There may be a few wrong in here as this FAQ was created during the SC Beta period...

How does the Battle.net ladder work?
A detailed rundown of the Battle.net Ladder system can be found here.

What can the Terran Science Vessels do?
The Terran Science vessels, besides being a flying unit that can detect cloaked units, has three researched abilities.

• EMP Shockwave - This targets an area that the Science Vessel sees, and units and buildings caught within the area of the Shockwave lose their shields and energy bars. (Energy bars are what powers the special abilities of units)
• Defensive Matrix - This ability provides a friendly unit with an extra amount of shielding that goes away after a time if its not lost due to damage.
• Irradiate - This makes the target unit radioactive, and organic units around the "blessed" target all take damage over time (including the targeted unit if its organic as well).

Will there be more than one installation tileset?
No, there is just the Terran installtion tileset.

Is the Archon susceptible to the Queen's broodling attack?
No, the Archon is a being of pure pyschic energy.

Can you play a two player team game over the modem (where you fight computer opponents)?
Yes, you sure can. You can have humans ally against computer opponents.

Can an infested Command Center fly?
Yes, it can be moved to allow the infested Marines it produces to be a little closer to their targets.

Can you have players start the game with a certain alliance level?
No, but you could play a team game instead.

Will certain weapons be more effective against particular units or structures?
Yes, there are different types of attacks. Some attacks are more devastating to "soft" targets than "hard" targets like buildings.

Are there anti-nuke devices? How can someone defend against Nukes?
The only real way is to kill the Ghost that is relaying targeting info for the Nuclear Weapon. There is no special structure or weapon that will intercept a missile in flight. You could also go over to the Terran base and destroy the Nuclear Silo before its launched, but the Terran player will have something to say about that.

Are there non-tower buildings that can attack?
The only buildings that can attack are the Protoss Photon Cannon, Zerg Spore Colony and Sunken Colony, and the Terran Missle Tower. All 4 can be selected by their owners and instructed to attack specific units.

Are Protoss shields on structures upgradable?
Yes, the protoss shield upgrades available for the Protoss units help the shielding for the buildings as well.

Can you see creep expand behind the Fog of War (like you could see trees getting chopped in War2)?
No. This would make Zerg expansion much too obvious to other players.

What happens if the only unit left for a Zerg player is a burrowed Zergling, but the opponent doesn't have the resources to build a cloak detecting unit? Will the game be a stalemate?
If the victory conditions were elimination of all enemy forces, yes, this would be a stalemate of sorts. However, there is a scoring system that tallies units created, resources gathered, kills, and other things. Its unlikely THAT score would also be tied as well, so it could serve as a tiebreaker in the wierd situation you mentioned.

Can you constuct a building over a burrowed zerg?
No. What happens is that the worker will inform you that you can't build at that location, but will not explain why. That's for you to figure out.

Do Zerg and Protoss buildings catch fire like the Terran buildings do?
No. While severely damaged Terran buildings will catch on fire and continue to take further damage until repaired, neither Protoss or Zerg buildings suffer from this. On the contrary, Protoss buildigns regenerate their shields, and the Zerg buildings just plain regenerate.

Does the starting shields or health of the Protoss Archon depend on the damage status of the High Templars that created the Archon?
No, when an Archon is summoned, he is at full strength.

How do the Zerg work?
The basic building for the Zerg is the Hatchery. Its main function in the game is the production of larvae. The Hatchery produces larva steadily, all though each Hatchery can only support 3 larvae at a time. The zerg player then selects a larva, and you are offered a choice of what you want to create from the larva. The transformation from larva to new unit is NOT instantaneous. The larva becomes an egg while the transformation takes place. The time the metamorphosis takes varies depending on the unit.In the beginning when all you have is the Hatchery, you may only morph the larvae into Drones and Overlords.

Overlords are needed to control the local Zerg presence (like farms do in War2, although Overlords are more flexible), and drones are the basic unit that harvest resources for the Zerg Overmind. Drones also may be instructed to construct a building. When the drone is so commanded, it moves over to the spot for the new building and begins to metamorph into the desired structure.

The construction of other buildings allows larva to be turned into other types of Zerg units. For Instance, the Spawning Pool allows Zerglings to be created from larva, and the Hydralisk Den allows Hydralisks as a choice when a larva is selected. Other buildings created by drone metamorphosis allow upgrades to be purchased for Zerg units, and various other interesting things.

If you want to increase the rate you can produce units, you have to create more hatcheries. Each hatchery can support three larva, so if you had 4 hatcheries close together with all 12 larva able to be group selected, you could have all 12 larva begin the transformation into drones (or Zerglings, Hydralisks, Mutalisks, or whatever you are allowed). The hatcheries will then steadily produce larve until they hit their capacity again.

What does the Zerg Nydus Canal do?
When you instruct a drone to change into a Nydus Canal, and then select the resulting structure, you are given the option of creating the exit for the nydus canal. You can build the Nydus Canal exit on creep. You can then have units move to the Nydus Canal entrance, and they instantly teleport to the exit, even if the exit is halfway across the map! The zerg use these to interconnect their main base with their outposts, and this allows them to react more quickly to attacks on any of their bases.

What are my diplomatic options in multiplayer?
You can set your Diplomatic Status with another player to any of the following:

• Enemy - Self-explanatory.
• Neutral - Your units will not attack a Neutral player.
• Ally - Same as Neutral, but you also share Fog of War information.
• In addition, you can play as a Team. Set before the game starts, a Team is effectively one side controlled by two or more players. They share the same color, species, and resources. Unit control is also shared-- units that are currently selected by your teammates are marked so that you won't accidentally override your teammate's orders.

Note that you can set Diplomatic status for Observers, as well. This means that you can set an Observer to "Neutral" or "Enemy" to prevent him/her from sharing your Fog of War

Will there be a map/unit editor? Will it have new features? Will you be able to have multiple objectives in a mission?
Yes, there will be a full scenario editor, which will include the ability to create custom campaigns, alter scenario objectives, and more. In fact, with the Campaign Editor, you can not only specify multiple mission objectives for one player, but different sets of objectives for different players. When making a multiplayer scenario, the map creator defines what we call Forces, which are groups of players who share a common set of mission objectives, and then chooses what the objectives are for each Force.

Here’s an example:

Lt. Kerrigan is a unique Ghost, and the Kyadarin Crystal Formation is a Protoss monument.

Force One -- Terran Saboteurs

Rescue Lt. Kerrigan
Bring Lt. Kerrigan to Kyadarin Crystal Formation
OR
Destroy the Kyadarin Crystal Formation

Force Two -- Protoss Defenders

Kill Lt. Kerrigan
OR
Survive for 45 minutes

What are some new features in multiplayer Starcraft, especially over Battle.net?
Players will have more diplomacy options, including the ability to share resources and map information with their allies. Teams will also be supported, where several players can share the same pool of resources, technology, and units. Players will be able to transfer scenario files dynamically, and Battle.net will feature unique IDs and an optional ranking system.

Will there be cheat codes in Starcraft?
Yes, there will be built-in cheat codes for Starcraft. If used during a multi- player game, they will affect all players (as in Warcraft II). Naturally, the creator of a multiplayer game will have the option of disabling cheats.

Do all three species have some form of cloaking/invisibility?
Yes, they do, but it's quite different for each species. Naturally, each species has also developed units that can detect hidden enemies and counter the effects of stealth.

Terrans
Recent advancements in stealth technology have led to the development of small but energy-hungry "cloaking" systems. The Wraith Space Superiority Fighter and Ghost agents both have cloaking systems which can be active even when the unit is attacking-- Ghosts can call down a nuclear strike while cloaked..! The cloaking systems have limited energy reserves that take time to recharge.

Protoss
Using a combination of high technology and their innate psionic abilities, the Protoss have developed very powerful spatial distortion systems that can render units invisible without requiring a massive influx of energy. The Protoss Arbiter generates a distortion field that covers any friendly unit within its range, all the time. This makes a single Arbiter an intimidating site, since you can never be sure just how many ships are really present. (Fortunately for the other species, Arbiters have no effect on each other.) The Protoss Witness uses a much smaller field generator to keep itself concealed at all times, but it cannot affect other units.

Zerg
Although they don't have access to the high technology or psionic abilities of the other species, the Zerg have natural camouflage abilities that are developed much earlier in the game. All Zerg ground units, except the massive Ultralisk, can burrow a short distance into the ground to conceal themselves. (This includes the specialty units-- imagine Mages and Sappers who can go invisible at will...) While burrowed, they can’t move or attack but they still regenerate. This makes them very difficult to eradicate.

Are there "farms" in Starcraft?
Yes and no. Each species in Starcraft must provide "Support" for its units, but the exact type of Support required varies from race to race. A commander who finds him/herself running low on Support will be unable to produce any more troops. Also, different troop types require varying levels of Support-- a Terran Battlecruiser requires a much larger cache of spare parts and fuel than a single Marine. Here's a quick summary of Support for each species:

Terrans
The personnel and vehicles used by the Terran military require a stockpile of food, fuel, and spare parts. Supply Depots must be built to contain these vital components and keep the Terran military running smoothly. Supply Depots work like Farms from Warcraft II.

Protoss
Pylons not only provide power for Protoss buildings, but they also maintain the link that Protoss soldiers and war machnines need to tap into the shared energy matrix. Although units are not restricted to staying within a short distance of Pylons, they still need an anchor to the psi matrix before they can be teleported into a Protoss base.

Zerg
The Zerg Overmind maintains a psychic link to all of its children, but giving specific orders to individual Zerg creatures is left to the docile Overlords. Overlords relay the Overmind's wishes to the entire hive, direct attacks and expansion, and keep the natural instincts of the individual breeds from interfering with the Overmind's greater plan.

What's this I hear about Protoss buildings needing energy?
Protoss technology draws its energy from a psionic web generated by nodes arrayed around the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. An off-world Protoss colony must be able to tap into this energy matrix to power its buildings.

The central building of a Protoss colony is called a Nexus. The Nexus maintains a link to Aiur and can provide power to any buildings in close proximity. Floating Pylons are used to channel this psionic energy and extend the range of the energy web. By building a network of Pylons, the Protoss can expand their base as they grow.

All other structures can only be gated in within the influence range of a Pylon or Nexus. If something happens to their power (e.g., the Pylons are destroyed) they shut down until they can be reconnected to the web.

A Protoss player must be organized about building extra Pylons, reinforc- ing defenses with Shield Batteries, and maximizing land usage.

Can enemy buildings be captured?
Not exactly, but there are a couple of situations where you can use an enemy's building against him/her.

Abandoned add-ons. Most of the mobile Terran buildings can build "add-ons" that expand their capabilities. For example, a Factory needs an attached Machine Shop to produce Siege Tanks. The add-ons aren't mobile, though, so if you move your Factory, you have to abandon the Machine Shop. This means that not only does you Factory not have the Machine Shop, but another Terran player can land a Factory next to the Machine Shop and take it over.

Zerg infestation. Zerg Queens have the ability to take over heavily damaged Terran Command Centers by landing on the building and "infesting" it. Once a Center has been infested, it falls under the control of the Zerg player. Although the building can no longer create its normal units, it can produce infested Terran soldiers, which are the poor occupants of the building that have taken over by the Zerg Overmind. The scary part is that the infested Terrans themselves are infected with a highly volatile, cancer-like virus that makes them very... Explosive.

What does the Zerg Queen do? Can she create larvae?
No, the Zerg Queen doesn't create larvae--that's the job of the Hatchery. Her "Queen" status comes from her ability to spawn numerous tiny Zerg critters. Her abilities include:

Spawn Broodling: The Queen injects her victim with a tiny egg that rapidly metabolizes into twin Broodlings. This tends to cause the unfortunate carrier to explode violently. The Broodlings, though short-lived, are aggressive and will seek out any nearby enemies to attack. Note that only non-robotic ground units can be infected.

Attach Parasite: Launches a tiny parasitic creature (simliar to a remora) that will attach itself to the target and provide the Overmind with intelligence information (i.e., you see what the unit sees.) The Parasite is small enough that it can only be detected by selecting the individual unit that it's attached to, and it cannot be removed without destroying the host.

Infestation: By landing on a Terran Command Center and working her vile magic, the Queen can "infest" the center and turn its inhabitants into slaves of the Overmind. These infested Terrans are extremely unstable. ; )

What's the music like?
Each species has its own style of music.

Will there be a maximum number of units that can be in a game?
We have to restrict the number of units that can be in a game to keep it running quickly without an excessive memory overhead. We expect that the limit to be much higher than it was in Warcraft II.