Karune met with Sam Didier, art director, and Dustin Browder, lead game designer. They discussed StarCraft 2’s state and fleshed out the process required for successful unit creation, from conception to implementation.

…..you know, does it start from a gamplay element like you guys have a specific unit in mind for a certain gameplay mechanic or does it actually start from the art side,….

Which later got quite an interesting response from Sam, providing a fine example of how a gameplay-based unit was introduced to StarCraft 2.

Sam Didier:
Yeah we did all drawn inspiration from some of the giant walking robots and tripods but if you notice our Colossus has four legs, not three. So our tripod is way better then everyone elses because we have one more leg. Take it!

The Thor has been pushed all around the tactical spectrum - from a long range, mobile sieger to an AA Flak station. It is discussed lengthily as the unit with the most incarnations, one which has changed significantly throughout the development process.
Sam Didier elaborated on the problems of applying gameplay functionality to a well designed unit with very explicit features:

The problem with it we had in the concept is we had these giant guns on his shoulders.  ‘Real cool!  Yeah that looks awesome!’  Well anytime we have something cool in the art like that we have to justify it in gameplay.  So it had these giant guns, what’s it do? Well we already have a siege tank that rains death upon the battlefield so what do these big guns do?  Rain bigger death?  That makes the siege tank obsolete.  So we couldn’t do that. So one of the problems with this unit is we went with the art first and because it had the big cool guns now were trying to figure out what to do with it design wise.

And a small teaser of the much anticipated single player campaign:

Sam Didier: All you guys out there listening, you should have seen how big it was before uh . . . we had to make it playable.
Dustin Browder: (laughs) They’ll see that version in solo play I’m sure.

But more importantly, Dustin describes the eventual Thor as the front-line damage sponge and a great AA support unit.

So the Thor does two things for the Terrans: It gives them a sort of tip of the sword kind of unit, something you can push up front that can take a lot of damage from enemy fire.  It’s very survivable, very tough, very hard to kill.  And you can use that sort of push past an artillery barrage or push directly into an enemy base to sort of lead your smaller lighter marines into battle.  And it’s also got these huge cannons on its back that can strike against air targets so you can use the Thor to defend your forces from enemy air threats and it’s a very powerful weapon in both of these roles.

While discussing the portrait animations found in StarCraft 2, the Marauder is mentioned as having one of the better portraits, and Blizzard were even kind enough to provide an example - watch the following video for several portraits which were revealed in detail during the BlizzCast. (courtsey of SCLegacy)

The rest of the StarCraft 2 portion deals with generic development decisions, providing insight into the workflow and development enviroment key Blizzard game designers enjoy.

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.

Starting with the misconceptions:

Karune has confirmed once and for all that there is no accelerated Protoss shield regeneration. Regeneration takes places once the unit is out of combat, and while being significantly faster than StarCraft 1, it does not accelerate over time.

The rate of shield regeneration has been increased significantly from the original StarCraft, but will be a fixed rate, rather than an increasing rate over time. The shields will not increase until the unit is out of combat.

It is measured by an X number of seconds in which a unit has not attacked nor was attacked. X being a number determined through balance.

It has also been confirmed that Nydus Worms will receive their significantly prettier “bursting” delivery form back. The current animation is nothing more than a placeholder for the actual implementation.

Right now there is a build time after you drop a nydus worm, the thing that bugs the heck out of me is that the nydus worm grows from that squiggly thing that drones morph into when they turn into buildings.

Yes, that is placeholder. In one of the previous builds, maybe it was WWI, the rock actually starts breaking and then the Nydus Worm comes out. It will probably be more along those lines.

The Ghost has found itself fulfilling a rather surprising auxiliary role: it is described as an awesome counter for Mutalisks. Thanks to his improved StarCraft 2 abilities, range and light armor damage bonus, the Ghost has joined a long list of Terran units which have already been confirmed to be great Zerg air counters.

Thors and Marines (with stimpack and the additional hp upgrade) are quite effective against mass Mutalisks. Additionally as mentioned already in this thread, BCs are also very effective, especially with its new missile barrage ability (but of course this is at a later tech).

There is one other counter, which is not mentioned in this thread, which is the Ghost! The Ghost is awesome at taking out Mutalisks as well, since they get a bonus to light armor, and have a very long range. Add that to snipe, cloak, or a bunker and it is quite a formidable counter as well.

And to make sure Zerg players don’t develop any expectations from their TheoryCrafted Mutalisk fleets, Karune also reminds us that Protoss Archons are still the ultimate stacked Mutalisk poppers.

Archons still have their splash damage and are still quite the beasts they were in the original StarCraft. There is no better feeling than watching a group of Archons instantly pop a stacked group of Mutalisks.

An interesting suggestion (and a question) came from another poster, who proposed an upgrade to unload speeds for the Terran Medivac Dropship. Considering the fact that some players are fond of shock raids and mass infantry drops, such an upgrade is a legitimate idea.

do medivac dropships still load units at the same time but unload one at a time? or can dropships unload all their cargo at once?

if it can only unload one at a time, i have a sugestion, make it so that infantry can unload two at a time (researchable?) or at least at a much faster rate than vehicles so that the drops can b faster. it takes forever to unload 8 marines in comparison to unloading 2 tanks which are much more deadly

 

Loading is instant, but unloading has a delay between units. Will bring up the suggestion, but do note that the rate in unloading is already quite fast, and mass drops do usually include several dropships at the same time.

That’s all for this week’s Karunology.

Chat with Devs: After BlizzCon, it has been very exciting to see all the feedback from the fans and pro players about the latest build of StarCraft II. There was lots of noted feedback about both the Colossus and the Nydus Worms. At my most recent meeting with Dustin, we decided to chat about some of the lesser focused on topics, that have undergone quite a few changes since the original StarCraft.

Blizzcon 2008 has indeed provided fans with plenty of hands-on experience and gameplay mechanics information, which translated promptly into a barrage of both positive and negative feedback, as well as pleads for an earlier beta.

Here’s what the developers had to say about some of the lesser focused topics:

Hallucination

 

The first topic was about hallucination, a classic Protoss ability, that honestly did not get that much use in the original StarCraft. To make it more interesting, Dustin explained how the ability has been brought down in tech to the Nullifier. Additionally, hallucination could be used to create units in which the player doesn’t even have prerequisite buildings for. That in itself should be an interesting scare for opposing players, watching 3 Colossi trampling in, only to counter with Corruptors and realize that they were not real. Furthermore, even probes could be hallucinated! Since the amount of hallucinations you get are based on ‘actual’ costs of what they would cost if they were real, you could get 8 probes per hallucination to trick those incoming Reapers. Dark Templars, Observers, and Carriers though were not on the list of units that could be hallucinated since the first two would be quite overpowering to use as an invisible fake scout (soo OP). Carriers too, would just have much too many hit points, as well as become quite a bit over complicated when you deal with how many interceptors they might have.

Hallucination done right is one of Protoss players’ wet dreams for StarCraft 2. StarCraft 1’s hallucination, despite being an incredibly fun and easily obtained spell, did not see much action due to its direct competition with the Psi Storm over the Templars’ energy pool.
StarCraft 2’s incarnation of Hallucination is availible to the low tier Nullifier unit, and can create:

• Hallucinations of units which have not yet appeared on the battlefield
• Multiple hallucinations per use, based on the actual unit cost.

Considering the early stage of availability, Hallucination can easily play a vital role in both tech- and rush-oriented strategies. The defensive and offensive possibilities of its employment are so vast that we’d bet on the ability getting nerfed in the next build. Enjoy it while it lasts, alpha testers.

Queen Spawns 3 Mutant Larva

The mutant larva count has increased with the latest version of the Queen to encourage more use of a pretty powerful ability if used correctly. Mutant larva crawl around independently of a Hatchery and can create units at a discounted production rate. This is like a free Hatchery with each additional Queen! Along with the Queen’s ability to defend against air units early game, it shall make her quite a crucial unit in any Zerg army.

In case any of our readers assumed the Queen is being nerfed due to it no longer being a unique unit, we suggest re-reading the above paragraph. The situation where a Zerg player had to build additional hatcheries to ramp up his production capacity has been changed in an interesting way. To get more production going, the Zerg will now rely on the Queen, which also has plenty of other abilities to offer besides spawning Larva.

1. Do enemy Zerg units also get a boost on your Creep? (StarCraft 2 Forums)

 

Yes, enemy Zerg units will still get the speed boost when on creep. Currently, the creep shares no affiliation.

 

2. Are there abilities that remove creep? (TheWarCenter)

 

The 2 ways to push that expanding creep is to kill the burrowed creep tumors, or kill those Queens building them. On another note, the creep no longer damages enemy buildings. Through testing, the ability actually affected players adversely in team games where players allied with Zerg players would end up having their units damaged by their friend’s creep. In 1vs1 matches, the usefulness of this mechanic was hardly ever used, amongst all the new cooler Zerg strategies that have spawned.

September’s monthly discussion provided Blizzard with plenty of ideas as to what kind of role the Zerg Creep should play on the battlefield. The removal of Creep’s ability to cause damage is not a “nerf”, however, due to the simple fact that it was not beneficial in the first place, as Karune explained.

3. Does the creep speed boost apply to zerg air? (TheWarCenter)

 

No, they do not apply to air units or drones.

 

4. Won’t Reapers, Marauders, Hellions, Siege Tank’s splash damage, and Stimpacks be too powerful against a Zerg player? All of that seems pretty well suited to counter masses of low-hp units, like most Zerg ground units. (StarCraft Legacy)

 

As you know, there is still much balance to be done since we have not even entered into a beta phase yet. With that said, there are several counters still to these Terran units, but Zerg players will be forced to adapt with new units and strategies veering away from some of the original StarCraft strategies. For instance, Roaches and Lurkers are excellent counters to Hellions and Reapers. At a later tech, Infestors simply rock massed units such as Marauders with Fungal Infection, causing them to explode when they die. All the new mechanics and abilities will add many new strategies to your bag of tricks.

 

5. Can Allies ‘merge’ their Nydus networks? In other words, can you enter through the Nydus Warren of player A, and exit through the Nydus Worm of player B? (TheWarCenter.net)

 

No, allies can’t share Nydus networks between networks, but allied units can enter into another ally’s Nydus network.

 

6. Is the Thor still an anti-air unit? Does it fulfill this role effectively? – Thelorme (Battle.net)

 

Yes, it is still an anti-air unit with the longest range against air units of any unit in StarCraft II. Visually, we are moving to give the Thor anti-air missiles that will fire from his shoulders, unleashing a devastating barrage from a remarkable range.

The Thor, a unit that has gone through many iterations by now, seems to have transformed into a glorified Goliath. Its current role seems to be to counter pesky Zerg hit and run attacks and sieges of longer ranged units, such as the Protoss Carriers.

Will this satisfy Blizzard? Will it satisfy the fans, who have expected something more impressive than the somewhat anemic Goliath of StarCraft 1, and who are still enamored with the old Barrage ability? Time will tell.

First up, some more information about the new Nydus Worm transportation mechanic, which we have also brought up for discussion.

The worm is no longer underground and moveable. It is a spawned unit that acts as a exit/entrance to the network.

Since the Worm no longer travels to its destination, it can not be intercepted on the way. However, it is not invulnerable - the enemies of the Zerg will still have a chance to kill it before it starts hurling Zerglings at their base.

Yes, you can see and attack the Nydus Worm before it becomes fully built. The visual graphics of this are not totally complete yet.

Next up, Karune talks about two of the Terran’s new units - The Reaper and the Marauder - and their roles on the battlefield.

Reapers are actually one of the best units against any light units in the game. They kill Zerglings, workers, and even Zealots pretty well with a little maneuvering. Their mines also decimate stationary defenses, as well as tech buildings. They are no doubt one of the best raiders in the game right now.

Reapers, which have bonus damage against light-type units, are currently the best economy raiders in the game - being able to jump into the enemy base, dispense with its workers, and plant some explosives for extra measure. Aside from that, they are also quite capable against all other light units, including the basic units for the others races - Zerglings and Zealots. However, they are very lightly armored - meaning that efficient usage might require quite a lot of dancing.

Marauders on the other hand are probably better mixed, unless you are going up against an all armored ground force. Marauders work well against both Protoss and Zerg. Early game, as mentioned above, they are great for slowing Zealots while Marines do the damage. Against Zerg, they are better suited against those pesky armored Roaches with the fast regen.

Marauders are now found in almost every Terran build. The slowing effect of their attack is beneficial when coupled with the ranged Marines against the other two races’ melee units. In the later parts of the game, the Marauders’ bonus attack against armored units keep them viable. They are especially important against the Zerg Roach, which quickly regenerates and shrugs off damage, as they can focus their anti-armor attack and squash it before the Roach has a chance to recover.

Karune answers a question about Stargates and the option of upgrading them to Warp Gates, like Gateways.

Only Gateways can be upgraded to Warp Gates. Gosh…warped in Carriers/Void Rays over an enemy base would be OP!

Next, a discussion about abilities which may or may not make it into the game:

The Molecular Disrupter is a new ability we are testing out on the Nullifier, in which the unit fires a psionic projectile which bounces between units of the same type, doing 10 damage with each hit, up to a maximum of 10 bounces. Thus, if you were to use this ability on 2 Marines (with 40 hit points each, not upgraded), both Marines would die easily. If there were 3 Marines, it would kill 1 Marine and leave the last two at 10 hp each. Currently, the ability costs 125 energy.

The Nullifier’s chain-lightning like ability, the Molecular Disruptor, joins his other two abilities - Hallucination and Force Field. This one looks a little out of place for the relatively “peaceful” caster, which has so far only passively affected battle situations with its abilities. The mechanic of only jumping between alike units feels a bit tacked on, not having any real use in any fight.

The Seismic Thumper is no longer in the multiplayer game, but was originally dropped on the battlefield, which slows all units within it’s radius by 50% (including friendlies). The only way to stop it was to destroy the Seismic Thumper itself.

The Seismic Thumper, an ability designed for the Nighthawk, will only appear in the single player portion of the game. An interesting idea for an ability that fits the Nighthawk’s role, it is currently out of the game, replaced by another new ability, Targeting Drone:

The Targeting Drone is similar to the Auto Turret in the fact that it does not have a timed life. It currently costs 50 energy to deploy and has 120 hitpoints (all subject to balance of course). The Targeting Drone can target one unit at a time, and increases the damage that unit takes by 50%. You cannot have two drones targeting the same target. These drones are also flying, stealthed, and immobile. They may excellent perimeter defenses and can be coupled with Auto Turret raids to maximize the damage.

With the addition of this ability, the Nighthawk has truly become the master of defense for the Terran, able to deploy Auto-Turrets, Spider Mines and now Targeting Drones. Coupled with its detection capabilities, this is a unit that will accompany Terran armies into many confrontations, scouting ahead of the main force and preparing preliminary defenses until the heavy gear is deployed.  Aside from that, it will certainly be useful for quickly setting up a defense perimeter around any new expansion. This is a great defensive addition to the Terran, which, in StarCraft 1, had no standalone defensive structure they could rely on for protection against ground forces.

However, since all of the Nighthawk’s deployables are energy based and permanent, a limit will likely be imposed on the number of concurrently deployed abilities to prevent abuse. Perhaps, like the old Protoss Reaver, it will have to pay to manufacture some of them first.

Finally, Karune discusses the Colossus‘ role in detail. The Colossus, which used to be extremely powerful as an individual unit in the previous builds, has been toned down somewhat and now has a more defined place on the battlefield.

In my opinion, the Colossus is the most effective when you have more than one. Three seems to be my optimal number, especially against Terran. Medivacs heal at a very fast rate, but only one target at a time. Against a group of Marines with a Medivac, one single Colossus would do virtually nothing, because the damage would be healed through easily. With three Colossi, the Marines would die in one sweep, negating any healing that could be done. A single Colossus is good at softening targets, but with more rapid healing from Medivacs and new units like Roaches, it may not be enough. At that point, you need enough to kill them in one sweep, and when you do have that, it will do significant damage to any army, especially with the additional range upgrade for the Colossus.

The Colossus has changed from the powerful assault unit it once was into more of an attack support unit. It will function best when it utilizes its extreme range upgrade (9) to target distant enemies from the safety of cliffs, or behind other, cheaper and more expandable units so it can inflict its AoE damage and soften up targets.

Some concerns were raised about the mechanism of the attack, which sweeps across in a line in front of the Colossus. The area of effect is very dependent on the position of the Colossus, and the timing of the animation also raised some questions. Here’s what Karune had to say:

Even though the beam is currently shown visually in various ways, the damage is done to all units in that straight line at the same time instantly. That line will always be based on the position you are attacking from, so in that way there is a lot of control as how to use the Colossus.

Lastly, Karune reveals an interesting piece of information about Blizzard’s plans for competitive play:

The range of the Colossus is what makes it such a great support unit, as well as an awesome raider from cliffs. Additionally, all competitive maps will have cliffs to some degree.

StarCraft 2 has intergrated many mechanics which depend on cliffs and height differences. This is something that differentiates it from StarCraft 1 in a great way and adds more complexity to the game. Aside from units, like the Colossus, which can traverse these heights naturally, the line-of-sight changes add to the importance of utilizing cliffs intelligently. It’s no surprise that Blizzard will want to see these new additions in maps designed for balanced, competitive gameplay.

Here’s what Karune had to say:

Zerg Nydus Worm

The Nydus Worm is a unit that has undergone several changes since its unveiling and we are curious to the feedback on the latest round of changes shown at BlizzCon.

For those who do not know, the Nydus Worm is a tunnel opening to a network in which you can store your army. When the Nydus Worm springs from the ground, it can allow that whole army to start pouring out from that position as seen here: http://starcraft2.com/screenshot.xml?s=84

 

Nydus Worm prior to BlizzCon

Prior to BlizzCon, the Nydus Worm had to be summoned from the Nydus Canal, and only on creep. Thus, in order to do a drop, an Overlord was usually needed to drop creep, and then the Nydus Canal could spawn a Nydus Worm at that position. Also, because of the cooldown, typically for a mass drop, a Zerg player would need multiple Nydus Canals, to spawn multiple Nydus Worms at the drop position, to make sure the enemy couldn’t easily destroy the Nydus Worms before the Zerg army could come out.

Nydus Worm at BlizzCon

In the BlizzCon build, the Nydus Worm no longer is spawned from the Nydus Canal. Additionally, it no longer needs to be spawned in on creep as well. Instead, the Nydus Worm is spawned in from the Overseer, and is based on energy cost. Thus, if you have multiple Overseers, you could easily spawn multiple Nydus Canals (which will have a ‘build time’ before the worm erupts from the ground) and ensure a higher success rate of getting your units out.
Let us know your thoughts on the new changes. Also keep in mind, most of the discussion here is about gameplay mechanics, rather than the “numbers and stats” as those will always be changed to balance mechanics (i.e. changing build times for the Nydus, energy costs, hitpoints, etc).

 

Karune has also posted the following clarification:

When units enter the Nydus Worm opening or the Nydus Canal, they are in the Nydus network. They can exit at any opening, including the Nydus Canal building. There is no actual “tunneling,” and is actually more similar to loading units in a dropship. When all entrances/exits are destroyed, all units in the network will die, so if you are a Zerg player, make sure you don’t let that happen

The above note describes a very safe mode of transportation for the Zerg; as long as the player ensures that at least one Nydus Network Node is alive, the transported units are not in any danger of being lost without a fight.

Despite the fact that Karune’s request for feedback is a simplistic Like/Dislike poll, which you are welcome to vote on, the SC2Blog would like to guide the discussion to a slightly more technical side:

1) Do you consider a certain Nydus Worm implementation the best one, and if so, which one?

2) If you could implement any plausible Zerg transportation method, what would it be?

3) What additional “buffs” or “debuffs” would you see fit for units after Nydus Worm transportation?

* Banelings no longer require any gas to be produced, after the initial 150 gas investment in a Baneling Nest. Previously, Zerg players had to decide whether to invest in Banelings, which have an early-game crippling potential, or to use the gas to tech up. With this change, using Banelings does not inhibit the Zerg’s player tech advancement.

* The Queen is no longer a unique unit. As such, it is no longer upgradeable by itself, instead relying on global upgrades, and is treated like a normal spell caster. Its abilities now include:

• Mutant Larva: Create three large Larvas that are not attached to the hatchery. Bring them into battle with you to create adaptive reinforcements.
• Razor Swarm: Creates a cloud of Zerg insects, controllable by the player, which damage units caught in it over time.
• Create Creep Tumor: Extends the range of Creep, similar to a Creep Colony.

Dustin Browder, lead game designer, commented that players saw the Queen as too much of a defensive unit and neglected investing time and resources into developing it, instead choosing to focus on the offensive in most games.

* The Mothership currently has the following three abilities:

• Cloaking field: As the StarCraft 1 Arbiter ability, this bestows the cloaking effect to all friendly units in a small radius surrounding the Mothership.
• Vortex: A nerfed Black-Hole, this ability only disables the units it pulls into its event horizon for the period of the spell.
• Timebomb: This ability disables all units, enemy and friendly, who enter it for the duration of the spell.

* The Nighthawk’s (formerly Nomad) abilities are:

• Deploy Auto-Turret: Deploys a permanent Turret on the field.
• Deploy Spider Mine: Deploys a “burrowed” mine on the field, ready to pop out and explode on any passerby.
• Deploy Targeting Drones: Deploys cloaked drones which fly around the targeted unit, lighting it up with a targeting laser. This adds 50% to any damage that unit receives, and provides sight around its location.

* The Vespene Geyser mechanic has changed again. As we suggested, and no doubt partly thanks to feedback from our readers, the “Replenish Gas” process is now Auto-Cast. When the gas in the Vespene Geyser is depleted, it automatically goes through the replenishing process, which takes 60 seconds - during which the workers are unemployed, and can be utilized for something else at the cost of the player’s attention. Unfortunately, this process cannot be turned off.

Dustin Browder has commented that the current gas mechanic isn’t liked by many of the developers and will likely be changed. Perhaps our full suggestion will be implemented - allowing the automatic repleneshing to be turned on and off and the player’s volition - or just scrapped altogether, in place of a system that does not require much action from the player.

In the screenshot above, “Available” refers to the amount of gas left in the Vespene Geyser before it has to go through the replenishing process, while “Remaining” is the total remaining amount of gas in the Geyser.

* The High Templar has gained a new ability: Phase Shift. Affecting single units, this takes them out of the battle by shifting them to another dimension for a short period. Effective for both enemy and friendly units. This ability joins the Templar’s two other abilities, the Infamous Psi-Storm and Archon Warp.

* The Ghost’s Snipe has been replaced with an ability called Psi-Round. This still deals a lot of damage to single units, but also deals an additional 50 points of damage to “Psionic” type units.

* The current unit types are: Light, Massive, Armored, Biological, Psionic and Mechanical. Structures also have the Structure property.

* The Colossus has a new upgrade, Extended Thermal Lances, which increases its attack range from 6 to 9. This is a major upgrade for the Colossus, allowing it to dish out damage from protected locations enemy units can not get to, like heightened terrain spots and fortified positions. Its attack animation has changed yet again: the beam focuses on a single position while intensifying, then sweeps across the field quickly, scorching everything in its path.

* Upgrading Protoss Gateways to Warp Gates now costs 50 minerals and 50 gas. This allows warping units built from it to any powered-up location on the map and reduces some of the build time, but removes the option to queue units.

* The Lurker’s spines and the path of destruction they form are now much wider. As well, it also receives a bonus against armored targets.

* The Battlecrusier can now utilize these three, battle-oriented abilities:

• Yamato Cannon: As in StarCraft 1, the Battlecruiser charges up a large amount of energy, which is then released as a hot ball of death, capable of destroying most units on the ground or in the air in a single hit.
• Missile Barrage: This new ability allows the Battlecrusier to saturate a piece of the sky with missiles, inflicting area of effect damage. Especially deadly against lightly armored fliers.
• Defensive Matrix: The Battlecrusier can now cast this old Science Vessel ability, but only on itself. This is a temporary shield that adds a layer of protection to the already heavily armored Battlecruiser, allowing it to take even more damage.

Each produced Battlecruiser can only choose one of these abilities to utilize throughout its life - it cannot pick another or change its choice.

* The Infestor does no longer actually infest. It has also lost its famous Dark Swarm ability, and can no longer cast Disease. It now has the following abilities:

• Fungal Infestation: Infests a single, non-massive unit, slowly reducing its hit points until it dies - creating an explosions that damages nearby units.
• Neural Parasite: Takes control over a unit for 10 seconds.
• Spawn Infested Marines: This somewhat senseless ability allows the Infestor to hatch five eggs, out of which Infested Marines pop out, regardless of the Zerg’s current enemy on the field.

The Infestor now possesses the ability to use his special abilities while burrowed. Coupled with his natural ability to move while burrowed, this makes the Infestor a very interesting unit for the Zerg.

* The Nydus Worm is no longer a unit. The player must now build the Nydus Network building and then “plant” a Nydus Worm with an Overseer.

* The Overseer has received the Queen’s Heal ability. The Overseer is now a fast, flying detector unit with a large sight radius, capable of “summoning” Nydus Worms and healing Zerg units and buildings.

* The Phoenix now possess the old Nullifer ability, Anti-Grav. It can now lift up units off of the ground, throw them into the air and attack them with its anti-air attack.

* The Nullifer, which lost its Anti-Grav ability to the Phoenix, now has these three abilities:

• Force Field: Creates an impenetrable barrier on the field which lasts for 15 seconds.
• Hallucination: Like the StarCraft 1 High Templar spell, this creates a fake version of the targeted unit, serving as a decoy.
• Molecular Displacer

* Siege Mode for Siege Tanks is now researched at the Armory, pushing this ability further up the tech tree.

* The Hellion (formerly Jackal) has received a boost in stats and efficiency. When microed well, it can now outrun most enemies while still being able to stop and fire off a quick burst of flame.

* The Hydralisk has been reduced in tier, hit points, damage, and overall efficiency. It is now mainly used as the Zerg’s anti-air unit.

* Marines now have 80 hit points with the Shield upgrade. The Stim upgrade has been moved up the tech ladder to the Shadow Ops building, and further help arrives a bit later, from the Starport, in the form of the healing Medivac Dropship. These upgrades keep the Marines very useful for the Terran race throughout the entire match.

StarCraft 2’s latest playable multiplayer build coupled with the surge of details about the campaign, along with the StarCraft 2 beta key, are all clear indications that StarCraft 2 is entering a mature presentable stage, soon to culminate with the much anticipated beta.

Of course, as with all Blizzard events, the latest StarCraft 2 build was playable in the convention hall, and some changes to the gameplay and unit design have been spotted as well. Check out the last part of the post for the new screenshots.

The StarCraft 2 single player is going to be a completely different experience from StarCraft 1. As we now know, the three campaigns - Terran, Zerg and Protoss -  will be separated into three packages, and each is expected to offer as much content (if not more) than the entire original game.  The first package to be released will contain the Terran campaign, along with full multiplayer capability, featuring all three races, while the next two will be released as expansions in the future.

This new strategy gives Blizzard the opportunity to accomplish a few things, all quite positive (unless you were really anxious about playing all three campaigns without paying more than 50$ for it!):

• The game, with full Battle.net 2.0 and multiplayer capability, will be released sooner
• Blizzard will not attempt to rush the single player campaign to satisfy the anxious players waiting for the game’s multiplayer and esports aspects, having time to perfect it up to Blizzard standards
• The single player campaign will offer a new, unique experience, instead of being a rehash of the same predictable formula we’ve been playing for more than 10 years
• As full expansions for StarCraft 2, they will also introduce new units, make balance changes, and improve the StarCraft 2 multiplayer game

While this may be disappointing for players who were eager to get their hands on the Zerg or Protoss campaigns, the vast majority of players will likely be excited to be able to play StarCraft 2 sooner, rather than later, and have an assurance that two more expansions are coming in the not-too-distant future. Moreover, for those single player fans, the campaign should be much more satisfying than if it was released in cut-down form.

With beta keys for StarCraft 2 being handed out to BlizzCon attendees, it is safe to say that the beta is fast approaching. Blizzard have had a long time to develop all three races for multiplayer, and according to Chris Sigaty, lead producer, they are now finishing “Wings of Liberty“, the Terran campaign. Since the other campaigns will be released at a future time, the first package should not be far away itself - there isn’t much left to accomplish before it is released. Chris also puts the ballpark for each new expansion at around a year of development.

Moving on from the technical details, we also have some fresh tidbits about the game and story:

In each campaign, the player will control a major character and follow it throughout the game. As you might have guessed, these will be Jim Raynor for the Terran, Kerrigan for the Zerg, and Zeratul for the Protoss. Controlling your character means more than just moving a hero around on the battlefield, though - the non-RTS portions of StarCraft will resemble more of an RPG.

The game will also provide the player with choices to make about how to proceed in it and perhaps even pose dilemmas that will affect the course of action and plot, but likely not the final outcome. It will feature many more missions - some optional - and allow interested players to explore the StarCraft universe in greater depth and detail. For the Terran campaign, Blizzard have revealed the Starmap, with which the player will navigate and reach chosen missions.

Unfortunately, it is doubtful that this aspect of the game will reach the magnificence of other similarly themed games, such as the other SC2 - Star Control 2, and will more likely stay at the same level of the Command & Conquer inter mission breaks.

Throughout each campaign’s non-linear ~30 missions, the player will also gather resources, with which he will be able to purchase single player-specific upgrades and technology. Players will have to make smart choices with their upgrade paths and pick the right units and technology to fight their chosen battles with. Missions are promised to be much more diverse, as Blizzard tries to avoid the normal “build up a base and kill everything” dead-end formula.

The expanded campaigns will also include many other interesting characters, some of which we’ve seen before, and quite a few new ones. Some new names that have been mentioned are:

• Valerian Mengsk, son of Arcturus Mengsk from the original StarCraft
• Tychus Findlay, who we first met in the original StarCraft II cinematic
• Rory Swann, a former Kel-Morian worker who lead a unsuccesfull revolt. Saved by Jim Raynor, he now serves on the Hyperion as the main engineer, trying to keep the war-torn battlecruiser in fighting shape
• Gabriel Tosh, a Ghost with supposed ties to Nova of StarCraft: Ghost fame, provides Raynor with his expertise
• Dr. Ariel Hanson, a young scientist who is also Raynor’s love interest (until he runs into Kerrigan again, at least)

Blizzard is trying to create something new and exciting for the single player portion of the game. This type of game development is new to Blizzard as well, and it is not surprising that it is taking a long while for them to meet their high standards. By separating the process and releasing the multiplayer game with only a portion of the single player campaign, they are giving themselves the opportunity to perfect the game without delaying it further. The result should please most fans, and provide everyone with a great gaming experience - or so Blizzard, and everyone else, hope.

Finally, Blizzard have also released a few amazing in-game screenshots, featuring new tilesets and giving us a glimpse at the newest unit redesigns.

Here are some notable excerpts:

* A Thor guarding the entrance to the Terran stronghold, completely surrounded by lava

* Jackals, now called Hellions, roasting a huge pack of Zerglings to a crisp with a few fell swoops

* The Battlecruiser unleashes its new Missile Barrage on a few poor Zerg fliers

* The Medivac Dropship in action, healing Marauders, who come under attack by Roaches

* A group of Nighthawks, the new design for the old Nomad, come under attach by Archons, who have also received a small facelift

* A few more shots of the new Nighthawks, which seem to have borrowed their design from the more sleek and less square and bulky Protoss, alongside their deployed Auto-Turrets

That’s all for now. When the dust settles and all reports from our operatives are handed in, a complete gameplay follow-up piece will be published.

1) As confirmed by Mike Morhaime, President of Blizzard Entertainment, this year’s BlizzCon attendees receive StarCraft 2 beta keys.

No, the StarCraft 2 Beta was not announced, and no planned schedule exists. However, it is reasonable to assume that Blizzard will make the beta available before 2009’s Blizzcon.

2) During the StarCraft Gameplay Panel, it has been revealed that StarCraft 2 will be released as a game trilogy:

• Wings of Liberty (Terran)
• Heart of the Swarm (Zerg)
• Legacy of the Void (Protoss)

The trilogy is required only for the single player campaign, and the full-featured multiplayer (Battle.net) experience will be available to players who purchase even just one of the above. Splitting the game into 3 distinct products was an uneasy development decision, according to Rob Pardo, who said it was made due to StarCraft 2’s giant single-player project scope, among other considerations.

September’s newsworthy items include the 44 Q&A, multiple Protoss and Terran unit changes, new artwork and several interesting Battle.net posts. Starting with the somewhat insignificant, Blizzard opened September with several new artwork images, which were added to StarCraft 2 Official site’s gallery. The official gallery now spans eleven pages and almost a hundred hi-res images.

Karune has posted healthy amount of interesting information concerning the current build on the Battle.net forums, clearing several interesting aspects of Overlord creeping and Xel’ Naga Watch Towers.

• Overlords must remain immobile to generate creep.
• It takes 15 seconds to unload a Pylon radius worth of creep.
• Creep takes 30 seconds to recede after Overlord’s “removal”.

Maxed out creep range from one Overlord is a little bigger than the range of a Pylon’s power radius, and will take about 15 seconds to reach max range and generally recede within 30 seconds(subject to balance) after the Overlord is destroyed or stops unloading creep

….Overlords are immobile when they are unloading creep - and I don’t think the opponent would appreciate you painting up his base with ‘taunts’ written in creep either 

Marine shields are not just a graphic perk, but a vital part of the Terran arsenal, making the Marine a far more viable late game choice. Considering the amount of heavy-hitters introduced in StarCraft 2 (Thor, MotherShip, Colossus, Queen, better Ultralisks), the Shield upgrade is must for late game infantry.

 
Yup, the Marines still have upgradable shields, making a huge difference late game against more high damage units. As long as those Marines can survive that initial hit, the Medivac Dropships does an awesome job of bringing them back to full health in no time.

Xel’ Naga Watch Towers don’t detect invisible units, however, the Terran Vulcan does. Terran Vulcan is the Nomad’s new name, one that was probably received due to the recently rumored significant change of appearance.

The Xel’Naga Watch Towers do not grant ‘detection’ of cloaked units, nor does it move around like an Observer.

Nomads, also now known as the Vulkan, is still a detector. Actually, it is probably the most powerful mobile detector in the game, considering it can also rapidly deploy a medley of Terran defenses used to both support an attack or raid the enemy.

The Nomad was not the only unit to have its name changed, as the Jackal is now know as Hellion. Jackal was initially introtuced is StarCraft 2’s incarnation of the Vulture, eventually distanced from it by its Buggy-like design and the friendly friendly-fire AoE.
Hellion’s role has distanced the unit even further, by making it a mobile Flamethrower, not entirely unlike C&C’s Flame Tank.

The combination of :

• Speed
• Friendly AoE damage
• Affordability

Make the Hellion seem as a perfect Worker-line raider, on par with the Terran Reaper, which costs more Gas and is significantly more fragile.

The Jackal, now known as the Hellion, only has the flamethrower weapon. In previous versions, there was a railgun hover vehicle, but that will no longer be in multiplayer.
Think Firebat on wheels!

The Hellion is currently one of the best units for “micro” since it is faster than all other units in its tier, and also does splash damage in the form of a line with the flamethrower.

Protoss units were not neglected by Blizzard’s Naming Officers, and the Warp Ray is now officially known as Void Ray - fitting its Dark Templar roots.

Warp Rays, also known as Void Rays now, are especially good against high hit point units, as well as buildings.

 

And last but not least, the missing Q&A 44.

Chat with Devs: Something I noticed during our recent shows at Games Convention in Leipzig and PAX in Seattle is that many new players trying out the game who played Zerg built several creep tumors, thinking they were either defenses or going to morph into defenses. This eventually lead into a conversation with Dustin about why Creep Tumors no longer morph into base defenses. For those who dont know, a Creep Tumor is a building which expands creep around it significantly. Building this building is an excellent way to cover additional ground with creep, allowing for many new strategies, including aggressive Spine Crawler pushes (the mobile Sunken Colony).

Dustin brought up two scenarios to why Creep Tumors no longer morph into other Zerg defenses: 

 

1) You would be able to creep across the map by moving your creep-spawning base defenses.

 

 

2) It would be easier to accidentally end up with buildings off of creep because the creep-generator moved away.

 

Thus, since the development team definitely wanted to give Zerg mobile defenses, they decided to split the roles of the Creep Tumor and the other Zerg defenses. This also allows for the team to make these Creep Tumors burrowed and very cheap in the latest build.

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

If you haven’t read the above paragraph, you should, especially if you are a Zerg player. This pretty much puts an end to the massive TheoryCraft around Zerg’s mobile defenses, the turtling and offensive towering possibilities, and brings Zerg’s defensive arsenal to a somewhat sane level.

On to the questions, which are mainly clarifications and glimpses into the mild adjustments that are present in the currently tested build.

1) Is it possible for replays to contain more in depth player statistics such as average clicks per minute, number of hotkeys used, etc.. ?

 

Replays will have much more info available in them that will include more detailed stat tracking, as well as other useful eSports related features.

 

 

2) Terrans currently appear to be at a disadvantage in terms of troop mobility, (as compared to ‘Warp-in’ and ‘Nydus Worm’) are there any plans to bring back the, ‘drop-pod’ or other new transport mechanic?

 

 
Actually, the Terrans have many units and mechanics that empower them with more mobility than the original StarCraft. The Reaper and Viking is a good example of new units that extend the Terrans raiding capabilities. Furthermore, Medivac Dropships offer more incentive to build lots of Dropships, which translate to more mobility for their entire army. Salvage is also another mechanic that helps in terms of rebuilding and moving a Terran base to new locations. Lastly, the Terrans are still the only side that can pick up and move their whole entire base, as well as being able to load SCVs in their Command Center now, allowing for quicker fast expanding strategies.

Blizzard’s answer to the Terran mobility question is a great example of how the StarCraft Universe works, and how a Blizzard’s developers approach RTS : Balance does not imply having the same tools. Balance does not imply having the same firepower abilities or speed.

3) With the new high ground mechanic in place, an army can’t fight units that are on higher ground anymore until they get a spotter up the ledge. Both Zerg and Terran have the possibility to spot units on high ground with Overlords and floating buildings right from the start of the game, but the first Protoss unit to fly up there would be the Phase Prism. Could it be that Protoss players have a significant disadvantage on some maps because of this?

 

In the latest builds of StarCraft II, the Protoss no longer need an Observatory to build Observers. Observers will be able to be built straight from the Robotics Facility, allowing earlier eyes on the battlefield.
We definitely saw that especially on certain maps, Terrans were able to block their choke point early, taking away much of the scouting portion of the game from Protoss, and are trying out this new solution for it. Additionally, we felt that Observers were too a crucial to the Protoss army to have them that far up the tech tree.

 

 
4) Will the Unit Portraits in SC2 be pre-rendered high quality video clips like in SC1 ?

 

The unit portraits will be shown in much higher quality than the actual units on the screen, similar to the original StarCraft and Warcraft III. They will not be video clips, but will be animations rendered in game. There will be several examples of their unit portraits in the next BlizzCast, where we have Dustin and Sammy discussing the process of creating a unit.

 

5) We all know how important it is that tier 1 units be effective at later tiers, which has prompted different unit abilities like the Zealots Charge. But it seems that the Protoss have a leg up in that they have Charge while the Zerglings have only their traditional speed boost without any AI enhancements. Is anything being planned for the Zergling?

 

Due to the new game engine, Zerglings have much better pathing in StarCraft II, meaning they move much more efficiently. Zerglings are able to both surround enemy units easier and are more easily selectable as well, being able to control more than 12 at a time. Furthermore, Zerglings are also slightly smaller than their original StarCraft counterparts, and able to be morphed into Banelings, which are extremely effective against Zealots. Lastly, Zealots have also had their shield hit points reduced by 10, as compared to the original StarCraft Zealots.

And in case you haven’t been following, BlizzCon’s coverage starts this Friday, October the 10th.
Last year, Blizzcon build included radical changes, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise if this year’s event will include some sort of a significant StarCraft 2 announcement or gameplay adjustment.