StarCraft II Q&A Batch 51

Karune just updated his post on Battle.net with batch 51 of the Q&As.

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---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 51 ---

1. Add an option in the menu to disable the windows key, and same thing goes for ALT-TAB?
And add an EASY way to squelch your opponent. When their name “IllIIlIIlIIlI​IlllI” (L & i), it's a little difficult.

While we are not considering disabling the windows key and Alt+Tab, we are looking into the naming policy to prevent problems like the one you described.

2. StarCraft 2's terrain properties such as Xel'Naga towers, destroyable barriers and Brush have a significant effect on gameplay and appear to create specific points of interest/advantage on the map. Are there plans to introduce additional terrain buffs/effect to the battlefield?

The current terrain features are not finalized. We still have these three map features in the game and we plan to keep them during the beta, but it is always possible to add more features if we find something that’s balanced and encourages exciting game play.

3. Since there are/were plans to integrate voice communications into multiplayer, will StarCraft 2 replays be able to include Audio, as well as chat?

Replay files do not include audio. However you will be able to see all text chats while you are watching replay.

4. You have talked a bit about replay functions lately and since patches will come up definitely former replays won’t work if the system sticks with SC1 or W3. Do you plan on making changes here so that players can view older replays ever after patches occur?

Yes, even as the game gets patched, you will be able to watch replays of matches played on older versions.

5. The interface we see in Battle Reports – is this interface available for Observers during a live game (in real time), or only while viewing replays, or both?

The interface you’ve seen in Battle Reports will be available in observer mode as well as in replays during beta.

6. StarCraft II is a package consisting of single player/campaign, multiplayer (+replay viewer), map editor and Battle.net. All four are complex and without a doubt require testing and patching. Has it been decided which of the above components are planned to be included in public beta testing?

You can have multiplayer game access through Battle.net during the beta and you can watch the replays as well. There will also be access to the Map Editor during the beta process but not necessarily from the start. Single player campaign will not be included in the beta.

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http://sclegacy.com/features/break.png

Karune posted up some new death animations. Including in the video are the various deaths of Hydralisks, Roaches, Zerglings and the new Lurker model!

Directly from the Battle.net forums:

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"Chat with Devs: Between adding new unit models and sliming up the zerg buildings, the StarCraft II art team has also spent some time on some little details that make the game come alive, such as new unit death animations. Featured below, we have a protoss carrier being blown out of the sky by a squad of terran marines, as well as several zerg units falling to their fates.
http://us.starcraft2.com/features/mi...animations.xml

StarCraft II Q&A Batch 51 (to be updated tomorrow morning, few last minute questions added in regards to beta)"

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Beta is definitly getting closer!

Sources:
Battle.net StarCraft II Forums
StarCraft2.com

Not bad, not bad at all! I have to admit, I like the death animations, and the new model is better than the last.

And yes to Zerg Reaver.

Something's... "Warcraftish" about the blood. I love the animations, but the blood doesn't feel right.

Too much "mist" I suppose, and not enough blood ending up on the ground afterwards. The texture of the units body parts would be best if it were changed to a bloody texture using the same texture-swap system they're using for the Hydralisk Char-ing (hardy har har) animation. Right now they're just clean limbs falling on the ground.

The Lurker is huge, almost old Ultralisk size.

Love the progress though!

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Originally Posted by Edfishy

Something's... "Warcraftish" about the blood. I love the animations, but the blood doesn't feel right.

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weird, I thought the opposite. Marines explode in bloodbath even more than they did in SC 1 without talking about the Hydralisk death which is very gore. The body/tail that keeps moving with this pulsing blood fountain, that is quiet violent, much more than SC/WC3. And blood color is looking quiet real too, unlike the near pink one from WC3.

EDIT: while rewatching it, Marines do not explode but still spread alot of blood around.

But I want to point out how ugly Zerglings move! loll.. I don't like the bouncing animation. I just feel like it will be so easy to kite them ahah

Blood, Flames and Death- very me. Me like. :)
You know, the only time that carrier model looked beautiful is when it was exploding just now- great effect, just wish the model was slightly different. I like these death animations a lot more then any warcraft3 one that’s for sure, and that can only be a good sign. Plus the corpses don’t linger for too long either.

Does it bother anyone else how ridiculous the Hydralisk's spine attack looks shooting up in a high arc, and then zooming down at it's target? They should be bullet-like and fire straight at the target, not be launched up like a mortar..


X :cool:

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Originally Posted by XSOLDIER

Does it bother anyone else how ridiculous the Hydralisk's spine attack looks shooting up in a high arc, and then zooming down at it's target? They should be bullet-like and fire straight at the target, not be launched up like a mortar..

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Yeah i agree, but still it isnt too bad ;)

Think of them like arrows, not bullets.

ya but acording to lore they are shot at a so high speed, that they can move through any material even neo-steel and utralisk armor (even harder than neo-steel)

If we respect this, then an arc would mean they are not shot at "that" high speed rather need inclination to reach its trarget and wouldn't be able to do the damage it makes.

Id imagine that they did that to the hydra spines so that if they are attacking an air unit it doesnt look strange

I can only imagine that they have the attack animation and then the projectile as a separate animation that goes out and then zooms towards the enemy

if they shot it out straight then if it were to go for an air unit it would go straight then shoot up towards it. Instead of it just continuing upwards as it would be now

Sure they could just change it and make it different depending on if it was targeting a ground or air unit.. but hey... thats perfection.. this isnt valve we're talking about :P

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Originally Posted by XSOLDIER

Does it bother anyone else how ridiculous the Hydralisk's spine attack looks shooting up in a high arc, and then zooming down at it's target? They should be bullet-like and fire straight at the target, not be launched up like a mortar..


X :cool:

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Agreed. looks somewhat ugly.

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Originally Posted by The_Blade

ya but acording to lore they are shot at a so high speed, that they can move through any material even neo-steel and utralisk armor (even harder than neo-steel)

If we respect this, then an arc would mean they are not shot at "that" high speed rather need inclination to reach its trarget and wouldn't be able to do the damage it makes.

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In SC1 there was no projectile anim, just hit impact animation, the same
for marine bullets, so it looked like marine and hydra projectiles were moving
at hell speed like. I personally liked that.(hydra only spit something green
that seemed to travel instantaneously.)

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Originally Posted by RainbowToeSocks

Id imagine that they did that to the hydra spines so that if they are attacking an air unit it doesnt look strange

I can only imagine that they have the attack animation and then the projectile as a separate animation that goes out and then zooms towards the enemy

if they shot it out straight then if it were to go for an air unit it would go straight then shoot up towards it. Instead of it just continuing upwards as it would be now

Sure they could just change it and make it different depending on if it was targeting a ground or air unit.. but hey... thats perfection.. this isnt valve we're talking about :P

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Besides of all that, I've seen that they only shoot a pair of spines, while in SC1 you could see many spines impact the foe! I do hope they fix that animation.

Yep the spines of the hydra looked weird. i hope when hydras attack air units, they dont shoot higher and ark back down. lol. omg gravity is so strong that those spines pull back down to hit targets. I wonder if its because in starcraft there wasnt any.. gravity but in starcraft 2 there is..you know theres trees in some maps..

Editor in Beta? Now THAT's what I'm talking about.

Interesting to note that they're definitely planning to include new features during the beta process ,and glad that the addition of the map editor turned out to be true.
If they would only post a date for the beta.

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Yes, even as the game gets patched, you will be able to watch replays of matches played on older versions.

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I am so happy about this. :)

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4. You have talked a bit about replay functions lately and since patches will come up definitely former replays won’t work if the system sticks with SC1 or W3. Do you plan on making changes here so that players can view older replays ever after patches occur?

Yes, even as the game gets patched, you will be able to watch replays of matches played on older versions.

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I wonder if the reverse will be true; you've just installed version 1.0 of the game on your computer, you have a v1.05 replay saved on your computer from before and your internet connection is down so you can't upgrade your game. Hopefully you'd still be able to watch the replay.

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I wonder if the reverse will be true; you've just installed version 1.0 of the game on your computer, you have a v1.05 replay saved on your computer from before and your internet connection is down so you can't upgrade your game. Hopefully you'd still be able to watch the replay.

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No, that's not how it will work. It's not magical forwards compatibility (being compatible with something that doesn't exist). What they will do is keep the old code for the AI (if they update it in patches) in the game, and switch based on the game's version.

Ah, the Q&A was updated. The most interesting bit I saw was that of the being able to use multiplayer and map editors during the beta. I sure hope I get in! :D

Jeez, Q&As don't really provide anything of value anymore.

I'm just happy about the replay feature not having to worry about current patch and allows players to watch games from the release to whatever current date.

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Originally Posted by Perfecttear

If they would only post a date for the beta.

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Who cares of a date if you have it?! I want it now! :D

Am I the only one who is excited like a kid just like I was when SC2 was announced?

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

No, that's not how it will work. It's not magical forwards compatibility (being compatible with something that doesn't exist). What they will do is keep the old code for the AI (if they update it in patches) in the game, and switch based on the game's version.

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As long as it's just numbers (damage, HP, mineral cost etc) getting updated, there's no reason they couldn't make it work both ways.

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Am I the only one who is excited like a kid just like I was when SC2 was announced?

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I was, but it died. But on the eve of SC2’s release, I’m sure it’ll come rushing back again. :p

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As long as it's just numbers (damage, HP, mineral cost etc) getting updated, there's no reason they couldn't make it work both ways.

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Yes, but that was true for SC1/WC3. Because replays rely on the AI working the same at the time the replay is replayed as it did when the replay was created, it is AI changes that created incompatibilities in replays. There were plenty of versions of SC1 patching that didn't make replays unviewable, but there were some that did. Those that did changed the AI.

Disappointing Q&A as expected.

With the way Blizzard releases information, I may as well quit fantasizing about the beta being released any time soon.

I want to see the deaths caused by a nuke :D

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Originally Posted by XSOLDIER

Does it bother anyone else how ridiculous the Hydralisk's spine attack looks shooting up in a high arc, and then zooming down at it's target? They should be bullet-like and fire straight at the target, not be launched up like a mortar..

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Now that you mention it...YES. That animation looks really ridiculous, in my opinion. I really hope they'll change that. Bullet-like would be excellent, in my opinion.

Part of the reason it looks so ridiculous is that it's clearly exaggerating the effects of gravity. The spines are descending at a speed way too fast to be anything remotely resembling Earth gravity, and while we're obviously not necessarily dealing with planets of mass equal to ours, it's probably reasonable to aim for something in that general vicinity. Better yet, though, just make the animations uncurved and avoid that problem altogether!

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Bullet-like would be excellent, in my opinion.

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Yes, because a Hydralisk throwing a bullet makes much more sense...

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Part of the reason it looks so ridiculous is that it's clearly exaggerating the effects of gravity.

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You could say the same thing about arrows in any RTS game except maybe the Total War series.

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

Yes, because a Hydralisk throwing a bullet makes much more sense...

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Not throwing, but like in the original SC; shooting. There are tons of organisms that are able to shoot projectiles in nature, there is no reason why the Hydralisk should throw the projectiles instead of shooting them.
I always imagined the hydralisk having several small chambers with spines in it. Theese chambers then shoot the spines out kinda like how some sea creatures (Like theese) or plants (Like this) do that somehow reloads somehow after each discharge.

In a different note, if you search through the soundfiles in SC, you can find the original Hydralisk attack sound. It sounds much more like a spine attack rather than an acid spit attack.

with all the spins that hydralisk have shot out. If they are so strong to even neosteel. I was wonder how about a ship built on hydralisk needles. melt it down and build a ship that is indestructible to hydralisk. :) just a side thought.

I find the Hydras attack submissive and ridiculous. How are we supposed to believe a normal speed traveling arrow can penetrate armor ?

Bitches be crazy.

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Not throwing, but like in the original SC; shooting.

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It looked like throwing to me. It waved its arm and a projectile launched.

According to the lore on the Hydralisk, it uses muscles to fire spines. There is a sea creature (I don't recall the name) that can essentially "fire" a ram at near-bullet velocities with muscular movements. But the ram is still attacked to the body; it doesn't break off. So the question of "throwing" really doesn't limit the velocity of the attack.

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I find the Hydras attack submissive and ridiculous. How are we supposed to believe a normal speed traveling arrow can penetrate armor ?

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How can you believe that a Zergling can scratch armor with its arms? Or that the Glave Worm thrown from a Mutalisk can damage a BattleCrusier?

It's StarCraft; it doesn't have to make sense.

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melt it down

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Right, because Hydralisks naturally produce spines that will melt and be molded into different shapes, rather than what happens to most life-produced materials when you put fire to them (chemically react and become something else).

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

According to the lore on the Hydralisk, it uses muscles to fire spines. There is a sea creature (I don't recall the name) that can essentially "fire" a ram at near-bullet velocities with muscular movements. But the ram is still attacked to the body; it doesn't break off. So the question of "throwing" really doesn't limit the velocity of the attack.

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I'll give u a better example to use: the pistol shrimp.

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I find the Hydras attack submissive and ridiculous. How are we supposed to believe a normal speed traveling arrow can penetrate armor ?

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i can answer your question with other ones. How can Spiders produce a biological material that is much harder than any aliation of metals known by man kind? How can water and sand go through 10 inches of titanium?

and its starcraft nothing has to make sence in real life, it just needs a good lore

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How can Spiders produce a biological material that is much harder than any aliation of metals known by man kind?

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When did that happen? If you're talking about Hydralisk spines, they don't have to be particularly hard. Depleted uranium isn't very hard (comparatively) either; what it is is dense. F=ma, so greater mass means greater force, and greater density means greater mass per unit volume. And if you use it in an KE Penetrator, then you focus that force on a small area.

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How can water and sand go through 10 inches of titanium?

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Again, when did that happen? I don't recall the Zerg fighting with sand and water.

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

When did that happen? If you're talking about Hydralisk spines, they don't have to be particularly hard. Depleted uranium isn't very hard (comparatively) either; what it is is dense. F=ma, so greater mass means greater force, and greater density means greater mass per unit volume. And if you use it in an KE Penetrator, then you focus that force on a small area.



Again, when did that happen? I don't recall the Zerg fighting with sand and water.

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Spider silk is stronger than steel
Water and sand blasted with enough pressure will borough through steel.

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

Again, when did that happen? I don't recall the Zerg fighting with sand and water.

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Nicol I don't see why you're picking his points apart considering he's agreeing with you...

and also:

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Originally Posted by DemolitionSquid

Spider silk is stronger than steel
Water and sand blasted with enough pressure will borough through steel.

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Exactly, they happened in real life which means the Hydra spine thing is not that implausible.

...I mean, okay, it's still pretty implausible, but they're Zerg godammit, they can do stuff like that. They're monomolecular spines or something :D

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

It looked like throwing to me. It waved its arm and a projectile launched.

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Yeah in SCII, but in the original they shot spines. And that's what I want to go back to

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Yeah in SCII, but in the original they shot spines.

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No, they didn't. They waved their arms and little green bits hit enemy units.

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Originally Posted by Nicol Bolas

No, they didn't. They waved their arms and little green bits hit enemy units.

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Doesn't look like that for me, both the animation and lore in the SC manual imply that they shoot spines...

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Originally Posted by Equiliari

Doesn't look like that for me, both the animation and lore in the SC manual imply that they shoot spines...

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Yeah they shoot spines in SC, but as Nicol said it doesnt look like that, it looks like some sort of acid or something.