Starcraft II Q&A Batch 26

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This batch we're going to shed some light on the storyline and lore aspect of StarCraft II. Following StarCraft and even Brood War, there have always been many unanswered questions surrounding the powers of the Protoss, which we'll be tackling today.

Chat with Devs: For this batch, Ive been fortunate to snag some time with our Lead Writer for StarCraft II, Andy Chambers, and I had a chance to talk to him about what happens to Protoss warriors after they die. On the forums, there has been much speculation to what the true meaning of the blue flash of light that is seen when a Protoss Zealot dies. Furthermore, have you ever wondered how exactly an EMP burst would have an effect on Psi energy? Andy gives us insight into the Protoss ways in fan questions 1 and 3.

Gameplay Blog: Force Fields are my new favorite ability! During my latest skirmish with a Zerg opponent, I was rushed early with Zerglings. The Protoss Nullifiers (previous known as the Stasis Orb) and their 15 second Force Field ability saved the day. As the attacking Zerglings charged up my ramp on the classic Lost Temple map, I simply created a Force Field in between the group of Zerglings, separating his attacking force. With their numbers divided, my Zealots easily took care of the split force of Zerglings, allowing me to make a decisive counter-attack. In subsequent games, I have found that the Force Field is quite useful in many situations, as you are able to create your own choke points, separate incoming armies, and also erect barriers as needed for your Protoss Stalkers to take advantage of their Blink ability. Furthermore, the Force Field can provide another obstacle for melee units approaching your Colossus, whereas your Colossus is able to step over the Force Field at ease. These Protoss Nullifiers at tier 1 are now one of your most effective defenses to an early game rush. Currently, the Force Field ability costs 30 energy with the Nullifiers energy capacity at 100. Next batch, well see if we can find some interesting games with the Nullifiers other new ability, the Null Void.

As always, feel free to give the Devs and I a w00t if your enjoying these Q&As!

---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 26---​

1. Do Protoss warriors actually die? What is the blue flash when they die?

In the chaos of the battlefield, Protoss warriors fight with tremendous power and grace, but even so, they can be mortally wounded. Then the Protoss' foes often bear witness to a startling sight: the injured Protoss disappears in a bright flash of light. Such a vision has caused primitive races to quail in superstitious fear, and yet it has no supernatural cause. On the contrary, it is merely the result of teleportation, which is one of the chief strengths of Protoss technology. Protoss warriors typically have teleport mechanisms built into their armor. If the warrior is sufficiently injured, a properly functioning mechanism will automatically teleport the body to the nearest safe haven.

A Protoss warrior who is badly injured but still living may be placed in a dragoon--or latterly an immortal--shell to continue to fight. This is the choice of the individual warrior. Some warriors elect to shoulder the burden of remaining among the living instead of joining the sum of Protoss lives embodied in the Khala. It is worthy of note that the lives of individual Protoss that have passed into the Khala are no longer coherent entities, and the Protoss cannot speak with their dead per se. However, there are memories and strands of experience that can be accessed. Only the most skilled Protoss preservers can locate and follow specific desired strands of knowledge. The tremendous value of preservers comes from the fact that they carry within themselves and can access the sum total of Protoss experience at an individual level.

2. Will there be more ways to give energy(mana) to a caster? (www.starcraft2.hu)

Protoss casters will have an ability to transfer energy from one caster to another. This ability will allow for a lot of micromanagement opportunities to maximize the amount of energy to a single caster, for the maximum number of special abilities casted.

3. On what kind of energy are based Protoss shields? If they are based on PSI energy, how can be possible for a Terran EMP attack to drain their energy? (www.starcraft-2.cz)

Protoss energy sources are highly esoteric because their starting point was the Protoss' use of their own psionic powers to protect themselves; to charge their tools and weapons; and to make, manipulate, or meld matter. Over time technological advances have enabled the Protoss to mimic these psionic processes to the extent that the Protoss can now construct inorganic devices to tap into the same universal processes to power shields, drives, weapons, and robots. Thus, for example, the energy field projected by a pylon that powers Protoss structures cannot truly be called psionic in nature, just as the shields protecting a zealot are not purely technological constructs. Rather, the two processes are so closely interlinked that they are almost the same. As a result, Protoss power sources and particularly their shields are vulnerable to disruption by technological means such as EMP weapons. Similarly such power sources can be restored or recharged from artificially stored energy.

4. Are you planning to make another statue, for example, statue of Kerrigan?(www.starcraftcz.com)

We are planning to fully explore the high end collectibles realm with plenty of StarCraft II merchandise, and yes, there are projects already in the works.

---End of Transmission---

 

In regards to question two.....Oh dear God yes. High Templars.....Psionic Storms....Babe, it's a hurricane tonite...

 

lol could be very handy just keep transfering energy from motherships to high templars or the other way, cant believe i got this find lol

 

MS and high templars are going to be a very formidable force in this game. No more having templars just produced die off because of "not enough energy", just have them pool all thier energy into a single HT, instant psionic storm.

 

That better mean the return of the shield battery.

And nice lore for the death of protoss units, that is some twist to the story I say.

 

I also want the shield battery back, I don't see why people never seem to use them.

Zealots and dragoons with a shield battery or two could hold thier own against an army much alrger than them, until the energy ran out...

 

Indeed Eon. Zealots, with enough batteries can annihilate just about any ground force.

 

they just need to spice the shield battery up a bit, make it mobile or something. have it a like a unit that converts psi energy into shield power and this unit would have a immense amount of mana so we could use it to recharge our mana users and the shields of our forces.

 

Batteries form a mandatory part of my build. If you place them in pairs, they're invaluable backups. Darkone could elaborate on that

And Seradin, batteries are fine as they are. They're cheap and can be built in masses, which practically renders your army invulnerable. Still need to spice it up?

 

lol not really but adding a unit that can provide a lot of mana for mana using units would be very helpful, or maybe just having the shield battery also do this.

 

@ Gameplay Blog area of the Q & A Now looking at the Nullifier I have the feeling we have a miniature black hole now. With the Null Void ability thats all I can think of for that. I think the Nullifier will be one of my favorite new Protoss toys.
I'm just wondering how the Zerg will deal with both the Toss and Terran with all the abilities they are getting.

 

I posted this in right format with a picture. Sorry, I didn't see this one.
Will I delete mine or should this one be deleted?

 

doesnt matter now, you got it again.

 

No, I didn't. You did. Congrats!

 

The credit goes to Seradin. He formatted it correctly, just didn't include the picture, which isn't his fault.

I will add the correct banner when I have access to Photoshop. Thanks.

 

hehe thanks, i got this from the European server before karune put it up, helps to monitor everything.

 

All we heard about Zerg was a Zergling rush, but I got chills from just that.
Man they already seem to have a playable Zerg build.

And this Protoss Nullifier sounds cool. I wonder if ALL Protoss casters will be able to transfer energy? And hopefully it's a tier 2 or 3 upgrade.

 

I think it was intresting that the nullifier was tier 1...

 

Yeah, Nullifier rushes sounds a little imba, a force field costs 30 energy! Two or three Nullifiers would totally own Melee units that would be trapped. Marines would probably still be able to shoot, but be protected by the force field.

 

i was thinking the nullifier was a weird name, i kinda liked the templar having it would give more use to his attacks, could forcefield then use psionic storm a rush of zerglings, but then you wouldnt really need it that late in the game.