The zerg greater spire is evolved from the spire (if there is a hive present somewhere in the same command structure) and it produces the genetic code that allows some zerg air breeds to mutate into different forms.^[1]

Game StructureEdit

StarCraftEdit

Greater Spire
Structure
Race	Zerg
Production
Minerals	100
Gas	150
Build time	120
Evolves from	Spire
Requires	Hive
Protection
Hit points	1000
Armor	1
Function
Allows	Mutalisk Scourge Guardian Devourer (BW only)
Research	Flyer Attacks Flyer Carapace

The greater spire enables mutalisks to mutate into guardians and devourers. It also provides the same upgrades as the spire and will retain the evolutionary progress so that any aerial units keep all upgrades that were completed at the spire.

Researched UpgradesEdit

Flyer Attacks
Evolved at	Spire Greater spire
Hotkey	A
Properties
Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 100 175 250 Gas 100 175 250 Evolution time 266 298 330 Required Lair Hive
Notes
+1 bonus to attack per level for mutalisks +2 bonus to attack per level for guardians and devourers.

Flyer Carapace
Evolved at	Spire Greater spire
Hotkey	C
Properties
Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 150 225 300 Gas 150 225 300 Evolution time 266 298 330 Required Lair Hive
Notes
+1 bonus to armor per level for overlords, mutalisks, guardians, devourers, scourge and queen.

StarCraft IIEdit

Greater Spire
Structure
Race	Zerg
Properties
Broodlings produced	6
Production
Minerals	100
Gas	150
Build time	100
Evolves from	Spire
Requires	Hive
Hotkey	G
Protection
Hit points	1000
Armor	1
Type	Armored Biological Structure
Function
Allows	Mutalisk Corruptor Brood lord
Research	See below

In StarCraft II the greater spire enables production of the brood lord.

Researched UpgradesEdit

Flyer Attacks
Evolved at	Spire Greater spire
Properties
Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 100 175 250 Gas 100 175 250 Evolution time 160 190 220 Required Lair Hive
Notes
Increases attack damage of mutalisks, corruptors, and brood lords.
Edit

Flyer Carapace
Evolved at	Spire Greater spire
Properties
Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 150 225 300 Gas 150 225 300 Evolution time 160 190 220 Required Lair Hive
Notes
+1 bonus to armor per level for zerg air units.
Edit

DevelopmentEdit

The greater spire went through several revisions, essentially lingering in development hell. The initial designs were updates of the StarCraft I artwork which didn't seem to work. The shapes of the SC1 greater spire design didn't look good in 3D, as it was too bulky and the numerous pieces were too busy. Conveying the height the designers wanted was also a problem, since there were height limitations on tall buildings. When the development team started using Zbrush to create unit portraits some zerg buildings were also redesigned to take advantage of the more organic sculpting process.^[2] The redesigned top of the greater spire was based on an unused concept of a queen's head by Trevor Jacobs.^[3]

The revision of the greater spire made progress towards the final in-game design but the building still looked out of place compared to the rest of the zerg structures. The final unification pass finally solved many of these problems. The lower portion of the spire was reused and slightly modified with additional armor. The top portion was replaced with the new greater spire design and retextured, finally completing the long process of updating the first game's design.^[2]

ReferencesEdit