Poll
Loading ...-
Subscribe
-
Translate
02
One week after the introduction of its sworn enemy - the Terran Sensor Tower, this week’s update features the Protoss Observer.
These small drones are employed to survey vast wasteland areas or observe and record battles for study within the protoss archives. Their complex sensor array leaves little energy for defenses, but they can detect cloaked or concealed enemies with ease. This ability makes observers invaluable auxiliary units on the battlefield.
The Observer is a very specialized support unit. It has no means of actively affecting the battlefield - it completely lacks any form of attack, and has no special abilities. Observers only have two, very important features:
* Detection.
* Large sight radius.
These features make the Observer a great unit to have in abundance. A smart commander will have Observers positioned in strategic locations, both as intelligence gatherers and as defensive detectors for Protoss bases and army concentrations. In StarCraft 1, upgrades from the Observatory also provided the Observers with increased speed and an increased sight radius, allowing them to cover huge areas of the battlefield.
Of course, these abilities would be a lot less effective if the Observer didn’t have another passive ability: Cloaking. Since the Observer is a small unit that lacks an attack, it can remain permanently hidden from sight. This allows players to keep many of them around the battlefield, acting as eyes in the sky for Protoss commanders, while staying relatively safe from harm. The Observers are very fragile units, and since they function as the Protoss’ only mobile detectors, their microcloaking fields are essential for offensive operations.
The only drawback to this unique unit is that it required the Robotic Facility, coupled with an Observatory, to be built. Many Protoss builds left these buildings out completely, preventing players from taking advantage of the best detector/intelligence gathering unit in the game. Will the StarCraft 2 Observer become more available? According to the most recent tech-tree we have, the situation won’t be very different - it requires both the Robotic Facility and Null Circuit to be built.
19 Comments to “New StarCraft 2 Protoss Unit Page: The Observer”
StarCraft 2 Q&A 19: Exploding Doodads and Protoss Nutrition »
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners.
All the Rest © SC2 blog 2009
the warping in animation looks stinking awesome
OMFG THIS IS THE BEST UPDATE EVAAAAAARRR! ….what…we had this unit all ready?
I am surprised they went several week without updates instead of doing stuff like siege tanks, bunkers, phase cannons, etc. that are pretty much guaranteed to be in. (Or as guaranteed as possible as the game develops.)
and I was hoping the observe will at least have one ability more…
*sigh*
#4
I was hoping that it didn’t have any extra abilities.
Good for me :D, though hope its easier to tech now. pzlxxx
The observatory has always been a strange building.
you build it, and it really has no other use.
how about giving protoss buildings some kind of new ability all together?
Okay Blizzard just make Starcraft with better graphics then!
agree with jibbiajabba
however this is first time i see how stalker attack
been saying that all along.
so far,
SC2 is just SC with better graphics and a bit of new units.
it is really more of an expansion pack.
Did anyone really expect anything different? Really?
This all comes down to Korea, in my opinion. Blizzard basically CAN’T fuck with Starcraft, they simply can’t; its taken on a life of its own. I think personally that if they could have gotten away with simply straight-up revamping the original Starcraft with better graphics and some improved AI and control schemes, -they would have-.
As it stands, there’s no way in hell they’re going to risk killing the goose that laid the golden egg. OF COURSE SC2 will be an incremental upgrade that’s more like an expansion.
Oh, right! This post was nominally about a unit.
The Observer was always an odd bird; best scouting unit in a game heavily dependent on scouting, but 1) available incredibly deep in the tech tree, and 2) by the time you get it everyone and his DUCK has detector units running ’round the battlefield. Still and all, they could make the Observatory a BIT more useful.
# battlarmd — November 3, 2007 @ 5:00 am
been saying that all along.
so far,
SC2 is just SC with better graphics and a bit of new units.
it is really more of an expansion pack.
—–
Broodwar was an expansion pack, learn the difference. I’m sure if they turned it into a 3rd Person Action-Adventure game that’d suit your tastes for a true sequel.
Josh — November 4, 2007 @ 10:27 am
Broodwar was an expansion pack, learn the difference.
—–
Or try learn what others have to say instead of sounding rude…. Your comments are far from productive, if I were you, I won’t post unless I have a point.
so here’s mind:
I happen agree with Battlarmd up there.
so far it is more of a HUGE expansion pack with a new graphical engine. Why I say this? Example, Between Warcrafts, each Warcraft has new interfaces, new tech lines, new RACES, and some way, some new aspect that makes the old way of balancing things obsolete. That’s why Blizz were making hits after hits.
Right now though, SC1 and SC2.. seriously. I mean the graphics are nicer, MUCH nicer, but it is REALLY, not so different, it’s a remake of SC1 with technology today, keeping everything the same. (pretty much) I mean, look at the observer, it is a copy and paste, instead of trying to take each opportunity to be more innovative.
If they ‘add’ another level of fighting for units in ORBIT, (aside from land units and air units) now THAT will be new, but I can so feel how hardcore SC1 fans will just hate that. =p but in reality, change is needed, for the last 2 months, my friends has all turned from talking about how exciting sc2 is, to how ‘nothing is exciting’ about sc2… that’s how it is.
will I buy SC2? yes, definitely. But it almost feel like it is for the sake of ‘old times’. Unlike when I bought sc1, when it was about, ‘Screw warcraft! this Starcraft is twenty times better!’.
see the difference?
Quoting Chucky:
“will I buy SC2? yes, definitely. But it almost feel like it is for the sake of ‘old times’. Unlike when I bought sc1, when it was about, ‘Screw warcraft! this Starcraft is twenty times better!’.”
I was in 5th grade when I first played Warcraft, and I enjoyed it for it was the first RTS game I played. But during high school, STARCRAFT came, I saw it, learned it and enjoyed it even more. I completely forgot about Warcraft (until Warcraft 3 came).
Until today, I am still enjoying Starcraft, maybe not by playing the game, but by viewing professional gamers in Korea. Stating it in a mushy way, Starcraft has become part of my adolescent life. (>_<)
So yes, I will purchase Starcraft 2 because I trust that Blizzard will give me the same entertainment that I enjoyed during the BroodWar days. No doubt about it.
En taro Adun, Blizzard!!!
@Chucky
I’ll add some Pandas with some bamboo with your “true” sequel.
The fact is, it’s a sequel, and there is no point in changing the drastic formula.
If it aint broke, don’t fix it.
Josh — November 5, 2007 @ 1:20 am
Pardon if I sound like I am trying to argue, such will not be my intention, merely debating.
you said:
>If it aint broke, don’t fix it.
Then why bother making a game at all? I am glad some others also agree with me about SC2 being more of an expansion pack, but the whole idea about a ’sequel’ or ‘new game’, is that You got your old story line, game play (RTS), but then there are NEW challenges in the game, new aspect.
Why I call SC2 an expansion pack?
cause all that is different is graphics, and a few units per race, even the tech tree is almost identical, meaning for experience SC1 players, the learning curve is rather shallow, and hence.. not much to explore with. Which make this really.. just an extension of SC1, a UBER expansion pack, and far from a new game. There isn’t any new level of game dynamics, not even a new race to choose for…
If blizz can add a race.
OR add FACTIONS for races.
Or like Chucky mentioned, add a whole new layer of units.
THAT will make it a new game.
Not a mere “re-do”
Orbit level actually seems like an interesting idea (and a lot of extra units could be added to make it interesting and worthwhile.)
Another idea might be to add extra resources (besides the yellow minerals), and/or extra resource storage and gathering methods, to provide more to do on the base management side.
Thanks Dill, I do think having things in Orbit level will really make this ‘Starcraft’. Just an idea though, no idea how they can do things, but people want BIG UNITS, and that is a dimension of space that I think allows such…
from Bombarting from Orbit, to being part of the schematics of Terran Pod drops.. there must be a million things we can do with that to make it realistic. And having to build attacks to shoot things down from Orbit also sounds really fun, maybe even allow ’some units’ to be both air and Orbit, and they can go in and out.. Protoss will have the edge on this part of the game. But of course, Air units in orbit will be weakened somehow, and Orbit units remains to be made for Orbit. You can send your ship on orbit, or attack other attackers.
Like you said, the mechanism of economy gathering can also change too, like an upgrade to make mining more effective is also a favorable new tech tree direction to explore into. (Expanding the forge’s tech tree)
I really hope to see more new things.
Keep your fingers crossed dudes.
Hello all .. just a thought ..
maybe all this previews and revelations are just decoys? sort of like a fall-guy .. just to generate some attention but the real thing (which could be veerrry different) is actually hidden away from the prying eyes of the sc1 fanatics and sc fanbase. what do you think? .. possible? or do I sound like a conspiracy theorist?
YES, YOU SOUND LIKE A CONSPIRACY THEORIST…