StarCraft 2

[felix]

Wait, no more creep colonies?

[gummybear]

Originally Posted by Cats

Wait, no more creep colonies?

seems that is a no, cause you can use the queen to move the new defence building around like a basketball by throwing them

[Nosauz]

Originally Posted by gummybear

I think you can only make 1 queen at a time that's why the zerg player remain the queen in the base most of the time.

and if she dies, and u upgraded her, u lose all those upgrades which is pretty damn big of a draw back.

[felix]

5. The thor was built by an scv at first, but since quite time now it is built like a normal unit in the factory. Was this changed due to design or balance reasons? - instarcraft.de

we changed this due to the balance reason. Before the change, you could build as many thors as you want at the same time with your scvs, as long as you have resources, with one barrack and an armory. We decided that this can be too much benefit to terran, and we changed that thor could be built from a factory.

6. Zerg has cliff-scaling units? – scumlord (useast)

we want to keep three races different and they do not necessarily have the same ability units. Currently zerg do not have a cliff-scaling unit, like the reaper in terran or colossus in protoss. However, zerg still can expand very quickly and have other movement advantages like 30% additional speed on creep. They also have the combination of overlord’s creep generating ability and nydus network as a very powerful tool to attack opponent’s main base or expansion. Also, overlords are currently able to transport zerg units like the original starcraft.

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-ser​ve 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.

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[Master Mold]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

and if she dies, and u upgraded her, u lose all those upgrades which is pretty damn big of a draw back.

Really? I thought when you upgrade the, and which ever version dies, you can buy/hatch the same version.IIRC

[Nosauz]

Originally Posted by Master Mold

Really? I thought when you upgrade the, and which ever version dies, you can buy/hatch the same version.IIRC

in one of the early demos of the queen the blizzard demoer said that if you lose the queen you lose the upgrades, or this might be milky and jeff from 1ups podcast of when the media got to play sc2

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

in one of the early demos of the queen the blizzard demoer said that if you lose the queen you lose the upgrades, or this might be milky and jeff from 1ups podcast of when the media got to play sc2

Yeah, but pretty much everything has changed since the early demos so I'd take it with a grain of salt.

[Nosauz]

true, but milky and jeff green are the best, that is all, rest in peace 1up and all your awesome podcasts

[Papaya]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

in one of the early demos of the queen the blizzard demoer said that if you lose the queen you lose the upgrades, or this might be milky and jeff from 1ups podcast of when the media got to play sc2

You can't upgrade the Queen anymore.

[gummybear]

well according to the videos so far, the queen is basically a wlking hatchery that can also attack to some degree. since OL can laydown creeps then that means queen + OL = moble outpost for zerg.

[Master Mold]

Originally Posted by gummybear

well according to the videos so far, the queen is basically a wlking hatchery that can also attack to some degree. since OL can laydown creeps then that means queen + OL = moble outpost for zerg.

But the Queen can only Spawn Larva using a Hatchery.

Zerg Queen
The Zerg Queen has continued to evolve over the last few months. She is a fierce defender of the Zerg Hatcheries and can often be found in small groups defending the larger Zerg infestations. In addition to defending her Hatchery from ground and air threats, the Queen has several special abilities that require energy to use.

Build Creep Tumor: with a mighty push from her bowels, the Queen creates a cluster of organic tumors that generate additional creep. In recent months the Zerg have mutated to move more quickly on creep, making this an important function for the Queen.


Spawn Larva: by injecting Queen ichor into a Hatchery, Lair or Hive the Queen can cause the Zerg structure to undergo a startling metamorphosis. The Hatchery starts to throb and green sacks swell up on the structure. Eventually four additional larva burst out of the Hatchery and land next to whatever larva are already wriggling around nearby. While a Hatchery hosts more than 3 larva, the Hatchery will not spawn additional larva, until that number drops below 3.


Razor Plague: with a great breath the queen exhales a cloud of tiny Zerg creatures that create a vast swarm nearby. These creatures attack all enemy creatures within their swarm, doing additional damage to biological targets. What makes it worse is the Zerg player can control the swarm, moving it around to attack whatever enemies he wishes until the swarm becomes exhausted and dissipates.

[gummybear]

Build Creep Tumor: with a mighty push from her bowels, the Queen creates a cluster of organic tumors that generate additional creep. In recent months the Zerg have mutated to move more quickly on creep, making this an important function for the Queen.

so the queen poops creeps? O.o;;

[Jan-Poo]

And the zerglings frolic in it

[Master Mold]

Originally Posted by gummybear

so the queen poops creeps? O.o;;

No the creep tumors poop creep, the Queen poops creep tumors.

[Master Mold]

New Zerg Unit.

Originally Posted by Dustin Browder

1. What is the minimum screen resolution Starcraft 2 is supporting?
[Dustin Browder]The minimum screen resolution in the current build is 1024x768x32 bits.





2. There has been a lot of concern, that ZvZ (Zerg vs Zerg) could become a roach micro contest as roaches do double damage to biological, are tier 1 and have high regeneration. Is this true? If not, how can one counter a roach rush in ZvZ?
[Dustin Browder] Zerg versus Zerg games has been one of our most challenging matchups to balance. With regard to Roaches versus Roaches, all I can say now is that we are still balancing and several things have already changed that will affect how the Roach will do, including bringing Hydralisks back down to a Tier 1.5 unit and having a more standard ranged attacker role.



3. How has island map matches been like so far in StarCraft II internal testing? Could you describe basic sample builds and/or tactics in island games?
[Dustin Browder] StarCraft II races have arguably become more mobile than the original StarCraft with the introduction of the Viking and Medivacs, as well as having a more easily usable Nydus Worm, and Warp-In. With these new mechanics, there will be several new ways to invade an island position, keeping the game fast paced and exciting. ‘Turtling,’ will be a bit harder to do in StarCraft II because of these mechanics as well.



4. Could you tell us about how Muta stacking will work?
[Dustin Browder] Stacking up Mutalisks will be possible in StarCraft II but they will tend to spread out again when they move or attack.

Are any new units yet to be revealed? ie: Zerg heavy air unit?

Zerg has a new flying heavy assault unit known as the Brood Lord. This one is buff! Much more intimidating than the Guardian and will still be morphed from the Mutalisk. This unit will be replacing the previously seen Swarm Guardian and will have new art as well. This unit currently has 350 hit points and a large range of 9, doing 25 damage and spawning a Broodling upon each attack, which will live for a few short seconds, doing minor melee damage.

6. How big is the internal StarCraft II testing team? Are there dedicated full-time testers?
[Dustin Browder] We are currently running the internal alpha testing for every employee and we also have some dedicated QA staff for the game as well.



7. What is the role of the E-sports team? Is Blizzard looking to support the game via an official Blizzard league? Or will that be left to 3rd parties like fansites / game sites to establish?
[Dustin Browder] The role of our eSports Team is to operate tournaments and competitive events for Blizzard games. We will release more information on our plans for StarCraft II tournaments, both official and third-party, as we get closer to the launch of the game.



8. We've seen unit and mineral counts as over-head graphics in game during the first StarCraft II battle-report. Are there more features we haven't seen yet in regards to spectating games?
[Dustin Browder] You can find more information on the replay UI at the latest Q&A batch and you can see various information tabs such as army size, resource collection rate, resource allocations, and tech research in progress.



9. Where will the StarCraft II team take their vacation once the game is launched?
[Dustin Browder] In all honesty, we’ll probably be on Battle.net playing StarCraft II with all of you.

[Nosauz]

dustin browder sounds just a really cool down to earth guy whos really trying to make a great experience for gamers, all the stuff they've been doings sounds really good. This reaffirms the fact that blizzard is definitely one of the leading pc developers out there

[Papaya]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

dustin browder sounds just a really cool down to earth guy whos really trying to make a great experience for gamers, all the stuff they've been doings sounds really good. This reaffirms the fact that blizzard is definitely one of the leading pc developers out there

Don't get your hopes up. Dustin Browder is the same guy that brought you masterpieces like...

Red Alert 2: 100% nonstop tank spam
C&C: Generals: the only game where you could alt+F4 and give your opponent a loss and not affect your own record
LOTR: BFME: no comment lol

[yezhanquan]

Well, the games you mentioned all belong to EA. Last I checked, their game balances aren't exactly well-known. However, Blizzard makes a lot of effort in this department.

[Nosauz]

well I liked generals, and I don't know but i spent a god long time playing RA2. Though wiht generals i never played online so ican't attest to the alt f4 bug. When you look at it RA2 was a good game and so was generals.

[felix]

RA2 was a good game. Also, people change. Of course it can be both for better and for worse.