StarCraft II

StarCraft II
Studio	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher	Activision Blizzard
Senior Developer	Dustin Browder (Game Director)
Erstveröffent- lichung	Wings of Liberty : July 27, 2010 Heart of the Swarm : March 12, 2013 Legacy of the Void : November 10, 2015 Nova Covert Ops (Pack 1) : March 29, 2016 Nova Covert Ops (Pack 2) : August 29, 2016 Nova Covert Ops (Pack 3) : November 22, 2016
platform	Windows , macOS
Game engine	Havok
genre	Real time strategy game
Subject	Science fiction
Game mode	Single player , multiplayer
control	Mouse & keyboard
system advantages preconditions	See here
medium	DVD-ROM , download
Current version	4.9 from August 4, 2019
Age rating	USK PEGI

StarCraft II is a computer game trilogy by the US game developer Blizzard Entertainment and the sequel to StarCraft . The trilogy consists of the three titles Wings of Liberty , Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void . The computer games belong to the genre of real-time strategy games . They can run on Windows and macOS .

Wings of Liberty was released on July 27, 2010, Heart of the Swarm on March 12, 2013 and Legacy of the Void on November 10, 2015. Since then, new content patches have been released at regular intervals .

content

The single player mode

The single player mode contains a campaign as a central game element. In contrast to its predecessor, in which each game offered an eight to eleven mission comprehensive campaign for each of the three races (Terran, Zerg and Protoss), each game in the trilogy contains a campaign of 26 to 30 missions, each mainly with one race. Each mission takes about 30 to 60 minutes and the whole campaign lasts about 30 to 60 hours, but this has already been corrected downwards by information from many users, so that the current game time is no more than 20-30 hours even on a higher level of difficulty . But only if you limit yourself to simply playing through the campaign. If you try to achieve as many successes as possible, missions usually have to be played several times, so that the playing time increases significantly.

The multiplayer mode

The following game modes are possible in multiplayer mode:

Game mode	description
training	In training, you have to fulfill preconfigured matches on individual cards with a defined scenario goal. They serve u. a. to teach players certain playing techniques.
Against the AI	The player competes against a program-controlled opponent.
Unrated	The player competes against a player who has a similar playing ability.
Ranked game	The player competes against a player who has a similar playing ability. With every victory points are gained, which enables a rise in the league. Accordingly, points are deducted in the event of a defeat, which enables relegation in the league. The league is only determined after the player has played five games.
Tournaments	The player competes against a player who has a similar playing ability. The skill of the ranked game is used to search for opponents. Tournaments take place at regular intervals.
Own games	The player can open his own game with his own specifications and let other players take part.

In all game modes (except training) you can choose between 1 against 1 , 2 against 2 , 3 against 3 and 4 against 4 . Another option is the Archon mode, in which two players each have joint control over the units of a faction. The player can choose between the races Terran, Zerg and Protoss. But he can also choose a random mode, his race is then determined randomly. The search for opponents is assigned by the online gaming platform Battle.net after their skills have been evaluated . Each player has a so-called matchmaking rating ( Engl. For matchmaking rating , MMR abbreviated) based on the Elo rating . The MMR ensures that players always compete with and against other players of similar skill.

Arcade

Arcade provides a way for the StarCraft II community to discover, rate, and play a variety of community-created games. Blizzard also creates arcade games itself. The arcade system also uses the Battle.net .

Achievements

In the game trilogy, you can unlock achievements that are rewarded to the profile with points. These points have no real value and are only there to give other players an impression of the skills of the profile owner as quickly as possible. In addition to the achievements, there are also heroic deeds, these are displayed in an extra section and, unlike achievements, must be discovered. Achievements can also be used to unlock different portraits and appearances for units that appear in multiplayer mode.

CO-OP

In CO-OP, the player takes on the role of one of the leaders in the StarCraft II universe. Each of them has a whole arsenal of different skills and a selected group of units from which the player can assemble his army.

Characters and plot

Characters

Characters

	Wings of Liberty	Heart of the Swarm	Legacy of the Void	Nova Covert Ops
	Jim Raynor
	Tychus Findlay
	Emperor Arcturus Mengsk
	Prince Valerian Mengsk		Emperor Valerian Mengsk
	Captain Matt Horner		Admiral Matt Horner
	Rory Swann		Rory Swann
	Nova Terra			Nova Terra
	Kate Lockwell			Kate Lockwell
	Mira Han
	General Horace Warfield
	Gabriel Tosh
	Egon Stetmann
	Donny Vermillion
	Dr. Ariel Hanson
				General Carolina Davis
				Reigel
				Stone
				Theodore Pierce
	Sarah Kerrigan
		Zagara
		Izsha
		Abathur
		Dehaka
		Alexei Stukov
		Zurvan
	Zeratul
	Hierarch Artanis		Hierarch Artanis
	High Executor Selendis		High Executor Selendis
	Executor Tassadar		Executor Tassadar
			Talis
			Ahead
			Karax
			Rohana
			Executor Talandar ( Fenix )
			Highlord Ma'lash
			Highlord Alarak
			Ji'nara
	Urun
	Mohandar
	Amon
	Samir Duran	Emil Narud / Samir Duran	Emil Narud
			Ouros

Legend

• Terran
• Zerg
• Protoss
• Fallen Xel'naga
• Xel'naga

action

Wings of Liberty

Four years have passed since the Brood War . The new Terran League is now the dominant power in the entire Koprulu sector. Various news broadcasts show that rebels who want to overthrow the Terran League are being hunted down. Kerrigan, the queen of blades and thus the leader of the zerg, gathers the entire swarm of zerg on Char. The zerg then withdraw for reasons unknown. The Protoss are also in the background. So apparently there is peace in the Koprulu sector.

Jim Raynor, a Terran, fights with his men, the "Raynor's Raiders", a private campaign against Arcturus Mengsk, the emperor of the new Terran League. He feels guilty that he couldn't help Kerrigan when she was attacked by the zerg, abducted and made Queen of Blades. Kerrigan was also his former lover when she was a Terran. In his fight against Mengsk, he also comes across an old comrade named Tychus Findlay. The two Terrans endured a lot together, but in the end Tychus ended up in prison for nine years. He was fired from Mengsk, on condition that he took on the job of killing Kerrigan. To ensure his loyalty, he is tied to a Space Marine combat suit that will kill him if he fails to do his job. He's hiding this, of course, especially from Raynor.

Raynor goes to the planet Mar Sara. There he freed the local population of the Terran League and discovered components of a mysterious Xel'Naga artifact. Then the Zerg reappear for the first time, apparently having an incredible interest in the artifact. They overrun Mar Sara, but Raynor and his crew are rescued by his battle cruiser, the Hyperion. Matt Horner is the captain of the Hyperion and a good friend of Raynor. He supports Raynor's plan to kill Mengsk.

Raynor goes on the trail of the individual components of the Xel'Naga artifact, initially only to sell them to the Moebius research group and use the money to better equip their own armed forces. There is also a reunion with Zeratul, who has done his own research. He communicates this to Raynor by letting him make his own journey via a Khaydarin-Ihan crystal. It is revealed that a dark power is creating hybrids of Zerg and Protoss and wants to destroy all life in the universe with them. The Zerg Overmind, the former leader of the Zerg, was apparently enslaved and forced to carry out these plans prior to the events of the first game . However, he was aware of his slave existence and with Kerrigan created a being that could break out of it. It should be the only way to prevent these dark plans from happening.

Raynor and his crew support a group of colonists who are on the run from the zerg and are looking for a new homeworld. This group is led by Dr. Ariel Hanson. Raynor saves the colonists from a zerg infection and helps them relocate. Furthermore, Raynor meets Gabriel Tosh, a phantom. Tosh comes on Raynor's battlecruiser and provides further orders. When Tosh presents another assignment, Nova, a ghost of the Terran League, appears and warns Raynor about the dangerous Phantoms. The player must decide whether to put an end to the Phantoms with Nova or to support Tosh with his mission.

In the course of the rebellion against the League, Raynor loots an old adjutant (a robot) from the Brood War , which contains encrypted information. With the help of some mercenaries, a recording is deciphered which proves that Mengsk accepted the Zergin invasion of Tarsonis in order to consolidate his power and to rule as emperor of the Terran League. Raynor takes over a broadcasting station on Korhal, the main planet of the League, with the help of the new combat robot Odin, which he previously stole from the League. From there they broadcast the recording, using Mengsk's own propaganda tools against him. Raynor also finds out that the League is experimenting with the Zerg / Protoss hybrids.

Meanwhile, the conflict with the league continues to worsen. When Tychus and Raynor want to hand over the captured artifacts, Mengsk's son Valerian turns out to be the owner of the Moebius group. He reveals to Raynor that he wants to inherit his father and that this artifact is an extremely potent weapon against the zerg and also has the ability to transform Kerrigan back into a human. With that he hits a sore spot in Raynor, who agrees to an alliance. In collaboration with the League's formerly hostile forces, the alliance launches a daring attack on the Zerg homeworld of Char and Kerrigan's location to use the artifact with the aim of wiping out the Zerg and turning Kerrigan back into a human. The invasion nearly ends in disaster when the alliance attempts a frontal attack.

Ultimately, however, the artifact can be brought into position, and after a great battle with the zerg not only destroys many of the zerg, but actually transforms Kerrigan back into a human. She is found in a cave by a raiding party consisting of Raynor, Tychus and other space marines. Tychus receives an order over the radio from Mengsk: “You have your orders, Mr. Findlay. Do it. ”He then aims his gun at Kerrigan. “Tychus, what did you do?” Raynor asks him. He replies, “I have a pact with the devil, Jimmy. She dies, I'm free. ”Raynor then looks at the human Kerrigan and replies:“ We all choose our path. ”. Raynor opens the seat belt on his weapon. Shortly before Tychus can pull the trigger, he says “A shame.” Raynor intercepts Tychus' shot with his armor and shoots him. What happens to the other space marines is unclear. Raynor carries the human Kerrigan out of the cave in his arms. “Jim?” Asks Kerrigan Raynor, to which he replies, “Everything will be fine. I got you."

Heart of the Swarm

Heart of the Swarm is directly linked to Wings of Liberty . Crown Prince Valerian Mengsk runs tests on Sarah Kerrigan to see if she can still control Zerg. Jim Raynor is desperate when Kerrigan only thinks about getting revenge on Mengsk. Kerrigan then attacks the facility to demonstrate the power of the zerg to Valerian. The league then attacks the facility because the league wants to kill Kerrigan and Raynor. Valerian and Kerrigan escape from the facility to the Hyperion, Raynor's ship, but Raynor remains behind at the facility. On board the Hyperion, Valerian realizes that his father would make any sacrifice to kill Kerrigan and Raynor. Matt Horner, the captain of the Hyperion, gives the order to retreat, while Kerrigan sets out on her own ship to find Raynor. On board her ship, she watches a newscast alleging that Raynor was captured and executed.

Angry and sad, Kerrigan goes on a zerg leviathan. The zerg on the Leviathan still see and serve Kerrigan as their queen. Kerrigan wants to build her crush to old strength in order to get revenge on Mengsk. On the planet Char, she wants to kill broodmother Zagara, who has taken control of the zerg living there, in order to recapture Char, which she succeeds in doing. However, Kerrigan does not kill Zagara, but Zagara joins her crush Kerrigan. Kerrigan then goes to General Horace Warfield after a great battle, who then asks her to let the wounded escape and asks what Raynor would say if he saw her now. Kerrigan then becomes incredibly angry and kills Warfield, but lets the wounded escape.

Kerrigan then travels to the icy planet Kaldir. She destroys the Protoss stationed there and recaptures the brood of the fallen brood mother Nafash. In addition, the swarm can adapt to the extreme cold. On Kaldir, Kerrigan captures the Protoss researcher Lessara and installs a virus on her on the Zerg Leviathan, so that Lessara, after returning to her Protoss ship, infects the ship with a virus, which she succeeds. Kerrigan succeeds in destroying the Protoss ship and prevents the Protoss from finding out about Kerrigan and her swarm on Shakuras. Shortly afterwards, Kerrigan notices the presence of Zeratul on their Zerg Leviathan, whereupon they engage in a brief fight. When asked by Kerrigan what Zeratul was doing here, he told her that Zerus, the original homeworld of the zerg, was home to so-called original zerg. The Ur-Zerg are constantly changing by hunting, killing and ingesting other Ur-Zerg. Kerrigan, who knew nothing about the original zerg, believes she needs the power of the original zerg to kill Mengsk. Thereupon Kerrigan sets course for Zerus with her Zerg-Leviathan and Zeratul flies with his ship back into the void.

On Zerus, Kerrigan tries to awaken the oldest living zerg, Zurvan, by feeding him, which succeeds. Zurvan tells her that a Xel'Naga named Amon kidnapped a large part of the original zerg from Zerus and bound them to his will, so that they are slaves of Amon. Zurvan also tells her that Amon wants to wipe out the Zerg and Protoss to create his own world. Zurvan also tells Kerrigan that Amon is dead. Kerrigan then asks Zurvan how she could stop Amon if he wasn't dead but alive. Zurvan replies that Kerrigan has to go to the first created spawn pool of the zerg and suck up the energy there. Kerrigan trusts Zurvan and locks herself in a cocoon in the brood slime pool, so that, after a great battle with the original zerg, she wakes up again as the original queen of the blades. Kerrigan feels more powerful than ever, but is still in control of herself. As the Primordial Queen of Blades, she kills the three remaining leaders of the Primordial Zerg and absorbs their essence to gain power over the Primordial Zerg, which she succeeds . When Kerrigan told Zurvan that she was successful, Zurvan reveals his true intent and tries to take in Kerrigan's essence. After a tough fight, Kerrigan is able to kill Zurvan with the help of the Ur-Zerg and also absorbs his essence. Kerrigan now has total control of the Ur-Zerg. She returns to her Zerg Leviathan, while Dehaka, a primal zerg, joins her, provided he is allowed to collect essences from creatures. Kerrigan accepts this offer and leaves, thinking of seeking revenge on Mengsk.

Kerrigan arrives with her Zerg Leviathan at a Skygeirr station, an experimental laboratory of the League. Alexei Stukov joins Kerrigan. Stukov was killed by Samir Duran in Brood War , but was infected by the Zerg virus and was able to survive. Now the contaminated Terran wants to take revenge on the laboratory. With Stukov's help, Kerrigan is able to destroy the research station that holds several Protoss-Zerg hybrids captive. The scientist who rules this laboratory is Dr. Emil Narud, an old shapeshifter who wants to revive Amon. Kerrigan and Stukov decide to kill Narud before he can revive Amon. Kerrigan, Stukov and the Swarm destroy the hybrids that protect Narud. When Kerrigan faces Narud in the final fight, he first morphs into Raynor and then into the Ghost Kerrigan to distract Kerrigan. Then Narud, morphed as a Ghost Kerrigan, impales Kerrigan with a psi-blade. Kerrigan realizes his deception and uses her wings to impale Narud. However, Kerrigan is seriously injured. When Narud dies, he reveals to her that Amon is alive and that she will meet him soon. On the Zerg Leviathan, Kerrigan receives a transmission from Mengsk informing her that Raynor is still alive and that if Kerrigan attacks Korhal, the location of Mengsk's palace, he will kill him. Kerrigan then becomes incredibly angry and sets off with her entire crush to free Raynor and then kill Mengsk.

Kerrigan contacts Valerian and Matt Horner to tell them that Raynor is still alive. To find out where the League is holding Raynor, Horner suggests that Colonel Orlan be freed from Mira Han captivity. Orlan is the only one who can hack the league's networks. Mira refuses to hand Orlan over without Raynor's permission. The Hyperion now starts an attack. Matt Horner and the rest of the Hyperion crew manage to free Orlan. With its help, they can locate Raynor on board a ship that is constantly changing its location. Kerrigan personally frees Raynor. Raynor is shocked and outraged by Kerrigan's decision to become Queen of Blades again. Kerrigan then takes the weapon from Raynor and presses it on her head, leaving Raynor to decide whether the primordial queen of the blades should live or not. He doesn't shoot her, but shoots the wall behind her and tells her he's done with her. The terrified and saddened Kerrigan now thinks only of revenge on Mengsk.

Valerian then understands that his father can no longer be saved and that he has to die. He approves of Kerrigan's decision to destroy Korhal, but asks Kerrigan to minimize the number of civilian casualties. Kerrigan understands that Valerian is not like his father and tells him that she will be considerate of civilians. Now the great swarm invasion begins with only one goal, namely to kill Mengsk. Thousands of zerg capsules from many broods are launched from the Leviathan in support of Kerrigan's plan. Kerrigan deactivates the capital's air defenses in order to get their swarm to the planet in the best possible way. During the battle against Mengsk and his League, Raynor and the Hyperion show up to support Kerrigan, much to their surprise. Raynor, like Kerrigan, wants to finally kill Mengsk. The League cannot withstand the combined attack of the Hyperion and the Swarm. Kerrigan manages to fight his way into the palace of Mengsk and face him there. She confronts him in his office. Kerrigan asks Mengsk why he didn't flee. He replies that he has never been defenseless. The Emperor reveals the lost Xel'Naga artifact that was previously used in the final battle of Wings of Liberty against the Queen of Blades. Mengsk tries to kill Kerrigan with the Xel'Naga artifact. Kerrigan is in terrible pain. Before Mengsk can kill Kerrigan, however, Raynor storms in the door, takes Mengsk's head in his hand, and hurls him to the ground. He destroys the artifact and aims his pistol at Mengsk. However, he lowers the gun and lets Kerrigan make the final move. Kerrigan impales Mengsk with her wings and says to him "You can never suffer enough for all that you have destroyed, Arcturus." Mengsk replies: "You are just a monster, Kerrigan", while Kerrigan quickly replies: "You made us all monsters" and she kills him with her psychic powers and destroys his office. When the fire and dust died down, Kerrigan had tears in his eyes and was overjoyed. She says to Raynor: "Thanks, Jim ... for everything." Raynor replies: "It was a pleasure, darling." While Kerrigan flies in the air with her crush, Raynor says, "As always." The dialogue between Kerrigan and Raynor shows that Raynor's feelings for Kerrigan have remained very strong despite her transformation into the Primordial Queen of Blades.

The camera pans across the galaxy while Kerrigan says in an internal monologue: “Now I see my real enemy. He awaits me in the void, with forces that I cannot imagine. I will face him after I have renounced everything: my humanity, my identity, the man I love. But I am not alone in facing this enemy. I am the crush. " The camera takes focus on a dark cloud in the galaxy.

Legacy of the Void

After the events of Heart of the Swarm , Zeratul searches for the final fragment of the Xel'Naga prophecy. To find this, Zeratul travels to a Terran station, where he is received by Talis. Talis explains that they are experimenting with Protoss and that she needs Zeratul's help. On arrival at the Terran station, Zeratul meets Kerrigan, who, like him, wants to destroy the station, as they are experimenting with Zerg there. Both manage to stop the experiments and learn the location of Amon's resurrection. Zeratul travels to the planet Atrias, where a Xel'Naga temple is located. He fights the Tal'darim living there, who idolize Amon and guard the temple. Highlord Ma'lash, the Tal'darim leader, can communicate with Amon through an artifact. Zeratul destroys this artifact, is able to push back the Tal'darim and makes it to the temple. Inside the temple, however, he is in great danger due to the power of Amon and can only escape because Talis sacrifices himself for him. Nevertheless, Zeratul was able to find the last fragment of the Xel'Naga prophecy and makes his way to Artanis with it.

Artanis is the leader of the Protoss Armada. He wants to recapture Aiur from the zerg. Zeratul warns Artanis of Amon's return, but Artanis does not listen to him and carries out the invasion. Amon wakes up on Aiur and takes control of the Protoss, who are connected to the Khala, the telepathic connection and the center of all thoughts and feelings. Only the Dark Templars, led by Zeratul, are exempt from Amon's control, as they are separated from the Khala. They try to free the remaining Protoss from the Khala as well. Zeratul and the Amon-controlled Artanis face each other, with Artanis killing Zeratul. Before his death, Zeratul was able to free Artanis from the Khala. Artanis tries to find the Xel'Naga artifact that previously made the Queen of Blades human in Wings of Liberty . He activates the Spear of Adun, a formidable Protossarch, to save all Protoss freed from Amon. In the meantime, Amon has taken control of many Terrans, Protoss and Zerg and is beginning to wipe out all life in the Korprulu Sector.

On Korhal, Artanis attacks Amon's slaves with the assistance of Jim Raynor. Artanis finds the Xel'Naga artifact. After the fight, Matt Horner, Valerian Mengsk, Raynor and Artanis can hardly believe how many Terrans Amon was able to kill. In front of the corpse of a Terran, Artanis asks Raynor if he knew him. Raynor replies: “No, but his story. I know all of their stories. Nobody believes that he'll be caught himself at some point. We get reports from everywhere - league worlds overrun. Outpost destroyed. Lots of dead boys out there ... warriors. "" Death is the fate of all warriors ... one that may soon overtake us too, "replies Artanis, to which Raynor replies:" Nothing is set in stone, Artanis. I see it that way, if Zeratul had so much faith in you, this fight is just beginning. ”“ It is your custom to shake the hand of a friend, isn't it? ”Artanis asks him, whereupon Raynor shakes his hand and to him "Show them, Artanis." says. Meanwhile, a portal has opened between Aiur and Shakuras, the homeworld of the Dark Templars. With the help of Vorazun, a Dark Templar, Artanis destroys Shakuras to destroy the portal and thereby weaken Amon. Artanis tries in various missions to rebuild the Protoss Armada for the battle against Amon.

Knowing the Xel'Naga artifact, Artanis travels to Ulnar, the homeworld of the Xel'Naga. There he meets Kerrigan, with whom he forms an alliance to destroy Amon. Both fight their way through Amon's slaves and investigate the origins of the Xel'Naga: These are powerful beings that originate from the void and are responsible for the creation of all life in every universe. You are responsible for maintaining an infinite cycle of all species. Artanis and Kerrigan find some of the Xel'Naga killed by Amon. They can barely escape Amon as they are saved by Alarak, a renegade tal'darim. Artanis helps Alarak kill Highlord Ma'lash to become the new leader of the Tal'darim. As the new leader of the Tal'darim, Alarak and his troops support Artanis against Amon. On Endion, Artanis awakens legendary mechanical soldiers, once created by Protoss, but too dangerous. These join the Protoss Armada.

With all the new allies, Artanis orders Aiur to be retaken. Artanis is able to get the Amon-possessed Protoss to break up with the Khala. “En taro Artanis!” Shout the freed Protoss. Amon can be pushed back into the void. The Xel'Naga artifact is destroyed in the process. At Zeratul's grave, Artanis recounts in an inner monologue: “The fallen man was sent back into the void. For now we are free. And all thanks to you. I will make the great dream of our united species come true. We will gather the survivors, rebuild our cities. What once separated us will fall and give way to a new society. Together we will shape our destiny between the stars. "

While the Protoss celebrate their freedom, Kerrigan, Raynor and Artanis consult. The Terran Army, the Protoss Armada and the Zerg Swarm travel into the void and fight side by side against Amon's slaves. There they kill the resurrected Narud, who absorbed the power of the Xel'Naga. Shortly afterwards, Kerrigan, Raynor and Artanis meet Ouros, a caged and the last living Xel'Naga, who disguised himself as a Tassadar. He reveals to Kerrigan that in order to keep the infinite cycle going, she has to become a Xel'Naga. After a conflict of conscience with Raynor and a battle with Amon's slaves, Kerrigan merges with Ouros and becomes a Xel'Naga. With the help of the combined forces of the Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg, Kerrigan is able to kill Amon.

Two years later, Raynor sits on Mar Sara in a bar and remembers all the bygone times. The human Kerrigan appears behind him. “Are you ready, cowboy? Let's get out of here, ”she says to Raynor. "Damn it ... about time," he replies. Both were never seen again, but Raynor leaves his badge in the bar. Alarak has since turned down a lasting peace alliance with the Daelaam. However, he offered every tal'darim a unique opportunity to join the daelaam. The Zerg, now under their new Queen Zagara, fight for their homeworld Char. Valerian Mengsk and Matt Horner led the Terrans into a new age of peace that led to prosperity. The peace negotiations between the Terrans and the Protoss are developing positively. Worlds destroyed by the numerous Terran, Zerg, and Protoss wars are self-healing for reasons unknown.

Gameplay

The StarCraft II trilogy focuses on three different races: Terran, Zerg and Protoss. Each race has different units and tactics. The strengths and weaknesses of the breeds allow for many different strategies.

In order to be able to build buildings or units for combat, you need two resources: minerals and Vespingas, whereby minerals are always needed, Vespingas only for more developed buildings and troops. Minerals can be extracted from mineral fields, while Vespingas can be obtained from Vespin geysers, for which special buildings must be placed on the geysers. The number of mineral fields and Vespin geysers are different per map, so there are more mineral fields and Vespin geysers on a 4v4 map than on a 1v1 map .

At the start of the game you usually have 8 mineral fields and 2 Vespin geysers. In the further course of the game, however, you should dismantle and expand further stores of minerals and Vespingas in order to be able to build more and better units and buildings. This expansion must be considered as well as the warfare with the hostile party.

Terrans rely on a medium-sized army, a distinction is made between the game types Bio (focus on biological units that are used together with healers) and Mech (focus on mechanical units such as tanks, Mech is the much more defensive style of play). The Protoss have few, but strong units, in contrast to the Terrans there are significantly more ways of playing, some of which are very strange, for example jumping over weaker units and building significantly higher units directly. The Zerg use their numerical superiority, so so-called "switches" are particularly popular here, the conversion to a different type of unit, for example from ground to air. Since the Zerg, in contrast to the other races, build their units all at once and not gradually, they can only be implemented quickly with this race.

However, units cannot be built arbitrarily, as most units have a certain building as a requirement. The right tactics and strategic use of these units form the framework for a successful battle. For example, some units can attack only air or only ground units. Some units can camouflage themselves and can only be recognized with detector units. In addition, each unit type has a number of attributes that make it particularly effective or particularly sensitive in certain scenarios. Thus, a perfect constellation of your own army, taking into account the constellation of the enemy, is essential. There are countless possible combinations for a successful tactic, whereby the terrain can also be included (for example, units with an elevated position have a visibility advantage).

Multiplayer

In the StarCraft II trilogy, you can play multiplayer games against other players using the multiplayer mode on Blizzard's Battle.net. To ensure that players always compete against players of the same skill level, a ladder is integrated in which the players are sorted into different leagues according to their skill level. Each ladder applies to one region of the world. Only within this region do the players compete against each other in ladder games.

There are the following leagues:

Distribution of players to the StarCraft II leagues since patch 3.4
Grand Masters League			200 players per region
Champions league			4%
Diamond league			23%
Platinum league			23%
Gold league			23%
Silver league			23%
Bronze league			4%
As of June 2016

The servers are divided into the following regions:

• North America and Latin America
• Europe and Russia
• Korea and Taiwan
• South East Asia
• China

E-sports

→ Main article : “E-Sports at BlizzCon” in the BlizzCon article

The StarCraft II -Spieletrilogie is specially designed for e-sports development. The game is maintained by Blizzard in order to create the best possible balance between the different races.

Outside the integrated ladder , tournaments with prize money are held regularly around the world. Important tournament series for StarCraft 2 include:

• StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) - international tournament system for single players
• Global StarCraft 2 League (GSL) - South Korean league for single players
• OnGameNet StarLeague (OSL) - former South Korean single player league
• Proleague - former South Korean league for teams
• Global StarCraft 2 Team League (GSTL) - former South Korean league for teams

Furthermore, StarCraft 2 is played at large events such as the World Cyber ​​Games , DreamHack and the Intel Extreme Masters .

Development and publication

Wings of Liberty

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was announced on May 19, 2007 during the opening ceremony of the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in South Korea . Finally, at BlizzCon 2008, it was announced that StarCraft II would be a trilogy and not just one part. The trilogy consists of the three titles Wings of Liberty , Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void , while Wings of Liberty tells a Terran, Heart of the Swarm a Zerg and Legacy of the Void a Protoss campaign.

Activision Blizzard , Blizzard's parent company, initially stated that the first game in the trilogy was expected to be released in 2009, but that was postponed to 2010. The reason for this should not have been the development process of Wings of Liberty itself, but the new version of the online multiplayer platform Battle.net .

The first beta phase began on February 17, 2010. It was needed to import new software and hardware configurations. It ended on June 7, 2010. The second beta phase began on the North American servers on July 7th and on the European servers on July 10th, 2010 and ended on July 19th, 2010 on all servers.

The game was released on July 27, 2010. In South Korea the game was published in a cut version without swear words, cigarettes and with black blood.

Blizzard announced sales of 1.5 million copies within 48 hours of launch. Wings of Liberty is thus the fastest selling computer strategy game of all time. In addition, the game has sold more than 3 million copies in one month.

Wings of Liberty is available in stores as a standard version, which is also available as a download version, and as a Collector's Edition . The Collector's Edition was completely sold out in the first month. Used in internet auction houses, it is usually traded for over 300 euros . In addition to the game, the Collector's Edition offers a soundtrack , a comic , a USB stick containing the entire first part of StarCraft including the Brood War expansion , a "look behind the scenes" on DVD , a pet (mini-thor) for World of Warcraft as well as an artbook and a visually modified unit (Thor) in the game.

Heart of the Swarm

Blizzard has been working on the second part of the trilogy, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm , since the release of Wings of Liberty . In July 2011 it was announced that the first part of the campaign and some cutscenes had already been completed.

Heart of the Swarm beta began on September 4, 2012 and ended on March 1, 2013.

The game was released on March 12, 2013. It sold 1.1 million copies within 48 hours (400,000 copies less than StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty ).

Heart of the Swarm is available in stores as a standard version, which is also available as a download version. A Collector's Edition is also available in stores. In addition to the game, the Collector's Edition offers a soundtrack , an artbook , a "look behind the scenes" as Blu-ray Disc and DVD , a pet (Berstling) for World of Warcraft , a banner seal for Diablo III and bones to attract Zerg- Growing wings in Diablo III and a visually modified unit (Ultralisk) in the game.

Legacy of the Void

The third installment in the trilogy, Legacy of the Void , was officially unveiled at BlizzCon 2014 on November 7, 2014.

Legacy of the Void started beta on April 1, 2015. The game was released on November 10, 2015.

reception

Wings of Liberty

• Metacritic : 93/100 points based on 82 tests
• GameRankings : 92.44%, based on 55 tests
• 4Players : 92%
• PC Games : 90%
• IGN Entertainment : 9/10 points
• Game Informer : 10/10 points
• GameSpy : 4/5 points
• GameTrailers : 9.5 / 10 points
• GameStar : 90%
• GamersGlobal : 9.5 / 10 points

Heart of the Swarm

• Metacritic : 86/100 points based on 68 tests
• GameRankings : 86.39%, based on 40 tests
• 4Players : 85%
• Edge : 90/100 points
• PC Games : 88%
• IGN Entertainment : 8.6 / 10 points
• Eurogamer : 8/10
• GameStar : 87%
• GamersGlobal: 9.5 / 10 points

Legacy of the Void

• Metacritic: 88/100 points based on 57 tests
• GameRankings: 87.76%, based on 31 tests
• 4Players: 88%
• PC Games: 88%
• GameStar: 89%
• GamersGlobal: 9.5 / 10 points

Awards

The trilogy has won several awards.

Test platform for artificial intelligence

Google DeepMind , a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. , announced on November 4, 2016 that StarCraft II would be further developed into a test platform for artificial intelligence . For this purpose, Blizzard Entertainment is developing its own programming interface in cooperation with DeepMind .

StarCraft II has a few features that make it a good platform for testing AI systems:

• Limited observability: the enemy and the environment are only partially visible.
• Dynamic environment: The environment is changeable (e.g. destruction of obstacles; limited resources).
• Multiple agents: A large number of different units must be managed.
• Adversorial: There are one or more opponents, as well as potential cooperation partners.
• Episodic: The options for action in the future depend on actions in the past.
• Temporal continuity: decisions must be made in a short time.

The AI ​​built into StarCraft II gets its skill level from ready-made scripts as well as unfair advantages over human players. Nevertheless, advanced human players win reproducibly against the built-in AI.

In January 2019, it was announced that the AlphaStar, DeepMind's AI, had achieved success. It beat human professional players.

Licensed book publications

• William C. Dietz : StarCraft II - Heaven's Devils , Panini Verlag , Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-8332-2048-7 .
• Christie Golden : StarCraft II - Teufelskerle , Panini Verlag, Stuttgart 2011 ISBN 978-3-8332-2231-3
• Christie Golden : StarCraft II - Flashpoint , Panini Verlag, Stuttgart 2012 ISBN 978-3-8332-2441-6
• Various authors: Starcraft II: War Stories - The Blackstone Project , Panini Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8332-2615-1

Web links

Commons : StarCraft II  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• StarCraft II in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Freynan:StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty Release - Sci-Fi RTS in stores today In diablo-3.net on July 27, 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
2. ↑ Andre Linken:StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm - Update: Release confirmed, Collector's Edition announced In gamestar.de on November 14, 2012. Retrieved on February 5, 2016.
3. ↑ Elena Schulz:Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void - Release date and cinematic trailer In gamestar.de on September 13, 2015. Accessed on February 5, 2016.
4. ↑ Starcraft II Patch 3.4 - The redesign of the ranking list. January 2, 2014, accessed September 14, 2014 . 
5. ↑ Wings of Liberty Collectors Edition , July 27, 2010
6. ↑ Heart of the Swarm Collectors Edition , March 25, 2013
7. ↑ Metascore from Wings of Liberty , accessed on November 14, 2015 (English)
8. ↑ GameRankings from Wings of Liberty , accessed on November 14, 2015 (English)
9. ↑ 4Players tests Wings of Liberty , accessed on November 14, 2015 (German)
10. ↑ PC Games tests Wings of Liberty , accessed on November 14, 2015 (German)
11. ↑ IGN Entertainment tests Wings of Liberty , accessed on November 14, 2015 (English)
12. ↑ Game Informer tests Wings of Liberty , accessed on November 14, 2015
13. ↑ GameSpy tests Wings of Liberty , accessed on November 14, 2015
14. ↑ GameTrailers tests Wings of Liberty , accessed on November 14, 2015 (English)
15. ↑ GameStar tests Wings of Liberty , accessed on January 1, 2016 (German)
16. ↑ GamersGlobal tests Wings of Liberty , accessed on January 1, 2016 (German)
17. ↑ Metascore from Heart of the Swarm , accessed November 14, 2015
18. ↑ GameRankings by Heart of the Swarm , accessed on November 14, 2015 (English)
19. ↑ 4Players tests Heart of the Swarm , accessed on November 14, 2015 (German)
20. ↑ Edge tests Heart of the Swarm , accessed November 14, 2015
21. ↑ PC Games tests Heart of the Swarm , accessed on November 14, 2015 (German)
22. ↑ IGN Entertainment tests Heart of the Swarm , accessed on November 14, 2015
23. ↑ Eurogamer tests Heart of the Swarm , accessed on November 14, 2015 (German)
24. ↑ GameStar tests Heart of the Swarm , accessed on November 14, 2015 (German)
25. ↑ GamersGlobal tests Heart of the Swarm , accessed on January 1, 2016 (German)
26. ↑ Metascore from Legacy of the Void , accessed January 1, 2015
27. ↑ GameRankings from Legacy of the Void , accessed on January 1, 2016 (English)
28. ↑ 4Players tests Legacy of the Void , accessed on January 1, 2016 (German)
29. ↑ PC Games tests Legacy of the Void , accessed on January 1, 2016 (German)
30. ↑ GameStar tests Legacy of the Void , accessed on January 1, 2016 (German)
31. ↑ GamersGlobal tests Legacy of the Void , accessed on January 1, 2016 (German)
32. ↑ List of awards on the manufacturer's website
33. ↑ DeepMind and Blizzard to release StarCraft II as an AI research environment. DeepMind , November 4, 2016, accessed March 11, 2017 . 
34. ↑ Sam Byford: Google DeepMind's next gaming challenge: can AI beat StarCraft II? The Verge , November 4, 2016, accessed March 11, 2017 . 
35. ↑ Nick Cowen: Google DeepMind could invent the next generation of AI by playing Starcraft 2. Ars Technica, November 4, 2016, accessed on March 11, 2017 (English). 
36. ↑ BlizzCon Recap: DeepMind and StarCraft II Deep Learning. Blizzard Entertainment, November 5, 2016, accessed March 11, 2017 . 
37. ↑ Connie Reichert: Google's DeepMind turns to StarCraft II after conquering Go. ZDNet, November 7, 2016, accessed on March 11, 2017 (English).