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This page should answer your most basic questions about StarCraft II. See other pages in our Category:Basics specific sections for much more general information on the game's setting, plot, story, mechanics, races, units, and more.

What is StarCraft II?

StarCraft II is the obvious sequel to Blizzard's StarCraft & StarCraft Brood Wars. It is an RTS PC game with focus on action and a flowing gameplay. The game is currently in pre-Alpha, and has only been showcased to the public on a few occasions. It seems fully playable, but still only has Terran & Protoss and has lacked the Zerg race when shown publicly. The point of the game is to gather resources, build an army and defeat your opponent(s), exactly like in the original StarCraft game. StarCraft II was a big secret to everybody except a small team at Blizzard until 19th of May, when Blizzard had a World Wide Invitational in Korea (showing gratitude to the Koreans for their huge fandom of StarCraft). It was previously known that Dustin Browder had moved over from the old Westwood Studios and worked with Blizzard, which of course caused rumours about StarCraft II, but Blizzard somehow managed to keep the lid on until very near the WWI Korea 19th May.

The game development is run by Starcraft II producer Chris Sigaty, Dustin Browder. (fill out here) Dustin Browder (lead designer) Samwise Didier (senior art director) Rob McNaughton (lead technical artist).

- (ADD) Been in progress 2.5 years, since WC3 TFT.

Release Date

As usual when it comes to Blizzard, StarCraft does not have a release date, and the standard answer of "It will be released when it is ready" is echoing everywhere you can find a Blizzard representative. However, there has been some speculation, and when Dustin Browder spoke to Leord of IncGamers at BlizzCon, he gave the rough statement that the game was 60% done. In one of the other interviews from Blizzcon, he stated that it was roughly 50% done. This would not in itself mean that it will be another 2.5 years until release, and Dustin almost gave a positive for that theory in the same discussion with Leord. Dustin went on to explain some of the progress, that sometimes they can do 3 months work in a few weeks, and others can be a lot tougher and drawn out, making estimates problematic. The overall impression from the discussions with Dustin was that it would not be improbable to see the game released within the year, or around a year from BlizzCon.

Minimum Requirements

There is currently no official minimum system requirements for StarCraft II. As usual when it comes to Blizzard, they tend to aim for making games that can be played by a majority of players at release, and therefore keep the requirements as low as possible. Developing the game in 3D obviously enables them to make the game very scalable between computer setups, so a poor computer can still run it without all the special effects, and a powerhouse master of a machine can amaze the player with the facial expressions of the Marines!

Mac & Linux

Replies from BlizzCon said they have not yet decided what platforms the game will be released on. Most definetly PC, and if you look at Blizzard's track record of supporting Operating Systems, it seems extremely likely that they also will support MAC. There is no word on an official Linux support.

Story

Much of the storyline has not yet been revealed by Blizzard. The story of StarCraft II takes place 4 years after StarCraft:Brood Wars ended. It has been quiet from the Zerg, to the point of being "too" quiet, and anxiety is widely spread among the Terran planets. The Dominion have a firm grip on the Terran worlds, and are constantly under propaganda, and mudslinging against Jim Raynor, the hero from StarCraft. The Terran campaign will be the first of the game, and it will start with Jim Raynor, who has had a tough time since we last saw him, and has also gained a bit of a drinking problem. He uses his Battle Cruiser Hyperion, and his loyal troops to try and gather resources to build up forces to take on Arcturus Mengsk, or to be prepared for whatever malicious plans Sarah Kerrigan might have in store. There is also movement with the Hybrid race we saw in SC: BW, and the Xel'Naga is returning.

Races

The races that will be shown in StarCraft II is:

The first three races is the usual playable ones, while Hybrids are a mix between Zerg and Protoss, hinted at in the hidden bonus map of StarCraft: Brood Wars. Xel'Naga is the race of super-beings that created Protoss as well as Zerg, and seem to be disappointed in their creations. Neither Hybrids or Xel'Naga will be playable in multi-player games. Early in development, there were plans for a fourth race, and as far as we can gather, concepts were done for that as well. However, they decided early on to diversify and increase the depth of the current 3 races instead. The fourth race never made it to 3D models.

StarCraft II compared to StarCraft

StarCraft II is its own game, in its own right, and Blizzard is not shutting down the StarCraft fan communities because of StarCraft II. The design philosophy is that it should look and feel a lot like StarCraft, but with improvements in gameplay and of course graphics. The point of making a sequel is to give further depth of the franchise as well as the story line.
This time, it is done in 3D, which has good development upsides. This includes a very easy way to change units in appearance or movement after creation. In StarCraft every frame had to be done by hand but in 3D you can easily change a leg or a walking movement to give another feel. Having the game in 3D will also enable Blizzard to make the game scale to different player's hardware configuration. A power-PC can handle the best setting, while you only need a decent machine to play the game. This was also impossible in 2D.
Gameplay wise, cloaking will get a facelift. It will be somewhat more rare, or at least require more resources and time to make cloaked units, and it will also be harder to detect cloaked units with detectors.
Blizzard is changing some mechanics in the game to better represent how people use the units and buildings in the original game today. An example of that is the Supply Depot that can be submerged to allow troop movement over it. This does not change the hit points or armour of the building, but it enables you to essentially have a "gate" through bottlenecks in the game.
Line of Sight as well as terrain height differences will change with the use of 3D. More focus will be on vantage points and manoeuvrability. One example is that a unit standing on a lower level is not able to attack units on a higher level, unless they get visual access to that location. The game will no longer give a one square of sight to locations the unit cannot see when attacked. There will also be an advantage to have units, like the Reaper that can traverse such differences.
Being a new game, many units of the original game will have to step aside for new units, and those that are kept are somewhat modified in their use to give further depth of the game. The designers expressed that they want there to be many different options right at the start, instead of having all options start late in the tech tree.
In the Single Player game, the storyline will be more interactive and immersive, where you can choose not to do certain missions for example. You will control the current campaign race's hero in some fashion like an old style adventure game, and be able to see things such as the insides of the Hyperion Battlecruiser, and let Jim Raynor go around the decks and talk to other people aboard.
StarCraft II will be featuring voice chat in-game, with all its advantages and flaws.

Units & Buildings of StarCraft II

This list is preliminary, and will probably change from week to week, and changes can be made by Blizzard up until Beta.

Protoss

Protoss Units

Unit name: Probe
Builds from: Nexus

Unit name: Zealot
Builds from: Gateway

Unit name: Immortal (confirmed Dragoon replacement)
Builds from: Gateway

Unit name: Stalker (a.k.a. Dark Dragoon)
Builds from: Gateway

Unit name: High Templar
Builds from: Gateway

Unit name: Dark Templar
Builds from: Gateway

Unit name: Nullifier
Builds from: Gateway

Unit name: Archon
Builds from: 2x Templar

Unit name: Observer
Builds from: Robotics Facility

Unit name: Colossus
Builds from: Robotics Facility

Unit name: Warp Prism (was Phase Prism)
Builds from: Robotics Facility

Unit name: Phoenix
Builds from: Stargate

Unit name: Void Ray (was Warp Ray)
Builds from: Stargate

Unit name: Carrier
Builds from: Stargate

Unit name: Mothership
Builds from: Stargate

Protoss Buildings

Building name: Nexus
Purpose: Main structure, produces Probes.

Building name: Assimilator
Purpose: Enables gathering of Vespene Gas by Probes to a Nexus.

Building name: Pylon
Purpose: Powering Protoss structures and usage of Warp In.

Building name: Forge
Purpose: Upgrades for ground units, unlocks the Photon Cannon.

Building name: Photon Cannon
Purpose: Defensive structure.

Building name: Gateway
Purpose: Combat unit production, produces Zealots, Immortals, Stalkers, Nullifiers, High Templar and Dark Templar.

Building name: Robotics Facility
Purpose: Combat unit production, produces Warp Prisms, Observers and Colossi.

Building name: Stargate
Purpose: Combat unit production, produces Phoenixes, Void Rays and Carriers.

Building name: Cybernetics Core
Purpose: Upgrades for air units, pre-requisite for Stalkers and Nullifiers.

Building name: Twilight Council
Purpose: Pre-requisite for Immortals.

Building name: Templar Archives
Purpose: Pre-requisite for High Templars.

Building name: Null Circuit
Purpose: Pre-requisite for Colossi.

Building name: Fleet Beacon
Purpose: Prerequisite for Carriers and Mothership.

Protoss Research/Upgrades

Terran

Terran Units

Unit name: Space Construction Vehicle (SCV)
Builds from: Command Center

Unit name: Marine
Builds from: Barracks

Unit name: Marauder
Builds from: Barracks

Unit name: Ghost
Builds from: Barracks

Unit name: Reaper
Builds from: Barracks (was Merc Haven)

Unit name: Hellion (was Jackal)
Builds from: Factory

Unit name: Siege Tank
Builds from: Factory

Unit name: Thor
Builds from: Barracks (was built by the SCV)

Unit name: Viking
Builds from: Starport

Unit name: Medivac Dropship
Builds from: Starport

Unit name: Nighthawk (was Nomad or Vulkan)
Builds from: Starport

Unit name: Banshee
Builds from: Starport

Unit name: Battle Cruiser
Builds from: Starport

Terran Buildings

Building name: Command Center
Purpose: Main structure, produces SCVs.

Building name: Refinery
Purpose: Enables gathering of Vespene Gas by SCVs to a Command Center.

Building name: Supply Depot
Purpose: Supply limit for Terran.

Building name: Barracks
Purpose: Combat unit production, produces Marines, Marauders, Ghosts and Reapers.

Building name: Merc Haven
Purpose: Pre-requisite for Reapers and the Surveillance Station.

Building name: Factory
Purpose: Combat unit production, produces Hellions, Siege Tanks and Thors.

Building name: Bunker
Purpose: Defensive structure, enhancing infantry Ground to Ground and Ground to Air defense for occupants.

Building name: Engineering Bay
Purpose: Upgrades for infantry units, unlocks Missile Turret, Radar Tower and the Planetary Fortress.

Building name: Missile Turret
Purpose: Defensive structure, Ground to Air defense, Detection.

Building name: Radar Tower
Purpose: Defensive structure, Detection in Fog of War.

Building name: Armory
Purpose: Upgrades for vehicles and ships, pre-requisite for Thor.

Building name: Ghost Academy
Purpose: Pre-requisite for Ghosts.

Building name: Deep Space Relay
Purpose: Pre-requisite for Battlecruisers.

Building name: Tech Lab
Purpose: Support structure for the Barracks, Factory and Starport. Unlocks advanced units.

Building name: Reactor
Purpose: Support structure for the Barracks, Factory and Starport. Allows double building queues.

Building name: Planetary Fortress
Purpose: Upgrade for the Command Center, Ground to Ground and Ground to Air defense.

Building name: Surveillance Station
Purpose: Upgrade for the Command Center, provides the Comsat station.

Terran Research/Upgrades

Zerg

Zerg Units

Unit name: Drone
Builds from: Hatchery, Lair, Hive

Unit name: Overlord
Builds from: Hatchery, Lair, Hive

Unit name: Overseer
Builds from: Overlord

Unit name: Zergling
Builds from: Hatchery, Lair, Hive

Unit name: Baneling
Builds from: Zergling

Unit name: Roach
Builds from: Hatchery, Lair, Hive

Unit name: Hydralisk
Builds from: Hatchery, Lair, Hive

Unit name: Lurker
Builds from: Hydralisk

Unit name: Corruptor
Builds from: Hatchery, Lair, Hive

Unit name: Mutalisk
Builds from: Hatchery, Lair, Hive

Unit name: Swarm Guardian
Builds from: Mutalisk

Unit name: Infestor
Builds from: Hatchery, Lair, Hive

Unit name: Ultralisk
Builds from: Hatchery, Lair, Hive

Unit name: Infested Terran
Builds from: Infested Terran Structure.

Zerg Buildings

None known at the moment.

Zerg Research/Upgrades