The case for a 4TH RACE on third game release

Since the game plan has changed not so long ago by Blizzards announcement of three separate game releases for SC II, it doesn’t sound too farfetched for Blizzard to introduce on the last game release a “fourth race” unlike any of the original three races. We are talking about a completely artificial intelligence (AI) race.

I have been thinking quite a bit about this.

There are many unique units that can come out of this. Think of any unit needing to be built, to be done so by using a mineral gatherer as the starter. In other words, all units are build up from the mineral gatherer unit which is serving as a “dendrite”. Furthermore, by merging to a mineral gatherer, any existing unit can be converted to any other unit after its given time to reassemble. In total there could only be like 5 units for this “AI race”. But the key is that each of the five units can be customized radically to serve other purposes. This…. could benefit SC II in the end by giving the last of the three releases of SC II more anticipation and excitement! Prolonging the lifespan of the much anticipated SC II thriller:

Well, let’s see…two races to star with in the first SC II game release. Sounds like Terrain and Protoss would be a good bet. Then on the second game release we have the zerg.

For the third game release we have an all new AI race. We can totally see a nitch for a fourth race in SC II, but only if it is a race as explained above, that is completely opposite of what the zerg represents…a race known as the AI.

This AI “race” could share attributes from the movie “The Matrix” and the famous “replicators” from the Stargate SG-1 series. THINK ABOUT IT!
This AI race would sure work well as the ultimate threat against the zerg, Protoss and Terrain. The three race s would have to put their differences aside to face this dire threat from the AI. There may be an entire storyline were the three races struggle to come to terms with one another to fight the AI. It would fit nicely in the final plot of SC II.

When SC II comes out, the world will have the first two SC II games most likely within a year of one another. So even if it takes another 2 years for the third release due to work on the “AI race”…we can wait. It be worth it.

Oh…one more thing, the AI mineral gatherers with the use of a laser, could simply slice the mineral crystals into small pieces. These small pieces would simply fall to the ground and then be pulled towards the mineral storage building which generates this special force that attracts them to it. But, since the mineral gatherers spend more time working with the minerals by slicing it to smaller pieces, the minerals are not gathered any faster than the Protoss, Zerg or Terrain. Can you imagine all these small shinny specks of crystals tumbling towards the mineral supply building? And just in case the mineral supply building happens to be too far from the crystal patches, the mineral gatherers will automatically attach the small crystal pieces to their many protruding “spike” to manually bring them to the mineral storage building.

This is an idea that can set the groundwork’s for this fourth “race”.

Anyone out there who would like to voice their support for this crazy idea, please do so now by commenting here.



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do you happen to watch dues ex machima? lol andthat woukld be kinda hard, try to image a picture

 

What are we going to get from the third SCII game release? More campaigns? How exciting!

 

The main/only reason the game is split into 3 is for the campaign. Else it would take about a year longer to get all 3 campaigns into 1 game disk.

 

That's ~30 missions right there, along with cinematics, updated graphics, game content, map editor, balance fixes... I don't think I need to go on.

A 4th race would be more than welcome, but it would be something already lurking in the lore, not some AI out of the blue. As discussed in other threads, the Xel'Naga and the Samoengy get the most votes, but all these are speculations. For the time being, 3 races are enough not just content-wise, but also workload on Blizzard-wise.

 

I see your side of the take kuvasz, but I believe that if a fourth race ever materialized, the ones already in the lore (Xel'Naga and the Samoengy) wouldn't be relevant. Their just derivatives of the existing three races. The Xel'Naga and the Samoengy are to Protoss, Zerg, and Terrrain, as yellow and orange are to blue, red and green.

I think that to tie the knot so to speak, there is just room for one more trully one of a kind race left. That would be a complete artificial intelligence, non living thing.

There will never be any trully distinctive races beyond these four. No matter how many more you add.

 

haha the classic end of the world story, the humans (terrans) create a Artificial Intelligent robot to combat the zerg force and ironically enough the robots turn against there creators and all other life.

sounds like standard scienceficiton storyline to me.

 

Exactly, just like Starcraft! But you Seradin, are the one that just came up with this idea of a Terrain scheme gone wrong when their self conscious robots designed to fight the zerg end up turning against everyone....hehehe good one.

 

what about the xel'naga lol he didn't even mention that word once. i wonder if he even knows anything about it.

 

"...what about the xel'naga lol he didn't even mention that word once. i wonder if he even knows anything about it".

Muncie16, you should read just a few posts above yours then, and there it's mentioned.

 

I thought Blizzard specifically said that they don't have any plans for a fourth race?. and that they want to keep it simple with the classic 3 playable races like in the original Starcraft. Each campaign is suppose to focus entirely on one race so they can flesh out the storyline and universe better, that is the whole point of the trilogy. If they were gonna add a fourth race it would most likely be a whole other game or an expansion game which I highly doubt.

First off, they would have to re-balance the entire game that they worked so hard on for a long time now to get it is just right in the third game and also it would probably make some Protoss fans feel cheated that their game was divided into two races instead of just Protoss and giving them less focus than the other 2 races got.

Secondly your "idea" for this fourth race is very cliche and not very original either in story or gameplay since there are already quite a few startgey and rts games that have deep customization for single units for different tasks etc. Also it would not fit very well into the Starcraft universe and lore in my opinion. I don't want to be rude but like to tell it how it is and I think they thing you have for your "case" is that you think having this "A.I. robots" would be cool and nothing else.

There is a reason things get cut, redone in development in games because even though its cool or something they would like to add it just doesn't work about because of many reasons such as time frame, game enigne and mechanics, disc space, etc. There is only so much you can do and put on a single disc and that is one of the main reasons Starcraft 2 was decided to be a trilogy in the first place.

 

That's blasphemous!

It has nothing to do with "cool robots" and everything to do with implementing a race that will bring significant strategic depth to SCII. I think your answer is shallow and you probably didn't even read the thread in full. Either way, I do not see this as a hindrance to the game...quite the contrary, it adds flavor!

Let me see if I can explain this better: It's sort of like a wedding, you have the wine, the rest of the food, but most everyone is just dying to try out that new exotic ganges beef!

I think what Pancakechef was trying to say is that he doesn’t see any need for any radical improvements for Starcraft2. But, there are those of us that believe there is much more that can be done…this AI race...heheh...I mean there is more difference between AI and Terrain or Protoss than Terrain vs Protoss. Then again, I don’t see many people out there that can comprehend this….oh well, nothing we can do about it.

 

Protoss: expensive, powerful units
Terran: medium, decent units
Zerg: cheap, weak units

How exactly would a forth race fit in without lessening the uniqueness of either the protoss or zerg? The thing that makes SC unique from other rts games is that each race is 100% different from the other races.

It's taken them almost 2 years to get the balance almost right for the 3 races. Adding another race would take them years longer, having to rebalance all the current races so non will be overpowr\ered/underpowered against the AI race, as well as balance the race. I'd assume it would be more expensive/powerful than the protoss, which would take away from the protoss's style of less units/stronger units.

Something like a 4th race would be best kept out of multiplayer and used only in single player, which is what the Xel'naga are supposed to be.

 

Sounds like a balance nightmare.

 

actually, also new multiplayer units and upgrades

basically its just an expansion with a 1 race-campaign

 

EonMaster,
You have based the uniqueness of each of the existing races (Zerg, Protoss and Terain) on their strength categories only! That is just one of the basis for all threes' uniqueness. What about the way the buildings are built, and the units "life properties" (Terrain can be repaired, Protoss has shields and zerg self heals). The fourth race...this AI...well the units could slowly have greater armor buildup as their life goes down.

There are so many ideas that can be implemented that are trully unique and can thus make for this one more unique race.

For example, this AI race could have a unique way making the buildings that differs drastically from the other three races....The mineral gatherer would start spining and start to fling these small nanoblocks that slowly and systematically lays out the building from the ground up like a stack of cards. Since the mineral gatherer is in the center of the built, it cannot be harrased by enemy probes just like the zerg drone which lies inside whatever it is building..and since the Protoss and Terrain do not lose the mineral gatherer after making a building, this AI race would loose it's mineral gatherer like the zerg.

I think that everything the AI race has, buildings and units must be made from a mineral gatherer (so that they are part of the building and unit structure) because they serve as the communication link with the Central Processing unit located in the equivalent of the command center.

One more thing, adding a fourth race would only require balacing this AI race itself against the others. What I mean by this is that the AI race would be tweaked against each unit of the Protoss, Zerg and Terrain without changing anything on the Protoss, Zerg and Terrain. So you see, all the work will be to fnd a nitch for the units of the AI to combat the other three races, and to make them with certain weakness that each of the other three races has ways to combat the AI. But then again this only requires major problem solving and adjustments on the AI race itself. This logic is merely common sense!

Come on, let's just do it!

 

well you didn't mention it at all in your original statement, and if there is going to be a 4th race it will be the xel'naga. the mother race of protoss and zerg coming to end all exsistance befor they themselves get over run by the terrans protoss or zerg.

 

Only issue I have with adding a 4th race at this point for multiplayer is that it would cause the game release to be delayed for another few months as they work on the balance for the AI race, as well as unit design, voices, and computer animations.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a hypothesis that the reason the Xel'naga created the zerg/protoss was to combat an unnamed entity? I'd guess that the AI race could possibly fit this scenario without having to affect the current lore too much.

 

Muncie16,
Just tell me why the Xel'naga would be much different than the Protoss race? Sounds to me like they are cousins!...hehe
So SCII shall follow the known storyline. Sounds like everyone knows what's going to happen? Ya well, sometimes it helps to jolt the Starcraft Universe at the expense of the unknown.

I am looking at this purely at a strategic viewpoint.
Forget the storyline we all heard. I wanna see some fresh blood, or should I say silicon put into play. It's the multiplayer that matters, that's what everyone will be doing long after the campaigns have been played. That is why I want to see something like the AI, it begs to be tempered with.
There is room for only one more distinct race, only an AI race fits the profile. Because it is not a faction from the Protoss, Zerg or Terrain. It is not related to any of them in any way.

So tell me, what do you possibly have in common with your computer? You can’t compare a beating heart to a CPU,. After all, it's an alternative intelligence (AI) or whatever you wanna call it.

It will take a whole different level of strategy to pit it against the other three races.

 

The problem with the Xel'naga as a race is that they're kind of a combination of Zerg and Protoss, so Starcraft wouldn't retain the vastly different race mechanics that made it so great. Blizzard would have to totally shift the Zerg and Toss styles to make room for one in the middle.

I loved WC3, but I think it's best for SC to stay at three races forever. Just my two cents.

EDIT: from the above posts, the AI sounds too much like a synthetic version of Zerg.