Wasn't sure where to put this, but my question is, are stalkers a machine like that of the Dragoon or is this a living creature.
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Wasn't sure where to put this, but my question is, are stalkers a machine like that of the Dragoon or is this a living creature.
They are metal vehicles imbued with a Dark Templar's essences, so they are mechanical in lore. Under game mechanics, IIRC, they are mechanical as whell.
Well, the Dragoon was mechanical and biological. You could Lockdown and Broodling them.
The Stalker is supposed to be "a machine controlled by the shadow-essence of a Dark Templar warrior fused into a metal body", and it has that stupid head sticking out from the front, so it's probably Mech+Bio again, and so is the Immortal.
Yeah, it was the head protruding from the front of it that had me confused.
I actually like the head design.Quote:
Originally Posted by Norfindel
As do I. It adds personality to the unit. Personally, I really don't get why people are raising such a ruckus over the Stalker head issue. I mean, I don't see anyone complain that the Colossus and Reaver having heads and they're both 100% machines with zero individuality!Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadow Archon
It's not the existence of a head in general. It's the existence of a Protoss head.
But It isn't even their real head. It's just something the use to relate with others.
The Dragoons manage fine without a head...how about we attach a talking head to a siege tank so it can relate to the marines better?Quote:
Originally Posted by flabortast
So, your argument switches from it being silly that a head be there to it being silly because of the shape of the head? What's so wrong about having a Protoss-shaped head on a Protoss?Quote:
Originally Posted by n00bonicPlague
Siege Tank drivers are able to step out of their vehicle to interact with the Marines. Stalkers, on the other hand, can't (as far as we know).Quote:
Originally Posted by screw_ball69
And building upon mr. peasant's idea, Dragoons are also connected to the Khala, whereas Dark Templars have no such link. So both a Siege Tank crew and Dragoon have methods beyond a Stalker.Quote:
Originally Posted by screw_ball69
Because its silly. I know that the Stalker might need to have a face for when they are playing poker but ...Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. peasant
I don't mind the head. But I can already tell the Stalkers are gonna be my favorite mech units. They can blink, are of Dark Templar origin, their attack seems to not have a delay like the goons did, and they just look awesome (disregarding the head thing).
Last I checked tho, Protoss done need to talk. being you know, a Psychic race.Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. peasant
So, it's silly for a Protoss to have the head of a Protoss?! :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by ArcherofAiur
Interaction takes more forms than just conversation. Moreover, we're talking about an individual's need/desire for a face in order to maintain his/her individuality.Quote:
Originally Posted by screw_ball69
Yet every stalker looks the same...Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. peasant
You cannot apply human psychology to the Protoss. No human will want to be permanently fused into a metal body.Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. peasant
Probably just a game mechanic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Screw_balls69
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadow Archon
There built so, they would all be pretty much the same lore wise as well...so I still don't see how individuality comes into play here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadow Archon
Honestly, does no one else care about the fact that in war, worrying about having a face is not your top priority? Maybe you should worry about not having a face sticking outside of a machine for that Terrible Terrible Headshot that you know is coming.Quote:
Interaction takes more forms than just conversation. Moreover, we're talking about an individual's need/desire for a face in order to maintain his/her individuality.
Not necessarily so. For example, the Terracotta Army in China consists of 8,000 human statues, all of whom have unique faces. The Protoss could easily mimic such a feat, likely mirroring each Stalker's original face.Quote:
Originally Posted by screw_ball69
When you're going to be stuck with it for life (i.e. long after said war is over), then it would be fairly high up. Moreover, this kind of attention to detail and aesthetics is perfectly in line with the Protoss' 'pretty technology' design theme.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pandonetho
The Terracotta army was not built over night tho. I couldn't see the stalkers being hand built they would need some sort of automated way of assembling them it seems like far to complicated of a construct for just anyone to assemble let alone replicate a face.
First of all, no way is this design "pretty" at all.Quote:
When you're going to be stuck with it for life (i.e. long after said war is over), then it would be fairly high up. Moreover, this kind of attention to detail and aesthetics is perfectly in line with the Protoss' 'pretty technology' design theme.
Second of all, having stupid decisions like having a head stick out of a mechanical body increases your chances of death, therefore you shouldn't be worrying about things like "I hope I can talk to my friends soon" you should be worry about "I hope I don't get shot in the face"
Everything but the face could be easily mass produced. And even for the face, basic molds from which modifications are made (just like the Terracotta Warriors) is certainly plausible. Imagine each Dark Templar, as part of their transformation process, personally hand craft his/her own face (remember, it's voluntary and planned; unlike Dragoons).Quote:
Originally Posted by screw_ball69
But unlike organic units, a machine doesn't specifically require the head to survive (assuming all essential components are located elsewhere). In all likelihood, the 'head' mainly houses sensors (which would be exposed regardless) or even purely ornamental. All of this would likely mean that head-shotting the Stalker would be not nearly as effective as it would be a living creature.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pandonetho
there we go with the whole "I hope I can talk to my friends" thing again, Protoss are PSionic damnit they don't need a face to talk, afterall the Dragoons never had a head protruding from there body yet they still managed to communicate even tho being fused to inside of the damn thing. so I don't see why that would come up in the equation at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pandonetho
I was under the impresion the Dark Templar were a very inmaterial group and didnt care about such things.Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. peasant
Then there is absolutely no point in having the head there in a first place. This is the equivalent of talking to all your friends through a hand puppet, when they can't see your real head. It's completely pointless. Not only that, it has facial expressions which I would assume are too complex for a machine. If I'm just imagining things and it doesn't have facial expressions, that means we're brought back to the point about just talking to a Terracotta warrior's face, while your friend is in a different room looking at you through cameras implanted in the eyes.Quote:
But unlike organic units, a machine doesn't specifically require the head to survive (assuming all essential components are located elsewhere). In all likelihood, the 'head' mainly houses sensors (which would be exposed regardless) or even purely ornamental. All of this would likely mean that head-shotting the Stalker would be not nearly as effective as it would be a living creature.
Why do you assume that the head is mechanical? I think it's the Dark Templar's head in flesh and blood. At least looks so in the portrait. Doesn't he even scratch his head now and then?
We can assume it's mechanical since the lore states that the Stalker merely incorporates the essence of the Dark Templar and makes no mention of the physical body at any point. So, unless they then decapitate the Dark Templar (assuming the body isn't destroyed in the process) and then mounting it on the Stalker's body, it's a mechanical one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Norfindel
why decapitate them, could always fuse the entire body into it.Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. peasant
As I said before, current lore makes no mention of the physical body being involved in the fusing process; only the Protoss' essence (whatever that may be).Quote:
Originally Posted by screw_ball69
Then refer to my post, talking through a mechanical head is pointless.
In related news: Spore Stalker.
I'm fond of the carved face hypothesis, but it would seem as though the head is that of the Protoss inside it. Notice the textured skin and blinking eyes.
It could just be a very advanced robotic face that said DT who fused with the stalker made. Protoss are a stickler for details.
Yah its definatly protoss skin on the head and neck. You can see how similar it looks to the Lenassa head.Quote:
Originally Posted by Visions of Khas
http://starcraft.incgamers.com/galle...a_portrait.jpg
It appears the "Essence" of the Dark Templar is the psionic potential of the head and nerve cords. The Stalker is a cyborg like the immortal with a head (and maybe more) implanted into the front of the machine. You could argue that the Stalker has "fake skin" but if were going to head down that road we might as well start calling the guy in the immortal a synthetic robot. Maybe Herbie is too :p
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/st..._SC2_Head1.jpg
On a side note has anyone else noticed that whenever a stalker is selected it scratches its head? I bet its a glitch like the goldfish.
But why would they scratch a mechanical head?Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. peasant
Also, the description could be interpreted differently:
Is only their shadow-essence fused into a metal body, or the dark templar warrior is?Quote:
The stalker is a machine controlled by the shadow-essence of a dark templar warrior fused into a metal body to protect his people.
Anyways, mechanical or not, the unit as a whole doesn't look good to me. I think i even preferred the old model. It doesn't looks aesthetical.
By that quote, it sounds just like the Dark Templar himself who has been fused into the machine. And still, no one answers my question about why anyone would want to talk through a mechanical head.
I think were all pretty much convinced its a real head.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pandonetho
I am too, the only person in here who thinks it's mechanical is Peasant, and I'm asking him why anyone would want to talk through an artificial head.Quote:
I think were all pretty much convinced its a real head.
And thus, if it's a real head, it's a bad design and it's no wonder why the Protoss are a dying species.
I'm not concerned about what part of their body the Protoss speaks through, their head or otherwise. If they're completely encased in the exoskeleton, like a dragoon or immortal, they'll still speak with their head, which may or may not be amplified by the mech.
It might be more appropriate if Stalkers were presented as being warriors who hadn't necessarily sustained mortal wounding, but were crippled and received some cybernetic grafts, not a total overhaul. Which might be cool.
The reason I think it's a mechanical head is because the rest of the body is mechanical, there is no lore/evidence explicitly indicating this and I can't see any reason why a head would be sticking out. In other words, instead of making a wild assumption and then complaining about it, I instead opt for a different assumption that I can accept. At least, until more evidence surfaces.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pandonetho
As for the texture of the Stalker's head seeming to match the Dark Templar's, I believe the latter is wearing a helmet of some kind. The reason I believe this is because as can be seen in the Immortal's portrait, Protoss don't have a protruding ridge over their brows. Also, the Dark Templar lacks the double crest at the back of his head (wich the Immortal has). Instead, the construction of his head somewhat resembles that of the Void Ray's portrait, which is clearly wearing a helmet.
These features are also present on the Stalker. So, one of two conclusions can be made; either the Dark Templar is wearing a helmet whilst the Stalker's head is artificial or that the Protoss on Shakuras have a different head anatomy than their brethren from Aiur and the Stalker's original head is poking out of a mechanical body for no apparent reason. Now, which of these two seem more likely to you?