Starcraft

[TurinTurambar]

Got a copy of a game called "Starcraft" bundled with something I bought Last year (don't even remember what it was).

Thinking of installing it and checking it out. Anyone played it?

Turin

[PvK]

It's a very popular RTS sci-fi game. Was a huge hit for people who like that sort of thing, back whenever it was released ... 1998?

May as well install it and give it a shot. Lots of people really like(d) it. Lots of good effort went into it, though personally I'm not much for typical RTS games... even atypically good ones, such as Starcraft.

PvK

[deccan]

Many people still consider Starcraft to be the best RTS ever. The three races are really different, when in many games, the basic units of different factions are just reworked clones of one another. The game balance is excellent, and there are plenty of cool special abilities that add interesting dynamics to the game. It's a real shame that Blizzard decided to expand on the Warcraft world rather than do more Starcraft stuff.

[Azselendor]

They always said Starcraft was just a vacation from fantasy games. It's a shame since Starcraft had a pretty good storyline and excellent gameplay. They are making a FPS game in the starcraft universe, but I doubt they will return to starcraft anytime soon. The way they ended the storyline amounted to them writing themselves into a corner.

[Suicide Junkie]

You can also download some maps/scenarios from imagemodserver
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/nick/games/starcraftmaps/

The SST = small squad tactics
Basically, it slows the game down, and makes each unit more important. You get resources quite slowly, so you typically only have a handful of units that you micromanage. You actually have to secure and hold territory in order to increase your resource production.

The dying of the light is the opposite, for those who like to just throw troops around. You get a million resources to start with, and 5 or 10 minutes to build before the onslaught reaches you.

(Note: you must select "use map settings" as the game type for those, or they'll be useless)

[Atrocities]

It was a lot of fun for its day, 98, and I do hope you will give it a spin.

[Slick]

I have Starcraft and the add-on "Starcraft: Brood War" installed on my computer. I would say that it is worth playing the various campaigns. It's also very fun to play multiplayer, but I'm not sure about the status of the Online community. When it was new, the various places to play Online were overrun with cheaters and kids who liked to gang up on the new players. Some co-workers of mine still occasionally play Starcraft via "LAN party". I'd recommend at least checking it out. As said before, there are 3 distinct races to play and each is very different. Although I think they are well balanced, there is not a 1-for-1 matching of various units, capabilities, structures, etc.

Slick.

[AgentZero]

deccan said:
Many people still consider Starcraft to be the best RTS ever. The three races are really different, when in many games, the basic units of different factions are just reworked clones of one another. The game balance is excellent, and there are plenty of cool special abilities that add interesting dynamics to the game. It's a real shame that Blizzard decided to expand on the Warcraft world rather than do more Starcraft stuff.

If it helps, I found this in the Starcraft: Ghost FAQ:

Q: Is this StarCraft II?
A: No.

Q: Will there be a StarCraft II? When?
A: Although we have not made any announcements and do not have a development or release timeline, we do fully intend to revisit the world of StarCraft on PC at some point in the future.

P.S. Don't get too excited bout SC:Ghost, it's console-only.

[deccan]

AgentZero said:
Q: Will there be a StarCraft II? When?
A: Although we have not made any announcements and do not have a development or release timeline, we do fully intend to revisit the world of StarCraft on PC at some point in the future.

I read some reviews on World of Warcraft today and all of them were full of praise. How I wish Blizzard could be persuaded to make a Starcraft MMORPG instead. That would show LucasArts how a sci-fi MMORPG ought to be.

I believe the Covert Operations module is an add on for the Science facility. Can't really remember though.

[Baron Munchausen]

It is a highly regarded RTS game. The fact that it was originally published in 1994, and the Brood Wars 'expansion' in 1998, would make one think that it would be useless today. But even though it runs in 640X480 mode the graphics are reasonable and it is quite playable. At least if you can handle RTS style games. Even though I don't like RTS games I downloaded it from the P2P system and tried it out simply because it is so popular and highly regarded.

The units are quite appealing. The Terran 'Siege Tank' for example makes a hefty 'clank' noise when it goes into or pulls out of siege mode, and the 'sergeant' character commanding it has classic command responses. The various Zerg units -- all 'monsters' of some sort or another -- make quite satisfyingly 'nasty' noises. My favorite for special effects is the Protoss 'Archon'. A black 'shadowy' form surrounded by a glow of energy, it's the classic metaphor of extreme power. In combat it attacks by shooting 'lightning' from its hands rather like the Emperor in Star Wars, all the while chanting 'Destroy!' - 'Annihilate!' - 'Obliterate!' ... etc. This unit is guaranteed to bring out the inner 10-year-old in a gamer.

But as fun as the individual units are this remains an RTS game and true to form it's impossible for a human to keep up. No matter which race you play and how hard you push to develop your forces you will always get over-run by an impossible wave of AI forces. I finally got tired of using the cheat codes just to survive and deleted the game.