Supersonic SC2 Q&A

[supersonic]

As some of you know or did not know I went up to Blizzcon 2009 and played SC2 basically the entire time, with the exception of playing some D3 and checking out the new WoW stuff.

So please as away! I played mostly Protoss but I did get a good number of games in for Terran and Zerg.

Here is some questions I have already been asked:


Q: What is the role of the Carrier, how well does it integrate into the current version of the Protoss fleet?

A: I didn't use the Carrier much with out the "faster interceptors" but what I can say about how it played with this upgrade is that it's VERY strong. It dishes out some major fire power, I was able to take down many BattleCruisers and other anti air units, with only a small amount of Carriers.


Q: Protoss mothership - what abilities does it have right now, status of uniqueness, and speed/usefulness?

A: Once again the Mothership is a "Special" unit that you can only have one at a time. It's attack has been changed from the "blue missiles" to 2 lasers that can fire at 2 different things at once and it's decently strong. As for abilities it has the "time space transit" (I think that's what it's called?), warping to your own buildings, it's only really effective if you have already build some "proxy pylons" around the map. Next is the time bomb, which is only really effective on about 1-2 missile turrets depending on how close they are to each other, because of how small the radius is. Last is the "Black Hole" which works just like stasis from arbiters except it can pull more units in if they get to close. Speed itself is terribly slow, slower than Terran buildings moving in SC1.


Q: Status of the early (zvp) ling vs zealot conflict? What is the ratio for a balanced battle between these two adversaries.

A: Zealots I feel eat up Zerglings more than they used to in SC1, but thanks to the improved pathing larger numbers of Zerglings do stand a better chance than usual vs Zealots. You do still need to play reasonably safe not to attack in too small of numbers with Zerglings because they can get wasted.


Q: Have they decided to keep that "only colossus traversable water?" The water type that's very deep and only traversable by the colossus.

A: Not really sure, I don't recall there being water in any levels although I wasn't looking.


Q: How long does forcefield last?

A: Give or take 10-15 seconds. It's a very effective tool and only costs 50 energy.


Q: How much damage does psionic storm do now? And how long does it last?

A: I didn't use High Templar very often just because gas has become a pain to get and I never seemed to have enough. Although storm has a shorter duration but does a little more damage, as for radius it's about the same, maybe a little bigger.


Q: Hallucination, how many of each unit does it produce?

A: Hallucination was something I wasn't really interested in using until I figured out exactly what it did. The way the new Hallucination works gets me very excited on the types of ways you can use it. How it works is you click the Hallucination icon, and it will then give you a list of (I think) all the units Protoss can produce, with the exception of the Mothership, and I think Carrier? It will then create the unit on the spot, making 2 of the lower tier units (Zealots, Stalkers etc) and 1 of the higher (Phoenix, Colossus etc). Now what gets me so excited about this is, if you are not letting your opponent scout (or they just don't scout at all), if you micro correctly, you can make them think you are teching something that your really not. Which can be very effective to predict what they will counter with so you can have the 1 up on them.


Q: Is it possible to dodge something like a Yamato shot but blinking with the stalker? Or will the Yamato shot trail the stalker until it hits it?

A: Yes the Yamato will follow.


Q: Any news about the Archon? We don't see it since a really long time.

A: Didn't get to try out the Archon because it really didn't come up, the Colossus deals with basically all Zerg ground unit problems, and Stalkers are very effective at hunting down Mutas with blink.


Q: Have there been any changes to the macro mechanics?

A: For macro play, MBS helps a lot, and the fact you can rally a probe to set up everything you could ever need built in your base and then go back to mining after takes a lot of base macroing away. For building units however you still need to click once for every unit you want made, even if you have 4 gateways selected, you still need to hit "Z" for Zealots 4 times. So although it doesn't even out, it does help add a little macro to where a good bit has been lost.


Q: Can you rotate the camera? If not how do you see a unit that is behind a cliff or structure?

A: No camera rotation, only zooming in and out. As for units getting behind something where I couldn't see them, it didn't really happen, the only time it did was for probes behind my Stargates, and I had the "Idol Worker" icon to show me where they were.


Q: Of the three main harassment units (Reapers, Mutalisks, Stalkers), Mutalisks are the most expensive per unit. Are they equivalently cost-effective compared to Reapers and Stalkers at base raiding?

A: YES! The fact that you can hold more than 12+ Mutalisk means if you let your opponent get too many they can start one shotting stuff, as in taking out Missile Turrets in half a second, and completely pwning probes that are mining + they can fly so it makes them that much more effective for running raids.


Q: Which units got model changed or updates?

A: Zealot got changed according to Karune, but I didn't notice too much, I think the lurker got updated, as well as the Hydra.


Q: What is the status of resource trading in team games?

A: Not sure because the games were 1v1.


Q: What happens in team games when a teammate leaves?

A: I believe you get their units and buildings.


Q: What is the criteria for a victory in a multiplayer game...shall we assume the destruction of all buildings still? Furthermore, will all building be revealed once a player's last main is destroyed?

A: To win a match you need to destroy all the opponents buildings. Once all the Command Centers, Nexuses, etc all the players buildings get revealed in about 30~ seconds.


Q: Are the macro mechanics working like expected, or do they get too repetitive after a while? What about their mineral-only aspect? Does that work late game, or the mineral-only units are getting smashed by superior tech, anyways? Won't the mineral/gas ratio skew gameplay to basic units and static defenses?

A: One thing I did not like about the game how it is, is the fact that while playing Protoss and using PC I got a TON of minerals, like a LOT!! And I could make a bajillion Zealots, Terrans "Mule calldown" is almost counter productive, you have to pay 150 minerals to have your command center stop doing anything for about 60 seconds at least just to upgrade to Orbital Command.

As for is the new econ stuff just a APM sink or is it effective, Mule felt like an APM sink because you didn't feel the minerals coming in, I'm sure you got a more then usual amount but you don't feel it, and hitting 1, E, and clicking on a mineral field is hardly APM sink. For PC you REALLY feel it, it adds 1 mineral for each trip for your probes, and it shows a LOT. Protoss gets so much more minerals than the other races (at least early-mid to early late game) that if you got the obalisk rather quickly for PC than you would basicly win every time because you can now make 1 Zealot for every 2 zerglings or 2 marines.

That being said it felt like since the Mule calldown was so poor for mineral gain, the Terran was VERY behind on the economy race. Zerg has the larva spawn which gets expansions up in about 3 seconds, and Protoss can kill people with numbers alone. I did actually test this theory and my body was able to make as ALMOST as many Zealots as I has marines in the space of about 10 minutes, Terran Econ just feels realllly slow, and it hurts them a lot because their units are not all that strong, and the new pathing helps melee units a lot.

As for gas, once you got an expansion or 2 it wasn't to too bad, it did feel just about balanced. What they need to do though it either take out PC, Mule, and possibly larva spawn out completely, or take a hard look at balancing the fact that Protoss can produce as much as Terran, but all their units are at least double the strength.

[PsiWarp]

Very informative! Based on your experience, it seems the Marauder boost is justified according to the economic perspective.


-Psi

[MattII]

It also seems to back up claims by some members here that PC is OP (you reading this Archer?).

[Wankey]

Looks like its gonna be a long beta

[Cheesenium]

Thanks for the Q&A.

[hiru]

Whats the CD on Time Space Transit?

[SoFool]

nice, the carrier upgrade is really interesting. quite surprised abt the terran mule being slow in eco

[Weavel]

They still got a lot balancing to do before beta. It's blizzards unique and amazing style of do games. I think beta will be released in october.

[DemolitionSquid]

Q: Are the macro mechanics working like expected, or do they get too repetitive after a while? What about their mineral-only aspect? Does that work late game, or the mineral-only units are getting smashed by superior tech, anyways? Won't the mineral/gas ratio skew gameplay to basic units and static defenses?

A: One thing I did not like about the game how it is, is the fact that while playing Protoss and using PC I got a TON of minerals, like a LOT!! And I could make a bajillion Zealots, Terrans "Mule calldown" is almost counter productive, you have to pay 150 minerals to have your command center stop doing anything for about 60 seconds at least just to upgrade to Orbital Command.

As for is the new econ stuff just a APM sink or is it effective, Mule felt like an APM sink because you didn't feel the minerals coming in, I'm sure you got a more then usual amount but you don't feel it, and hitting 1, E, and clicking on a mineral field is hardly APM sink. For PC you REALLY feel it, it adds 1 mineral for each trip for your probes, and it shows a LOT. Protoss gets so much more minerals than the other races (at least early-mid to early late game) that if you got the obalisk rather quickly for PC than you would basicly win every time because you can now make 1 Zealot for every 2 zerglings or 2 marines.

That being said it felt like since the Mule calldown was so poor for mineral gain, the Terran was VERY behind on the economy race. Zerg has the larva spawn which gets expansions up in about 3 seconds, and Protoss can kill people with numbers alone. I did actually test this theory and my body was able to make as ALMOST as many Zealots as I has marines in the space of about 10 minutes, Terran Econ just feels realllly slow, and it hurts them a lot because their units are not all that strong, and the new pathing helps melee units a lot.

Thank you for obliterating Archer's only argument.

[RamiZ]

Thx for the info!
The only thing I didnt like in those Videos were that Thor, Siege Tank, Marines and Marauders were moving at the same Speed(!)...