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http://www.starcraft-source.com/
Blizzard has released some new in-game action screenshots that definitely bring up more questions than answers. There was a news article on GameMeca.com. that didn't reveal anything new other than the release of these new screenshots which includes a shot of the Firebat in action as well as a structure we know nothing about. To put you at ease now, there are no Jim Raynor's in these screenshots.
Unit Database: Firebat We've taken snapshots of the Firebat and the mysterious structure which you can see in this image. This Firebat is definitely a step up from original Starcraft, the flames look awesome! We know nothing of this mysterious structure which is visible in the screenshot just to the right of the nomad in the middle. I've got no ideas as to what this could be, we haven't heard anything about any new structures for the Terran, so hopefully Karune will address this in an upcoming Q & A.
In another screenshot there's an excellent capture of the Force Field ability in use blocking the other Protoss player from advancing to melee combat against a group of Templars. This ability is by far an excellent idea for the Protoss, they finally have a way of creating a "wall" of sorts to slow down their opponents. You'll also notice the two domes encasing some stalkers. You can see one of the stalker's shots is frozen in time. This is the Time Bomb ability for the Protoss mothership in action.
Well, it seems Bliz is taking heed to what the fans are saying: first they bring back the Firebat, now they experiment with Terran ground defense. The Terran inability to protect their base without using up psi often comes up on the Bnet forums. While I'm not sure it's such a good idea, I can't help but rejoice at the sight of the new Firebat. Okay, you probably suffered enough... Ladies and gentlemen: the Firebat!
+ Show Spoiler [image-heavy] +
An improvised interview with Karune about the whole thing:
Q. What is the mysterious turret that is in the screenshot that has yet to be revealed? We've seen this before.... can you tell us what's behind this? Also, does the Firebat have any special abilities for instance one that makes a wall of fire and is channeled? Is there anything fresh that we haven't seen for the firebat? A. The turrets are dropped by the Nomad (using energy), acting as decent defenses, and even better harassment, if used by a skilled player.
The Firebats are back with the same fire loving attitude, but with added Hit Points to help them get real close to their enemies. Firebats also must be produced from the Factory rather than the Barracks from the original StarCraft, since their suits are larger and able to sustain more enemy fire.Q. What are the colossus shooting at in screenshot 1??? A. The Protoss Colossi are attempting to destroy the rocks blocking the Protoss forces from advancing up the ramp.Q. About the force field, it is channeled? if so how long does it last, and what exactly it does, I mean you can't pass through it or it acts as a barrier or something... A. The Force Field is currently an instant cast, costing energy from the Protoss High Templar. This Force Field prevents all units from passing its perimeter.Q. Does the time bomb slow attacks like the collosus' thermal lances or warp ray's prismatic beam? A. Nope.Q. In pic2, the High Templars (which look awesome, btw) appear to have an attack coming from their hands. Do they now have an attack of their own, or are they channeling the barrier spell? A. We are currently experimenting with giving the High Templars a standard attack, just enough to keep him out of trouble, but not actually powerful enough where you would want to use them as an offensive attack unit. The High Templar's primary role is still to be a caster of special abilities.Q. Nice, so we're getting more destructible interaction. So are destructibles attackable by all units or just high damage units like SeigeTank/Colossus? Can you click on the rocks and stuff to see their HP or anything? A. As I see there is likely to be many questions involving these screenshots, lets try to keep away from questions about answers I give to questions on this thread - or surely this will be a never ending thread! Don't worry we'll have more in the future.
The rocks will have viewable Hit Points and can be destroyed by all units. In some maps, this type of environmental interaction could allow access to both 'secret expansion locations' as well as 'secret paths' to an enemy's base. Knowing the maps well will be crucial to the strategy involved in multiplayer skirmishes.Q. But... wait, force field wasnt moved from high templar to stasis orb, and hallucination come back to he? A. Over the past month and coming months, there will be a many ability swaps. From week to week, it could change significantly. Nonetheless, I'll try my best to keep you guys updated. At this very moment, the Twillight Archon is being tested with some of the original StarCraft High Templar abilities.Q. Is it possible to guide Firebats fire just like Colossus Thermal Lance? A. The flame attack by the Firebats are currently the same as [in] the original StarCraft.Q. I surely hope firebats can actually fit in a bunker now... A. They do nothing like watching those flames from a Bunker...keeping them Zerglings at bay.Q. What IS the large green thing in screenshot 2? A. It is our homage to the 'Man of Steel' Q. Since firebats are now [trained] from the factory, are they still considered as infantry? Can medics heal them? Or do SCV's repair them? Or what? A. Firebats are still healed by Medics. If I was a Firebat, I don't think I'd want it any other way.Q. What is the building in the second screen shot, bottom right? There seems to be a probe right beside it and it is located just right of a phase prism, and [to the] right of a nexus. Looks kind of [like a] Xel naga [structure], or am I wrong? A. That is an observation post which you can man, to gain a greater sight range around that post.
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Sweden33719 Posts
Shit, the firebat is HUGE :D
Also, that mysterious structure is, I'm almost certain, in fact a siege tank in siege mode! EDIT: I was looking at it from the "wrong right" (ie to the right of the nomad), dunno what that is
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starting to look much better, the texture work is smoother on some stuff
..but the thor seems a bit lame ... slightly smaller or thinner would maybe be better in-game
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Does the collosus look ugly compared to the other units, or it's just me?
The "mysterious" building is obviously some kind of a gun emplacement, that can attack ground only(so it's different from both the bunker and the turret).
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Protoss seems really cool, but the terrans seem kinda... lame. Thor is just out of the ordinary, and it just seems really unusual.
But on the bright side,
The vessel is hella ugly, and the little cannon down beside it is another useless static defense. The only thing I don't like about the protoss is the immortals, which seem useless other then with tanks.
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Cute, Pink zealots!
I'm glad the Firebat is still with us, they look cool as hell.
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The first two screens look shitty imo. Worse than any before.
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I see that they still use goddamn barrels in the future.
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Wait wtf... I just noticed something... It says that nomads are going to have emp, so are ghosts going to have that ability also?
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From the fist picture it looks like the high templar now have an attack either that or they are they have to stay in one spot to maintain the barriers. And they wear capes.
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is awesome32246 Posts
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I've got to say that the high templars look so insane.
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Wow the firebats are as big as two marines! and sorry if this has been confirmed, but does the high templar have to stay put and channel the force field?
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You sure it's firebat and not reaper with a flamer upgrade?
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United States20661 Posts
I finally realized why the nexus looks so strange to me - it lost those four pillars at the corners.
That being said - my GOD, bring back the old Protoss color scheme. The old SC1 models left most units as blue/yellow, with some tribal coloring. These new ones are way too colorful.
Actually I just find the whole thing a bit too colorful - it is actually counterproductive and makes things quite confusing. [It's harder to tell what things are, since everything is the player color. whereas retaining more of the native look per unit whilst having less player colorization would be less confusing.]
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the four pillars at corners are still there, theyre just harder to notice as theyre more flat and kinda curved inward more.
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On November 13 2007 00:01 FrozenArbiter wrote:Shit, the firebat is HUGE :D Also, that mysterious structure is, I'm almost certain, in fact a siege tank in siege mode! EDIT: I was looking at it from the "wrong right" (ie to the right of the nomad), dunno what that is
wtf FA has coolest icon ever?
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Way too cluttered, I can't even FIND the supposed HTs in the screens.
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I suppose the screenshot just captured the ht in a wierd pose? lol but yeah it was hard to find them. firebats look awesome *drools* but marines should really lose out that sheild/bayonet visual upgrade...it makes them so less manly.
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On November 13 2007 02:12 Aphelion wrote: Way too cluttered, I can't even FIND the supposed HTs in the screens. They are right there, are you blind? Just left of the stasis fields in the second screen, there are 5 of them there.
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can anyone tell me what the christ is going on in the second pic? Cuz all i see is a big blob in the middle.
And the thor is gay. GAY GAY GAY GAY.
But the bats look pretty nifty imo. Overall, it seems like a real lot is going on, as if all the action covers up the battle. Im kinda hoping it's just the screen shot givng me this impression and that its better at real speed
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Jesus Christ I can't even tell what's happening in a battle scene anymore.
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The statis field is a bit too flashy, it's hard to tell what's inside. Doesn't matter much because you can't do anything with those units anyway. imo firebat is out of proportion... it's even bigger than a zealot.
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For once, I agree about flashiness. Yeah, the forcefield is way over the top.
As for Firebats being huge, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Their armor is designed for melee combat in a universe populated by Jedi and Ultralisks. I'd damn well want mine to be as enormous as possible.
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Firebat weaponry looks really clunky ;/
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^
False.
In any case, Karune's answering some questions about the screenshots here.
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damn, infantry look ugly as hell :/
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The texturing seems to have improved at some buildings/units.
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I'm updating the OP with some Q&A.
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Firebats built from the factory. Now that is pretty cool. Also good if they switched the viking to the starport.
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I think firebats out of Starports is the smartest thing Blizzard has changed since we saw the game at WWI. It's awesome for the fact that firebats can not only be stronger and more useful, simply by coming later in the game firebats become almost like mobile reavers too. Firebat drops are hell if they somehow happen. It makes the macro that much harder too. Imagine, you want to have enough tanks, firebats and possibly cobras to support them, while also maintining a good marine/medic ratio. The terran ball has never been harder to design. This may also cause a resurgence of the hydra, since taking down firebats may be more useful again, and ZvT could be getting more macro/unit choice oriented, finally.
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So I'm assuming the reaper is still in the game right? Unless they decide to somehow merge the reaper with some other unit
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CA10824 Posts
high templars having an attack is a bad idea.
i thought they removed that in SC1 since HTs would get killed so quickly because the AI of other units would return fire.
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
this looks horrible imo
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A beefed up firebat? Sounds hella crazy lol *imagines those huge ass units running around stimmed* Sounds a little stupid with that chunky armor; I like the idea of the firebat being more of a damage soaker though.
On November 13 2007 05:53 LosingID8 wrote: high templars having an attack is a bad idea.
i thought they removed that in SC1 since HTs would get killed so quickly because the AI of other units would return fire. I think it'd be fine if they made the HT not move to attack the units in sight, but just stand there and shoot whatever is in range.. and make it like 10 explosive damage like the ghosts shit damage in SC1 lol (I'm still bitter about ghosts in SC1), er something like 6+4light armored.
...hmm just a thought, maybe they should make the stasis thingies attackable, and do like some damage to the HT's energy. I agree that shit looks way too flashy/cluttered in the second screenshot, but it might look better when it's fluid (moving, not just a screenshot), idunno. That crashed doodad on the right of that screenshot looks sexy though (I hope that's just a doodad >_> ) haha.
edit: what are those huge sphere shield-like things by the stalkers? Is that just the shield animation? If it is, it's way too big.. unless they're sharing shields or some complicating shit like that.
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Sweden33719 Posts
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is awesome32246 Posts
Yeah the screenshots are nto good for judging gameplay, in the video it looks nice. And I haven't even played the demo. Those who did said if felt very starcraftish.
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In all honesty, I really hope they tone down that stasis thing, its so bright and flashy my eyes were drawn to it before i noticed anything else. Other than that, the other graphics and effects seem fine, I also guess one can argue its just something one has to get used too, but this is kinda stretching it.
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Think the thor unit in itself is a swing and a miss... Last pictures is taken from Warhammer right?
Firebat looks cool tho. But think the "flame" could be more intense?
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"Wtf? Where? What is that building? Is woooaa what? Is that a terran or protoss? OMG HELP"
Haha. When i looked at the screenshots i scrolled down to read comments cause i was confused as hell. Seriously, sc2 screenshots make my mind freeze.
No more screenshots please. Let dustin explain everything in a video :D
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Anyone else spend the first few minutes looking for good ole Jimmy? That being said, Stronger firebats = win.
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I hope that firebats are the counter to Zealots' charge ability.
Of course, it wasn't really Firebats' low hp that made them useless. It was the fact that literally every T army involves siege tanks, and siege tanks kill your firebats.
I would like to see Firebats be immune to traditional splash damage. Not only would this explain why your Firebats don't kill eachother, it would allow them to actually attack enemy units without your own tank-splash killing them instantly. I think the only other unit that would be affected is the Colossus, with its thermal lance, against which perhaps the bat could take reduced damage. All of this can be explained simply by Firebats' new big armor, which is a type of metal specifically designed to be heat-resistant.
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Damn....Can someone remind me...why couldnt this be in 2D?
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On November 13 2007 02:32 Ziel wrote: I suppose the screenshot just captured the ht in a wierd pose? lol but yeah it was hard to find them. firebats look awesome *drools* but marines should really lose out that sheild/bayonet visual upgrade...it makes them so less manly.
At least firebats are real men and don't carry girly shields and pocket knives.
On November 13 2007 05:53 LosingID8 wrote: high templars having an attack is a bad idea.
i thought they removed that in SC1 since HTs would get killed so quickly because the AI of other units would return fire.
Actually pretty often in pro games the HT move in front of the army(since attack-move is just move for them) and get killed, because of that, so having an attack will definitely be benefical.
On November 13 2007 06:38 noobienoob wrote: what are those huge sphere shield-like things by the stalkers? Is that just the shield animation? If it is, it's way too big.. unless they're sharing shields or some complicating shit like that.
Read the OP man, it's the Mothership timebomb.
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So apparently the mysterious turrets we've seen is created by the nomad:
The turrets are dropped by the Nomad (using energy), acting as decent defenses, and even better harassment, if used by a skilled player.
Verified by Karune from http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=sc2-general&t=82782&p=1&#post82782
And firebats are produced from fac now...wow\
EDIT: oh OP updated his post with all these stuff already lol
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Does anyone have a screenshot that shows a turret?
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On November 13 2007 10:06 relaxxl wrote: Damn....Can someone remind me...why couldnt this be in 2D? Is there a reason it should be?
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
On November 13 2007 09:23 garmule2 wrote: I hope that firebats are the counter to Zealots' charge ability.
Of course, it wasn't really Firebats' low hp that made them useless. It was the fact that literally every T army involves siege tanks, and siege tanks kill your firebats.
I would like to see Firebats be immune to traditional splash damage. Not only would this explain why your Firebats don't kill eachother, it would allow them to actually attack enemy units without your own tank-splash killing them instantly. I think the only other unit that would be affected is the Colossus, with its thermal lance, against which perhaps the bat could take reduced damage. All of this can be explained simply by Firebats' new big armor, which is a type of metal specifically designed to be heat-resistant. are you serious? firebats aren't used because vultures do the job so much better and cost no gas (ie saving it for siegetanks) and against dragoons they suck sooo bad (and storm).. and against zerg they are completely useless vs lurker (and mutalisk).
i don't like the idea for another special armor (immortal anyone?) and simply adds to the confusion...
personally i don't see the firebats gaining much use in sc2, they arrive in at the same time as the Cobra (its still in right? just ability changed) and is just a stepping stone away from tanks. Meanwhile, you have the infinitely more agile and effective reapers (vs immortals at least) which more than cover the aspect of the game that the firebats are trying to fill. Tank/Reaper and later adding further tech seems much more viable than firebats - based purely on knowledge from SCI, as range units are generally preferred in terran.
However, against a hypothetical zerg their uses will probably be again quite limited. Zerglings will primarily be most feared in the early stages of the game - where the firebat will no longer be placed. The firebat will be too far up the tech tree to adequately counter zerglings. Depending on HP of banelings however, they could be useful (or absolutely dreadful). The may have some use if there is a dark-swarm spell still in the game, as the new improved firebat would be much more capable of dealing the damage to the late game zerglings.. although i think (and i'm sure many protoss's will agree) that you would still wantto engage away from the swarm dispite your splash - so once again the use will probably be quite limited...
sorry blizzard, i think that the firebat adds nothing to the terran arsenal as its current position makes its niche overlap with many other terran units - most of which would probably do a better job. They may yet be a viable counter to zealots, we'll see.
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If that Firebat is huge, the Thor is fucking massive! Just standing next to the Marines and Vikings, it looks like it could dwarf all the buildings in the game. And I think it actually looks less cluttered than before. The graphics seem a little cleaner, a little crisper. Maybe Im just imagining it.
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I'm really hoping sc2 unit will be revamped to a more proportional yet comprehensive look. i have to agree the unit's design feel is a bit better.
I guess they kept firebats because they appear in SC1 cinema. But i cant think any reason for them to be produced by the factory.
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I feel like SC2 is turning something simple and elegant into something over-the-top and clunky >.<
Everyday I feel more that I might just be sticking to BW after playing the campaigns and a few initial months of multiplayer.
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Is it really the graphics that keep you playing BW? Personally, if the game is balanced, challenging, and deep, we'll all probably play it for a long time to come.
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No, I am not just referring to the graphics, though its part of the problem. I just feel like they are trying to cram to much features into too many units, some of which are not really that intuitive. The graphics are flashy and clunky as well, and prevent me from seeing the entire scene clearly.
The overall theme is too much complexity, too grandiose and too much focus on flashy individual features over an elegant whole.
Thats just what it seems to me right now though. I pray that I am wrong.
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I thought so at first, before I saw it in motion. I have faith in how it'll all look while moving, as long as the effects are quick I'll be able to tell what happened to my units and their condition I'm fine with it.
EDIT: I just realized that the Firebat could be a cool counter to Banelings, if they could 1 hit kill the banelings you could micro your Firebats up front (probably where they would be anyways) to deal with them and keep your larger units safe. Similar to what people do to save their Science Vessles from scourge these days. Yay micro opportunity.
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Anyone up for barbequed lings? :D
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sorry blizzard, i think that the firebat adds nothing to the terran arsenal as its current position makes its niche overlap with many other terran units - most of which would probably do a better job. They may yet be a viable counter to zealots, we'll see.
Terran melee unit?
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On November 13 2007 16:57 Aphelion wrote: I feel like SC2 is turning something simple and elegant into something over-the-top and clunky >.<
Everyday I feel more that I might just be sticking to BW after playing the campaigns and a few initial months of multiplayer.
As do I... seems they are cramming wayyyy too much shit in there.
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On November 13 2007 15:31 Plexa wrote:Show nested quote +On November 13 2007 09:23 garmule2 wrote: I hope that firebats are the counter to Zealots' charge ability.
Of course, it wasn't really Firebats' low hp that made them useless. It was the fact that literally every T army involves siege tanks, and siege tanks kill your firebats.
I would like to see Firebats be immune to traditional splash damage. Not only would this explain why your Firebats don't kill eachother, it would allow them to actually attack enemy units without your own tank-splash killing them instantly. I think the only other unit that would be affected is the Colossus, with its thermal lance, against which perhaps the bat could take reduced damage. All of this can be explained simply by Firebats' new big armor, which is a type of metal specifically designed to be heat-resistant. are you serious? firebats aren't used because vultures do the job so much better and cost no gas (ie saving it for siegetanks) and against dragoons they suck sooo bad (and storm).. and against zerg they are completely useless vs lurker (and mutalisk). i don't like the idea for another special armor (immortal anyone?) and simply adds to the confusion... personally i don't see the firebats gaining much use in sc2, they arrive in at the same time as the Cobra (its still in right? just ability changed) and is just a stepping stone away from tanks. Meanwhile, you have the infinitely more agile and effective reapers (vs immortals at least) which more than cover the aspect of the game that the firebats are trying to fill. Tank/Reaper and later adding further tech seems much more viable than firebats - based purely on knowledge from SCI, as range units are generally preferred in terran. However, against a hypothetical zerg their uses will probably be again quite limited. Zerglings will primarily be most feared in the early stages of the game - where the firebat will no longer be placed. The firebat will be too far up the tech tree to adequately counter zerglings. Depending on HP of banelings however, they could be useful (or absolutely dreadful). The may have some use if there is a dark-swarm spell still in the game, as the new improved firebat would be much more capable of dealing the damage to the late game zerglings.. although i think (and i'm sure many protoss's will agree) that you would still wantto engage away from the swarm dispite your splash - so once again the use will probably be quite limited... sorry blizzard, i think that the firebat adds nothing to the terran arsenal as its current position makes its niche overlap with many other terran units - most of which would probably do a better job. They may yet be a viable counter to zealots, we'll see. No, your hypothesis doesnt hold really since the firebat of sc1 had to be weak due to coming so early and being a splash unit. In sc2 he comes later so he will be a lot stronger, this makes blizzard able to make the bats strong wo removing the weak earlygame of the terrans.
Dont think on firebats from starcraft, think on archons instead and they could be a very strong addition to the terran force. Its all about how they balance him.
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Hawk/Aphelion: can you tell what's going on in the videos? It's pretty damn easy when it's animated, which is what counts. Most 3D gameplay shots look cluttered like that... I can look at a screenshot of WoW or War3 and it'll still look fucking weird, but when you watch it live it's fine.
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No Plexa is right. SC never had "early units must be weak" paradigm in many other games. Marines, zealots, zerglings, are some of the most useful units in the game. Its not about late tech - > powerful units, but rather you must gain units which fit a unique role and do a specific job. That is the same reasoning why the reaver is taken over by the colossus, and hence his argument has merit.
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
On November 14 2007 02:24 Klockan3 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 13 2007 15:31 Plexa wrote:On November 13 2007 09:23 garmule2 wrote: I hope that firebats are the counter to Zealots' charge ability.
Of course, it wasn't really Firebats' low hp that made them useless. It was the fact that literally every T army involves siege tanks, and siege tanks kill your firebats.
I would like to see Firebats be immune to traditional splash damage. Not only would this explain why your Firebats don't kill eachother, it would allow them to actually attack enemy units without your own tank-splash killing them instantly. I think the only other unit that would be affected is the Colossus, with its thermal lance, against which perhaps the bat could take reduced damage. All of this can be explained simply by Firebats' new big armor, which is a type of metal specifically designed to be heat-resistant. are you serious? firebats aren't used because vultures do the job so much better and cost no gas (ie saving it for siegetanks) and against dragoons they suck sooo bad (and storm).. and against zerg they are completely useless vs lurker (and mutalisk). i don't like the idea for another special armor (immortal anyone?) and simply adds to the confusion... personally i don't see the firebats gaining much use in sc2, they arrive in at the same time as the Cobra (its still in right? just ability changed) and is just a stepping stone away from tanks. Meanwhile, you have the infinitely more agile and effective reapers (vs immortals at least) which more than cover the aspect of the game that the firebats are trying to fill. Tank/Reaper and later adding further tech seems much more viable than firebats - based purely on knowledge from SCI, as range units are generally preferred in terran. However, against a hypothetical zerg their uses will probably be again quite limited. Zerglings will primarily be most feared in the early stages of the game - where the firebat will no longer be placed. The firebat will be too far up the tech tree to adequately counter zerglings. Depending on HP of banelings however, they could be useful (or absolutely dreadful). The may have some use if there is a dark-swarm spell still in the game, as the new improved firebat would be much more capable of dealing the damage to the late game zerglings.. although i think (and i'm sure many protoss's will agree) that you would still wantto engage away from the swarm dispite your splash - so once again the use will probably be quite limited... sorry blizzard, i think that the firebat adds nothing to the terran arsenal as its current position makes its niche overlap with many other terran units - most of which would probably do a better job. They may yet be a viable counter to zealots, we'll see. No, your hypothesis doesnt hold really since the firebat of sc1 had to be weak due to coming so early and being a splash unit. In sc2 he comes later so he will be a lot stronger, this makes blizzard able to make the bats strong wo removing the weak earlygame of the terrans. Dont think on firebats from starcraft, think on archons instead and they could be a very strong addition to the terran force. Its all about how they balance him. Okay, lets run with the idea of the firebat being analogous to the archon. Strong splash damage unit for a large price. However, the purpose of the firebat was always a cheap low hp high damage unit. By buffing the firebat's HP up its been somewhat strengthened to the point where it could essentially be a flame tank. Think archon. Thus giving terran essentially two 'tanks' to chose from - siege and flame (remember the initial seige tank only had 150hp - x3 that of the firebat). An interesting scenario.
However, it seems that this new bat is not meant to be a 'new tank' for the terrans - it's being designed as a anti-zealot/vulture replacement unit. Why? A slight hp buff should bring its hp to around 75 (vulture hp). With the cobra's role changing to a dryad-esque unit (which imo is rather lame) its doubtful that it will deal enough damage to zealots for them to be effective. So what's the answer? Shove in a new tier 2 unit to compensate for the cobras shortcomings.
So we must ask ourselves, does the firebat represent what terrans want/need at this stage in the game? Splash damage easily dispatches mass melee unit (check) HP buff increases its viability and durability (check) Can be healed by medics (check) Can easily engage with zealots (check)
Awesome, the firebat is a great counter to zealots. What about stalkers? Splash damage (close range) isn't exactly that great vs range (not check) HP buff increases its durability (check) Can be healed by medics (check) Can easily engage with stalkers (not check)
So basically blizzard is giving the zealot a send off, and out of tier one it's usefulness rapid decreases.
Again, with no tier 2 units adequetly counter air of any kind (cobra is somewhat AA right?) terrans must up the tech tree to tier 3 to fight protoss air. Atleast at tier three protoss still uses a combination of units (ie HT, and probably Stalkers... maybe...) in conjunction with their own air.
So, im summation, what am i trying to say? - Firebat limits the zealots use in tier 2 to the point where they are no longer viable - Introduction of this unit will promote a stronger sense of linear tier progression - The consequence of the above is that many may find that the best (and only) solution is to tech 'rush' - It's use may still be limited against stalker/immortal combo
And as a side point, the terrans at this stage seem to becoming a much more reactionary race than they have ever been before. It seems that the protoss essentially gets to call the shots, and decide the direction and flow of the game leaving the terran to react to it. Whereas, in SCI protoss were the reactionary race - reacting to whatever the terran (or zerg) did.
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I keep staring at ghost's bums in the first screenshot, their kneeling pose isn't exactly convincing.
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On November 13 2007 01:57 Last Romantic wrote: I finally realized why the nexus looks so strange to me - it lost those four pillars at the corners.
That being said - my GOD, bring back the old Protoss color scheme. The old SC1 models left most units as blue/yellow, with some tribal coloring. These new ones are way too colorful.
Actually I just find the whole thing a bit too colorful - it is actually counterproductive and makes things quite confusing. [It's harder to tell what things are, since everything is the player color. whereas retaining more of the native look per unit whilst having less player colorization would be less confusing.]
Agreed on all, especially the Protoss look silly with the far out colors.
On another note, I like the Templar having some sort of attack. I imagine it should be off by default like the BW Ghost, using hold position to activate it, etc.
I agree the Nomad is fairly ugly, but the sci vessel was never much of a looker, so it wouldn't kill me to stay in it's current form. It seems obvious to me they wanted something that took up less screen space and blocked ground level units, hence the open design. Same thing for Carriers. Good move I think for gameplay.
Finally, yeah wow, those are some huge firebats. Wow.
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I think the change to the Factory for the firebat is more for "ease" of teching than anything. In other words, you make marines a while, then medics, then you build factories... you can go firebats if they are needed, or tanks if they are needed. It basically forces you to tech smoothly, instead of the all or nothing barracks or factory type options we had with Terran before.
Now you'd expect Terran in TvZ can have factories earlier without putting yourself at risk. If Z is going ground, you pick the appropriate unit. If Zerg goes air, you can make firebats to counter the lings, while still building marines/medics nonstop, while you tech to starport. No more "semi-useless" factory against heavy muta while you go to sci vessels. Yeah yeah, if it plays like you'd expect, etc.
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On November 13 2007 10:16 lololol wrote:
Actually pretty often in pro games the HT move in front of the army(since attack-move is just move for them) and get killed, because of that, so having an attack will definitely be benefical.
Actually, I withdraw my previous statement, as lololol has a good point. I'd change it to, if they are standing around they will not attack, but if they are attack moved they will. Or something close to that, so that while standing they aren't hindered by attacking when you need to quickly cast storm, etc. But they won't auto-stoopid die when attack moving in a grp.
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I think the templar having an attack is detrimental, as in Starcraft 1 units would not auto target them, because of no attack they are an extremely low priority AI unit, forcing people to either dodge storms/lose army, or manually target (unless you just completely overwhelm or something) With an attack, they may be placed a bit higher on the AI priority attack list, and if it's above zealot priority I think it will be really hard - then again we've got the smartcasting... w/e we'll see when the game comes out
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I don't know if this has already been said but the buildings in teh screenshot are: refinery, factory, bunker, turret, seige tanks..., CC, supply depots, and the one in the middle is just an unfinished depot.
Wow, I really like that idea of HT being able to create those hexagon shield walls.
And the fact that HT attack will make it easier to pick off temps (without having to surround micro each one to death)
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On December 04 2007 09:29 Superiorwolf wrote: I think the templar having an attack is detrimental, as in Starcraft 1 units would not auto target them, because of no attack they are an extremely low priority AI unit, forcing people to either dodge storms/lose army, or manually target (unless you just completely overwhelm or something) With an attack, they may be placed a bit higher on the AI priority attack list, and if it's above zealot priority I think it will be really hard - then again we've got the smartcasting... w/e we'll see when the game comes out Well, I guess you will have to remember to put your templars on cease fire in those cases.
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AHa! Can't wait... firebat looks awesume.
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i'm gonna get a seizure playing this game
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United States20661 Posts
Is it bad that the only reaction I have is "SUPERMAN HOMAGE!"
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Gah, I hope they don't go over the top with the graphics.
Looked very War3; lots of flashy lights but you have nfi what's going on.
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