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The 46th Q&A session, featuring answers to questions submitted by fans, has been published on Battle.net by Karune, Blizzard’s RTS community manager. This batch starts with a Chat with Devs section, discussing the increased susceptibility to raid attacks in StarCraft 2:
Chat with Devs: StarCraft II is definitely evolving to be even more intense than the original StarCraft, with the increased mobility of units with cliff traversing abilities, as well as new transport abilities. In response, the development team has buffed up the Terran Planetary Fortress to have splash damage as well, which has proven to hold off decently against raids now, especially with your SCVs fixing the command center at a very high rate.
The Planetary Fortress, an upgrade to the standard Terran Command Center, will now be able to dispatch small raiding parties with relative ease - assuming, of course, these ever get into its weapons range. While the SCV resource line will likely be mostly protected, a significant portion of the base’s structures will probably still be exposed to enemy fire. As of now, the Command Center, when upgraded to a Fortress, cannot be lifted off and relocated.
Speaking of SCVs fixing at a high rate, and before we move on to the Q&A, a comment from Karune’s MiniMe, Cydra, is worth discussing:
In the current development stage, SCV’s Repair, Medivac’s Heal and Carrier’s Interceptor training can be autocasted.
Yes, you heard it right - The SCV’s repair ability can now be set to autocast. As we suggested a few ages ago, Terran players can now bring several SCVs along to every offensive bout, set their repair ability to be automatic, and enjoy their services hands-free. Here’s what we had to say back then:
SCVs should acquire an “auto-fix” toggle - allowing them to automatically fix units in a specified range, thus strengthening the presence of the Terran forces on the battlefield. This advantage is offset by the fact that repairs cost resources, and are not free, like for the Protoss and Zerg.
This move will greatly reduce the amount of micromanagement required - veterans of StarCraft 1 all know how frustrating it can get to fix all your bunched up fliers after a rough fight - and free up more time to engage in playing the game. The only problem here is that SCVs will essentially auto-”heal” mechanical units mid-fight, which might be somewhat overpowered. To compensate for that, a similar mechanism to the Protoss shield regeneration can be implemented, not allowing SCVs to fix units (but not buildings!) while they are taking damage.
Next, the Q&A:
1. In StarCraft II, will there be friendly fire?
Yes, friendly fire is still available in StarCraft II. You can take out cloaked units attacking your base by using friendly fire on your own unit and giving splash damage to cloaked enemy units, which has been executed by many players in the original StarCraft. For example, if you play Zerg, you can kill Dark Templar attacking your Hatchery, by targeting your Banelings to attack your Hatchery near the invading Dark Templar.
We believe the question was about receiving friendly fire while attacking the enemy. In that case, currently, only the Siege Tank can damage friendly units when in Siege mode. Banelings, on the other hand, will not harm friendly units unless targetted directly.
2. Trilogy is Beginning, mid and end, or is it the same story told from three points of view?
The stories will be sequential. The Zerg story will begin from the end of the Terran story, and Protoss story will begin from the end of the Zerg story.
3. Are there any special animations for units which are standing around doing nothing for a long time?
There will be multiple animations for units which are idle.
4. What is the optimum procedure for the new gas mechanic? Should a player mine both gases at the same time and cycle the inactive workers (when the geyser goes down) to the minerals? Or should a player mine only one geyser and alternate the workers between the two?
It totally depends on what your strategy is in the game. For example, you can mine two at the same time and double up your gas supply to build up certain armies or tech up very quickly. Or if you need more continuous and stable gas supply for your strategy, you can switch off your workers between the two gases with your micro-controls.
The gas mechanism, as it is currently implemented, is a cause for both anger and confusion for most players who’ve had a chance to experience it. While it’s clear that Blizzard intended to expand on the available options for gas management, as laid out above, we suspect the current execution won’t last long.
5. What Protoss unit is now the best option to counter mass enemy air units? The Phoenix lost its overload ability which was really the only Protoss splash damage option other than Psi Storm.
Against Zerg’s mass air units like Mutalisks, Archons and Psi Storm are still the best counters. Against Terran’s mass air units like Vikings and Banshees, Protoss can still use Phoenixes and focus fire. Vikings currently do additional damage to large ships, rather than light armor.
6. What kind of damage do spells deal? Is there a type “Spell” or don’t they have any specific attack type?
There isn’t a specific “spell” type of damage, but some do additional damage to current types already in the game. For example, Ghost’s Psi Round deals an additional 40 damage to Psionic units. There are ‘special’ cases though as well, seen when Psi Storms instantly kill Hallucinations and when a Yamato Cannon will not activate an Immortal’s hardened shields. “Spells” also ignore armor, as well as the Immortal shields.
Blizzard, as many of its developers are quick to state, does not like “special” cases in its games - it usually takes an extreme case to create an exception for any rule. The Battlecrusier’s Yamato Cannon is one - this is an ability meant to take out most units and even some buildings with a single hit, and it would not make sense for Immortals to shrug it off. However, it’s not entirely clear why Psi Storms instantly kill Hallucinations.
As in StarCraft 1, damaging abilities will completely ignore all types of armor, but unlike the Nuke, the Yamato Cannon will now also not be affected by the Immortal’s hardened shields.
19 Comments to “Q&A 46: SCVs Autocast Repair, “Special” Armor Cases”
Karunology: Shields Clarified, Everything Owns Mutalisks »
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Nice post!
The nuke should kill ALL units with the exception of the Battlecruiser and Carrier.
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#2 The nuke shouldn’t kill the Ultralisk either.
Won’t it get quite hard to make a successful drop on a terran with fortress?
Protoss air still needs work.
I say take out the ugly phoenix, what world is this? With Terran Nighthawk looking more protoss than Protoss Phoenix.
I would prefer to see a remade version of the corsair, firing low hits of rapid area fire.
From what I’ve read over at teamliquid.net, the guys who played SC2 at Blizzcon, the Phoenix is the worst unit in the game right now. Compare it to the Corsair, which even though it showed up in only one matchup (PvZ), had splash damage (rapes Muta clumps) as well as the D-Web ability late game (helps tremendously in ‘Sair-Reaver tactics).
The Corsair is a unit that’s too specific… I don’t think they like creating those.
They probably don’t really know what to do with the Phoenix yet.
Any “spells” instantly took out Hallucinations in Starcraft 1… Why would it be any different now?
Even with the buffs they’ve gotten, lore wise it’s still the same sort of psionic power creating it.
Interesting about the Phoenix, because at the first builds it was the great raper-of-anything of the game. Seems like they Mutalisked it. =)
I actually think they like specific units, they’re easier to balance.
The picture of SCV Flood is NICE!
ok, that was random….
I agree with you guys that Phoenix should be buffed. It looks fragile looking too. (LOL)
Maybe, get speed upgrade like scout in SCI?
Double gas is confusing.
Sounds like the concept would still work with just one gas, more workers, and an ‘overdrive’ button on the gas building.
ie: Overdrive causes faster gas collection. A duration after you press overdrive, it depletes for a short time.
Hmm but this is a gas topic from a few issues ago
Agreeing on Phoenix needing a complete make over.
or Just scrap it, and completely redo.
can I webmaster make a page with our concensus on a weekly update or something? I do think this community has good feedback that’s positive for the game’s development.
wtb reaver
Flying Reaver?
that would be interesting…
in SC1, reaver is a catipillar, it would be funny if now the reaver is a Moth or something.
@Ryan:
Actually, I would have loved to see the Reaver/Shuttle evolve into a single entity, seeing how they’re always used together in SC1. A flying reaver that needs to land to fire scarabs.
omg…everbody will scream when they see reaver-shuttle. :p
First unit to die in battle….
Wonder what happans if someone were to send a fleet of that?
Hm….
I happen to like it…
a flying Protoss unit that needs to land to fire.
we sure don’t have that yet… and a perfect evolution of a unit to the next.
Of course it needs to be balanced for sure, but that will be very very cool.
I agree, so long as it doesn’t look like a moth
Maybe the scarabs could be like small, mechanical banelings, with blue glow instead of green :p
Neat idea,
It’s probably very possible using some kind of teleporting trigger. I would guess you could make it in sc2 editor, if it’s all it’s hyped up to be (which I’m sure it is :P)