Q&A Batch Released and Beta Key Prizes for Vespene Laughs!

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Blizzard has released Q&A Batch 48 that focuses on game specifications and in-game intricacies including questions about the Xel'Naga watchtowers and aspect ratio support. Apparently multi-monitor modes will not be available.
Also, an update has been added about the StarCraft 2 Vespene Laughs contest. Beta keys have been added as prizes for each month's winner, so make sure you participate in that contest and continue to submit your comics. Remember, you can also submit them through StarCraft2Forum.org if you are not direclty eligible for the contest (live in disqualified areas or aren't old enough) and we'll submit your comics for you! Enjoy this week's Q&A and be sure to keep posted as more news comes out concerning the beta.

StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 48

Chat with Devs: The new year is well on its way and with it, the devs have been making much progress in both the artistic polish of the game, as well as continued development of multiplayer game mechanics. The art team has been adding several new death animations for units including the Drone’s disintegration into ashes when torched by Hellions, or the explosion of the Overlord sacs by Marine Gauss Rifle fire, and even Marauders being sliced into various pieces by Dark Templars. All of it is quite a sight to see and it is the hope of the art team that these additional animations will really give players a grand experience of immersion into an epic StarCraft battle. On the multiplayer side, the designers are testing out various macro-management encouraging mechanics that will be implemented to each race, but still be played out differently per race. These macro elements will be aimed to allow players with greater macro-management skills to compete with the advantage of gathering more resources than a player who does not emphasize as much on resourcing. More details about the mechanics that are being implemented will be covered in the next Q&A batch and is also planned to be showcased in the next StarCraft II Battle Report.

---StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 48---

1. The recently released screenshot (http://www.sc2blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/ss104-hires.jpg) shows a combat in rainy night appearance. Will night or different weather be limited to campaign mode? And will it be possible to select it on the map editor? - Kain175 (USEast)

Night and rain effects will be possible in campaign mode but are not likely occur in multiplayer. Additionally, these effects will be available to map editors to use for custom maps.

2. Does blizzard plan any interface options for people with physical issues (such as color blindness, deafness)? - Kain175 (USEast)

This is a good suggestion and we would like to give all players opportunities to enjoy our games. While we may not be able to create accommodations for everyone, there have definitely been strides made to accommodate more players than the previous StarCraft. For example, you can find more alerts on the screen, such as attack, build complete, and more in StarCraft II and this system will be helpful for players who have difficulty hearing the game sound.

3. Will there be any multi monitor support? - SC2Pod

StarCraft II will support widescreen but not multi-monitor. Widescreen is definitely becoming more of an industry standard, but multi-monitor support for StarCraft II may be too great of a tactical advantage over other players without more than one monitor.

4. SC1 "caster" units did not have a regular attack; some of WC3 "caster" units did have a regular attack; will SC2 "caster" units remain attack-less? – TheWarCenter

Some of the caster units in StarCraft II like the High Templar and Infestor lack a default attack, but there still are some caster units which also have a normal attack ability such as the Mothership and the Ghost.

5. When two opposing forces come to a Xel'naga tower who gets control? Is it the person with the largest army or is it on a first-come/first-serve basis? – TheWarCenter

When two opposing forces are near a Xel’Naga Watch Tower, they both lose control of the Watch Tower, regardless of the size of the army or the order of who arrives first. For example, when you have a ground unit next to the Xel’Naga Watch Tower, you will get vision of the area surrounding the Xel’Naga Watch Tower. When the opponent’s unit approaches close enough to control the Watch Tower, the Xel’Naga Watch Tower will shut down and both you and your opponent will lose the increased visual range given by the tower.

6. Is the charge ability only limited to the distance between the zealot and its target or is it also limited to the time that is needed to reach the target? Presumed you have a zealot on a cliff and you want him to charge an enemy unit below the cliff, will it charge all the way over the ramp or will it stop charging after some time? - StarCraft 2 Source DE

Zealot’s Charge ability is based on the ground range, regardless of the height. So a Zealot on the cliff will not start charging a unit below the cliff, even if they look like they are visually right next to each other. The Zealot must be within a set pathing distance from the target for it to activate it’s charge ability, meaning the path in which the Zealot takes to get to the target is a set amount. Additionally, Zealots will not be able to charge through cliffs. They must go around.

7. Are you going to add some of the best custom maps to the regular ladder pool? - StarCraft 2 Source DE

In the future, there will be opportunities for map makers to get their maps added to ladder pools. These maps will of course, be selected based on quality, in terms of competitiveness for multiplayer games.

---End of Transmission---
Source: Battle.net
Discuss this Article in the Forums!

 

the death animations are sweet news

 

anyway, i was wondering when they were going to post the Batch, but there isnt any real new in this batch, just telling us that there will be real news in the next batch.

 

5 and 6 are noteworthy questions, and maybe 2 as well, but the rest is just blabbering. I've already given up on these batches and turned towards this so called battle report. Let's just hope Blizzard doesn't slack off with it like they did with the videocast or whatever it was called.

 

The "big SCV" and Probe Booster were basically comfirmed. Or something very similar. I hope this compensates for the weird double gas instead of add to it.

More varied and detailed death animations sounds nice.

 

Good batch overall. Questions 1 and 7 were kind of dull, but everything else was interesting.

to GMG: I hope none of that Big SCV and Dark Pylon stuff is true. We don't need gimmicky mechanics

 

Blizzard has released Q&A Batch 48 that focuses on game specifications and in-game intricacies including questions about the Xel'Naga watchtowers and aspect ratio support. Apparently multi-monitor modes will not be available.

Also, an update has been added about the StarCraft 2 Vespene Laughs contest. Beta keys have been added as prizes for each month's winner, so make sure you participate in that contest and continue to submit your comics. Remember, you can also submit them through StarCraft2Forum.org if you are not direclty eligible for the contest (live in disqualified areas or aren't old enough) and we'll submit your comics for you! Enjoy this week's Q&A and be sure to keep posted as more news comes out concerning the beta.

 

StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 48

Chat with Devs: The new year is well on its way and with it, the devs have been making much progress in both the artistic polish of the game, as well as continued development of multiplayer game mechanics. The art team has been adding several new death animations for units including the Drone’s disintegration into ashes when torched by Hellions, or the explosion of the Overlord sacs by Marine Gauss Rifle fire, and even Marauders being sliced into various pieces by Dark Templars. All of it is quite a sight to see and it is the hope of the art team that these additional animations will really give players a grand experience of immersion into an epic StarCraft battle. On the multiplayer side, the designers are testing out various macro-management encouraging mechanics that will be implemented to each race, but still be played out differently per race. These macro elements will be aimed to allow players with greater macro-management skills to compete with the advantage of gathering more resources than a player who does not emphasize as much on resourcing. More details about the mechanics that are being implemented will be covered in the next Q&A batch and is also planned to be showcased in the next StarCraft II Battle Report.

---StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 48---

1. The recently released screenshot (http://www.sc2blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/ss104-hires.jpg) shows a combat in rainy night appearance. Will night or different weather be limited to campaign mode? And will it be possible to select it on the map editor? - Kain175 (USEast)

Night and rain effects will be possible in campaign mode but are not likely occur in multiplayer. Additionally, these effects will be available to map editors to use for custom maps.

2. Does blizzard plan any interface options for people with physical issues (such as color blindness, deafness)? - Kain175 (USEast)

This is a good suggestion and we would like to give all players opportunities to enjoy our games. While we may not be able to create accommodations for everyone, there have definitely been strides made to accommodate more players than the previous StarCraft. For example, you can find more alerts on the screen, such as attack, build complete, and more in StarCraft II and this system will be helpful for players who have difficulty hearing the game sound.

3. Will there be any multi monitor support? - SC2Pod

StarCraft II will support widescreen but not multi-monitor. Widescreen is definitely becoming more of an industry standard, but multi-monitor support for StarCraft II may be too great of a tactical advantage over other players without more than one monitor.

4. SC1 "caster" units did not have a regular attack; some of WC3 "caster" units did have a regular attack; will SC2 "caster" units remain attack-less? – TheWarCenter

Some of the caster units in StarCraft II like the High Templar and Infestor lack a default attack, but there still are some caster units which also have a normal attack ability such as the Mothership and the Ghost.

5. When two opposing forces come to a Xel'naga tower who gets control? Is it the person with the largest army or is it on a first-come/first-serve basis? – TheWarCenter

When two opposing forces are near a Xel’Naga Watch Tower, they both lose control of the Watch Tower, regardless of the size of the army or the order of who arrives first. For example, when you have a ground unit next to the Xel’Naga Watch Tower, you will get vision of the area surrounding the Xel’Naga Watch Tower. When the opponent’s unit approaches close enough to control the Watch Tower, the Xel’Naga Watch Tower will shut down and both you and your opponent will lose the increased visual range given by the tower.

6. Is the charge ability only limited to the distance between the zealot and its target or is it also limited to the time that is needed to reach the target? Presumed you have a zealot on a cliff and you want him to charge an enemy unit below the cliff, will it charge all the way over the ramp or will it stop charging after some time? - StarCraft 2 Source DE

Zealot’s Charge ability is based on the ground range, regardless of the height. So a Zealot on the cliff will not start charging a unit below the cliff, even if they look like they are visually right next to each other. The Zealot must be within a set pathing distance from the target for it to activate it’s charge ability, meaning the path in which the Zealot takes to get to the target is a set amount. Additionally, Zealots will not be able to charge through cliffs. They must go around.

7. Are you going to add some of the best custom maps to the regular ladder pool? - StarCraft 2 Source DE

In the future, there will be opportunities for map makers to get their maps added to ladder pools. These maps will of course, be selected based on quality, in terms of competitiveness for multiplayer games.

---End of Transmission---

Source: Battle.net

 

Oh so these comics are voted every month, didn't know that. Beta keys do sound as tempting as to make me want to throw something together but SC2 wouldn't run on my system so what's the point? Even if I do win, I can't enjoy it.

I've already given my views on the batch in the original thread.

 

Beta Keys?

F*ck yea. New project for Art class.

 

so about beta keys.. is it actually a key or what...

 

Yes, you stick it into your computer's ignition. Just make sure the power is off or else you'll get wtfelectrocute'd.

 

Nice...new death animation =].

Can someone clarify on the dark pylon, "big scv"? and any other new news from the past 3 weeks? Sorry, i've been living for no net for the past month.