StarCraft 2 updates are scarce, but Karune has released quite a bit of Information last week on Battle.net’s official StarCraft 2 Forum. Karune’s comments, once compiled, provide decent amount of insight into the current build, being informative and on-topic even more than some of the Q&As.

The first group of answers deals with the Terran Infantry, specifically its new additions – the Marauder, Reaper, Ghost’s Sniper ability, and the Medic’s replacement, the Medivac.

…is it ever useful for them to just hang out with marines or are they exclusively harassers, and if so does any other race get something harass with?

Reapers can be used with your army of Marines and/or Marauders as well, as they do extra damage to light. The biggest challenge will be keeping them protected, as they don’t have many hit points. If the player is able to do that, the Reapers tear through most light units including Zealots and Zerglings.

…And most importantly, workers. Reapers truly emerge as the ultimate worker line raiders – this infantry’s arsenal includes Jet-packs, mines and ability to deliver heavy damage to light units.  The full list of known information regarding the Reaper’s mines has can be found in this post.

If they are marauders, can those be put in bunkers or are they classified as mechanical and are too big to be placed in them?

 

  Yup, that is a Marauder, and they are able to enter Bunkers.

 

  

i wonder does the ghost snipe deal damage to units under the dark swarm because it’s an ability or doesn’t it deal damage because it’s a ranged attack?

  

Units under Dark Swarm do not take damage from Snipe in the current build of the game.

 

Medivac Dropships heal much faster than Medics from StarCraft Brood War. Also, players using Marines in the original StarCraft still used Stim Pack often. Now the Marines have more health with the upgrade and is still very effective while stimmed. Combined with Marauders’ slow ability means additional shots with Stim Pack often leading to that unit’s death before it can do damage.

  Despite the fact that the beloved Medic is no longer part of the M&Ms, StarCraft 2′s developers have obviously not forsaken this important aspect of Terran Infantry. Medivac’s role and abilities are tailored to fit the new Terran arsenal, which features considerably tougher marines, the heavy Marauder,  the raid-oriented Reapers and the still unstable incarnation of the Terran Ghost (which recently lost its Drop Pod ability). 

…can u explain the actual role of the thor? Please Karune!!! Does his 10range AOE attack only hit Air? We all wanna know :]

 

The Thor will primarily be an anti-air unit, but will also be able to attack ground units as well. The Thor will not be cost effective against air unless the enemy move in tight groups.

This answer will disappoint quite a few of our readers – many have been expecting the Terran Thor to be the ultimate bomarding heavy-hitter, with ability to both dish and absorb massive amounts of punishment – a new backbone for the Terran offensive. Not a mere Goliath 2.

Up next, two Zerg clarifications, one being quite surprising.

Creep will not do damage to enemy Zerg buildings.

 

 

So I guess Broodlings won´t spawn if you attack buildings=?

They spawn when you attack buildings as well.

You read that right – the long announced but just recently spotted Swarm Guardian, will be able to produce broodlings for the Swarm… out of buildings. While we won’t bet on this ability to make to the Gold version of StarCraft 2, it does create quite problematic scenarios for the Anti-Air heavy expansions and Supply Depot/Pylon clusters.

 Source : Karune’s B.net Forums postings.

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13 Comments to “Karunology: Terran Infantry, Building Broodlings, AA Thor”

1. Johan — June 4, 2008 @ 2:49 am
   

   Nice, a new camper strategy that will be used often, guardians in huge amount and take out a lot of pylons and depots

2. Ken Park — June 4, 2008 @ 7:56 am
   

   Thors should be only attacking ground in MY opinion.(And stronger too…) I have an opinion. What about making the thor as a melee unit like the ultralisk with lots of armor and HP? maybe i am suggesting a stupid opinion, but what about it? Terrans dont have melee units right now except for the SCVs, right? And the firebat has been replaced by the Marauders, who fire shells like the marine. I think terrans need atleast 1 melee unit…The protoss have the Zealots…The zerg has Zergling,Ultra,and banelings…I think the Thor should be a big melee unit similar to the Ultralisk…(Isnt metal stronger than bones?lol)
   oh, and if the swarm guardian spawns broodlings when attacking a building, make that ability a skill or a passive skill with a cooldown. =( this was all my opinion, so it might be a little bit stupid…=P

3. Lipton — June 4, 2008 @ 8:59 am
   

   I can’t wait for Paris, Anderson are you going to be there?

4. Dill — June 4, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
   

   The Thor question burns my eyes (Not from what it was asking, but from the way it was written.)

   It is a bit disappointing that the Thor has been turned into a mostly anti-air unit.

5. sarge52 — June 4, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
   

   i totally agree with you, dill. i unit so large should be much more than primary AA. the thor looks like brute force!! why prune it mainly to AA?

   if it lacks a powerful terran AA-unit, emerge something like the goliath (especially in size^^).

6. Arthur Santana — June 4, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
   

   My concern is – Thors aren’t maneuverable! We’d probably want Turrets instead =P

7. meo123 — June 4, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
   

   Lol I’m thinking about the Thor does high damange to ground enemies and then transforms into a Battlecruiser to do high air damage. Both Thor and Battlecruiser can attack ground + air but each has its own speciality (Well, this will remove the Viking off the game, I hope, never liked it)

8. Joe — June 5, 2008 @ 1:54 am
   

   Maybe the Thor could be like power rangers ? Just select 5 vikings an click “TRANSFORM!”

9. SCV_Operator — June 5, 2008 @ 2:23 am
   

   ‘Aerialbots, combine to form Superion’

10. clay_mourn — June 5, 2008 @ 7:20 am
    

    they should return the thor to its original format… built by scv,that bombardment ability, etc…or they should cut it from the game, its just lame now.

11. redrach — June 5, 2008 @ 8:43 am
    

    Hmmm, now that Dark Swarm is a tier lower, it makes sense that Guardians are upgraded to correct Zerg late-game. Seeing how Zerg now have Corrupters too, I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of Zerg air late-game.

    We really need some stats on the Broodlings. I can’t imagine this being balanced unless each Broodling lasts only 2-3 seconds at most.

    I wonder if Guardians are viable harassers too now. Despite their slow speed, they can sneak into the back of a base, spawn a bunch of Broodlings on the workers and then fly off letting the Broodlings finish the job.

12. Nattaboy — June 5, 2008 @ 9:19 pm
    

    Mighty Morphin’ Viking Rangers
    Go! Go! Viking Rangers!!!!!

13. Nattaboy — June 5, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
    

    Wanna see the REAL terran rangers???
    then go here: http://www.fftcomics.com/day20.htm
    freakin hilarious!