Well the story of the temple is that when the Xel'Naga first appeared to the Protoss, they were hailed as gods, so a temple was built on the spot where the first touched ground on Aiur. It's location, then, is on a Nexus of powerful cosmic energies. The power does not come from the temple. It's really just a marker of a spot where there happens to be a ton of powerful energy. The religious Protoss built a temple there because they believed it to be sacred.
The crystals are volatile. When you bring them in contact with the energies, they flare up and destroy everything. I'm pretty sure they said, in so many words "If we bring these specific crystals to those powerful energies, the result may be powerful enough to destroy the zerg blah blah blah"
Well the story of the temple is that when the Xel'Naga first appeared to the Protoss, they were hailed as gods, so a temple was built on the spot where the first touched ground on Aiur. It's location, then, is on a Nexus of powerful cosmic energies. The power does not come from the temple. It's really just a marker of a spot where there happens to be a ton of powerful energy. The religious Protoss built a temple there because they believed it to be sacred.
The crystals are volatile. When you bring them in contact with the energies, they flare up and destroy everything. I'm pretty sure they said, in so many words "If we bring these specific crystals to those powerful energies, the result may be powerful enough to destroy the zerg blah blah blah"
I don't remember them saying anything about the crystals being volatile when put into contact with this "energies".
I'll play the Brood War campaigns again, so I'll know for sure in a couple of days.
Or, if that leaves you unsatisfied, from wikipedia:
Xel'Naga and Protoss Temples
Xel'Naga Temples are relics left behind by the Xel'Naga, a race in the StarCraft universe which was nearly destroyed by the Zerg countless ages ago. They have visited many planets in the Milky Way Galaxy, including Aiur, homeworld of the Protoss.
The Protoss Temple on Aiur was built on a nexus of cosmic energy (the same type of energy used by the Dark Templar and the Zerg) and marked the spot where the Xel'Naga first set foot on Aiur.
It was destroyed by the Zerg so the Zerg Overmind could manifest itself physically on Aiur. The Overmind said of it: "Behold, there is a temple, not far from here, that lies upon ground most hallowed. Though I have borne witness to the passing of countless millennia, the temple which you must assault is older by far. For it was constructed by my creators, the Xel'Naga, and it marks the site where the Xel'Naga first set foot upon Aiur."
The second Xel'Naga Temple was found on Shakuras, current homeland of the Dark Templar. Again, it was built on a nexus of cosmic energy. It consisted of a pyramid-shaped structure with a small floating crystalline top, and appeared very different (and larger) than the Temple on Aiur. Through the use of the Khalis and Uraj Crystals, Artanis and Zeratul were able to use the light and dark sides of Protoss psionic energy to activate it, and scour the Zerg from the dark world.
The Xel'Naga Temple did not have a psionic shield during the game, but it did during the cinematic as the Zerg attacked it after it was activated because the Protoss that evacuated into the temple combined their psionic energies to create the immense shield capable of holding back thousands of Zerg.
[edit] Theories about the Temples
Very little is known about the Temple on Aiur, but the second Temple had a few clues:
First was the use of cosmic energy. It appears the Xel'Naga, a race which had at least some psychics (and used psionic technology such as Khaydarin Crystals), but this energy is opposed to the "purity of essence" used by the Khalai. This is the same energy used by the Zerg.
Through study, the Dark Templar knew that the Xel'Naga Temple could destroy the Zerg, possibly through the use of cosmic energy, but why was the light side of Protoss psionics required as well? Possibly the Temple was supposed to be used by Xel'Naga and Protoss working together to attack the Zerg. The Temple only affected Zerg on the planet, though.
The Temple was not reactivated in Drawing the Web but could be reactivated in Enslavers: Dark Vengeance, which took place before Drawing the Web.
Some fans of the game claim you can see "bugs" in the Temple. While the Zerg are "bugs", these bugs didn't resemble any known Zerg Broods. No one knows what the Xel'Naga look like, but it's likely they are not humanoid in form (since they're not pure of form, and the Protoss are humanoid in form). It's possible these "bugs" were representations of the Xel'Naga. Also, some say that it appears that the temple destroys both Zerg and Protoss. This could be explained by the temple being used to destroy the creations of the Xel'Naga, which would make it a weapon against both the Protoss and Zerg. This could also explain why the temple requires both the light and dark side of psionics. They need both types to identify what to destroy, the light side to identify the Protoss, the dark to identify the Zerg.
Grasping at straws, which brings us back to the fact that it wasn't really explained, which hints to me that it wasn't well though out, which annoys me.
I'm a big fan of everyone being Tolkien-type fanatical about their mythologies.
When my friend and I are ATing, and loose horribly, we revert to gimmick strategies, like mass fairy dragons, or mass banshee possession.
Mass steam tanks is so, so hilarious.
It’s been used a bit too much to be considered a gimmick though.
Human players will just tower up a couple expansions, and dick around with steam tanks.
Edit:And a buncha heroes too.
Grasping at straws, which brings us back to the fact that it wasn't really explained, which hints to me that it wasn't well though out, which annoys me.
I'm a big fan of everyone being Tolkien-type fanatical about their mythologies.
Well, any details about the Xel'Naga seem almost purposefully vague and mysterious, which i think enhances their appeal. The secret mission tells me that the Xel'Naga may be a lot more well-thought out than the rest of the game lets on. Duran says he serves a far greater power than Kerrigan, and here he is using the terrans to engineer hybrids. Supposedly the Xel'Naga are a big part of the storyline in Starcraft II, so maybe you'll find out why so little was revealed.
Then again maybe they didn't put quite as much polish on it because it's only an expansion pack. Shrug.
Grasping at straws, which brings us back to the fact that it wasn't really explained, which hints to me that it wasn't well though out, which annoys me.
I'm a big fan of everyone being Tolkien-type fanatical about their mythologies.
Well, any details about the Xel'Naga seem almost purposefully vague and mysterious, which i think enhances their appeal. The secret mission tells me that the Xel'Naga may be a lot more well-thought out than the rest of the game lets on. Duran says he serves a far greater power than Kerrigan, and here he is using the terrans to engineer hybrids. Supposedly the Xel'Naga are a big part of the storyline in Starcraft II, so maybe you'll find out why so little was revealed.
Then again maybe they didn't put quite as much polish on it because it's only an expansion pack. Shrug.
If the heroes know how and why, then there's no reason to leave the player out of the equation unless you're setting up something very specific.
I don't think they're going to come back to that temple and reveal something earth shattering that makes up for them not saying anything about how it was supposed to work.
See, now you're encountering the issues I have with the sequence.
"Put these two crystals in the temple, and it will totally explode."
"Awesome, let's do it."
The ONLY thing that makes sense to me now is that it is part of the Protoss power network, and adding the dark crystal made it deadly to the zerg.
It's really not that complicated.
The Protoss (High Templar) use Psi energy.
The Zerg use Warp energy.
The Protoss, early in the campaign, kill a Zerg Cerebrate with Psi energy, but it revives because its soul or essence or whatever can't be destroyed by Psi. It's only vulnerable to Warp. The physical form can be broken by anything...artillery shells, Psi energy, being thrown into the sun, whatever. But the essence can't be destoryed without Warp energy.
The Protoss (Dark Templar) use Warp energy. That's why the Zerg shit that gets killed by Zeratul stays dead forever and can't be brought back. That's why Tassadar learns to use both types of energy instead of sticking with Psi only.
I really don't see what's so hard here. Two types of energy, one can perma-kill the Zerg, the other can't.
One guy would play for real, and get no help from his buddy.
And then 10 minutes into the game, steam tanks would assault both bases and GG.
Your friend's a complete noob, and he's lucky if he ever won a game doing that. Siege engine rushes rarely ever work, and any good player who goes "hey it's five-to-ten minutes in and we haven't seen anything from the human player" immediately knows that they need to scout and see what they're teching to. If the scout is greeted by a wall of towers, good players know that something's up, and it's usually not hard to figure out what. If you really want to sneak-attack someone with a hard-hitting siege run, you play Orc and sneak in 6-8 raiders with decent upgrades while making a big attack on the other base, since raiders can actually get the job done.
What part of it was unclear? That they blew up the temple? There was a mission in the game where you blew up a Protoss building and it caused a chain-reaction pylon explosion.
I don't know which part of this scenario isn't clearly explained by the game.
What part of it was unclear? That they blew up the temple? There was a mission in the game where you blew up a Protoss building and it caused a chain-reaction pylon explosion.
I don't know which part of this scenario isn't clearly explained by the game.
Well, the fact that the temple doesn't actually "explode", merely that it chauses a huge radiation of energy that appears to only kill Zerg.
Posts
Ok, yeah you are.
The crystals are volatile. When you bring them in contact with the energies, they flare up and destroy everything. I'm pretty sure they said, in so many words "If we bring these specific crystals to those powerful energies, the result may be powerful enough to destroy the zerg blah blah blah"
I don't remember them saying anything about the crystals being volatile when put into contact with this "energies".
I'll play the Brood War campaigns again, so I'll know for sure in a couple of days.
It was terrible. I lost all will to play after that, and drowned my sorrows in Counterstrike.
Hamlet will be Hamlet
An ineffable tragedy of the human spirit that still resonates, even today.
I'm a big fan of everyone being Tolkien-type fanatical about their mythologies.
Mass steam tanks is so, so hilarious.
It’s been used a bit too much to be considered a gimmick though.
Human players will just tower up a couple expansions, and dick around with steam tanks.
Edit:And a buncha heroes too.
Well, any details about the Xel'Naga seem almost purposefully vague and mysterious, which i think enhances their appeal. The secret mission tells me that the Xel'Naga may be a lot more well-thought out than the rest of the game lets on. Duran says he serves a far greater power than Kerrigan, and here he is using the terrans to engineer hybrids. Supposedly the Xel'Naga are a big part of the storyline in Starcraft II, so maybe you'll find out why so little was revealed.
Then again maybe they didn't put quite as much polish on it because it's only an expansion pack. Shrug.
One guy would play for real, and get no help from his buddy.
And then 10 minutes into the game, steam tanks would assault both bases and GG.
If the heroes know how and why, then there's no reason to leave the player out of the equation unless you're setting up something very specific.
I don't think they're going to come back to that temple and reveal something earth shattering that makes up for them not saying anything about how it was supposed to work.
kinda forgot what it was though.
i'll get back to ya...
It's really not that complicated.
The Protoss (High Templar) use Psi energy.
The Zerg use Warp energy.
The Protoss, early in the campaign, kill a Zerg Cerebrate with Psi energy, but it revives because its soul or essence or whatever can't be destroyed by Psi. It's only vulnerable to Warp. The physical form can be broken by anything...artillery shells, Psi energy, being thrown into the sun, whatever. But the essence can't be destoryed without Warp energy.
The Protoss (Dark Templar) use Warp energy. That's why the Zerg shit that gets killed by Zeratul stays dead forever and can't be brought back. That's why Tassadar learns to use both types of energy instead of sticking with Psi only.
I really don't see what's so hard here. Two types of energy, one can perma-kill the Zerg, the other can't.
You basically answered a quesiton no one asked.
Your friend's a complete noob, and he's lucky if he ever won a game doing that. Siege engine rushes rarely ever work, and any good player who goes "hey it's five-to-ten minutes in and we haven't seen anything from the human player" immediately knows that they need to scout and see what they're teching to. If the scout is greeted by a wall of towers, good players know that something's up, and it's usually not hard to figure out what. If you really want to sneak-attack someone with a hard-hitting siege run, you play Orc and sneak in 6-8 raiders with decent upgrades while making a big attack on the other base, since raiders can actually get the job done.
It was fucking hilarious when it worked, though.
What part of it was unclear? That they blew up the temple? There was a mission in the game where you blew up a Protoss building and it caused a chain-reaction pylon explosion.
I don't know which part of this scenario isn't clearly explained by the game.
Well, the fact that the temple doesn't actually "explode", merely that it chauses a huge radiation of energy that appears to only kill Zerg.
The kind that can only be settled in 1v1 bnetgrudgematch GOGOGOOGOGOGO
The game was better that way.
Man, that was supposed to be a troll post.
Even if it is true.
"you wanna trade cards"