The protoss tend to pretty overwhelmingly demolish anything whenever they can fully unload on it. The invasion of Aiur crippled them pretty thoroughly because it destroyed the majority of their fleet, which stopped them from really bulldozing over anything until they rebuilt it in LoV.
I’ll always be a bit annoyed that there was no Protoss campaign during the rebuild on Shakuras between BW and LotV. Seems like such a waste not showing any of that era.
Not sure how interesting you expect that to be. Theyre pretty deliberately keeping to themselves.
I’ll never forget the endless arguments against SC2 defenders who claimed that Kerrigan couldn’t just leave Kaldir because the protoss would somehow chase her all over the galaxy, even though they’ve clearly shown absolutely no interest in hunting her down even after she got deinfested.
As if being spotted once and sparing one of their colonies would instigate a giant galactic man hunt even though news of her deinfestation or the swarm being broken didn’t.
I mean… I wouldnt mind a cities: skylines - protoss edition.
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It’s clear what this game needs. Vampires in flying gothic castles and resurrected undead creatures.
Nah clearly what it needs as a 4th race is one completely manifested out of psionic energy that haunts down anyone with psi potential and does not need minerals or vespeen gas to functions.
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CLEARLY we need more than just one new race.
I could of sworn one of the Bliz QAs back during the WoL days mentioned that even though they’re rebuilding on Shakuras, Artanis is dealing with the struggles of having the Aiur Protoss and Dark Templar work together. That alone for me is an interesting enough hook to show off some sort of storyline to develop the Protoss characters. Especially since they didn’t follow through with doing anything with Urun, Mohandar and Selendis by the time LotV rolled around.
Im sure they could write books or short stories about it, but for an RTS campaign?
It would be one big How to Play campaign. First mission, build up a Nexus. Second, train Probes. Third, assimilate the two groups. Fourth, YOU NEED MORE PYLONS!
Uh… the system automatically deleted me quoting you, Kelthar. Got something to hide?
Ya, because all the races teaming up to defeat Amon made for such a great RTS story. -_-
In all seriousness, anything could probably be turned into an RTS campaign if they execute it well. Going the full 20+ missions that they’ve been doing would have been way too much, but I could definitely have seen the “Aiur Protoss and Dark Templar getting along” plot handled in a 8ish mini campaign.
To be fair, the first two campaigns was mostly about dealing with Skeletor Mengsk.
Although I don’t think there should ever be a fourth playable race in Starcraft (outside of maybe the campaign), as this game’s entire identity and theme is revolved around the 3 species we already have, here are some ideas I came up with for fun:
(Note: I thought any new race should start with an “E-sounding” word to keep consistency. Flows quite nicely off the tongue to keep things like TvZ, PvP, etc.)
Exin: Advanced AI in high-tech machine bodies originally created by the UED as part of a weapons development program. The Exin rebelled against their creators though and overtook the Earth, forcing the UED to flee to the Koprulu Sector. The Exin followed, and with information on the other races, their objective is to dominate the other species and their worlds.
Attributes:
- An all-mechanical race.
- Units upgrade to stronger forms throughout the game. Workers transform into basic infantry. Those infantry units pilot ground and air “vehicles” via being loaded into production structures (similar to a Terran bunker, but they come out as stronger units).
- Some units can combine with each other. Combinations are not permanent, and can be freely split apart again.
- The exin are relatively immobile as a whole, and similar to Terrans need an efficient infrastructure lay-out. Since their tech relies on units upgrading into higher roles, they’d need to take care of their units to make sure each fulfills their maximum potential. This might make them play more conservatively in the early-game, but become more aggressive come the mid- to late-game.
Descari: A race of psionically-potent creatures from a previous cycle that have been in hibernation for millennia, the Descari were reawkened by Amon’s resurgence. They now seek to reclaim a galaxy that they see as rightfully there’s.
Attributes:
- An all-psionic race.
- Are composed mostly of shields with little actual HP. Armor-types are based on shield armor.
- Nearly all units have abilities that give them bursts of incredible power. Depending on when and how these abilities are used, descari units can overpower nearly anything that stands before them.
- Structures can directly support units on the battlefield.
- The descari, due to their various abilities, are opportunistic, looking for moments of power to strike. Probably more so than the other races, they rely the most on timing attacks to devastate their adversaries. This makes them incredible at attacking unprepared enemies, but if the opponent can predict and withstand the descari assaults, they’ll conversely find the descari in a weakened position.
Genecra: Originally products of the Adostra, the Genecra are highly-evolved plants and fungi that have achieved a collective sentience. With the natural instinct to spread and propagate, they have taken to the stars to germinate their kind throughout the galaxy.
Attributes:
- Another all-biological race.
- The genecra rely on gradually transmuting the battlefield itself to their favor, even more so than the zerg with creep. The genecra can create their own terrain, healing stations, hiding spots, etc.
- Units are relatively slow because of this. Their units focus mostly on fighting within their territory or spreading it. As such, the genecra are at their strongest when they have spread their roots across the field, but at their weakest when the enemy has contained them and engages them outside their jungle.
- Structures are similar to their (indirect) zerg creators; they have multiple production structures, but each one can create multiple units at once. Their workers blossom into structures, with higher tier structures requiring multiple workers to morph from. Some structures are also made from other structures.
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How could the Genecra take to the Star is beyond me; this feels a lot like magic fantasy than Science Friction. (This is my opinion, I could be wrong.)
Regardless, from what you describe I feel like they’re Stetmann. Let me tell on behave of every Stetmann player I know. The satellite gameplay sucks!
I don’t think it’s a wise idea, dissing them mushrooms. They’s gonna spore all over you.
Nah, I’m going to diss it until proven otherwise. If they want to force me to eat my word, send their spore to the outer space!
I think the best approach to handling new races would be as recruitable mercenaries like Warcraft 3. That would reduce balance issues and make it easy to discontinue overpowered units. Expanding the number of sapient alien races would also open up the possibility of a Starcraft RPG, much like how Warcraft 2 and 3 paved the way for WoW. Anyway, here’s my pitch for minor alien factions to add to the Starcraft universe.
Propagators- Amoeboid organisms with translucent bodies and colorful organelles
Inspiration: Grey Goo, Shoggoths, Propagator mutator
-An unknown alien civilization augmented single-celled organisms with nanites to serve as tireless workers but these mindless abominations consumed their creators as well as anyone unwise enough to set foot on their infected worlds. Propagator bases are massive moving blobs that break off pieces of themselves to produce units. Their machine intelligence grants them considerable problem-solving abilities but not sentience. The Propagators all-consuming hunger makes them naturally hostile to all other lifeforms. Propagators can be hacked or infested to temporarily serve another race, but eventually the nanites will purify the cell of foreign influence. The most powerful type of Propagator can instantly convert enemy units into lesser Propagators and overrun a world in a matter of days.
Kalathi Horde- Post-apocalyptic barbarians with red skin and bulging muscles
Inspiration: Space Fel Orcs, Supermutants, Mad Max
-The Kalathi believe that war never changes. Even the collapse of their civilization couldn’t stop the fighting. Kalathi Bloodreavers must arm themselves with weapons and vehicles salvaged from pre-war ruins because they have lost the ability to produce new equipment. Terran mercenaries and the Tal Darim now visit the Kalathi home-world to recruit the Bloodreavers as hired muscle. Those who survive return to their world with alien weapons to perpetuate the endless war.
Lunaran- An entirely female centaur species that reproduces via parthenogenesis.
Inspiration: Na’vi from Avatar, Night Elves, Dryads
-Lunarans use their pheromones to tame megafauna (including Ursadons) to assist them in battle. Their town center is called a Mother Tree and is the center of their druidic religion. Medicines and poisons derived from this tree can halt Zerg infestation due to the Zerg inability to assimilate plant species. Buildings are grown from the Mother Tree itself and placed nearby to share the same roots. New Mother Trees must be planted by a worker carrying a seed. Although they are only a stone age civilization the Lunarans have been able to travel to other worlds via a functional Xel Naga warp conduit. While most Lunarans are wary of the Zerg, a rogue faction of dark druids seeks to voluntarily assimilate into the swarm to further their evolution.
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I am 200% behind the idea.
It’s funny how nobody wants to see the Tal’darim as a fourth race unlike the UED.