Adolf[Ra] plays SC2 at IGROMIR 2009

Adolf[Ra] plays SC2 at IGROMIR 2009

A Huuuuge thanks to pure.Wasted for proper translation!!

First day:

Finally, it happened. A combined raid from reps.ru and sc2tv.ru at Blizzard's stand at Igromir went off without a hitch. By the way, we were all let in together, thanks to the efforts of MiG.Largo, so a VIP ticket wasn't necessary. Whoever pooled money and wants a refund -- send a PM; I can return it. This was the good news. Now the bad. First -- Blizz reps didn't allow us to film screens. "Just a little, panorama-style," they relented later. This didn't work for us, and, really, we didn't understand the rationale for being so secretive. It's not like we're going to steal the beta through film... But most importantly, attention! Yes, I played StarCraft 2! And now I can say with certainty that it turned out to be totally, absolutely, wholly...

Of course the ending of that sentence isn't coming, that's a tease. Conclusions we'll draw at the end, but for now -- concrete details, facts, and first-hand information!

Conditions under which the game was tested weren't exactly ideal (except, perhaps, that Blizzard reps were very friendly). Firstly, the computers were set to disgusting sensitivity. As most SCers play under low sensitivity (myself included), playing was very difficult, but in the end I persevered. The keyboard was also unsual -- but, again, I managed. No, the real problem was that there was no multiplayer, so we could play only against comps... in addition to the fact that the games were artificially limited to very annoying lengths, either 15 or 20 minutes. Taking my time with things proved difficult.

And this was unfortunate. We know all about all of the units, we've seen them, and now we wanted to try different BOs, test out the game speed, the macro, the micro -- all that is near and dear to our hearts from StarCraft. Well, good news -- the game speed is nicely tuned and not overwhelmingly fast, basically normal. When I got accustomed to the sensitivity, playing became a lot more intuitive -- selecting, ordering, clicking. Near the end of the two hour game-a-thon minerals moved almost faster than they could come in and troops moved fluidly (with a few exceptions, noted later).

From here, the conclusion that will elicit cheers from some and tears from others -- tricks and skills learned in the original will be a TREMENDOUS help. Former B/B+, in SC2, will most likely beat former D+/C-. Multitasking is in place, the ability to play fast is a must, micro is needed, [заказ никуда не делся, хоть и стал легче], perfecting a BO is important, and timing, memory, attention, the ability to improvize -- all will come in handy. You get used to the game surprisingly fast, your hands start to do whatever needs doing, and your head is already working on churning out available strategies, calculating resources, out-thinking your opponent, etc. As an example I'll recount one game, played today. Scouting over to the Toss with an SCV, I saw the Core, the Twilight [Citadel], ran around for a long while, saw a Dark Obelisk, gathered that DTs were coming went. Simultaneously, I arranged a drop at his expansion and started upgrading my own CC into an Orbital Command. My suspicions were confirmed -- the Toss couldn't put any pressure on me and died quickly when he attempted to stop my Marauder+Thor+Viking+Hellion assault.

Yep, SCVs have rally-mine. Yep, rally-mine is hugely convenient, and saves a ton of time. But Blizz came up with an artificial replacement -- Larvae Injection, MULEs, and Dark Pylon. If you don't want to lag behind in economy, you have to use them all the time (approximately once per 40 seconds). With the added amount of locales [TN: battlefields, expansions, etc?], it follows that you have to click more, and so a lot more time is spent clicking. When you've got three expansions as a Toss, you're already starting to kindly remember the good ol' days when all you had to do was order Probes around, instead of tediously clicking on Dark Pylons. But you can't not click -- your opponent is clicking away! But what are you going to do? It's too impactful on the economy to ignore.

Another key moment -- setting up Refineries. This another added area to manage that distracts with building, ordering of SCVs, re-counting them after a harss, sending them back to gas. Balancing gas gathering isn't so straight-forward anymore -- sometimes you get a build up of excess, but more often than not, it's MADLY lacking. Now you begin to understand why there's two -- everything costs heaps of gas, but retrieving it is a slow process.

As for general impressions of game balance -- each race has terribly interesting characteristics. Of course you can't find everything in two hours, let alone that the Comp, on Hard difficulty, is mostly a push-over and runs out of steam fairly quick. This wasn't a game against live opponents that awaited us in the upcoming days. And even so, there's already a lot to tell.

 

TERRANS

The race of contrasts. On the one hand, incredibly similar to the original game; on the other -- with profound, marked differences. I'll try to explain again, in better detail. On some maps (chosen for play randomly) you can wall-in with a Barracks and two Supplies. Soundly -- no Ling will get through. But the Comp's gotten smarter and doesn't get stuck in these areas. Walling-in seems to be something of an acquired skill, even if it appears to be easier in general. How one is supposed to wall-in wider entrances, which do crop up, remains a mystery; maybe you'd need a whole row of Supplies. By the way, breaking old habits is tough, like submerging a Depot instead of lifting a Barracks out of familiarity. But man is it convenient! Now, no matter how badly designed the layout of your base, you can solve all your problems by hiding Depots underground.

Well, you're walled-in, what are you going to do? Say, the classical tech route against Toss? It's not likely that the old strategies still hold up, and it's not for nothing the Battle Reports keep showing new ones. Yes, Hellions now replace Vultures in the early game, burning to a crisp Lings and Zealots; but it's an awkward and uncomfortable unit. It's not that it's difficult to control, it's that he just sits in place, somehow, while attacking -- either gets stuck [TN:?] or stops awkwardly. Even with the +10 attack upgrade they get against light units, this is a poor man's Vulture. You're forced to use them in drops, of course, but it's not the same... and as they don't have access to mines, they lose a lot of mid-game usefulness. Working miracles does not come standard for these guys -- if, even, at all possible.

Siege Tanks are, naturally, all pretty and nice... but confused. Mass tanks against Toss is useless; both the tried-and-true Zealot and the new Immortal handle this tech fine. So you don't see any Immortals... because you don't see any Tanks. Closed circuit. Besides, Terrans now have plenty more interesting and versatile ways of breaking down defenses than Tanks. Tanks are expensive, require a Techlab and upgrade -- why not send in a thundering and ever-so-slightly more expensive Thor instead? The interface shows a Siege Tank's attack radius. It's convenient, but it also makes you feel a bit like an idiot. Couldn't we leave the pros to their own trained eye, sizing things up? But let's not grumble. The upgrade to Siege Mode is now trained through hotkey E instead of S? Why? In general, most buildings and upgrades were left on their original bindings, except the Probe, now on E, and the Ovie, which is unfortunately STILL on O. Oh well, moving on.

For a long time now, ever since SC2's original vids on the Terrans, I've been terribly fond of the Viking. Today was my chance to give them a whirl. I tried an improv build vs. Zerg -- [перекрытие], Factory, Hellion for harass, 2 Starports and mass Vikings. When I had about 8, I flew over the Zerg, killed his Ovies, sat down, killed his Drones. This was absolutely delightful! After this came a pre-planned turn to mass infantry and mass Medivacs from Starports (by the way, neither Medivacs nor Vikings need a Techlab, and a Reactor allows two to build at the same time). One problem -- the Zerg, having decided to fight toe-to-toe, came knocking at my main. The thing is, Inject Larvae allows the Zerg to raise a huge army very quickly, and the Hydra massacres anything with wings (including my Vikings). Old strategies and timings did not avail me.

I'm not really sure that mech builds will be generally effective against Zerg, primarily because of the threat of early attacks of UNGODLY masses of hydras. Lings will at least burn to Hellions, but the Hydra is a more swift and deadly beast. But, I digress. I remembered that I was playing a brand new game and had nothing to feel bad about. The build simply needed perfecting. When I played Toss, I lead with Hellion drops, one Starport with Reactor, a few Vikings, Marauders and Thors for support -- a two-legged robot army =). This was more like it, but again, against a Comp. it's hard to tell what the results would really be like.

In practice I couldn't try my hand at Reapers -- I'll try to spend some time on them tomorrow, if I get a chance to play (word is, there's a lot more people coming). But I did get some impressions of the Ghost -- that's to say, the Bombs. Of the Nuclear variety. Easy to see why David Kim was throwing them around left and right -- it's easy as pie. Moreover, this is basically replaces Tanks, nullifying ANY defenses. All you have to do is order one in from the Ghost Academy -- they're priced reasonably. Teching to them isn't hard, and neither is hiding a Cloaked Ghost behind the mass of your main army. And if we take into account the Ghost's EMP, which comes equipped free of charge, even Storms don't seem quite so menacing. It's only the Snipe ability that raises doubts. Hard to imagine in what situations it might be found useful. And on that note, one of SC2's great improvements is that many of the most powerful abilities come without the need of upgrades -- the Thor's artillery, the Ghost's EMP, the Raven's Turret, and so on.

I didn't bother building Banshees or BCs, and mass infantry didn't get too much use. But I did spend some time with the Raven, the Sci Vessel's replacement. I didn't get to rockets -- ran out of time -- but the turret... this is really a very cheap and useful cast. For only 50 energy you get a pretty powerful and speedy turret. Yes, it disappears with time, but that takes a long while -- at least two minutes, if not longer. A whole bunch of Ravens is basically a self-sufficient force that can not only roast Drones and all manner of Zerg with rockets, but destroy the base with turrets, too. They're mobile and powerful, and this versatility makes them just as useful in TvT and TvP match-ups.

The Thors are the bread-and-butter of your ground forces. Finally, the Terrans can feel safe and sound on the ground =). By the way, the Thor is transported by a Medivac... but with a cool twist. The Thor is hooked up underneath, visibly, and flies along with the transport. Very reasonable and practical! Their artillery is very useful for taking down buildings. They do turn rather quickly, but in-game, this isn't annoying -- in fact, it's pretty nice. All in all, the Terran forces move around pretty well, react quickly, and put the 'Attack' command to great use -- which is welcome! Hellions are the unfortunate exception, and I hope someone will come up with something as far as they're concerned.

 

PROTOSS

Probably the StarCraft 2 race most welcoming to newbies. Not a lot seems to have changed, and playing them might even be a little easier than before -- but this might be a false impression. The best early unit is the Stalker. It's fast (chases down Medivacs), mobile, and has good defense and offense. You can chse Marines and Zerglings around this way and that, racking up kills all the while. The Stalker attacks while harassing and retreating and the micro is smooth; he reacts well to commands and almost never gets stuck. And Blink opens up a whole world of new possibilities -- you can stupidly chase down any enemy, focus-firing specific units, and Blink out of harm's way the moment the ugly beast rears its head. There's no mana to burn, just a cooldown. There's difficulties too, of course. For instance, I was chasing down some enemy Reapers, jumped down from a cliff into his base, and there a whole mass of Marauders lay in wait. And there's no going back -- high-ground. You're gonna get tired of following around with an Observer very quickly, which means it's very convenient to use Stalkers with Colossi -- these giants have absolutely no problem overcoming geographical obstacles. And, thanks to their friends, your Stalkers can now make good their escape.

Generally, the Stalker+Colossus combination is very straight-forward and comfortable to use. Mass Zealots in the early game are good only against Marines or Zerglings, and die to both Hellions and speedy Hydras. Stalkers, in the early-game, destroy basically everything, and in later-game serve as excellent defenses against Mutas, Reapers, Hellion drops, and so on. When they get Blink, adequately countering them becomes pretty much impossible. They can always use Blink to get a high ground positioning advantage. And if you bring along for the ride a Disruptor (former Nullifier), which is dirt cheap and comes with Force-Field, you can beat back ANY early attacks, creating a wall-in secured by high-grounded Stalkers.

Where the Stalkers start to falter is frontal assaults against an enemy; there just isn't enough damage output. This role is taken up by the Colossi, replacing Reavers. Except now you don't have to purchase any Shuttles, as they are fairly mobile, being not terribly slow OR terribly expensive. In effect, the age-old Dragoon+Reaver combination seems to have gotten a second wind, and is pretty much the standard. And if your coffers are overflowing with minerals after the second expand, warping in a few extra Gates for Zealots and researching Charge can be the icing on the cake. They do a decent job at tanking in front of Colossi and Stalkers. By the by, don't make the mistake of sending your Colossi in alone -- they get torn up quickly, and do their best work behind a front line that can take some hits.

I didn't get a chance to try out the Protoss air and remain hopeful for tomorrow. Teching into DTs isn't very convenient (you have to build the out-of-the-way Dark Obelisk) or effective. Terrans get the Orbital Command anyway (who doesn't need MULEs?). Usually after a Cybernetics Core, you get a Robotics (faster Colossi) or Twilight (faster Blink or Charge, not very reasonable, IMHO [unclear if just Charge or both]). But if you happen to have the Twilight, not getting Templar Archives is a sin. High Templar aren't just here for pretty Storms anymore, now they can cast Fade on themselves or any other units. Faded units can't attack or take hits, but they can run. Saving Colossi this way is a must!

As for the Dark Pylon, well, it's a very useful building that you need to get as soon as possible. And it's more than a little imba, since it can improve Probes' gathering speed, works as a Shield Battery AND restores mana! A High Templar in the mineral lines can take out a Mega-Drop's worth of units. Most mana-related upgrades now typically increase not the max amount of mana, but his starting amount. Which, you agree, is a lot more useful. Finish the upgrade and your High Templars plop out ready to unleash hell at a moment's notice, and Ravens with a hull-full of rockets to unload on someone's head.

Archons will most likely see most of their use against Zerglings and Ultralisks. Given the loss of Mutastack, alternatives seem limited. [TN:?] There is, however, one difficulty in upgrading Gateways. Obviously it's very cool that your units appear IMMEDIATELY after you ask for them, WHERE you ask for them -- and then all you have to do is wait out the cooldown... but you don't get a rally for these Gates! You have to cast it in Pylon range every time, and this can become inconvenient. I think it makes more sense to upgrade only some Gateways for reinforcements in the heat of battle (if you grabbed a Warp Prism along), or for diversions. In any case, this is a tough question that calls for some thinking... I've yet to find the solution that works for me, as it's pretty hard to say good-bye to those conveniences that you've already gotten accustomed to.

 

ZERG

Feels like not much has really changed for the Zerg since SC1. Maybe it's because the fundamentals of Zerg hotkeys, mobility, and Hatcheries, are largely the same as before. 5sh6sh7sh -- and presto! Masses of Hydras spew forth to whomever's doom. Of course, then it turns out that the order didn't quite go through as planned -- but more on that later. But there are changes. Very significant ones. Of course, you all remember the wonderful article Inject Larvae. Yes, it really is true -- this thing is a BEAST. Keep in mind, the original game worked on the principle that an early second Hatchery will yield more Larvae. Well, now the dynamic is completely different -- an early Pool means an early Queen, and THAT means more Larvae.

Put down the Pool before the Hatch and the moment it's finished IMMEDIATELY get to work on the Queen. She builds from the Hatch without taking up a Larva. With the press of a button -- in this case, W -- you select the Hatchery and watch as no less than FOUR extra Larvae pop out. The cost is a measely 25 mana. If you have a second Hatchery, take your Queen for a walk and rinse, repeat. Back and forth the whole game through. From two Hatcheries I easily beat a Hard Terran Comp. with nothing but Lings. If you prefer, you might mass Hydras instead. Or whatever strikes your fancy -- don't worry, you've got Larvae to spare! I wouldn't dare call this imba before facing down some human opponents, but safe to say that any Zerg fan is gonna get a kick out of this.

And, now, well... don't yawn, just don't forget to macro and micro. Lings dance around very nicely, if a little differently. With the Speed upgrade, they run like crazy, and gobble Marines for breakfast. Marauders, too. Hellions are a different matter. Another cool unit is the Baneling, but I had trouble getting any actual effectiveness out of them. The Queen can heal up attacking Sunkens and packs a punch herself. Along with hopping Zerglings, she can beat back a Zealot rush (especially if you remember that she just did two Injections, which means you've got 8 new Zerglings about to join the fray). It even seems like regular Larvae come back faster this time around.

What the Roaches are all about I can't tell you. They've been thrown into the Lair, and their ridiculous regeneration's been pushed up all the way to the Hive. What role they're intended to fulfill is uncertain, and in micro they're no different from Hydras. Hydras look gorgeous, absolutely destroy air, are useless without their Speed, and have ugly attack animations. It used to be a lot better. I can't say anything for sounds -- the comps didn't have them. Lurkers are in Hive now, and I didn't bother with them either. But I was very pleased with Infestors. For a pretty low mana cost you get 4 Infested Marines shooting guns. Being a fan of zombie films and all, I nearly drooled. If we consider that the Infestor can move around underground, then all it takes is one hidden in your opponent's base to successfully harass his economy for a long, long time. Let alone that this is a MAGNIFICENT counter to Thors and Colossi. Take control of either behemoth and fire away at the enemy's own forces. The best part is you don't need to research ANY of this stuff! Sure, you can upgrade the underground movement speed and something else, but the good stuff is all standard.

Air, as usual, I didn't check out, but with Ultralisks I just couldn't resist. These guys are unbelievable! Huge, 600 HP, upgrade for splash damage, awesome, Burrow-able, seemingly invincible... they destroy anything and everything in their path, like a bulldozer or hurricane. Any battle with them becomes 100 times more entertaining. I promise -- you're gonna love them!

Now, rally-points for Zerg Drones are set-up independently. That's gonna take some re-learning, and all day today I sat and fumed, thinking this was a bug. "Right-click rally for Drones doesn't work!" Turns out it's working as intended. Now you can order in Drones and reinforcements simultaneously, boosting your economy... just like the other races.

The Nydus Worm works without a hitch. Create the worm, place the exit, throw in whatever you like -- just like a drop. Then exit them wherever needed. You can build a network around the entire map, anywhere you like. Taking a Zerg expo is now an accomplishment to be proud of. [Или нюка. Решайте, что вам ближе =)] You won't ever have to worry about Overlords dropping armies from the air. Why bother? Just press your ear to the ground and listen for the sound of teeth grinding through the rock underfoot.



CONCLUSIONS


Some more critical comments I left off for the end. First of all, you're going to have to re-train yourself. Used to going through your Hatcheries 5sh6sh7sh? Tough luck. Every Hydra now needs to be called for individually, and this is going to look like "5shhh6shhh7shhh." On the one hand this is versatile (you can order 10 Hydras, one Ovie and one Drone), but on the other hand, not very convenient. In retrospect, you ought to put all your Hatches on a single hotkey.

Protoss and Terrans, don't look quite so happy -- you're getting the same treatment. You're gonna be jamming the same button as quickly as possible. Select 10 Gates and 10 times press Z. There may be a way to select from all simultaneously, ie. Shift+Z, but I haven't found it. From upgraded Gateways you won't get any sort of rally at all, because those units don't undertake epic journeys in order to reach their destinations. They just warp-to!

A lot of the micro seems to have been lost in translation. This is a serious problem, albeit possibly an intentional one. The only units I felt had micro to them were Zerglings and all Stalker-tech equivalents (Hydra, Stalker, Roach, Marauder). And micro-ing around individual Zerglings when you can just select 60-some at the same time... well, it's a nice touch, but something feels a bit out of place. Units come together in stacks more nicely and don't bump into each other quite so much. Only the Zealots get in each others' way. [?] Say good-bye to your favorite micro from Vultures, Reavers, Mutas, M&M -- there's no way around the loss. But maybe there will be plenty of exciting new micro from the new units -- a lot remains, after all, undiscovered.

It's quite difficult to see the minimap with peripheral vision... it seems less easy to read. When an expo has Sunkens, Roaches, Hydras, Lings, and Drones, telling anything apart via the minimap becomes tricky to say the least. But this is just lack of familiarity speaking. There's a few other hitches -- getting a Hellion drop ready, the first Medivac seems to come out when only 3 (out of a possible 4) can be prepared. The first game was usually a lot more certain with these kind of numbers... but this could just be the result of an unperfected BO.

I want to keep grumbling about this and that, but I won't, because it feels like on the whole there's obviously more good here than bad. And essentially, the picture you got of SC2 from the Battle Reports is completely accurate. No more, no less. The game looks amazing, the dynamics are great, the units and their mechanics are interesting, and to speak of balance now would be premature. Remember the first StarCraft's Beta? Who could have thought that from that horrible mess would emerge such a successful game? StarCraft 2 is still an infant and needs time to grow. It still lacks a lot of those finishing touches and beautiful details, but it'll take years to get to know so intimately. And anyway, those final touches come only with the involvement of our hands and minds. Hopefully, soon they will have a job to do.


COMMENTS

On Hard, if you press too much into some peculiar build, the Comp WILL overrun you. He types GG at the end, so don't let him get you to that point! Scout with your worker, and from then...

Armies never get stuck at all. Movement is incredibly fluid and they all always manage to get through wherever it is they need to go.

Unit selection seems to be completely unlimited. I never had two hotkeys for troops -- exclusively used the one.

Every Nexus calls for its own Dark Pylon. It can cast only within a small range.

They shouldn't have been quite so faithful in translating the atmosphere of the original StarCraft. The first video as Terrans -- bright, beautiful, that should have been the target. IMHO, of course.

[Isn't it a good idea to get Templars to force a Terran to waste mana on Scans as opposed to MULEs?]
Not a bad idea, but Terrans already spend energy on Scans for scouting. Throwing down a Dark Obelisk specifically for this is probably unwarranted. But who knows?

Queen Larva has no cooldown, but costs 25 mana.

Infestors have no other abilities except Spawn Infested Marines and mind control; they don't have too much trouble seeing around them even while burrowed.

Roaches [presumably with tier 3 Regeneration] do a pretty decent job of mopping up early-game units like Zealots and Marines.

Only the Infestor can move while burrowed.

Raven's Turret will take a Zealot 1v1, but can't stand up to mass punishment. Ravens also have rockets and some sort of strange mines, I'll check these out tomorrow.

Vikings have a nice attack, but weaker on the armor. Against Mutas leave quite a bit to be desired. Against ground forces they do pretty well, such as vs. Zerglings or workers.

 

And so ends the second day of Igronom, when we finally got to test our mettle against live opponents -- that is, each other. The first victories, defeats, and impressions: all of this awaits you inside, along with a few photos. We asked the Blizz. Reps for the system requirements, but apparently they're not allowed to answer that question. Based on what we've seen, SC2's sys. req's seem to be, approximately, (recommended) Core Duo, 2GHz, 2 Gig and 256 MB video card. But remember, this is just a guess! Now, impressions of game balance, that's a topic where we can speak with a lot more certainty!

Again I'll try to divide my impressions by race, for readers' convenience. But to begin, I'd like to note the friendliness of Blizzard staff (the Russian tech support guys from France). All planned activities went off exactly on schedule, and we didn't have to participate in anything to partake in the tourney (even twice -- but without the possibility of winning a prize on the second time).


ZERG

Got to know all of their units personally, including the air. Mutastack is non-existent, but Mutas... [TN: Funny non-translateable joke goes here.] take care of workers pretty well with their splash, and remind me very much of Muta demonstrations from 2002 [?]. Taking out Marines is still doable, and although Hold only keeps them in a stack very briefly before they disperse, it's enough to hold off Terrans. The first BO I tried versus a Comp -- Mutas from one Hatch vs. Terran. To protect from an early attack you can set up Sunkens near the entrance. How? Elementary -- Ovie drops creeps wherever you like. Want to try a Sunken rush? Already dreaming of blocking a Nexus from going up vs. Toss, or hiding your buildings in random corners all over the map? All is do-able! The opportunities invented by this mechanic are simply amazing.

It's hard to get used to the fact that Overlords no longer detect cloaked units -- for that, you need to upgade them to Overseers. Overseers are pretty and brainy, capable of producing little puddles of goo that ooze around. If you click on an enemy unit, such as a Marine or Zealot, it turns into one, and can quickly file in the enemy's ranks to observe and report. I'll warn you now: this will be entertaining... but highly impractical. Blizzard keeps trying to throw in these inventive methods of surveilance into their games, and they keep failing. It's true that the unit is relatively free of charge, so it might have been handy to leave one around in key areas of the map... if Overlords weren't already so much better at standing around and doing nothing.

The Corruptor, oh my. I didn't get to see him in a firefight, so it's hard to judge, but he seems like an interesting enough fellow. It's him, and not the Mutalisk, that turns into the Broodlord using Hive Tech... and the Broodlord is the funniest unit in the game. It just floats in place, shooting down broodlings. Remember how you could throw worms around in Half-Life? It's the same principle, only now the ammo is infinite. Broodlings have 30 HP, a short life-span, and a small attack. But if there's many, the situation gets very hairy very quickly. For the most part, Zerg no longer need Hive for anti-air. There they'll find only heavy anti-ground.

The other impression of Zerg is that they're a very strong race, with a great deal of potential. If all of this potential is realized, the end will be nigh (unless the Zerg're fixed, of course). Playing them, on the one hand, is very simple: grow more Larvae, grow more units; but from the perspective of building a proper BO and taking into account the maximization of Larvae, and the timing, is sure to be complex. They're vulnerable to early rushes by Zealots -- most of the defeated Zerg in the tournament lost exactly to this. As for Inject Larvae? As things stand... let's put it this way: Hatcheries at expansions are built exclusively to gather resources. And so it goes.

 

PROTOSS

Finally I managed to get all the way to Protoss air, and I'll be honest -- it's pretty darn good. The Void Ray is available right away, hits ground and air, can take a punch AND has decent range. An amazing instrument for laying seige. On a few of the maps you can attack the Refineries from out of retaliation's range (whilst floating over water, for instance). Phoenixes seem to be anti-air at first glance, but in reality have a wonderful tool for picking up ground targets... making them a serious anti-ground fighter. They don't simply pick the unit up, they disable it completely. A pack of Phoenixes will take down 6 Stalkers without taking a single casualty. Workers die equally fast at undefended expos. By the way, mana is expended to keep a target afloat, which means you're going to have to watch your energy as you get into engagements, and taking down tougher targets will empty your energy pool.

Carriers... are... Carriers. Their upgrade now speeds up construction of Interceptors, and little more. Really, even without it they're built fairly fast. For some reason they struck me as a little underwhelming and a tad less interesting than the original's counterparts, but they ARE good to go right out of the gate. Thirty seconds after construction on a pair completed, they were already tearing through the blockade my Protoss foe had set up outside my main. And of course, the Mothership, a monstrous and monstrously SLOW hunk of machinery. Slower than a Terran's Barracks! It's built from the Nexus, which is quite convenient as your Stargates are left for other tasks. It doesn't take much food, but the cost is hefty.

For a mere 25 mana it can teleport to any Protoss structure, and it seems it might work as a defensive measure. Here come in handy her other abilities: Black Hole, which is simply Stasis by another name, castable on either your opponent's saboteurs or your own workers, to keep them safe from a harass. It lasts about 25 seconds... but combined with the mana-recharge of a Dark Pylon, it's possible to keep units disabled for a veeeeerrry long time. Time-Bomb is a very neat looking effect that doesn't seem to be practically useful. But the Mothership does pack a punch with her own lasers. And last but not least, from her grandpappy the Arbiter, the Mothership gets to make everything around her invisible, no research required. The key question is whether a Mothership can port to a Warp Prism... otherwise, her intended battlefield applications are murky at best. Then again, having one lying around your base can't hurt.

Now I have to make a correction regarding High Templar. Their second ability does NOT allow one to save their own units from death. It can only be cast on enemy troops, making it a great counter to Thors, Colossi, Ultralisks and other guys that Storm won't deal with. At the moment the Protoss remain the most productive, in terms of winning Beta keys at the tournaments, race at Igromir. Zealots in early game, to Stalkers, Colossi, and GG, as early-game Zerg timing is thrown off too much and it's hard to know how to counter the rush. Former StarCraftians, take heed if you really want that Beta. Then again, waiting through the line-up at Igromir is an achievement worthy of praise. Just walking beside it is about a 2-minute's task, and at the line's speed it's something like 2 or 3 hours. But what won't we do for a chance to play SC2!

They say that Colossi and Warp Prisms are simply unstoppable: unload, WHOOSH, load; though I haven't tried it for myself. One guy mentioned that his brother saw someone destroy a pack and a half of Roaches using this method. I hope you're taking notes. Zerg's got no Scourge to patrol the friendly skies anymore.

 

TERRAN

Now I finally started to unravel their little secrets. First of all, I'd like to offer my sincerest apologies to the Hellions. I complained about their boring micro -- well, this turned out to be false. It just needed getting used to, as it's quite a bit... unfamiliar. You have to stop at precisely that distance, from your target, which it will be able to cover as the flames come out. That way, by the time the flames reach it, you've already retreated and are at it again. Lings and Zealots will fall back like nobody's business. But Lings come with their own set of difficulties -- when they're speedy, it's hard to maintain a mobility advantage... let alone all sorts of horrendous brush and other sight-blockers. Zerglings, leaping out of all sorts of nasty areas, will cleave through Hellions with frightening speed, so be warned.

Another characteristic which I judged unfairly -- the Ghost's Snipe ability. There's no cooldown and the cost is next to nil. A pair of snipers can, in the span of 4 seconds, turn a Zerg economy into a mass of all sorts of limbs and intestines. You just need to have the energy for it. Ghosts are the Terrans' future... unless they're 'fixed,' of course. This is a cheap caster with universal usefulness, which can single-handedly replace an armada of Tanks (via Nuke), force an entire Protoss army to displace (via EMP), and swiftly neuter a Zerg expansion (via Snipe). The Nuke is available VERY quickly, costs 100 by 100, and is HIGHLY effective. Take special care to note that since invisible units are now in tier 3, defenses against them are mostly lacking (Zerg need to make overseers, Terrans would rather spend their energy on MULEs, and so on), and this can cost a player very dearly. All it takes for Ghosts is a Tech Lab on top of a Barracks, and a Ghost Academy -- that's it! Just like the Banshee, really, which is an excellent anti-ground attacker.

A few words on MULEs -- these are the Terrans' achilles' heel. Time to change up expectations. The Terrans in SC2 have to expand much faster, maybe even faster than the other races. I understood why David Kim, in BR4, put down 2 Command Centers against his opponent. You see, the folks at Blizzard decided the Zerg should have Inject Larvae, the Protoss their Dark Pylon, and the Terrans -- MULEs. Consequently, the two alien races practically bathe in resources, but the Terrans have to ask themselves, "resources or ComSat?" I always chose ComSat and I think, in playing, you might have to do the same.

Although it might in some way be replaced by the Sensor-Tower, an extraordinary invention of the earthly pursuits. A word of advice: find on the map a location, any obscure high-ground location, by way of which passes the main road between your base and your opponent's. Even better is to place the towers in a circle around his base (dangerous against Zerg, as he'll eat it with Ovies and Mutas). Missile Turrets are expensive and, for this reason, not very effective, which means that as far as anti-air defense is concerned the Terrans are in pretty big trouble.

For the Battlecruiser you're going to need the Fusion Core -- the Terrans' most high tier structure. The problem is that your starship enters the world like a little babe, naked and defenseless. But all it takes is one upgrade at the Fusion Core [TN: blast, another untranslateable joke! This man clearly has too much fun at the expense of his international readership!] and you can immediately place on the ship any one of the three available upgrades: Defensive Matrix, Yamato, and Rockets. I've yet to try them. By the way, I had a go at Reapers. To make them truly effective you need to research TWO upgrades, and there's never enough resources and time for both, so the harsh choice will always be between D8 and Stimpacks. The bombs are effectful if not terribly effective. Throw them at a bunch of enemies and the bombs will be focus fired immediately and destroyed. Throw them at a bunch of workers -- they run way. Throw them at a building -- well, 8 bombs took a Spawning Pool down... to half. While the cooldown was still going (no energy cost for the bombs), the Reapers had to take off, as the Roaches showed up. They micro comfortably, but fight very poorly. They're super weak and blow up like pricked balloons. And you have to know when to build them, too, as plenty of maps don't take advantage of their cliff-hopping abilities at all. If between you and your enemy is some endless abyss, or there simply isn't any high-ground around the expo, the unit is pretty much useless.

Infantry versus Zerg. Again, honestly -- it's pretty effective, as long as the Zerg makes no Banelings. Banelings with upgrades punish infantry so hard it's scary. See, Inject Larvae really does spawn THAT MANY larva, and the Terran just doesn't have time to kill all of the Banelings as they roll on down to blow everyone up. Then again, without them, Zerglings, Roaches, and Hydras all together can't even put up a fight. Maybe Banelings will go down to more Marauders; I'm not sure. The problem lies elsewhere -- getting out the Medivacs for your infantry. This requires completely different techs. For Stimpacks (and JUST for Stimpacks!) you need a Merc Compound. For Shields -- a Tech Lab. For Medivacs -- a Factory, and then, a Starport. Anyone who tries this on only one expand has a death wish. It's a lot easier to start the game through mech, and if you're going to move into biomech, do that much later. Marauders are beasts, especially so because their attacks slow. Even the scouting Probe can't escape.

As for wall-building, it ought to be undertaken on a massive scale. This is absolutely not questionable. Most maps will allow a sound wall-in against Lings. A few will not, and this significantly impacts the flow of the game. Another important factor -- does the Planteray Fortress's attack range cover from your main to the entrance to your expand? [TN: not sure this is right...] This is a huge factor, because it will give you a lot more defensive options. In using Thors, bringing 5-6 SCVs into battle is absolutely essential. You can now set workers to auto-repair. Also, you can pre-emptively set this to workers at an expansion and they'll fix up any damaged units, buildings, etc, which is very convenient. [TN: is this a direct negation of WC3's worker priorities? It SOUNDS like he's pretty certain...] In whole, I've played the Terrans so far most of all, and they interest me the most of the 3 races... but they're not without their drawbacks.

One of them is the lack of any solid GtA. No one's turned up to replace our knight in shining armor, that's to say our Goliath. If you've got mass Factories and you run up against an air army, go ahead and write GG. Thors, Tanks, Hellions don't hit air. Marines aren't bad, but you need masses, and they need their upgrades. Plus, against Battlecruisers, Banshees, Carriers, Motherships, and plenty other clear and present dangers, they are completely useless. Reapers are expensive and ineffective, Marauders hit only the ground. Ghosts take a long time to produce and are ineffective as fighters. All that's left to hope is that you've got at least one Starport with a Reactor on top that'll pump you out a few sorely needed Vikings (for a Raven, you'd need a Tech Lab).

 

The second day we were allowed to play against live opponents. I played 6 games, and each time attempted different strats and builds. I'll attempt to write them out in as much detail as I can:

Terran vs. Zerg

Narrow ramp, yay! Started building a Barracks with a Supply and ordered an SCV to scout. Found the Zerg right away, he's rushing with an early Pool. Closed the exit, checked to make sure -- a fly wouldn't get through the cracks. The Zerglings gnawed on the Depot a bit and retreated. By now the Refinery was completed (I started teching right away), so I started the second right away. Then the Factory (on the second gas, not gathering right away with 3 SCVs), and went for Hellions while building a Starport. The first Hellion came out to harass, ran through a patch of brush, and this almost cost him his life. The Zerglings were lying in wait on the other side. I got him out and around, repaired him, and this time came out with 3 Hellions right away. Right then the Starport Reactor finished and I started simultaneously on 2 Vikings.

The Hellions chased the Lings back and found a Zerg expand defended by a Sunken. The Lings stood properly at the entrance so as to block passage into the main. Calling upon the spirit of UpMaGiC, I took my Hellions around the Sunken and packed them behind the expo mineral line. For the time being, this second expand was complely shut down. Attacking the blocked Hellions with Lings would have been even more foolish than if they'd been Vultures, because these guys are basically super-beefy Firebats. At this time two Vikings on rally were already flying above the Zerg base and with them I started Ovie-hunting. I killed two, sat down behind the minerals, wanted to kill some Drones -- but Hydras showed up and I had to turn and fly. By now I had my second expand and I started up the Armory.

I repaired the beat up Vikings, added another pair, and tried the trick again. I sat down behind the Minerals and started shooting up more Drones, which is something the Vikings do EXCEEDINGLY well. By this time, the Hellions at the second expand had already managed to burn down the Hatch while remaining out of range of all defenses, died to incoming Hydras, and barely witnessed the re-construction of another Hatch on top of the old one. The Vikings meanwhile were wreaking havoc. They hit for 14 damage with what seems like no cooldown. The incoming 5 Hydras, despite their range, were ground up into bloody pieces, as were the Zerglings. Only the Roaches seemed able to send my Vikings packing once more. My second expansion up and running, I just then got my first Thor. From the one Barracks came out Marauders, and from the Starport more Vikings. Started up the Ghost Academy and started up the Nuking upgrade [TN: I think he means he PURCHASED a Nuke].

I came out with the entire mass: 2 Thors, 3-4 Marauders, 5-6 Vikings, 2-3 Hellions, and a Ghost for good measure. I came up to the Zerg's Sunkens (about 3 or 4) and pointed the Nuke. I didn't even bother researching Cloak for the Ghost, because I planned to lob the Nuke right into the Zerg's face. The Nuke dropped, I came in and swept everything away nice and clean. Conclusion: good old classical build did not fail me! Vikings against the Zerg work wonders, getting past defenses does not require Tanks -- a Nuke will suffice. Hellions make for excellent harass, no worse than Vultures!


Terran vs. Zerg 2

The widest ramp imaginable. It's difficult to close off, if not impossible. I was very concerned about early Lings and for that reason started with 2 Barracks, in an attempt to get into Reapers after the pre-requisite 5-6 Marines. This was the BR3 map. Got into Reaper tech, simultaneously working on Factory and Hellions (and later a Starport). With this whole army came into battle. As between me and the Zerg there was a lot of empty space, the Reapers went mostly without any special treatment. Came up on the Zerg expand and found an army of Lings+Banelings+Roaches. I threw down all the Mines I could manage, but he picked each one off as it came out with no trouble. On an even-ground battle, the Reapers do nothing. I had to flee.

By now I got my first Medivac and started churning out infantry and expanding. The Zerg came around, attacked, and was successfully pushed back. I set down an Armory for Thors and got Stimpacks. Resources were running astronomically low. Another skirmish with the Zerg and I realize I'm economically suffocating. My infantry+Thors simply cannot stop Banelings... I need something else -- but what, I don't yet know. I guess that Tanks might help, and so plop out 3 and put up a hidden expand at a yellow mineral patch, in a lower corner of the map.

Now he comes at me with Muta! The only thing that can help now is Vikings or Turrets, but in the meantime I'm barely making by. But there's no real hope. No money, no critical mass army -- it builds and is summarily annihilated. I'm not being permitted to live at the yellow mineral expand, so I lift up to an island... I'll live there. I try to finish up some Factories, Barracks at an expo, and then the Zerg attacks. He's got Mutas in the air and just about everything else on the ground. The last Thor falls apart -- my first defeat at SC2 =). Right away it gets me to analyze, draw conclusions... I want to try something different.

 

Terran vs. Protoss

The same map with the same giant ramp. I'm starting to wall-up, then scowl and plop down a Bunker at the entrance instead. That'll be safer. Factory, Starport, drop three Hellions. Simultaneously getting a Tech Lab by the Factory. Racked up some good Probe kills, but the Hellions all die in the attempt, and the Medivac returns alone. Start an expansion, first tank, and Siege. At the same time I'm getting a Tech Lab on the Barracks and starting production of Marauders. I take the second expand comfortably under cover of Tanks, get an Armory, and start a second drop. This time 2 Marauders and a Tank. Marauders distract him at the main (he fights back with Stalkers, and I even kill one) while the Tank lands at his second.

A few minutes later, a mix of Thors, Tanks, Marauders and a pair of Medivacs come out looking for blood. Word of warning: look after your Medivacs. If you throw in 1-2, your Marauders will always be good as new. And if you take 5 SCVs along, too, so will your mech units. The Protoss already lost economically, so he loses the battle, too.


Terran vs. Terran

Played on the dueling map from BR2. Barracks+Supply at the entrance, early gas, for early tech. I closed down the entrance with a Tech Lab, which may be necessary if you're going for early Maraudres (a distinct possibility on many MUs). The Terran tried to place a Rax in my base, which I promptly burned down. The first marauders went on his base while I started a Factory. Marauders pushed his Marines into his main all the way onto the ramp, but past that ramp they couldn't go. Later I understood what I needed to do -- just build a nearby Engineering Bay, lift it up for sight, and destroy the Supplies with Marauders from below. Infantry can't do anything in this situation and Tanks come out much later. Thinking with my other brain, I left my Marauders sitting around the enemy base doing absolutely nothing.

Back home the Starport had finished up, so I started a second CC at an expansion. An add-on to the Factory, Armory, Ghost Academy. A productive Hellion drop into his base revealed Starports and plenty of infantry. Cloak, Nukes, I run my invisible Ghost past his expand right into his main. Pin-point the Nuke... and in one fell swoop his entire economy is kaput. Is the red dot really that difficult to spot? I gather my forces and confidently start the advance on his base. When I'm just about halfway across the map I notice he's got his own drop of infantry plowing through my base. Here I found another drawback of the Terrans, perfectly translated from the original game: they are SLOW. I was cursing the entire way back to my main, and by the time I got back I'd lost plenty of plenty. Luckily, he wasn't aiming too well.

Maybe the beta doesn't have these settings, but here, units kept to the speed of the slowest in the group. Who is that? The Thor, of course. I assume it will be possible to turn off later, just like in WC3, but at the moment it's very difficult to get somewhere in time to save anything. I can only imagine how the Zerg will punish Terrans with the mobility afforded by Nydus Worms. The only speedy counter the Terrans will have will be Vikings and Ravens. Worse comes to worst you can always use your Medivacs to ferry infantry. You can't pick them all up, of course, but it's better than the alternative. [Confusing passage about units loading into Medivacs.] If you lose a Medivac carrying a Thor, the Thor blows up, too. This makes sense, of course, but is very unfortunate... but, anyway. Thankfully this drop was too little too late and the opponent was soundly thrashed.


Zerg vs. Protoss

I decided to spice things up and played Random. I got Zerg. I remembered my earlier game against a Computer, where I went one Hatch to fast-Muta (though it was against Terran, not Protoss!). So that's what I did. My Zerglings ran freely around his base, attempting to kill off his workers as usual. This is now very awkward and unfamiliar -- everything is so smooth, nothing gets stuck on anything and doesn't slow down. Zealots chase down Lings, workers escape... buut the Lings escape, too. At this time a few Zealots make their way to my base and, spending my Larva a bit impractically, I lose a few workers. I make, in my main, an absolutely unnecessary second Hatch, and more Lings.

We continue to go back and forth for some time, but the Zealots eventually overpower my Zerglings, and the Toss's economy is more robust. Big fat lose. The Zerg needs a thought-out, worked-out build. You can't "just play" -- you have to know what to do, and when, and how. I think that against Protoss the standard expand will be necessary, and maybe a later Queen. That's not quite as critical here. But defending with Sunkens against Zealots, instead of with Zerglings, may be necessary... losing Lings hurts too much. You have to keep building your economy, after all. Take an expand, Sunken up with some Lings, and only then you can do whatever you like. Either the Roach tech or the Muta tech or just mass hydras. With one expand it's all very impractical, Inject Larvae or otherwise. But maybe I'm not entirely right. After all, Ovies provide an excellent opportunity to rush! Just stubbornly mass Lings, get an Overlord to plop down some Creep outside of the Toss's base, and start up a few Sunkens! Or start somewhere nearby on some pre-formed creep. And then with heavy Ling support, throttle the Protoss under the weight of encroaching Sunkens! Yep, StarCraft 2 turns everything on its head.


Protoss vs. Protoss

Decided to try an experimental strat. I walled-in my entrance with Zealost, built one Stalker and gung-ho'ed all the way into two Stargates. The first unit to come out is the Void Ray, which goes to harass the economy of the Toss who is at this moment attempting to break down my blockade. Meanwhile I'm making Phoenixes, the Void Ray is massacaring his workers, and my line of Lots is just about to go down... With a little micro, I lose 5 Probes and a Gateway. Two Phoenixes help tremendously. One Phoenix is almost completely useless, as he can only pick a unit up, but two, that's a force to be recknoed with. One lifts, the other pummels. Later, when the first runs out of mana, the second starts to do the heavy lifting. Slowly but surely I beat him back, while the Void Ray racked up a kill count of 28, just flying back-and-forth through his base, killing Probes, then the Assimilator, then a Photon Cannon, then a Stalker, and so on and so forth.

Then the Toss came at my gate again, and beating him back was difficult, especially as he closed me off with Photon Cannons and started making Stalkers. Little by little I teched over to Carriers (even with one expand this is possible), beat back with Phoenixes a large Stalker attack, and used them to crush his economy completely. Lift a Probe, destroy the Probe. Rinse, repeat. Carriers changed the course of the match, and they're still just as tough.

 

SLOW REAVER'S impressions:

[Blah blah blah, translating Russian is a pain.]

I played more than a few games and devised a few Toss builds: [TN: note, this is all vs. Computer on first day.]
1 and the most effective -- 2 gate Zealot push. It's pretty simple -- 9 Pylon, 11 Gateway, Zealot, Pylon, Zealot, Gate, attack =) Tech in this build is pretty late (I had something like 8-10 Zealots when I started my gas) but it makes up for it by handily pressuring Zerg and Protoss (Terran walls, unfortunately, are not breached).
2 much better against Terran, and decent against Protoss -- 9 Pylon, 11 Gate, Zealot, Pylon, Zealot, Gas, Cybernetics (150 Minerals now), Zealot, Gate, Stalkers. Zealots are plenty enough to deal with Marauders, and Stalkers take care of Marines no problem.

A blurb on new features:
1. Protoss Warp Gate -- a great addition, in my eyes, which makes normal Gates completely obsolete. Costs a measely 50/50 at a Cybernetics Core to upgrade, and the Core won't be doing anything else useful in the early-game anyway.
2. Idle Gate button -- if a Gate isn't doing anything, or a Warp Gate's cooldown is up, on the right hand side an icon appears alerting you to the quantity of idle Gates. Unfortunately I didn't notice if it did the same for other production buildings.
3. Dark Pylon -- a pretty convenient thing. Recharging shields is pretty much useless as armies are highly mobile and rarely fight in the base (and in those cases, everything tends to die very quickly -- either for one side or the other). But the Probe buff... well, that's highly usable. As there's a lot of freed up control groups, I set the DP to 5, and the expansion's DP to 7.
4. Warp Prism, or should I say Portable Base Where Your Opponent's Main Should Be -- despite the fact that the pylon-radius it provides is very small, even four Warp Gates activated will make putting pressure on your opponent very easy.
5. Dark Templar -- complete and total disappointment. They're pushed to the last tier (Twilight Obelisk, which they require, can only be built after Templar Archives and Twilight Council (pre-req for Archives)). As they appear VERY late, they do VERY little... Marines by now have had their HP upgrade for a very long time and now take two hits to kill (not counting upgrades). Drones die much faster to 1-2 Colossi, SCVs also take two hits to kill... in all, I couldn't find anything to do with them.
6. Colossus, aka new Reaver -- takes a VERY long time to build, but he's worth it... as he doesn't wait before attacking, combining him with a Warp Prism makes him into a Weapon of Mass Destruction. If there's no anti-air to combat this threat, then you might as well have no army at all. Two clicks (unload, load) means one very powerful blast which hits at minimum two units for, just about, half of their HP (tested on Marauders, Roaches, and Lings). I once used a Colossus and Prism to take down a pack and a half of Zerg ground units.

Unfortunately, I just didn't have the time to test out all units. Usually the game didn't get past Stalkers, or, max, Warp Prisms.







And that covers everything up to and including Adolf's page 2 comments (which offer nothing new).

 

Hey Ronin,

This is Gifted from StarCraft: Legacy. I'm glad to see that you appreciated the content that our community was able to provide. (The translation, while you may not have known, was in preparation of an article for our use) It would be great if you took time to edit the first post with some updated sources as this is part of our Igromir 2009 coverage that many people, including Pure.Wasted, are spending a significant amount of time on. It's always great to know that our time and effort is recognized We would do the same if we found important news from the forums here.

Sources:
http://sclegacy.com/feature/3-events/531-we-played-starcraft-2-a-report-from-igromir-day-1
http://sclegacy.com/feature/3-events/531-we-played-starcraft-2-a-report-from-igromir-day-2

These are splintered off of our Day 2 Coverage of Igromir 2009 which you can find here:
http://sclegacy.com/news/23-sc2/530-ingromir-2009-starcraft-ii-coverage-day-2

Again, thanks for your enthusiasm for sharing information, but it is always appreciated that the sources that you retrieve information from is properly sourced. Within each article you can find the original works, allowing the original author, imba.Adolf[RA], and his site, www.sc2tv.ru, can get proper credit as well.

Thanks!

 

I am here to serve the community and not just personal interests! Thanks for your good words and sorry if I missed the updates, it is that I'm not all day in the pc. Right now I'm writing from my mobile phone!

 

No problem, it's just nice to ensure that the proper credit is given to the people who helped create it. For example, it's VERY proper to know the original author of this work provided it for www.sc2tv.ru.

Pure.Wasted did provide a great service to the English speaking community, but he did so for www.sclegacy.com where you obtained this information. ^_^ I understand your intent was to share the information though, and there is no blaming you for that, it's a plethora of great information. No harm done there.

You'll find more likewise articles in our day 3 coverage which you'll be able to find at our site as well. That will come up soon and we hope you enjoy it just as much.