Macro Mechanics Discussion Thread

[ArcherofAiur]

Yah hes saying that to make multitasking equal for all the races they made MULE and Spawn Larva require you to go back to the base.

[Nicol Bolas]

Yah hes saying that to make multitasking equal for all the races they made MULE and Spawn Larva require you to go back to the base.

No, he isn't. He's saying only that using Warp-In requires more mental effort than the other race's production schemes. He is not saying that the designers specifically made Mules and Spawn Larva because of Warp-In. Indeed, his post doesn't even mention Mules.

[ArcherofAiur]

Your right. He doesnt say that they specifically designed it that way but how else do you interprete the fact that MULE and SL cant be performed remotely and Obelisk can?

[Nicol Bolas]

how else do you interprete the fact that MULE and SL cant be performed remotely and Obelisk can?

Blizzard screwed up? You know, like they did when they made the magical Scarab-firing Shuttles. And Mutalisk stacking. And any one of a hundred unexpected interactions that they did not specifically design into StarCraft.

Or perhaps the "going back to your base" part isn't as important as you think. Maybe "moving your mouse off the screen" is a good enough equivalent.

[ArcherofAiur]

So you think its more likely that they just didnt realize players would have to come back to the base for MULE and Spawn Larva and not for PC?

[Nicol Bolas]

So you think its more likely that they just didnt realize players would have to come back to the base for MULE and Spawn Larva and not for PC?

Yes. They probably wouldn't have thought of using the minimap when they were coming up with the ability.

[Santrega]

Yes. They probably wouldn't have thought of using the minimap when they were coming up with the ability.

Yeah... wow...

Developers in which meet every day and talk about the game, and play the game all the time, didnt realize they could use the minimap with the other abilities? At this point, I don't believe you are thinking before you type.

[Nicol Bolas]

Developers in which meet every day and talk about the game, and play the game all the time, didnt realize they could use the minimap with the other abilities?

How do you think plot holes get written into movies/books/etc? These are writers who spend every day, thinking and talking about the plot. Movies have literally hundreds of people working on various aspects of the production. Screenwriters, the director, actors, people who just happen to be on-set and hear the dialog, etc.

And with all that, they didn't realize that plot hole X existed in their script.

Movie productions have people dedicated to the sole purpose of making sure that scene-to-scene continuity is maintained across cuts. And yet, I can watch any movie on my first viewing and spot at least 3 continuity gaffes.

Human beings are fallible. And PC being cast via minimap is a fairly easy thing to miss, particularly if you're tunnel-visioned on it.

Also, if you hadn't noticed, Proton Charge is, of the 3 mechanics, probably the most half-assed. Just think about it.

Spawn Larva, of one form or another, was in the game a good 6 months at least before Blizzard decided to appropriate it for the macro mechanic stuff. Mule drop fits very well with the already existing Terran infrastructure. Both of these mechanics were placed on units/buildings that already existed and had some particular function.

Proton Charge was not. They made up a whole new building for it (and yes, I know they'd been kicking around a Dark Pylon idea for a while before that. But it wasn't nearly as solid as Queens or OCCs).

Mules are a super-worker, in keeping with the Terran idea. Spawn Larva give the Zerg more larva, in keeping with their centralized production idea. Proton Charge... makes probes glow? Is that in keeping with some unique facet of the Protoss that I don't know about?

I'd guess that they just spent less time thinking about PC than the others.

[ArcherofAiur]

Spawn Larva, of one form or another, was in the game a good 6 months at least before Blizzard decided to appropriate it for the macro mechanic stuff. Mule drop fits very well with the already existing Terran infrastructure. Both of these mechanics were placed on units/buildings that already existed and had some particular function.

Proton Charge was not. They made up a whole new building for it (and yes, I know they'd been kicking around a Dark Pylon idea for a while before that. But it wasn't nearly as solid as Queens or OCCs).

That is very presumptious. Your basically saying they just happened to stumble upon a system where all the races have roughly equal back to base management. If you want to see that much of a pattern as coincidence I cant offer proof its not (short of a designer commenting) but I can say that it speaks volumes about your confidence in the designers.

[Nicol Bolas]

Your basically saying they just happened to stumble upon a system where all the races have roughly equal back to base management.

I'm not saying that all races have roughly equal base management to begin with. Neither is Karune, as his statement is about Warp-In, which doesn't have enforced back to base management (since you can Warp-In to a Proxy Pylon or Prism).