One common observation about this game is how fast it feels, both while playing and spectating. Yet overall game lengths really aren't too different than SC1 - the midgame still starts around 10 minutes in, the late game around 20 minutes in. Indeed, the production of the army is about on par with SC1.
So what accounts for this difference in perceived game speed? All the units move and kill too quickly! The clashing of full armies is resolved within a quarter of a minute, maybe half a minute with good micro from both sides. Smaller forces? Give them 5 seconds tops. It's ridiculous! A dropship sneaks to your expo, and you didn't scout it when it was loading up? Sorry, you've lost all your workers and possibly your hatch/nexus/command.
In 1, a Zerg seeing a control group and a half of medic marine and firebats going in for a sparks terran timing attack would lay down sunkens and start hatching out lings for the upcoming attack. These sunkens would morph just in time, and the first wave of lings would already be in position by the time the terran force reaches the front door. And what would follow is a tense 1-2minute micro/macro battle as the terran sends in the firebats to absorb the sunken hits and burn those lings... all the sunkens go down and the marines manage a few drone kills before the second wave of lings hatch and finish them off. A good timing push, did its damage and allowed terran to expo, but not big enough to end the game.
In 2? By the time you see the marauder marine force, it's far too late. The terran laughs as he two shots the morphing spine crawlers and your lings are exterminated as they pop out of their eggs two by two. He stims and knocks off your natural within seconds. Alternatively, zerg had made his units/defences in advance and was able to subdue the terran push and counter for the win.
tl;dr (sort of) Now I understand that StarCraft 2 != StarCraft: Broodwar. But this feels like a step in the wrong direction. Both as a player and spectator.
I mean, I can understand the reasoning, Blizzard wants unit production and offensive tactics to have high priority so games have more action and a lesser focus on heavy econ on macroing, but in doing so, the altered that magical balance between the production time and the lifespan of a unit that SC had down to a science.
Your points are part of the mara/immo/roach discussion. Its not about defense buff moreover than offense nerf of some units. But your dropship example is meaningless because M&M dropships demolish zergs also in SC1 in no time.
It seems like speed of economy in SC2 is the same as BroodWar but speed of battles is about 1.5 faster. Most of battles end so fast that u cant feel the battle itself. I love Warcraft3 for long battles when u dont know who will win until the very end though i dont like War3 overall.
Why it is so: 1. damage of units in SC2 is higher than in SC1 2. smart AI and autosurrounding 3. more cohesive army which takes more AoE damage 4. smartcasting
2nd and 4th points are kind of ok i think because of evolution of User Interface. But 1st and 3rd points need to be changed somehow.
Hey man, Raynor here. Them units these days kill each other faster than my darlin' got infested by the zerg if you know what I mean. Maybe the stim dosage's been too much or somethin'?
I have been thinking the same thing about everything dying so fast, especially buildings. You can just run in and focus down a hatchery or nexus in seconds. Command centers are abit more tricky since you can repair it at a high rate.
In general, units in this game seem to have more HP, not less, than units in BroodWar. I can't imagine how you'd get the impression that battles happen at an acceptable speed in BroodWar, but they are over too fast in SC2.
A good point is the armor/countering. Counter units kill the units they counter really well which leads to fast deaths/perceived fast battles. Otherwise it is quite slow/normal speed.
When I first played I tried hatching spine crawlers when I saw the terran infantry coming, and you're right, it wasnt in time. I always assumed that this was due to Blizzard's maps, they seem closer in proximity (or the units are all faster) compared to some of the other ones.
I have a feeling the hard counters in this game have more effect on battle outcomes rather than individual micro right now. Whoever I play, our units don't seem even enough in terms of strength so that micro alone could determine the outcome. As a result, battles end rather quickly. This is of course due to the balancing not being finished, but is also why I think battle seem faster. Thats what I think anyway.
In BW and SC if your opponent wanted to kill off your FE instead of rushing into your main, he would loose precious time since that Nexus/hatchery/CC would take some time to die. (unless stimmed marines); now EVERY unit is like stimmed marines and brings down buildings in a few seconds. This enable hit and runs and generally changes the overall feel in a direction that I think is bad for SC.
damn right the game is faster, you start with more workers, near perfect splits 100% of the time, smarter ai, and just people getting units faster then usual because its the beta and people haven't figured out the strats and timings of all the builds so to be safe you just mass warp gates or roaches or marauders and go. while in a BW game you know what to expect when you see the zerg going 2hatch muta, you know a early sunk bust will prob fail because the zerg player knows to get sunkens which turns the game into a yawn till around 6-7minute mark where the zerg gets mutas and SOMETHING HAPPENS. its just not the same. people are comparing SC2 to BW and are expecting the same results. well it just ain't gonna happen. at least not for a bit.
Not only that, but battles seem to last the same, especially in TvP, in Brood War battles were over generally in about 10 seconds and it's not really any different here.
EPT
