Questions: 1. Last we heard, Banelings have a detonate command that causes them to instantly explode and deal damage no matter where they are on the map. The command is available even while the Banelings are burrowed. When using the detonate command, do Banelings have to unburrow before they detonate, or do they detonate underground and deal damage just the same? 2. While burrowed, will a Baneling explode the moment a unit passes nearby, or will it wait for your command? 3. If you tell a Baneling to Hold Position, will it explode if an enemy passes too close, or will it wait for your command? 4. In SC1, telling Infested Terrans to attack-move caused them to go to the exact location you clicked and then explode at that exact location. To simulate a normal attack-move, you had to tell them to Patrol. Will Banelings behave the same way, or will they attack-move like everything else — moving until coming upon the first thing it can target? 5. What is the power/range of the Baneling's attack relative to the Reaper's D8 Charge and the Raven's Hunter-Seeker Missile? Answers: 1 - The Banelings cannot detonate while burrowed, they have to unburrow first and then explode. I know what you’re thinking. “Hey, probably exploding while burrowed would be a better warfare tactic”. You must understand that exploding in the name of the Zerg is indeed a great satisfaction for a Baneling, thus they prefer to unburrow in order to showcase their enthusiasm for their role by exploding with a smirk on their face. If you zoom close enough you will see a little smile on their little glowing face of theirs. Ah, gotta love the Banelings. 2 – They’ll wait for your command. If you don’t tell them to explode, they’ll just wait while staying burrowed. That’s nice for setting up ambushes. 3 - They always wait for your command. 4 – They’ll not behave like Infested Terrans. The attack-move command is not going to be interpreted as “Go and explode at this location”, but rather as “Move to this location and attack any enemy unit. If you can’t spot an enemy unit, just sit there”. 5 – It’s comparable to a D8 Charge, yes, the explosion covers pretty much the same area.
i'm not a Zerg player but I am really liking banelings. I can lure one of them into the zerg forces and using one of my units as a suicider I can get the baneling to detonate inside their forces taking a whole heap of their armies with me. It's all about tactics. Use their perceived stengths against them.
Baneling splash damage doesn't affect friendly units. All you can do is force them to waste themselves.
I think it's real enough. Consider that this acid is trapped inside a baneling's body. baneling is a part of the zerg. What makes you think that other zerg units could be damaged by this acid?
I wouldn't criticize it for a lack of realism. I think it's making the game more 'carebear' and eliminating a bunch of really cool possible tactics. In general, making the Baneling less interesting and less fun to use/have used against you.
Having them blow up their own side would make them much less useful. Anyone remember how lame infested terrans are in StarCraft I? Not only do they blow up other units on your side, you can't send more than one since they blow up each other, too. Banelings are given low damage but a large splash radius to force zerg players to use groups of them (I think they can't even one-shot marines); no one would bother using them if the banelings could kill their own units in a large splash radius.
People said the same in the 1900-1920 era about people on the moon. Just a impossible pipe dream and not realistic. But it happened. So people in the future having a war with aliens might be possible. You never know.
