Q&A batch 33

[Emperor Pan I]

Over the past week since the Zerg announcement, we've had many requests for an EPIC battle screenshot, thus I'm happy to present our 'Psi Onslaught' to the community for this latest ScreenCraft batch.

Make sure to make your screenshot requests for our future ScreenCraft batches here:
Battle.net

Also, we are always in need of good questions to guide the latest in StarCraft II discussions. Add your questions to our community questions request thread:
StarCraft II General Discussion -

Chat with Devs: After the Zerg release, I have been asking Dustin what types of changes are being made to the other factions during this process, and one of the most interesting ones that have been added has to do with the Terran Ghost. In order for the Terrans to counter the various new casters that have been introduced to all sides in StarCraft II, the Ghost can now detect units with energy in a 30 yard radius. This passive ability works similarly to the Sensor Tower, revealing their location even within the fog of war. This ability could also no doubt open up some interesting assassination type single player missions as well with the Ghost.

ScreenCraft: Psi Onslaught
StarCraft II

As requested by the community, the Protoss have brought their heavy hitters in this psi onslaught upon a developing Zerg base. In retaliation, the Zerg counter with a ravaging pack of Ultralisks and Zerglings upon the advancing Templar army. While the epic battle begins, the Protoss player cleverly sneaks a group of Stalkers to raid the Zergs economy as well.

As always, feel free to give the Devs and I a w00t if you are enjoying the batches, especially the new sections like the ScreenCraft section we've added.

---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 33: ScreenCraft---

1. What upgrade type (assuming these are returning) is the Viking using? Vehicle or ship? (Or perhaps infantry?) (TheWarCenter.com)

The Viking is built from the Starport again and will use ship armor rather than vehicle armor.

2. What will Zerglings be able to do against new Jackal? (StarCraft II - starcraftcz.com)

Attacking Jackals efficiently with Zerglings will take a bit of micromanagement, making sure that Zerglings are spread out or attacking from different directions. The Jackals hit points have also been reduced from 125 to 75 with a slight increase to their speed. This will make them more vulnerable to Zerglings if you can get them close to surround the Jackals.

3. If a unit is being produced at a Protoss building while it becomes unpowered, does it continue production or pause until re-powered? (Battle.net) Blazur

If a Protoss building becomes unpowered, all production including research at that building will pause until re-powered.

4. In lieu of the Nydus Worm, will the Zerg Overlord maintain its "Ventral Sacs" upgrade? Will the Ultralisk have any sort of unit carrying capacity? (starcraft.org)

Currently, the Overlord's original Ventral Sacs ability has been taken out. With the introduction of the Nydus Worm, the Zerg will have more than enough mobility to keep their enemies on their toes. On that note, the Ultralisk will not be able to carry units.

5. To what degree will StarCraft II allow for remapping - limited remapping a la Warcraft III, or complete remapping of key bindings?
- Excalibur_Z (teamliquid.net)

We are planning to support key-mapping for StarCraft II. The extent of the ability for remapping keys is still to be determined. Even in current experimentations, we have found that there are often many issues with conflicting key bindings as there are very few open unmapped keys to be swapped in and out.

---End of Transmission---

[Vadriel]

What's the Jackal?

[Emperor Pan I]

Originally Posted by Vadriel

What's the Jackal?

The jackals is a Vulture like vehicle ("bike") which has been in games builds for a few months now.

Last I heard, The Jackal still had a rail gun which was used for splash damage.

[Phoenix2003]

Number 3 was a dumb question. Really, what waste of time.

Anyway, ghosts can detect now. Don't like where this is going. Like I said, the dev team are made up of 10 year old terran fan boys.

[Emperor Pan I]

Originally Posted by Phoenix2003

Number 3 was a dumb question. Really, what waste of time.

Anyway, ghosts can detect now. Don't like where this is going. Like I said, the dev team are made up of 10 year old terran fan boys.

wtf you talking about, the terrans have got to be the least interesting and innovative of the three races.

The Thor was just moved over and is now a big goliath. It's retarded

[Vadriel]

Ghosts detecting? That's kinda lame.

I looked up the Jackal, looks kinda lame too.

Terrans have some interesting gimmicks, but I gotta give em an overall "meh."

[Phoenix2003]

Originally Posted by Emperor Pan I

wtf you talking about, the terrans have got to be the least interesting and innovative of the three races.

The Thor was just moved over and is now a big goliath. It's retarded

The thor(along with the mother****) should be removed. It has no place in the terran arsenal as you already have tanks, upgraded BCs, as well as Banshees. Though, I do agree that you need a goliath replacement. The closest thing you have so far is the viking. (Maybe that's good enough.)

Ghosts are too strong right now.(before the whole detection fiasco)

They're now a 1.5 tier unit.
-100 hp(makes no sense that a terran infantry unit should have that much health)
-can snipe unit C&C style. (what's to stop terran from nuking my base to hell and back with my observers sniped)
-can nuke from within a bunker.
-EMP(don't the spell itself) too early in the game.

They're just way too strong right now.

[Vadriel]

Did they remove the drop pod ability?

And yeah...ghosts are just ridiculous. Fix them by:

-Lowering HP to about 50. They were always intended to be frail but versatile.
-Removing EMP ability. That has no place on a Ghost.
-Make Sniping an activated Energy ability that can only be done while Cloaked, thereby limiting multiuse functionality.
-Get that ridiculous notion of Ghosts being detectors right out of your head.
-Nuking out of a bunker? Sure it's realistic, but as far as game balance goes, ridiculous.

As a Tier 1.5 unit they're far far far too strong. They don't need to be a flipping superunit that you can mass early on in the game and annihilate everything. It's like having unlimited Zerg Queens.

[Phoenix2003]

Oh, it gets better. Psi storm is weakened a second time. Less area of effect. As if toss doesn't already have problems against a swarming zerg, now they have an easier time storm dodging. Blizz has a serious vendetta against protoss.

[Vadriel]

Toss are kinda gimmicky now, less raw power like before.

And I wouldn't cry if PsiStorm went bye bye altogether...I hate that freaking spell. lol.

[Wing Zero]

Will the Ultralisk have any sort of unit carrying capacity?

why would u even ask/ put that in?

[Renzokuken]

Will my dick have any sort of unit carrying capacity would've been a better question.

I don't give a **** if Ghosts can detect. HOLY **** PEOPLE MIGHT ACTUALLY USE THEM NOW, WE CAN'T HAVE THAT!

EDIT: Oh, and the Jackal is such a terrible name. BRING BACK THE VULTURE!!

[Emperor Pan I]

Originally Posted by Phoenix2003

The thor(along with the mother****) should be removed. It has no place in the terran arsenal as you already have tanks, upgraded BCs, as well as Banshees. Though, I do agree that you need a goliath replacement. The closest thing you have so far is the viking. (Maybe that's good enough.)

And Like I said the Thor is no longer the Thor and has been replaced with what is nothing more than a Goliath.

Ghosts are too strong right now.(before the whole detection fiasco)

Becasue you have determined this from teh hours of playing the game right?

They're now a 1.5 tier unit.

They come at tier 1.5, but have none of their abilities until when you would normally get them in Starcraft. Hell you can't even get cloak until much later in the game for the Ghost.

-100 hp(makes no sense that a terran infantry unit should have that much health)

Yeah! You are right except for the fact the ghost in starcraft cost 25 minerals for 45 hp, and Starcraft II they cost 100 minerals for 100 HP.

-can snipe unit C&C style. (what's to stop terran from nuking my base to hell and back with my observers sniped)

First off, Sniping costs 50 energy.
Secondly it only targets organic units (lol "observers")
Thirdly they will max do less than 50 damage only to light units. that means heavy zerg organic units cannot even be sniped for the damage, only smaller infantry units.

I don't know what version of C&C you played but the Ghost is NOTHING like the sniper units in C&C.

-can nuke from within a bunker.

and when has this ever been a possibility in Starcraft that it would be imbalanced, why does it even matter. Oh **** not a bunker. I'll just let him build a bunker in a strategic location, and throw down a **** load of minerals for a nuke. You have to be a giant moron to see any relevance this has to do with anything.

-EMP(don't the spell itself) too early in the game.

EMPs like most of his other abilities, if you actualy read what the developers say and not run amuck on rumors and your own made up ****, is researched near tier 3 along with Cloak, making the Ghost a unit you cancarry through the whole game. IF you really thought a Ghost popped out at tier 1.5 and had cloak, snipe, nukes available in bunkers (lol) and could EMP a protoss, you really, really need to seek help.

And as a Final note I need to clear up something because you are so damn good at manipulating information. Ghosts are NOT a detector. THEY CANNOT DETECT CLOAKED UNITS. Ghost only have the ability to see a unit in an undefined area around him if they have an energy bar. If a unit is cloaked, all you see is an energy bar.

[Vadriel]

Ok, with actual information, they sound pretty decent.