Zerg midgame boost

[Eligor]

But that would be pretty hard imbalanced. The point of Queen's spawn larvae ability is that you can get more units, but you have to pay for them. Ability that you described is much alike the Reactor from Terran, and they can use it only for weaker units, plus to sacrifice Tech lab for that. Imagine 10 Ultralisks for the cost of 5 O.o It would be way to strong.

Depends on how much of the Queen's energy the ability costs, and how many Queens you have (and how much do they themselves cost). Ideally you would get less units than with Spawn Larvae, because A: there's a finite amount of eggs to choose from and B: you should be able to "fertilize" no more than two with a single Queen, but the ones you would get in such a scenario, you get at a greatly reduced cost.

[n00bonicPlague]

Aren't Roaches tier 2?

[Eligor]

They are, and if memory serves me well there were some reports claiming they're not enough.

[RamiZ]

In SC1, upgrading your hatchery also sped up the larva production rate. I think they have carried this over into SC2, but I'm not sure. I'll ask Karune later today.

One of the most common mistakes
No, Lair and Hive doesnt have faster larvae production rate. Only when upgrade finishes you got 1 larva spawned, that is all. You can test it by yourself.

[GRUNT]

The zerg seem so weak midgame atleast to me, and don't fell so swarmy as in sc1.It's sad when you can see the Terrans outpruduce the zerg in the number of units in SC2.

This is how they are pretty much like in Brood War. Typically, the mid-game Terran army IS a lot stronger than mid-game Zerg. Zerg players often attempt to delay the Terran mid-game push so that they can get more expansions / tech to Dark Swarm, and either go for Mutalisk harasses to keep the Terran player in their base for as long as possible, or get Lurkers to slow the push and hopefully contain the Terrans.

In both cases, Terrans usually outnumber the Zerg by virtue of marines and medics being so cost-effective.

In both ZvP and ZvT, Hydralisks can quickly become useless. Once all that area-of-effect damage kicks in, they just melt. Against Protoss, Hydralisks can be very strong early in the game, but as the game goes on, they become increasingly less useful (though still certainly more of a threat than they are in ZvT).

At the moment, I see Banelings as fulfulling the capacity of the Lurker in tier 2. Terrans will have a tough time pushing out, given the threat of Banelings. The Orbital Command only has so much energy to spend on scans that a proper push may not be possible until the Terran player gets Ravens out.

SC2 looks especially harsh on the Zerg in the lategame with spells like Psionic Storm doing even more damage than before, and over a shorter time.

Given stuff like this, I do think that it'd be extremely flavourful to give Hydras (or Roaches, maybe) a little extra oomph in the lategame with some kind of upgrade that doubles their production.

Not that I think Zerg need it - they don't. Although the above *would* be a very cool way for Zerg to be competitive lategame, as opposed to giving them a Dark Swarm-ish spell. I always like it when Zerg players win through brute force of economy, as opposed to trickety-tricks with spells :P.

[n00bonicPlague]

One of the most common mistakes
No, Lair and Hive doesnt have faster larvae production rate. Only when upgrade finishes you got 1 larva spawned, that is all. You can test it by yourself.

You sure? I could've sworn that it would spit out a larva just a second or two earlier than before.

I'll go test this out......

[flabortast]

IMO Nydus Networks already change the face of Tier 2 Zerg. Tier 2 Infestors are also a huge boost as well. Tier 3 Zerg seems to be filled with powerhouses.

[RamiZ]

Im gonna agree with Flabortast, Tier 2 Zerg have many alternatives, infestors/Roaches/Mutas and Banelings doesnt lose much of a use. Banelings vs Terran are even better then Lurkers in SC1 since, you dont have a sign where Banelings are burrowed. And you wont Scan random parts of map + now he have to spend that energy on MULES.

[Wankey]

Lets wait for beta.

[Norfindel]

One of the most common mistakes
No, Lair and Hive doesnt have faster larvae production rate. Only when upgrade finishes you got 1 larva spawned, that is all. You can test it by yourself.

In fact, the Zerg main buildings continue to spawn Larva while they're morphing.