StarCraft 2 Video Game

Starcraft 2 in a nutshell

starcraft — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:59:21 +0000

When is Starcraft 2 being released?

As usual, Blizzard is not setting a deadline. I hope they manage to get a beta out by the end of 2007 but based on previous titles, I wouldn’t surprised if they delay it.

What are the new units and races?

No new races this time, they’re sticking to the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg. There will be plenty of new units though. For example, the Protoss have been beefed up with an Immortal, Stalker, a Phase Prism.

Is Starcraft 2 an RTS or an MMO?

Thank God, Starcraft 2 is an RTS.

It’s a good think Blizzard don’t listen to Vivendi all the time, otherwise they’ll be doing one MMO after the other. In Starcraft 2, there will be a single player and a competitive multiplayer on Battle.net.

Will it run on my computer?

Blizzard is not posting specific specs but it says the game will run on Vista and Windows XP. So you probably don’t need to upgrade per se. Getting the most of the new 3D look though will require a good graphics card at least.

What’s different?

Not much. I can’t blame them, Starcraft is one of the best games of all time, no need to fix it, just expand it.

There will be a new 3D engine, of course. There will be several new units for each race. Also, Battle.net will be upgraded with more multiplayer features.

Starcraft 2 Interview on YouTube

starcraft — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 22:45:09 +0000

Q and A session

starcraft — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:38:46 +0000

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.

Starcraft 2 Thor

starcraft — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 03:50:22 +0000

Another unit update on the official site:

The Thor project has been shrouded in mystery since its very beginning. Agents of the Umojan Protectorate were the first to uncover a trail of clues that the Terran Dominion was intent on creating some kind of new terror weapon. The Umojans’ curiosity was aroused when they heard rumors that the huge Simonson munitions facility on Korhal IV had been placed under a complete security lockdown by Dominion forces. Something big was in the offing, so big that the workers at the Simonson plant had been virtually placed under arrest to prevent any information from leaking out.

The crack team of spies swung into action to search for leads that would betray the work being undertaken. Hacked cargo manifests showed deliveries of battlecruiser-weight neosteel armor plating extending back over a year. Passive sensors that the spies planted around the facility picked up occasional industrial-strength electromagnetic discharges and regular seismic shocks. An increasing flow of high-ranking Dominion officers was observed coming and going, indicating that the project was close to completion. Yet beyond these tantalizing pieces of the puzzle, the Umojan team drew a complete blank.

The Umojans began to be frustrated by their lack of progress, and frustration can lead to recklessness. A young operative on the team, Ulli Trey, offered to take the risk and try to infiltrate the facility. The team leader was reluctant but out of other options, and so he approved the plan. Trey’s approach was flawless: she liquidated the driver of the Dominion commander and took his place. As she had anticipated, the rigorous security checks needed to get through the outer cordon around the facility were focused on the high-ranking officer instead of his lowly driver.

Once inside the facility, Trey released a clutch of nanotech micro-spies to trail the commander as he went deeper into the facility. From this point Ulli Trey could only sit and wait, hoping that the stealth capabilities of her miniature spy drones would be good enough to prevent them–and her–from being caught.

Within a few hours Agent Trey was free and clear, carrying vital information about the Dominion’s most significant military development since the Brood War: Project Thor. The micro-spy images showed a huge bipedal war machine armed with two giant particle beams and a dorsal artillery battery that wouldn’t be out of place on a battleship. Most disturbing of all was the demonstration that this monster could be built from the ground up by ordinary construction vehicles in an astonishingly short time frame. The Umojan team reported back to Protectorate, thoroughly shaken by their findings and praying that some counter could be found for such a beast.

Twilight Archon

starcraft — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 16:31:34 +0000

Every protoss has a level of psionic capability that is extremely rare among terrans. The protoss of the Templar caste devote their long lives to honing their powerful abilities for war. Of these dedicated individuals, only the most adept and disciplined in the ways of the Khala can hope to eventually rise to the honored rank of high templar. The terrifying power of the high templar is rightly feared by the enemies of the protoss. A mere handful of these potent individuals can lay waste to entire armies of foes.
Twilight archons spearhead an assault on the terrans

The dark templar hail from very different roots, but the powers at their command are no less awe-inspiring. While the high templar unleash fire and lightning, the dark templar stalk the shadows, swathed in darkness. However, both branches of the templar tradition share the ability to merge their souls to form a deadly archon.

These swirling, burning effigies of the protoss spirit radiate incalculable power. Their devastating psionic storms can be unleashed against cowering enemy forces both in the air and on the ground. With the halves of the protoss race reunited, an archon can now be brought into being by the merge of two high templar, or two dark templar, or even the unification of a dark templar and a high templar. Although the protoss are loath to sacrifice valuable templar, those who do achieve this final level of commitment are forever honored in the memories of their people.

16 Units you can expect in Starcraft 2

starcraft — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 15:31:42 +0000

The original Starcraft: Brood War expansion game had eleven units per race. With the exclusive info released by PCGamer (August 2007 edition), Blizzard Entertainment revealed at least 16 units should be expected per race. Below you can take a look at the description of each Protoss Unit.

Zealot

Zealots are the standard infantry unit of the Protoss. Equipped with psionic blades for melee combat, zealots may confront zerglings and marines in battle with ease, unless outnumbered. In Starcraft II, Zealots have a new ability named Charge with which they can close in on enemy ranged units such as Terran Tanks.

Stalker

Stalkers are an enhanced type of dragoons operated by fallen dark templars. The Stalker may be used as an anti-air and anti-infantry unit. Stalkers also have the blink ability to teleport and close in on fleeing enemies.

Immortal

Immortals are effective against Terran tanks and heavy ranged units. Their enhanced shields will deflect most of the damage against enemy units with powerful ranged attacks. However, Immortals are vulnerable to light weapon units such as Terran Reapers and Zerglings.

Observer

Confirmed to return in Starcraft II, but details of enhancements or new abilities are not yet revealed

Colossus

Colossus are four-legged mechanical units equipped with two beam guns that sweep through enemy units one at a time., destroying marines and zerglings. They are effective assisting packs of Zealots. Keep them in the back and protect them. Colossus are vulnerable to Banelings and reapers. With their long legs, Colossus units can walk through obstacles and hills with ease.

Phoenix

The Phoenix are anti-air flying fighters with a fearsome ability. When the enemy brings in multiple air-units, the Phoenix can be used to destroy them by activating its overload ability. A net of beams successfuly wipes anything caught in its perimeter. A vulnerability to using this ability is that the Phoenix remains offline for some seconds not able to move or attack. Enemy units still in the area could take advantage of this weakness to destroy the Phoenix.

Phase Prism

Phase Prisms replace the Scout transporting vessel. They are used to warp-in up to sixteen protoss units anywhere on the battlefield. Phase Prisms also serve as a mobile pylon to power up protoss buildings when enemy units have destroyed pylons. Phase Prism is useful to build a quick defense at a new Nexus for expansion of your mineral and vespene gas resources. Phase Prisms could be used to power phase cannons strategically placed to surprise enemies in unsuspecting areas.

Warp Ray

Warp Rays are anti-air and anti-infantry units with additional damage the longer they fire a single target. Warp Rays can destroy Terran Battlecruisers and Heavy Zerg flyers more efficiently than Phoenix units. Warp Rays can be used to destroy enemy buildings within seconds. Warp Rays are vulnerable to swarms of marines and hydras.

Mothership

The Mothership is at the top of the Protoss tech tree. Only one Mothership can be built at a time. Among its abilities are the Time Bomb which distorts time around a radius, slowing down enemy missiles and projectiles in mid-air. After the field shuts off, all projectiles fall harmlessly to the ground. The planet cracker is a series of energy streams devastating anything it encounters on the ground including ground units and structures. The Mothership has a ultimate ability named Black Hole. It may be used against large amounts of anti-air enemy flyers such as Battlecruisers, and Mutalisks. The Black Hole sucks in all enemy units within its radius.

High Templar

The High Templar still creates Psionic Storms, but has gained a new ability similar to Arbiter’s Stasis Field. The High Templar can effectively neutralize enemy units temporarily, while your forces take advantage. The High Templar ability allows Protoss players to create blockades as a strategic bottleneck or barriers to stop advancing enemy units.

Dark Templar

The stealthed melee units from the original Brood War are back. Enemies without detection units will be vulnerable to these expert ground assassins. New abilities have not yet been revealed.

Twilight Archon

They are the Protoss tank unit wreaking havoc through enemy defenses. Blizzard is still tinkering new abilities for this powerhouse. For now they are as Archons from the original StarCraft.

Tempest

They replace the old Carriers, equipped with an enhanced shield that activates when its attacked by ground units and defense structures. Tempest is vulnerable against air attacks. They unleash disc fighters against enemies.

Soul Hunter

Soul Hunters are robotic units that hover above the ground. They are anti-infantry units that suck the souls of enemies. The more souls they consume, the more powerful they get. They fire a single beam at first, and as they consume more souls it powers up to three beams, increasing its damage output. Soul Hunters are effective against small enemy units. Thirteen Soul Hunters can destroy a Command Center within 10 seconds.

Reaver

The old robotic-slug Reaver unit is back. With the use of a Phase Prism, the reavers are devastating against enemy SCVs and Drones. Upgrade abilities are still unknown.

Phase Cannon

Phase Cannons can now phase and shift into an energy form, similar to Warcraft III wisps, and move around freely to another location where it can materialize again to unleash its energy blasts. A Pylon or Phase Prism must be within range to become functional. However, if the Pylon or Phase Prism is destroyed before the Phase Cannon materializes, they are lost.

Star Relic

The Star Relic is a dangerous unit. It can create a cloak field to make ground and air units invisible, and even structures. Star Relic has a fusion beam ability against a single unit. It slowly causes damage until the unit dies. However, the danger comes after … the enemy unit becomes a living bomb, exploding and damaging everything around its perimeter. The bigger the unit, the bigger the damage radius when it goes boom.

Starcraft 2 New Upcoming Protoss Units

starcraft — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:11:25 +0000

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.

RTS Starcraft

starcraft — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:54:08 +0000

The purpose of any real time strategy game (RTS) is to plainly have an amazing strategic as well as tactical depth in the game. Most of the other real time strategy games have their own beliefs as to what should be their strategic and tactical depth but leave it up to Blizzard Entertainment to raise the bar with their new StarCraft II game. As long as Blizzard keeps its promise to the gaming community, StarCraft will be nothing less than the ultimate RTS game with some of the best implementation of their game play elements. It is important to a gamer that the RTS’s tactical depth as well as the strategic fell nothing less than real, otherwise there is no real reason to play. A game must feel as though every part, every element in the game plays an important function in the strategic play of the game or it is worthless, but as long as Blizzard Entertainment keeps its promises with their new StarCraft II release, then it will be well worth the wait for this highly anticipated game.

Blizzard is also expected to do something about both cheaters in the game as well as those who “accidentally lost their connection”. As the ever increasing amount of money Blizzard is placing into the research and development of their StarCraft II, Blizzard can be expected to go above and beyond the call of duty of what is expected from the gaming community in a new game. Blizzard will be building in a more complex algorithm into their Battle.NET in order to more actively fight cheaters and those who all to often “get disconnected”. A passive anti-cheater mechanism is vital in the growing gaming industry and it is what the real gamers want.

Blizzard Entertainment has been a formidable developer for the gaming industry as well as developers that also have an odd sense of humor that one can only sit back and laugh at. A game that is developed by a gamer is the way to go and on the original StarCraft One can remember the bogus yet funny April Fools Patch, which was only temporary, but it definitely made a buzz in the gaming community that Blizzard Entertainment as well as the StarCraft line of games is a game developer that is just for the gamers.

Expect the new release of Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II to be nothing less than the pinnacle in the gaming industry and the leader of gaming technology the world over.

Warp Ray Starcraft 2

starcraft — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:12:49 +0000

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.

Warp Ray thoughts

starcraft — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:11:01 +0000