StarCraft 2 Q&A Batch 49 Released!

Holy crap, this is a lot of juicy information.

The before/after images make the changes in art very clear. The old models look almost TF2-esque compared to the new ones.

The new Protoss and Terran abilities were rumored before, now they're confirmed. The other abilities on the Dark Pylon are nice.

I find it interesting that the Zerg don't have a distinct "mine more minerals" ability. I imagine the queen's Spawn Larva ability can be used to quickly produce more Drones, if needed... so maybe it balances out.

Most of the actual Q&A is dull: nothing particularly insightful.

 

Thanks for the translation! its so much easier to read now :> and the new fungal scourge ability sounds awesome.

 

Did anyone see how many larvaes that Hatchery had in that screenshot?

DAAAAAY-UUUUMMM!! Instant 12 Mutastack group

 

Yea, and looks like it was actually the Queen was the cause of those green blobs sticking out of the hatchery, i thought it was just a special effect of a hatchery being all blobby but it turns out to be something from the Queen. And the Hatchery looks awesome, the zerg buildings look so much better now (as far as i can see)

 

Yeah, that's the Queen's Spawn Larva ability

Also ... LOL!!

Sounds absolutely terrifying!

 

@Neon. I also found it weird that Zerg has no distinct income boosting ability, but as you said, you can use those larva to increase your income for the rest of the game, basically, while the T and P abilities are temporary.

Also, the Zerg doesn't have to use them to increase their number of gatherers. They could do a sudden push by morphing warriors instead. Another option is to get more Hatcheries or tech specific units real fast by morphing the Drones into structures.

All that fits well with the versatility that comes with Zerg. Race unique stuff is awesome.

 

@Tychus: Haha, cheesy. The batch itself looks serious on what is going on but its also telling us the story behind each of the new abilities/units/buildings like Karune stated that the Protoss needed the Dark Templar's technology (Dark Pylon) desperately :>

 

Here's an interesting blue post from Karune:

So, that means, at full energy, ten larvas can be created.

 

no, each cast gives you 4 larvas so from full energy you can get 40 larvas(AH! oh wait YAY! for the Zerg!).

personally I like some of these changes, im not to sure how the Null Shield ability is going to be used, but the increase of resource gathering and the energy giving ability I think will be used more often.

as for the Terrans, im a little bit meh here, sounds like the Mule can mine on a mineral patch at the same time a SCV is mining on it as well, and im not sure if the increase of supply ability would be used.

for the Zergs im very happy, now they can produce units faster then the other races like they used to in SC1.

 

You'd need 10 Hatcheries for that though, so it's not viable early game. And if you do it over and over on the same few Hatcheries it won't be as rushy and sudden (you have to wait for them to be viable for the ability again, which might take some time), so it's really balanced.

Me neither, but the pros will figure something out. It's early game though (only prerequisite is the Gateway and all abilities seem to be available from start) so using it to cloak a Zealot or two while the enemy hasn't teched to mobile detection yet (I can imagine Terrans getting Orbital Commands with Scans as an exception though) might manage to hold off a sudden push.

It all depends on the cost. If it's next to free - why not?

 

Those before/after photos were great. The new Zerg look is much meaner and grittier. I love it! Not sure I'm entirely for the advanced gathering systems, but I'll save my criticisms for after I feel it in action. Pretty hard to bash some game mechanic that you've only read about...

 

That's some huge updates! I like the new darker zerg units/structures Also the thing with zerg moving faster on creep, didn't know that. Great batch!

 

Awesome I have been waiting for this for awhile now. Those new screen shots were a sight for sore eyes, every time I see new screen shots it makes me wish harder and harder that it'd hurry up to completeness.

 

According to http://communitystarcraft.com (compiled from the battle.net thread.)

Post-batch questions from gamers/answers from Karune:


How does one construct a dark pylon? Is it a separate, more expensive replacement for the original pylons or an upgrade?

The Dark Pylon currently costs 150 minerals (50 more than normal Pylon) and has the Gateway as the prerequisite building. This of course is all subject to change while more balance testing is occuring.

I assume the orbital command is now a replacement of the surveillance center? Does that mean people who opt to upgrade their CC's to a planetary fortress are no longer able to beneft from these new features, even without the use of salvage?

Yes the Orbital Command is what the Surveillance Center used to be. If you build a Planetary Fortress you will not be able to use these new features, but your command center will be upgraded to Armor 3 and have a Ibiks Laser that does 40 splash damage with a 6 range. These stats are of course all subject to change through balance testing.

I don't suppose Proton Charge would stack, hm?

Nope they don't stack, but if casted again, it will renew the duration of the ability.

The new infestor (pure awesomeness BTW), resembles the reaver in shape and looks rather slow. Is it super slow? Can you tell us anything about its speed?

The Infestor will still be relatively slow, though they have been sped up a bit from when you guys last saw it.

In 1 screen shot there are 15 eggs hatching. We know the hatchery can make 3, then the queen can make the hatchery add 4 more. So in this shot, did the the Queen use her ability multiple times in quick succession or would she have to wait until the firs 7 hatch before she can use it again? I guess what I am asking is if the hatchery can only spit out 4 extra larva at a time or if you can tell it to do it 4 times and have it spit out 16 larva?

After the original 3 larva, each Hatchery can only be spawning 4 larva at a time. The ability cannot be used again on that Hatchery until those 4 larva have spawned.

The mules help the terrans by essentially being SCV's that mine fast right? Do they help the other SCV's mine faster as well? Can they build things? Do they cost supply since they are only there for a while? When they "run out of battery" do they shut down until you "recharge" them or do they explode and disappear forever?

Mules will not help other SCVs mine faster. They will also not be able to build anything, but will be able to repair buildings and units. Furthermore, they will not cost supply. Multiple Mules can be dropped at any given time as long as you have sufficient energy available. When the Mules run out of battery, they will not be able to be recharged, and new Mules will need to be dropped.

Is the fungal infestation a long range attack (like parasite and spawn broodling were) or does he have to be rather close?

It will be a ranged ability. This is one of my favorite abilities, it really wrecks mass Marines which are quite a force to be reckoned with at the moment with Medivac support.

Can the mule defend itself?

Yes. It currently has the same attack value as a SCV.

Can the drop pod be placed anywhere with line-of-sight, leading to the mule being used as a scout?

Yes, this can be quite helpful in some circumstances. Originally, each drop ship spawned 3 Mules, but it became a bit too advantageous in scouting 3 places at once.

Does razor swarm damage both ground and air? What about friendlies?

It does currently damage both ground and air, but not friendly units.

Can null shield be cast on non-Protoss allies?

Currently, yes.
Yes, this also means cloaked Siege Tanks are possible...

Nonetheless, remember all things are still subject to balance.

The Dark Pylon and Queen are tier 1 tech. IIRC the Surveillance Station required the Shadow Ops to be built (making it tier 2), is this still true of the Orbital Command?

The Orbital Command requires a Barracks first to be built. The Planetary Fortress requires an Engineering Bay first to be built.

With the queen you can build up larva. Say you don't have a tech building up yet but you want a ton of that units, you build up larva (you can see 15 in that screen shot--that's 5 hatcheries!), then when tech finishes, you get a ton of that high level unit.

Also, mutant larva hatch faster.

These are no longer 'mutant larva' so they will not hatch faster, but everything else is correct

Is there anything that would prevent you from offensively dropping mules in the thick of battle? (For example it *might* be useful to drop near units that would then cause things like siege tanks to attack them and while ultimately leading to a very short lifespan for the mule, could lead to splashing a player's own units with damage)

This is theoretically possible, but the animation of the drop pod that hits the ground is a bit long (roughly 5-10 seconds), so it isn't like an instant drop.

Also, Karune, does that then mean that these larva do not cost supply? If that is the case then another advantage over a hatchery is if you mess up and forget to build enough ovies (or you just had a bunch of ovies get sniped), then instead of having to wait for more ovies, you can build mutant larva and not lose unit making time in the end.

They do not cost supply, they are just normal larva. The concept of Mutant Larva with timed life seemed more tedious and much harder to grasp in gameplay than the current reincarnation, which has definitely sat much better with the team and testers.

Was the new infestor art looking so much like a Reaver done on purpose? Maybe a joke to all the guys asking to put the reaver back?

The Infestor has a completely new model different than the Reaver, but does coincidentally have the same shape as a Reaver. Don't forget, Reavers will still be seen in single player as well as the map editor.

 

incredible screen shots thanks!!

Also id like to point out the newly done mineral model.

looks beautiful

 

(This is the second half of furrer's post)

Terran and protoss now have abilities to both increase they're income temporarily (mules + dark pylon) as well as abilities to increase they're offensive production (reactor + warp gates). Zergs only have a production ability (mutate larvae). Are zergs getting something to fill the temporary income role? Or is the mutate larvae supposed to just pump drones to make up for that?

Being able to spawn additional larva can potentially help Zerg production quite a bit actually. Prior, when a Zerg player hatched offensive units, they were always sacrificing the creation of more drones. This ability allows more bandwidth to create even more offensive units for a big push, build more balanced with more drones and additional units, or double up on the teching effort with all drones. There are a lot of options to play with that will surely inspire many new strategies.

How far in tech is the dark pylon cloak?

All 3 abilities are available right when the Dark Pylon is created.

Can dark pylons be used as a warp-in end that gives energy to your HT's?

Sneaking a cloacked probe and placing a pylon in the back of the enemy base for warp-ins and hidden cannons sounds like fun

Yup, everything a Pylon can do, a Dark Pylon can do better but of course at a cost.

According to the new Q&A both terrans and protoss got energy-dependent economy boosts, the zerg doesn't. instead the zerg gained a boost in unit construction time (i.e. queen spawns 4 mutant larvae). one implication i can see is that it further underlines that zerg needs to expand quickly, and they can maintain numeric advantage as long as they manage their expansions well.

I'd like to see what more experienced players can forsee besides this, gameplay-wise.

Spawning larva also costs energy (currently 25) and time.

In general, can you waypoint casting abilities?

You can waypoint casting ability. For example, High Templar will move to the first location, cast the Psi Storm and will return to the last designated location. You can waypoint Zerg's Burrow ability as well.

The most recent waypoints will be displayed that you can see, and you can waypoint with Patrol command too.

for zerg is it the same that the hatchery sets the rally, or can you rally for each individual egg?

You can do both. You can set a rally for your hatchery, but can then override it with manual orders per egg as well. Also don't forget, you can set a worker rally point for your hatchery, as well as a unit rally point.

The psi round deals bonus damage vs casters (high templar, infestor...), but all the units with energy receive this extra damage (specially huge units like battlecruisers & motherships)?

You can't target mechanical units with Ghost's Psi Round, like Battlecruiser, Mothership and Nullifier.

Just a question. Battle Report was told to be out with P&R 49, and it is not atm. Is it ready?

I don't believe the Battle Report was ever scheduled to be out at the same time as Q&A 49, but it is still in the works. We really do want to find the perfect battle to show off the new features.

In StarCraft II, will you be able to setup a "queue" for a worker unit to build buildings?

Yup - this is possible in StarCraft II.

is the find Raynor contest still on?

He is still lurking around - always keep an eye out There will still be plenty of screenshots released for a while.

We all know that the Reaper and Colossus basically ignore cliffs when they move.

Down to the question... Can they see up cliffs?
Does the Colossus have vision like a flier (can see over anything), or is there a limited height they can see or walk over?

Colossus can have a vision of the upper ground just like the air units, while Reaper can't as a ground unit.

Colossi and Reapers can't climb up a cliff of 2 level at one time.

 

Nice. Nice. This is by far the best Q & A they have released this whole time. So much new information, and lots of juicy visuals. The Zerg definitely look meaner, and these new resource abilities look intriguing.

AH I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS GAME TO COME OUT!

 

anyone wanna bet that if the dark pylon stays at its current position and abilities, quick cloaked zealots will be a popular strategy as people will be likely to build many dark pylons due to them being able to supply power, as well as a few abilities.

 

Oh, without a doubt! I was thinking of the same thing when I heard about it

 

brilliant information!!

i cant wait to see the new infestor in game play.