Q&A Batch 36 (ScreenCraft) has been released featuring a new ScreenShot of the Zerg Baneling. This Q&A focuses on this month’s discussion topic, the Zerg Baneling. Perhaps this will shed some more light on the Baneling’s changes for users who were unsure. Don’t forget to participate in our monthly discussion on SC2Forums.org to have your voice heard! Enjoy Batch 36!

To illustrate the topic of this month’s discussion, we would like to give you a better view of what the Baneling is like at the moment!

ScreenCraft: This batch’s screenshot is to show the significant size increase of the Baneling since the original Protoss announcement gameplay trailer. The size increase is to allow the possibility of focus firing on incoming Banelings with additional micromanagement.

Feel free to discuss the evolution of the Baneling in our Monthly Discussion Topic at:
http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=sc2-general-eu&t=463

Baneling Invasion

An army of Banelings invade a developing rival Zerg base.

1. Do Protoss Immortals get killed when a Nuke explodes next to them(seeing as the Hardened Shield blocks all high profile attacks and that a Nuke is definitely a high profile attack)? (Battle.net) Eragon320
In term of units, the only units that will be able to survive a Nuke will be the Protoss Mothership and Immortals upgraded with Hardened Shields. An upgraded Immortal will take 10 damage from a Nuke. To all other units, the Nuke will do 800 damage, thus making it much more powerful than the Nuke in the original StarCraft.

2. How powerful is the Roach’s regeneration ability? How much time is needed to regenerate from 1 to full hp? (sc2pod.com)
The Roach currently regenerates 15 hit points per second, allowing it to regenerate to full health in 6 seconds. In countering Roaches, a player must either micromanage the battle to make sure they are focus firing on each Roach one at a time, or they have to bring in high damage units such as Siege Tanks or Archons.

3. Are overseers any tougher than overlords? (Battle.net) Mestroyer
When an Overlord evolves into an Overseer, it will gain a speed bonus, passive detection, the ability to generate creep below it, and the ability to corrupt’ resources to make it more difficult for opponents to gain access to them. Furthermore, when Overseers sit in the same spot, over time its visual range will increase (but not its detection range).

4. Is it worth it to build a Terran Reactor Add-on since the benefit of doubling your queue list is not that useful, as it is often a bad idea to have your queue full? (gamereplays.org)
Yes! The Terran Reactor doesn’t just double the size of your queue list. For a mere 50 minerals and 50 gas cost for the Reactor, that Barracks, Factory, or Starport will have the ability to create two units simultaneously (assuming that unit doesn’t require a tech lab add-on). Most of the time, building the Reactor will be worth it, rather than building a second Barracks, Factory, or Starport. Not only will you be able to build from a single building the production of two normal buildings, you will be able to salvage that Reactor if needed to get 100% of the cost back. Being able to salvage allows for quick tech shifts or evacuations.

5. Will there be different building textures resembling the actual terrain? (in Warcraft 2 the buildings were snowy on the winter maps) (starcraft2.hu)
This is something the art team would like to do, though it will ultimately come down to time. There’s a lot of art work still left to do, such as their current task, which is putting the finishing touches on the Terran Marauder amongst several other units. On the Marauder, players will be able to see many intricate animations for both the weapons and their power suits.

6. Did the High Templar’s Hallucination ability undergo any changes due to the introduction of new tough units, such as Thor or Colossus? (battle.net) Elsoron
The Hallucination ability did not undergo changes because of those new units, but it did get significant buffs since the original StarCraft. First off, hallucinated units still have the same hit points as the original unit, but take double damage. Furthermore, the duration the unit lasts for will be around 2-3 minutes, which will be significantly longer than the original StarCraft. On top of that, to hallucinate a unit only costs 40 energy, which is much cheaper than the original StarCraft’s cost of 100 energy.

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Q&A 35 has been released and is overflowing with gameplay changes. The Phase Cannon is no longer mobile, but the mechanic has been switched to the Zerg. Also, the Mothership has been relegated to a support unit’s status.

Overall a great Q&A for this week, always love to see more info! Enjoy!

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!

What does StarCraft mean to you?

Make sure you are represented in this wall of fans that will be engraved in Blizzard history. It is very simple to participate- Take a picture and join us!
http://blizzard.com/us/inblizz/contests/ilovesc/

For newcomers, if you want a quick rundown on the story leading into StarCraft II- we have it here in a nutshell:
http://www.starcraft2.com/features/storysofar.xml
http://www.starcraft2.com/features/storysofar2.xml

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.

Source: Battle.net 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? (www.starcraft2.com.au)

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? (www.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—

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So now that all three races are out of the bag, you may have thought you’ve seen it all- nope! The Dev Team is still working very hard to add even more innovation and clever balance affecting design changes that will indeed polish out the gameplay of StarCraft II that much more.

Chat with the Devs: As of recent, the Dev Team has added a new ability to the Protoss Carrier that will give it a little more Umph! versus Zerg Corruptor attacks or Viking raids. In the past, the Carrier simply had a large swarm of Interceptor fighters which you had to build from scratch. Carriers now come built with 4 Interceptors already loaded (which is also the max number of Interceptors currently). They also have the new ability to have Escorts built for a temporary power boost to focus fire. Strike Fighter Escorts cost resources to build and last only 45 seconds, but add a decent amount of firepower to a Carriers attack. A Carrier can have a maximum of 4 Escorts. Escorts are given attack orders to focus-fire on whatever the Carrier is attacking and they can be destroyed independently of the Carrier or each other. The cost for these Escorts will be significant enough to where players will not want to just have the max number all of the time, as that would bleed your economy needlessly. Thus, players will have to pick and choose their battles in where they want the full force of the Protoss fleet present.

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

—StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 34—

1. An important aspect of any RTS game is for all races to have a way to siege fortified island positions, do the Protoss and Terrans [[and Zerg]] have a unit that is capable of doing so? (sclegacy.com)

All factions will have units capable of attacking from a longer range. Zerg have the Swarm Guardian, Terrans have the Battlecruisers Yamato Cannon, and the Protoss have the Carrier (which has gotten some additional abilities since we last talked about it). However we are not at all sure that these are enough to deal with fortified islands. More testing will tell us if this is sufficient or if we need more.

2. The Infestor is a very impressive unit that enchanted the community, because we all wanted to see a unit that is able to move while it is burrowed. Nevertheless there are still pending questions. Can the Infestor even infest Zerg buildings? Are infested marines produced as fast as it is shown on the gameplay trailer? Do you have to train them manually or will they pop out automatically? Do they cost minerals?(starcraft2.4players.de)

Like many Zerg units the Infestor is still under development. It cannot infest Zerg buildings though that is something we are still discussing. The speed at which Marines are generated changes frequently as we work on the ability. Sometimes its fast, sometimes not so fast. They will (probably) pop automatically. They do not have any cost associated with them.

3. The Medivac is a very interesting Unit, but there are not many information given to us so far. Can you tell us any more details about it? At which tier can it be found? How does the healing work? Can it even heal multiple units at once and how fast does it heal compared to the medic? (starcraft2.4players.de)

The Medivac is currently available from the Starport (no add-ons required). The healing works just like the medic. We will (if we keep the mechanic) be adding a graphic of the Medivac deploying medical drones to heal friendly biological units. It will only be able to heal a single unit at one time. The speed at which it heals changes frequently as we try different balance options.

4. There are many ambiguities concerning the Roach due to the much different information that has been given to us. Many users are quite unsure about its kind of attack. Is it a melee unit or is it ranged? Or is it kind of a crazy mix of both? And most important: can it hit air as well? (starcraft2.4players.de)

The Roach is ranged. He has been melee in the recent past (hence the art with the big claws) but he is currently ranged. This gives him added utility at chokes where he really shines. We have tried it as ground only and we have tried it as being able to hit ground or air. Currently it is ground only.

5. Can a Zerg Corruptor infest lifted-off Terran buildings, Colossuses, and other Zerg units such as Mutalisks or other Corruptors? Can Corruptor infest Thors, Siege Tanks or Marines if they are lifted-off by Anti-Gravity? (Battle.net) PCBANGFT

Yes, Corruptors can infest anything that flies or is forced into the air by abilities such as Anti-Gravity. In the situation of a unit being lifted by Anti-Gravity, the unit will return to the ground when the anti-gravity effect ends and sit on the ground. The corrupted unit is only allowed to attack air units and will do so if an enemy air unit flies by.

6. What is the reasoning behind changing Colossus’ ’sliding’ thermal lances (from 1st gameplay movie) to an array of beams (zerg trailer)? Balance? Visuals? Will it be possible to choose such sliding or array (or is it just ‘horizontal’ line?) fire mode from the Map Editor (available also for any other unit)? (battle.net) Dagguh

The array of beams give a more interesting AOE template for players to attempt to micro. The sliding beam looks cool, but ultimately doesnt produce any new gameplay. The current visuals on the beam are temp to see if we like the mechanic.

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—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? (www.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—

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Here’s a video I found on GameTrailers.com. In this video, lead producer, Chris Sigaty, explains how the Zerg have evolved in the upcoming sequel. One thing that’s sure to cause screams of anguish from your rivals is that all of the Zerg units can now burrow. Also, the queen has now been changed to a central defensive unit that can essentially add buffs to your units and buildings. Check it out:

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Here’s some Zerg video clips I found from ThisIsGame.com demonstrating the Zerg in action! Check them out:

Personally the Zerg was my favorite race in the original Starcraft and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing some more Zerg!

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The long awaited Zerg have been revealed over at the official Starcraft 2 site! Here’s some of the preliminary information: (thanks to Starcraft-Source.com)

Units:

Roaches

• Very fast speed + high regeneration rate
• Absorbs lot of damage so without focus fire on this unit, it won’t be easily killed

Overload:

• Creates creep, more special abilities are added, slow + no attack
• Has some kind of disruption skill but is not a detector
• Can mutate into Overseer

Overseer

• Detector; can see far away

Queen

• Completely different from Queen of original Starcraft
• Very powerful, can own only one queen at a time
• It is land unit and can attack
• Many special abilities including creating defensive buildings, toxic creep + tunnel
• It can mutate and the mutated Queen can make Deep Tunnel (teleport to any Zerg building??)

(Toxic Creep)

• Damages units on this kind of creep

(Swarm Infestation)

• Temporarily turn Zerg buildings into defensive fortress

(Regeneration)

• Restores HP of building quickly

Baneling

• Suicide attacker, moves like ball (rolls), mutated from Zergling

Nydus Worm

• Makes entrance/exit anywhere on the map

Infestor

• Spell support unit. Has Dark Swarm and some old Zerg spells too, can’t attack
• Moves while in burrow mode + Disease skill too
• Uses Infestation to infest buildings; Infested buildings can produce Infested marines at rapid rate
• Create aura around single unit, which damages any unit near it

Swarm Guardian

• Mutation of Mutalisks
• Has a long range attack, and can produce broodlings

Zergling

• Fast, useful in groups

Hydralisk

• Same as before

Mutalisks

• Still has “bounce” attack

Lurker

• Same as in SC I

Infested Marine

• Created from Infested buidlings, slow but similar to marines
• Perhaps has ranged attack instead of suicide bombing?

Ultralisks

• Most powerful Zerg Unit
• Has splash damage + high HP

Corruptor

• Infests other unit (it is not mind control)
• Air to Air unit
• Infested air units become stationary turrets

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Dustin Browder explained how the process of the Protoss Warp-in upgrade works:

• You build Gateways.
• You purchase the Warp-In upgrade on the Cybernetics Core.
• You select your Gateways and transform them into Warpgates This is extremely fast.
• You may select your Warpgates and transform them back into Gateways (also fast) any time you want. You would mostly do this if you wanted to reduce your Macro and rely on queues. Skilled players never go back to Gateways once they have Warpgates.

Now that you have Warp Gates:

• Select a Warpgate.
• Select a unit to build.
• Target anywhere within a power radius.
• Unit begins to warp-in where you selected.
• Warp-In is very fast.
• Unit is vulnerable during the warp-in process and can be killed before the warp-in is complete.
• Warpgate must now “cooldown” with a time equal to the build time of the unit created before it can warp-in again.

That’s how it works right now. In games it is extremely effective with Immortals and Dark Templars though I have seen it used with everything at one time or another. (By Dustin Browder)

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A screenshot of what appears to be a Zerg Ultralisk made an appearance in Rob Pardo’s power point presentation at Blizzard’s GDC ‘08 presentation. Check it out:

(Click to Enlarge)

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Gameplay Blog: This past week while playing a Terran versus Terran mirror game, I discovered a new unit option from the Factory. This new unit is known as the Jackal, which is a fast vehicle like the Vulture, but instead wields a rail gun, which does an area of effect damage in a straight line at ground units.

My opponent built the standard Marines & Medics (M&Ms) composition while I bunkered my choke point and teched straight to a Factory with a Reactor add on, which allows me to build two Jackals at one time from a single Factory.

After I built a group of 6 Jackals, I rolled onto the field with my Jackals broken up in two groups with 3 Jackals each. I engaged his M&Ms with my first group, having the Marines line up around my Jackals as they naturally do while firing. Quickly, I brought in my second group of Jackals along the side to flank the M&Ms and the line attack did the rest, killing up to 2-3 units with a single focus fire command. With a little micromanagement, I was able to decimate his whole group of 15 or so units, while only losing two Jackals. That battle gave me a significant military advantage, which eventual led to a relatively quick win.

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

Read the rest of this entry »

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1) Will it be possible to code the game so map makers can make maps where people can stop incoming spell/missile?

This should be possible through customized ability data and/or triggers.

2) Will we have selectable male/female of every unit?

No, we don’t have plans to include male and female versions of each unit.

3) Will we have the option to give players the option to change weapons in-game?

While we don’t have any plans for a specialized interface for this, it would be possible using the highly flexible ability system.

4) Will you guys link multiplayer maps, so mapmakers can make multiplayer campaigns?

Yes, we do plan to support multiplayer campaigns and linked maps.

5) Will all buildings stand alone and also can we have the ability to disable tech trees?

The tech tree will be fully configurable through customized data and/or triggers.

6) Will research or firing a skill in a certain location be part of the tech tree enabling, for example Stim Packs could be researched to enable a Factory?

Yes, the tech tree and upgrade system will be fully configurable from the editor.

7) Will it be possible for AI to be commanded to research a skill, perform an upgrade, build a building at a location, build a unit at a location, retreat from a location?

Yes, there will be extensive AI scripting support.

Will mapmakers have the ability to set weather that can change the terrain and interrupt gameplay for players? Is this for anywhere or in a specific location?

Weather effect technology has not yet been finalized. However, even if weather effects do not affect gameplay normally, it would be possible to drive both the desired weather effects and associated gameplay effects through triggers.

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Information on the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008 has been released:

The fourth Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational is coming to Europe! The event will be held at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Center, Paris, France, over the 28th and 29th of June 2008. Open to gamers from around the world, the Worldwide Invitational will feature a wide variety of activities, including:

• Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers
• Artist and developer signings
• Professional eSport tournaments and casual tournaments for attendees
• Hands-on play with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II
• Merchandise and other products based on the Blizzard Entertainment game universes
• Silent auction
• Musical performances
• And more…

To attend the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational, you must purchase tickets in advance here on the Worldwide Invitational website. Tickets are limited and will go on sale in the next few weeks on a first-come, first-served basis until they are sold out, though Blizzard Entertainment reserves the right to sell additional tickets in the future. There will be a five-ticket limit per household. Further details on purchasing tickets will follow in the weeks ahead.

Tournaments:

The 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational will feature exciting eSport tournaments drawing top Warcraft III, StarCraft and World of Warcraft Arena players from around the world. Check here as the event draws closer for more information on tournament brackets and player profiles.

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Gameplay Blog: This week I had to learn the hard way a change in our latest build of StarCraft II, which the Devs conveniently forgot to tell me about. As Protoss, I did my standard dual Gateway build, scouting to find that a lone SCV building a bunker outside of my base. In my mind, I thought, OK- a standard bunker rush, no problem! Build 2 Zealots and then hit the Bunker.

As it was a small 2 player map, my opponent was able to bring in a single Marine and Medic very soon, especially with the SCV repairing the Bunker at a very fast rate. As he repaired, I chased the SCV around the Bunker and attacked the Bunker with my other Zealots. To my disbelief, the Medic inside the Bunker was healing the SCV outside of the Bunker. Soon enough, another SCV showed up to repair the Bunker, as well as a Marauder, slowing my Zealots before they could reach the Bunker. At this point I had lost my initial two Zealots, but I had built four more. At the same time, my opponent now had a Marauder, Medic, and Marine, with 2 SCVs guarding the Bunker. These SCVs were impossible to kill since they were both running around the Bunker, being healed at the same time, while my Zealots were slowed and shot at by the Bunker. When my Zealots attacked the Bunker, the SCVs repaired the Bunker. Needless to say, the standard Bunker rush is not so standard anymore. With Terrans Salvage ability, being able to deconstruct Terran buildings for 100% of the cost back, adds to the devastating effect of a StarCraft II Bunker push. On top of that, adding a Ghost in the Bunker, allows for Sniping within the Bunker, as well as huge range, making it an effect pushing structure before you tech to Siege Tanks. Thanks for letting me know guys GG.

As always, feel free to give the Devs and I a w00t if your enjoying these Q&As!(50) Discuss this Story

—StarCraft II Q&A Batch 29—

1. Do the Terrans currently have a purely dedicated anti-air unit filling the role of the Wraith and Goliath? (sc2pod.com)

No, the Terran Viking is currently their primary anti-air unit, which is built from the Factory. The Viking can currently shoot both ground and air when in ground mode, and is able to transform into an air to air fighter, for better mobility and economy raids.

2. Do the Auto Turrets built by the Nomad attack randomly like the bunkers in the original StarCraft or will the player be able to choose the target similar to the Missile Tower? (broodwar.de)

Auto Turrets can be controlled by the player as if it were a stationary unit. You can both group them and focus fire with them. When they are not given an order, they will fire at the nearest enemy within range.

The Nomads second construction option, which is the Mine Drone, will not be able to be controlled by the player as easily. The Mine Drone is a stationary defense structure, which places four mines around it, and then immediately cloaks both the mines and the structure. Similar to the Spider Mines from the original StarCraft, these mines will wreck havoc on an incoming army without the ability to see cloaked units. The mines does a base damage of 50 plus an additional 50 damage to armored units. On top of that, the Mine Drone replaces the mines after they detonate, temporarily revealing the Mine Drone structure. Similar to the Auto Turret, both of these structures will cost energy to build from the Nomad, and will have a very minimum setup time.

3. With the Reaver removed, and his siege role moved to the Warp Ray, what will take his splash role? (TheWarCenter.net)

The Protoss Colossus now has a linear splash damage beam attack, which blazes enemies in a horizontal area of effect, from where the Colossus is facing. Like all area of effect attacks, the Colossuss beam is excellent at annihilating close groups of M&Ms (Marines and Medics) and mass Zealots.

4. With water featured on some of your maps, will this allow modders to try new game ideas that may make use of water? (StarCraftZone.com)

This should be possible, though much of this experimentation will have to be left up to the modders. I am sure there will be amazing mod creations the community will come up with.

5.What is the status of StarCraft IIs AI?(sclegacy.com)

StarCraft IIs AI (artificial intelligence) is definitely superior to Brood War in many ways, though most notably, the AI does a great deal more of scouting, and makes decisions according to what it has found during those scouting missions. Unsuccessful scouting missions, similar to what a player might experience would tend to lead towards a more standard type of army build or continued scouting.

—End of Transmission—

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Karune and the Dev team have posted this week’s Q&A.There’s a lot of interesting information, including discussion about the second BlizzCast episode, the return of the Thor to a ground-only attacking unit, the High Templar’s loss of its forcefield ability, and mechanics behind the Phoenix’s abilities.

Hope everyone had a great week! Make sure to keep that Q&A Questions thread packed, as we are making plans to tackle Q&As both in these batches, as well as the BlizzCast. Post your questions to be considered for Q&As here: http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=sc2-general&t=9620&p=1&#post9620

Chat with Devs: It has been a busy week, in which I had a chance to talk to multiple Devs this and I am happy to say that we have finished recording for our second episode of BlizzCast. We have also added a mini Q&A section to the show, to get direct answers straight from the developers!

Gameplay Blog: Following up on the last game I played in Batch 27, I had mentioned the Terran Marauder being a huge factor in my defeat. This new Terran unit visually looks similar to the Firebat, but instead packs the punch of dual Concussion Grenades (also able to be Stim Packed), which slows the movement rate of biological units, and also does additional bonus damage to armored units. These units are excellent at supporting any pack of Marines & Medics, with the ability to slow charging Zealots, as well as fast moving Zerg units. Playing as Terran, there is a sense of relief, when you watch an incoming army slowed down considerably, to be mowed down by your Stim Packed Marines. In addition, because the Marauders are able to be built at a Barracks with a Tech Lab, they are considered formidable early support units, able to pick off units of a weaker early game army.

As always, feel free to give the Devs and I a w00t if your enjoying these Q&As!

Source: Battle.net Forums

Click below to read the rest of the Q&A

(67) Discuss this Story

—StarCraft II Q&A Batch 28—

1. I noticed the Stalker “Blink” ability looked as though it was on a cooldown (similar to many abilities in World of Warcraft). This seems appropriate for some abilities, but is this restricted to the Stalker or will other units have abilities on cooldowns rather than energy? (Battle.net Malorn)

Currently, the Protoss Stalkers Blink ability is on a 15 second cooldown and is one of the only abilities that do not require energy. One of the reasons this was done for the Stalkers Blink, was to make sure that players wouldnt have the problem of having only part of their Stalker army blink up on a hill with some left behind. The Protoss Phoenix also carries an Overload ability, which is based on a cooldown timer rather than energy. Whether the Stalker or the Phoenix will use energy or not, will be mostly determined through much more balance testing.

2. The Thor now is anti-aircraft unit, but will it continue to have surface-to-surface attacks? (www.Sc2-esp.com)

In the current build, the Thors role has been changed to exclusively hit ground units, putting the transforming Viking back in the primary role as an air to air fighter. The Terran Viking is also now built from the Factory rather than the Starport.

3. In the original SC, powers like Irradiate and Psionic Storm affected cloaked units and killed them even if you couldn’t see them. Will the Phoenix’s Overload ability target cloaked units as well? (Battle.net DrakeClawFang)
Yes, the Phoenixs Overload ability does affect cloaked units, such as Terran Banshees. The Devs are all for these types of soft counters.

4. Does energy regenerate at about the same speed as in normal SC? Since the game goes faster, has that been speed up too? (Battle.net nerdpride)

Energy regenerates at the same speed as the original StarCraft. At the fastest game speed, both StarCraft II and the original should feel the same in terms of speed.

5. Now that the Force Field ability has been moved to the Nullifier, what other abilities does the Templar have? Does he still have Hallucination? (Battle.net Blazur)

The Hallucination ability has been cut from the High Templar. Instead, it will have an Anti-Gravity ability in addition to its classic Psi Storm ability. This ability will allow a High Templar to lift up buildings and units in the air, disabling their movement and attack, while also making them an air target. This ability can be cast on Supply Depots blocking choke points, as well as incoming Thors, or even Pylons powering a base. This has been the first ability the Devs have been comfortable with, in giving players a real choice to be made, to use Psi Storm or the Anti-Gravity ability. This ability is still being balanced, in terms of the duration units and buildings will stay in the air, energy cost, and if it will be a channeling spell (which means the High Templar will be unable to move or cast other abilities while casting the Anti-Gravity ability).

6. Will there be an icon on the left hand side of the screen to alert the player of idle workers? (Battle.net- Elminster)

Yes, we currently have the ability to select idle workers built into the UI.

—End of Transmission—

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The Starcraft II website has updated its game content with Jim Raynor’s biography:

“Jim Raynor was a Confederate marshal on Mar Sara at the time of the first zerg incursions on that world. Despite bravely fighting the alien aggressors and saving many lives, he was arrested by Confederacy forces on the pretext of destroying Confederate property at Backwater Station. When he was subsequently liberated by Arcturus Mengsk’s Sons of Korhal, an anti-Confederate revolutionary group, Raynor chose to fight alongside them.

Mengsk’s hunger for power and his growing lack of scruples soon began to trouble Raynor. Eventually Mengsk’s betrayal of his own lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan and his ruthless manipulation of the zerg to attack Confederacy-held worlds showed Raynor that Mengsk was no better than the oppressors he sought to overthrow. Raynor led a revolt within the ranks of the Sons of Korhal and seized Mengsk’s personal flagship, the Hyperion, and a small fleet of ships. While attempting to rescue Kerrigan from the zerg planet Char, Raynor encountered protoss there and gained the respect of the valiant Executor Tassadar. Raynor’s bluff honesty enabled him to forge a bond between Tassadar and the dark templar Zeratul…”

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