Planets we should explore in HotS

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/to...44678?page=1#2

There are certain planets/tilesets that are complete or almost complete, that could and should be used in SC2, because else it would be a shame.

Braxis, Shiloh, Moria & Umoja are all shown to have planet art and loading screens, whereas Albion, Helios and Niflheim had seemingly complete tilesets in the alpha/beta or even the final game (I'm looking at you, Niflheim).

Other worlds that could prove interesting to visit are, aside from the ones listed so far, I think, would be Dylar IV (mainly the Dylarian Shipyards), Abaddon, Lorcadia, Zerus, Nemaka, Pegasus and Bhekar Ro.

Some of those worlds are pointless though. Pegasus' plot has come and gone, and same with Bhekar Ro. Zerus is just too far away.

I guess I'm more interested in what you could do on a planet than what the tileset looks like, but some fit both categories, namely Lorcadia and Dylar IV. I'd also like to see Umoja, Moria (for real) and Braxis Alpha (the latter, if only to find out what distinguishes it from Braxis).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kimera757

Some of those worlds are pointless though. Pegasus' plot has come and gone, and same with Bhekar Ro. Zerus is just too far away.

I guess I'm more interested in what you could do on a planet than what the tileset looks like, but some fit both categories, namely Lorcadia and Dylar IV. I'd also like to see Umoja, Moria (for real) and Braxis Alpha (the latter, if only to find out what distinguishes it from Braxis).

---

Isn't Braxis a moon, and Braxis Alpha the world which it is rotating around? There's also a Dominion training space platform in orbit around Braxis Alpha.
And not many of those worlds I put in there because of tileset reasons. Niflheim was meant to be a Protoss ice world, Zerus could prove interesting on the Zerg's origins, Pegasus I guess could be taken out, Nemaka seemed to have an interesting plot centered around that wild Xel'Naga temple, Shiloh is the home world of Raynor and under Dominion military "quarantine" to prevent any rebellion (could prove interesting to explore that, perhaps if Raynor paid a visit?), Bhekar Ro seems like it could potentially hold an interesting mining mechanic, Lorcadia was a Protoss world with apparently important Xel'Naga relics, Abbadon had UED remnants hiding on it, Dylar IV and its shipyards are an important part of the Dominion's armada, Helios was a home to much humanitarian aid from the Dominion (I wonder why?) and held interesting cultural aspects, Umoja & Moria are key Terran worlds and it would certainly be interesting to visit those factions' politics, characters, philosophies, technology, military and even their respective psionic programs. I could go on like this...

But if I had to choose THREE worlds out of all these, it would just HAVE to be Dylar IV, Umoja & Moria. They hold incredibly important aspects of the Terran lore, and we really haven't explored them in WoL at all; Which is a HUGE shame, and that just baffles me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alex06

Isn't Braxis a moon, and Braxis Alpha the world which it is rotating around? There's also a Dominion training space platform in orbit around Braxis Alpha.

---

Braxis isn't a moon, but a planet, according to the official page on it. Info on Braxis Alpha is extremely limited; I don't think I even heard the word mentioned from Blizzard since 2007.

Maybe Braxis Alpha is a moon, I dunno. But I think the artwork had it with a ring around it, so more likely it's another planet in the same system.

Helios was supposed to appear in StarCraft: Ghost (as a multiplayer map) where the three races fought over a khaydarin crystal.

Abaddon didn't just have UED elements, it also had at least some of the Koprulu Liberation Front. Here's hoping it makes an appearance in the novel. As well as Lorcadia, that would be awesome. :)

I have a question

Do we know if Deadman's Port from WoL (Mira Han mission I think?) is the same place as Dead Man's Rock from the Dark Templar trilogy? I really liked the idea of a place where pirates and mercenaries all hung out, and would really like to explore a place like that.

I thought in WoL there'd be missions outside the Hyperion where Jim could set foot and do some down-and-dirty missions, since Dead Man's Rock seemed like an ideal hub for the Raiders to look for recruits. I mean more than just the one Mira Han mission, there could have been some off-world NPC interaction, like visiting other bars or taverns and seeing the locale.

Deadman's Port is a settlement on Dead Man's Rock-at the least it was confirmed in Devils' Due, though I think WoL indirectly lists it as such as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Triceron

I have a question

Do we know if Deadman's Port from WoL (Mira Han mission I think?) is the same place as Dead Man's Rock from the Dark Templar trilogy? I really liked the idea of a place where pirates and mercenaries all hung out, and would really like to explore a place like that.

---

Yes.

Quote:

---

I thought in WoL there'd be missions outside the Hyperion where Jim could set foot and do some down-and-dirty missions, since Dead Man's Rock seemed like an ideal hub for the Raiders to look for recruits. I mean more than just the one Mira Han mission, there could have been some off-world NPC interaction, like visiting other bars or taverns and seeing the locale.

---

I hope Blizzard does extra subcampaigns like Enslavers. They could expand on the more popular mission branches, too.

I'm wondering what happened to Jotun. In an old Blizzcon demo an artifact was stored there. Does it even exist in SC canon anymore?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Drake Clawfang

I'm wondering what happened to Jotun. In an old Blizzcon demo an artifact was stored there. Does it even exist in SC canon anymore?

---

Yes, it even appeared in the comics.

As a planet, it was kind of boring (it doesn't seem like it could be a Tal'darim world in the comic), but a mobile uranium mine named Revelation was really interesting.

I wonder if it's a Dominion planet, or independent the way Dead Man's Rock is.

Should go back to the original Korhal (The nuked planet). SC2 had an overload on floral planets mixed in with the shiny/blue stoney protoss places...and then char.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hyde

Should go back to the original Korhal (The nuked planet). SC2 had an overload on floral planets mixed in with the shiny/blue stoney protoss places...and then char.

---

We did go back to Korhal - Media Blitz.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Drake Clawfang

We did go back to Korhal - Media Blitz.

---

I think he meant the nuked out regions of it. I like the idea that not all of Korhal has been terraformed; there'd be large swathes of wasteland, but the main city and similar places would be more habitable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Muspelli

I think he meant the nuked out regions of it. I like the idea that not all of Korhal has been terraformed; there'd be large swathes of wasteland, but the main city and similar places would be more habitable.

---

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that's not gonna happen, not only out of pure laziness, but out of lore excuses as well: Entire fortunes were utilized on rebuilding the planet.

Meaning: Because Blizzard doesn't wanna waste time making deserts, Korhal > Coruscant.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DeltaCadimus

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that's not gonna happen, not only out of pure laziness, but out of lore excuses as well: Entire fortunes were utilized on rebuilding the planet.

Meaning: Because Blizzard doesn't wanna waste time making deserts, Korhal > Coruscant.

---

Blizzard already made a desert tileset and it would be incredibly easy to adjust the lighting for it to make it unique to korhal.

I can certainly picture Kerrigan attacking a secret Dominion base in the desert for a piece of technology, or to retrieve an important person for interrogation/infestation.

But Blizzard has several planets to hit. What do you bet they'll hit Korhal? It might be the only planet with two tilesets then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kimera757

I can certainly picture Kerrigan attacking a secret Dominion base in the desert for a piece of technology, or to retrieve an important person for interrogation/infestation.

But Blizzard has several planets to hit. What do you bet they'll hit Korhal? It might be the only planet with two tilesets then.

---

Each planet has more than 1 mission; The Char tileset in HotS' demonstration is not the same as the WoL one. It seems to be a swampy area of Char, and we've seen concept art for a forested area of Char.

This hints (Just so we don't make the mistake of assuming something outright) at the possibility of different tilesets for different missions on the same planet, so we may very well see a tileset for a Korhalian desert. Look at the loading screen for Korhal and you will see that there are parts where the huge "city" doesn't go...So there may still be deserts. In fact, I'm sure there still are, seeing as how Earth doesn't just have cities and temperate climate everywhere.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alex06

Each planet has more than 1 mission; The Char tileset in HotS' demonstration is not the same as the WoL one. It seems to be a swampy area of Char, and we've seen concept art for a forested area of Char.

---

That wasn't a swampy area, it was a cave the Zerg made swampy with their acid and toxins to make it a breeding ground. Not to mention the volcanic planet itself is far harsh to sustain a forest, so it's surely another planet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DeltaCadimus

That wasn't a swampy area, it was a cave the Zerg made swampy with their acid and toxins to make it a breeding ground. Not to mention the volcanic planet itself is far harsh to sustain a forest, so it's surely another planet.

---

Not by what Blizzard appears to be saying, though.
And anyways, whether it's a cave or swampy area, it's still a different tileset than the original Char one, but still on Char. Keep in mind that Char caves look more like that one WoL mission with all the Heroes in Char's caverns, and that Zerg interiors are like the one in the final cinematic, so I could very well be right. Char supports life (Though Humans can't survive on Char without some kind of cooling system, and breathing the air is not suggested due to high concentrations of ash and Zerg spores) and it's been stated before in the lore that there is a swampy and/or forested area on Char. Heck, there are concepts for them, labeled as "Char", and the employees have been talking about a "Forest on Char".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DeltaCadimus

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that's not gonna happen, not only out of pure laziness, but out of lore excuses as well: Entire fortunes were utilized on rebuilding the planet.

Meaning: Because Blizzard doesn't wanna waste time making deserts, Korhal > Coruscant.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SC2.com Korhal

Vast fortunes have been lavished on the cleanup and rebuilding of Korhal IV, although portions of the irradiated desert have been left untouched in honor of those who died. The capital city of Augustgrad – named in honor of Arcturus’s grandfather Augustus – is crowned by Mengsk’s own imperial palace.

---

I'm sure there's other sources that similarly list parts of Korhal as retaining the whole "wasteland theme" but I'm feeling lazy at the moment.

What I'm more interested in is an actual, complete map of the Koprulu Sector - not just the major planets, but the minor ones too, along with their spatial relationship with each other. Though I'm sure it would soon become obsolete, what with Blizz's penchant for random retcons, but it would be a nice addition.

I think, long ago, Blizzard said they'd have a starmap like that for HotS, since Kerrigan is planning on conquest, something Raynor couldn't do.

I'd also like to see a form of Star Map... perhaps they'll have one of the sector in some form of Zergified vision pool (or holographic projector, as we know they can have those), and there will just be Zergish explanations of why certain planets could be useful for conquest and why others would be lesser priority targets.