Keep it coming, Karune! Only a day after publishing three new, explosive pictures, batch #21 of the Q&A sessions has been posted on Battle.net. As usual, we get a glimpse into the world of StarCraft 2 development and see a few of our questions answered.

The Chat with Devs section deals with the new Terran Nomad ability that’s been revealed yesterday, the stationary “Auto-Turret“:

Chat with Devs: Since the Terran Ghost has an upgradable EMP ability, the Terran Nomad’s has been given the ability to create stationary defenses in addition to its Defense Matrix ability. One of the new stationary defenses is the Auto-Turret, which can attack ground units, and this unit be seen on this screenshot:

We are hoping the Nomad’s new abilities will innovate its role, in addition to being a detector.

Here’s what Karune had to say about these turrets:

Karune: The turrets are dropped by the Nomad (using energy), acting as decent defenses, and even better harassment, if used by a skilled player.

It looks like the Nomad has a nicely defined role on the battlefield as the ultimate support unit. A company of stimmed Marines will greatly benefit from an increased survival time under the Defensive Matrix, while the Auto-Turret ability supplies additional firepower where needed – perhaps when the Nomad detects a pack of approaching Dark Templars.

The only question left right now is – will it also get Irradiate?

On to the questions:

1. Do you have any plan to put the auto-casting ability into StarCraft II units, just like in Warcraft III?

 

At the moment, Medics are the only units that we have deemed fit to have an auto-cast ability. StarCraft II, compared to Warcraft III, has fewer abilities but are much more potent when executed properly, thus making them manual cast will give players a huge opportunity to demonstrate much skill in the game.

This question and its variants have been appearing in Q&As since the dawn of time (ok, maybe not that far back). StarCraft fans are understandably worried about auto-casting and its effect on the skill required to play the game. So far, the Terran Medic is the only smart unit on the battlefield when it comes to automatically casting spells and intelligently interpreting orders. What about Auto-Repair for SCVs?

2. Would you make it possible for players on observing mode to check various information including a mini map, upgrading status, and resource status on a personal window? If not, would you consider developing this function?

 

These are all great ideas and we will work to get these in for observing mode. We will be working hard to have the observing mode innovative and comprehensive, building upon all the features that were in our previous RTS titles, as well as other titles in the market.

 

3. Will the story of StarCraft II be continued right from where the original StarCraft story ended? Or, will it begin at the moment after some amount of time passed since the last time of the original StarCraft?

 

The StarCraft II storyline will continue 4 years after the events of Brood War.

Isn’t this common knowledge by now? Maybe Blizzard can try putting up a sticky FAQ post with some basic information. Remember our take on the events that caused the 4 years hiatus between wars?

4. It is not possible to watch how a mouse was moved in a saved replay game. Could you make this possible to see the movement of mouse?

 

We would also like the mouse to be viewable in saved replays, however, it may be more likely that well have the options to show both the view of the players playing as well as selection icons of the units being currently selected in the replay.

 

5. When grouping units to a control group, how many units could be added to one group?

 

Currently, players are able to select more than 150 units in a single control group. The final actual number will be determined by hardware performance tests on the game, but should still be close to that number.

Gone are the days of limited selection. A lot has already been said about this issue, which is still the cause of heated debates. This is a huge increase from StarCraft 1, which only allowed up to 12 units to be selected at the same time.

6. Players often tend to stack up workers and air units looking as one group in original StarCraft. Will this still be possible in StarCraft II?

 

In StarCraft II, this is harder to do than in the original StarCraft, but still possible. Units tend to group together more and more with each manual attack order. As long as you keep giving that manual attack order upon a target certain attacking units of the same type will group closer together. When the unit attacked upon is destroyed or the units become idle, they will naturally spread out again.

In StarCraft 1, selecting and giving order to air units along with ground units (even immovable ones, like the Larva) would clump up the air units, allowing them to function as one. This “feature” was sometimes abused to make pinpoint attacks that deal a lot of damage, instantly killing units, without spreading the attacking forces. It appears that Blizzard has implemented measures to lessen this effect in StarCraft 2, but the final result remains to be seen.

Related Posts:

• » Two Massive Q&A Sessions: Battle.Net and Beta In-Depth
• » StarCraft 2 Beta: Protoss Strategies Overview
• » StarCraft 2 Beta: Yo Mommaship Got Nerfed
• » One Week Into The StarCraft 2 Beta: New Patch, Blizzcast

10 Comments to “Q&A 21: The Sound of 150 Nomads Casting Auto-Turret”

1. ErkZ — November 14, 2007 @ 8:17 am
   

   Is there a possibility of observers messaging the people they’re watching to give unfair advantages?

2. Eros — November 14, 2007 @ 8:57 am
   

   Nice stuff o/
   I’d like to see the Auto-turret in action
   But i think Protoss need some more attention too.. will they end up only with was shown?
   And, of course. ZERG! We need Zerg!

3. Ken — November 14, 2007 @ 6:57 pm
   

   I don’t buy the new auto turret ability. Of course I might be wrong since only a very few details have been revealed but even so… It doesn’t sell for me.

   If it would be like the Vulture’s spidermines in BroodWar, wherein the Nomad gets 3 of it through an Ability Research, I would get a team of nomads then use the turrets to create a path of destruction for my army to use… or I could use it to harass the opponent’s economy.

   I don’t know if that is fair… its like warping-in a phase cannon without any pylon matrix.

   As i said before, we don’t know the full details of the auto turret so, I could be wrong.

   Great update, by the way!!!! Solid work SC2 blog team!!!

4. aaron — November 14, 2007 @ 11:47 pm
   

   I’m interested in seeing where the auto-turret will go. At first, I thought it was too “Warcraft 3″, but now I think it could be a neat ability with potential to be micro’d well.
   I think some sort of “unpacking” animation is required in order for the ability to make visual sense. In addition, I think the turret should be fairly weak, especially against larger units. its main role in battle would be tactical – you’d slow down a swarm of flanking zerglings, harass workers, or drop it on top of a siege tank.

5. Feezy — November 15, 2007 @ 9:16 pm
   

   I like the idea on having be able to drop on top of the siege tank. I think the turrets should be on a time clock and run out of energy and dissapear after a few seconds.

6. Feezy — November 15, 2007 @ 9:29 pm
   

   Actually i have a little bit more to say period. I’m dissapointed with the Protoss already given that they look so unrealistic and cartoony. Also, whats up with everything having area of effect? I think the ghost is a little out of whack but i do love the idea of giving it an EMP upgrade. The marines are awesome but I’d love to see their HP’s get up to about hydralisk strength considering they A. get shields and B. are upgraded from the brood war. Firebats always sucked ass, give the terran a diesel melee unit already and seriously I want the missle turret gone and bunkers upgradable to attack manually or with increased attack with garrisoned marines. Back to the Protoss though honestly… A MOTHERSHIP, WARP RAY, CARRIER, AAAAAANNNNND an anti zerg air: thats just over the top fuck the carrier shit was gay in the first place. ON TO THE ZERG I read a few older blogs oday, since I stumbled on this site today, and I loved the idea that a zerg unit could spit creep since the terran can build anywhere and the protoss being totally lame and cheap once again can TELEPORT FUCKING UNITS AND BUILDINGS with the phase prism. I also liked the wings ability allowing the lings to jump around the map, or a unit that would do that job a little better. Basically I’ve been witing like 8 years for this, and I want it to be perfect. I know for a fact Blizzard will take care of me, because they always have, but seriously I hope whats on the website changes a good deal before press release. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK GUYS!

7. Chucky — November 16, 2007 @ 2:25 am
   

   I have been waiting for 8 years too.

   at first I was expecting MUCH more, like near new format of combat… etc.

   then when I saw the demo, I told myself, ‘well, this is still cool.. probably just a prototype, for that, looks kewl.’

   then.. so far.. nothing excited.
   same old unit to size ratio, better renderings, friendly UI, but… really, nothing that’s NEW to us, besides a unit or two.

   I kinda hope this is their April fool’s joke, and the real thing turns out to be MIND INSPIRING.

8. whiteknight — November 16, 2007 @ 5:25 am
   

   Chucky
   i really wish that
   sc2 are not just sc upgrade graphics + few unit per race too.

9. Dill — November 16, 2007 @ 12:22 pm
   

   Starcraft 2 seems like a similar sequel as civilization 2 actualy, with a lot of smaller changes but still the same overall style (Which I’m fine with, though more changes would be neat.)

10. Starcraft 2 fan — December 21, 2007 @ 12:35 pm
    

    the turrents kinda look like the sentry gun in the SC1 cinematic that blew up a dragoon…but got blown up by more dragoons (and the cool arbiter flying across the horizon)