Critters are neutral, mostly harmless creatures found on various worlds in the StarCraft universe. Unlike other fauna, they are present in the game.
StarCraft[]
- Main article: List of StarCraft critters
Critters play very little role in the game itself, as they cannot defend themselves and grant no reward for attacking them. However, as biological units, they can be targeted by the queen Parasite and Spawn Broodling spells and the high templar Hallucination, and can even be mind controlled. They can be irradiated and placed within defensive matrixes but cannot be healed except if mind controlled. Sometimes they get in the way of units. Hallucinated and mind-controlled units will continue on their paths, but can also be directed to scout bases. However if they approach an enemy, they will be attacked.
Clicking on a critter causes it to make a sound; enemy and ally units do not do so, but unaffected, hallucinated and mind-controlled critters make sounds only when selected. Repeatedly clicking on a critter in single player mode (several times) causes it to explode in a mushroom cloud as if it had been hit by a nuke, but the explosion does no damage.
StarCraft II[]
- Main article: List of StarCraft II critters
In StarCraft II, new critters with special abilities, such as the lava crab, which can burrow, have appeared.[1]
Other critters include cows, sheeps, dogs (all native to Earth), the karak, lyote, scantipede, ursadak, urubu and the automaton 2000.[2]Critters are weaker than in the first game, having only 10 hit points instead of 60. They're immune to the Infestor's Neural Parasite ability.[3]
There are also doodads for various types of birds, fish, and a "Black Fin Mako" (a shark).[2] Ground units can drive away landed crows and urubus, causing them to take flight.
The "critter nuke" returns in StarCraft II, and may be activated by clicking rapidly and constantly on a critter. The mushroom cloud of the original StarCraft is replaced by a smaller explosion, and can be activated in the multiplayer mode (unlike the original StarCraft). (Note: The exact process is unknown)[3]
Additionally, harmless critters in StarCraft II have their unit physics changed to be easily pushed away by other units in order to minimize their role in player units' movement.
References[]
- ↑ Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Wings of Liberty, The Devil's Playground (in English). 2010-07-27.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II Map Editor. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). July 27, 2010
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). 2010-07-27.