Karune and Cydra, Blizzard’s RTS community managers, have been quite active on the official battle.net forums, answering various StarCraft 2 related questions and revealing a lot of new information relevant to gameplay. However, it’s Dustin “Cavez” Browder, Blizzard’s lead game designer, who provides the skinny on the current status of the Protoss Mothership.

Mothership moves slowly, can teleport to any Protoss building, can do huge damage to a single target with Vortex and cloaks everything nearby on the ground (including buildings). Mothership is build-limit-one.

The Mothership now has the role that once belonged to the Zerg Queen – that of the ultimate base defender. Being able to instantly teleport to any Protoss building, it can be anywhere it’s needed without delay, making immediate use of its abilities. Cloaking everything around it, including buildings, makes for an amazing defensive benefit – providing the Protoss player can negate enemy detection – and grants extra time for other defenders to arrive at the scene or for Phase Cannons to do some damage. If that’s not enough, the newly introduced Dark Pylon can enhance the Mothership even further:

You can cloak your Mothership with your Dark Pylon’s Null Shield.
In this case, the enemy can’t see anything in your base without a Detecting unit.

Since Dark Pylons are going to become quite ubiquitous in all Protoss bases (assuming they make it to the final game), this will provide total protection from detector-less attacks on Protoss expansions and Dark proxy Pylons.

The Mothership hasn’t lost too much of its offensive capacity, though. It can utilize the Vortex ability, which has been transformed from the uber-powered kill-everything AoE ability into a more direct offensive spell, not unlike the Terran Battlecruiser’s Yamato Cannon. It also possesses quite a lot of hit points and shields – perfect for advancing into defended enemy territory while safeguarding the rest of the Protoss army under its veil of cloak.

Next, we learn that Phoenixes, who recently gained the Anti-Grav ability, can no longer attack while using it – making Anti-Grav a channeled ability. Here’s the word from Karune:

The Phoenix in the latest build uses energy (4 per second) when casting anti-gravity, thus the same Phoenix is not able to attack the target it is lifting with anti-gravity.

Since a large group of Phoenixes were probably able to nullify entire ground armies in combat by destroying them as they helplessly hovered in mid-air, the developers decided to tone this ability down somewhat. Protoss players will now need double the amount of Phoenixes to achieve the same devastating goal – or just use them to temporarily remove key units from the battle.

Next, a few updates regarding the Nydus Worm, which has recently lost its unique status as the Zerg’s sole transport. Cydra has made a few posts on the subject, contributing some new data about this unit/building combo. Here’s what we know about it:

• A Lair is required to build the prerequisite building, the Nydus Network, which costs 150 Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas.
• From the Network, multiple Nydus Worms can be summoned to any place on creep.
• Summoning does not require the presence or an Overseer anymore.
• Each Worm costs 100 minerals and takes 10 seconds to be built, during which it is vulnerable to enemy attack.
• The “tunnels” created are permanent and interconnected – units can enter and exit from any Nydus Worm or Network.
• Units emerge one at a time and at the same order they entered the network in.

The major change to the Worms is the fact that they now require resources to be built. Previously, Nydus Worms were summoned by Overseers, a process which only required energy. While 100 Minerals is not a high price to pay for such a powerful ability, it imposes a cap on something which would otherwise be too easy to abuse. The Overseer’s predecessor, the Overlord, will still be required in many cases thanks to his Generate Creep ability – laying the necessary foundation for the Worm. Of course, now that Overlords are transporters themselves, this step might not be necessary for some Zerg invasions.

With Blizzard just recently announcing significant macro adjustments for all three races and completely changing Zerg transportation and the Mothership’s role as per recent comments, it’s obvious that Gamestop’s release date might be just a bit off.

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25 Comments to “Build Updates: Invisible Protoss Bases, Channeling Anti-Grav”

1. N00bc4nnon — March 5, 2009 @ 10:51 pm
   

   It sound’s like its going to be really difficult to break a protoss choke. Anyone know the cooldown/manacost on the mothership’s teleport ability?

2. SC2 Fan — March 6, 2009 @ 12:07 am
   

   Invisible protoss base….whoa…

3. AnnihilatorX — March 6, 2009 @ 2:34 am
   

   Actually,more like “Invisible expansions, Whoaaa”

   A teleporting mothership pretty much screws up any detectorless ground attack attempts on expansions.
   A mutually invisible Dark Pylon/Mothership combo would cause some newb hilarity

4. maK88 — March 6, 2009 @ 7:31 am
   

   I’m still surprised that most people like the new economy mechanics. I’m all for cool abilities that are useful in certain scenarios, but these economy-increasing broken mechanics should be removed.

   This is a very anticipated RTS game, and Blizzard chose to make this sequel – but can someone convince me that these new mechanics make the game more interesting?

   Here’s my point of view – As soon as you have the chance to use the Call down mule or Proton Charge, you will. Repeatedly. Is this interesting gameplay? It’s too predictable, and the one who spams this ability the most will win the economy Race.

   We have the High yield minerals. Those are a perfect addition to the economy race macro. You will try to expand at those positions, and your adversary will try to bring those expos down. Perfect! With that said – stop adding meaningless features, they’re only there because it has to be difficult to macro. But I don’t see the point? Players will find things in the game to get skilful at, and better players will do better unit movement and ability usage, according to situation, ofcourse.

   And you still HAVE to build a base. If you’re gosu you’ll just manage your base better.

   Tell me I’m not right, give an (at least) decent explanation and get a free cookie. Cheers.

5. SCV_Operator — March 6, 2009 @ 7:37 am
   

   @Mak88 – you’re not right, at least when it comes to spamming Mules; there are other options available that use the Orbital Command centre’s energy requirements – so its going to have to be a choice between dropping a mule or doing a scan.

   Also, you might want a mule out on the battlefield to repair a tank, rather than back in the base to mine more minerals. This function is not a simple ‘click when ready’ choice.

   Btw – I like double chocolate cookies.

6. Apharion — March 6, 2009 @ 10:12 am
   

   I think Mak88 is right.

   U will Call down mule to mine, repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat.

   same with the dark pylon thing, cast and recast and reacast and recast… it looks very tedious, stupid, boring, spoiling the game to a point where I want to cry.

   The protoss phoenix needs a facelift, otherwise it is good.
   I like the invisible base idea.. quite novel… but overlords, observers, scans are not rare in game either… so we will see.

   I think the mothership’s new role is interesting… but I feel there’s still some room to make the unit more interesting. Same with the Thor and Queen

7. redrach — March 6, 2009 @ 10:25 am
   

   “U will Call down mule to mine, repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat.”
   And then cry when you get run over by Dark Templar because you don’t have enough energy to scan.

   “same with the dark pylon thing, cast and recast and reacast and recast…”
   This I agree with. Unlike the previous case, you can and will probably have multiple Dark Pylons around your mineral line. I really hope they change how this works.

   And now it looks like the new-and-original “Nydus Worm” is basically the same as the old Nydus Canal structure, except now it’s available as Lair-tech, and all the Canals are interconnected.
   Of course, there are still interesting things you can do with it like creating creep at the enemy base with Overlords and then summoning a Worm there.
   Seems a lot more less prone to abuse than the previous versions, so I’m happy with it.

8. Fingolfin — March 6, 2009 @ 11:26 am
   

   I agree with redrach, I don’t really have a problem with the zerg and terran macro addition but I don’t like the Dark Pylon.

   At least for the terran if you decide that you build the Orbital Command you cannot have the Planetary Fortress so there’s a trade-off. Also since you can only have one per CC you’ll have to manage your energy.

   The problem with the Dark Pylon is that you can build any number you want, they’re barely more expensive than normal pylons and give the same amount of supplies. So now every single protoss base will have at least 1 near their minerals and probably more around the base to use Null Shield and Argus Link, there is NO reason not to build one.

9. Johnner — March 6, 2009 @ 11:40 am
   

   I think they might as well make the dark pylon auto-cast, if it runs out of energy, then that’s a later probelm, at least u wont be casting the same spell every 30 secs, which is stupid.

   Mule is also retarded. I have a huge problem with it. Of a thousand things to call down, you call down a… a worker? WTF???????? I rather give the orbital command center some kind of an artillery then a mule.

   Zerg queen is good. great idea. maybe go as far as making the Hive building change in appearance completely when a queen is attahed to it.. make it creepy.

10. Elokane — March 6, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
    

    I agree with Mak88. I can’t believe Blizzard is purposefully trying to complicate things instead of steamlining them – when it comes to base building, at least.

    Reservation about the Mules, though – the concept is nice, but the general idea is annoying since it’s a part of this macro complication business.

    I want to play with my units and make a base that’s good for producing more of them while being secure against enemy attacks. I don’t want to play sim city with it and focus on FARMS (oink oink) and on encouraging my workers.

    Hey, why don’t they add an “encourage worker” button? That’d be the best complication! Click the worker to let him know you appreciate his work and give him motivation to bring one more resource unit per trip! Hurray for pro game mechanics!

11. whiteknight — March 6, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
    

    agree with Mak88

    I don’t want to keep spam button to increase resource

    for goodthing just remove any worker

    and let spam M button everytime you hit M you gain 1 crystal + 1 gas

12. ADest — March 7, 2009 @ 2:22 pm
    

    I already said I didn’t like the changes to the workers.. And I have to say the Anti-Grav spell is the only one they mentioned for units that I really don’t like now, and I hate it even more because they keep moving it all over the place. Whoever gets the spell just becomes a friggin ‘druid of the talon’ like in WC3, and I really hated that cyclone spell.. It doesn’t belong in SC..! We don’t want to worry about having a toss raise some zealots into the air on a Muta rush huh? The only thing that might work with it is a limit 1 mothership.

13. whiteknight — March 7, 2009 @ 7:24 pm
    

    How vortex differ from Yamato gun ?

14. redrach — March 8, 2009 @ 12:56 am
    

    Area of effect damage, I suppose.

15. whiteknight — March 8, 2009 @ 2:25 am
    

    but they said
    can do huge damage to a single target with Vortex

16. Chronos — March 9, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
    

    A new week is here and I see nothing of the promised Nº2 Battle Report.

17. whiteknight — March 10, 2009 @ 12:27 pm
    

    Release Date of Starcraft II and pre order @amazon !!!!

    Release date :: 2 June 2009
    and pre order @amazon.com with the price of 49.99 $ !!!!

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ZKA0J6/ref=s9_sdps_c1_s1_p63_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1F72B2S2JK4J68QZBZ6B&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938131&pf_rd_i=507846

18. AnnihilatorX — March 10, 2009 @ 2:47 pm
    

    Erm…
    From Amazon :

    ”
    Official pricing and release date have not been announced by the publisher. These are estimates only and subject to change.
    ”
    More like 2010.

19. Chronos — March 10, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
    

    Na, June 24. Like WIII

20. jamvng — March 12, 2009 @ 7:42 pm
    

    ya, i think I’m fine with the Terran OC, because you have to make a choice between its abilities, and even the mule can be used for other stuff not just mining, like repairing something in teh field without sending a SCV.

    The protoss and the zerg mechanics need some adjusting though, both are just going to be spammed and doesn’t really make the game more interesting like the Terran OC does….

21. redrach — March 13, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
    

    @jamvng:
    As a Zerg player, I feel that the new Zerg macro mechanic is pretty damn awesome. Unlike the Protoss mechanic, it isn’t something that you’ll just want to spam every time you have the energy, because you require minerals and gas to put those larvae to use.
    If this mechanic were added to SC1 for example (please bear with me, since I don’t really know any SC2 Zerg build orders) in a ZvT or ZvP I would have to choose whether to spam the ability early on to get a strong economy, or to save up energy to get tons of Mutalisks as soon as my Spire would be ready.

22. maK88 — March 13, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
    

    Thanks for the responses – I see many has come to their senses, if they hadn’t already done that. Very comforting for me

    Redrach and SCV_Operator >>
    As of now, I haven’t seen the information regarding the energy for Call Down Mule (my guess is ~50En); since Scanner Sweep is more or less 25 Energy, and Orbital Command houses 200 worth of Energy, the chance of you not having any sweeps for a Dark Templar threat are, according to me, low.

    With my current SC knowledge, reinforcing and amassing your army are key for ones victory, if both players are equal in skill, that is. With the Mule ability spam for gathering purposes, you will have economical victory, unless Protoss used Proton Charge, in which case you would have done better calling down your Mules for the sole purpose of gathering crystals.

    Also, we have to suppose that the player does play smart and saves up enough energy for scans. He will still use the Mule ability when he got sufficient energy. Your statements may be right, guys, but I guarantee the abilities will be used again and again in many and many matches to come.

    Fingolfin >>
    Yes, you can decide to build either PF (Plan.Fort.) or OC (Orb.Comm.), but since OC seems a lot better, even though PF have more armor and stationary defense, OC will be built more. I’ll say why: You got more minerals, you got a bigger army, faster. You also got stationary defenses (Missile Turret for detecting needs when your energy went out for a Mulecall) and lots of other things.

    Cookies to you though, even though you didn’t convince me.
    More cookies is being handed out btw.

23. Anonymous — March 16, 2009 @ 4:35 am
    

    The mothership is sounding like a queen with the instant movement to base ability. They should think of someone else before this gets C&C.

    They should just bring back Stasis Field instead of this Antigrav thing since SF has more strategic purposes than lifting stuff up.

    Instead of a Dark Pylon, ordinary pylons should just have a cloak upgrade.

    I’m not too sure about the “one at a time” thing with the nydus worm. It should be like the Nydus Canal where everything pops out instantly. Blizzard should just make the nydus worms explode for some funky effect of the worm giving birth to zergs violently and not just poopingly.

    For the macro… Whatever possessed Blizzard to swing that way should be exorcised.

    From the looks of things. Blizzard’s undergoing confusion right now. What makes SC fun is the battle itself and not the base babysitting.

24. terran thor — March 18, 2009 @ 4:37 am
    

    Ya I got what I wanted.A limt on the mother ship.BUT NO WHAT THE HELL DID BLIZZARD HAVE TO DO????THEY HAD TO ADD SHEILDS THE UNDITECTIBAL PROXY DARK PYLON ABLITY AND MORE SHIT.**** THEM I THOUGHT THEYED DO BETTER.oh well ill pay 1600 MINIRALS AND 1200 GAS FOR A FEW BATTLE CRUISERS TO KICK ASS NO NOT REALY.THELL LOWER IT TO HALFWAY AND MY PROCESS BEGINS AGAIN.but yet somehow i look forward to sc2

25. Keith — March 20, 2009 @ 9:11 am
    

    Anyone knows where to purchase starcraft cdkey? Been thinking of refreshing my memory a lil before I get ready for starcraft 2. Saw rpg88.com selling it for $4.95, price is decent & it has a very detailed description on how to use it for digital download from blizzard. Anyone tries them before? The link just in case if you want it, http://www.rpg88.com/StarCraft-cdkey-115.html .