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StarCraft Brood War F.A.Q.
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How much does Brood War cost?
The Manufacturer's suggested retail price is approximately $30.00 US, although many stores may carry it for less.

What exactly is new about Brood War?
6 new units (2 per species), plus the ability for the Protoss to create Dark Templar
New Upgrades for the Terran Goliath and Zerg Ultralisk
3 new tilesets
26 missions spread across three campaigns
100 new multi-player maps
4 new cinematic sequences
New musical score and sound effects

What is the breakdown of missions in the new single player campaign
There are 8 Protoss, 8 Terran and 10 Zerg missions in the Brood war campaign.

Can people without Brood War play against those who have it?
Before you log on to Battle.net, you will choose whether or not you are going to be playing with the Brood War expansion units and tilesets. Brood War players can only play against others who have decided to log on to Battle.net through Brood War. You can still play StarCraft without the expansion units and tilesets, but you must elect to do so before going onto Battle.net.

Is the original StarCraft CD useless after the Brood War CD is installed to the StarCraft directory in my system?
No. The original StarCraft CD is still needed to play the original StarCraft campaigns.

Does Brood War have its own CD key?
No, Brood War utilizes your current StarCraft CD key.

How is spawning implemented in Brood War?
As an expansion to StarCraft that requires players to have the original game, Brood War does not have its own spawning feature.

Is there a new version of StarEdit?
StarEdit has been updated to include the new tilesets and new triggers. You can still make maps that can be played if you don't have the expansion, however.

Do the changes to the version of StarEdit that ships with Brood War allow for map builders to change the names of regular units?
You can change the names of any unit in the game with the new version of StarEdit.

Does Brood War have its own StarEdit?
Brood War's StarEdit is the same as StarCraft's StarEdit, except that the version with Brood War will have access to the new tilesets and units.

Has Blizzard added a new game feature that allows you to use single player cheats (not hacks) in multiplayer games?
No, multiplayer games will remain ‘cheat free’.

Does Brood War change any pre-existing units?
Yes. Both the Terran Goliath and Zerg Ultralisk have been given new upgrades.

What are the Goliaths and Ultralisk upgrades?

ULTRALISK

Chitinous Plating - (Improved Ultralisk Armor)
Researched at: Ultralisk Cavern
Research Cost: 150m, 150g
Description: This gives Ultralisks an additional +2 to their armor.

Anabolic Synthesis - (Faster Ultralisk Movement)
Researched at: Ultralisk Cavern
Research Cost: 200m, 200g
Description: This increases the movement speed of Ultralisks.

GOLIATH

Charon Boosters - (Increased Goliath Missile Range)
Researched at: Machine Shop (also requires Armory)
Research Cost: 150m, 150g
Description: This will increase the Goliath's air attack range. This does not increase the ground attack range of the unit.

Does the new Goliath upgrade give it a range equivalent to that of a Guardian?
Yes.

Does the Ultralisk automatically have Chitinous Plating or will you need to research it first?
Chitinous Plating is an upgrade that must be researched.

How much does the new Adrenal Gland upgrade increase the attack rate of Zerglings?
Zerglings with the Adrenal Gland upgrade will now attack at nearly double their normal rate of attack.

What are the default abilities/effects for the Medic, Dark Archon and Corsair?
Although the Medic starts with Heal and the Dark Archon starts with Feedback, the Corsair does not start with any innate abilities.

Will there be any new sounds for existing units?
No, we are not altering the original units sounds for Brood War.

Is there an Observer mode for multiplayer games of Brood War?
Observer mode will not be a feature in Brood War, although we will be telling people how to create maps with observer slots by using the new map editor.

Are there plans to implement user-customizable splash screens for custom campaigns?
These screens are hard coded into the game and can not be customized.

Will there be any other expansion sets after Brood War?
We currently have no plans for any other StarCraft products. Should we announce any other products in the StarCraft universe, we will let you know through the Blizzard website.

What is the UED?
It stands for the United Earth Directorate. Without giving too much away, lets just say that the Terrans have some new competition.

Are there any new critters?
Yes, every new tileset has a new critter.

Is there going to be a flying critter?
Yes, it is called a Kakaru and inhabits the mysterious wastlelands of Shakuras.

Are the .SCM's of the Week included in the retail version of Brood War?
Yes. You can find them in \StarCraft\maps\BroodWar\Webmaps\

Will the new tilesets include elements that might slow down walking or movement?
The new tilesets will not affect troop movement in new ways from StarCraft.

What does "Cooldown" mean?
Cooldown is a term used to describe how long a unit must wait before it attacks again. This means that units with a lower cooldown rate fire faster.

Lurker
Lurker
Zerg Heavy Support Beast


How does the Lurker work?
The Lurker is mutated from a Hydralisk, much in the same way as Guardians are currently created. While the Lurker does not have an attack in its mobile state, it does have the ability to attack once it is burrowed. This attack is a series of spines that rip through the ground in a straight line from the Lurker to the target, out to its maximum range. Every enemy unit in the path of the spines will take damage. This is a natural ability of the Lurker and does not have to be researched.

Can the Lurker attack air units?
No, it can only attack ground units.

Can Lurkers only attack in a straight line in FRONT of them?
Lurkers can attack in any direction.

Does the Lurker damage allies like Firebats & Reavers do?
Yes, the Lurker attack does damage allies.

Does the Lurker damage its own units if they are in between the Lurker and the enemy target?
No.

If the Lurker only attacks while burrowed, what happens when he is detected?
Like every other burrowed unit, the Lurker may only be attacked after he is found by a detector unit.

Can Templars use Psi Storm against undetected Lurkers as they do against Wraiths?
The Lurker's burrowing works identically to all other Zerg unit that has burrowing. This means that they will be affected by Psi Storm while burrowed.

Will the Lurker be forced out of its burrowed position when it's detected and attacked like other Zerg units that burrow?
No, the Lurker will remain burrowed when attacked.

Can Lurkers move when they are burrowed?
Lurkers cannot move while burrowed, although they are the only Zerg unit that can attack while burrowed.

Is the Lurker able to attack from underneath a Dark Swarm?
Dark Swarm does not affect the Lurker.

Is the speed or attack range of the Lurker affected by upgrades at the Hydralisk Den?
No, the Lurker does not have any special upgrades. Its attack and armor upgrades are the same as the Hydralisk and are researched at the Evolution Chamber.

Can a Hydralisk mutate into a Lurker while burrowed?
If a Hydralisk is told to morph while burrowed, it will unburrow and then morph into an egg.

If a line of enemies approach a Lurker, would the spines hit the first unit, and then keep hitting all the units out to the Lurkers maximum attack range?
Yes, the spines originate from the Lurker and proceed in a straight line toward its target, hitting anything between it and the intended target. These spines also hit anything beyond the target up to the maximum range of the Lurker's attack.

Devourer

Devourer
Zerg Heavy Strike Flyer


What kind of attack does the Devourer have and how does it work?
The Devourer is a powerful Zerg unit that, when used in conjunction with Mutalisks, will make the Zerg player very powerful in air combat.

Can the Devourer attack air and ground units?
The Devourer can only attack air units.

Does the Devourer's attack do splash damage?
It does not do splash damage, but it does ‘splash’ Acid Spores onto nearby targets.

Does the "splattering" from the Devourer attack affect ground units?
No, the Acid Spores of the Devourer may only attach themselves to other air units.

Do the Acid Spores of the Devourer slow down effected units?
Although they do not slow down their movement speed, they do reduce the rate of fire of the effected unit.

Medic

Medic
Terran Field Surgeon

How does the Medic heal?
The Medic can heal any organic ground unit. This includes Protoss and Zerg units, but does not include buildings, air units or partially organic units like Dragoons. A single medic cannot heal herself, but a group of medics could heal each other. The healing ability of the Medic is automatically triggered when biological units except allies in her range are injured. You can also select to heal individual units in the same fashion that an SCV can be directed to repair machines and buildings.

Can Medics heal Stimpack damage?
Yes, but in most combat situations your Stimpacked infantry troops will die faster than a Medic can heal them.

Does the Medic's heal ability take up energy, or will only Optic Flare and Restoration?
The Heal ability does take energy to use, but only a small amount in relation to the amount of damage that she can heal.

Does the Heal ability operate like a Protoss Shield Battery? (i.e. 1 point of energy restores 2 hit points?)
They are similar in that it does not require a lot of energy for a Medic to heal damage.

Do Medics automatically target and heal Zerg units you control?
Medics will auto-heal any of your own and allied units that are legal targets, including Zerg and Protoss.

Can the Medic's Restoration undo Mind Control?
No, Mind Control is not an ongoing effect, but rather permanently changes ownership of the unit to the player who owned the Dark Archon.

Is Restoration an area effect, and if so, will it also undo effects on enemy units within the range?
Restoration is a targeted effect, meaning that it will only affect one unit.

Will the Medic's Restoration ability be able to cure the effects of Optic Flare?
Yes, Restoration can remove any ill effect placed on a single unit with the exception of Stasis Field.

Does Restoration remove Lockdown or Stasis Field?
It does remove Lockdown, but will not remove Stasis Field.

Does the Medic heal faster after it has been Stimpacked?
The Medic does not have the ability to use a Stimpack.

What does the Medic's Optic Flare do?
It permanently reduces a unit's sight to 1 matrix.

What units can Optic Flare target?
All units in the game can be blinded by Optic Flare, only buildings are exempt.

Is Optic Flare an area effect, and if so, will it also undo effects on enemy units within the range?
Optic Flare is a targeted effect, meaning that it will only affect one unit.

If a Medic uses Optic Flare on a unit that has the Detection ability, is the detection range reduced to 1 as well?
Both the affected unit's sight and detection range are reduced to 1.

What are the ranges of the Medic's abilities?
The Medic must be within melee range to auto-heal another unit. Her other abilities have ranges similar to those of other units with effects and abilities.

Valkyrie
Valkyrie
Terran Missile Frigate


How does the Valkyrie's attack work?
The Valkyrie fires a volley of small air-to-air Halo Rockets at a target. The missiles strike not only their target, but also an area around the target. Each missile also does a small amount of splash damage in its target area.

Is the Valkyrie capable of attacking land targets as well as air?
Its attack is air-to-air only.

How far up the tech tree does a Terran have to be before a Valkyrie can be constructed?
Building a Valkyrie requires a Starport with an attached Control Tower and an Armory.

Corsair

Corsair
Protoss Support Fighter


What type of damage does the Corsair deal?
The Corsair does Explosive damage with a slight amount of splash damage.

Is the Corsair attack air-air only?
Yes.

Are ground-based units like the High Templar or Defiler able to use special abilities when inside a Corsair's Disruption Web?
Yes, Disruption Web only nullifies ranged and melee attacks, not special abilities.

How does Disruption Web affect attacks?
Any unit within a Disruption Web may not attack, including melee attacks and attacks from buildings. You may, however, fire into a Disruption Web and damage the units within. Finally, air units are unaffected by Disruption Web.

What advantages does the Protoss Corsair have over the Scout?
The Corsair is cheaper, has a faster attack and does explosive damage. The Scout remains a much tougher unit, has a ground attack and is better for most air combat.

Dark Templar

Dark Templar
Protoss Assassin


Are Dark Templars as powerful as they are in the StarCraft Protoss campaign?
The Brood War Dark Templar has very similar statistics to the ones in the StarCraft Campaign.

How fast do Dark Templars move and can their movement speed be upgraded?
They move at a faster speed than in the StarCraft campaign but do not have any upgrades for speed.

How far up the tech tree do you need to go to build Dark Templars?
A Templar Archives is required to summon Dark Templars.

Do Dark Templar have any special abilities that they didn't have in StarCraft?
Dark Templars in Brood War have the ability to merge into Dark Archons.

Dark Archon

Dark Archon
Protoss Psionic Entity


What Psionic Abilities does the Dark Archon have?
The Dark Archon has the following Psionic abilities:

Feedback
When this ability is used, the targeted unit loses all of its energy and takes an amount of damage equal to the energy lost.

Maelstrom
This ability stuns all organic units within an area so that they cannot move or attack for a very short amount of time.

Mind Control
A Dark Archon may take control of almost any unit. This ability not only costs 150 energy but also drains all the available shields from the Dark Archon when it is used.

Where are the abilities for the Dark Archon researched?
All Dark Archon abilities as well as an energy capacity upgrade will be researched at the Templar Archives.

Does the Dark Archon have the automatic "flee from anything" command that all units using only special abilities share?
Yes, the Dark Archon will flee from attacking units in a similar manner to other units that do not possess an attack.

Does the Feedback ability also drain Protoss shields?
No, Feedback only affects energy that is used to create effects or power abilities.

Can the Dark Archon use Feedback on buildings that use energy, such as the Comsat Station or a Shield Battery?
No. Feedback only works on units.

Can the Maelstrom ability target the ground, and if so can you use this on UNDETECTED units such as Wraiths or Lurkers?
You may target the ground with Maelstrom, thus allowing you to ‘detect’ cloaked units. This mode of detection will not work on burrowed units (similar to Ensnare).

Does the Dark Archon need full shields to use Mind Control?
No, but the ability does drain any and all shields that Dark Archon currently has.

What happens when you Mind Control a transport?
You take control of the transport and any units that are contained within. You also gain all technologies associated with the possessed units, with the exception of shield, armor and attack bonuses.

Can Mind Control be used on a Zerg larva?
No, larva may not be Mind Controlled.

Can you Mind Control critters?
Yes.

Can Mind Control be used on a unit within a Stasis Field?
No, a unit within a Stasis Field is not targetable and therefore no form of attack or spell will work on them.

Could an SCV/Drone that is under the effects of Mind Control build Terran/Zerg structures, which in turn could build the units of those species?
Yes.

Is the ability to Mind Control Drones or SCVs and then building Zerg and Terran buildings too powerful?
The time and resource cost necessary to make this a viable strategy is extremely prohibitive. If a player has that many resources and that much time to climb the technology trees of two additional species, he has already won the game.

Can you Mind Control a unit once you're past your unit limit?
Yes.

What happens if you Mind Control an SCV while he is building something?
The SCV will immediately stop constructing the building and start to attack the partially completed building. Note that the owner of the partially completed building may still cancel it or complete it with his/her own SCVs.

What happens if you Mind Control an Interceptor?
You may not use Mind Control on Interceptors, Scarabs or Spider Mines.

Can the Dark Archon Mind Control multiple units?
Yes. If a Dark Archon uses Mind Control on an enemy Ghost, it can wait until its energy recharges and then use Mind Control on an enemy Battlecruiser while retaining control of that Ghost.

Does a player lose a unit under Mind Control if the Dark Archon is killed?
No. Short of another Mind Control, the ownership transfer is permanent and irrevocable.

Is the Dark Archon immune to Mind Control cast by another Dark Archon?
Most units in the game can be Mind Controlled, including other Dark Archons.

Are there any units that cannot be affected by Mind Control?
All units are susceptible to Mind Control.

Does the Zerg player lose supply if you Mind Control his Overlord?
Yes

If you Mind Control an Overlord, would you get more supply/power?
Yes, but only for any Zerg units you control. The Overlord does not give Psi, which is what the Protoss require to command more units.

Will any unit you have gained through Mind Control cost your supply/power?
Yes.

If I use Mind Control on a Carrier with 8 Interceptors, but my Carriers only have the ability to carry 4 Interceptors, will I now be able build 4 more Interceptors in each Carrier?
Yes, you will receive the additional Carrier Capacity upgrade for all of your Carriers.

What happens if you Mind Control a Reaver while it has Scarabs building in its queue?
The queued Scarabs are cancelled and the amount of resources spent are refunded to the previous owner.

When you Mind Control a Battlecruiser with a Yamato Cannon, do you get the Yamato technology?
Yes, along with getting the enemy unit, you also receive all technologies that the unit posses with the exception of shield, armor and attack bonuses. For example, if you Mind Control an Arbiter that has Recall researched, then all of your Arbiters may now use that ability.

What effect does Mind Control have on Hallucinations?
It will immediately destroy the Hallucination.

If you mind control a Terran Ghost, are you be able to use any Nukes the original owner has in his/her Nuclear Silos?
No. Only the Ghost is Mind Controlled, not the Nuclear Silos.

What happens if you Mind Control a Ghost while he is dropping a Nuke?
If the Nuke is already in final descent (the Ghost is not targeting), then the missile will hit its target. If the Ghost is still in his targeting stance, the player who now controls the Ghost may cancel the Nuke or let it drop at his/her discretion.

Will units taken over through Mind Control maintain their knowledge of the game map?
The Mind Controlled unit will not reveal new areas of the game map that the new owner does not already know.

What happens if a Dark Archon uses Mind Control against a Hero character, like Raynor or Kerrigan?
A player can Mind Control any unit in the game, but in the single player campaign we discourage the computer from using this ability against human controlled heroes.

In a team game, can a Protoss player avoid having to upgrade special abilities by Mind Controlling his allies units?
Yes. Of course this would be a somewhat risky strategy as the time needed to do this is substantial.

When you Mind Control a unit, does that unit retain its original color, or does it change to your color?
It changes to your player color.





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