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The 35th batch of questions and answers has been posted on Battle.net by Karune, Blizzard’s RTS community manager. This one includes an elaborate Gameplay Blog section, a Chat with the Devs, and eight (!) answers.
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.
The Protoss’ new defense mechanism has been transferred to the Zerg; Phase Cannons can no longer switch to energy form and move around, but the Zerg’s defensive colonies can now “uproot” and slowly creep towards a better Creep-infested location. Like the Phase Cannon in energy form, the Sunken and Spore colonies are more vulnerable when traveling.
This new mechanism, coupled with the Queen’s ability to extend creep and the Overlord’s ability to generate a small patch, will certainly prove useful for both defensive and offensive purposes.
How are the new defensive colonies created?
The Queen still creates all the defenses for the Zerg.
A question pops up: Will the mobile colonies be able to traverse Creep-less land, like Phase Cannons could energy-less ground?
The Gameplay Blog for this batch is actually longer than the Q&A section. It provides some insight into Terran 1v1 tactics at the Blizzard HQ:
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 mayrespond 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.
The Terrans, masters of turtling, have plenty of effective options to choose from - and all in the safety of their well protected base, often without the enemy knowing what to prepare for.
The Banshee rush is reminiscent of the StarCraft 1 pre-nerf Wraith rush. Both units are relatively high up in the tech tree, requiring the player to neglect the push for a normal, balanced force in the early game, but aren’t high enough that they can’t be produced in adequate numbers quickly. The Stealth capability both possess allow them to completely devastate an enemy’s economy, or at least harass his forces, without taking any losses, long enough for the Terran player to establish a substantial advantage. Unfortunately for Terran players, the Wraith’s anti-ground attack was greatly nerfed early on, making this tactic somewhat suicidal. With the Banshee’s clear role as a ground bomber, the Wraith rush of the old days may be brought back in StarCraft 2.
A noteworthy change has taken place for the Reapers, who can now jump up cliffs even without having vision of their destination. This, along with their bonus damage against light units, means Reapers are currently the best economy raiders of StarCraft 2, and all that without mentioning their powerful, regenerating mine laying ability.
On to the Q&A:
1. Do Banelings damage nearby friendly units when they explode onto an enemy target?
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.
This answers a question that’s been brought up often in comments about the Baneling, which is now being scrutinized in this month’s discussion.
2. When a Nydus Worm is detected, is it possible to shoot it down while it is traveling?
Yes, having detectors in strategic places will keep you from being surprised by an unexpected Nydus Worm showing up in your base.
Another question we’ve had for a while. The Nydus Worm can be intercepted and destroyed before popping up in the middle of your base, probably killing its passengers in the process.
3. Does the Nydus Worm, a ground unit, move through open space?
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?
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?
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?
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
The Mothership has received a huge change, again, and will serve as a unique support unit. It is now slow and sturdy, and functions similarly to an always-deployed Phase Prism - allowing units to warp-in directly to it. Its Time Bomb and Black Hole (Vortex?) abilities have been removed, but no word has been given regarding its Arbiter-like Cloak. However, it’s safe to assume it no longer possesses the powerful “Planet-Cracker” ability either. As a support unit, it can still transfer energy down to spell-casters below it - perhaps signifying that it has no more energy-dependent abilities of its own, functioning only as a large battery for Protoss casters.
Another interesting change is to the Warp Gate mechanism: In an effort to increase the reward given to high-APM players, the queue-less Warp Gates have received a small boost in efficiency. Players who choose to relinquish the Gateway’s queue in favor of the Warp Gate’s more efficient warping technology, even when warping in itself is not required, will be able to enjoy a small increase in productivity - as long as they’re willing to babysit the Warp Gate constantly throughout.
7. Will Phase Cannons be able to rematerialize on an allys Pylon Power, or an enemys Pylon Power for that matter?
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?
Yes.
39 Comments to “Q&A 35: Walking Colonies, Flying Worms, Batterships”
StarCraft 2 April Discussion Topic: The Baneling »
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Idea about the whole movement, they could JUMP out of the land and basically shoot to the next section of land, increased speed would happen during this time
I suspect they will have the phase cannon movement back in the next build. If not, then… then we will destroy them.
Banelings go BOOM, only on the enemy! YAY! That reduces the need for mini-management/spacing, and makes them quite powerful in packs. I foresee lots of surprise attacks, Nydus Worm ambushes, and various “screening” tactics, such as sending a pack of Zerglings first, Dark Swarm to make them immune to ranged, or using your Ally to make them immune in one way or another: Defensive Matrix to push them through focus fire?
If the Terrans have M&M(&M?), then the Zerg have Nydus Wurms and Banelings and Infesters. Nydus Wurms to get them all in there, Infesters to protect the Banelings and Infest Buildings and get Infested Marines, and Banelings to kill everything else or destroy buildings when the Marines run out.
Now that I’ve gotten the Baneling fanboy-moment out of my system, I went back for a re-read, and it seems that the Overlord/Queen combo I mentioned WAAAAY back during the 36-hour Zerg news rush is possible: Overlords create Creep, Queen creates defenses, possibly with Swarm Infestation/Poison Creep for some extra firepower. Sounds kind of silly, but I wonder if there will be a distinct “turtling” strategy among Zerg players? Or should I say, “Creeping forward?”
Heck, you do it enough, you just might be able to re-inforce your Baneling/Infestor combo with some Swarm Infestation-ed Sunken Colonies. Or maybe you need two people, I’m not sure anyone besides a certain Korean champ could get THAT many Actions Per Minute. XDDD
Sigh. The Mothership was way too cool to be a support unit. But well, as long as it still can shoot multiple targets, that will be ok, I guess.
really wish to see infest protoss.
but why my friend send same batch to me but has some different ?
this is what he send
1. Do Banelings damage nearby friendly units when they explode onto an enemy target? (www.starcraft2.com.au)
Yes, in the current build the Banelings do damage friendly units caught in the splash. The splash damage also covers its area of effect range evenly, doing the same damage throughout the whole area.
<—–yes or no ?
Karune made a mistake, he later editted his post. This is new post and source: http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?FN=sc2-general&T=1015863&P=1
The Mothership WAS cool, seeing the fact that we will be able to produce only ONE Mothership. But now, a support unit, with it’s spells removed?? What fear would it give other players if they spotted an enemy Mothership? All they would say is, “oh a Mothership..all I need are detectors and air support. I don’t have to worry about it Planet Cracker-ing my base open or slowing down my attacks anymore with it’s Time Bomb.”
AND, i disagree with stationary phase cannons. Why give such a unique feature of the Protoss to the Zerg? Yes, the Zergs are getting better and better, but now we guys, the players want to see an epic battle between all 3 races. The Terran are quite ok now.
I am not saying that you guys should weaken the Zerg a bit. My point is, if you want to add a feature for the Zerg or any other race, don’t abolish it from other races, if the feature you want to change is similar to other races i.e. moving defense structures. Isn’t it fun to see the Zerg and Protoss racing to see who gets to a base expansion first. Zergs killing Protoss Phase Prisms to prevent Pylon power while The Protoss fight off the Zerg Overlords and the Queen to prevent expansion of creep?
But with that feature gone, Protoss and Terran players will be thinking, Oh, Lord, I need to get the base fast because…the Zerg will be able to produce Overlords and Sunkerns at Tier 1!!!
It’s just an opinion from me. Maybe the Devs have your own reason to make such drastic changes, but in conclusion, my opinion are as follows:
Mothership - getting weaker and weaker. For me, it is suppose to be a MOTHERSHIP, not a support ship. For a one of a kind unit, it’s suppose to give a big boom in the game when players know that their opponent had created a Mothership.
Phase CAnnons - It has been a special ability to the Protoss. But now transfered to the Zerg…what else do Protoss have? The taste of the Protoss will decrease with the ability to move PC’s. As because one of the themes of the Protoss is WARP. warping PC’s puts a feel in the game.
SC2 is a great game for me. All said is only my opinion, but I will respect every decision made by the DEVS. No hard feelings. Peace out.
THX BarGamer
Oh, Tauren marine, i love that unit.
Protoss has phase prism anyway.
Why can’t they use that to build cannon.
It’s almost same idea if not the phase prism way is much faster.
Plus I think that moving defense fits teh zerg better as well.
don’t take away moving PC!
or maybe allow them to teleport inside power grid instead?
my vote goes for giving them moving back
As a dedicated Protoss player I feel that they are being stripped of their strengths. The mothership is just a heart breaker because it was something that defiantly made your enemies think twice before coming after you. But, now that it is simply a support ship, its lost all respect for being a useful weapon. Yes, they did give it some little unique quirks that make it a little appealing, but, it can’t replace the mothership it was to start with. Even after it had gotten some tweaks and made weaker it was still very tantalizing. Now, its just a flying battery now, which is not something i’m looking for since hardly anyone ever used the shield battery in one, few are gonna want to use a flying one at that. (And i know it gives energy and not shields, but still, not very exciting.)
The next thing that really got me was the phase cannons no longer moving, that really put a damper on any defensive plan i ever had. Without that unique ability for that structure, you might as well put the photon cannon back in and call it quits. Zerg seem to be on the rise for having and taking abilities which is already making them stronger all the time when they were already quiet powerful to begin with since they were given more time to prepare then protoss or terran. I would really prefer that i don’t have a probe sitting their at my cannons front lines ready to re-build another cannon when it could be harvesting/building something for me and i could just have some cannons in energy form ready to take the place of a already destroyed cannon.
In all honesty, the protoss are getting their unique abilities taken away and given to the zerg really isn’t fair (for lack of a better word). Yes, I can see a zerg sunken colony creeping forward to its next spot, but just because the zerg have this power, doesn’t mean they should steal it from protoss then leave them with nothing but a cannon they had in the first game. Hopefully blizzard has come up with something that will either fix this probelm, or give the protoss new defenses entirely. Whatever gets them back up to speed with a quickly evolving zerg.
I disagree with most comments. The new mothership is awesome, it has a role of its own and will not unbalance the game.
Moving sunkens are way cooler than moving cannons, visually speaking. I agree that Protoss has lost one of their cool stuff, but I’m sure Blizzard’s coming with news for them too.
I would like to officially congrat these guys at Blizzard, it’s really impressive how their engine and development method is flexible.
I think it makes sense for the protoss to be able to treat phase cannons as units for the purposes of warping them in around the map within power range. It means that protoss would be hard to sneak up on from any angle because as the attack comes in from a specific angle they can warp in defenses as needed. I think that makes the most sense for them. I both like the idea of zerg mostly having to hoof it to where ever they are going with nydus canals or on foot, while the protoss are primarily lying in wait in the void, ready to spring out at whoever needs killing.
How can ‘explosions’ “choose” what units to damage? I thought that ‘explosions’ don’t distinguish friend or foe. In another sense, I am asking, why does the baneling explosion only damage opponents? If this were true in real life then there wouldn’t be casualties from friendly fire explosions now would it?
But if it isn’t really an explosion but a corrosive splash damage then it is possible because the zerg would probably be immune from the baneling acid. But then, this mechanic would probably render the baneling useless in ZvZ unless it would be said that each zerg brood have different “acid” configuration for their banelings then I think the current baneling is good.
Just putting some little bit of insight ahehe ^_^*.
How can ‘explosions’ “choose” what units to damage? I thought that ‘explosions’ don’t distinguish friend or foe. In another sense, I am asking, why does the baneling explosion only damage opponents? If this were true in real life then there wouldn’t be casualties from friendly fire explosions now would it?
For gameplay reasons (The same way that an EMP in the original game effected biological defilers and queens, but did not effect electronic equipment on terra vehicles and infantry to slow them down somehow. There are others of course, such as mutalisks and banshees flying in space.)
@Dill - yp .. come to think of it there are indeed lot of them .. especially the one about the Banshee propellers working in space lol ..
Anyway, for another comment, I agree for a change in mechanic for the phase prism that instead of it actually moving in energy form, how about it being able to be transported or warped-in to other locations instead and just give the walking-defense-bldg mechanic to the zerg ..
..
What’s the point of calling them Phase cannons now then. Might as well just revert back to calling them Proton Cannons.
Correction: What’s the point of calling you fans now then. Might as well revert back to calling you whiny babies.
Just kidding, LOL! Seriously, nothing’s final yet. They might change it in the next build. Blizzard does not release a game until THEY say it’s good and ready. Trust in the devs. Obey the devs. Love and worship the devs. Do not fear the Devs. Fear those crazy Koreans. XDDD
“What’s the point of calling them Phase cannons now then. Might as well just revert back to calling them Proton Cannons.” -JMM
Wether the cannons can phase or not, “phase cannon” is still a cooler name that “proton* cannon”…
*which is actually “photon” by the way.
*errata - I mistakenly used phase prism instead of phase cannon in my previous comment. Failure on my part. Sorry.
I have to admit, I tend to turtle when I play an RTS. And I really like terran, so yay for that.
We will probably see the mothership made back into a super unit later… right now, Terrans has Thors, Zergs has queens, but Protoss has well… a colossus that get hits back air and land.
They will need to give a high tier unit that’s awesome to the protoss. (in SC1 it was the carrier and arbiter)
For the phase cannon, the movement was probably taken away of the potential cheese you can perform with it with a wall of cannons and a pylon. Well, it they made the cannons better in other ways, I can live with that.
what a bunch of stupid questions these are…
And the phase cannon, no longer “phasing”? this is a whole lot of baloney to me. sunken colonies, moving, what a total waste of money this game is going to be if all this mindless changes are going to take effect… crazy!!!!
I’m still disappoint about Zergs… In SC1 their most powerfull side was speed of creating new units and burring them. That was okay because Terrans and Protos in SC1 were pretty weak… To many openings which could cause instant game over for any side. But now…
After seeing Protos and Terran new units and gameplays i’m sure that they are much more harder to destroy than in SC1… So many skills, usefull units, they are amazing(my favourite race was, is, and will be Zerg).
I am worring about Zerg in SC2, they look weak and powerless. I wanted to see more more units which are mutations from previous one, maybe better weapon(so many poisons, acids bugs have). But they are still brown pity worms which base their power over stings, fangs and claws(creating banelings is great idea, more like this please).
Greetings.
PS I’m just want to show about what i’m worried…
@Apharion: Even the Thor was nerfed, now it’s almost exclusively an anti-air unit, but you can make as many of those as you like. You only get one Queen, one Mothership, and as far as I can tell, they’re both support units. I hope the Queen can run away fast, if we only get one of them, and if they die, you lose all upgrades.
@Avess
“Terrans and Protos in SC1 were pretty weak”? Excuse me? I suggest you go look at some of the current pro-games taking place in Korea this year (Most of them are available online WITH English commentary) and count the number of Zerg players in the finals.
@Avess
Did you not watch the zerg introduction videos?
You would have seen swarms of zerglings tear marines and tanks to shreds.
You would have seen massive ultralisks smash thier way through vikings, collosi, zealots, stalkers and not seem to take a casualty
You would have seen infestors sneak into a terran base, zergify all the barracks and generate 200 infested terrans in seconds.
Nydus worms pop up anywhere they want and unleash hordes of banelings to trash your economy, corruptors steal battlecruisers and turn them over to zerg control, Queens make any zerg building hostile and repel any counterattack you make. And thats just half of the carnage the zerg seem to be capable of unleashing.
Something tells me the zerg will be anything but weak.
Anonymous, ever heard of Jaedong? Savior?
@Arthur Santana
Don’t mind me, I’m still sore after the Star Invitational. ^^
But seriously, saying Protoss and Terran are weak seems a bit much.
GUYS, don’t fight over who is weak and who is not. Every player has their own views on different factions. Just let people say what they want. If you are a Zerg player of course you will say that the Protoss and Terran cannot defeat Zergs. And the same goes to Terran and Protoss players, surely they wouldn’t agree that Zerg is strong. It’s just people’s views, so relax. This post is for comments bsed on the article posted above, not to argue who is better.
If you guys can’t decide yet, just meet somewhere and have a SC duel.
Great thing: the mothership now is a support unit. why?
because starcraft isnt a game where should be a ultra weapon. play your kiddy c&c if u want to rush the enemy with only 1 unit…
and hey am i still the only one who thinks that the banshee looks so bad?!
look at the artwork of it! THIS BANSHEE LOOKS AWESOME!!
but ingame it looks like a helicopter of the power rangers -.-
As someone who has read this blog for a long time, please don’t let the blog decay towards official forum pointless arguments.
My apologies if it seemed I was inciting pointless arguments, I just wanted to say that IMO, SC 1 is nicely balanced. Hopefully SC 2 will be too!
Back on topic, it seems that economy harassment will involve completely different units in SC 2.
- Reapers and Cloaked Banshees for Terran
- Stalkers and Phase Prism + Zealots for Protoss
- Nydus Worms right into the mineral lines for Zerg
If they can bring the “bug” back, stacks of Mutalisks should still be viable.
Anything else?
I can halfway claim to have ‘called’ the mothership — I said it would be given shield and life regeneration, but I missed mana regeneration. I also said these things would be auras, which I think makes more sense than having the MS hover over units, but might we a little too wc3 for the dev’s tastes. On the other hand, I think having the mothership repair life would give it a much greater role on the battlefield. At the moment, it seems somewhat limited. There aren’t really that many casters for the protoss.
Regardless of whether or not it makes sense in real life, the banelings absolutely should not damage other zerg units (I could mention scarabs as a precedent here as a friendly explosive). You wouldn’t be able to use banelings in groups, or with other melee units, making them practically useless.
Lastly, do we have any knowledge about the tier of the queen? I’m wondering how soon the zerg will be able to get it/base defenses.
And the exact mechanisms of the nydus worm are still very unclear. I guess it’s one of those units that is still under construction. In particular, I’m wondering who will be able to attack it, and whether it can tunnel under buildings.
omg i rekon i don’t like that the phase canons can no longer move. i had so many ideas for this ability!!.
Since this is the case then i wish they make the phasing a ‘passive’ thing. Like when they build PC’s and the pylon generating energy died then the canons can turn into energy and move itself(OR player control) to pylon energy. That way they can still phase but not on command..seems fair to me.
PS: I LOVE THE PROTOSS!!!!!