StarCraft 2 Video Game

Blizzard Entertainment has released another of its weekly Q&A sessions providing answers to fan questions about the upcoming StarCraft II. The 16th in the series, that Q&A offers some data about changes to the Terran bunker, as well as discussion of the new moment Bomb ability of the Protoss Mothership.

Chat with Devs:
Since BlizzCon, the Terran Bunkers have been increased in size (to 3×3) and given added hit points, making it a more viable defensive structure for the Terrans. The Dev Team really wants to further define the uniqueness of how each faction plays, giving Terrans a strong character of defensive type tools. Watching the Firebats flame from these Bunkers certain do bring back memories!

1. Does the moment Bomb ability of the Mothership stop a Nuclear Missile (just like other missiles) when used on the area where the Nuclear Missile is about to blow up?
The date Bomb ability of the Mothership is designed to stop a Nuclear Missile whether used at the right date, making a forceful counter in the hands of a skilled Protoss Player. that ability has still yet to go through the needed balance to construct certain that is not by powering, but it is our intention to try and get that ability in the final version as designed.

3. Does Drop Pads form new units or use that recruited before?
There are plans to have the drop pods be manually loaded with units created by the player, to better allow the player to adapt to their current tactical needs.

4. What was the design team’s rationale in adding a second siege style unit (Thor) to the Terran race?
The Thor’s role compared to the Siege Tank, is more of an assault unit rather than a siege unit. The Thor is much more exposed when attacking an enemy location, while the Siege Tank has a much larger range and is able to hit the enemy at a larger distance.

Blizzard plus recently updated the official StarCraft II website with a new featured unit, that moment showcasing the new and improved Protoss Carrier

Most carriers have no weapon batteries of any kind, but their deployment of interceptor flights makes them devastating in a ship-to-ship battle. However, a handful of heavily armed “super carriers” exist, most famously the Gantrithor. that was the flagship of Executor Tassadar when he led a protoss expeditionary force in its attempts to eradicate the zerg in terran space. The Gantrithor was effective abundant that it single-handedly defeated an entire terran battlecruiser squadron under the command of General Edmund Duke. Tassadar later sacrificed himself and his ship to destroy the zerg Overmind when it manifested on Aiur.

Gamespot released some Starcraft 2 News regarding new Protoss Units in the future. Have a look:
While Pardo affirmed that previously discussed units such as the zealot infantry and immortal battle tank are still on the table, we were also introduced to several new units that hadn’t been shown at Blizzard’s previous event in May.

These include the soul hunter, a hovering ground unit that can attack both air and ground opponents. Another new unit is the phase cannon, a stationary turret that can be changed into a hovering energy ball that can move like a normal unit, reminiscent of Warcraft III’s wisp units, as long as it remains within range of the Protoss power grid. They can then be redeployed as stationary turrets to act as roadblocks or as forward firing lines.

Other units include the tempest, a flying troop transport with an underside energy shield that protects against ground-to-air fire, but leaves the unit vulnerable to air-to-air attacks, and the return of the dark templar (which still has stealth abilities) and the high templar (which still possesses the devastating psi-storm ability) units. As before, templars can be merged to form archons, known as twilight archons in Starcraft II, which act as exceptionally powerful infantry units.

Note that while all these units sound promising and offer intriguing new strategies, none of them are final. A completely different set of units may end up in the final game.

It looks like the Warp Ray is a kind of artillery unit specialized for taking down anything with a lot of hit points. Like the Colossus, the Warp Ray has a continuous wave beam weapon, but there are substantial differences. Whereas the Colossus’ weapon stays on all the time, doing “splash” damage to units in the arc between its targets, the Warp Ray’s weapon turns off while acquiring a target and takes time to focus on its target (bringing up to 3 streams of energy to bear on the target).

The Colossus seems to be good against massed infantry (zerglings, marines, etc.) due to the sweeping of its weapon. The Warp Ray is effective only when it can concentrate on a target. I would imagine that a number of smaller units like Wraiths could swarm the Warp Rays and take them down easily, especially if the targeted Wraiths kept flying out of range, forcing the Warp Rays to select new targets.

Builds From: Stargate
Armament: Prismatic Beam
Role: Long-range Bombardment

A warp ray is a ship virtually built around a single gigantic power source: the prismatic core. This device seethes with energy drawn from two realms: the Void, which is truly understood only by the dark templar, and the psionic matrix, which underpins the technologies of the Aiur protoss. In combination these two energies form a self-sustaining reaction of terrifying potential.

Normally the prismatic core is held in check by an arrangement of flux field projectors. When a warp ray locks on to a target, the projector arms smoothly part like the petals of a flower. A complex array of warp lenses and phase-crystals works to focus the energies of the prismatic core into a ravening beam of destruction.

As the prismatic beam is held on the target, more of the focusing array becomes aligned, and up to three individual power streams combine together. Over a few seconds the beam’s intensity and power grow exponentially. Few enemies can withstand the awful power of the prismatic beam for long: even large and heavily armored targets like buildings or battlecruisers are incinerated in moments.