Zerg Carapace

[Perfecttear]

Hy , i'm wondering how hard is the zerg carapace lorevise. Expecialy compared to the protoss armor (no shields) and the terran neosteel armors. How hard can an biological armor even be?


Well i heard it is suposebly very hard, so i'm wondering something , if a todays MBT would fire an armor piercing shot at an simple zergling, would it go through the carapace?
Any thoughts ?


One more thing i'm wondering, i've read that the Ultralisk Kaiser blades, which have monomolecular edges, are supposably the hardest material in the game, described even as indestructable. Is this correct, i mean it's kinda strange for the Zerg to have the hardest material , and not the Protoss or even the Terran?


And while we are on sc materials , any thoughts or info on how hard the terran neosteel is,compared to the other races and todays materials?

[Draco97]

Judging from the original Starcraft cinematics, even the Marine Impaler spikes aren't able to fully penetrate zergling carapace unless under full auto, which leads me to believe that it is really strong. As far as how it can be so hard, well, even look at today's animals, like the Tortoise shell, or the scales on an alligator. Obviously they can't stop bullets and whatnot, but they still are pretty tough. And if said species is taken over by something like the Overmind, and is hyper-evolved for years, then it could easily be seen why the carapace becomes so strong.

Same can most likely be said about the Kaiser Blades. The Overmind constatly strived for perfection in its creatures, and the perfect mix of elements/chemicals caused them to be indestructable.

Technology makes up for things that organic beings lack in most cases. In the case of the Zerg, technology cannot make up for anything, and is inferior to the organic "systems" of the Zerg.

Hopefully that makes sense. All of this is simply my own thoughts and feelings about it, so take this with a grain of salt

[Perfecttear]

Yeah i also remember the sc1 cinematics, where marines had to fire almost all of their bullets, just to kill a simple zergling . But i also heard people saying othervise, that the gauss rifles (even gauss pistols) penetrate the carapace with ease, and if you look at the sc2 trailer, where it shows a hydra being shot by "something", it goes through it like it was nothing. So which is correct?

[Visions of Khas]

The Hydralisk from the SCII cinematic was taken out by a Protoss beam weapon, I believe.

Zerg have been shown withstanding copious volumes of firepower from terran weaponry. They've also been shown being very vulnerable to it in the manga and novels. Overall, though, I'd rate their armor to be on par with modern-day armored vehicles.

[Perfecttear]

The Hydralisk from the SCII cinematic was taken out by a Protoss beam weapon, I believe.

Really, i always thought it was shot by a gauss rifle, because it showed the new rifle a second before
It looked like something fired by the Eraser gun

[Visions of Khas]

Okay, so I know we're on the same page: we're both talking about this picture, right?

I'm pretty sure it's Protoss-related. I always thought it might have been from a Stalker, part of a detachment rescuing Zeratul.

*zot*

[Kimera757]

Zerg have hard carapaces, but by themselves cannot stop even gauss rifle fire. (Otherwise zerglings would always pwn marines.) Zerg are also tough. Putting a hole in a zerg has much less effect than putting a hole in a human. If you blow off a hydralisk's arm, it can't attack with it. If you blow off a human's arm, they fall to the ground screaming and probably bleed to death. Zerg are just more resilient.

so i'm wondering something , if a todays MBT would fire an armor piercing shot at an simple zergling, would it go through the carapace?

Yes, but a modern MBT only carries 40 tank shells. That's a waste. Tanks (in real life, but not in StarCraft) also have 1-3 machine guns, which are better suited to killing opponents with the value of a zergling. (Modern machine guns would probably have little effect on a zergling, I'm guessing.)

[l33telboi]

Remember that zerglings are biological creatures, with throats, eyes, and mouths. They aren't equally well protected over their entire bodies. The original cinematics do imply that at least the large head section is resistant to gauss rifle fired spikes, but if you fire at something like a leg? Or the (possibly) softer belly?

In any case, no, a zergling could not take a shot from a modern MBT. You'd probably need excessive amounts of normal assault rifle bullets to take one down, but that's about it. Ok, it's possible even modern assault rifles would be useless against a zergling, but I doubt it.

As for NeoSteel, I think it's safe to say it's harder and thermally more resilient then modern metals. What's interesting about it is that it's also implied to be very dense. There's a bunker upgrade in SC2 that says you can switch out the frame of a bunker to a NeoSteel frame and in that way more dudes can sit inside the bunker. Normal bunkers, IIRC, are made out of paristeel.

[Perfecttear]

In any case, no, a zergling could not take a shot from a modern MBT. You'd probably need excessive amounts of normal assault rifle bullets to take one down, but that's about it. Ok, it's possible even modern assault rifles would be useless against a zergling, but I doubt it.

I don't think that's right. There is no way an modern rifle of any caliber could penetrate the basic zergs armor. I mean it's apparently comparable at the neosteel on battlecruisers and tanks.

And it says on the wiki that the gauss rifle fires "spikes", something around 9 times the speed of the sound, capable of penetrating 5 cm of neosteel or a few meters of flesh or rock. And there was also that comic, where a gauss "pistol" fired goes through a reinforced walls and still hits it's taget.
You could most likely destroy todays tanks with an sc gauss pistol

Now compare that to the cinematic use of the gauss rifles vs the zerg, and do you still think that any of todays modern rifles would even made an scratch to a zerg?

[phazonjunkie]

I don't think that's right. There is no way an modern rifle of any caliber could penetrate the basic zergs armor. I mean it's apparently comparable at the neosteel on battlecruisers and tanks.

And it says on the wiki that the gauss rifle fires "spikes", something around 9 times the speed of the sound, capable of penetrating 5 cm of neosteel or a few meters of flesh or rock. And there was also that comic, where a gauss "pistol" fired goes through a reinforced walls and still hits it's taget.
You could most likely destroy todays tanks with an sc gauss pistol

Now compare that to the cinematic use of the gauss rifles vs the zerg, and do you still think that any of todays modern rifles would even made an scratch to a zerg?

I think you may be giving the zerg a little too much credit.
In relation to how tough the zerg carapace is, I don't think the original sc1 blizzard cinematics are a good thing to go by, mainly because of the inconsistency with which they depict damage. Fore example, in the SC broodwar intro cinematic, it shows a marine unloading his gauss rifle at 2 zerglings to no effect. However in the opening cinematic from SC Ghost, where it shows a zerg swarm ambushing a terran battalion, the zerglings get taken out rather quickly and easily from gauss rifle fire. It is only their sheer numbers that overwhelm the terrans. Not only that, but in the novel 'shadow of the xel naga', a group of colonists are able to hold their own (to an extent) with simple farming implements.

If anything, what makes the zerg so tough, is a combination of resilience (the ability to take damage and keep going rather than the ability to stop actual damage) and the way their carapace is shaped. Notice how it's relatively smooth and curved. Such a design would deny a level striking surface, and have a good chance of deflecting incoming rounds. Even the scales/carapace of animals like the crocodile and tortoise have been known to deflect bullets in some instances because of this.

Remember that zerglings are biological creatures, with throats, eyes, and mouths. They aren't equally well protected over their entire bodies. The original cinematics do imply that at least the large head section is resistant to gauss rifle fired spikes, but if you fire at something like a leg? Or the (possibly) softer belly?.

Oh yeah, and this.