Frequently Asked Questions

Features
Return to Starcraft FAQ
General | Features | Single-Player | Multiplayer Games | Battle.net Games


StarCraft Compendium News
General Strategy
Terran Strategy
Protoss
Zerg
StarCraft Wallpaper
Battle Reports
Single Player Cheat Codes
Just the FAQs
Map Archives
Enlarged Map Images

Exit Compendium


What are the three species? How are they different?
    Terrans: Descendants of modern humans, banished from Earth for long-forgotten crimes. The Terrans will be the species most familiar to real-time strategy gamers, as they are the most traditional. They can build mobile bases, repair their mechanical units, and their military ranges from the expendable (but effective) Marine to the mighty Battlecruiser.

    Protoss: A race of highly advanced psychics. Their technology is much more advanced than the Terrans, and they use their innate psionic powers to augment their combat abilities, but they aren't as prolific as the other species. Although they cannot make in-field repairs, every Protoss unit is protected by a regenerating energy shield. Protoss buildings must be built within range of energy Pylons, or they shut down.

    Zerg: Actually several different species of creatures, the Zerg are a mysterious, predatory group of biological terrors. Their units appear to be specially bred, rather than manufactured, and their "bases" are living organisms. Zerg Hatcheries produce larva, which all other Zerg breeds hatch from. The Zerg must build new structures on the Creep, a biological carpet that slowly spreads out over the land as they expand. All Zerg units and buildings heal over time.

How do I use waypoints?
By holding down the shift key while giving orders to a unit you can queue up several commands. This can be used with all right-click commands except harvesting. By holding down the shift key and right-clicking on several units you can, for example, order a SCV to repair a group of Wraiths or to attack several buildings in a particular order. You can also conduct hit-and-run raids by shift-right-clicking an enemy unit/building, then shift-right-clicking a location. The commanded unit(s) will destroy the enemy, then move to the specified location.

What's the difference between "Attack-move" and right-clicking a location?
By default, if you right-click a location on the map, all selected units will "Move" to that location, ignoring any enemy units. Right-clicking on an enemy unit or building will order your units to destroy that target, and ignore any other enemies until the job is done. For more flexibility and responsiveness, you can use the "Attack" command on a location instead. Units ordered to attack a location will move towards that spot, and automatically attack any and all enemy units along the way.

I keep getting killed by invisible units! What can I do?
Each species has different ways to detect cloaked and burrowed units.

    Terrans: Missile Turrets and Science Vessels both provide Detection. In addition, using a ComSat's Scanner Sweep will temporarily reveal all cloaked units in the targeted area. Using EMP on enemy Wraiths/Ghosts will reduce their energy to 0, forcing them to turn visible.

    Protoss: Photon Cannons and Observers both provide Detection. Stasis can also affect cloaked (but not burrowed) units. Psionic Storm is effective against any unit, visible or not.

    Zerg: Both Spore Colonies and Overlords can Detect. Ensnare and Plague will also reveal cloaked units caught within the area of effect. Parasited units always remain visible to the Parasite owner.

Does the computer AI cheat?
In the campaign missions and most scenarios, the computer AI usually starts out with preplaced units and buildings, as well as a starting pool of resources. In multiplayer and custom missions, the computer starts out with normal resources and units and follows all the same rules that human players do. The only advantage that the computer AI has is knowledge of the map-- while it still must obey line-of-sight and detection limitations, it automatically knows where resources, enemy towns, etc. are located. The AI is also extremely efficient, making it a dangerous opponent.

How do I change the Sound effects in StarCraft?
Use this (86k) sound utility which will allow you to change the sound effects in StarCraft. Note: requires 80 megs of available hard disk space.

Use the Brood War Sound Utility (100k) for Brood War
Note: requires 95 MB of available hard disk space.



Online Privacy Policy
Battle.net Terms of Use Agreement
©2019 Blizzard Entertainment. All rights reserved.