#scientific evolution

in StarCraft 2, Kerrigan, a woman, is now in charge of the Zerg, and she’s replaced the Cerebrates with female-coded Brood Mothers. however, she kept Abathur around.

in the custom campaign idea i’ve come up with, there’s a reason for that.

first off: StarCraft 2 has a very powerful level editor, the Galaxy Editor (StarCraft 1 had StarEdit which was somewhat powerful for the time but it has nothing on the Galaxy Editor), and lots of people have used the Galaxy Editor to make their own fanmade StarCraft campaigns. doing so myself has been an interest of mine for eleven years.

so, in my custom campaign idea, Scientific Evolution, Kerrigan did try to replace Abathur with a female-coded alternative in the four years between SC1 and SC2. however, this potential replacement, Athena, proved to be too dangerous, so Kerrigan sealed her away. but then, in the climax of Wings of Liberty, when the Keystone is used on Char, this actually breaks Athena’s seal. this is where the story begins.

you play as Athena, and your goal is to fulfill your single overriding directive: to make a powerful army. Athena has a very different philosophy from Abathur when it comes to doing this, though; Athena, for example, doesn’t mind using technology.

for a little bit further of an explanation: Athena is not a single small organism like Abathur is. she is an entire infested starship. specifically this prototype Umojan starship that Kerrigan captured. so experimental Terran tech (partially reverse-engineered from Protoss tech), combined with a Zerg organism designed to fuck with Zerg genetics as much as possible. Athena basically ends up founding her own sub-race, the Athenian Zerg (or just Athenians).

the first three missions are on Char. there’s an AvZ micro mission where Athena has her minions finish bringing her online, an AvZ holdout mission where we really get to see what the Athenians play like as Athena breaks free from the cave she was sealed in, and then an AvTvZ mission where Athena takes down some Dominion missile turrets so she can escape Char. after that, the galaxy opens up and the campaign works very similarly to Wings of Liberty.

in the Char missions, we’re introduced to the first two of Athena’s major allies- first, there’s Secretary, the Adjutant from the ship before it was turned into Athena, who’s been reprogrammed to be loyal (but not respectful, she’s very snarky) to Athena; and then, there’s Hana Rose, a Dominion security officer who ends up helping Athena escape on the condition that Athena help her with “a task” (said task later turns out to be helping Hana hunt down Alan Schezar, the villain of a series of side campaigns in SC1).

once they’re in space, we’re eventually introduced to two more major allies: Andrew Spartan, a sort-of OC of mine who i headcanon as being both The Captain from The Iron Fist and the founder of Spartan Company; and Eliz (the Nerazim’s attempt at something like a Purifier).

The Athenians would also have three major Production structures: under the Mutate menu you’d find the Nest, under the Build menu you’d find the Starbase, and under the Warp menu you’d find the Void Gate. All three would work uniquely.

The Nest produces units with predominantly Zerg origins. It’s somewhat similar to the Hatchery, in that it doesn’t directly train units, but instead steadily produces Cyber-Larvae, which can mutate into the units. Cyber-Larvae are very similar to the Mooks, in that they have both mechanical and biological components, and when mutating into something purely biological, the mechanical components dissolve away, but when mutating into something also cybernetic, the mechanical components upgrade themselves alongside the biological mutations. The Nest can also research upgrades.

The Starbase produces units with predominantly Terran origins. It’s also permanently flying. Beyond that, it’s the most standard of the Production structures.

In Wings of Liberty, you got Credits for almost every mission, and every mission would have side objectives that sometimes got you Credits, but usually got you Protoss Research Points and/or Zerg Research Points. Credits could be spent in two places- in the Armory, on specific upgrades for specific units and structures, and in the Cantina, buying Mercenary contracts from Graven Hill. Protoss and Zerg Research Points would gradually unlock Protoss and Zerg Research Upgrades, respectively; you didn’t need to spend them, but you always had to choose between two options- do you want Automated Refineries, or the ability to train two SCVs at once? Do you want robot cats, or giant dropships? And once you got every Upgrade possible, you’d trade in further Research Points for more Credits.

In Heart of the Swarm, you could get Biomass in your side objectives. Biomass could be spent in Kerrigan’s personal chamber on various upgrades. Like Research Upgrades, you can only choose one, but you can change your mind about which ones later on; and once Kerrigan’s evolution happens, more options open up even in the tiers you’ve already reached. Meanwhile, there was also the Evolution Pit, where you could choose one upgrade for most of the major units (again, you could change your mind later), and also play the Evolution Missions where Abathur would let you test out two potential massive upgrades for those units before asking you to choose a permanent one (do you want Zerglings that can jump up cliffs, or Zerglings that can breed even faster and cheaper than they already do? Do you want Swarm Hosts that can effectively teleport, or Swarm Hosts that produce flying Locusts?).

In Legacy of the Void, you could get Solarite in your side objectives. Solarite could be spent in the Solarite Core not only on specific upgrades, but also on passive boosts to minor stats. And again, the choices aren’t permanent. Meanwhile, you also have the War Council, where you can choose one of two or three variants on the same basic unit idea (do you want Zealots with an area attack, Zealots with a stun ability, or Zealots that can sometimes resurrect themselves?).

So, I do want Scientific Evolution to replicate that. I’m thinking that there are gonna be three ways to improve your army between missions.

Method 1: The Engine Room. Athena, much like Kerrigan in HotS, is a consistently present Hero unit. You can also locate Research Points in side objectives. In the Engine Room, Athena can use Research Points to unlock improvements to herself. New abilities, new passive abilities like generating fields that improve attack power, buffs to stats... and the Engine Room also contains Athena’s primary weapons system. For free (like, this doesn’t even require Research Points), you can choose between different options for Athena’s primary attack- Terran, Zerg, and Protoss. As time goes on, you’ll naturally unlock new tiers of weapons, though you may still prefer the earlier tiers. And no matter what tier it is, there’s a Terran, Zerg, and Protoss option. Maybe you’ll be able to choose multiple options or just one, I haven’t thought that hard about this specific part.

Method 2: The Evolution Bay. Remember, Athena was originally intended to be a replacement for Abathur, and the Evolution Bay was very much supposed to be where all her real work took place. The Evolution Bay has all the Zerg genetic freakiness you’d expect, pools of raw sequences twisting and merging and seeing what sticks; but it’s also got tons of Terran lab equipment and later on Protoss khaydarin crystals. Here, Athena tries her best to enhance her forces. The Evolution Bay is entirely free. You’ll naturally unlock new improvements as time goes on.

When a Mook is trained, its robotic components are built first, and then subsequently infested with a specific Zerg lifeform (and, once Protoss tech is incorporated, the Protoss tech is augmented in during the infestation process). Athena did design the robotic components herself, and they were specifically designed with eventual infestation in mind; and the Zerg lifeform was specifically evolved to work perfectly within the Mook shell. Neither one really functions at all without the other.