EPTMoreover, the hydralisk also served as a gateway unit to the formidable lair-tech monster known as the "lurker." The lurker was the zerg's hard map control unit in BW (yes, children, Zerg used to be able to rely upon a particular unit to partition sections of the map!) and was effective against staple units of both terran and protoss, such as the marine and the zealot (without necessarily suiciding itself, nonetheless!). For this reason, one would see a hydralisk den planted in almost every ZvP and ZvT (neither lurkers nor hydralisks were often used in ZvZ, however).
Allegedly, the hydralisk exists in in SC2, but sightings are rather rare. Witnesses report that the modern hydra is to the BW hydra as the alligator is to the dinosaurs. Whereas the BW hydras were hardy enough to be used on their own in cases such as hydra busts, they were still very susceptible to large bursts of damage such as reaver shots, psionic storm, siege tank fire, and group of stimmed marines accompanied with medics (this is why hydralisks were typically morphed into lurkers versus Terran bio). Its presence at hatchery tech often allowed it to emerge en masse before many of these hard counters became so prevalent as to render the hydralisk useless. Furthermore, a speed upgrade meant that the hydralisk could dodge storms or retreat from a losing engagement rather effectively.
The SC2 hydralisk, on the other hand, is a creature much less fearsome. Mar Sara civilians often participate in competitions hunting hydralisks and emerge unscathed, an activity unimaginable only four years prior. These competitions, however, provide the majority of our information on the modern hydralisk, for the creature is rarely deployed by the zerg for combat nowadays. The hydralisk still retains its vulnerability to psionic storm and the replacement to the reaver: the colossus. Observer data indicates, however, that the hydralisk den is no longer a hatchery level tech structure, for it has not once emerged prior to a colony's lair. Furthermore, the hydralisk seems to have lost much of its speed, and is incapable of dodging psionic storms or retreating from engagement, particularly when off the purple "creep." Unfortunately for the SC2 hydralisk, its emergence at lair tech is soon followed by the prevalence of its most dangerous foes, shortening the hydralisk's span of usefulness in most contests.
As such, it may be appropriate to refer to the SC2 hydralisk as "dinosaur," just as one may refer to a modern reptile as such, not only for its appearance but also for its heritage. The SC2 hydralisk is a living fossil, a vestigial organ of the zerg. Its presence on the battlefield, no longer intimidating, hearkens one back to the ages of BW, where these fearsome creatures romped across the fields of multiple devastated worlds, Auir included.
Rumor has it that SC2's default settings make it such that whenever one plants a hydralisk den in game, he automatically sends a message to his opponent saying "I would like to lose now, please." This is yet to be confirmed.
On the next episode of the Starcraft Archaeologist: the fallen legacy of the carrier.
Because it's supposed to by Starcraft Archaeology, I have to pretend that one of the games is in the past.
