Q&A batch 31 !!

hm....yeah your right, how much Hp does a ghost have now? was it a 100?? hmm..that is pretty beefed up.

well, now that you clarified it. it does sound alright.

 

"whereas if it were a Lurker (from StarCraft), they would still have about half a second to react and possibly dodge that attack."

Was Lurker officially axed already? If not it seems like it will be out, or they will make some bigger changes to it

 

the lurker along with the rest of the zerg race has yet to be announced, so unless seen in a video picture, all units are still in speculation.

 

I think the Banshee will essentially function like guardian with short range, that moves and cloaks like a wraith. I was far less then impressed by this unit, it looks like an Orca from Command and Counter.

 

I'm speculating that lurker will be removed/changed. Of course it's way vague, but if they mentioned that they mean lurker from starcraft 1, it means that lurker in sc2 will be different (if at all).
Let's think about it. Assuming it will be in game, it would mean that probably enemy units won't have time to respond, so it may be instant attack like Jackal has. Though that wouldn't be good idea imo. If instead it instantly shot spikes in AoE around itself, now that'd be cool

 

The main distinguishing and essential feature of the Guardian was that it could fire from outside static defenses' range. The Banshee will not have this kind of range at its disposal, and seeing as many defenses are Detectors, then their Cloak will not make up for that fact. The Banshee just looks like a regular military helicopter with three rotors instead of the usual two. I found it to be a great design. All of the ships that Terran had in the past were jets, planes, etc, which shouldn't actually be able to hover or anything. The Banshee's design is logical and effective. It may look like the ORCA, but they definitely do have distinct differences.
It had a spectacular attack. Of all the Terran units, this was my favorite by far. Now that it's been stripped of its unique, and previously unseen, attack style, it is much less useful and seems like just another, standard, typical unit. It's a looted husk of what it was before.
As I said before, the Jackal's attack just seems like a mechanic, just for the sake of having a new mechanic. The area of effect of the Banshee may have just been a standard mechanic but it was very effective and the unit will not work well without it.

 

hey if you wanna see the attacking animation for the banshee, go to the protoss observer in starcraft2.com

that COULD be the new attack animation. its shorter, fire less rockets and it doesnt look like those stalkers were getting splashed.
but who knows....maybe they changed it again..lol

 

cut the banshee. it doesn't look futuristic and all that. not really great just an ok ok unit. xp

jackal? interesting.

 

I don't think defensive structures detect anymore, in fact I am sure of it so far. In the Terran showcase video, he said ''Since there is a sensor tower near by, these Banshees will be very vulnrable to these AA Turrets...''
Also notice the Sensor towers are always at the front of main defenses because they can cloak. If static defenses detected there would be no need for a Sensor Tower. The Protoss also have a look out tower type structure which you see everywhere in Protoss bases.

I will take screen shots if you need proof but the evidence is pretty much in the video.

Yes it does look like a new attack since it fires out to inwards instead of in to outwards, also none of the attacks missed whereas the usual attack would have rockets missing.
Maybe this means the Banshee does nice damage to buildings too.

 

The Phase Cannon is a detector. The Protoss do not have an independent sensor structure like the Terrans. If you want to disable Terran AA against a Banshee, nail the Sensor Tower. If you want to take out Protoss AA against a Banshee, nail the Pylon.

I do think, though, that the modified Banshee will end up being more of an anti-structure unit than an anti-clustered unit, unit. At the moment, the Terrans do not have any anti-armor air units to match the Protoss Warp Ray and the Zerg Guardian (on the assumption that the Guardian is returning) and I am starting to think that the Banshee will fit the ticket.

 

I still don't understand why they would limit one of the only AoE specific attacks that the Terran have right now.

Seige Tank, Jackal (why the hell isn't it called a Cobra...?), Possibly Thor....

Without the Banshee that leaves only 3 units that do any type of splash damage. And without the Firebat.... that's an uhoh and a big problem.

Even the Marauder, if I'm not mistaken, doesn't do splash damage. So while some units will be slowed, it seems the Terran race is going to be once again heavily reliant upon the Seige Tank for damage output...

 

SIEGE! SIEGE!
[/ot]

 

If Phase Cannons can detect when AA Turrets can't wouldn't that be unfair?
Also note that the circled structure is always in the place where a detector is needed, and theres always more than one in the screen shots. Forgive me if I am wrong but to me it seems to be a detection structure, if not what is it? if it was a perquisite why is there two?

 

No, that would just be different. Starcraft is all about different units and structures.

And that structure later got a Dark Templar color scheme, like the Warp Ray. Not sure what it is though. Dark Templar prerequisite?

 

Yea, as far as I'm concerned it is a Dark Templar strcture. But why is there two, and if it was an important strcture why would it be on the frontlines of a base?

 

Didnt Blizzard state earlier that it does not have a funcition.... I cant stop thinking back add June when that was the main discussen...
About the Terrans not having anything air against armor, perhaps they will have the BC?
In starcraft 1 they did not have a long range asault good vs "armored", and they did fine... the Terran isnt lacking something vs armored ground, they have plenty (marauder, ST, perhaps the BC, cobra (out) and the Thor), Terran is lacking AtA...

 

Those structures are the Dark Obelisks, which are required to produce Dark Templars. They don't have any detection purpose to my knowledge and I'm pretty sure it's simply coincidence that they are located as such in those screen shots.

 

As ninerman13 said, that structure is the Dark Obelisk. It enables the production of Dark Templar. The SC2 Protoss tech tree is a bit different from the SC1 Protoss tech tree. From Cybernetics Core, there is Twilight Council, then it splits between Templar Archives and Dark Obelesk to enable High and Dark Templar. There are two, and out at the front lines, probably because the base was thrown together for demonstration purposes... or maybe at the time it served a different purpose.

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The BC won't have a standard attack that is good for hard-core siegebreaking. It still has Yamato Cannon, but its main guns are no longer as effective against structures (multiple hits, more damage absorbed by armor.)

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I don't like Jackal or Cobra. Why can't they stop with the animal names... especially when those animals don't live within a hundred light years of where the game is taking place!

 

Neo dont you like the units, or are it only the names? And if you remember the early screenshots there were placed Dark obelisk over the whole protoss base, only to tricks us thinking that they were detectors... later as far as i remember in one of the QA it was stated that they werent detectors.

 

It is exactly that split which totally contradicts the ability to produce Archons with two different templars. I know it's a different topic but it still bothers me a lot, because it makes absolutely zero sense lore-wise. And I'm saying that, a person who isn't too familiar with the lore but knows about the hostility between the two factions. Even though they''ve joined forces, they are still different factions. It's as if crossing a tiger and a lion gave an ordinary lion or tiger, which obviously isn't true.

As for the Q&A, I agree that it's one of the best ones so far. Having the Ghost use its abilities from inside a bunker sounds scary Drop pod loading sounds a little awkward but I do see that it's necessary to be able to mix and match the content of the box.
I think this is the first time there are no useless questions in the Q&A ;D