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Here are some new updates from sc2blog.com and some of it are very interesting!!!
ZERG UPDATES
* Nearly all of the Zerg's units can evolve in StarCraft 2.
* Zerg evolution, or upgrades, only affect one unit. For example, the Zergling has 3 levels of evolution: Level one grants it more speed, level two provides +2 to damage and +1 to armor, and level three +1 to damage and +2 to armor. No word has been given about the favorite crack upgrade, which transformed Zerglings into insane machines of destruction in late games of StarCraft 1. The upgrades are researched at the unit's building - in the Zergling's case, the Spawning Pool.
* Roaches have alternated between functioning as melee units and ranged anti-ground units. They have clearly been designed for close range battles, as evident by their enormous blades. The Roach is a lower tier unit than the Hydralisk, which is now tier 2 - putting the Lurker at tier 3.
* The Infestor can use its “Dark Swarm” ability without needing further research. Infest and Disease, however, have to be researched.
* Infested Protoss buildings currently produce Infested Marines (a placeholder for Infested Zealots, perhaps?)
* The Overseer has been spotted! http://www.sc2blog.com/2008/03/16/starcraft-2-korean-and-chinese-build-summary
* The Nydus Worm can currently carry twelve of any Zerg ground unit. It is an unfinished unit, though, so expect that to change.
* Hatcheries have two Rally Point options: Rally Point for normal units, and Worker Rally Point for drones - allowing the player to send freshly hatched drones straight to the resources.
PROTOSS UPDATES
* The Mothership currently has 4 abilities:
1) Void, a new name for the Black Hole, which now also affects ground units
2) Cloak, which cloaks units around the Mothership - much like the Arbiter of StarCraft 1, but with a larger radius
3) Planet Cracker, the ID4-esque heavy ground damage dealer
4) Time Bomb, which is cast on a specific location and protects friendly units by reducing damage
In addition, the Mothership can drain energy from friendly units and utilize it for its spells.
* Stalkers feel and play like fragile, but more agile, Dragoons. They also serve as excellent economy raiders.
* The Archon's “Twilight” prefix has been dropped from its name. It now has a “Power Overwhelming” buff, which grants it an additional 20 points of damage. This buff is temporary, and lasts a short time after the Archon’s creation - a great way to effectively use wounded Dark Templars and energy-less High Templars in battle.
* The Phoenix is now an air-to-air unit. It’s quite strong, but slow.
* Even a small group of Colossi can wipe out huge ground armies with ease. They now have a “Heavy Shield” upgrade, which increases their shields’ defense rating. The graphics used for their attack sequence will likely be enhanced soon.
* Gateways can transform to Warpgates and back for free - and it only takes 3 seconds of time.
TERRAN UPDATES
* The Marauder has 80 HP and does 6 points of damage + 4 to armored units. Its range is like that of a Marine. Since it is relatively expensive, it is not effective on its own - the Marauder is strictly a complement to the Marine. The Marauder's slow effect actually stops the affected unit completely for a short duration, after which it returns to normal speed. Multiple shots from Marauders can almost completely stop an enemy's advance.
* Jackals deal relatively low damage - around ten points - making them quite ineffective against single units.
* The Banshee no longer deals area-of-effect damage. It now fires more directed rockets at a single target. It is still somewhat structurally weak, with 150 HP. Since it attacks in an oblique line, it has trouble hitting targets directly beneath it.
* Reapers can no longer use the Stim Pack ability. A huge blow for this unit, which has “Raider” as its middle name. The Reaper seems a bit lost in the current build of StarCraft 2 (is it on the way out?)
* The Nomad no longer looks like a giant, flying crane. It has received a complete overhaul, and now has a sharper design. No pictures are available yet. Its Auto-Turrets are quite strong and destructive, and currently no longer cost any energy - instead, they require Vespene Gas only.
* Differently upgraded Battlecrusiers, with either the Yamato Cannon or the Plasma Torpedo upgrade, are treated as different units - double clicking one version will only select Battlecruisers with the same ability.
* Ghosts have the EMP ability, but can no longer drop Drop Pods.
* Thors are no longer built by SCVs. They are now constructed at the Factory, like other Terran mechanized units. (The built-by-SCV unit mechanic was an interesting one, and we hate to see it go.)
Enjoy!
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Nice update, very interesting information there.
Is there any information at all on how the drop pods will be used (or if they will be removed?). I wonder if they're going to be launched from the building that produces them (I've forgotten the name).
I really hope Void will be balanced...otherwise terran tank-reliant defense could very easily be screwed.
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lol @ all the mothership changes.
I'm glad thors are built from factories, it just doesn't seem sc like to have them be build by scvs.
This sounds interesting as well:
* The Archon's “Twilight” prefix has been dropped from its name. It now has a “Power Overwhelming” buff, which grants it an additional 20 points of damage. This buff is temporary, and lasts a short time after the Archon’s creation - a great way to effectively use wounded Dark Templars and energy-less High Templars in battle.
Now protoss players will be rewarded when they morph archons mid-battle =P
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reapers no stim packs?
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im very curious now how they are gonna make macro more "challanging(?)" now like they said(..?) with the dual rally point hatchery for drones-- .
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The separate rally points of the hatchery is gonna make it so easy .
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Terran seems to be even more shitty..... Whats so good about the new units?
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On March 17 2008 10:40 imBLIND wrote: Terran seems to be even more shitty..... Whats so good about the new units?
Shitty is right! maybe because of all the nerf-downs to the units at one time? its a balance issue that we should leave to the Blizzboys.. =)
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Maybe they should consider some sort of merge with the Marauder and Reaper, like dropping the latter and giving Marauders jetpacks. So while theyre weak on their own, theyre still good for harass. Just seems a bit strange to have a unit that is strictly complementary to another, yet modifying the Medic they way they did.
EDIT:
Also, Im just looking at this picture here, and thats a lot of shadows. I know its 3D and all, but I think it should be toned down a bit, or made smaller, so itll be less distracting.
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On March 17 2008 11:47 useLess wrote:Maybe they should consider some sort of merge with the Marauder and Reaper, like dropping the latter and giving Marauders jetpacks. So while theyre weak on their own, theyre still good for harass. Just seems a bit strange to have a unit that is strictly complementary to another, yet modifying the Medic they way they did. EDIT: Also, Im just looking at this picture here, and thats a lot of shadows. I know its 3D and all, but I think it should be toned down a bit, or toned down, so itll be less distracting.
I'm 100% sure in the final game you'll be able to edit your video/graphics options to your liking. Resolution, shadows, unit detail, etc... Will all be able to scale down or up based on your preferences. (Or even hardware limitations)
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Terran really needs to see the same level of innovation as protoss and zerg, which sound comparatively amazing.
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United States7166 Posts
Some more great info not posted in OP
Other issues:
* In StarCraft 1, units “checked” for new orders every half a second, making for a somewhat unresponsive reaction time. In StarCraft 2, this reaction time has been dramatically reduced, and all units now feel much more responsive.
* Before starting a match, players can communicate with each other using VoIP.
* The match summary screen now contains informative graphs as well as the old number statistics.
* The game requires a Pixel Shader 2.0 capable computer, and at least a GeForce 5200 (or equivalent) graphics card. StarCraft2 should be at least playable on just about every computer that’s been made in the last 5 years.
* The Blizzard 40-strong development team is divided into three equal thirds: programmers, artists and designers. Members are from Korea, China, America and Europe, and two are ex-ProGamers.
oh my god the faster response time is so HUGE. it's probably the single most annoying issue with SC1. (it's the reason why sometimes reavers/guardians walk into range of a being hit by sunken/cannon before attacking, along with why mutas sometimes don't attack when dancing them vs marines. It's because it performs checks periodically of "am i in range yet?" of course it also effected many other things as I'm sure you know) which makes me wonder why mutas currently cannot be microed like they can in sc1, but they said they're working on that to make it possible
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On March 17 2008 11:47 useLess wrote:Maybe they should consider some sort of merge with the Marauder and Reaper, like dropping the latter and giving Marauders jetpacks. So while theyre weak on their own, theyre still good for harass. Just seems a bit strange to have a unit that is strictly complementary to another, yet modifying the Medic they way they did. EDIT: Also, Im just looking at this picture here, and thats a lot of shadows. I know its 3D and all, but I think it should be toned down a bit, or made smaller, so itll be less distracting.
I'm sure it will be like WC3 where you could turn unit shadows OFF.
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* Ghosts have the EMP ability, but can no longer drop Drop Pods.
Yesyesyesyesyesyes! All they have to do now is drop the Snipe bullshit, and replace it with some kind of slow-killing Irradiate Shot, and it will be all good!
(well, that and ditch Reapers/Marauders and just put in Firebats with a jump-pack upgrade. Glee.).
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* The game requires a Pixel Shader 2.0 capable computer, and at least a GeForce 5200 (or equivalent) graphics card. StarCraft2 should be at least playable on just about every computer that’s been made in the last 5 years.
interesting imo
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On March 17 2008 13:31 Megrim wrote: * Ghosts have the EMP ability, but can no longer drop Drop Pods.
Yesyesyesyesyesyes! All they have to do now is drop the Snipe bullshit, and replace it with some kind of slow-killing Irradiate Shot, and it will be all good!
(well, that and ditch Reapers/Marauders and just put in Firebats with a jump-pack upgrade. Glee.).
No way! I look forward to sniping infestors/high templars. And Marauders sound awesome. slowing down zergling swarms/charging zealots running towards my marines.
Reapers... No more stim? Imo they need something more. Faster move speed? I like the C4 charges, I was looking forward to entering an enemy base while pushing with my tanks and blow up his supply (protoss/terran) or take out hydra den/pool/spire etc... Honestly I think the terrans were shaping up to be a race to my liking... But this medivac dropship idea is horrible.
Anyway, if Reapers don't have stim packs they should be given some kind of flare, a mini-scanner if you will, to spot over cliffs so they can jump up. (it'd be an upgradeable ability like stim)
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A couple of simple requests for the design and creativity department:
Jackal == Terran Lurker (change this pls.)
And I would like MORE/BETTER MECHS for Terran no matter what is happening to the race. Get inspiration from Armored Core games or Gundam 00 plz.
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On March 17 2008 13:57 Aerox wrote:A couple of simple requests for the design and creativity department: Jackal == Terran Lurker (change this pls.) And I would like MORE/BETTER MECHS for Terran no matter what is happening to the race. Get inspiration from Armored Core games or Gundam 00 plz.
I second this. Change the look of the Thor to a more compact Armoed Core/Gundam style for it's new anti-air role.
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Protoss seems gratuitously overpowered.
Colossus are buffed even more (a few destroying huge armies?), Phoenix are buffed, Archon are buffed...
Archon's buff doesn't even sound that good at all, a temporary buff that is only there in the beginning? The uses for that is so limited. Most of the time the archon is warped either quite a bit before they're needed for battle or at least lasts for such a long time that the buff isn't even used, or the archon is morphed out of desperation in the middle of a battle where they're destroyed before they're made 9 out of ten times.
Plus the Colossus and the Thor both seem to have a very similar role- ground-based capital ships.
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