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| Starcraft 2 - Mar Sara Bios & Screenshots |
The Sara system was initially catalogued by freelance prospectors and colonized by an expedition from Tarsonis several years later. Mar Sara formed the eighth of the thirteen core colonies of the Terran Confederacy. The Sara system was unusual for having two habitable planets, but Mar Sara was always a backwater colony compared to the more prosperous Chau Sara.
Mar Sara was one of the first planets to be infested by the zerg when they appeared in terran space. It was also the first planet on which the Confederates fought the advancing Swarm to any significant extent, although most of the actual fighting was done by local militia forces.
Colonel Edmund Duke, commanding officer of the Confederate fleet in the system, subsequently arrested militia forces for fighting for their homes. These prisoners were later released by a rebel group called the Sons of Korhal. The rebels' leader was Arcturus Mengsk.
The Sons of Korhal helped evacuate Mar Sara after the Confederates abandoned it entirely. They also liberated secret information from a Confederacy research facility on Mar Sara called the Jacobs Installation. This information revealed that the Confederacy had known about the imminent arrival of the zerg and had been experimenting with captured specimens. It is believed the Confederacy deliberately sacrificed the planet in order to test a secret weapon that incited the zerg invasion.
To keep the infestation from spreading further, a protoss fleet under the command of Executor Tassadar incinerated Mar Sara from orbit, just as it had with Mar Sara's sister planet, Chau Sara.
After Mar Sara's incineration by the protoss, the Sara system seemed to have little left to offer the terran race. The subsequent collapse of the Confederacy left the system entirely abandoned. Nevertheless, prospectors from the Kel-Morian Combine found that minerals on Mar Sara had acquired unique properties due to the protoss bombardment. Shortly thereafter, the Kel-Morian Combine staked a claim to mining and salvage rights over the Sara system. Independent and indentured contractors soon began strip-mining both planets of their resources.
The Terran Dominion has recently shown a renewed interest in the Sara system and established several outposts there. The Kel-Morian Combine claims that these outposts have been established at the Combine's invitation due to security issues with piracy and mining camp revolts. There have also been reports of zerg sightings on the planet. It is believed that these organisms reinfested the desolate world some time after the protoss bombardment.
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Thursday 24th 2008f July 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| SCLegacy - 2008 WWI Coverage |
LordofAscension from SCLegacy, who I met in Paris, reports their 2008 Blizzard Invitationals Coverage page is now available. Their coverage includes all three races buildings and units info, and an interview with a developer.
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Sunday 20th 2008f July 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Starcraft 2 Q&A - Batch 41 |
Chat with Devs: Since the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, the topic of the new Vespene Gas mechanic has come up a lot across many different fansites and message boards. Thus far, this is one of the biggest changes which will affect the macro management of bases in StarCraft II. To shed some more light on this new mechanic, I have gotten a chance to talk to Dustin Browder, our Lead Designer for StarCraft II, about the progress thus far of the new mechanic, as well as the objectives this new mechanic is designed to achieve.
To start, the new Vespene Gas mechanic is to further distinguish the play style in which players gather minerals versus gathering gas. In the original StarCraft, the gathering of gas was very linear in the rate in which gas is gathered. Often, players would put 3-4 workers on the gas, and the players would forget about it until the geyser was depleted. Minerals on the other hand, were much more exponential in the rate of growth and were also often played differently amongst different races. Zerg would likely expand rapidly with less drones in each expansion and Protoss/Terran could sustain a sizeable force with higher numbers of workers on a smaller number of expansions.
How the New Vespene Gas Mechanic Works
For StarCraft II, with the new Vespene Gas mechanic, players will have 2 gas geysers at their starting position. These geysers will start with X amount of gas (currently 600 and subject to balance) and at any time players can purchase additional gas in their geysers for X minerals (currently 100 and subject to balance). With each purchase of additional gas for your geyser, the geyser increases with X gas (currently 600 and subject to balance) and the geyser shuts down for 45 seconds. When a geyser is depleted, workers will still be able to gather gas at a low rate of 2 per round (subject to balance).
How the New Vespene Gas Mechanic Plays
With this new gas mechanic, players have a wider variety of strategies in developing and maintaining their refineries, as well as additional attention needed to make sure they are collecting gas at the most efficient rate. On the production side, players now also have to decide between sticking to Tier 1 units longer, or to play it balanced with one geyser, or even max out on gas to invest heavily on teching and higher tech units. Additional, the relationship between minerals and gas have an added layer of depth since investing in additional gas will actually cost the player minerals as well. How often a player invests in gas will also not necessarily be consistent through the game too and will depend upon what units that player is currently choosing to mass. Scouting too has an added layer of depth as well, as a players gas collecting play style may determine if the player is teching to a higher tier mineral heavy unit (like a Dark Templar) or a higher tech gas heavy unit (like a High Templar).
Overall, players will have to build the appropriate buildings as well as gather resources in a particular method in order to execute a certain strategy at a professional level. It is the hope of the development team that this new mechanic will not only make gas collecting more interesting, but also increase the amount of macro management skill needed to compete in StarCraft II at the top levels while at the same time making the game playable for mid level players without using some of these more advanced techniques.
---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 41---
1. How exactly does the Corruptors attack work? Is it a stacking debuff that takes effect after a certain number of stacks? And if so can the debuff time out? Would you be able to hit and run kill for example Battlecruisers with a few Corruptors over a couple of minutes? (sc2pod.com)
The attack is technically a debuff, but does not do damage over time. Every time the Corruptor attacks a unit, it'll leave a debuff on it for a couple seconds. If the unit dies within those couple seconds, the unit will be corrupted.
2. What are the current stats and build times for the Queen defensive buildings? (starcraft2forum.org)
To catch us up, Zerg defensive buildings arent built by the queen anymore. Instead, they are built from the drone once again.
Spine Crawler:
- Only hits ground
- Health is 300 (uprooted health 100)
- Movement speed is 2.25 (1 off of creep)
- Damage is 20 +20 armored
- Range is 7
- Attack speed is 1.5 sec
Spore Crawler:
- Only hits air
- Health is 300 (uprooted health 100)
- Movement speed is 2.25 (1 off of creep)
- Damage is 15
- Range is 7
- Attack speed is .8608
3. The Queen seems to be a very potent unit, although its tasks are more defensive ones, it can be used in crazy rush strategies, according to Karune's experiences. Well, if the Nydus Worm was able to transport even queens, she would get even more potent. You could easily think of crazy rushes using your opponents creep to just overwhelm him with your units AND your defensive structures. So here is the simple question: Can the Nydusworm transport queens among all the other units? (starcraft2.4players.de)
Defensive structures will not be able to enter the Nydus tunnel network, but the Queen will be able to. Furthermore, the Queen will no longer be able to build defensive structures. Drones will morph into defensive structures, similar to the original StarCraft.
4. When the Zerg Sunken Colony is uprooted and on the move is it more vulnerable to enemy attack? (www.starcraft2.com.au)
Yes, the Spine and Spore Crawlers will have less hit points while they are uprooted. The actual number of hit points will be determined through balance testing.
5. In many cases, the micromanagement of units in StarCraft revolved around gameplay mechanics (Dragoon dance, Mutalisk stacking, Reaver/Shuttle micro, etc.), rather than special abilities with cooldown/charges (Stalker's Blink, Phoenix's Overload, etc.).
Is the amount of this kind of special abilities in SC2 a concern of Blizzard, and how would this affect the overall gameplay? -lepape (teamliquid.net)
Players will still have dependence on both gameplay mechanics as well as special abilities. For instance, Stalkers will have the basic dancing mechanic as Dragoons had in the original StarCraft. Marauders are another unit highly dependent on micromanagement to get the most effectiveness out of the unit, making sure you use their attacks slowing effect at opportune times.
Though for StarCraft II, we are introducing much more positional micromanagement, which will amplify units damage significantly. A Colossus will fire in a line and lining up that radius with the enemy units will be crucial in battles. Flanking Jackals from multiple angles will surely add to its potency as well.
Overall, we definitely want to balance the game with both plenty of gameplay mechanics as well as special abilities that create opportunities for the players to initiate clever strategies as well as innovative maneuvers on the battlefield.
6. Terrans currently appear to be at a disadvantage in terms of troop mobility, (as compared to 'Warp-in' and 'Nydus Worm') are there any plans to bring back the, 'drop-pod' or other new transport mechanic? (sclegacy.com)
Actually, we consider the Terran side to be quite mobile. Let us first look at the Reapers. This unit is the fastest ground unit in the game which traverses terrain without even having a spotter. In addition, the Medivac Dropships, allow added mobility to all Terran ground units. With the addition of the Dropship being able to heal, it has become even more of a staple in Terran strategies, giving even more increased incentive for players to build Dropships than the original StarCraft. On top of this, Vikings providing both ground and air support at a click of a button, gives that added support of mobility and options when moving a Terran army around.
The method in which Terran will be mobile is indeed different than Warp-in and Nydus Worm, though they are not considered less mobile than the other races.
---End of Transmission---
Karune - Starcraft 2 Community Manager
Blizzard Entertainment
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Wednesday 16th 2008f July 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| 2008 Shore Leave - Aaron Rosenberg & Keith R.A. DeCandido Schedule |
Aaron Rosenberg and Keith R.A. DeCandido will be at the Shore Leave 30 Convention through July 11-13, 2008. Shore Leave is a Fan Run Sci-Fi Convention. Both novel writers are known for their Star Trek, World of Warcraft and Starcraft novels among other sci-fi and fantasy franchises. Make sure to bring a copy of your books for booksigning, or simply say hi, handshake the authors, and praise their work. Make sure to submit your photos to Blizzplanet. If you are an amateur/professional book writer ... little tip: Marco Palmieri will be there from Pocket Books. You want to desperately-beg ... I mean, get good contacts with this gentleman to highlight your career.
For details on how to reach Shore Leave visit the event's website.
AARON ROSENBERG SCHEDULE
 Friday:
Meet the Pros
10pm-midnight
Hunt-Valley Corridor
Saturday:
Heroes: Claire and Present Danger
1-2 pm
Salon A
Writing and Managing a Day Job
3-4 pm
Salon E
Sunday:
Time and Business Management For Writers
10-11am
Derby Room | KEITH R.A. DECANDIDO SCHEDULE
 Friday:
9-10pm: Pocket Books preview -- Hunt
10pm-12am: Meet the Pros -- Hunt/Valley Foyer
Saturday:
11am-12pm: Boogie Knights concert -- Valley
12-1pm: "The Sky's the Limit: 20+ Years of TNG" -- Salon A
1-2pm: "eBook Post-Mortem" -- Salon E
3-5pm: "Doctor Who: The Quality of Leadership" -- Salon A
Masquerade halftime (after 9pm): Boogie Knights concert -- Hunt/Valley
Sunday:
11am-12pm: "Myriad Universes: Star Trek Does What If?" -- Hunt
12-1pm: "S.C.E.: Corps of Engineers -- Salon B
1-2pm: an hour with Keith R.A. DeCandido -- Salon A |
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Wednesday 09th 2008f July 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| StarCraft and Warcraft III Competition at Digital Games |
Battle.net reports that StarCraft: Brood War and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne are coming to the 2008 Digital Games worldwide tournament as part of the real-time strategy (RTS) category.
Digital Games is a worldwide online tournament featuring competition in thirteen titles, with the best players receiving permanent online medals. Participants can represent their countries on ladders in five different worldwide regions, and can win medals at the country, region, and world levels. Top gamers may also have the chance to attend the Digital Games Grand Final event in China as part of the Olympic Games welcome events.
Ladder play is already underway, so you can sign up and put your skills to the test by visiting the Digital Games site at http://dg.ggl.com.
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Monday 07th 2008f July 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Starcraft 2 Bios - Zeratul |
Zeratul has been added to the Bios section at the official Starcraft 2 website
Zeratul is a dark templar, a renowned psionic warrior and assassin whose forbears were exiled from the protoss homeworld of Aiur over a thousand years ago. The dark templar refused to submerge themselves in the communal protoss mind link, the Khala, preferring instead to strive as individuals. Zeratul holds the rank of prelate and is probably best known for his role in the ensuring the survival of the protoss since the zerg threat first became apparent.
It was Zeratul who overcame the prejudices of Executor Tassadar when they met on Char, and thus began to heal the rift between the Aiur protoss and the dark templar. It was Zeratul who was the first to slay a zerg cerebrate although the cerebrates had been thought immortal. Most of all it was Zeratul who returned to Aiur with Tassadar and set into motion the events that would rejoin the sundered halves of the protoss race and overthrow the oppressive rulership of the Conclave.
"You speak of knowledge, Judicator? You speak of experience? I have journeyed through the darkness between the most distant stars. I have beheld the births of negative-suns and borne witness to the entropy of entire realities...."
Zeratul went on to fight alongside Tassadar to bring about the destruction of the zerg Overmind during the invasion of Aiur, and then helped the protoss evacuate the planet as it continued to be overrun by the zerg. When the Swarm followed the refugees to the dark templar world of Shakuras, Zeratul helped recover the Khalis and Uraj crystals, which allowed the protoss to activate the xel'naga temple there and wipe out the invaders. Later, when the dark archon Ulrezaj threatened to destroy the Aiur protoss "violating" Shakuras, Zeratul was instrumental in thwarting Ulrezaj's schemes.
But Zeratul also carries many terrible burdens. In the act of slaying the cerebrate Zasz, Zeratul became temporarily linked with the Overmind. Although he came to know much of the Overmind's hitherto unknown motivations and plans, it won from him the location of Aiur itself, and so the seeds of the planet's devastation were sown. Furthermore, Zeratul has a long and bitter history with the Queen of Blades, having been manipulated and betrayed by her more than once as she destroyed the remaining zerg cerebrates in order to secure her control over the Swarm after the Overmind's death.
As part of her schemes, the Queen of Blades took control of the beloved protoss matriarch Raszagal. Zeratul later rescued the matriarch, but he found her to be irrevocably corrupted. Sorrowfully he took the matriarch's life to spare her from continuing as the plaything of the Queen of Blades. With her mind freed by the deathblow, Raszagal thanked him and named him as leader of the dark templar. Such an honor Zeratul felt unfit to take, his soul too scarred by his experiences.
For the moment he focused on a more immediate concern: contacting any other nearby protoss who had survived the Queen of Blades' treachery. Tracking protoss power signatures to an obscure moon, he hoped to reunite with his comrades and return to Shakuras with them in order to plan for the future. Instead of comrades, however, he found a former agent of the Queen of Blades -- the enigmatic Samir Duran -- engaged in breeding protoss/zerg hybrid creatures. Although Zeratul destroyed the facility, Duran claimed that it was merely one of many. Duran also revealed that he had been known by many names over the millennia and that he was not serving the Queen of Blades, but rather a "far greater power". Deeply troubled by what he had seen, Zeratul went into self-imposed exile with only a handful of followers at his side. He continued to seek answers for what manner of being Duran truly was, and what dark future he was working toward.
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Friday 04th 2008f July 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| WWI 2008 - Fansites Coverage |
There are many videos of the Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals around the fansites, so I will gather a few links for you to check out. I will be adding them soon to a static link on the left menu for you to get back at any time later on.
THE ESCAPIST MAGAZINE / WARCRY
STARCRAFTWIRE
SCLEGACY
IGN
WOW STRATICS
CURSE
STARCRAFT-ESP (Espańol)
STARCRAFT2.HU
TEN TON HAMMER
STARCRAFTCZ
More Links coming soon
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Thursday 03rd 2008f July 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Starcraft 2 Game Design Panel |
There is a protoss unit -- I think it is the dark templar mechanical unit -- that creates forcefields. These forcefields can be used in various strategical situations such as creating a chokepoint where zerglings will be divided -- those in the back won't be able to do any damage while your units are ripping apart the ones in the front. The forcefields can be placed also in a straight line forcing the enemy to have to walk around. By then your ranging units can do heavy damage before the zerglings or any other melee unit is able to reach your units.
I asked Rob Pardo in the Q&A panel stream if they would add the Ghost abilities such as telekinesis and some form of telepathy or mind control which is characterized in the recent Starcraft novels and upcoming manga. I will see if I can get you a video of the Q&A panel. I approached Rob Pardo personally after the Q&A to get my press badge signed by him, and to follow up on the Ghost questions. Pretty much they want to make the Ghost a fearful assassin unit. With the current ability to snipe they can virtually kill anything in a few shots, except the bulky Ultralisk and other big units. However, with my point listened let's see if they can apply some interesting abilities from the lore in these novels to make justice to the Ghost's telekinetic/telepathic core abilities that could be used in higher tiers. A ghost could have telekinetic version of that protoss forcefield ability for specific strategic tasks. Maybe move doodads around telekinetically or toss doodads at enemy units, create chokepoints with doodads. Really hope they create something viable.
The mothership timebomb can be used strategically just before your mothership is about to die. That can give it the extra time to do damage with the units it is protecting.
Jackal
Position carefully to do aoe damage. Keep them on high ground to ambush a group in the lower terrain. It does a large fire stream.
The Thor
Assault unit from the factory Anti-air flak cannons, self-repair system creates tactical choices. Once the Thor dies the wreckage remains in the battlefield. You can choose to spend resources to repair the Thor back to action.
Four Thors and five marines were able to destroy a large group of mutalisks. Since the enemy didn't finish up the wreckage, the Thor was able to rebuild itself.
In the future ...
- Macro vs micro
- upgrade systems
- special abilities
- Battlenet
- Story Campaign
By the end of the year, Blizzard will be able to talk more about the story campaign. It is about one third done thus far.
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Saturday 28th 2008f June 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| StarCraftWire Interviews Dustin Browder |
StarCraftWire.net is celebrating its new, fancy design and domain switch (from old faithful StarCraft.IncGamers.com) with new interview material from Blizzard! This first Q & A session with Dustin Browder was made during the Zerg Reveal Press Event a number of weeks ago, and was an open discussion between Browder and the fansites (the only press to stay extra hours to play!) that had stayed the extra time on the last day.
As it was a more personal discussion than the official interviews, it was very warm and open, and you could tell Dustin preferred talking to the "fans" rather than the "press". The discussion was quite long, and spans 5 pages. Here is a short snip:
Mutalisk Dancing
In the build we were shown, you could not use your Mutalisks to "dance" around, shooting and moving through micro. The pro player next to me asked Dustin about this, and he explained that they are really supposed to be able to do that in SC2, and the lack of "dancing" is a bug; "I am pretty sure this originally was a bug in the old StarCraft, but it has been used so much now that people expect to be able to 'dance' with the Mutalisks. So it's planned for StarCraft 2, it is just amazing how much we got to break in our engine to get the same "bug".
The bug appeared in StarCraft as the game only checked if it should react like every 0,5 second or so, like stopping when firing. So the unit fired, and half a second later, the game told it to slow down, but at that time it had already received a new command to move, which enabled 'the dance'. With our new, more powerful engine, it checks that a lot often, and so they stop moving when they shoot. Our problem is that this version is so much better. It will be done though, it is just a lot of work, and we didn't have time to add it to this build".
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Tuesday 24th 2008f June 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Starcraft 2 - SCLegacy Interviews Karune |
SCLegacy had the opportunity to talk with Karune about the Starcraft 2 Hydralisk damage, speed and cost, the anti-gravity effect on Zerg buildings, the viability of Terran units in early Tiers without the Medivac. Other interesting questions are answered concerning the Jackal AOE damage, Ghost's EMP grenade, possible abilities casted from within a bunker, and more importantly the lack of air-to-air units on the Zerg race. Find out what Karune answered at the exclusive SCLegacy Starcraft 2 Q&A here.
Thanks, HandClaw
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Sunday 22nd 2008f June 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Graham McNeill @ Games Day 2008 -Toronto |
The author of the upcoming Starcraft: I, Mengsk -- known for his work on Warhammer -- Graham McNeil will be book signing at Toronto, Canada. If you visit him, don't hesitate submiting your photos.
Graham McNeill: I’m going to be at Games Day Canada this weekend. If you’re in the vicinity of the Queen Elizabeth Building Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario, on Saturday June 21st between 9am and 4pm, then hopefully I’ll see you there. I'm going to be signing books and just generally chatting with anyone who drops by. I’m also told there’ll be copies of the new Uriel Ventris novel, The Killing Ground, available to buy, as well as some of the limited edition chapbooks with the Dark King and the Lightning Tower in it.
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Sunday 22nd 2008f June 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| StarCraft 2 - Planet Char Bios |
Blizzard has added a new planet bio, Char.
Char was formerly one of the thirteen core worlds of the Confederacy, but it is most notorious as the primary hive planet of the alien zerg. Upon its discovery, Char was found to be an inhospitable volcanic planet with thick ash covering most of its surface and tainting its acrid atmosphere. The hazardous environment is further intensified by extremely high levels of cosmic radiation from Char's volatile pairing of binary stars, a class VI F0 sub dwarf orbiting an M8 irregular variable.
Read more about Char here. Blizzard has also added two new pieces of artwork and one new screenshot.
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Tuesday 17th 2008f June 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Starcraft II Q&A - Batch 40 |
Karune released the next Starcraft II Q&A with more juicy details of Starcraft 2. Karune answered a question on page two that may be of interest to fans who are looking forward to the Single Player and the extra content that won't be in Multiplayer:
Karune: I'm not completely sure to which features you are referring to, but in general, features are a tool to shape the gameplay of a game. Features may be good or bad, depending on its effects on the game. Not all features fit your design goals. For instance, multiplayer is about competition. Random factors like a random % of missing based on terrain is not optimal for a balanced competitive game (similarly chess does not have random factors involved when a player wins or losses). On the other hand, in single player, our goal is to immerse the player into the StarCraft world. Here is where the details that add to the story and immersion really count! Thus, there will be LOTS of content not seen in the multiplayer, as well as animations, heroes, additional units, and more...
Thanks, HandClaw.
---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 40---
This week we have launched the 3rd episode of BlizzCast, featuring an interview with the Lead Designer of StarCraft II about the Evolution of the Zerg from the original StarCraft to StarCraft II. Be sure to check that out here:
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcast/
Also, I've been curious - would you guys prefer having these Q&A Batches (multiple answered and added into a consolidated release) or would you rather these 4-7 questions be spread out across the forums in pertinent threads on battle.net? I have been doing a bit of both, but would love to get your feedback on it, to make it easiest for you to follow up on the latest updates in regards to the development of StarCraft II.
1. By the current look of the game with spectacular death animations you could worry that you can get slightly distracted by dead units while playing. You could for example waste precious APMs (Actions per minute) trying to click on a spliced Space Marine that you thought was still alive. The wrecks of some larger units or deaths for some others could block your sight in-game too. Could this fear be a real issue and will there be the option to toggle down these model details in the settings? (gamereplays.org)
Yes, this is an issue we are looking into. For multiplayer, we want to make absolutely sure that players can clearly see visually what is happening on the battlefield. Currently, we are looking to have different types of death animations available for multiplayer than will be present for the single player campaign. A lot of people do still love watching intricate death animations when not in a competitive scene.
2. Battlecruisers do employ more than one gunner right? So will they be able to attack both air and ground at the same time? (sc2pod.com)
Battlecruisers will only be able to attack one unit at a time.
3. What happens with the units inside a Nydus Worm if it gets killed? Considering it can carry 255 units, would they all die? (sc2pod.com)
Units inside the Nydus network will only die when all entrance/exits are killed. This includes the Nydus Warren building, the prerequisite to build Nydus Worms, as it also acts as an entrance and exit to the Nydus network. Nydus Worms that are not deployed as an entrance/exit will not count as an entrance/exit to the network.
4. So far the map editor seems to be a very powerful tool which doesnt constrain the map makers creativity at all. Will it even be possible to edit critical abilities like path finding? If so, there would be really no limits, or at least none we can imagine at this point. (starcraft2.4players.de)
Pathfinding, the method in which a unit will determine how to move, is handled by code, and will not be able to be edited within the map editor. Nonetheless, map makers will be able to edit things such as footprints, speed, and the size of units, which will affect the movement rates of units.
5. Why were Plasma Torpedoes added to the Battlecruiser when the Banshee has virtually the same attack? (starcraft2.com.au)
The Battlecruiser no longer has Plasma Torpedoes that hit ground. Instead, they can be equipped with a Missile Barrage which will be an air-to-air area of effect attack ability. This ability will make the Battlecruiser even more effective against lightly armored air units, as the attack also gets additional damage points versus light armored units.
6. In SC: BW we have terrain bonuses for units, for example standing behind a tree or being on higher ground while shot from lower. Are you keeping or maybe even improving such this feature and what happens with large units that are more massive (Thor) or simply larger (Colossus) than a tree or even a cliff? (broodwar.de)
Terrain bonuses are no longer present in StarCraft II. Instead, line of sight will be vastly more important. For instance, units firing from a higher ground will not be able to be seen by ground units without line of sight vision, and thus the ground units will not be able to fire back.
7. If a Zerg player corrupts a Dropship/Medivac, will they get control of the units inside? - Luddite (teamliquid.net)
No, the unit's contents will be destroyed when it becomes corrupted.
---End of Transmission---
Karune - RTS Community Manager
Blizzard Entertainment
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Wednesday 11th 2008f June 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Dustin Browder Talks about Starcraft 2 Zerg on BlizzCast 3 |
Dustin Browder talks about the Zerg with Karune in the latest BlizzCast episode 3, so make sure to download the podcast or read the transcript here.
Karune: So with the Queen unit being one of the new units that have been changed significantly from StarCraft one, could you tell us a little bit about where you are going with the Queen and how that has changed?
Dustin Browder: Sure, so the queen is a unit that the team wanted to do ever since original StarCraft. They have been talking about it for years and years and they really wanted to make more out of that unit. They felt that the original Queen didn’t really meet the name “Queen.” It didn’t really say this is the leader and creator of the Swarm in a lot of ways. And obviously, in the story evolved, the Queen of Blades became a big part of the experience and the side changed a bit, but the team still wanted to explore this idea of a classic ‘insect-like’ Queen that rules over her whole hive. So that was the original creative idea for the Queen, to see if we could create that kind of unit. It felt like it fit the kit for the race pretty well, but could we find some cool mechanics to make it work. Right now with the Queen, she is sort of a mobile buff that you can move around your base that you apply it to your base defenses making your base defenses stronger, better, possible, wherever she goes. So, she has got a lot of gameplay to her right now in the sense that she is pretty mobile and can get to where she needs to be, but she can only be at one place at once.
So you got to kind of chose what is the most important place for her to be right at that moment and I suppose more interestingly, from the enemy’s point of view, the Queen can be killed. So, enemy players will often be hunting for the Queen, to remove the threat of this defensive buff, before they invade the base, which really makes for some interesting cat and mouse gameplay, between enemy players hunting for the Queen, and the Queen trying to find a good place in her base to hide out while she is preparing for the inevitable enemy attack. So it feels like the queen as the owner of the hive and master of that space is fitting pretty well to the story idea of a Queen. We’ll see what people think when people get a chance to play with it in beta, and obviously we have more testing to do internally before we’re even ready for that step.
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Thursday 05th 2008f June 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Kerrigan @ Irvine, CA on June 21 |
Our favorite voice actress, Glynnis Talken (Starcraft's Sarah Kerrigan/Medic & Diablo's Rogue/Kashya) will make a public appearance and booksigning on June 21st. She will be at the:
Irish Fair and Music Festival
Irvine Meadows Fairground
8800 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, California 92618
Drop by the Tea & Sympathy booth
For ticket pricing to enter the event's premises go here.
View a Google Map
Read below Glynnis (Sarah McKerrigan)'s June Newsletter:
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Tuesday 03rd 2008f June 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| More Starcraft & Warcraft Manga Updates |
More juice for your craving! Below are the writers and artists involved in the StarCraft Anthology (StarCraft: Frontline) and WarCraft Anthology (WarCraft: Legends).
Warcraft: Legends vol. 1
"Fallen"
Story by Richard A. Knaak
Art by Jae-Hwan Kim
"The Journey"
Story by Troy Lewter and Mike Wellman
Art by Mi-Young No
"How to Win Friends"
Story by Dan Jolley
Art by Carlos Olivares
"An Honest Trade"
Story by Troy Lewter'
Art by Nam Kim
StarCraft: Frontline vol. 1
"Why We Fight"
Story by Josh Elder
Art by Ramanda Karmaga
"Thundergod"
Story by Richard A. Knaak
Art by Naohiro Washio
"Weapon of War"
Story by Paul Benjamin and Dave Shramek
Art by Hector Sevilla
"Heavy Armor, pt. 1"
Story by Simon Furman
Art by Jesse Elliott
Also, Warcraft: Legends will have a bonus preview of "Why We Fight" and StarCraft: Frontline will have a bonus preview of "The Journey."
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Thursday 29th 2008f May 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| StarCraft: Frontline & WarCraft: Legends Front Covers |
You guys will love this! Many thanks to Richard A. Knaak, Tokyopop and Blizzard Entertainment for this exclusive gift or treat to all Warcraft and Starcraft fans. Below you can view high-resolution images of the front covers for StarCraft Anthology manga (Starcraft: Frontline) and the WarCraft Anthology manga (Warcraft: Legends). Both Tokyopop mangas will hit bookstores on August 1, 2008. Stay tuned to Blizzplanet for more updates. I will contact Tokyopop to get interior image previews of both mangas.
Below are links to recent details of both mangas. There you will find links to submiting your questions. I will forward them to Knaak and Tokyopop Editors. A few lucky fans who submit questions will get a free copy of the manga.
Further details:
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Thursday 29th 2008f May 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Starcraft: Brood War Entropy II v1.0 Custom AI |
Entropy sends heads up of his latest Starcraft: Brood War custom AI. You may need to register to the forum to download the AI file. Download it, test it, and offer your feedback.
Entropy Ai is a unique mod that utilizes PYAI's external jump calls to allow the computer to mix-match and randomly pick from a small database featuring the best non-cheating BWAI scripts. This means the Ai receives NO money whatsoever. While we like to think this Ai is significantly stronger than the default Blizzard scripts, don't expect some gosu computer to rock your world especially if you play this 1v1. It just isn't going to happen. Some scripts are designed to be extremely aggressive while others may quick expand or even tech up before doing anything. As such, the Ai will work best as a team drawing support from each other.
Have fun and thnx to all that had enough courage to build a script without the use of the give_money command.
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Thursday 29th 2008f May 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Starcraft 2 Q&A - Batch 39 |
As development for StarCraft II moves forward, so is the Map Editor for StarCraft II. We have no doubt that there will be countless awesome mods created for StarCraft II, so we want to make sure your Map Editor questions are definitely not left out of the Q&As. Keep the questions pouring in!
Also, in Batch 38, it was mentioned that Sunken and Spore colonies could move and plant off of Creep while also taking damage when not on Creep. To update, Zerg defenses will not be able to plant off of Creep.
Chat with Devs: Batch 39 focuses on the development of StarCraft IIs Map Editor and I got a chance to chat with our Map Editor Designer, Brett Wood. Brett was able to answer quite a few of our community map editors below. Furthermore, he wanted to also add that the StarCraft II Map Editor will improve upon the World Editor from Warcraft III in every way, with several new features such as having all abilities in the game being data driven. Brett Wood elaborates here on what it means for all data in the game to be data driven:
[Brett Wood] Lets say you have a cool idea for an implosion type of ability that will rapidly shrink down a targeting unit, then cause an energy shockwave that damages all nearby units within a certain area. Since there is no standard ability with a shrink-down effect, in Warcraft III youd have to resort to some fancy trigger work to achieve this effect. In StarCraft II, this kind of effect can be set up completely in the data files, and you could make the entire ability without having to use any triggers or scripting at all. Generally speaking, setting up abilities and effects will be easier through data customization than using triggers, although there will definitely be a learning curve there as well.
As always, feel free to give the Dev Team and I a w00t if you are enjoying the Q&As!
---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 39: Map Maker Series---
1. Will the new map editor support placing of traps, doors, and other things commonly referred to as doodads in unorthodox situations? (ie doors, auto guns, wall traps in a jungle map)
Yes, any object defined in the data files can be placed on the map, regardless of which tileset it is normally associated with.
2. Will the new map editor support extended upgrade values? (ie, 30 upgrades)
Yes, upgrades are arbitrarily extendable, as they were in Warcraft III. In addition, upgrades will now be downgradeable via triggers as well (by using a negative value), which was a very common request in Warcraft III.
3. Will the new editor still support all the other ideas currently implemented in StarEdit?
This question is a bit vague. As far as I know, everything the original StarCraft could do, StarCraft II can do.
4. What additional features will the new editor have?
How much time have you got? Very broadly speaking, the biggest improvements over Warcraft III will be found in the data editor, where literally every game database file is exposed for modification, and in the trigger dditor, which now features the ability to define custom functions and libraries. That said, virtually every aspect of the editor has at least some improvements over Warcraft III/StarCraft.
5. Do you plan to take ideas from third party programs and update the editor frequently to meet the demands of the map making community?
Absolutely. We are very much committed to supporting the map/mod community as much as possible, and well be keeping an eye on the forums and updating the editor as often as we can to incorporate new suggestions.
6. Will be a tool to transfer WC3 models to SC2? (battle.net) -Ragnarok_X
No, there will not be, as StarCraft II is built with a totally new engine.
7. Given that we know the Roach regenerates faster than normal, will players be able to change the regeneration rates for Zerg units? (battle.net) DrakeClawfang
Yes, all regeneration rates can be easily changed.
8. Will players be able to give units Protoss shields or Zerg regeneration that don't normally have them? ie, a regenerating Zealot, a Ghost with shields, etc. (battle.net) DrakeClawfang
Yes, you could create a Roach-Zealot hybrid if you would like. Many passive abilities can be interchanged similarly.
--End of Transmission---
Karune - RTS Community Manager
Blizzard Entertainment
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Wednesday 28th 2008f May 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Starcraft: Frontline Manga by Tokyopop |
Richard A. Knaak sends heads up that Tokyopop has updated its store section with details of the manga Starcraft: Frontline Volume 1 -- which contains four unique Starcraft Adventures:
StarCraft: Frontline Volume 1
The brutal, dark and fascinating world of StarCraft comes alive in this collection of never-before-seen thrilling adventures.
Thundergod
In a story by Richard Knaak, a Thor driver's ego leads him and two partners to try to pull off a heist in the middle of a war zone.
Heavy Armor
A Viking pilot must battle his mentor--for the lives of an entire colony. Dogfight/mecha combat w/ a psychological/strategic edge.
Weapon of War
A psionic six-year-old boy is at the center of a conflict between a Terran mining colony and the Zerg--and the Marines and miners must decide whether to shelter the boy, kill him, or use him against their attackers.
Why We Fight
In this profoundly moving introduction to the StarCraft universe, the three species in StarCraft are examined--and what drives their war for survival will shock and awe.
MSRP: $10.99
PAGES: 192
ISBN: 1-4278-0721-3
EAN: 978-1-4278-0721-2
AVAILABLE: 08.01.2008
If you have questions about any of the four StarCraft adventure stories within volume one, feel free to submit them at our Starcraft forum thread. I will forward your questions to Richard A. Knaak and Tim Beedle (Tokyopop Editor).
Fans who submit good questions will be automatically drawn into a raffle to win a free Starcraft manga courtesy of Tokyopop.
For future reference, you may find these details on our Starcraft Pocketbook Excerpts section.
Check out Blizzplanet's New York Comic Con Coverage for more details.
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Tuesday 27th 2008f May 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Starcraft 2 - The Baneling Update at Official Site |
The Starcraft 2 Europe site has been updated. The US version will follow shortly. In this new update the Baneling has been added to the Zerg Section with lore, screenshots, video and animations. The Baneling artwork was revamped recently, so go take a look at the detailed baneling model. You really gotta watch the Baneling's idle animation ... it is gorgeous!
The baneling is a creature so bloated with fluid-filled sacs that it can barely walk; instead, it moves itself by tucking into a tight ball and rolling. However, this ungainly appearance belies the fact that the baneling is an extremely dangerous organism, one of several new zerg specialists recently seen on the battlefield. When a baneling gets close enough to an enemy, the creature triggers a reaction within its volatile chemical payload that causes it to explode with devastating force and shower the immediate surroundings with searing acid. The baneling is destroyed in the explosion, which is very likely to inflict a huge amount of damage.
These living bombs are highly effective against both structures and ground forces; in fact, a clutch of them is capable of wiping out a group of vehicles and infantry in the blink of an eye. The banelings' lethality is further enhanced by the zerg predilection for burrowing. An apparently safe area can soon turn into a deathtrap as these monstrosities emerge and roll into the midst of their foes, giving them virtually no time to react.
At first the baneling was identified as an unstable zerg mutation of an unspecified genus. Subsequent observations have revealed it to be a morph of the zergling, the most numerous zerg subtype. Zerglings have been seen entering a brief chrysalis phase before emerging in their new form. This alarming development has demonstrated the advanced ability of the zerg queens to manipulate their offspring. Although the baneling is chemically volatile and unstable enough to explode at any time, the queens have engineered a morph that can contain its energies until just the right moment. By creating the baneling out of the most basic of zerg fighters, the queens have also ensured that an inexhaustible supply of raw materials is available for the task.
Terran commanders now train their troops to watch for these abominations. In the meantime, scientists are desperately trying to develop chemical rounds that will cause banelings to detonate before they reach terran lines.
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Saturday 24th 2008f May 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
| Starcraft 2 Tidbits |
Turtling in Starcraft II will be somewhat possible for the Terran race, but more difficult for other races than in the original Starcraft. This is what Karune reported on the Battle.net forums:
Karune: "Overall, 'turtling' is a bit harder in StarCraft II since every race has new ways to keep them mobile. Terrans will likely have more Dropships than before, since they double up as medics. Zerg has the Nydus Worm, allowing whole armies to be transported to a set location. Lastly, Protoss has 'Warp-In' along with the newest version of the Mothership, which is slower, more hardy (in terms of hit points), and allows for the player to teleport a whole army to its location.
Nonetheless, looking at the three races, Terrans are still relatively the best for a 'turtling' strategy. In the current build, Terran Siege Tanks's AoE (Area of Effect) attack have 13 range (more than twice the range of a Marine) against ground units, and Thors' AoE attack have 10 range. Getting an army of both is quite expensive- though if you can build the momentum, it is quite difficult to stop this ranged combination.
- Units under Dark Swarm do not take damage from Snipe in the current build of the game. (Source)
- Creep damage does not currently stack. At the moment, creep does 3 damage per second to an enemy structure. The rate of damage is of course subject to further balance. Creep will not do damage to enemy Zerg buildings. (Source)
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Friday 23rd 2008f May 2008 |
Posted by Medievaldragon |
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