SC2Forums.org Starcraft 2 Press Conference Report

oh thank you.

 

Haha, thanks GasMaskGuy, I didn't see your post until after I edited. Oh wells.

I will try to make a dedicated Q&A thread later today.

Of course... someone could always do that FOR me .

 

You mean, like, a thread with everything asked and answered in this thread?

I could do that. I could update it as more questions get answered in this thread.
What would be an appropriate topic name?

 

Starcraft2Forum.org Official SC2 Q&A Compilation

Thanks.

 

In the General StarCraft 2 Discussion section, I presume?

 

Sure, that's fine.

 

I am finally done. http://www.starcraft2forum.org/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=47&topic=6512.msg164875#msg164875

 

I have a few questions that I don't think have been answered or touched upon yet:

1) Does the armor upgrade use the same system as SC1 or does it use WC3's system?
2) Do weapon upgrades work the same way and are the attack bonuses affected by upgrades?
3) Does the infestor have consume? (i.e. will the ultra/ling swarm combo be as effective as in SC1?)
4) Would plasma torpedoes be a good counter for dark swarm?
5) How does the attack speed of the marauder compare to the marine and does the marauder have stim?

Thanks. Really appreciating the effort you put into answering all the questions you're asked.

 

1) I'm not sure what you mean by the "armor system" but the armors in SC2 work similarly to how they do in SC1.

2) Weapon upgrades work the same way as they did in SC1, except there are no reductions between unit types, only bonuses against certain unit types.

3) No, the Infestor does not have consume.

4) Yes, because it is an AoE attack it would be a good counter, it's similar to psionic storm.

5) The attack speeds are very similar, and its damage and range is the same as the Marine (except it also gets a +4 bonus against armor) but no the Marauder does not have stim packs.

 

Schweet, no damage reductions, that was something annoying last game.

 

In one of the videos I saw that the Hatchery has two rally buttons. My guess is that one is for Drones, the other for other units. Can you confirm this?

 

Yeah, i can't wait to bunker down and shoot up some zerg.

 

@10-Neon

Yes, you are right. It has been confirmed that one of the rally point is for your Drones and the other one is for the rest of the Zerg units.

 

Hi,
I also wanted to ask you some questions concerning SC II. It's really amazing that you got the chance to play this game.
Your report was interesting to read. However, I got some questions, after having read it.


1. Did you see the new Swarm Guardian? According to the information on the new Zerg,, as you can see them on every SC II fansite, there have been taken some pictures of most Zerg units. Nevertheless no fansite has a picture or a screenshot of the new Swarm Guardian.
How does it look like? Those old Guardians, you can see in SC are really impressive. They're relatively huge and remind me of some mantas. Is the Swarm Guardian as huge as the old Guarding (compared to other units like the Mutalisk, the Overseer or the Ultralisk) and is it resembling the old Guardian (manta like appearance, those arms at the side, are its teeth visible?)? Sry for those exact questions, but I'm really interested in this unit, as it isn' great mentioned in any other forum or seen on a screenshot yet.


The new Swarm Guardian is very similar to the old Guardian. I'm pretty sure they used the same model and just made it larger and 3D. It's probably just a placeholder model. The broodlings picture (that used to be a Queen ability) is the same picture as from SC1. A lot of units in the current builds are just placeholder, i.e. the Nullifier.

2. Your model of the Nomad is really amazing.^^ Compared to the old Nomad it has changed positivley. Nevertheless I hope that its smoothy and very detailed. Does this ring round the ship move like the warpray does? I cannot wait till we will see the new model. Did you play with the Nomad or did you just fight against it?

The rings don't move. It's basically just an outer shell of plating that conceals the inner hull. I'm not 100% on how close my model actually looks to the new Nomad, but it's pretty close. I fought against it and then messed around with Terran and built it just to see it.

3. As the dropship was changed to the Medivac Dropship, did Blizzard change the design of the model? I donnot hope so as the old dropship really looked great. How does the Mediavic Dropshipt look like?

It has the same model as the Dropship we've seen for SC2, but the colors are red and white. Think of it like a Red Cross Dropship.

4. Did Blizzard tell you if they''re planing to produce more units for Terran and especially Zerg?

They were very clear in that the units for each race are not yet finished. They also mentioned that they are trying to keep the unit count of each race around 12 or 13. So they don't want to add too many units. But we will probably see some unit changes in the coming months.

5. The Thor was changed a bit as I heard. Are the cannons on the back of the Thor stay down as seen on a new screenshot?

Yes, the Thor does not utilize its shoulder cannons as far as I can tell. It only uses the cannons in its arms.

6. Last but not least one personal question: What was your favorite race in SC II when you were able to play all three of them?

I thought the Protoss were very polished and finished and I spent most of my time playing them mostly because there was actually some competition present and I wanted to play well. The Zerg are most definitely the most interesting and fun to play ath the moment, though.

That were all questions. Hope you will have time to answer them. Thank you very much.

 

Good questions. Glad to answer them.

 

Thank you very much for your detailed answers.

Just two things more to understand your answers on my questions fully.

1. When you said , that the actual Swarm Guardian is a placeholder model, do you mean, that you just saw the button with the shape of this unit, when selecting the mutalisk, so that it wan't possible to play the Swarm Guardian right now? Or do you really mean the unit, that is playable? I donnot exactly understand your defintion of a placeholder model... does this mean, that the unit is not playable just up to now or does not have its final appearance? Or that the animations aren't just finished yet? Cause when you said, that the Nullifier is also a placeholder model I wondered as we saw some screenshots yet, where we could see the modell of the nullifier.

2. It's good to hear that the shoulder cannons of the Thor are down up to now. Cause it looks much more amazing an ddangerous with its cannons on its shoulders ready to fire (though not making any use of them in a fight). Well, I first thought, that the shoulder cannons are used against air units, whereas the weapons on his arms are used against ground. This at least would explain the different damage ageinst air and ground. Cause it's a bit unrealistic that the same weapon does different damage to diverse types of units.

3. The fact, that there will be around 12 to 13 units is makes me worry about the actual arsenal of protoss unit. Cause up to now we have 15 units for the protoss and to be true, I donnot want to see one of those units missing in the final game for them being all creative and looking really badass. Furthermore 15 units are a realisitc number of units as there will be probably no 4th race in the game.

4. As far as we know, the nydus worm is produced by mutation from a larva. We just saw the unit breaking out of the ground but we didn't see the Nydus Worm in its full size on the ground. So do you see the Nydus Worm in its full size from its head to its end after having a larva morphed to it?

No, it's direclty into the ground. I think it's pretty clear from using the unit that it's not the most polished unit. Right now it just jumps in and out of the ground right over cliffs, etc. It's pretty rough and strange.

5. Do you have the same oppinion on the visual look of following units than me:

a) Viking: Its air mode really looks ugly as its plump and not sleeky and elegant like the other terran units. I would make it more aerodynamic just like on the concept art what means that you also would have to change its gorund mode.

I agree totally. The Viking's air form does not appeal to me either, as I mentioned in other questions. However, ti's ground mode is very imposing, but it's rather ineffective in my opinion on the ground. Not meant for any serious combat.

b) Marauder: It looks great. The only thing you should work on is its back as his canisters look a bit weary, especially the team colour on the canisters.

I love the Marauder's model. I don't think any changes should take place because his current silhouette separates him easily from the Marine.

c) Reaver/ Reaper (don't know the English name of thsis Terran infantery with its two pistols and jet packs): Blizzard should work on its visuals and make them more clear like it did with the Zealot armor and legs.

It's the Reaper. I think he is also very distinct and don't have a problem with his model. However, he is being undercut for his raiding role by the Medivac Dropship which allows the sturdier Marines to be brought in on raids without seeking two branches of separate tech.

d) Stalker: Its legs are too plump. They sjould be sleeky and thin, rather elegant just like on the concept art.

I actually think the legs make the unit look more substantial, but it still reminds me of something from WC3.

e) Infestor: Needs a new modell.

I like the idea that not all Zerg units are skinny, scaly things. Not all insects are pretty, you know, and as Samwise referred to them: "The Infestor is a big, fat, sack of bile and spooge." That's a direct quote, btw.

f) Lurker: Should look more like a Hydralisk. -> New Model.

I agree, I think the Lurker looks a bit too much like a crab. It's original model was much more imposing. I'm also a bit worried as to how the Lurker will fit into gameplay. It's not as useful as it once was.

g) Roach: Needs new model.

I like the Roach's model. It fits its name. They kind of flutter around the map like little insects. Very cool.

PS: Sry for my bad English, as it's not my mother language (I come from germany). Hope that you will understand my questions without difficulties.^^

Don't worry about the language barrier. I'm having no trouble at all understanding what you mean.

 

1. By a placeholder model I mean something that is thrown into the game, but is playable, just to fill out the unit's slot. Both the Nullifier and the Swarm Guardian are playable, but their models aren't completed yet, so they threw in a "placeholder" in terms of how they look and function.

2. The Thor doesn't have its shoulder cannons. They're no longer on the model. That's what I meant by their not being used.

3. The design team simply kept referring to trying to "keep the unit count down." The number they referred to was between 12 and 13. I don't know if this number includes Probes and non-combat units like the Observer.

 

Mhm interesting, cause I saw a screenshot, where you could see 3 Thors fighting against 4 Uktralisks. On this screenshot as well as in the zerg gameplay video where some thors are destroyed by banelings they still had their cannons. I thought that Blizzard would show us the present look of units in its gameplay video as it was very new.
So does the Thor has a complete new model cause i cannot imagine the old model without shoulder cannons as this has to look ugly?

PS: I updated my questions by adding q. 4 and 5 while you were answering. *gg*

 

No, it's the same model. And I could be mistaken about the shoulder cannons. It's not something I wrote down directly.

And I updated your post with the answers in bold.

 

Why is the Lurker not as useful as it was in SC1? What new mechanics and units have changed that?


Can you name other SC1 units that now are more/less useful in SC2?


Did the Viking still have a damage bonus vs. light (or was it fleshy?)?


Was Nuking (or using Ghosts in general) a more common strategy this time around?