Colossus

The Colossus is a Protoss ground unit that appears in StarCraft II. The towering Colossus is an old Protoss robot design. It strides across the battlefield on four tall, slender legs which give it an extremely high level of mobility. The great height of the machine allows it to step up and down cliffs and other steep elevations with little difficulty, and gives it a dominating field of fire. It steps over obstacles, including ledges, due to StarCraft II's inverse kinematics system. The Colossus is tall enough to be susceptible to both anti-air and ground attacks. It is possible for the Colossus to be hit by ground and air attacks at the same time.

The heavily armored hull of the Colossus carries two powerful thermal lances: one mounted on each side of its body. Complex focusing and targeting systems are used to pinpoint the continuous damage output of the thermal lances for optimal efficiency. As a target is destroyed, the lances are switched to a new target instantly so that a Colossus' beam cuts a fiery swathe of destruction through multiple enemies with each firing cycle.

History
The Colossus is a robot design dating back to the bloody conflicts of the Kalath Intercession. The Colossus is unusual for the fact that it was created purely as a war machine. Most Protoss robots are created for industrial or resource-gathering purposes. Even the much-feared Reaver is at its core a mobile manufacturing unit re-tasked to the creation of scarab drones for long-range bombardment. The mass slaughter unleashed on the Kalathi by roving Colossi appalled the Protoss.

At the time, the Conclave outlawed the manufacture of Colossi, and existing machines were deactivated before being sealed away in distant asteroids and uninhabited moons. Centuries later the war against the Zerg has brought forth these engines of destruction to do battle once more.

Trivia
The Colossus appears to be inspired by the tripod walkers from the novel, War of the Worlds. This appears to be very popular, and tripods appear in more and more new games.

Statistics
As of the gameplay footage released on May 21, 2007, the Colossus has 325 Shields and 400 hit points. These statistics were considerably reduced by the time they were made available for play at BlizzCon 2007. Their shield points can be increased with the Null Flux Generator upgrade at the Robotics Support Bay.

The Colossus can be transported by the Phase Prism, which transforms it and other transported units into energy.

Colossus Tactics
The Colossus may excel at hit-and-run tactics against poorly-defended bases because the Colossus can easily move to higher/lower ground. Its second role is ground support against massed Zerglings or Marines.

References/External links

 * Protoss Colossus review (includes video)