New Terrain Features

Well mainly I was tallking about for user made maps and campaign. I doubt that the really competetive maps would have much stuff. But honestly, I don't see anything wrong with any extreme terrain features as long as they aren't random. For example, If an area of a map periodically "snows" and blocks vision, then you know not to go there, or you can lead the enmy into that area. It just adds extra challenges and strategies. ANyways, it's not like you HAVE to play those kinds of maps. Some of us actually do want to play in a map where a tornado might come and destroy your base... Lol

 

isn't it better to have as much features in the terrain as possible(not having distractions)? i mean, people loved crysis because of its graphics, why not love the same for starcraft 2?

 

I like graphics but there not that important to me. I prefer to play the game over the game looking good and alot of people cant play it if it has good graphics. And dont say just turn the graphics down because that barely works.

 

well, heres the thing, if its ugly and boring, eventually people will give up, im one of those people and...

you shouldnt have bought that probe, one of the mods made a notice that anyone who buys something will risk losing the money/item when we switch over(not to be negative and discourage you)

 

Wouldn't you be pissed if your unit count drops from 150 to 38, because of Mother Nature?
Or your busy repairing your base because of a random earthquake, and then the enemy storms in when you're still pulling up your pants.

 

Well, I don't play very seriously. That'd actually be really cool if an earthquake suddenly destroyed everything.

And anyways, that wasn't the extent to what I was describing. All major terrain disasters and things would be controlled. if a river flooded through my base, then that means I wasn't smart enough to scout out or defend the switch. or lift my builddings and evacuate. If suddenly a dozen tanks come plowing from the back through the secret entrance, then I should go ahead and attack, shouldn't I? Or maybe destroy the tanks and go back in through there.

 

Because Crysis is a singleplayer fps meant to be as good looking as possible while Starcraft 2 is supposed to be a competitive multiplayer rts.

 

@gasmaskguy, well, my point wasn't actually to have those kinds of graphics but, physics.. since terrain bonus was removed, i guess the only thing left is how the units die. At least giving the units multiple death animations would be appropriate because some attacks might not fit in with the death animations.

@haireg, youre spamming

 

Wish granted. Just look at the Marine. It can blow up, limbs flying everywhere if it's killed by a unit such as the Siege Tank. We have Seen Dark Templars and Zealots cut them in half, both horizontally and vertically!
All units will get 2 to 5 death animations, I believe.

 

I'm in favor of the smaller terrain effects, such as:
1) Destructable terrain. You've got your tanks pounding on a good piece of terrain for a while(aka XXX damage done to a certain area within a period of time), well then a crater or two could appear(smal-medium in size). Though naturally only a few units would be able to do this.
2) Terrain which can slow movement. This could be shallow waterways with infantry/vehicles, or the fore-mentioned craters. Sand pits could slow down infantry, and for the space tileset, an uneven scrap yard could slow the infantry down.
3) Passive terrain. A pebble falls down a cliff every now and again. When a unit(or a pack of units) walks through water, small ripples form and carry down a little ways. Or being able to see the grasses blow in the wind on more habitable maps. I also wouldn't mind seeing a wind storm going around the map, picking off tiny chunks of terrain(only aesthetics. No damage is done, and no terrain is modified).
4) Impressionable Terrain. Much like footprints in other games, if my units of Zerglings are running(I'm talking 50+) in a group, or a few Siege Tanks, or a single Thor, the footprints may show on the map. They don't have to be accurate, but clusters of dots on the sand/dirt which look like they could be footprints would be helpful. After a short time, they would fade, and eventually erase themselves.
5) Right unit/right effect. What I mean here is that if the Jackal goes back to being a hoverbike, it shouldn't receive the disadvantage of going slowly over water, nor should a group of siege tanks(with no infantry) leave infantry footprints after it travels on dirt.

 

I say let Blizzard create some interesting terrain interaction.

Volcanoes firing lava balls sounds good, as long as it does not kill any units.

Competition map tends to be created especially for competition and they will be able to build them without them.

It should be really easy to implement the terrain animation as a doo-ad that everyone can enjoy without having it completely cut-off for a ''pro-gamers''.

 

then it could be, depend on its size, used as cover (def bonus) for infantry or/and tanks

 

It could be, or it could also just be a toggleable visual effect.

 

i like as much eye candy as possible along with landscape physics that wont affect gameplay, but if it does, then its all cool too

 

i mean in warhammer 40k is like that , unit move slower in crater but have more defense

 

I'd rather not have any cover bonuses like those in DoW or CoH. It hampers the game's pace and it gives units an unfair (in SC terms) advantage over others.

 

Dawn of War style craters would greatly benefit the Terran, giving them cover while attacking from a distance, but no as much so to Protoss or Zerg. That's not to mention that giving players the ability to control vital and advantageous aspects of the environment in melee maps, aspects that can greatly swing the tide of the game, would be unfair. Keep the teams balanced and the environment neutral.

 

yes the DoW style craters could effect all the races...
If a ranged unit enters the bunker, they gain protecting from other ranged units. If melee enters, they get protection from the crater from ranged units. If a melee is in the bunker, it gets an attack bonus against units inside the crater... (hard to run see the SC1 opening scene) it is kind of difficult to understand, but it would make sense in the end.

 

didn't blizzard already remove terran bonuses?

 

They removed the semi-random percentage-based miss chance from terrain.

However, terrain is more important when it comes to blocking line of sight.