Starcraft Junkie

As most of our loyal readers must have noted, September’s updates were somewhat irregular. Truth be told, we were traveling a LOT and now we’re back to our somewhat sane lives. In this post, we re-cover September, and set things straight prior to the much-anticipated news barrage that usually accompanies Blizzcon .

September’s newsworthy items include the 44 Q&A, multiple Protoss and Terran unit changes, new artwork and several interesting Battle.net posts. Starting with the somewhat insignificant, Blizzard opened September with several new artwork images, which were added to StarCraft 2 Official site’s gallery. The official gallery now spans eleven pages and almost a hundred hi-res images.

Karune has posted healthy amount of interesting information concerning the current build on the Battle.net forums, clearing several interesting aspects like Overlord creeping and Xel’ Naga Watch Towers.

• Overlords must remain immobile to generate creep.
• It takes 15 seconds to unload a Pylon radius worth of creep.
• Creep takes 30 seconds to recede after Overlord’s “removal”.

Maxed out creep range from one Overlord is a little bigger than the range of a Pylon’s power radius, and will take about 15 seconds to reach max range and generally recede within 30 seconds(subject to balance) after the Overlord is destroyed or stops unloading creep

….Overlords are immobile when they are unloading creep – and I don’t think the opponent would appreciate you painting up his base with ‘taunts’ written in creep either 

Marine shields are not just a graphic perk, but a vital part of the Terran arsenal, making the Marine a far more viable late game choice. Considering the amount of heavy-hitters introducedom StarCraft 2 (Thor, MotherShip, Colossus, Queen, better Ultralisks), the Shield upgrade is must for late game infantry.

 
Yup, the Marines still have upgradable shields, making a huge difference late game against more high damage units. As long as those Marines can survive that initial hit, the Medivac Dropships does an awesome job of bringing them back to full health in no time.

Xel’ Naga Watch Towers don’t detect invisible units, however, the Terran Vulcan does. Terran Vulcan is the Nomad’s new name, one that was probably received due to the recently rumored significant change of appearance.

The Xel’Naga Watch Towers do not grant ‘detection’ of cloaked units, nor does it move around like an Observer.

Nomads, also now known as the Vulkan, is still a detector. Actually, it is probably the most powerful mobile detector in the game, considering it can also rapidly deploy a medley of Terran defenses used to both support an attack or raid the enemy.

The Nomad was not the only unit to have its name changed, as the Jackal is now know as Hellion. Jackal was initially introtuced is StarCraft 2’s incarnation of the Vulture, eventually distanced from it by its Buggy-like design and the friendly friendly-fire AoE.
Hellion’s role has distanced the unit even further, by making it a mobile Flamethrower, not entirely unlike C&C’s Flame Tank.

The combination of :

• Speed
• Friendly AoE damage
• Affordability

Make the Hellion seem as a perfect Worker-line raider, on par with the Terran Reaper, which costs more Gas and is significantly more fragile.

The Jackal, now known as the Hellion, only has the flamethrower weapon. In previous versions, there was a railgun hover vehicle, but that will no longer be in multiplayer.
Think Firebat on wheels!

The Hellion is currently one of the best units for “micro” since it is faster than all other units in its tier, and also does splash damage in the form of a line with the flamethrower.

Protoss units were not neglected by Blizzard’s Naming Officers, and the Warp Ray is now officially known as Void Ray – fitting its Dark Templar roots.

Warp Rays, also known as Void Rays now, are especially good against high hit point units, as well as buildings.

 

And last but not least, the missing Q&A 44.

Chat with Devs: Something I noticed during our recent shows at Games Convention in Leipzig and PAX in Seattle is that many new players trying out the game who played Zerg built several creep tumors, thinking they were either defenses or going to morph into defenses. This eventually lead into a conversation with Dustin about why Creep Tumors no longer morph into base defenses. For those who dont know, a Creep Tumor is a building which expands creep around it significantly. Building this building is an excellent way to cover additional ground with creep, allowing for many new strategies, including aggressive Spine Crawler pushes (the mobile Sunken Colony).

Dustin brought up two scenarios to why Creep Tumors no longer morph into other Zerg defenses: 

 

1) You would be able to creep across the map by moving your creep-spawning base defenses.

 

2) It would be easier to accidentally end up with buildings off of creep because the creep-generator moved away.

 

Thus, since the development team definitely wanted to give Zerg mobile defenses, they decided to split the roles of the Creep Tumor and the other Zerg defenses. This also allows for the team to make these Creep Tumors burrowed and very cheap in the latest build.

 

     

 

 

If you haven’t read the above paragraph, you should, especially if you are a Zerg player. This pretty much puts an end to the massive TheoryCraft around Zerg’s mobile defenses, the turtling and offensive towering possibilities, and brings Zerg’s defensive arsenal to a somewhat sane level.

On to the questions, which are mainly clarifications and glimpses into the mild adjustments that are present in the currently tested build.

1) Is it possible for replays to contain more in depth player statistics such as average clicks per minute, number of hotkeys used, etc.. ?

 

Replays will have much more info available in them that will include more detailed stat tracking, as well as other useful eSports related features.

 

 

2) Terrans currently appear to be at a disadvantage in terms of troop mobility, (as compared to ‘Warp-in’ and ‘Nydus Worm’) are there any plans to bring back the, ‘drop-pod’ or other new transport mechanic?

 

 
Actually, the Terrans have many units and mechanics that empower them with more mobility than the original StarCraft. The Reaper and Viking is a good example of new units that extend the Terrans raiding capabilities. Furthermore, Medivac Dropships offer more incentive to build lots of Dropships, which translate to more mobility for their entire army. Salvage is also another mechanic that helps in terms of rebuilding and moving a Terran base to new locations. Lastly, the Terrans are still the only side that can pick up and move their whole entire base, as well as being able to load SCVs in their Command Center now, allowing for quicker fast expanding strategies.

Blizzard’s answer to the Terran mobility question is a great example of how the StarCraft Universe works, and how a Blizzard’s developers approach RTS : Balance does not imply having the same tools. Balance does not imply having the same firepower abilities or speed.

3) With the new high ground mechanic in place, an army can’t fight units that are on higher ground anymore until they get a spotter up the ledge. Both Zerg and Terran have the possibility to spot units on high ground with Overlords and floating buildings right from the start of the game, but the first Protoss unit to fly up there would be the Phase Prism. Could it be that Protoss players have a significant disadvantage on some maps because of this?

 

In the latest builds of StarCraft II, the Protoss no longer need an Observatory to build Observers. Observers will be able to be built straight from the Robotics Facility, allowing earlier eyes on the battlefield.
We definitely saw that especially on certain maps, Terrans were able to block their choke point early, taking away much of the scouting portion of the game from Protoss, and are trying out this new solution for it. Additionally, we felt that Observers were too a crucial to the Protoss army to have them that far up the tech tree.

 

 
4) Will the Unit Portraits in SC2 be pre-rendered high quality video clips like in SC1 ?

 

The unit portraits will be shown in much higher quality than the actual units on the screen, similar to the original StarCraft and Warcraft III. They will not be video clips, but will be animations rendered in game. There will be several examples of their unit portraits in the next BlizzCast, where we have Dustin and Sammy discussing the process of creating a unit.

 

5) We all know how important it is that tier 1 units be effective at later tiers, which has prompted different unit abilities like the Zealots Charge. But it seems that the Protoss have a leg up in that they have Charge while the Zerglings have only their traditional speed boost without any AI enhancements. Is anything being planned for the Zergling?

 

Due to the new game engine, Zerglings have much better pathing in StarCraft II, meaning they move much more efficiently. Zerglings are able to both surround enemy units easier and are more easily selectable as well, being able to control more than 12 at a time. Furthermore, Zerglings are also slightly smaller than their original StarCraft counterparts, and able to be morphed into Banelings, which are extremely effective against Zealots. Lastly, Zealots have also had their shield hit points reduced by 10, as compared to the original StarCraft Zealots.

And in case you haven’t been following, BlizzCon’s coverage starts this Friday, October the 10th.
Last year, Blizzcon build included radical changes, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise if this year’s event will include some sort of a significant StarCraft 2 announcement or gameplay adjustment.

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Karune, Blizzard’s RTS community manager, has posted this month’s official discussion on Battle.net, requesting fan feedback for a highly interesting topic, and a fundamental mechanic of the game – the Zerg’s new and improved creep.

The StarCraft 1 Creep only slightly benefited the Zerg race, having little importance during actual combat. The StarCraft 2 Creep has been designed to be nothing like that – its effects have already been mentioned in the past, and using this opportunity, Karune revealed even more juicy details about the new and improved mechanics.

One of the distinct features of the Zerg is their fast movement, quick reactions and their large numbers. With the newest changes to the StarCraft II build these attributes are bound to reinforced once more.

Here are a couple of changes to the Zerg:

• Zerg units except Drones can now move 30% faster on creep
• Creep Tumors are smaller and burrowed

Creeping down the ramp

The above improvements join a long array of advantages that the StarCraft 2 Zerg have received in their home turf. Considering the Swarm units created by destroyed buildings, the omnipresent Zerg Queen, which can turn buildings into turrets via its Swarm Infestation ability and has a multitude of other defensive abilities, and the additional stationary defenses, defeating a Zerg army inside its base may become a very difficult task. Another important thing to remember is the Overlord’s creep laying ability, allowing the Zerg to take advantage of Creep even on the offense.

Here are this month’s official questions from Blizzard:

What do you think of the speed increase on Creep?

n

How do you think this change will effect Zerg, Protoss and Terran?

n

Do you like or dislike the change? Why?

Additionally, the SC2 Blog’s questions are:

1) Should creep affect enemy units as well?

2) Do you feel that this adds an additional, unneeded tactical aspect to the game?

3) Should Protoss units enjoy similar buffs when in Pylon energy range?

As with last month’s discussion, Blizzard has selected a major, fundamental topic to receive feedback from fans for. Like the Vespene Geysers, Creep will have a major impact on many aspects of matches involving the Zerg race in StarCraft 2. As always, this is your chance to influence the direction the game is heading to.

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Blizzard’s co-founder, Frank Pearce, has come out with a statement sure to excite StarCraft fans in an interview given to VideoGaming247.

When asked about the possibility of a 4th race in StarCraft 2, Frank deals the usual response:

We talked about the possibility of a fourth race early on, but we felt like we had a finite amount of great ideas and wanted to make sure we focused all the cool, best ideas on the existing three races rather than diluting those ideas across four races.

However, for the first time, Frank gives hope when it comes to the inevitable StarCraft 2 expansion:

We don’t have the resources or time to add a fourth race to the launch of StarCraft II, but I’m sure in the event that we decide to do an expansion set it’s a feature that’ll come up for discussion.

This is the first time a Blizzard representative has not completely denied the possibility of adding a new playable race to StarCraft 2. Blizzard have been very adamant in their choice of sticking with the three original StarCraft races, which they decided to further explore and differentiate between. It will be interesting to see how they tackle the challenge of introducing a completely new race to the delicate balance currently evolving amongst the three existing races in StarCraft 2.

Next up, we have a few bits of information about StarCraft 2’s most recent gameplay tactics, straight from the mouth of Blizzard – Karune, Blizzard’s community manager. First up, Karune discusses a sneaky tactic employed by the Terran.

Thought I’d share with you guys that in internal gameplay, we’ve had some poor souls find out the hard way that apparently if you are playing Terran and you immediately lift off your command center to a close by high yield mineral field, you will easily make up the difference of the time lost from collecting minerals during that period, and essentially be able to out produce any other race very quickly. Thus far, it seems like it is easy to defend this new fast expansion strategy. Nonetheless, I’m sure it will be balanced in the coming weeks, but thought it was funny so I thought I’d share.

The yellow, high yield minerals currently provide 50% more resources than the normal, blue variants. Since the Terran Command Center, like all Terran buildings, has a natural ability to lift off, maps with a closeby yellow mineral patch make this almost a crime not to abuse.

Karune has received a few suggestions to “fix” this issue on the forums and responded to them:

Making lift off a researched ability and hard coating the minerals both seem like interesting ideas – I’ll be sure to forward that along to the devs. Like I said before though, this has only worked on ‘certain’ maps. If anything, those maps could be modified slightly and it would probably fix it.

Knowing Blizzard, this strategy will likely still be viable on certain maps, but in a balanced way that allows the other races to respond to it without being at an obvious disadvantage.

Karune’s next post discusses the Mutalisks’ ability to bunch up tightly and function like a single unit, attacking targets for very high damage, as well as utilizing their attack cool-down time to move. This tactic requires some micromanaging skill to accomplish, and has become a favorite discussion point in Q&As. This is what the situation is like, currently:

There has not been extensive testing of this yet, but in terms of Mutalisks, players will be able to stack, but it will be much harder to keep them clumped up. As more info surfaces about this, I will keep you informed.

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Also, Mutalisks at first in StarCraft II while slowed down a bit before they attacked, but the code has been fixed to allow it to attack on the move like the original StarCraft.

It seems like Mutalisks will still be able to attack and move if used by skilled, agile players, but creating a Korean Mutalisk super-unit will be significantly more difficult.

Moving on the the Protoss side, Karune talks about the Immortal’s effectiveness against the difference races.

In my opinion, Immortals are better against Terran but definitely still useful in PvZ matchups, especially against armored units that are harder to kill, such as Ultralisks and Roaches. Furthermore, Immortals are almost always the unit to be sent in first while laying siege to an enemy base, eating up all the initial base defense pounding.

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The most effective counters to the Immortals are units that have fast attacks up to 10 damage per attack.

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Actually, recently I played a game realizing that Psi Storms are actually quite effective against them as well, as they fit that counter perfectly, doing a set X damage every second while the unit was under in the area of effect.

With their Hardened Shields, the Immortals cannot absorb more than 10 points of damage per hit, making them somewhat less effective against the Zerg and their impressive arsenal of small, fast attacking units which don’t deal a lot of damage. It’s interesting to note that the Protoss High Templar’s Psi Storm is actually a good counter to Immortals, since the damage it deals, despite being quite high, comes in small portions.

Another post from Karune deals with the scrapped Protoss structure – the Dark Pylon.

The Dark Pylon is not in the multiplayer version of the game. Originally, when it was being tested, it would cloak buildings in a radius around the building, making it more difficult for enemies to scout out ‘tech’ buildings in a Protoss base, to determine how they were teching. Additionally, it also hid base defenses until they began firing.

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The Dark Pylon was taken out because it was not found as useful as what was intended. There are discussions of finding a possible replacement building that would also serve as a base defense, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

Dark Pylon’s role was “borrowed” from the Command & Conquer universe – its intended functionality greatly resembles the various base stealth devices found there.

Lastly, Blizzard has opened an online store, where they sell Blizzard universe related “memorabilia” in the form of wallpapers and mobile ringtones. All your favorite characters, scenes, and battlecries are available for purchase and download. Unfortunately, at this time, only wallpapers are available for the StarCraft universe. If you’re looking for a free StarCraft wallpaper, check out the one we featured on the SC2 Blog.

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ATI – AMD’s “Advances in Real‐Time Rendering in 3D Graphics and Games Course“, during the highly technical SIGGRAPH 2008 conference, included a whole chapter dedicated solely to the implementation of the shader framework and the rendering techniques used in StarCraft 2.
As the name implies, the paper, which won’t be an easy read even for seasoned programmers, is a part of a course with the following prerequisites:

Prerequisites
This course assumes working knowledge of a modern real‐time graphics API like OpenGL or Direct3D, as well as a solid basis in commonly used graphics algorithms. The participants are also assumed to be familiar with the concepts of programmable shading and shading languages.

The StarCraft 2 engine definitely has a split personality, and for a good reason – there is a fully interactive, playable “Story Mode”, which requires a completely different form of real-time rendering. Rendering four high-resolution characters and a detailed static environment is quite unlike rendering two hundred units with hundreds of constantly changing lighting sources, but both of the above scenarios must be supported by the same engine.

Starcraft II is supported by an engine that in many ways has a split personality; during normal game play we typically render scenes from a relatively far away distance, with high batch counts, and a focus on action rather than details. At the same time, we really wanted to push our storytelling forward with Starcraft II, and this is where the game’s
“Story Mode” comes in. In this mode, the player generally sits back to take in the game’s rich story, lore and visuals, interacting with other characters through dialogues and watching actions unfold….

…story mode generally boasts lower batch counts, close‐up shots, and a somewhat more contemplative feel – all things more typical of a first person shooter.

All technical details aside, Chapter 5 includes one over-quoted statement which presumably reveales the GPU system requirements for StarCraft 2.

Yet we also wanted to utilize the full potential of any available hardware to ensure the game’s looks were competitive. This meant supporting a widerange of hardware, from ATI Radeon 9800/NVIDIA GeForce FX’s to the ATI Radeon HD 4800s and NVIDIA GeForce G200s, targeting maximum utilization on each different GPU platform.

The above statement effectively puts the minimum requirement bar at an ATI Radeon 9800 or at Nvidia’s GeForce 5 family – cards which have been introduced more than 5 years ago. Blizzard’s developers are staying loyal to their tradition of aiming for the mainstream and putting an emphasis on gameplay instead of intense system punishment.

Reports from the Game Convention in Leipzig are streaming in, but considering that the presented build is actually identical to the World Wide Invitational one, nothing major is expected to be either announced or discovered during the event.
IGN’s brief interview with Frank Pearce, Blizzard’s senior vice president of product development, hasn’t revealed much, but it did confirm that there is no super-secret  StarCraft 2 closed beta testing group, and that the beta is months away at best.

Currently, the testing for StarCraft II doesn’t include that many people. “It’s like a limited internal alpha phase,” says Pearce. “The development team that’s working on it is playing it and we’ve released some alpha builds to some other development teams internally and then the quality assurance department is also playing it.”

…We asked when the field of testers might expand to beyond Blizzard’s walls. “That’s months away,” said Pearce. “We still have to expand our internal alpha to include the rest of the organization, iterate on that feedback, and then we have to evaluate what kind of beta we need, whether we need one at all. There’s a pretty high level of certainty that we’re going to need a beta and then we have to decide if we want to do a host beta or a closed beta or both. So, months.”

Another interview was given to VideoGamer, with Frank’s line remaining consistent – things are going well, but the game is far from being being ready to be released.

VideoGamer.com: Which leads me nicely on to the next question which is when will they get the chance to play the game? Do you have even a rough ballpark for when the game’s gong to be released?

FP: Not really. We still have a lot of work to do. Anyone that’s had the opportunity to play it at any of the shows we’ve shown it at might think wow, this feels pretty good, this feels pretty complete, so why don’t they just release it? But we still have a lot of work to do on the Battle.net side and we still have a lot of work to do on the single-player campaign side. And until that stuff is done, the total package isn’t there.

The second part of the interview, however, is interesting, and sheds quite a lot of light on the development and decision making processes inside Blizzard. When the interview touches WoW and the possibility of a StarCraft MMO, Frank puts things in perspective by reminding that World of WarCraft has been in development since 1999, and says that bringing the StarCraft Universe to the same level won’t be easy.

VideoGamer.com You’ve made it difficult for yourself!

FP: Yeah, we’ve made it very difficult for ourselves and it’s an overwhelming thought! I’ve been there at Blizzard since we started on WoW and it’s been a very long and arduous journey. And to think about taking that journey again with the StarCraft franchise is a little scary! It makes an RTS like Starcraft 2 seem very achievable [laughs].

VideoGamer.com: Fans say a StarCraft MMO would be great, but they don’t see your side of things do they?

FP: The World of Warcraft team is 135 people. The StarCraft 2 team is 40 people.

During the interview, Frank also confirms that unlike StarCraft (which was ported to Nintendo 64), StarCraft 2 is not planned to be ported to any sort of console, mainly due to the game’s fast pace.

FP: It’s not something we’re specifically planning for right now. The development team is working on the game and the interface with the PC and the PC interface peripherals in mind.

BC: One barrier to entry there is just the speed of the game. If you look at how the RTS genre has evolved a lot of it has slowed things down, make things a little bit more, not a plodding place, but a little bit more of giving players more of a chance to evaluate. StarCraft is really action packed.

All in all, It looks like once again, StarCraft 2 fans are going to have to wait for BlizzCon for real news and information about the game.

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Karune, Blizzard’s RTS community manager, has taken some time off from his preparations for Blizzard’s next event in Leipzig to satiate the fans’ hunger for knowledge with an interesting Q&A session.

Unfortunately, Karune informs that the next few batches will feature “lighter” questions, to give the devs time to prepare for Blizzard’s upcoming events and to… well, work on StarCraft 2.

… the development team is working extremely hard on the single player campaign, which we will be talking in more detail about at a later time. In the meantime, questions will be ‘light’ over the next couple of batches, to give the Dev Team ample time to work on their latest design challenges. There are also many preparations being made for both the Games Convention coming up in Leipzig, as well as BlizzCon, to make sure the StarCraft II community definitely gets their feed of info.

In the mean time, here’s today’s Q&A, which is not light by any means.

1) What happens if a Nullifier targets a Colossus with the Anti-Gravity ability?

When Anti-Gravity is used upon a Colossus, the Colossus will still be immobilized and lifted up, which will still allow it to be hit by units that can attack air targets. Colossi will not be able to shoot while under the effect of Anti-Gravity.

2) How many critters will there be available and will they have attack animations?

There will be critters, but there have not been any detailed discussions yet about their attack animations. On that note, there is a possibility that BlizzCon panels may fill the community in a bit more on what type of critters there will be.

3) Can the Infestor infest any building, or only specific ones, such as Barracks or Gateways, if the Protoss can be infested?

This is actually a mechanic they are currently testing quite a bit. It is undecided if the Infestor will be able to infest Protoss or Zerg buildings, as there are gameplay and lore reasons which support many different options. Either way, at the end of the day, the development team will choose an option that will be balanced and fun in terms of gameplay for multiplayer.

The above question has been asked time and time again, and so far, the developers have replied positively regarding the Protoss and negatively about the Zerg each time. Does infesting Zerg structures make sense? Will a free supply of infested Zealots be balanced? These are indeed difficult questions to answer, and it’s not surprising that the issue is still under scrutiny.

4) What units are currently undergoing major art changes?

There are several artistic revisions every week, though the two newest units to get some artistic updates are the Nomad and the Stalker. The Terran Nomad is getting a complete artistic redesign from any versions the community has seen thus far. Furthermore, the Protoss Stalker is also being updated to look more similar to the concept art piece as seen here: http://starcraft2.com/art.xml?s=6

The Terran Nomad has received a lot of criticism for its look. Here’s what some of our readers had to say when its official unit page was launched:

But WHY is it so ugly?

Yes, ugliest unit yet.

The flying clamp.

The original Science Vessel, its prototypic predecessor, was one of the coolest looking, non-combat support unit in StarCraft. The old Nomad design is a complete departure from the Sci-Vessel’s look; it will be interesting to see whether Blizzard sticks with the basic Nomad design or goes for something completely different for this unique unit.

Likewise, we feel that the look for the in-game stalker could use a shift in the direction of its concept art, which is devastatingly superior.

5) How do Zerg vs Zerg games play out in SC2? Is it still mostly a battle of mutalisks and zerglings or have the new units changed things around?

ZvZ (Zerg vesus Zerg)matchup usually opens up in 2 different ways, Zerglings or Roaches. Aggressive players can use Zerglings mobility to take control of the early game, whereas going Roaches is more of a defensive strategy. Zergling vs. Roach relationship is such that for cost, Zerglings wins out in the open, Roaches win at chokes, but in mid/late games when numbers are greater, Roaches can stand up to or even beat Zerglings for cost out in the open. Hydralisks dont have much use in ZvZ early game, as they are more of an anti air unit in StarCraft II.

The tier 2 battle continues with Banelings that can dominate Zerglings, but with micro, Zerglings can actually come out ahead in Zergling vs. Baneling battles. Similarly, Lurkers counter Roaches for cost, but Roaches have the mobility advantage. Mutaliks counter Zerglings/Roaches since these units cant hit air. Whats different in StarCraft II is that Hydralisks counter Mutalisks extremely well, meaning something like Roach/Hydralisk combo can stand up to the classic Zergling/Mutalisk combo. Also, another great way to fight vs. mass Mutalisks is to tech to infestation pit (same tech level as the Spire), and make Corruptors or Infestors. Infestors have the disease ability that is great for fighting vs. units that clump really well such as the Mutalisk, and Corruptors are Zergs anti air air unit.

Due to the fast pace of the ZvZ game, most games dont end up in tier 3, but ultralisks, with their cleave attack, or swarm guardians that use swarms to soak up a lot of ground vs. ground damage are great options if the game does happen to go into tier 3.

Overall, StarCraft II has a variety of options even in a mirror match such as Zerg vs. Zerg. Players can use different unit compositions to counter the classic Zergling/Mutalisk strategy that is a still powerful but not the only option.

Blizzard seem to be fulfilling their promise to create more options in every match up in StarCraft 2. Lets go over some of the new Zerg match ups:

Zerglings win against roaches in the open because of their new “ability” to efficiently surround their targets, quickly taking down unit after unit, while roaches win in choke points because they can limit this capability while still being able to focus their ranged attack. In the late game, with more units, and perhaps the Roach’s increased regeneration upgrade, Roaches can take down more Zerglings before they close in and take more of their damage before dying.

Banelings, which come out at Tier 2 to counter masses of small units, like the Zerlings, will pose much less of a threat to skilled micromanagers – these will spread out their forces, preventing the Banelings from killing enough enemies to be worth the economic sacrifice. As well, smart usage of small Zergling groups will allow these to pick off the Banelings before they reach the heavier unit concentrations.

The StarCraft 2 Hydralisk, unlike its predecessor, is much more effective against Mutalisks. Previously, its “explosive” attack only inflicted 50% of the damage to Mutalisks, which were “small” units. With this system gone, the Hydralisk can now take down Mutalisks much more quickly with its more punishing damage.

This change allows Zerg versus Zerg battles to escape the standard Mutalisk/Zergling combo of the early-middle (and even late) game, since the Roach/Hydralisk combo can stand up on its own.

Of course, with Corruptors and Infestors thrown into the mix, even these match ups will constantly be varied. With the Infestor playing a larger role in StarCraft 2 than its old counterpart, the Defiler, we are bound to see Diseases, StarCraft 2’s version of the Plague, cast around much more often. However, there might be less incentive to build those in StarCraft 2, depending on whether or not Infestors can Infest other Zerg buildings.

Before even mentioning the third tier, it’s clear that the Zerg versus Zerg game has been expanded considerably. Hopefully, these additions, which look great in Theorycraft, also function in a balanced and fun way in the game itself.

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Episode 4 of the BlizzCast series has been posted on the official Blizzard site. BlizzCast is a series of recorded interviews and Q&A sessions, dealing with the latest developments and happenings in the Blizzard game universes.

This episode of BlizzCast features one item of interest for StarCraft 2 fans – the Community Q&A session, providing very thorough answers to interesting questions. The Q&A is also accompanied by two new, action heavy screenshots.

Answers are provided by Mike Heiberg, senior game designer, and David Kim, associate game balance designer.

First, they are asked about the reason for the decreased mineral collection rate by workers. This was previously reported to be 5, but is currently at 6 units per trip, down from 8 in StarCraft 1.

The rate of collection for StarCraft 2 was planned to be similar to that of StarCraft 1, with the reduction in per-trip numbers originating from the increased unit pathing efficiency. To counterbalance that somewhat, SCVs will now have to spend less time on the mineral patch to acquire a full load.

However, both David and Mike comment that mineral collection feels faster now. The maximum rate of collection is achieved when 3 SCVs are used for each mineral patch, and it’s easier to see when this limit is reached in StarCraft 2 compared to 1.

The next topic is about the improved unit pathing. As an example, David and Mike describe how Zerglings easily surround Zealots from all sides, packing closely next to each other so more Zeglings can get a piece of the action. This creates a situation where smart players will push their Zealots against the wall or put them on choke points to minimize the amount of Zeglings they have to deal with simultaneously.

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David Kim:  Yeah and the wrap around itself is a little easier to pull off I guess because the A.I. takes care of some of that for you but you do still need the micro if you want to get the maximum out of your melee units.

Another important change is to deceleration. In StarCraft 1, this was less precise, and units could sometimes slow down in a way that put them before or after the location they were ordered to go to. In StarCraft 2, this mechanism is much more precise, and units know when to start decelerating to reach the specific location.

Mike Heiberg:  Right, a lot of times you’d be floating your guardians in to take out some spore colony or something and they’d float a little too close and you’d be like “Whoa!” and you’d have to back a couple of them out. They’re a little more intelligent now about not floating directly into danger when they don’t have to.

Next, the developers discuss resource consumption and its effect on the strategies available to each race. They state that there are more options to choose from in StarCraft 2, which also makes scouting more important.

The last question deals with Infestation, Corruption, and Mind Control. Both Infestation and Corruption are time limited, and the inquiry was about a more permanent ownership changing spell, like the StarCraft 1 Dark Archon Mind Control ability.

Mike sums it up nicely:

Well when we were doing the classic Starcraft mind control we were finding that it actually resulted in some pretty big swings in balance where basically you mind control a large unit, say a Battlecruiser, and now the difference in power from the two different armies is like two Battlecruisers because he lost one and you gained one. So seeing as in Starcraft II we have a few more of those high impact units, we have Colossi, we have Motherships, and Queens, that’s a very scary type of spell to be still bringing into the game, I mean we have more opportunities for those large swings in balance.

A powerful spell like Mind Control would have to be restricted to specific units and leave some of them out, and Blizzard does not like implementing such artificial constraints.

Further, the devs discuss Infestation and its limited effect on StarCraft 1, which resulted from the difficulty in pulling it off.

Mike Heiberg:  Right, in classic Starcraft infesting someone’s command center was really more of an insult.

The StarCraft 2 infestation will be even higher on the tech tree, requiring both the tier 3 Infestor Pit and Infestation research, but will be easier to manage. Since Infestation is going to be easier and the Infested Marines free, the effect will only be temporary.

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As for Corruptors, the developers mention that introducing this mechanism instead of using simple mind control creates new gameplay decisions:

Mike Heiberg: Right we want to allow those types of little micro decisions where in the middle of the battle: “Should I focus on his guys, his Corrupters? Should I focus on my own corrupted units because I’m not getting them back?  Or should I back off and make those basically invalid because there’s nobody nearby for them to be messing with?”.

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The official BlizzCon 2008 site is up. The site currently contains information about the panels that will take place during the convention, and will be used to release updates and information pertaining to the upcoming mega-event. Most importantly, however, this is where wishful fans can purchase tickets.
What is BlizzCon, you ask?

In addition to serving as a gathering place for the different Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, BlizzCon will offer an array of activities, including discussion panels, hands-on playtime with upcoming games, tournaments, contests, and more.

The event is going to take place on Blizzard’s home turf, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on October 10 and 11. Until then, anxious enthusiasts may take a sneak peak at the swag bag that each visitor will receive upon entering the premises of the convention:

If you’ve ever been on the verge of finishing off a paladin, only to be foiled at the last second, you’ll appreciate the 16″ inflatable divine shield ball, complete with a paladin inside in the midst of hearthing away. Half of the goody bags handed out will contain the bubble-hearth ball, while the other half will have…

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Frostmourne. The very name of Arthas’s runeblade strikes terror into hearts across Azeroth. Now it comes to you in a more convenient package, and you don’t even have to travel to Icecrown Glacier to get it. As you go about your daily activities, whether they be raising legions of the undead or just brooding on your throne, carrying this 48” inflatable Frostmourne will grant you an extra touch of sinister majesty.

Aside from the goody bag, fans will also have access to the on-site store, which will feature all sorts of Blizzard game-related products – Diablo health and mana stress balls, pandaren brewmaster bottle openers, Zerg Creep, and much more.

Of course, no Blizzard event will be complete without a Murloc, and this one is going to be special:

“ This one has developed a taste for speed, and sits astride an exclusive polar bear mount, waving a BlizzCon flag. It’s the perfect way to cruise Northrend in style.“

As previously announced, the tickets to BlizzCon 2008 are now available for purchase – starting today. Get them while they’re hot!

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Karune, Blizzard’s RTS community manager, has been active on the forums lately, posting bits and pieces of new information about StarCraft 2.

First, Karune posted concept art pictures from two, now-cut units from StarCraft 2, and one picture of the evolution of one of those.

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This is the original art concept for the Firebat, which is operating a small mechanized armor. The Marauder has slipped into the Firebat’s old shell, keeping most of its armor, but replacing the flame weapons with grenade launchers.

Next up: can you guess which cut unit this concept art picture belongs to?

This is the Purifier, the old name for the now-defunct Soul Hunter. Perhaps if the Soul Hunter had been this magnificent in-game it would not have been cut.

Next, another old concept art picture:

The Ultralisk originally had spiny tentacles, as Karune mentions, and as this picture illustrates so well. The spines, which apparently flailed around randomly, skewering marines in their path, were eventually cut due to the random nature of their damage output, which doesn’t fit StarCraft’s professional, competitive nature.

Karune further promises that during Blizzard’s upcoming mega-event, BlizzCon 2008, new artwork changes will be shown. Specifically, he mentions a “planned community event around the Dark Templar in which we hope to get much feedback about the models in-game of these units“.

Finally, an interesting change to the Warp Ray has been described by Karune:

Yes, the Warp Ray can fire while moving. Once it begins firing at a target, the Warp Ray will follow the target if it begins to move, keeping at a close proximity since the Warp Ray’s range is currently quite short.

The Warp Ray, whose beam increases in intensity and damage output the longer it is being focused on a target, currently has a relatively short range for its devastating attack. To compensate for the cut in weapons range, which used to be quite long, and to make it harder for units to break away and eliminate the Warp Ray’s deadly lock, the Warp Ray will be able to keep firing at its target while it’s moving – even if it means it has to follow it itself.

This means that the only way to avoid the Warp Ray’s damage barrage is to destroy the Warp Ray itself. This eliminates an aspect of micromanagement, in which the player would constantly move his units out of the Warp Ray’s range to avoid its attack, just as it’s gaining focus. Fast units would probably still be able to outrun the Warp Ray, but these are not the units that should fear the Warp Ray’s attack – its juicer targets, units and buildings which possess many hit points, generally move very slowly.

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Blizzard will be introducing a massive cross-game Achievement System, which will be featured in all three announced Blizzard project. If things go well, the system is also likely to be applied retroactively to existing Blizzard titles.

World of WarCraft’s lead designer, Jeff Kaplan, has told MTV Multiplayer that the Wrath of the Lich King’s Achievement System is just the first step…

…he revealed that eventually players will have a Blizzard Account that shows Achievements from other Blizzard games they’ve played, including the upcoming titles “Diablo III” and “StarCraft II.”

 

“Eventually, our plans are for the Achievement system to become an account-based system,” he explained.

The Achievement System will undoubtedly introduce a long term, life-time spanning reward system for loyal Blizzard fans. It might even include retroactive achievements which won’t be available to newcomers, as promised by Blizzard on the Wrath of the Lich King achievements web page:

Feats of Strength will be awarded retroactively (that is, they’ll be immediately granted to your character if you qualify) since many of them will be impossible to earn in Wrath of the Lich King.

Blizzard intends to unify all the player’s achievements under a single Blizzard account which will contain a permanent record of achievements. Having to make an educated guess, based on the interview and the somewhat similar systems implemented on other platforms, Blizzard will probably keep record of your highest WarCraft 3 ranks, Diablo 2 levels and official StarCraft tournaments, as well as other multiplayer and single player in-game achievements.

You’ll have this Blizzard identity, and you’ll be able to see things like ‘Oh, this guy was great at Diablo III, but he never played Starcraft and he was mediocre in WoW.’

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Four months have passed since the last discussion topic, which focused on the Baneling. This month’s topic moves the spotlight from the single unit to a core gameplay mechanic which will affect every aspect of StarCraft 2.

At the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, we had the opportunity to show you a new StarCraft II client. With this client we introduced a new idea on how our Gas Mechanics work. This would give the player more options and more economy choices. In the following days, Dustin Browder went more into detail on how these new mechanics can affect the game-play and we were able to get even more questions answered in the following Batch of the StarCraft II Q&A. Now we would like you to give us your feedback on the way Gas collection works now.

For more information about the new Vespene Gas mechanics, make sure to read our earlier posts on the subject. First, the original post with Dustin Browder’s introduction of the changes, and second, the Chat with Devs part of Q&A 41, which contained a detailed explanation with updated numbers.

To recap (current numbers, subject to balance changes, in parenthesis):

Each resource location now has two Vespene Geysers. These start with a relatively low amount of gas (600), which allow workers to carry a full load in each trip (6). When the geyser is depleted, this number is reduced (2), and the player is offered a choice to replenish the geyser for a mineral cost (100).

The repleneshing process requires the player to select the geyser and hit a button (or shortcut key), which takes the geyser offline for a short period (45 seconds), during which workers can not extract gas at all. This pumps gas back into the geyser (600), allowing workers to resume Vespene Gas extraction at full efficiency.

Our thoughts on this matter remain unchanged from previous discussions:

All these major changes have been implemented to StarCraft 2 for one purpose: complicate the “macro” portion of the game, which has been downsized severely with the introduction of new and improved user interface aspects, and mainly, Multiple Building Selection (MBS).

 

These changes will steal some of the added focus to the micromanagement portion of StarCraft 2, which pro-gamers, who’ve had a chance to play the game extensively, have reported about, and divert it back to base and economy management.

The monthly discussion topic is an excellent opportunity for StarCraft 2’s fans, be they pro gamers or causal RTS players, to voice their opinion about this change to the resource system – a central part of StarCraft 2.

As always, Blizzard has three specific questions they wish to receive answers for:

* What new strategies and choices do you think the player would have and have to make with the new Gas Mechanics?

 

* How do you think this change will effect Zerg, Protoss and Terran?

 
* Do you like or dislike the change? Why?

 

* Additional feedback you might have

Additionally, the SC2 Blog’s questions are:

1) Do you think the need to “babysit” the Vespene Geysers adds to the depth of the game, allowing players to put more thought into the resource management process, or is it going to become a dull, mindless chore?

 

2) Resource collection in StarCraft 1 has always been very straightforward. With the introduction of Yellow Minerals and the complication of the Vespene Gas collection process, this aspect of StarCraft 2 has been expanded. Would you like to see StarCraft 2’s economy simplified, or perhaps complicated further?

 

3) Unlike in StarCraft 1, Workers can now be automatically ordered to start harvesting resources as soon as they are produced, using a rally point, without requiring further action from the player.

Should it be possible for “Replenish Gas” to be set on Auto-Cast, making this process automatic as well?

The new Vespene Gas mechanics are likely to become an important and significant part of every StarCraft 2 game, regardless of race or skill level. Blizzard has proven time and time again that they listen closely to fan feedback – this is your chance to leave your lasting impression on StarCraft 2.

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