Karune speaks on massive unit transportation.

[Islandsnake]

This is old news more than likely but how are they handling the dropship deaths?

In war3 if your dropship dies over walkable land the units are put on the ground safely...hows this working in sc2?

[Caliban113]

it should drop the Thor so that the Thor doesn't die or something...

I like this. The Thor could take damage from the fall to compensate - and if over water/lava/chasms just gets lost.

[Draco]

Opponents will always target a dropship when they see it, dropships are the most expensive transport now for the Terrans, and don't have the power of phase prisms or the massability of overlords (and effectiveness of Nydus worms).

So regardless of whatever is inside the dropship, an expensive target is an expensive target.
Although I suppose there should be a perk to letting the enemy know you have a super expensive unit attached to your dropship... like if your dropship got destroy it should drop the Thor so that the Thor doesn't die or something... but w/e that's just me.

Well I think the fact that it occupies only 1 space is a tremendous advantage. This makes the 1-2 dropship harass a lot more potent because instead of another marine coming along, it's a damn Thor! I like how they balance that (perhaps not enough so) with a big "hey look at my Thor" painted on the flying piece of glass. Perhaps the Thor was not seeing enough use, but now there's little reason not to blow up their workers with that seige ability he has.

[Sarov]

I like this. The Thor could take damage from the fall to compensate - and if over water/lava/chasms just gets lost.

I somewhat like the idea of the dropship being destroyed but getting back your units but with some damage. The next question, I would assume, would be how much the damage should be. Smaller units like marines and SCVs would take more damage because they aren't as armored as say a seige tank or a Thor. Or it could be a single amount of damage. I don't know.

[supersonic]

I Highly doubt that they will add damage to the falling unit because it would be far too complicated for new players as for trying to convey the information of what is going on, and it's just one more thing that might confuse people.

[Islandsnake]

I Highly doubt that they will add damage to the falling unit because it would be far too complicated for new players as for trying to convey the information of what is going on, and it's just one more thing that might confuse people.

So when you played did the units die when the dropship was destroyed?

[Sarov]

I Highly doubt that they will add damage to the falling unit because it would be far too complicated for new players as for trying to convey the information of what is going on, and it's just one more thing that might confuse people.

You bring up a good point. I didn't really think about that... And I know that I already have a hard enough time trying to remember the counters to the units in Starcraft/Starcraft: Brood War.

[supersonic]

So when you played did the units die when the dropship was destroyed?

yup, they got pwned =]

[Draco]

If a plane gets shot down, the passengers die. Starcraft has never been a carebear "oh snap everyone has a parachute" scenario. What's the average life of a Marine, anyway, 4 seconds?

But seriously, I like the all or nothing aspect of its gameplay balance. By transporting those units and bypassing their defenses, you run the risk of losing them all if you have not scouted their base enough or not made it stealthy enough. Air raids would be far too simplistic if a transport unit that gets shot down is allowed to drop all its units into the base as a consolation prize.

[Nicol Bolas]

He's going come bursting into this thread so he can write a dissertation on why a transforming Thor is bad, the visuals waste time, and that it should just be loaded like any other unit.

So long as it doesn't affect gameplay (aside of being able to see that a Medivac is holding a Thor), I don't care. Karune didn't say that Thors or other Massive units took longer to load. So unless they do, I don't care.

Well I think the fact that it occupies only 1 space is a tremendous advantage.

Where was it stated that Thors take up the same room on a Medivac as a Marine?