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SC2 thoughts and a question

Blogs > Hawk
Post a Reply
QuanticHawk
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
United States32157 Posts
March 22 2010 14:41 GMT
#1
So I've had the beta for about four days now and I'm just about 15 games in or so. I'm obviously not experienced enough to really weigh in on balance and shit like that, so I'll concentrate on other stuff.

• Aesthetically, the units all look the goddamn same, all very dull, blend in way too much with surroundings and with each other when in large groups (caveat: I am on an old hunk of shit laptop, so it's on lowest graphic settings, but from what I've seen elsewhere, it doesn't change much). I mostly play zerg, so if you've got a big blob, it's a bitch picking out the roaches from the hydras and everything else. Bio for terrans has the same feel.

• The sounds are also very dull. They need to be more distinct (I did see another blog about this) Each unit needs to sound totally different from the others.

• I originally though mbs would be lame... but shit, it is awesome. Macro is so much more efficent as a zerg now. I can effortlessly harass someone and keep my econ jamming. But what I really like is the opportunities that each race has to kick the econ into overdrive (queen injection, etc) I actually really enjoy the new possibilities for advanced gameplay. Now it's just a matter of me learning what to make up my army with and what the fuck counters are.

• Most of the complaints I've read are terribly irrational... people aren't just noting that x unit is far superior to y, but bitching that the entire system is broke and the game is shit. It's four weeks in, you assclowns. BW took years to balance.

• I saw a few people complain that micro is less emphasized... what the hell? There's just as much as ever.

I'll post more here as they come....

Now for my question: As I mentioned earlier, I'm using a shitty old laptop to play on lowest settings. I've needed a laptop for a bit, so this is forcing my hand. laptop users, what kind of rigs do you have and what settings are you on? I want to get something affordable that can run something near peak settings.

*
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Random()
Profile Blog Joined August 2004
Kyrgyz Republic1462 Posts
March 22 2010 14:53 GMT
#2
I have played about 50 or so games now.

Completely agree on the sounds issue, though I don't have any problems with the graphics. It just takes some time to adjust and get used to.

I guess the only laptops that could run SC2 on high settings are Alienware, such as this. My friend has got a new high-end (non-gaming) laptop, Dell Studio XPS, and it can only run SC2 on medium settings with acceptable FPS.
QuanticHawk
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
United States32157 Posts
March 22 2010 14:56 GMT
#3
Yeah, I kind of figured I'd probably be SOL in terms of finding something affordable that can run it on highest settings. I'll need a laptop for school in the fall and the only PC games I play will be this, possibly TF2 again and whenever HL2:E3 comes out (I'm sure that will be another upgrade...)

Probably max I want to spend is right around $800 or so.
PROFESSIONAL GAMER - SEND ME OFFERS TO JOIN YOUR TEAM - USA USA USA
tonight
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
United States11130 Posts
March 22 2010 15:07 GMT
#4
I can't believe my PC won't run this shit good. It's only 2years old or a year and a half, but I can't even play games due to how sluggish it is. Also, the two games I did play I had no idea wtf units did what or new tech tree shit. I pretty much looked like Hawk playing BW.
if I come without a thing, then I come with all I need @tonightsend
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24782 Posts
March 22 2010 15:18 GMT
#5
I agree wirh you about mbs. I love being able to do my macro with hotkeys only. It's not too easy as some worried it would be since you need a separate macro hotkey for each of several things (ex 3D4AAAA5T6DV)
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
iSiN
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United States1075 Posts
March 22 2010 15:24 GMT
#6
Laptops suck for gaming unfortunately. No matter the specs they all have the same problem and that is heat dispersion. I fell into the trap of getting a "Gaming Laptop" and I even fell into the second trap of buying a "Cooling Pad"(they will give you 1 or 2 degrees of cooling power. Get a cheap gaming desktop like 800-900 dollars and a really good netbook for like 300-400 then you have both of the things you need in life :D.

Like I said though even if your laptop has the specs to run games at max they won't be able to continually run them at max.
Grouty @HoN/PCKJ <--<333 || Jaedong Fan Cafe GFX
Klive5ive
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
United Kingdom6056 Posts
March 22 2010 15:31 GMT
#7
This laptop is the sort of thing you would be wanting. But it's just over your price range.
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-cw-series/vpccw1s1e-r
Don't hate the player - Hate the game
Xxio
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
Canada5565 Posts
March 22 2010 15:45 GMT
#8
On March 23 2010 00:24 iSiN wrote:
Laptops suck for gaming unfortunately. No matter the specs they all have the same problem and that is heat dispersion. I fell into the trap of getting a "Gaming Laptop" and I even fell into the second trap of buying a "Cooling Pad"(they will give you 1 or 2 degrees of cooling power. Get a cheap gaming desktop like 800-900 dollars and a really good netbook for like 300-400 then you have both of the things you need in life :D.

Like I said though even if your laptop has the specs to run games at max they won't be able to continually run them at max.


Why can't they continually run them at max? I don't get it..over heating?
KTY
Chef
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
10810 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-03-22 16:02:17
March 22 2010 16:00 GMT
#9
I find my biggest complaint so far is that the camera angle is too low. If it would scroll a little higher it would be so much better, but it feels just stupid as it is right now, especially when you realise you have to aim at the shadows of air units or stuff won't hit. The death sounds aren't very satisfying either, which is annoying. It doesn't feel like I've lost a unit when something dies. Or that I've killed one.

I agree with the OP about units needing to be more distinguishable. Everything just kind of flows together like water in SC2 and I don't really like that.

It's nice they added mouse sensitivity to the settings though. I'd like to see changable hotkeys too, because I don't really want to learn SC2 hotkeys, I'd rather just make them like original SC as much as I can.

I think the Protoss buildings are especially ugly... Maybe it's the angle though. Again, I'd like a top downish view, not 60 degrees or whatever it is now.

Regarding actual game mechanics. I think muels, chrono boosts, spawn larvae... Are tedious right now. It doesn't seem like there's ever a time you shouldn't be spawning larvae, so they might as well autocast it. Same with mules. You can turn off autocast when you need a scan which is hardly ever since Terran are so mobile. Chrono boost is consistently a strategic choice, but it's a choice that you seem to be forced to make so often once you expand that you might as well just boost everything all the time, which makes me think it should be able to be set to autocast on a building too. I would prefer it if all of these cost more energy and had to be used more wisely. It seems really artificial and annoying right now. I know part of the appeal of SC is making players manage their time and figure out when it's okay to look back at their base to macro, but right now it feels more like I'm playing one of those retarded 'increase your apm' maps where you have to save a probe on a tiny island from a zealot that means nothing to you. I think I would actually prefer a finite amount of chrono boosts, or at least energy that had to be mined or purchased for those abilities, because right now they don't seem like choices that make you think hard, they just seem like things to keep you busy. In SC1 it was important to know when it was okay to build units. In SC2 it's ALWAYS mandatory that you be using your chronoboosts on whatever you want most. Even though I went 10-0 in placement just doing proxy 2gate chronoboosted gateways, I didn't feel like I was that clever.
LEGEND!! LEGEND!!
Funnytoss
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
Taiwan1471 Posts
March 22 2010 16:11 GMT
#10
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220667

I'm on this laptop and I'm running SC2 on medium smoothly.
AIV_Funnytoss and sGs.Funnytoss on iCCup
girly22
Profile Joined March 2010
Australia1 Post
March 22 2010 16:40 GMT
#11
i want to try the beta experience but i dont have a key , i wud trade ally my war3 cdkey from all the computer in my computer shop. message me if interested
ZenDeX
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
Philippines2916 Posts
March 22 2010 16:54 GMT
#12
On March 22 2010 23:41 Hawk wrote:
• Aesthetically, the units all look the goddamn same, all very dull, blend in way too much with surroundings and with each other when in large groups (caveat: I am on an old hunk of shit laptop, so it's on lowest graphic settings, but from what I've seen elsewhere, it doesn't change much). I mostly play zerg, so if you've got a big blob, it's a bitch picking out the roaches from the hydras and everything else. Bio for terrans has the same feel.

I think an increase in unit collision would fix this problem. Also, try playing the game with 32-color resolution.

On March 22 2010 23:41 Hawk wrote:
• The sounds are also very dull. They need to be more distinct (I did see another blog about this) Each unit needs to sound totally different from the others.

I really hope that the sounds are placeholders. Some of the are pretty decent already though.

On March 22 2010 23:41 Hawk wrote:
• I saw a few people complain that micro is less emphasized... what the hell? There's just as much as ever.

Some people haven't realized that the speed in SC2 is much faster than SC1 thus giving less time to micro during clashes.

On March 22 2010 23:41 Hawk wrote:
Now for my question: As I mentioned earlier, I'm using a shitty old laptop to play on lowest settings. I've needed a laptop for a bit, so this is forcing my hand. laptop users, what kind of rigs do you have and what settings are you on? I want to get something affordable that can run something near peak settings.

I play with an ASUS K40IN. It has 2G ram, 512 vram, and core2duo 2.2ghz. Playing on medium graphics gives you 30 fps though.
QuanticHawk
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
United States32157 Posts
March 22 2010 16:56 GMT
#13
@chef, I can't speak for the other races really, but for zerg, you can definitely time when the larve pop for optimum efficiency. I've read at least one build that does this so you pop liek 5 roaches at once. I autocast option could work, but I'm not sure if I want it, and it would def have to be optional.

With the chrono, the autocast would just kick in on the selected building when it starts producing units?? I'm not experienced, but it seems there might be times where you'd wanna save, like if you're trying an econ build, you save the boost for if you get rushed or something maybe...

I agree with the camera height though, as well as the option to change hotkeys. I can't tell you how many times I've hit s-o and sit there wondering why my unit count remains the same =[

PROFESSIONAL GAMER - SEND ME OFFERS TO JOIN YOUR TEAM - USA USA USA
QuanticHawk
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
United States32157 Posts
March 22 2010 16:59 GMT
#14
On March 23 2010 00:31 Klive5ive wrote:
This laptop is the sort of thing you would be wanting. But it's just over your price range.
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-cw-series/vpccw1s1e-r


Do you have this, and if so, hows it run?? I gotta search for the price on the US site.

On March 23 2010 01:11 Funnytoss wrote:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220667

I'm on this laptop and I'm running SC2 on medium smoothly.


Cool. What fps does it give you (and how do you check this??)
PROFESSIONAL GAMER - SEND ME OFFERS TO JOIN YOUR TEAM - USA USA USA
KOFgokuon
Profile Blog Joined August 2004
United States14912 Posts
March 22 2010 17:58 GMT
#15
use the program FRAPS to check frames per second
SayaSP
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Laos5494 Posts
March 22 2010 19:10 GMT
#16
CTRL+ALT+F
[iHs]SSP | I-NO-KI BOM-BA-YE | のヮの http://tinyurl.com/MLIStheCV , MLIS.
Klive5ive
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
United Kingdom6056 Posts
March 23 2010 10:42 GMT
#17
[QUOTE]On March 23 2010 01:59 Hawk wrote:
[QUOTE]On March 23 2010 00:31 Klive5ive wrote:
This laptop is the sort of thing you would be wanting. But it's just over your price range.
[url=http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-cw-series/vpccw1s1e-r]http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-cw-series/vpccw1s1e-r[/url][/QUOTE]

Do you have this, and if so, hows it run?? I gotta search for the price on the US site.
QUOTE]
It runs beautifully on high graphics.
Don't hate the player - Hate the game
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