StarCraft/Game Mechanics and Glitches - Revision history

LUCKY!5fNOOB: /* Exploits */

2024-03-27T13:41:51Z

‎Exploits

LUCKY!5fNOOB: /* Glitches */

2024-03-27T13:41:03Z

‎Glitches

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LUCKY!5fNOOB at 13:38, 27 March 2024

2024-03-27T13:38:40Z

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LUCKY!5fNOOB: /* Glitches */

2024-03-26T14:24:29Z

‎Glitches

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Zergreenone at 01:46, 7 October 2016

2016-10-07T01:46:34Z

Freezard: /* Balance changes */

2016-08-17T00:17:15Z

‎Balance changes

Zergreenone: /* Teleporting Drone */

2016-02-01T07:47:45Z

‎Teleporting Drone

Zergreenone: /* Floating Drone #2 */

2016-01-10T23:59:31Z

‎Floating Drone #2

Zergreenone: /* Floating Drone #2 */

2016-01-10T23:53:57Z

‎Floating Drone #2

Zergreenone at 23:04, 10 January 2016

2016-01-10T23:04:55Z

@@ Line 232: / Line 232: @@
 An exploit is a glitch that must be performed intentionally (it cannot happen by accident). It is usually initiated using a hack to execute actions that are not available to the human user interface.
-=== Sliding Terran Buildings {{RaceIcon|t}} ===
+=== Sliding Terran Buildings ===
 [[Image:CCslide.png|left]]
 Illegal. The player lands a Terran building, and it moves ("slides") while on the ground to another destination without needing to Lift Off (for example, sliding a Command Center closer to minerals than normal).<br/>
@@ Line 238: / Line 238: @@
 <div style="clear:both;"></div>
-=== Forward Nexus {{RaceIcon|p}} ===
+=== Forward Nexus  ===
 [[Image:NexusBug.png|left]]
 Illegal. Protoss Players could build a Nexus very close to minerals/gas. For that a probe had to be blinded by an optical flare. The probe's vision range was limited along with the standard forbidden space between minerals and Nexus. The same trick worked on Drones and SCVs in a similar way; the only difference was that SCVs/Drones could only leap one hex-field between building and resources. <br/>'''Only works in old versions'''.
 <div style="clear:both;"></div>
-=== Tank Under Landed Building {{RaceIcon|t}} ===
+=== Tank Under Landed Building  ===
 Illegal. A few patches ago, Blizzard had "fixed" the tank under a building bug. However, little know that it is possible when sieged '''EXACTLY''' as the Building becomes registered as a ground unit.
 {{#ev:youtube|eo_oVaZYWXA}}
-=== Train Units in the Air {{RaceIcon|t}} ===
+=== Train Units in the Air  ===
 Illegal. The player trains a unit and lifts off in the same frame. The lifted building retains the unit in the queue. When ordered to land, the unit starts being constructed. When right clicking as the building is landed, the building will lift off once more while still constructing the unit (which will be created where the building lifted off from). This enables, for example, a player to land a Factory in the opponent's base and construct a Siege Tank without needing to build a Machine Shop.
 {{#ev:youtube|iSwVE665tGE}}
-=== Flying Ground Units {{RaceIcon|zp}} ===
+=== Flying Ground Units  ===
 [[Image:FlyingDT.gif|left]]
 Illegal. Glitches enable ground units such as drones (example clip [https://youtu.be/TJoCMH0mhk4?t=201 here]) and SCVs (instructional video in Korean [https://youtu.be/BqMHI8OSrBw?t=81 here]) and templar to act like air units. This essentially means that workers can mine and take island expansions without drop tech and templar can storm worker lines without the use of shuttles.<br/>
@@ Line 259: / Line 259: @@
 Illegal. A.K.A. "Godly Nuke", "Nuke Hack" or "[http://www.ghoztcraft.net/forums/files/file/1472-nukeblitz-nuke-anywhere/ Nuke Anywhere]" or "[https://tl.net/forum/brood-war/559554-infinite-nuke-cheat-on-top-of-ladder/ Infinite Nuke Cheat on Top of Ladder]. This exploit enables a player (with the assistance of an external program) to stop a Nuclear Missile from launching (or landing), and move it around like a regular unit. The player can then proceed to re-launch the nuke at any location on the map (without the need for vision or a nearby ghost). When the nuke lands and deals damage, the nuke death animation can be interrupted and the same nuke can be re-launched infinite times.
-=== Flooding the Order Buffer {{RaceIcon|tzp}} ===
+=== Flooding the Order Buffer  ===
 Illegal. The player sends commands (usually with the assistance of an external program) in such a way that they are queued in a ridiculous order, preventing any new orders from being executed. This causes all units to stop moving, as well as other major effects such as units unable to execute the "die" command, resulting in 0 hit point unkillable units, or the "cancel" command, but still being refunded the resources. Cancelling a Zerg Extractor will also refund several drones along with resources. Merged templar or merged dark templar may remain with the same graphic as when they were merging. A queen may teleport after infesting a command center. An instructional video in Korean that shows many of these effects without using an external program is [https://youtu.be/BqMHI8OSrBw?t=110 here].
-=== Liftoff Bug {{RaceIcon|t}} ===
+=== Liftoff Bug  ===
 [[Image:LiftStackBug.png|left]]
 Illegal. Terran could stack his buildings via abusing the lift function. Whenever a building was lifted and given an order to build a unit/research an upgrade immediately after the first command the building seemed to actually produce something. In this state the building could be float to any direction (over land). If the order got canceled the building would land anywhere ignoring the standard conditions. If the command was canceled while landing the building got stuck in the position it had but still seemed to float. <br/>'''Only works on version 1.09 and lower'''.
 <div style="clear:both;"></div>
-=== Otherwise Stacking Ground Units {{RaceIcon|ptz}} ===
+=== Otherwise Stacking Ground Units  ===
 This section is a catch-all section to cover miscellaneous tricks/glitches/exploits that involve stacking ground units (either temporarily or permanently, and either intentionally or unintentionally) that are not already covered by other sections like [[#Lurker Stacking]], [[#Hopping/Pushing]], [[#Mineral Walk]], [[#Return Cargo when Transferring Workers]], [[#Re-scout with Worker through Wall without Cheating]], [[#Clustered Recall or Total Recall]], [[#Stacking Workers]], [[#Cargo Glitch]], [[#Medic Hold can't be Pushed]], [[#Recall Glitch]], [[#Drone Stuck Making Extractor]], [[#Vortex Bug]], [[#Tank Under Landed Building]], [[#Flying Ground Units]], [[#Flooding the Order Buffer]], [[#Liftoff Bug]].<br/>
 It is legal to stack burrowed units. It is legal to unburrow them, so long as they do not remain permanently stacked. It is legal for non-burrowed ground unit(s) to be on top of burrowed unit(s) or dropped on top of spider mine(s). Often, ground units may unintentionally become overlapped and continue colliding simply due to lack of walkable space around them to automatically become unstacked using the game engine's anti-collision movement logic. E.g. units produced from production buildings that are trapped in too small an area, or units may naturally become overlapped (hopefully only temporarily) while moving across the map. If partially-overlapping tanks or unburrowed units become sieged/burrowed they will remain partially overlapped - this may be unintentional/unplanned and may be understandable, especially if they siege/burrow as a reaction to seeing enemy units nearby, so the legality of this is a grey area. So long as you did not intentionally plan for units to originally overlap, and so long as reasonably timely attempts are made to clear walkable space to help them become unstuck (when not sieged and not burrowed etc), this is legal, but best avoided if you can. This is probably too hard to judge or code for in bot-vs-bot competitions though. For all other cases, by default, unless you hear otherwise, you should assume that stacking ground units is illegal, especially if the units remain stacked while attacking or remain permanently stacked. If in doubt, ask on the SSCAIT Discord. If it's a new type of trick/glitch/exploit, it could be added to this page.

@@ Line 88: / Line 88: @@
 === Untested Crazy Drone Bug from some Random You-Tube video (lol) ===
 If you tell a (presumably mind-controlled) drone to become an extractor, use maelstrom on it, and get another drone to become an extractor on the same geyser, the drone will continuously attempt to build an extractor on the geyser, resulting in a lot of error messages. Recalling the drone after it has reached the geyser will cause the drone to fly back to the geyser and continue to attempt to become an extractor. May also work if minerals become insufficient to build the geyser (similarly to the floating drone trick).
 = Tips =
@@ Line 114: / Line 122: @@
 The AI behavior was improved in patch 1.04. The changes are not completely known, although it has been noted that the enemy units have a larger awareness radius post-1.03 and will chase down attacking units from a greater distance.
 = Brood War =

@@ Line 93: / Line 93: @@
 === Balance changes ===
-Balance changes were made in patch 1.02, 1.04, 1.05 and 1.08. Thus the game version makes a huge difference when attempting to speedrun a mission, especially for the Protoss campaign since it is not relying on any glitches.
+Balance changes were made in patch [http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Patches_1.01-1.07#Patch_1.02 1.02], [http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Patches_1.01-1.07#Patch_1.04 1.04], [http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Patches_1.01-1.07#Patch_1.05 1.05] and [http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Patch_1.08 1.08]. Thus the game version makes a huge difference when attempting to speedrun a mission, especially for the Protoss campaign since it is not relying on any glitches.
 === Visible in-game timer ===

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 ===Teleporting Drone===
 Similar to the Terran build anywhere glitch, except you have to follow the standard building rules for Zerg. Unlike the SCV, the Drone can be trapped anywhere and will instantly mutate into the selected building. Works on version 1.07 and lower.
 ===Floating Drone #1===

@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 Order a Drone to mutate into an Extractor, then shift-click the geyser a few times and shift-right-click where you want the Drone to float. When the Drone is about to mutate, spam the stop command as fast as you can until you see the Drone's shadow disappear. The Drone will float over any obstacles until the destination is reached or it is given another order. Hard to perform, recommended to lower the game speed two steps when ordering the stop command. Works on any version other than 1.10.
-You need to press stop exactly one frame before the drone's shadow disappears. You can buffer stop commands before this point, as they will have no effect. You cannot, however, buffer commands after or on the frame that the drone's shadow disappears, or you will cancel the move order and the drone will stop floating.
+You need to press stop exactly one frame before the drone's shadow disappears. You can buffer stop commands before this point, as they will have no effect. You cannot, however, buffer commands after or on the frame that the drone's shadow disappears, or you will cancel the move order and the drone will stop floating. So it is a one-frame trick that can be buffered in exactly one direction.
 Floating Drone #2 allows you to command the drone after it has started floating, although doing so will cause it to cease to float. It also avoids the landing procedure that happens if you use the other version of the floating drone trick. This means that Floating Drone #2 is generally better than Floating Drone #1, but it is much harder to execute.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 === Free resources in laggy conditions (controversial) ===
 If the game is lagging, you can cancel units or structures multiple times, which results in free resources. Deliberately using third party programs to create lag should be disallowed, but if someone were to use a computer that meets the minimum system requirements for starcraft, without using third party programs, and it is possible to make the game lag during normal gameplay, the game may be considered to be running as intended, and the use of this glitch may be acceptable. The use of this glitch is highly controversial. As it requires old hardware or third-party software, this may require a different category to ordinary speedrunning. This got fixed in version 1.01, although a version of this relating to Guardians remained until version 1.02.
 == Terran ==