Tearin' Up the Terrans

Written by icephantom02  | Tuesday, 23 September 2008 23:00

News - StarCraft II

Because BlizzCon 08 is rapidly approaching we seem to be suffering from a "calm before the storm" that really looks more like a drought of information.  However, Karune broke this dry spell recently by answering some questions that focus notable attention to the Terran units.



The Jackal, the game's most recent Firebat replacement, has recieved some criticism due to its attack and its name. Karune replies to inquiries as to what weapon it does use:

The Jackal, now known as the Hellion, only has the flamethrower weapon. In previous versions, there was a railgun hover vehicle, but that will no longer be in multiplayer.

The Hellion is currently one of the best units for "micro" since it is faster than all other units in its tier, and also does splash damage in the form of a line with the flamethrower.

The Viking, which has changed many times in the multiple builds of the game, has always inspired discussion due to confusion regarding as to where it is built and what upgrades it benefits from. Karune clarifies this for us:

Currently, the Viking is only benefiting from air armor and weapon upgrades, since it is built from the Starport. These upgrades affect the Viking in both air and ground mode.

The Medivac is a unit that has been the target of harsh criticism since the beginning. Some do not like the fact that it replaces the Medic and some don't like it based on it's design concept. We recently received a bit more clarification regarding its healing abilities - it looks as though they're really trying to refine and define each unit and its role.

The Medivac currently only heals units outside of it. If it healed units inside, it could become quite OP against units unable to hit air.

One of the most crucial Terran advantages StarCraft vanilla was its multiple and cost-effective detection abilities. StarCraft II's reimagining of that power has undergone some recent changes as well:

Nomads, also now known as the Vulkan, is still a detector. Actually, it is probably the most powerful mobile detector in the game, considering it can also rapidly deploy a medley of Terran defenses used to both support an attack or raid the enemy.

Also, Comsat costs 50 energy, with the max energy of the Command Center set at 200.

One of the questions that broke the string of Terran questions is concerns a recent Discussion of the Month topic: the Baneling:

In the latest build, they [Banelings] actually get bonus damage against light units, and thus are extremely effective against Zealots and Marines (especially attacking from burrowed).

Karune also commented on how the community is impacting the development but noted that in the end - we aren't building the game - they are:

The Dev Team always has an open ear to constructive feedback which makes sense, but at the same time, they are the best team suited to make StarCraft II, and have done an excellent job already.

At the end of the day, they will create the best StarCraft II experience for all of you, with inspirations from various areas, including some from community feedback as well.

I would definitely not be worried about 'complaints' here overpowering the actual design process of the game though.

StarCraft2Forum has released an editorial that focuses on the Terran race in incredible detail. Although there isn't any information that is necessarily new to the community, the fantastic article does point out some of the more interesting insights from the community as a whole:

When asked to rate the units and mechanics of the Terran on a scale of one to five, forum members gave an average rating of 3. Only one member gave the Terran a score of five on the scale and one of the members who has had a chance to play recent builds of Starcraft 2 gave a rating of 1 showing that the members of Starcraft2forums.org aren't as happy with the Terran as they were with the Protoss, despite the flaws noted for that race, and that playing the game has not only don nothing to improve that outlook, it may have actively harmed it.

The majority of the article focuses on the points of why the Terran's are the lowest rated in the game-the units and we highly recommend that you take a look at it and leave some feedback while you wait for some new StarCraft II news. Even though there isn't much going on lately - BlizzCon is coming up pretty fast and SC:L is poised to deliver some amazing coverage - we have five staff members and two guests that will be providing analysis, interviews, floor coverage, and much more. Keep your browser set to SC:L as we announce our plans for our BlizzCon coverage in the near future.

Sources:
Battle.net - Karune: Question about the Jackal
Battle.net - Karune: Viking Question
Battle.net - Karune: do comsats still require much energy?
Battle.net - What happened with the marines and shields?
Battle.net - banelings are not effective (stats)
Battle.net - Karune, are the races becoming too much the..
StarCraft2Forum Article

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