Karune, Blizzard’s RTS community manager, has posted the weekly batch of answers to questions submitted by fans.

This batch starts with a preface about a few issues that have been bugging just about every StarCraft fan who’s been following the game’s development:

I know many of you are wondering what Blizzard is up to now with StarCraft II… such as what is happening with the Mothership? Is it going to be unique or not? Are the Reavers going to be back or are they permanently removed?

 

Right now the devs are working hard in testing what is right for StarCraft II, and what can be improved with other functions or new units. Once we are more sure on those answers, be sure we will let you know.

 

Either way, be sure StarCraft II will be finished at Blizzard’s highest standard, and we hope to surpass your expectations.

On to the answers.

1) Will map sizes in StarCraft II be similar or larger than the maps in the original StarCraft?

 

Map sizes can fluctuate on a per-map basis, but generally the playable area on maps are about the same. The terrain cells were converted over into the new editor to proportionally match the original StarCraft (i.e. 128×128 SC1 is about the same as 128×128 in SC2 ).

 

2) Will StarCraft II Heroes have unique abilities?

 

Heroes will have unique abilities different from regular unit abilities. Heroes will be playable only for single player and will not be a part of the multiplayer skirmish experience.

 

3) Will the Terrans be weak to melee without the Firebat?

 

Dont worry, the Terrans will have plenty of other counters to melee units. Nonetheless, because we know there are so many people who do love the Firebat unit, it will be in the map editor.

It’s good to hear about more and more units from the original game making it to the sequel, if only to the map editor . This will allow players (or perhaps Blizzard themselves!) to create a “StarCraft Classic” mod - emulating the original game on the new engine very easily. Hopefully, Blizzard will choose recreate all the units from StarCraft 1, even if they don’t make it to StarCraft 2.

4) Will Mutalisks attack still hit multiple targets?

 

Yes, the Zerg Mutalisk unit is currently designed to hit multiple units with a single attack.

We’ve known this since the very first minutes of the original StarCraft 2 introduction in may, as we have discussed in our “The Zerg So Far” post.

5) Will a submerged supply depot still be able to be attacked? Will it have more hit points while submerged?

 

Yes, the submerged supply depot will still be able to be attacked, and no it will not have more hit points. The ability to submerge a supply depot is designed to allow units to move over them strategically. Players will not only be able to keep enemies out, allow friendly units to pass through, but they are also powerful roadblocks in separating incoming armies in 2.

It will be interesting to see how inventive players get with this new feature.

We’d rather get answers to more interesting issues, though. What is happening with the Mothership, really?

Update: Karune responds to another question in the thread.

Q:

 

Karune, you said that Supply Depos can cut attacking forces in two. That mean Depos can lift while units are on top of them? What happens to those units?

 

A:

 

Units on top of the supply depot get pushed to the side they are closest to.

7 Comments to “StarCraft 2 Official Q&A 11: Back To Five Answers”

1. whiteknight — September 1, 2007 @ 2:03 pm
   

   i really like that idea for cut attacking force in two

2. dp02 — September 1, 2007 @ 2:50 pm
   

   Once again, this was a pretty worthless batch. The only thing interesting was about the heros and supply depots. I mean what was that about the mutalisks? Its been that way since the beginning.

3. Starfeeder — September 1, 2007 @ 6:27 pm
   

   I can’t wait to see the depots used to “lock” enemy units in.

4. Mercutio — September 1, 2007 @ 9:57 pm
   

   Yeah, I forsee people doing all kinds of things like building a whole grid of depots and raising and lowering them to really mess with enemies trying to maneuver. Especially the Zerg. The Swarm doesn’t like it when they can’t Swarm.

5. Asker — September 2, 2007 @ 6:55 pm
   

   But won’t the attacking units attack the depots automatically? or does the player need to explicitly target the depots? Hmmm .. makes me want to think of two/three ‘attack ground’ modes like ‘attack buildings only’, ‘attack enemy units only’ or both nyehehehe ..

6. Ken — September 2, 2007 @ 9:56 pm
   

   IF THERE ARE NO UNITS NEARBY, THEY WILL ATTACK ANY NEARBY ENEMY STRUCTURE. IF THE SUBMERGED DEPOT IS THE NEAREST, THEN IT GETS ATTACKED. UNITS WON’T ATTACK THE DEPOT FIRST IF A BUNCH OF MARINES ARE FIRING AT IT FROM BEHIND THE DEPOT.

7. Asker — September 3, 2007 @ 3:36 am
   

   @Ken - yp .. i was thinking of the idea where people were gonna play with enemy units by popping up and down depots and assumed that there are only depots nyehehe .. :p ..