StarCraft 2 Tech Tree

[DemolitionSquid]

No one has the right stats right now. I think the topic needs to be discussed in a more general manner.

[Nicol Bolas]

Where'd you get that info from?

I'm pretty sure it worked this way at BlizzCon. And I couldn't follow the link from SC2Wiki to their evidence of it being built from just a TechLab.

If this is the case, it makes it all the more problematic since taking out the tech building doesn't give you the benefit of disabling the opponent from producing its corresponding unit since there are multiple of them.

First, this is a very rarely employed tactic. Second, it never worked on the Terrans in SC1, since most of their tech came from add-ons, not external buildings. Third, when it did work, it was usually on the initial research run (taking out a Science Facility before Irradiate finishes researching), not after the point when they have 3 of them down.

Fourth, there's a reason why high-tech units are high-tech. Either you spend lots of (ultimately useless) money to throw down several Fusion Cores to quickly research everything you need, or you do it sequentially and take a while to get it done. I like that choice.

Do you honestly believe that if Medivacs were swapped back for Dropships, its cost would remain exactly the same? And yes, I'm aware it's the same cost as the SC1 Dropship, but that doesn't mean its SC2 counterpart is the same cost.

Did some kind of reverse inflation hit SC2, making minerals worth more in SC2 than SC1

Blizzard specifically stated that they went out of their way to make the mining and mineral influx rates between the two games as similar as possible. So if the cost didn't change between the two games, then either Blizzard felt that transports were undervalued in SC1 (and considering that every transport got a new special ability without a cost increase, that's entirely possible) or the healing is free. Or both. After all, the cost didn't change when the DropShip became the Medivac in their builds.

[unentschieden]

First, this is a very rarely employed tactic. Second, it never worked on the Terrans in SC1, since most of their tech came from add-ons, not external buildings. Third, when it did work, it was usually on the initial research run (taking out a Science Facility before Irradiate finishes researching), not after the point when they have 3 of them down.

Fourth, there's a reason why high-tech units are high-tech. Either you spend lots of (ultimately useless) money to throw down several Fusion Cores to quickly research everything you need, or you do it sequentially and take a while to get it done. I like that choice.

Nothing in SC:BW really suits a hit and run against Buildings. It´s just A LOT easier to go for the Mineral line. Still, tohave the strategic option would be nice. Some units have Boni gainst Buildings don´t they?

Did some kind of reverse inflation hit SC2, making minerals worth more in SC2 than SC1

Blizzard specifically stated that they went out of their way to make the mining and mineral influx rates between the two games as similar as possible. So if the cost didn't change between the two games, then either Blizzard felt that transports were undervalued in SC1 (and considering that every transport got a new special ability without a cost increase, that's entirely possible) or the healing is free. Or both. After all, the cost didn't change when the DropShip became the Medivac in their builds.

Cost is based on relative Value. The dropship in itself would have been simply inferior to the comparable units in the other races. That could also be fine if the Dropship would have been cheaper or been a Racial disatvantage(The most obvious racial disatvantage is the Protoss inability to restore HP, they make up with that by having the highest relative HP+Shield values between the races). The latter is especially unattractive since "Dropship-Micro" is actually wanted as Design Choice.

[MattII]

Ultralisks and Banelings have bonusses vs buildings (the Ultralisk has a special head-butt attack anyway), and while the same can't really be said for Terran or Protoss, Reaper D8 and the Void Ray ought to work especially well.

[Pandonetho]

I wonder how well D8 charges will really work on their own against workers. A decent player will run all his workers before the charges explode, killing practically no workers. Maybe it'd be more wise to just chuck them at the main resourcing building.

Or... in a team game, do the disrupter force field trick to block exits, and then D8 charge them. That will be glorious (and require some intense coordination).

[SpiderBrigade]

I wonder how well D8 charges will really work on their own against workers. A decent player will run all his workers before the charges explode, killing practically no workers. Maybe it'd be more wise to just chuck them at the main resourcing building

I think what you want to do is either, yes, target the resource building (although I don't know if you will be able to jump in enough reapers to actually take it out) or alternately, toss the charges along the escape route for the workers. In other words they have to run away because Reapers will be good at killing them...but you can anticipate where they will try to go and pop the D8 charges there.

edit: Plus, either way you are seriously disrupting gathering which can be worth it by itself...any killed gatherers are bonus really.

[Nicol Bolas]

Still, tohave the strategic option would be nice. Some units have Boni gainst Buildings don´t they?

Air-based Protoss strategies could easily go for a double-Cybernetics core so that they can upgrade air attack and armor simultaneously. Doubling-down on tech buildings is nothing new.

I will say this: it is strange to have so many research options coming out of one building. Maybe they'll add two buildings, one for the NightHawk and its upgrades and one for the BC, BC upgrades, and Banshee upgrades.

[unentschieden]

Air-based Protoss strategies could easily go for a double-Cybernetics core so that they can upgrade air attack and armor simultaneously. Doubling-down on tech buildings is nothing new.

I will say this: it is strange to have so many research options coming out of one building. Maybe they'll add two buildings, one for the NightHawk and its upgrades and one for the BC, BC upgrades, and Banshee upgrades.

Well I´d say that there need to be enough options that multiple Techbuildings of the same kind are actually viable. I´m somewhat peeved at 20 Starports Building Battlecruisers based one one Facility, but that is more a personal issue. I´d for example like a non-research occupation for these buildings.

[Norfindel]

It's strange to have a different building for High and Dark Templars. I wonder if it's worth most of the time to build Dark Templars instead of High Templars. Why not just leave the Citadel of Adun there, and then place a Twilight Archives there that allows creation of both Templars?
I don't know if i like the "Null Circuit" name too much. It doesn't sound good, IMHO.

It's me, or the Orbital Command does look almost exactly like an unupgraded CC? Shouldn't it be more obvious?
With the Ghost Academy directly after Barracks, it seems like Nukes will be really early, but of course, they would need Cloaking to be effective.
The Thor requires Tech Lab and... the Armory. Next name change will probably say Goliath 2.0 .

[Nicol Bolas]

The Thor requires Tech Lab and... the Armory.

Which is how it has always been ever since it was no longer produced by SCVs.