Build-times lorewise.

[Shadow Archon]

Using just the Lore, no game mechanics, how long does it take the Zerg to fully infest a human or creature with their Hyper-evolutionary virus?

Also, How long would it take a Larva to fully mature into a Zerg unit and Drones into buildings?

I believe a few protoss buildings and units can be warped in by probes in the span of about thirty minutes for comparison.

I know that Terrans can quiclky build bunkers and lay down some mines from the book Speed of Darkness. IIRC, most of their buildings are brought in with them fully built, correct?

[Kimera757]

Using just the Lore, no game mechanics, how long does it take the Zerg to fully infest a human or creature with their Hyper-evolutionary virus?

It varies, because there's more than one way to do it. It seems like it's pretty fast. It's been seen in StarCraft: Revelations (the hero slowly goes mad mentally), (sort of) in Shadow of the Xel'Naga (that book of crap) and hinted at in Liberty's Crusade. It was really fast in Thundergod but that wasn't a normal infestation.

Also, How long would it take a Larva to fully mature into a Zerg unit and Drones into buildings?

I think minutes in the first case and hours in the second. It seemed pretty fast in Liberty's Crusade.

I know that Terrans can quiclky build bunkers and lay down some mines from the book Speed of Darkness. IIRC, most of their buildings are brought in with them fully built, correct?

They didn't build bunkers, they used pre-existing ones. They could repair bunkers quickly, but we never saw the SCV do things like build missile turrets. (And of course mines are fast. They'd be even faster if you didn't care about stealth. The US military fires mines out of artillery cannons, just to deny passage to the enemy or prevent them from leaving a kill zone.)

[Zero]

At least with infestation, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. In Shadow of the Xel'Naga, not that many hours had passed when Rastin and his dog Old Blue encountered the Zerg and then were seen by Octavia as suicidal infested slaves to the Zerg.


As for the Zerg build-times, it's hard to determine because of the Zerg hyper evolutionary virus. If we were to compare build times with the Terran, who build an entire building within a minute or two in-game, would take hours, maybe even a day, even for the fast computer system within a single SCV. Even if you were to estimate the real-time, say, a day for an entire minute of a "Normal" speed game, that would still mean, comparatively, that a Zergling or Hydralisk would mature within hours, and larger warriors like the Lurker, Ultralisk, or Guardian (type) would perhaps take a day or two to mature/mutate.

[Paxel]

I guess it would be pretty fast for the morphing to a unit or a building, or the Zerg would have trouble advancing, or resupplying.

[Gradius]

A little insight into Toss building speed is on the StarGate page from sc2.com:

It was a small outpost: a nexus, assimilator, and a couple of gateways. Commander didn't want to risk marines against the cannons they had dug in on the cliffs so me and the boys got brought in for a little death from above. First raid, we got a bunch of them little worker probes and lit up the pylons powering the cannon. They tore us up pretty bad, though, so we headed back for repairs.
By the time we came back, it'd all changed. Two big stargates were there, and protoss flyers were popping out of those big hoops like bees from a hive. We got hit every which way, and I only made it home on one engine and half a wing. Couple of minutes later, protoss air hit our base hard; I'm starting to think they only let me get away so they could follow me back....

[Norfindel]

A little insight into Toss building speed is on the StarGate page from sc2.com:

Ha! This humans never learn...

[ChaosSmurf]

Depends on the game speed.

Hidden Content:

[l33telboi]

Two more points to consider:

In Shadow of the Xel'Naga we're told that Duke constructs a Vespene Gas Refinery and Missile Turrets on the fly, the latter of which couldn't have taken more then a few hours to get up and running. Missile Turrets are undoubtedly quite complex to construct and quite large, so it's a fairly impressive feat.

In Speed of Darkness one guy with an SCV constructs multiple bunkers in what was probably an hour or so. Bunkers aren't all that complex, but it's still far beyond what we can do today.

[Sheliek]

Two more points to consider:

In Shadow of the Xel'Naga we're told that Duke constructs a Vespene Gas Refinery and Missile Turrets on the fly, the latter of which couldn't have taken more then a few hours to get up and running. Missile Turrets are undoubtedly quite complex to construct and quite large, so it's a fairly impressive feat.

In Speed of Darkness one guy with an SCV constructs multiple bunkers in what was probably an hour or so. Bunkers aren't all that complex, but it's still far beyond what we can do today.

Shadow of the Xel'Naga ought not to exist. Nothing should be taken as realistic at all in the book. It's like the author was writing about a game of Brood War he watched once, and thought up a story to go along with it.

[Kimera757]

In Speed of Darkness one guy with an SCV constructs multiple bunkers in what was probably an hour or so. Bunkers aren't all that complex, but it's still far beyond what we can do today.

Those bunkers were already there; Scenic's official name was Bunker Complex 3847. He repaired it quickly though.