Q&A Batch 35

[Emperor Pan I]

Awesome

Despite seeing all three factions, there are still many changes being made to all factions which continue to finesse the gameplay of StarCraft II.

Furthermore, if you are reading this batch, and love StarCraft, show everyone! For the "I <3 SC" event, we've been getting tons of fun entries of StarCraft lovers in their classrooms, playing the game, posing at famous landmarks, and many unique digitally edited entries!

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Blizzard - "I <3 SC" Photo Mosaic

For newcomers, if you want a quick rundown on the story leading into StarCraft II- we have it here in a nutshell:
StarCraft II
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Chat with the Devs: The Dev team has been working hard to find the best defense mechanic that works for the Zerg. The latest builds have brought back Sunken and Spore Colonies, with a new twist. Sunken and Spore Colonies can now uproot and crawl to a more advantageous position. Incidentally, Protoss Phase Cannons no longer have the ability to change positions.

Giving the Zerg mobile defensive structures feels a lot more right as this ability opens up many more aggressive strategies in both Zerg mirrors as well as combined with Overlords generating creep to push these defenses up towards the front lines. Furthermore, there definitely is something about watching defenses crawling around that just seems very Zerg-like. Its worth noting that Zerg defenses while in mobile form have fewer hit points and are more vulnerable to attack.

Gameplay Blog: Over the past few weeks Ive really been practicing up with the Terran faction, as it is probably the one that I am weakest at playing with. After getting beat about three or four times and finally getting my build order up to speed, I realized Terrans actually have a huge advantage in StarCraft II with being able to block off choke points to your base with ease.

Currently, on most maps a Terran player is able to block off their base entry point before the enemy is able to scout, making it nearly impossible for the enemy to find out what the Terran player is doing behind that wall. With only a few Marines and a couple SCVs, the Terran player can fend off most early attacks, especially since they usually also have a higher elevation sight advantage.

Three popular options amongst the staff playing at Blizzard include:

1) Tech straight to Banshees, which have a very powerful single target attack, and can be researched to cloak. This unit devastates if the opponent is not prepared with both anti- air units as well as detectors.

2) Tech straight to Reapers, which can jump up and down hills without a spotter, and get an added bonus damage versus light units. What this means is that the Reapers are able to quickly get in an enemys resource line to annihilate workers at an astounding rate, as well as get out before the enemy can react. This works great if you can scout/scan to see if their main base is defended well with static defenses. On top of that, did I forget to mention that they can drop mines that do significant damage towards buildings? Yes, that means with a handful of these guys, you can drop enough mines to take out whole Hatcheries/ Nexuses, or strategically use them to take out Pylons or tech buildings. After you drop the mines, jump back out of combat and let the mine cooldown reset for another round of raids.

3) If a Terran player bunkers up as mentioned above and no attacks are made by this player, one way an opponent may respond is to expand and build a stronger economy, as they do not feel threatened. In this case, a Terran player can simply build up a huge force of Marines and Marauders behind the wall without the opponent knowing, and then strike when their opponent drops their guard.

Luckily, the Dev Team is well on top of balance, as they have introduced new abilities such as the Nullifiers Anti Gravity ability to lift up buildings blocking choke points and Nydus Worms to bypass such defenses to keep those Terran players honest. Maps will likely have larger choke points in the future to offer a little more chance for opponents to get a Probe or Drone in early to scout early teching Terran players.

As always, feel free to give the Devs and I a w00t if you are enjoying the batches.

---StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 35---

1. Do Banelings damage nearby friendly units when they explode onto an enemy target? (Starcraft 2 Australia - News, Videos, Units, Buildings, Races, Forums, Release Date)

No, in the current build the Banelings do not damage friendly units caught in the splash. The splash damage does cover its area of effect range evenly, doing the same damage to enemy units throughout the whole area.

2. When a Nydus Worm is detected, is it possible to shoot it down while it is traveling? (StarCraft II - starcraftcz.com)

Yes, having detectors in strategic places will keep you from being surprised by an unexpected Nydus Worm showing up in your base.

3. Does the Nydus Worm, a ground unit, move through open space? (battle.net) pop.helo

Yes. We dont know how we are going to make this look yet. When we come up with a visual solution we are happy with we will show it to the community.

4. Can Zerg buildings be infested, and if so, what units are produced? (starcraft2forum.org)

Zerg buildings cannot be infested. It is planned that infested Protoss buildings will produce an infested Protoss unit that will play differently than the infested Marine.

5. Will be there such doodads like customizable light or shader? (battle.net) Dagguh

Yes.

6. The first screenshot listed in Karune's 33rd Q&A shows what looks like the Mothership's Black Hole ability. However, it was said that the Black Hole was removed. Does this mean the ability has returned in the current build? (Starcraft.org)

As mentioned before, the state of many of these units are always changing. In the current build, the Mothership has become more of a support unit with increased hit points and decreased speed. The Mothership now allows Protoss Gateways that have converted to Warp Gates to be able to warp units straight to the Mothership. The warp-in mechanic (which cannot be queued) has also been tweaked to allow Protoss players who use it to get a slight time decrease in unit production as opposed to queuing units traditionally at the Gateways. In other words, the cooldown timer on warp-in doesnt take as long as the build time for units at a Gateway.

Furthermore, the Mothership will also have the ability to transfer energy down to casters below it, such as Templars. Both the Time Bomb and Black Hole abilities have been removed

7. Will Phase Cannons be able to rematerialize on an allys Pylon Power, or an enemys Pylon Power for that matter? (sclegacy.com)

Phase Cannons are no longer able to move in the current build.

8. Is the Tauren Marine going to be included in the StarCraft II map editor? (battle.net) scorpionbrood

Yes.

---End of Transmission--

[avatar11792]

Overall, nice.

Wish they'd bring back the Mothership's combat abilities, though. Needs something, at the very least the Time Warp or whatever it's called.

Zerg mobility sounds cool, and does indeed sound like them.

Infested Protoss? Should be like an Infested Zealot pretty much, as since Infested Marines are infested versions of Marines, and Marines are like the first unit available, then following that logic infesting and spewing out the first available combat unit for Protoss (ie Zealots) should make sense. Possibly Infested Dragoons, or both! Yeah! Have it so like, for every 5 Zealots popping out of an Infested Protoss building there's one Infested Dragoon. That'd look SICK, and would provide interesting tactical options, especially with an Infested Zealot's superspeed (if they keep that ability from when they were still Protoss).

[Wing Zero]

[quote]Overlords generating creep/QUOTE] that explains the zerg screen shot.

the idea of mobile defense is odd for all races imo.

[avatar11792]

"Mobile defenses"? Explain what you mean, please.

Also, seems to me Banelings should deliver full damage to all enemy units in range, then if there's any points of damage "left over," then they should be randomly distributed to friendly units. Adds a realistic touch, really.

[Wing Zero]

sunken and spore colonies i meant. i just find it odd. even wiht the cannon teleport thing

[avatar11792]

Originally Posted by Wing Zero

sunken and spore colonies i meant. i just find it odd. even wiht the cannon teleport thing

Oh. Well, it makes sense to me for the Zerg to have that. It would actually seem weirder if the Terrans and Protoss HAD mobile defenses, as that doesn't fit their style.

The Terran Dominion is attempting to be the unbreakable wall upon which the waves of its enemies crash on it. The Protoss are similar but subtly different, using their arcane magicks instead of wall upon wall of thick steel placed in the way of its foes. Zerg OTOH...somehow makes sense to have gribbly-moving tentacle buildings moving around for defenses.

Teleporting cannons no, tele-Queen and mobile crawly buildings yes.

[Phoenix2003]

Originally Posted by avatar11792

Oh. Well, it makes sense to me for the Zerg to have that. It would actually seem weirder if the Terrans and Protoss HAD mobile defenses, as that doesn't fit their style.

The Terran Dominion is attempting to be the unbreakable wall upon which the waves of its enemies crash on it. The Protoss are similar but subtly different, using their arcane magicks instead of wall upon wall of thick steel placed in the way of its foes. Zerg OTOH...somehow makes sense to have gribbly-moving tentacle buildings moving around for defenses.

Teleporting cannons no, tele-Queen and mobile crawly buildings yes.

Says who? Zerg having mobile defenses makes no more sense than for protoss.

This is solely based on opinion. Phasing cannons were fine. They needed something to counterbalance their weakness. Cannons are weak for their cost. Zerg defenses are already quite resiliant. Yes, they're expensive, but could take a pounding.

I suppose if Blizzard comes up with something to make up for this fiasco, then its fine, but come on.