert him with a small army. Having retreated with Kerrigan to their primary hive clusters, the Zerg are assaulted by Protoss forces commanded by Tassadar and the dark templar Zeratul . Through assassinating a Zerg cerebrate , Zeratul inadvertently allows

11242-404: The Zerg, Terran and Protoss forces, the empowered Kerrigan vanquishes Amon, before disappearing without a trace. Two years later, Kerrigan appears before Raynor in human form and he departs with her to never be heard from again, while the Zerg, the Terran and the Protoss civilizations begin to rebuild in an age of peace and prosperity. The StarCraft series includes a core set of titles that carry

11396-400: The Zerg, where she regains her powers as the Queen of Blades, returning stronger than ever, and learns that a fallen Xel'Naga named Amon was responsible for making the Zerg what they are: a warring swarm, bound to a single overriding will. After confronting a legion of servants of Amon, including a breed of Protoss-Zerg hybrids, Mengsk informs Kerrigan that Raynor is still alive and uses him as

11550-555: The actions of the Sons of Korhal, the Zerg are lured to the Confederate capital Tarsonis , where they capture the psionic ghost agent Sarah Kerrigan and infest her. Returning to the Zerg base of operations on Char , the Zerg are attacked by the dark templar Zeratul , who accidentally gives the location of the Protoss homeworld Aiur to the Zerg Overmind. With victory in sight, the Overmind launches an invasion of Aiur and manifests itself on

11704-587: The activities of three species in a part of the Milky Way known as the Koprulu Sector. Millennia before any of the events of the games, a species known as the Xel'Naga genetically engineer the Protoss and later the Zerg in attempts to create pure beings. These experiments backfire and the Xel'Naga are largely destroyed by the Zerg. Centuries before the beginning of StarCraft in 2499, the hardline international government of Earth ,

11858-435: The artifact to immobilize her, but Raynor appears to protect her, and Mengsk is ultimately killed by Kerrigan. With the Dominion under control of Mengsk's son Valerian, Kerrigan bids farewell to Raynor and departs with the Zerg Swarm to confront Amon and his forces. In Legacy of the Void , Zeratul invades a Terran installation under control of Amon in order to pinpoint the exact location of his resurrection, taking advantage of

12012-527: The artificial intelligence behavior was modified, new graphical tilesets for terrain were added, and the game's level editor received improved scripting tools to facilitate cut scenes with the in- game engine . The expansion received critical praise for fixing various balance issues with the original game, development attention on par with that of a full game, and for continuing with single player campaigns that were heavily story-driven. In April 2017, Starcraft received its first update in over 8 years, and Brood War

12166-438: The author can extrapolate what might have occurred. Traditional military values of courage under fire, sense of duty, honor, sacrifice, loyalty, and camaraderie are often emphasized. The action is typically described from the point of view of a soldier in a science fictional setting of or near battle . Typically, the technology is more advanced than that of the present and described in detail. In some stories, however, technology

12320-451: The availability of the add-on despite authorizing it. StarCraft: Ghost was intended to be a tactical stealth game for video game consoles developed under the supervision of Blizzard Entertainment. Announced in 2002, the game was constantly delayed due to various issues, including a change of development team from Nihilistic Software to Swingin' Ape Studios in July 2004. As updates about

12474-455: The balance and difference between the races was "remarkable", continuing to praise the game's "radical" approach to different races and its high degree of success when compared with other games in the genre. IGN was also positive about the unit arrangements for the three races, crediting Blizzard Entertainment for not letting units become obsolete during extended play and for showing an "extraordinary amount of patience in balancing them." GameSpot

12628-530: The beginning of development for Diablo . The development was led by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, who also created the game's fictional universe . Using the Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness game engine as a base, StarCraft made its debut at E3 1996 . The game's success led to the development of two authorized add-ons, which were both released in 1998. However, neither of the two add-ons were particularly well received by critics. StarCraft also marked

12782-414: The beginning; the former was released in 2013 and the later was released in 2015. All the games in the main series are real-time strategy games , where the player views the events as a military commander for each of the three species. In addition, two spin-off titles have been released; these are authorized expansion packs to the original that focus on other characters and settings based at the same time as

12936-401: The commands of those further up the Zerg hierarchy, although they are sufficiently intelligent to form strategies and work as a team on the battlefield. Despite this, the average Zerg has no sense of self preservation . Along with the Overmind, the cerebrates are the only Zerg with full sapience, each with its own personality and methods, although they too are genetically incapable of disobeying

13090-426: The conclusion of Brood War and revolves around Jim Raynor's struggles against the Terran Dominion. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is an expansion pack to StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and was released on March 12, 2013. It is part two of the StarCraft II trilogy. The expansion includes additional units and multiplayer changes from Wings of Liberty, as well as a continuing campaign focusing on Kerrigan and

13244-589: The conclusion of the original game. It starts with the Protoss' struggle to ensure the survival of their species and continues with the intervention of the United Earth Directorate into local Terran affairs. The livelihood of both the Protoss and the previously silent Earth government is then threatened by the ever-increasing power of Sarah Kerrigan and her Zerg broods. In addition, the expansion introduces new features and improvements. A total of seven new units with different functions and abilities are included,

13398-566: The conflict, belligerents (which may involve extraterrestrials), tactics and weapons used for it, and the role of a military service and the individual members of that military organization form the basis for a typical work of military science fiction. The stories often use features of actual past or current Earth conflicts, with countries being replaced by planets or galaxies with similar characteristics, battleships replaced by space battleships, small arms and artillery replaced by lasers, soldiers replaced by space marines, and certain events changed so

13552-422: The creature. In Brood War , the Protoss are led by Zeratul and Artanis . They begin to evacuate the surviving population of Aiur to the dark templar homeworld of Shakuras under a fragile alliance between the two untrusting branches of the Protoss. On Shakuras, they are misled by Kerrigan into attacking the Zerg to advance Kerrigan's quest to securing power over the Zerg. This deception comes after she reveals that

13706-518: The creatures from the Alien movies). The Zerg are shown to be highly dependent on their command structure: if a Zerg should lose its connection to the hive mind, it may turn passive and incapable of action, or become completely uncontrollable and attack allies and enemies alike. Zerg buildings and units are entirely organic in-game, and all Zerg can regenerate slowly without assistance (though not as quickly as Protoss shields or Terran medivac). Zerg production

13860-684: The debut of Blizzard Entertainment's film department. Previously, cinematic cut scenes were seen as simply gap fillers that often deviated from the game, but with StarCraft and later Brood War introducing high quality cinematics integral to the storyline of the series, Blizzard Entertainment is cited as having changed this perception and became one of the first game companies to raise the standard regarding such cut scenes. StarCraft ' s success also inspired third-party developer Microstar Software to release an unauthorized add-on, entitled Stellar Forces , in May 1998. Blizzard Entertainment consequently filed

14014-491: The development of the game became less frequent, and the graphics and game mechanics became more outdated, suspicion began to grow that Blizzard would cancel the game. Finally, on March 24, 2006, Blizzard indefinitely postponed the game's development. The story of the game is about Nova , a Ghost agent of the Terran Dominion . Frequently used as an example of development hell , in 2008, Blizzard Entertainment refused to list

14168-540: The dominant power in the sector. However, Zeratul secretly uncovers a plot by Duran to create Protoss-Zerg hybrids and learns that Duran is a servant of not Kerrigan, but a "far greater power". Four years later, in Wings of Liberty , Kerrigan and the Zerg vanish from the Koprulu Sector, allowing the Protoss to once again take on a passive role in the galaxy. Meanwhile, Raynor forms a revolutionary group named Raynor's Raiders in order to overthrow Mengsk. On Mar Sara, Raynor liberates

14322-586: The first day of its release. Since the release of StarCraft II a number of tournaments have been hosted in Korea and elsewhere, such as the GOMTV Global StarCraft II League (GSL). In December 2018, an artificial intelligence system by Google's DeepMind (called "AlphaStar") beat professional players in StarCraft II for the first time. Military science fiction A detailed description of

14476-444: The first forty eight hours of release, which breaks the record of best selling strategy game in the history of the gaming industry. It received very positive reviews with an aggregate GameRankings score of 93%, and was nominated as the "Best PC Game of 2010" on GameSpot. By the end of 2012, Wings of Liberty had sold more than 6 million copies. This success continued with the release of the first expansion pack, StarCraft II: Heart of

14630-410: The forces of Jim Raynor and Fenix , their subsequent victories turning the tide against the UED. However, she later betrays the alliance by dealing long-term damage to the infrastructures of her allies and killing Fenix. Proceeding to blackmail Zeratul into killing the new Overmind, Kerrigan's forces destroy the remnants of the UED fleet, giving her full control of the Zerg and establishing the Swarm as

14784-455: The form of units and graphical terrain tilesets. Insurrection was criticized by reviewers for lacking the quality of the original game, and is not widely available. Although the add-on is authorized by Blizzard Entertainment, they offer no comment on support or availability of the game. Retribution is the second of the two authorized add-on packs released for StarCraft . The add-on was developed by Stardock and published by WizardWorks . It

14938-492: The game as cancelled . It was not until August 23, 2014, in an interview with Polygon , that Chris Metzen confirmed that StarCraft: Ghost was indeed cancelled. Blizzard still has yet to produce an FPS game based on StarCraft . In summer 2019 there was a 2nd project called StarCraft: Ares that was cancelled when Blizzard focused on developing Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV instead. Blizzard Entertainment began planning development on StarCraft in 1995, shortly after

15092-444: The game began in 2003, shortly after Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was released. The soundtrack for the original StarCraft was provided by Glenn Stafford, Jason Hayes, and Tracey W. Bush. The soundtrack for StarCraft II was provided by Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford, Neal Acree, and Russell Brower . Brower, Blizzard's Director of Audio, has suggested that the music of StarCraft serves two functions: The music heard during gameplay

15246-560: The game by Carbot Animations, the producers of multiple Blizzard-related parody animations, including their first and longest-running one, the StarCrafts series. As a graphical overhaul, its effect applies to all game modes and menus in StarCraft: Remastered . A port of the StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War campaigns was released in 2011 as a fan-made mod for StarCraft II under the name "StarCraft: Mass Recall". The mod includes

15400-562: The game was leaked online in 2021 before being taken down due to a request by Blizzard. StarCraft II was announced on May 19, 2007, nearly a decade after the original, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Seoul , South Korea. StarCraft II was being developed, under the codename Medusa , for concurrent release on Windows XP , Windows Vista and Mac OS X . Blizzard announced a release date for July 27, 2010. Development on

15554-411: The game. Heroes of the Storm originated as a custom map called "Blizzard DOTA", as a part of the arcade feature for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty . The StarCraft series has been a commercial success. After its release, StarCraft became the best-selling PC game for that year, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In the next decade, StarCraft sold over 9.5 million copies across

15708-459: The game. The story of StarCraft is concluded by following the Protoss Race in their quest to reclaim their homeworld and for Kerrigan to ultimately slay the greatest threat to the entire universe. The game is divided into a 3-mission prologue, a 19-mission main story campaign, and a 3-mission epilogue that wraps everything up. At BlizzCon 2015 , during the "Future of StarCraft II" presentation, it

15862-670: The gap is not too wide for the humans to bridge. For example, the invaders have more advanced tanks, but the German Wehrmacht's tank crews facing them – a major theme in the series – are more skilled and far more experienced. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction lists three notable women authors of MSF: Lois McMaster Bujold ; Elizabeth Moon (particularly her Familias Regnant stories such as Hunting Party (1993)), and Karen Traviss . Several authors have presented stories with political messages of varying types as major or minor themes of their works. David Drake has often written of

16016-410: The globe, with 4.5 million of these being sold in South Korea . Since the initial release of StarCraft , Blizzard Entertainment reported that its Battle.net online multiplayer service grew by 800 percent. StarCraft remained one of the most popular online games in the world ten years after its release. After its release, StarCraft rapidly grew in popularity in South Korea, establishing

16170-489: The horrors and futility of war. He has said, in the afterwords of several of his Hammer's Slammers books (1979 and later), that one of his reasons for writing is to educate those people who have not experienced war, but who might have to make the decision to start or endorse a war (as policymakers or as voters) about what war is really like, and what the powers and limits of the military as an instrument of policy are. David Weber has said: For me, military science fiction

16324-505: The humans, while protecting them from other threats without their knowledge. The Zerg, however, target the Terrans for assimilation to harness their psionic potential, forcing the Protoss to destroy tainted Terran colonies to contain the Zerg infestation. StarCraft begins days after the first of these attacks, where the predominant Terran government, the Terran Confederacy, falls into a state of panic as it comes under attack by both

16478-421: The local population from Dominion control and also discovers a component of a mysterious Xel'Naga artifact. The Zerg reappear and overrun Mar Sara, forcing Raynor to arrange an evacuation to his battlecruiser, the Hyperion . The Raiders embark on a series of missions to undermine Mengsk, stop frequent Zerg infestations on Terran worlds, gather psychic individuals for military assets, and find the remaining pieces of

16632-413: The main storyline. Like the main series, these two titles are also real-time strategy games. A spin-off, StarCraft: Ghost , which was to be a third person action - stealth game , was in development, but has been placed on indefinite hiatus . StarCraft , released for Windows on March 31, 1998, is the first video game in the StarCraft series. A science fiction real-time strategy game, StarCraft

16786-409: The main storyline. These games were released in chronological order, with each new title following on from the events that are depicted in the previous title. A full second game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty , was released in 2010, taking place four years after the end of Brood War. Two expansions, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void (both currently stand alone games), were planned from

16940-431: The majority of Zerg species have low intelligence, becoming mindless beasts if not connected to a "hive-cluster" or a "command entity". As with the other races, the Zerg are the subject of a full single-player campaign in each of the series' real-time strategy video games. Zerg units are designed to be cost-efficient and fast to produce, encouraging players to overwhelm their opponents with sheer numerical advantage . Since

17094-410: The military become "more resourceful." The German military is also using science fiction to help its military but in its approach, they do not hire science fiction writers to develop scenarios. Instead, they "use existing science fiction" to help the army "predict the "world's next potential conflict." The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) hired two science fiction writers to pen short stories about "what

17248-481: The military cannot directly study for "ethical reasons, such as Autonomous Lethality Weapon Systems (ALWS), or augmented humans." The French military says the authors are asked to imagine warfare situations that "destabilize us, scare us, blame, or even beat us", in order to provide the army with a "fresh set of practice scenarios". Military planners use the science fiction authors' scenarios to "prepare for previously unthought of situations", "boos[t] creativity" and help

17402-421: The most powerful faction in the sector. In StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty , Jim Raynor and the rebel forces who oppose both the Dominion and the Zerg, manage to secure an ancient Xel'Naga artifact and after successfully infiltrating Char, they use it to subjugate the Zerg and restore Kerrigan's human form. Once again without a unified leadership, the Zerg get divided into multiple broods feuding over control of

17556-424: The music for the original StarCraft series was produced on keyboards. The original material for the Wings of Liberty soundtrack spans approximately four hours. Brower has said in interviews that his team was consciously seeking a film-score feel for StarCraft II . In a short commentary provided for Blizzard, he recounted that the orchestral music for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was performed by 78 members of

17710-551: The occasion. After escaping the planet with an ancient vessel, the Spear of Adun , Artanis reclaims the artifact as Zeratul suggested and gathers allies among the many Protoss tribes scattered across the galaxy in order to remake his army and launch another assault on Aiur. Using the artifact, Artanis' forces restrain Amon's essence, time enough for the other Khalai Protoss who were still under his control to sever their nerve cords and banish Amon to

17864-553: The original Zerg homeworld of Zerus (as seen in Heart of the Swarm ). The Zerg Hive Mind was created to control the Zerg, and eventually put them under the control of the main antagonist of the series, the fallen Xel'Naga Amon. Some Zerg, however, managed to avoid being subsumed. These are the Primal Zerg, who have much the same genetic abilities but are not bound to the Overmind. These creatures are each independently sapient, and if they follow

18018-459: The original units, campaigns, and hidden missions, but uses the StarCraft II engine including the AI mechanics, which makes the game notably more difficult than the original. It was completed in 2019 and has since received minor technical updates. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the official sequel to StarCraft released for Windows and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment on July 27, 2010. The game

18172-464: The others. The player assumes three roles through the course of the three campaigns: a Confederate colonial governor who becomes a revolutionary commander, a Zerg cerebrate pushing forward the species' doctrine of assimilation, and a Protoss fleet executor tasked with defending the Protoss from the Zerg. StarCraft soon gained critical acclaim, winning numerous awards, including being labelled "the best real-time strategy game ever made" and being ranked

18326-472: The perspective of Jim Raynor . This was followed in November 2006 by StarCraft Ghost: Nova , a book focusing on the early origins of the character of Nova from the postponed StarCraft: Ghost game. Written by Keith R.A. DeCandido , the novel was meant to accompany the release of StarCraft: Ghost , but was continued despite the postponement of the game. In 2007 Christie Golden , an author whose previous work included novels in Blizzard's Warcraft series ,

18480-489: The planet. However, at the end of the game, the Protoss high templar Tassadar sacrifices himself to destroy the Overmind, leaving the Zerg to run rampant and leaderless across the planet. The Zerg return in Brood War initially as uncontrolled indiscriminate killers without the will of the Overmind to guide them. Through the early portions of Brood War , Sarah Kerrigan is at odds with the surviving cerebrates, who have formed

18634-509: The popularity of the genre. Short stories also were popular, collected in books such as Combat SF , edited by Gordon R. Dickson . This anthology includes one of the first Hammer's Slammers stories, as well as one of the BOLO stories by Keith Laumer and one of the Berserker stories by Fred Saberhagen . This anthology seems to have been the first time these stories specifically dealing with war as

18788-477: The process of associative musical themes in Legacy of the Void . The StarCraft series is supported by at least 12 novelizations and an anthology, all published by Simon & Schuster , two short stories, and two graphic novels. At BlizzCon 2007, Chris Metzen stated that he hoped to novelize the entirety of StarCraft and Brood War into a definitive text-based story. The first novel, StarCraft: Uprising ,

18942-407: The production of special infested Terran units. In StarCraft , the Zerg are obsessed with the pursuit of genetic purity, and are the focus of the game's second episode. With the Xel'Naga–empowered Protoss targeted as the ultimate lifeform, the Zerg invade the Terran colonies in the Koprulu Sector to assimilate the Terrans' psionic potential and give the Zerg an edge over the Protoss. Through

19096-426: The release of StarCraft , the Zerg have become a gaming icon, described by PC Gamer UK as "the best race in strategy history". The term " Zerg Rush ", or "zerging", is now commonly used to describe sacrificing economic development in favor of using many cheap, yet weak units to overwhelm an enemy by attrition or sheer numbers . The tactic is infamous; most experienced real-time strategy players are familiar with

19250-411: The release of the first two add-on packs, Blizzard Entertainment announced the official expansion pack to StarCraft , entitled Brood War . Most of the team at Blizzard Entertainment responsible for StarCraft returned to work on Brood War . Development on Brood War began shortly after StarCraft ' s release, and Blizzard Entertainment were assisted by members of Saffire , who were contracted for

19404-410: The sale of unauthorized add-on products that do not add value to the StarCraft experience. In November 1998, Blizzard Entertainment won the court case against Microstar Software. In the settlement, Microstar agreed to pay an undisclosed amount in punitive damages and to destroy all remaining copies of Stellar Forces in its possession, as well as to formally apologize to Blizzard Entertainment. After

19558-465: The same basic " chess " play styles and units with only superficial differences. The use of unique sides and asymmetric warfare in StarCraft has been credited with popularizing the concept within the real-time strategy genre. Contemporary reviews of the game have mostly praised the attention to the gameplay balance between the species, as well as the fictional narratives built around them. In their review for StarCraft , IGN's Tom Chick stated that

19712-452: The same level of care as the full game. In 1999, Next Generation listed Warcraft and Starcraft as number 32 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, " StarCraft took it all a step further, with an innovative campaign structure and fantastic game balance for endless hours of multiplayer fun." The release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty performed very well commercially and critically, selling 1.8 million copies within

19866-602: The sector and beyond. After collecting more artifact pieces, the Raiders forge an alliance with Valerian Mengsk, Arcturus' son, who is their secret benefactor from Moebius Foundation. After recovering the final artifact piece, Valerian and Raynor work together to invade the Zerg world of Char and use the artifact to restore Kerrigan's humanity, thus weakening the Zerg at the cost of much of the Dominion fleet. An agent of Arcturus makes an attempt on Kerrigan's life, and Raynor defends her and takes her in for medical examination. In Heart of

20020-653: The series was awarded a star on the Walk of Game in 2006, and holds four Guinness World Records in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition of 2008. On March 27, 2017, Blizzard announced StarCraft: Remastered , a remastered version of the original StarCraft , with the core updates being up-to-date graphics and revised dialogue and audio. As of 2017, the original StarCraft , its Brood War expansion, and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty are free to download and play from Blizzard's website. The story focuses on

20174-410: The seventh best game of all time by IGN in both 2003 and 2005, and the eleventh best game in 2007. StarCraft: Brood War is the official expansion pack for StarCraft , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Saffire . Released for Windows and Mac OS in the United States on December 18, 1998, the expansion directly continues the events of StarCraft . The expansion's story continues only days after

20328-403: The species as "very diverse but well-balanced, " stating that this allowed for "a challenging and fun gaming experience." Allgame stated that the inclusion of three "dynamic" species "raises the bar" for real-time strategy games, complimenting the game for forcing the player to "learn how [the aliens'] minds work and not think like a human". Commentators have also praised the aesthetic design of

20482-501: The strongest with the best mutations survive, and they assimilate only the strongest species into their gene pool . It was stated in an interview by Blizzard employees that the Zerg Swarm are universally feared, hated, and hunted by all the sapient species of the Milky Way . The Zerg are a collective consciousness of a variety of different species assimilated into the Zerg genome. The Swarms' organization, psychological and economic,

20636-475: The subsequent destruction of a new Overmind in Brood War , the remaining cerebrates perished, as they could not survive without an Overmind. Sarah Kerrigan replaced the cerebrates with "brood mothers". These creatures fulfil much the same purpose, but are loyal to Kerrigan and could survive her temporary departure during the events of Starcraft 2 . An exception to all of this would be the Primal Zerg, who inhabit

20790-493: The tactic in one form or another. Zerg have two cell types at birth — one which creates random mutations, and another that hunts these mutations — the result being that any mutations that survive are the strongest of all. Despite being a hive-minded species, the Zerg understand the principles of evolution and incorporate this into the development of their species. Zerg purposely situate themselves in harsh climates in order to further their own evolution through natural selection. Only

20944-401: The tactics and strategy of this new course of the war in detail, showing how American, British, Soviet, and German soldiers and Jewish guerrillas (some of them historical figures) deal with this extraordinary new situation, as well as providing a not unsympathetic detailed point of view of individual invader warriors. In the war situation posited by Turtledove, the invaders have superior arms, but

21098-479: The three races; in particular, the powered armor worn by the Terran Marine was rated eleventh on in a Maxim feature on the top armor suits in video games, and ninth in a similar feature by Machinima.com . This positive view, however, is not universally held. For example, Computer and Video Games , while describing the game as "highly playable, " nevertheless described a "slight feeling of déjà vu" between

21252-690: The time. The Vietnam War led to the "polarization of the sf community", which can be seen in the June 1968 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction , in which one page of pro-war sf authors listed their names and on another page, anti-war sf authors put their names. The Vietnam War has been noted by the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction as having impacted anthologies such as In the Field of Fire (1987) and novels such as The Healer's War (1988) by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough and Dream Baby (1989) by Bruce McAllister . The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction states that

21406-436: The use of Fictional Intelligence ( FicInt ), which they define as "useful fictions". FicInt, a concept developed by Cole in 2015, combines "fiction writing with intelligence to imagine future scenarios in ways grounded in reality." Zerg The Zerg are a fictional race of insectoid aliens obsessed with assimilating other races into their swarm in pursuit of genetic perfection, and the overriding antagonists for much of

21560-485: The wars of tomorrow will look like." The MOD hired Peter Warren Singer and August Cole to write eight short stories about threats from "emerging technologies" including " artificial intelligence (AI), data modeling, drone swarms, quantum computing and human enhancement" in a battlefield context. The MOD hired sci-fi writers because they have a "unique ability to imagine the unimaginable." As well, both authors know about "security subjects and modern warfare." They advocate

21714-462: The zerg believed there was a state that the zerg could reach where they no longer needed to evolve, that their evolutionary form would never have to change again because they could already adapt to any situation. Abathur, an evolution master, doubted that this was possible, but reasoned that "chasing the illusion of perfection" was, regardless, tactically sound. The vast majority of the Zerg do not have any free will as they are genetically forced to obey

21868-666: Was announced at the Worldwide Invitational in South Korea on May 19, 2007, with a pre-rendered cinematic cut scene trailer and a gameplay demonstration of the Protoss. Further demonstrations regarding the game's new features have been showcased at subsequent BlizzCons and other games conventions. The game incorporates a new 3D graphics engine and adds new features such as the Havok physics engine . StarCraft II also incorporates DirectX 10 level effects in Windows. Originally envisioned as

22022-420: Was authored by series creator Chris Metzen and Sam Moore, a Blizzard employee, and was featured on the cover of the 1999 spring edition with art by Blizzard's art director Samwise Didier . Hybrid was written by Micky Neilson and again was accompanied by artwork by Didier; the short story was published in the spring edition of 2000. At New York Comic-Con in 2008, TokyoPop announced that they would be producing

22176-476: Was brought in to write a trilogy entitled the StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga . The trilogy acts as a link between StarCraft and its sequel StarCraft II . The first installment, Firstborn being published in May 2007 and Shadow Hunters , the second novel, being published in November 2007. The final part of the trilogy, Twilight was released in June 2009. I, Mengsk was publish in 2009,

22330-462: Was complimentary of the species in its review for StarCraft , describing the races as being full of personality. Stating that the use of distinct races allowed for the game "to avoid the problem [of equal sides] that has plagued every other game in the genre", GameSpot praised Blizzard Entertainment for keeping it "well balanced despite the great diversity." Other reviews have echoed much of this positive reception. The site The Gamers' Temple described

22484-500: Was later shocked after she knows that Raynor survived and held by Dominion as a bargaining chip. She organizes a raid, rescuing Raynor but the man fell into disbelief that the one he saved, returns to being a monster. She also confronted an ancient Shapeshifter creating Hybrids at the behest of her former rival named Alexei Stukov. She later prepared to end Arcturus Mengsk's reign by killing him in his palace in Korhal. She later left to confront

22638-409: Was positive about the video game console direction taken by Ghost , the game was consistently delayed, and during the third quarter of 2004, Nihilistic Software discontinued their work with the project. Blizzard stated that Nihilistic Software had completed the tasks it had been contracted for and that the game would be delivered on time. The game was never released, although footage purported to be from

22792-408: Was released for free to both PC and MAC. A remastered edition of the game, StarCraft: Remastered , released August 14, 2017, preserves the gameplay of the original while adding support for ultra-high-definition graphics , Blizzard's modern online features, and re-recorded audio (soundtrack and sound effects). On July 10, 2019, Blizzard released StarCraft: Cartooned , a graphics overhaul pack for

22946-445: Was released for the PC in late 1998. The game is set during the second campaign in StarCraft , revolving around the acquisition of a crystal of immense power connected to the Xel'Naga . Divided into three campaigns, the game has the player assuming the roles of a Protoss fleet executor, the commander of a Dominion task force, and a Zerg cerebrate, all tasked with retrieving the crystal from

23100-456: Was released. In 2001, StarCraft: Ghost began development under Nihilistic Software . Unlike the previous real-time strategy games in the series, Ghost was to be a stealth - action game . After three years of development, work on the game was postponed in 2004. Development of a true RTS sequel, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty , began in 2003; the game was announced in May 2007 and was released in July 2010. StarCraft II continued with

23254-469: Was revealed that Blizzard will release additional mission packs to keep players engaged with StarCraft II. The first pack is called Nova Covert Ops , and will center around the character Nova . The mission pack consists of three episodes, with a total of nine new missions. It did not require the purchase of StarCraft II and could be played with the Starter Edition. The release date for the first episode

23408-477: Was the first StarCraft novel to be released in paperback . StarCraft: Shadow of the Xel'Naga , published in July 2001 is the third novel, written by Kevin Anderson under the pseudonym Gabriel Mesta . It serves as a link between StarCraft and Brood War . The fantasy author Tracy Hickman was brought in to write the fourth novel, StarCraft: Speed of Darkness , which was published in June 2002. Speed of Darkness

23562-468: Was the first add-on pack released for StarCraft . Although developed and published by Aztech New Media , it is authorized by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released for the PC on July 31, 1998. The expansion's story focuses on a Confederate colony during the course of the first campaign of StarCraft . As in StarCraft , the player takes control of each race in three separate campaigns. In the first campaign, Terran colonists attempt to defend themselves from

23716-510: Was written by Micky Neilson, a Blizzard Entertainment employee, and originally released only as an e-book in December 2000. The novel follows the origins of the character Sarah Kerrigan . The second novel, entitled StarCraft: Liberty's Crusade , serves as an adaptation of the first campaign of StarCraft , following on a journalist following a number of the key Terran characters in the series. Written by Jeff Grubb and published in March 2001, it

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