Karune answers forums questions!

Karune Forum: Q&A
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Link: http://teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=72619
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1) How many units can Nydus Worm and Phase Prism transport (does it depend to number of units or population)? Is it possible to load Zerg defensive buildings to Nydus Worm? That means loading Sunken Colony to Nydus Worm, burrowing and getting into enemy Zerg base, unloading and taking roots in enemy creep.



The Nydus will be able to transport as many as can be selectable (which is currently 255). Phase Prisms will be able to transport the same amount of units as the transport from the original StarCraft. Zerg defensive buildings will not be able to be transported in a Nydus Worm.


2) Does the terrain in the game affect damage which deal shooting units? E.g. shooting down of cliff, hiding behind the trees...



Terrain will not affect damage, but will affect line of sight. Without LOS (line of sight), you will not be able to fire back at enemy units with LOS on your units.


3) Can Baneling explode at command? (for the best using damage radius, for killing cloaked units) Does a killed Baneling explode? Can it be actived like a mine? (it'll automatically explode when enemy unit gets closer) How can (immobile) Baneling hurt air units while they're lifted up by Nullifier's Anti-Gravity ability?



Banelings will not be able to explode on command. They will only explode on contact with an enemy unit or by a unit killing it. If Banelings are lifted up by Anti-Gravity and an air unit kills the Baneling, it will do damage to air units- which will be highly effectively against light units such as Mutalisks.


4) How complicated will it be to destroy Nydus Worm while moving?



In the current build, Nydus Worms are able to be seen while traversing the terrain. You do not need a detector to be able to see it traveling.


5)Is there some method in SC2, how Protoss can replenish their HP or shields or will they have to wait? Will Shield Battery replenish shields for buildings?



The Protoss will not be able to replenish their hit points unless they have allied Medivac Dropships healing them.


6) Does the Drop-pod's falling hurt units/buildings in place of falling?



The Drop Pods ability has been removed from the Ghost in multiplayer.


7) Are Reapers, while flying, considered ground or air unit?



Reapers are still considered ground units when they are jumping up and down from cliffs.


8) How does the final mosaic of I <3 SC contest look like? When will we able to see it, how many pictures is it in sum? What are its proportions?



This will be out very soon. Keep checking the I <3 SC page for updates.

Later on in the Thread.

Karune: Something worth clarifying in these answers is that if a Nydus Worm is destroyed, the units that are loaded inside will not be destroyed. Think of each Nydus Worm as an opening in a system of tunnels created by the Nydus Worm. If you lose all openings to this tunnel system, you will then lose all units in that tunnel system. With multiple Nydus Worms, this opens up a lot of deadly strategies for Zerg, to virtually be in many different places very quickly.

Some players may open up multiple Nydus Worm holes in an enemy base in order to ensure they can get as many units out as fast as possible (since the Nydus Worms themselves have very little hitpoints). Other players may opt to open up a Nydus Worm on opposite sides of an opponent's base or between his main base and his expansion, to jump his army back and forth between the two openings with little transition time.

Link: http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=sc2-general&t=1270407&p=1

-Seradin

 

Quite a few interesting questions there... but why can't they release screenshots? It's hard to imagine the worm being seen without detection. The last bit on the worm sounds really interesting and I have no idea how it works unless each worm needs a separate nydus warren, sort of like a separate supply for them.

A5 is infuriating. It makes 0 sense gameplay as well as lorewise, and it's not the Protoss fanboi speaking from me.

Also, if banelings explode when killed, then banelings > all other melee units in the game. I think the explosion upon death will be removed for the sake of balance.

 

banelings were design to take out melee units in the frist place, thats their primary role, besides being part of the demolition(sp?) crew. i kinda can make sense of the multiply nydus worm part, but making it so you dont have to use detection to fight off the worms doesnt make much sense, but if they are able to transports units like that, going into the nydus worm and coming out another across the map, makes it balance so im ok, but having a cloaked transport would have been nice.

 

Wtf. The Nydus Worm can now be seen moving around, whats the point?
The element of suprise is now gone. Give me Overlord transportation back.

The Nydus Worm should move underground as it always has and it should require detection, the whole point is to get them by suprise. If they know we're going to attack we might aswell just bring out our whole force straight for their base.

Sorry but that dissapoints me greatly.

 

maybe you can see the nydus worm moving underground tremors style and you can shoot at it. its cool with me.

 

Whats the point of that if you can just move your units normally? Either way they know you're coming; not to mention the Worm will just get easied by tanks now.

 

I dont see anything wrong with the nydus coz the benefits are still up to par with other modes of transport...

advantages as the replacement of nydus canal & overlord

1st - can travel & unload anywhere unlike SC1 nydus canal
2nd - no units will die while transfering if the worm dies
3rd - one wont make his nydus worm get noticed by the enemy in the first place
4th - no unit supply capacity is lost

the way i see it, it cal always be a surprise if used wisely, as you can always have it maneuver on tactical terrains instead of going headforth the face of enemies range of sight.. its normal for transport units to be detected after all.. the resemblance of the nydus worms are likely to that of the movie tremors, wherein as it moves, traces of ground breakage are noticed in its trail... the overlord will be a possible alternate transport mode but its too risky to do it since once detected your gonna have to deal with losing possibly a small unit of army or even more with the lost of unit supply capacity...

 

Actually you don't know if any supply cost is used for each worm. Logic would say it would.
and how can you suprise the opponent if his tanks see you before you see them?
Then by that time they know you have the Nydus and the element of suprise is lost, just like a Protoss player seeing your Lurkers and quickly building Observers.

 

At number four....What if it's NOT moving? Like, if you notive their sending their units over, can you click "Stop" and boom it vanishes?

 

A Nydus Worm without cloaking is going to be a problem. Nydus worms were (I guess) powerful and unique because of their cloaking. The idea of a cloaked transport is what made it so deadly in the first place. Now without any cloaking, I only hope it has enough speed and health to get things where they need to be.

 

Once again, guys, please use the submit article function on the front page and format them similar to how I do my news posts. I'm always glad to give credit!

Thanks!

 

I wonder if the nydus shows up on mini-map, when an enemy sees it. IMO the nydus should cause ripples on the ground the an observant player can see, but not be shown on the mini-map so they can still sneak into someone's base.

 

I have to agree with freedom23
Maybe it should be cloaked but u can notice a little fuzz or ground breakage like a cloaked ghost or wraith. Nothing to obvious but enough to notice it if you look carefully. After all, you can see any cloaked units when moving
Btw, can you use the same Nydus worm more than once, or after you deploy it up onto land its there permanantly?

 

Well...good batch but I am very disappointed that the Drop Pod has been axed from multilplayer.
It probably on its way out, anyway. You can't just give a unit an ability in the campaign and take it away from multiplayer, which will be played a lot more in the long run.
Now that the drops pods are gone from multilayer, the Dropship is now "useful" again (not that it wasn't always useful.)
So can we have the Medic back?

 

The drop pods have been gone for ages now actually. Besides, this wasn't even a real Q&A. We still have that to look forward to.

 

It makes me very sad to lose the drop pods, that was one of the really worthwhile ideas i loved when the first bits of info were coming out. The way i see it, you could use transports for vehicles, drop pods for marine backup, and have a perfect terran sneak attack.

Now, all we've got is those goofy sounding medivac ships.

 

@ Psionicz - im really not accurate with this but i read on some info from wiki that worms worth are 2 supply and as i have said before you wouldnt headforth make your worm travel on spots that you would foresee as possible spots for your enemy to place his defenses/tanks, and that is where the overseer will come at hand... but the only problem im having with that is that terran are masters of observation and defense (radar dome cough cough) so it will all end up on microing alternately your "bait" and your drop. The element of surprise is quite obiously gone for the zerg as of now knowing that a lurker will be on late tier anyway, theres almost no point in having the lurker as a surprise unit anymore so its one of the community's concern also..

@ Fenix - its my no. 3 i guess with regards to the movement, i guess we dont have much clue of how does the nydus worm function totally because as of now all we have on it is that it will be a visibly underground slug capable of transferring units once deployed w/o the risk of losing the transferring units if killed in action.. If i will be a nydus worm editor i would be glad to have it learn at least a broader skill like deep burrow to make its presence be less noticed.. but of course it opens up a conflict that it couldve been better if they did not change its former status as a burrowed unit after all... anyway my point is there is nothing wrong with being seen for the sake of balance as all other races types are mainly visible anyway.. I believe its their answer for those bloggers who are saying its unfair for that kind of transport to be undetected being that immense large being with humungous stomach size for passage...

@ Wick742 - I agree that it was certainly one of the best transports the zerg ever has evolved into besides its former undetected borrowed state it also can be sent to a creepless place unlike the canal before... Its like the nydus canal was evolved as a moving behemoth of a structure.. And i also agree that it would be "just" to make the nydus worm tougher in health points like 500 perhaps but with average movement like other transports

 

The thing doesn't stay burrowed at all its above the ground always, imagine a sausage Hydralisk hybrid.

Also I'm glad the Drop Pods are gone, that was one of those automated type abilities which are so common to something like warcraft (in my view anyway) and it limits dynamics. The same can be done with Dropods, cept now you can use any unit, drop them anywhere, and use any feasable number of units.
Anyway I saw this ability being moved from the beginning.

 

yeah, it was kind of a move more intended for special campaign mode experience like the starcraft ghost FPS and besides, I don't want the ghost to have an overload of abilities w/o even removing their psi-stabilizers.. and it makes even more sense that drop pods are for missions and not for customs as it is unfair for other races to have special units with just 3 skills compared to the ghost which have a set of questionable abilities..
which btw reminded me - are the ghost current skills = cloak, nuke, snipe, emp??

 

freedom23 said exactly what I was thinking 2 posts ago, but let me just say a little more

I'm not a Zerg player, but the Nydus worm always looked damn cool to me. However I was always concerned about the cloaked nature of the thing.

For those of you unhappy about it not being cloaked, don't look at what it would be like without cloaking, think of what it would be with cloaking...

In other words, do you really think the game would be balanced if there was a cloaked transport that could carry 255 units ANYWHERE in the map? Relating it to this thread, imagine if it was 255 banelings...a base would have no chance whatsoever

So although I would have liked to have seen it as a big surprise tool, I can easily see why they would have it readily visible