Mothership

From StarCraft Wiki

"By the heart of Aiur!"

―Protoss mothership^src

This article or section contains information about a StarCraft II unit or structure. The content may be significantly out of date as StarCraft II experiences a new build weekly and may change substantially as more information becomes available. Please do not add speculation to this article, and remember to cite a published source for details.

Mothership
Unit
Race	Protoss
Role	Capital Support Ship
Properties
Hit points	400[1]
Shields	200[1]
Energy	200[1]
Type	Air[2] Mechanical[2]
Armor type	Armored[2]
Production
Minerals	400[1]
Gas	400[1]
Psi	8[1]
Build time	120[1]
Produced by	Nexus[1][3]
Requires	Fleet Beacon[1]
Hot key	M[1]
Combat
Ground attack	8 (x8)[4]
Air attack	8 (x8)[1][4]
Armor	2[1]
Speed	Normal[1]
Attack range	7[1]

The mothership is a powerful protoss capital ship. It is set to appear in StarCraft II.^[5]

Contents 1 Overview 2 Game Unit 2.1 Abilities 2.2 Upgrades 2.3 Development 2.3.1 Previous Abilities 3 Quotes 4 Trivia 5 References

Overview

Motherships are mighty vessels that were constructed centuries ago during the protoss Golden Age of Expansion. They were intended to act as primary command ships to lead vast armadas of protoss explorers through deep space and bring them safely home again. In the aftermath of this period of expansion, the surviving motherships became holy shrines to the protoss, representing an honored way of life and a part of the proud history of the protoss race. As such, they were left in place as titanic monuments at the farthest reaches of protoss exploration. It was believed that their like would not be needed again. After the zerg devastated Aiur however, the surviving motherships were called back into service. Now they are crewed not with mystics and historians, but with warriors.^[6]

At the heart of each mothership is a huge khaydarin crystal infused with an incredible amount of psionic energy. By tapping into this energy, a mothership can warp or crack the very fabric of space-time itself. The devastating power of a mothership can wipe out squadrons of enemy ships in the blink of an eye or lay waste to entire planets.^[6]

Game Unit

In the most current development version of StarCraft II, the mothership is unique for balance reasons.^[7]

The mothership moves very slowly.^[7]

The mothership is treated as a support unit with powerful defenses.^[8]

The mothership's standard attack consists of eight disruptor pulses that spread out and attack all enemies within range. These can attack both air and ground units.^[9] This makes them quite ideal as support in the back lines of a battle while capable of attacking enemies in the front lines. While the mothership has an immense amount of hit points, it is incredibly expensive and not worth the risk of being exposed to open fire. Players should expect the enemy to throw everything they have in destroying these immense vessels. Overall, it should only be built if one has air superiority and can adequately defend it.^[10]

Abilities

Cloaking Field Notes Passively cloaks nearby units and buildings.[11] The Mothership had the ability to cloak nearby units and make them invisible without enemy detection abilities. This ability had a very large range.[12][3][13] Edit

Wormhole Transit[11] Notes The mothership can instantly travel to a protoss building.[11] Edit

Black Hole[14]/Vortex Usage Energy 150[15] Duration 30[15] Cooldown 3[15] Notes The mothership creates a gravity vortex which incapacitates units in the area of effect.[11]Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag Vortex used to suck enemy units in and puts them into stasis.[16][3][13] Previously known as Black Hole.[17] Black Hole could quickly destroy air and ground units in an area of effect.[12] Edit

Planet Cracker
Usage Energy 125[18] Hotkey C[18]
Notes
"Scorch the ground beneath the Mothership for 15 seconds, causing damage to enemy ground units below."[18] Dealt massive damage to an area directly below the mothership's position (ideal for destroying buildings and slow-moving targets such as siege tanks) over a period of time. It had no effect on air units.[5]
Edit

Planet Cracker reappeared as of June 2009.^[14]

Upgrades

Air Weapons Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 100[19] 150[19] 200[19] Gas 100[19] 150[19] 200[19] Research time 140[19] 170[19] 200[19] Upgraded at Cybernetics Core[19] Cybernetics Core[19] Cybernetics Core[19] Hotkey E[19] E[19] E Edit	Air Armor Researched at Cybernetics Core[19] Hotkey A[19] Properties Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 100[19] 150[19] 200[19] Gas 100[19] 150[19] 200[19] Research time 140[19] 170[19] 200[19] Notes Increases air unit armor. Edit
Plasma shields Researched at Forge[19] Hotkey S[19] Properties Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 200[19] 300[19] 400[19] Gas 200[19] 300[19] 400[19] Research time 140[19] 170[19] 200[19] Notes +1 to shields per level. Edit

Development

The mothership has been switched back and forth from a one-of-a-kind unit to a normal unit, multiple times since its unveiling in May 2007.^{[20][5][21][22][23][17]}

The mothership is hard to test, as it is high in the tech tree.^[7]

The mothership used to be able to survive a direct hit from a nuclear missile.^[24]

The mothership could be cloaked with Null Shield in earlier builds.^[25]

Previous Abilities

Any abilities that do not make it into the final mothership will still be available in the game editor.^[26][22]

Time Bomb[23][27]
Usage Energy 100[15][28] Duration 30 seconds[29] Cooldown 90[15] Hotkey T[29]
Notes
Time Bomb slows down enemy unit movement and attacks in the area of effect.[30] This ability had no effect on beam weapons such as those of the void ray or colossus.[31] When the Time Bomb collapsed, failed ammunition fell to the ground.[5]
Edit

Time Bomb has been added and removed to the mothership frequently. It was last removed as of April 2009^[11] and given to the high templar in the form of Time Rift.^[32]

Recharge Energy
Usage Hotkey E[29]
Notes
"Recharges the energy of a friendly unit."[29][8][2]
Edit

Summon
Usage Hotkey N[29]
Notes
"Summon target ground unit."[29] The Mothership can teleport an entire army to its location[33] in a manner similar to an Arbiter. Its much higher durability helps it in this role.[23] The Mothership can either defend a base (teleporting units to its location when the base is attacked) or accompany attack forces, summoning reinforcements.[23]
Edit

Quotes

Main page: Mothership Quotations

Trivia

If the Blizzard game demonstration video is any indication, not to mention the voice of the quotes on the official StarCraft II website, it is thus far the only protoss non-hero unit to be voiced by a female representative.^[34][6]

The mothership's "Planet Cracker" ability is based on the energy beam from the ship in the introduction video for StarCraft I. That ship is the "conceptual anchor" for the mothership idea.^[35][36]

References

Protoss Units and Structures of StarCraft II
Infantry	Probe · Zealot · High templar · Dark templar · Archon
Land mechanized forces	Stalker · Immortal · Disruptor · Colossus
Air vehicles	Warp prism · Observer · Phoenix · Void ray · Carrier (Interceptor) · Mothership
Basic buildings	Nexus · Assimilator · Pylon · Gateway (Warp gate) · Forge · Cybernetics core · Obelisk
Combat buildings	Photon cannon
Advanced buildings	Twilight council · Dark shrine · Templar archives · Robotics facility · Null circuit · Stargate · Fleet beacon
Removed units	Escort · Reaver · Soul hunter/purifier · Star relic · Stasis orb · Tempest (Shuriken) · Twilight archon
Removed buildings	Observatory · Robotics support bay · Phase cannon · War beacon · War shrine

Protoss Starship Classifications
Transport Craft	Atmospheric vessel • Escape pod • Shuttle • Warp prism
Starfighters	Corsair • Phoenix • Scout — Pathfinder Scout · Scout Hero • Void ray
Support Ships	Arbiter — High Arbiter · Paganite • Mothership • Star relic
Capital Ships	Carrier · Fleet Carrier · Super carrier • Mothership • Tempest
Carrier-Launched Fighters	Escort • Interceptor