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Current as: 07th July 2009

This is the final part of three articles to describe the changes undergone to units in the StarCraft 2 Alpha. The first part was Preparing the Protoss for StarCraft 2, and the second focused the Terrans. You can also read more of the changes to the unit models in Kalos' Polygon Parallax articles.

As with my last two articles, I'll repeat my disclaimer that this isn't the absolute list of every little change that has happened to the Zerg during the StarCraft 2 development cycle. While I have tried my best to find and record as much as I can, I welcome any feedback on those that I have missed.

I think before we begin we need to first realize that the Zerg were introduced much later than both the Terrans and Protoss, and therefore may not have had the same length of time to develop as many changes as the other two counterparts. This doesn't necessarily mean a shortage of logs though as it list is still quite long.


Preparing the Zerg for StarCraft 2

Preparing the Zerg for StarCraft 2
Page 1	Page 2	Page 3	Page 4
Creep Unit Upgrades Art Upgrades	Drone Zergling/Baneling Roach Hydralisk/Lurker	Infestor Ultralisk Queen Overlord/Overseer	Mutalisk/Brood Lord Corruptor Nydus Worm

The Zerg were the last of the three races to be revealed in StarCraft 2, having been revealed in the march 2008 press tour. The events of the Brood War has left Kerrigan and the Zerg in the best position of the three races, having crushed a combined attack by the Terrans (United Earth Directorate and Terran Dominion) and Protoss. As we'll see below, the Zerg have taken on plenty of new mutations and enhancements to continue their fight in this war.

As with the Terran article, we'll first have a look at some interesting global Zerg changes before we delve into each unit individually.


Creep
The creep is an integral part of both the design and gameplay for the Zerg, so it's no surprise that the developers have tried to play up on this with StarCraft II.

When the Zerg was first announced the creep had the ability to deal damage (albeit in small numbers) to any non-Zerg structure that it touched. This was removed as part of the Q&A Batch 45 when the developers thought that it negatively affected those in team games who were allied with Zerg players. Its usefulness was also questioned in 1v1 matchups.

To help compensate for the damage removal, and to further identify this unique aspect of the Zerg, the creep gained the ability to increase the speed of all Zerg units (minus the Drone) by 30% in mid September 2008 as part of the StarCraft II Discussion Topic by Karune.


Unit Upgrades
In an effort to individualize each race, the whole concept of upgrades for the Zerg was dramatically different upon their unveiling. The original idea was that each Zerg unit type could be upgraded individually with each upgrade offering an offensive and defensive bonus, and sometimes even an added skill.

This was dropped with the WWI 2008 build in June when the upgrades were returned to buildings such as the Evolution Chamber.


The Art Upgrade
We've seen some slight modifications over the course of released screenshots over the two years, however the Zerg art upgrade was made official in late February 2009 as part of the Q&A Batch 49. This has resulted in an enhanced layer of detail and a much darker look for the Zerg.

Particularly when compared to their once "shiny" feel in the earlier screenshots.

It wasn't just the buildings that received a touch-up, as a lot of the Zerg units were also caught in the overhaul again in late April 2009. The blades of the Ultralisk became more biological and the Corruptor put on some weight - however there appear to be few fans who are unsure on whether to call these improvements.

Kalos also touches on this subject in his StarCraft 2 Polygon Paradox article.


Read on further with individual unit changes on page 2, starting with Zerg ground units.

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