How you suppose the breeds of the extended Zerg swarms are composed?

In SC1 we were told that the Zerg had assimilated countless species as they traveled the galaxy. Each cerebrate would develop a personality around their directive and alter the makeup of their brood to better follow that directive. In SC1 the only example we saw of this was that Tiamat breeds were stronger than typical (Jormungand?) breeds; in SC2 the Leviathan breeds specialize in aquatic warfare.

I think that all the breeds introduced throughout the series could serve a role in the extended swarm. Some of them are so similar that they would need some kind of tweaking to stand out. (A number of differences in army compositions between SC1 and SC2 only make sense in terms of game mechanics rather than fluff.)

I do not see much difference between corruptors and devourers; funny enough the beta version of the corruptor had the ability to infest enemy air units and turn them into static turrets. Brood lords, at least in comparison to guardians, spawn broodlings.

The difference between creep colonies and the tumors and crawlers seems minimal, but of course in the SC2 beta the Zerg had a completely difference set of defenses. Neither seems clearly superior to the other due to mutual trade-offs: creep colonies spread creep and defend but cannot move, crawler defend or move but cannot spread creep or survive long outside creep, creep tumors spread creep but cannot move or defend.

The scourge nest in HotS displays a dramatic difference in the way a breed is spawned; funny enough, in the SC1 beta each Zerg structure produced its own larvae that would morph into the breed the structure was named for before later iterations centralized larvae production at the hatchery while leaving the names untouched (hence why the spawning pool does not spawn anything).

The queen underwent the most dramatic change between games, to the point where they share nothing but a name; the infestor bears the closest resemblance to the old queen. I suspect this is a casualty of the fluff conflicting the mechanics: in the SC1 game only overlords provide control and queens require a queen's nest to spawn, whereas in the fluff queens control laborers and overlords control warriors. Furthermore, the beta versions of both queens were dramatically different from their final versions (the SC1 beta queen has glaive wurm, dark swarm and plague; the SC2 beta queen built various base defenses).

In terms of breeds which you could expect to exist in the lore without appearing in the game armies, I can imagine quite a few things. For example, I can think of a few laborer strains beyond the generalist drones that specialize in specific tasks: breeds that dig nydus tunnels, breeds that farm creep (a la the SC2 beta queen), breeds that only harvest resources, and breeds that only plant structures, all managed by the telepathy of the queens.

I can think of a few different ways to mutate the creep colonies beyond stuff like crawlers. You could have colonies which replicate certain unit attacks like hydralisk spines, lurker spikes, spawn broodling, dark swarm, etc. You could have colonies which function as mini-hatcheries, producing larvae and/or accepting resources. Maybe, I don't know, some kind of bunker colony which can host multiple crawlers, or a expensive siege beast which attacks like a spine crawler without rooting and an impaler colony when rooted.

What do you think? Is the swarm really more expansive than the games would lead us to believe?

I forget the name of it, but there was a well-crafted single-player campaign that focused on the UED and what if they had successfully conquered the Koprulu sector. Each mission gave you a different set of upgrades, units and parameters, each particular to a different squadron such as the "UED Science Corps," "Atlas Wing," etc. It did a really good job at differentiating each squadron.

I would love to see a campaign that put as much emphasis on squadron/brood/tribal identity as that campaign; from Tiamet's quality-over-quanitity, to Balrog's psychological warfare.

Basically, I would love for the identity of each to be as distinct as the Imperium Chapters in WarHammer, but we know that'll never happen.

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Originally Posted by Visions of Khas

I forget the name of it, but there was a well-crafted single-player campaign that focused on the UED and what if they had successfully conquered the Koprulu sector. Each mission gave you a different set of upgrades, units and parameters, each particular to a different squadron such as the "UED Science Corps," "Atlas Wing," etc. It did a really good job at differentiating each squadron.

I would love to see a campaign that put as much emphasis on squadron/brood/tribal identity as that campaign; from Tiamet's quality-over-quanitity, to Balrog's psychological warfare.

Basically, I would love for the identity of each to be as distinct as the Imperium Chapters in WarHammer, but we know that'll never happen.

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For tribal identity we'll probably need another brood entirely to determine the Surtur Brood's then, since that brood is so bloodthirsty the Overmind only calls it up during emergencies as it ends up killing allied zerg forces as well as the enemy.

Looks like you're asking for ideas about Cerebrate/brood based Co-op commanders.

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Originally Posted by Mislagnissa

Is the swarm really more expansive than the games would lead us to believe?

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Nope. That it has made you think that the possibility of there being more than what is given means that it's done its job well in suspending your disbelief. ;)

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Originally Posted by Turalyon

Looks like you're asking for ideas about Cerebrate/brood based Co-op commanders.

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Yeah, that's probably what I was thinking.

Araq/Jormungand is the standard multiplayer, a support force which relies on swarming tactics and occasional special abilities. Any co-op commanders or mods (kerry, zaggy, abby, mass recall, heptacraft swarm, etc) which are largely similar would quality as variants of this.

Daggoth/Tiamat, as said before, would value quality over quantity and probably favor aerial and space combat.

Leviathan focuses on naval and submarine warfare, which would need special maps to be represented properly a la WarCraft 2.

Gorn/Baelrog would have various debuffs to represent psychological warfare. This is not something which to my knowledge has been explored in the games.

Kagg/Surtur Zerg would have boss battle-like area attacks, charges, artillery, etc to represent being heavy support with little control.

Zasz/Garm would have fast moving, heaving hitting units with minimal armor to represent being the Zerg equivalent of special forces.

Nargil/Fenris would probably have lots of mobile structures like crawlers and primal hives to represent being fast nomadic bounty hunters, maybe like Dehaka.

Kaloth's New Swarm would probably the same as Stukov's co-op army, or incorporate more traditional Zerg.

Auza/Incubus specializes in subversion, favors defilers and queens and infested terrans (probably similar to infested from Heptacraft mod). Carpenter/Bahamut would probably be a variant of this or Kaloth's New Swarm.

Zargil/Sennith... honestly he was never more than a melodramatic talking head who told the player what to do. I got nothing.

Grendel was nothing but a name, so I got nothing there either. The Czech starcraft encyclopedia fansite made up something about it being an incubator swarm which produces troops to be adopted by other broods, so maybe it could produce large amounts of units that could be given to co-op Zerg or something.

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Kagg/Surtur Zerg would have boss battle-like area attacks, charges, artillery, etc to represent being heavy support with little control.

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Before the advent of ravagers, I wonder what the zerg had that was analogous to artillery. Did they have something like plasma bugs?

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Originally Posted by Visions of Khas

Before the advent of ravagers, I wonder what the zerg had that was analogous to artillery. Did they have something like plasma bugs?

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From a "non-game" perspective, I wouldn't think that Zerg would need nor have artillery like a conventional army (which is based on ranged warfare nonetheless) since it's not as if they'd be concerned about minimising losses. If they had to siege a heavily fortified position they'd probably use "sapper" like units that utilise burrowing tactics to undermine foundations and such. They could also just get a Nydus worm into the heart of whatever base they wanted to assault.

If they needed something for the role of suppression and non-specific carnage over a wide area, Defilers could've easily done that with their plagues. Also, they have access to powerful and cheap suicidal units like Infested Terrans and Scourge that can easily be used for a similar role as artillery.

Guardians were pretty much flying siege tanks.

In regards to the colonies vs crawlers. Colonies seem to be much larger then their contemporary crawlers, so serve as more of a large fortification, wheras a crawler is a mobile security unit.

Sieging a fortified position can be done with guardians in sc1 era (field guide mentions a really extreme splash radius for their attacks, 100 yards I think?), or a combination of brood lords and guardians later. Swarm Guardians (hey, my point on cannon is if it was cancelled, it was prototype or just not used much, hence the grizzly, etc) were described as being almost the size of a battlecruiser, and considering their nature could be an orbital bombardment unit...

Bile-launchers also serve as a heavy artillery station, but that's post-hots, spore cannons probably also serve a similar purpose, but they are listed as everything from message-launchers to anti-orbital batteries to artillery.


Anyone think the broods in sc1-era actually had shell colours close to their ingame colour?

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Originally Posted by Gradius

Guardians were pretty much flying siege tanks.

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And then the charon booster upgrade made them less effective on the battlefield, it was a shame....

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Originally Posted by Nolanstar

Bile-launchers also serve as a heavy artillery station, but that's post-hots, spore cannons probably also serve a similar purpose, but they are listed as everything from message-launchers to anti-orbital batteries to artillery.

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it is post broodwar no post hots
bile launcher and scourge launcher, was in the invasion of char in WoL

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Originally Posted by Visions of Khas

Before the advent of ravagers, I wonder what the zerg had that was analogous to artillery. Did they have something like plasma bugs?

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Originally Posted by Turalyon

From a "non-game" perspective, I wouldn't think that Zerg would need nor have artillery like a conventional army (which is based on ranged warfare nonetheless) since it's not as if they'd be concerned about minimising losses. If they had to siege a heavily fortified position they'd probably use "sapper" like units that utilise burrowing tactics to undermine foundations and such. They could also just get a Nydus worm into the heart of whatever base they wanted to assault.

If they needed something for the role of suppression and non-specific carnage over a wide area, Defilers could've easily done that with their plagues. Also, they have access to powerful and cheap suicidal units like Infested Terrans and Scourge that can easily be used for a similar role as artillery.

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Originally Posted by Nolanstar

In regards to the colonies vs crawlers. Colonies seem to be much larger then their contemporary crawlers, so serve as more of a large fortification, wheras a crawler is a mobile security unit.

Sieging a fortified position can be done with guardians in sc1 era (field guide mentions a really extreme splash radius for their attacks, 100 yards I think?), or a combination of brood lords and guardians later. Swarm Guardians (hey, my point on cannon is if it was cancelled, it was prototype or just not used much, hence the grizzly, etc) were described as being almost the size of a battlecruiser, and considering their nature could be an orbital bombardment unit...

Bile-launchers also serve as a heavy artillery station, but that's post-hots, spore cannons probably also serve a similar purpose, but they are listed as everything from message-launchers to anti-orbital batteries to artillery.


Anyone think the broods in sc1-era actually had shell colours close to their ingame colour?

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One of the unused unit concepts in HotS was a "spore beast" resembling a cross between a guardian and a devourer.

The Zerg canonically consumed countless species over countless millennia. Most likely the dozen or so breeds seen in the game represented a small fraction of the breeds available. We actually don't know how much of the Swarms throughout the galaxy converged on the Koprulu sector. It's entirely possible that there are many, many more Zerg elsewhere in the galaxy.

Judging by the fact that it took 60 years (Earth years?) to reach the Koprulu sector within the frontier border of the Protoss Empire (which spans from a couple hundred to a thousand worlds), but much shorter to reach Aiur from there (depending on how long you thought the campaign took, anywhere from weeks to years), I suspect that Zerg FTL speed is proportional to the amount of Zerg near the wormhole.

BW threw the cerebrates away, but I always felt that they had a reason to be giant psychic brains. Their brain mass allows them to coordinate the thousands to millions of Zerg that comprise a brood, while their link to all those Zerg provides the wireless power for their psychic abilities like creating super-ultralisks or invulnerable creep colonies.

But I digress. You could justify pretty much any concept besides combat optimized psychic powers as existing in the swarms for centuries. We don't see these in the game because of game balance and limited resources. StarCraft is not Impossible Creatures.

I do know the unused zerg units given my modding, I still question the tentaclemonster, but hey, variety. We also have like 12 named zergling strains.

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Originally Posted by Visions of Khas

Before the advent of ravagers, I wonder what the zerg had that was analogous to artillery. Did they have something like plasma bugs?

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Was that something in the original SC1 development? I don't recall that....

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Originally Posted by ragnarok

Was that something in the original SC1 development? I don't recall that....

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He means plasma bugs a la starship troopers bugs. Some sort of dedicated artillery unit.
Guardians seemed to serve that purpose, and defilers are able to also do an odd if decent siege job.

Pfft. Which makes me wonder why they eliminated the Defiler, seeing as how useful that breed was.

Possible outsurpassed by the more sapper-esque aspects of infestors and fatty's/early infestor/blightbringer "prototypes" (Early design for it, hence why it probably was in its early stage an alternate to the borboru matriarch based infestor, but the infestor seemed more useful and I got shafted until later use with modifications. It had the ability to frenzy to buff allies, which is more situational then dark swarm, and it also had a disease ability in-between plague and fungal growth, plus other stuff.)

Dark swar seems more useful against lesser species and primitive civilizaions, not siege tank lines or reaver companies. AOE artillery man.

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Originally Posted by Visions of Khas

Pfft. Which makes me wonder why they eliminated the Defiler, seeing as how useful that breed was.

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They wanted something better, except Blizzard didn't know the Infestor couldn't really replace the Defiler. They should have just kept both or something

gotta love that the viper in lore is an evolved form of the defiler

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Originally Posted by Zoar

gotta love that the viper in lore is an evolved form of the defiler

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I suspect maybe in the Leviathan brood they tried to mix viper and defiler DNA together, though the skins only said the vipers exhibit more defiler traits than the other broods, despite the fact that the viper was one of the original zerg strains and the defiler wasn't.

if i remember correctly that bit of info is from the Field Manual

correction, its not in the field manual its on the official Starcraft 2 site in the game guide under the specimen analysis section

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Originally Posted by ragnarok

I suspect maybe in the Leviathan brood they tried to mix viper and defiler DNA together, though the skins only said the vipers exhibit more defiler traits than the other broods, despite the fact that the viper was one of the original zerg strains and the defiler wasn't.

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Vipers were not an original zerg strain. They fall into the same category as Swarm Hosts given that the swarm cobbled them from similar primals. Defilers might be "original" in the sense of being a designed organism, rather then assimilated (core genus unknown)

Some of the SC2 breeds have no core genus listed or have no date given for their assimilation. For example, the brood lord and corruptor have no core genus listed and may be a result of splicing existing genomes like the queen and mutalisk. The lurker, devourer and infestor could have been in the swarm since before the Great War.

There's no reason the broodmothers could not have been present before the Great War. According to SC1 manual (before the SC2 retcons) the xel'naga kept detailed genetic histories of the species they manipulated. Perhaps the Overmind tried to clone Protoss and, while the attempt was a failure, it led to the creation of the broodmothers (who are mouthless and have dreadlocks like Protoss).

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Originally Posted by Mislagnissa

Some of the SC2 breeds have no core genus listed or have no date given for their assimilation. For example, the brood lord and corruptor have no core genus listed and may be a result of splicing existing genomes like the queen and mutalisk. The lurker, devourer and infestor could have been in the swarm since before the Great War.

There's no reason the broodmothers could not have been present before the Great War. According to SC1 manual (before the SC2 retcons) the xel'naga kept detailed genetic histories of the species they manipulated. Perhaps the Overmind tried to clone Protoss and, while the attempt was a failure, it led to the creation of the broodmothers (who are mouthless and have dreadlocks like Protoss).

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That's kind of how I originally saw the Viper and Swarm host, (prior to Blizzard giving us info for HotS), that they were created merely via DNA recombination experiments or something

My point being is specifically the defiler in the SC1 manual has a core genus unknown, and is the only unit to do so, wheras most sc2 stuff they didn't even bother doing this with. Its possible some stuff is dna recombination, but there could easily be a core for something like a corruptor, even if its literally a squid with gravitic-modifying properties from some planet.

the Scourge also has unknown core genus in the original manual as well

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Originally Posted by Zoar

the Scourge also has unknown core genus in the original manual as well

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Maybe it was subject to enough genetic alteration that the designation no longer applies, much as the original SC2 website said the broodmothers/new queens had an unknown core genus due to the inclusion of Terran and/or Protoss DNA. Gradius' Origins campaign has them being derived from what are either larval behemoths or some kind of parasite that lived on behemoths (I cannot tell since the map gives no details on them) and supposes that locusts share the same origin. We don't know the point at which a Zerg breed can be said to no longer have a core genus, since all Zerg have genes from several different species which gives their characteristic shared appearance and capabilities.

That raises the question of who is writing the manual, since the text is consistent with being written by a handful of authors at most (and contains minor contradictions, probably due to multiple drafts and lack of proofreading). Is it written in-character, out-of-character or omniscient narrator? By Terrans, Zerg or Protoss? How did they learn all they wrote?

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Originally Posted by Nolanstar

My point being is specifically the defiler in the SC1 manual has a core genus unknown, and is the only unit to do so, wheras most sc2 stuff they didn't even bother doing this with. Its possible some stuff is dna recombination, but there could easily be a core for something like a corruptor, even if its literally a squid with gravitic-modifying properties from some planet.

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Maybe back then they wanted to do that to keep things mysterious and everything, which would be a neat point for an alien race because you don't know just what planets the Overmind visited, what exact species it took into the swarm, and so on. It only proved Kerrigan was much less creative for such things for her efforts in trying to evolve the swarm

its core can be adn viral

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Originally Posted by Drakolobo

its core can be adn viral

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Did you mean "DNA"?

All known life (obligatory exceptions links) is DNA based. The "Core genus" refers to the animal/s that have been captured or assimilated, and are used as a platform to contain many other modifications, making all zerg chimeras. There's some debate as to whether viruses are "alive" or not, of course. But considering that the zerg operate by means of horizontal gene transfer and genetic recombination, similarly to some viruses , an argument can be made the the zerg ARE viral in nature.

Back in the days before SCII, it was my headcanon that Defilers were derived from the Xel'Naga. It doesn't help now that the defiler body bears a vague resemblance to Xel'Naga, too; but I think it's canon that Defilers were cobbled together from scratch.

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Originally Posted by Visions of Khas

Back in the days before SCII, it was my headcanon that Defilers were derived from the Xel'Naga. It doesn't help now that the defiler body bears a vague resemblance to Xel'Naga, too; but I think it's canon that Defilers were cobbled together from scratch.

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I thought the original description of the defiler said it contained the genomes of all breeds/strains, which it used to produce biological warfare agents like pathogens and vermin swarms.

EDIT: I never gave it much thought until recently, but I figure that the xel'naga could have been robots or something similarly strange.

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Originally Posted by Mislagnissa

I thought the original description of the defiler said it contained the genomes of all breeds/strains, which it used to produce biological warfare agents like pathogens and vermin swarms.

EDIT: I never gave it much thought until recently, but I figure that the xel'naga could have been robots or something similarly strange.

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Looking back and yeah, it has parts of the common strains in it in some form. An example of the zerg "cobbling" together something useful and original. Probably how leviathans were created also.

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Probably how leviathans were created also.

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Well, StarCraft: Evolution states the Leviathans were assimilated from a space-faring species, though whether Timothy Zahn was confusing Leviathans with Overlords and Behemoths is anybody's guess. However, the lore on Behemoths and Overlods conflicts; Shadow of the Xel'Naga states that it was the Behemoths that the Overmind assimilated on Zerus, allowing the Swarm to leave. However, Just an Overlord states -- and the manual itself suggests -- that it was the Gargantis Proximae instead that granted the Swarm off-world travel, later becoming Overlords.

Could also be that Gargantis allowed the zerg to get into the orbit and gave them the range to assimilate behemoths.

for me levianthan only are heavy version of behemoth

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Originally Posted by Visions of Khas

Well, StarCraft: Evolution states the Leviathans were assimilated from a space-faring species, though whether Timothy Zahn was confusing Leviathans with Overlords and Behemoths is anybody's guess. However, the lore on Behemoths and Overlods conflicts; Shadow of the Xel'Naga states that it was the Behemoths that the Overmind assimilated on Zerus, allowing the Swarm to leave. However, Just an Overlord states -- and the manual itself suggests -- that it was the Gargantis Proximae instead that granted the Swarm off-world travel, later becoming Overlords.

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I'm thinking it was originally all the same thing. The description of the Overlord in the manual says they're "space-faring behemoths". Are they the same or is it just coincidence? It's kinda fuzzy because although the Gargantis Proximae were space-faring and "behemoth", they were assimilated for their heightened senses, not their ability to survive and/or to enter space. Then again, the Zerg history mentions "a race of gargantuan space-faring life forms" from which they obtained the ability to survive space but doesn't mention that they were assimilated specifically for this trait. Also, note that the description of them being "gargantuan" and their core genus of Overlords being called "Gargantis Proximae". Has to be related, right?

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Originally Posted by Turalyon

I'm thinking it was originally all the same thing. The description of the Overlord in the manual says they're "space-faring behemoths". Are they the same or is it just coincidence? It's kinda fuzzy because although the Gargantis Proximae were space-faring and "behemoth", they were assimilated for their heightened senses, not their ability to survive and/or to enter space. Then again, the Zerg history mentions "a race of gargantuan space-faring life forms" from which they obtained the ability to survive space but doesn't mention that they were assimilated specifically for this trait. Also, note that the description of them being "gargantuan" and their core genus of Overlords being called "Gargantis Proximae". Has to be related, right?

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This has been a point of contention since the original manual. I don’t know whether it was due to later rewrites and poor proofreading or what.

Overlords were first mentioned in the Zerg backstory. They were assimilated on Zerus, before the Zerg had space flight, to act as agents for the cerebrates. Later, the Zerg lure behemoths and assimilate them to get functional space travel and space survivability. In the Overlord’s unit description, however, the gargantis proximae were mentioned to be space faring. In one of the cinematics, we see overlords flying past some kind of giant space whale creature too big to fit in the frame. They clearly aren’t the same species, but why didn’t the Zerg get space flight from gargantis proximae long before assimilating the behemoths? This is a plot hole. (Leviathans are clearly a third space faring species. Judging by the concept art, there are various space whale creatures resembling giant ticks and literal whales.)

The two problems facing a potential space faring organism are food and propulsion. They need food to power their propulsion, and they need really good propulsion to get their food since space is really big and empty. Traveling any significant distance is impossible without air/food storage and suspended animation, or superluminal travel. Furthermore, leaving and landing on a planet has a host of problems like escape velocity and friction on reentry. We saw the Zerg use their psychic powers to open wormholes, but we don’t know whether this relied on their khaydarin crystal cache or could evolve in other species.

“Just an Overlord” gave more backstory the gargantis proximae, explaining that they came to Zerus to be infested and avoid extinction. This still doesn’t resolve the plot hole. The gargantis proximae were said to have multiple homeworlds, probably feeding grounds since they were herbivorous, suggesting that they were capable of interstellar travel and deal with the difficulties of escape velocity and reentry. They used telekinesis and/or gas for propulsion, IIRC.

The only explanation I can think of is that the gargantis proximae’s method of space travel was not practical to get the Zerg off-world, and the Zerg were not able to improve upon it. Maybe they were too slow and spent their time in suspended animation, or were limited to the nebula surrounding Zerus (it was located in the galactic core, where stars were densely clustered). The gargantis proximae were, after all, on the verge of extinction when they were assimilated. Perhaps the gargantis proximae were native to a series of forest moons within a reasonable traveling distance of Zerus, explaining their inferior space travel.

The mantis screamers were believed capable of interstellar travel, possibly in a larval form (with suspended animation?). They could fly in space by flapping their wings (or maybe riding solar wind?), though the mechanics of this were not understood by contemporary science (according to the b.net pages, but it was later retconned to gas propulsion).

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Originally Posted by Mislagnissa

I thought the original description of the defiler said it contained the genomes of all breeds/strains, which it used to produce biological warfare agents like pathogens and vermin swarms.

EDIT: I never gave it much thought until recently, but I figure that the xel'naga could have been robots or something similarly strange.

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Why robots? We were never shown what they looked like back in SC1 and BW. Of course for the defiler to be derived from the Xel'Naga, I'm a bit unsure on that. Via SC1's lore I got the impression the Overmind wanted all the power of the Xel'Naga for himself, and wasn't willing to give it to the zerg breeds, in the event they're killed off by someone else, who then might try to siphon the Xel'Naga power out of them (had the Overmind given it to them)

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Originally Posted by ragnarok

Why robots? We were never shown what they looked like back in SC1 and BW. Of course for the defiler to be derived from the Xel'Naga, I'm a bit unsure on that. Via SC1's lore I got the impression the Overmind wanted all the power of the Xel'Naga for himself, and wasn't willing to give it to the zerg breeds, in the event they're killed off by someone else, who then might try to siphon the Xel'Naga power out of them (had the Overmind given it to them)

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What? That makes no sense. Besides their science, the xel'naga had no "powers." The Overmind is a function of the Swarm, not a separate entity capable of deception. Even its so-called physical form is a proxy that was probably created specifically to assault the psi matrix. The xel'naga knowledge was disseminated among the Swarm. The Zerg literally consumed the xel'naga and constitute their direct descendants.

Gradius' Origins custom campaign rationalized this as xel'naga having "purity of form" which made them uninfestable (this is obviously a completely different meaning from the Protoss' sullied purity). I think that in a human perspective that might translate as "robotic", which the Zerg would have no context for. Insert crazy theories about the xel'naga creating the protoss/zerg as host bodies, then getting their souls eaten by the Zerg and ironically accomplishing said goal.

I doubt that Zerg and Protoss literally use DNA are their genetic molecule, being aliens and all. That's just Blizzard's typical scientific illiteracy again.

Speaking of which, the fluff says that the larvae have the genomes of all breeds. Yet the buildings are stated to have the genes of their associated breed and allow larvae to use it. This is a relic of the SC beta when the buildings individually produced larvae that molted into the associated breed, then changed to centralization at the hatchery w/o updating the manual completely. How would that make sense? Is the genome compressed and encrypted within larvae, then decrypted and decompressed by the associated building?