With the latest Karune Batch out, SCII is starting to look a little more concrete as we talk once more about damage and game dynamics. but of course, talk is cheap so I'll cut to the chase- here's Karune Batch #37
Chat with Devs: One of the latest changes the Devs are trying for the Nomad is replacing their previous stationary Mine Drone with Spider Mines. The Spider Mines behave the same as Spider Mines from the original StarCraft. It now also does 50 damage plus 50 additional damage towards armored units. Instead of only having 3 Spider Mines, the Nomad will be able to plant Spider Mines with the cost of 15 energy. These Mines will definitely prove quite formidable against mass Tier 1 units such as Zerglings and charging Zealots.
As always, feel free to give the Devs and I a w00t if you are enjoying the batches.
---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 37---
1. Can the Ghost snipe casting (energy based) units in the fog of war using its passive sensing ability? (Battle.net) crazy_dave
While the Ghost will not be able to snipe casters in the fog of war, their current range to detect casters(units with energy) is 30, giving you plenty of time to prepare for incoming threats.
2. Could you tell us more details about the Reapers' mines mechanics? Are they visible for the enemy? Can they be defused, or should simply be destroyed? Do they deal damage to friendly units and to each other? If so, does the explosion of one mine cause the detonation of its neighbors, or they just die, without dealing damage? (Battle.net) Elsoron
Yes, the Reapers mines will be visible, though depending on the placement, they can be covered by enemy units moving over them. The mines have very few hit points and can be killed easily. Nonetheless, it is important to note that they are very small, making it more difficult to micromanage those attacks when there are several mines.
Mines damage both enemy and friendly units/buildings, so making sure you dont blow up your own Reapers is quite important ;) Mines will not detonate other mines, have a 30 second cooldown, and they currently do 30 damage plus 30 additional damage to armored units (including buildings). Furthermore, the mine is now an upgradeable ability of the Reaper.
3. In StarCraft II there are destructible obstacles like rocks. Apart from simply killing them the Protoss Nullifier can lift them with his Anti-Gravity spell. Do the other races have any similar options to remove or pass the rocks with spells? (broodwar.de)
Actually, the ability to lift destructible doodads has been classified as a bug and has been fixed in the latest builds. Nullifiers have already proved to be quite strong when used in groups, being able to lift up Siege Tanks and Ultralisks, effectively taking them out of combat until the rest of their reinforcements are dead.
4. Do Anti-Gravitated Banelings keep their suicidal abilities and act as Scourge? (sc2blog.com)
Yes, when Banelings die while being lifted by Anti-Gravity, their explosion will hit air units in its area of effect. This could undoubtedly open up some unique and unexpected strategies in team games.
5. Blizzard made 2 e-sport oriented games after StarCraft: Warcraft 3 and WoW. What are the biggest lessons that you've learned from those 2 games and how will you apply them to StarCraft II? - VIB (teamliquid.net)
One of the main goals for StarCraft II is to keep the game very visually intuitive and readable. As Dustin has mentioned in our recent chat, visually When a unit teleports, it teleports. When it shoots, it looks like it is shooting. It should be easy to follow on a screen and players should be able to quickly understand what is happening in the battles. Futhermore, Blizzards games has followed the premise of easy to learn and hard to master. StarCraft II will follow this philosophy.
6. How does the Marauders slow ability work against the Zealots charge ability. According to present knowledge the concussion grenade shot of a Marauder forces its target to stop moving for a short time; afterwards the targeted unit can go straight forward. So does it stop a charging Zealot and does the speed bonus remain?(starcraft2.4players.de)
When the Marauders concussion grenade hits an enemy target, it will reduce that units speed immediately by a set percentage. The cooldown of the concussion grenade shot is subject to balance. Nonetheless, a charging Zealot slowed by a concussion grenade is still pretty fast. Before the Protoss player upgrades their Zealots with charge, a Marauder can kite a Zealot with relatively little micromanagement.
---End of Transmission---
Replays of the TeamLiquid Starleague have been released, though the tournament is far from over. The best is yet to come. As I said before, the top 16 are freed from the first qualifiers, but #17-48 have to fight another player from the same area to pass forward. Well, replays of those who got #17-48 have been released!
You can grab them over here.
Mondragon, the #1 in the rankings, also released his replay pack which contains whopping 133 replays. All his games can from TSL ladder can be found over here.
Sorce:
Pokerstrategy.com - Mondragons replays and interview
Today Blizzard unveiled a brand-new design for their Official Blizzard Store, not just overhauling the graphical appearance and navigation of the site but also incorporating several major new functions into the site.
Most importantly, Blizzard now allows you to register a "Blizzard Account" that will sync up with purchases from the store, but more excitedly once you register an account you get two major bonuses.
1) Your Blizzard Account is now the main place for you to enter Blizzard's Beta-Test Eligibility Lists. So make sure you setup an account and tick the box inside your Email settings to enter yourself into the Blizzard Beta Lottery.
2) A major new function now available is the ability to download copies of Blizzard games that you have previously purchased. You need to log into your account page and then go to the Games tab. Inside you'll be able to input the CD-Keys from StarCraft, StarCraft Battlechest, StarCraft Anthology, Warcraft III, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Warcraft Battlechest, Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Diablo II Battlechest (Diablo II downloads will be made available soon) or World of WarCraft, though WoW client downloads are still handled through the WoW website.
Clearly between the recent updates to WC3 and SC removing the requirement for your CD to be inside the computer to run the game, and now digital downloads for games you've purchased, Blizzard is moving themselves to the head of the pack when it comes to digital distribution and ease for their games. Hopefully this is a trend that we'll see carried onward with the release of SC2.
The Store now also features most of the Blizzard Licensed Products, including: Board Games, Figurines, Novels, Strategy Guides, and Misc. other products. A new StarCraft Anthology was released, basically a digital download of SC & SC:BW, without the added expense for the BattleChest that includes Strategy Guides.
Source:
Blizzard Account Setup
Blizzard Store
Once again, we see the popularity of StarCraft.org as a 'Resource for all things StarCraft related' as Gamer-Net has added us to their collection of StarCraft links.
I'd like to let you know that I've added Starcraft.org to the Starcraft links on Gamer-Net.com.
Gamer Net is a Social Network for all kinds of Gamers. It's primary purpose is to provide a place where gaming friends can stay in touch long after they have moved on from the games they have been playing together.
"Aragorn"
It sounds like an interesting site, and may be worth a quick browse if you are interested. It sounds a lot like a gamer's version of friends reunited, which is always quite a cute thing to see.
Link
Without any ado, here's the latest Batch, offering some great new insights!
1. Do Protoss Immortals get killed when a Nuke explodes next to them (seeing as the Hardened Shield blocks all high profile attacks and that a Nuke is definitely a high profile attack)?
In term of units, the only units that will be able to survive a Nuke will be the Protoss Mothership and Immortals upgraded with Hardened Shields. An upgraded Immortal will take 10 damage from a Nuke. To all other units, the Nuke will do 800 damage, thus making it much more powerful than the Nuke in the original StarCraft.
2. How powerful is the Roach's regeneration ability? How much time is needed to regenerate from 1 to full hp?
The Roach currently regenerates 15 hit points per second, allowing it to regenerate to full health in 6 seconds. In countering Roaches, a player must either micromanage the battle to make sure they are focus firing on each Roach one at a time, or they have to bring in high damage units such as Siege Tanks or Archons.
3. Are overseers any tougher than overlords?
When an Overlord evolves into an Overseer, it will gain a speed bonus, passive detection, the ability to generate creep below it, and the ability to corrupt' resources to make it more difficult for opponents to gain access to them. Furthermore, when Overseers sit in the same spot, over time its visual range will increase (but not its detection range).
4. Is it worth it to build a Terran Reactor Add-on since the benefit of doubling your queue list is not that useful, as it is often a bad idea to have your queue full?
Yes! The Terran Reactor doesn't just double the size of your queue list. For a mere 50 minerals and 50 gas cost for the Reactor, that Barracks, Factory, or Starport will have the ability to create two units simultaneously (assuming that unit doesn't require a tech lab add-on). Most of the time, building the Reactor will be worth it, rather than building a second Barracks, Factory, or Starport. Not only will you be able to build from a single building the production of two normal buildings, you will be able to salvage that Reactor if needed to get 100% of the cost back. Being able to salvage allows for quick tech shifts or evacuations.
5. Will there be different building textures resembling the actual terrain? (in Warcraft 2 the buildings were snowy on the winter maps)
This is something the art team would like to do, though it will ultimately come down to time. There's a lot of art work still left to do, such as their current task, which is putting the finishing touches on the Terran Marauder amongst several other units. On the Marauder, players will be able to see many intricate animations for both the weapons and their power suits.
6. Did the High Templar's Hallucination ability undergo any changes due to the introduction of new tough units, such as Thor or Colossus?
The Hallucination ability did not undergo changes because of those new units, but it did get significant buffs since the original StarCraft. First off, hallucinated units still have the same hit points as the original unit, but take double damage. Furthermore, the duration the unit lasts for will be around 2-3 minutes, which will be significantly longer than the original StarCraft. On top of that, to hallucinate a unit only costs 40 energy, which is much cheaper than the original StarCraft's cost of 100 energy.
So what're we left with from this Batch? We found out that Immortals are going to be able to survive a direct nuke when upgraded with Hardened Shields, further clarification was given and we now know that in 6-seconds a Roach can fully regenerate - so you all better get to work on your micro! - so focus-fire and micro'ing will be huge against them, Overseers have some buffed speed and abilities like we knew, but also interesting is the mention of their sight range increasing over time (not detection radius) when in a static position, along with a few other tidbits regarding cost of 2 Barracks vs. the Reactor Add-on, terrain variety and the Hallucination ability.
Check out this new screenshot showing a slightly modified appearance of the Baneling.
Source:
EU Battle.net
US Battle.net
The TSL Ladder is over, and over 2,000 people participated with almost 50,000 1v1's played within a single month! Everyone of them had been looking to grab a portion of the $10,000 prize pool!
| Rank | Player | Race | Points | Record |
| 1 |  Mondragon |  | 9586 | 95-17 |
| 2 |  Xiaozi | | 9138 | 140-80 |
| 3 |  BRAT_OK |  | 9009 | 102-59 |
| 4 |  Draco |  | 8924 | 96-35 |
| 5 |  White-Ra | | 8893 | 108-61 |
| 6 | Yayba | | 8886 | 126-92 |
| 7 | MIStrZZZ | | 8736 | 135-86 |
| 8 |  DinoT | | 8701 | 79-25 |
| 9 | Strelok | | 8676 | 65-21 |
| 10 |  BoxeRz | | 8542 | 95-51 |
| 11 | Nony | | 8535 | 81-18 |
| 12 |  David | | 8504 | 99-57 |
| 13 | Chosen | | 8492 | 157-114 |
| 14 |  Dezmund | | 8482 | 96-49 |
| 15 |  Castro | | 8886 | 126-92 |
| 16 | IefNaij | | 8341 | 79-31 |
Those who got to the top 16 will instantly participate for the final tournament which consists of 32 players. Those who got to numbers 17-48 will have to play another seed ranked in 17-48. The winner of that match will proceed to the final tournament with the top 16.
You can see the top 100 over at iCCup.
More news and replays will be posted here just as soon as they are available.
As a reminder, the winners will receive:
#1 Place: $5,000
#2 Place: $2,000
#3 Place: $1,000
#4 Place: $500
#5-8 Place: $250
#9-16 Place: $100
Source:
Teamliquid
It looks like a big one! Not 5, not 6, nor even 7, but EIGHT questions are answered. Truly, we are blessed today as Karune indulges us with a series of answers to questions which numbers the digit of Magic itself.
(If you don't get it, read more Pratchett)
Also included is a rather meaty development blog and gameplay blog. Fun for the whole family indeed:
Linkage
Chat with the Devs: The Dev team has been working hard to find the best defense mechanic that works for the Zerg. The latest builds have brought back Sunken and Spore Colonies, with a new twist. Sunken and Spore Colonies can now uproot and crawl to a more advantageous position. Incidentally, Protoss Phase Cannons no longer have the ability to change positions.
Giving the Zerg mobile defensive structures feels a lot more right as this ability opens up many more aggressive strategies in both Zerg mirrors as well as combined with Overlords generating creep to push these defenses up towards the front lines. Furthermore, there definitely is something about watching defenses crawling around that just seems very Zerg-like. Its worth noting that Zerg defenses while in mobile form have fewer hit points and are more vulnerable to attack.
Gameplay Blog: Over the past few weeks Ive really been practicing up with the Terran faction, as it is probably the one that I am weakest at playing with. After getting beat about three or four times and finally getting my build order up to speed, I realized Terrans actually have a huge advantage in StarCraft II with being able to block off choke points to your base with ease.
Currently, on most maps a Terran player is able to block off their base entry point before the enemy is able to scout, making it nearly impossible for the enemy to find out what the Terran player is doing behind that wall. With only a few Marines and a couple SCVs, the Terran player can fend off most early attacks, especially since they usually also have a higher elevation sight advantage.
Three popular options amongst the staff playing at Blizzard include:
1) Tech straight to Banshees, which have a very powerful single target attack, and can be researched to cloak. This unit devastates if the opponent is not prepared with both anti- air units as well as detectors.
2) Tech straight to Reapers, which can jump up and down hills without a spotter, and get an added bonus damage versus light units. What this means is that the Reapers are able to quickly get in an enemys resource line to annihilate workers at an astounding rate, as well as get out before the enemy can react. This works great if you can scout/scan to see if their main base is defended well with static defenses. On top of that, did I forget to mention that they can drop mines that do significant damage towards buildings? Yes, that means with a handful of these guys, you can drop enough mines to take out whole Hatcheries/ Nexuses, or strategically use them to take out Pylons or tech buildings. After you drop the mines, jump back out of combat and let the mine cooldown reset for another round of raids.
3) If a Terran player bunkers up as mentioned above and no attacks are made by this player, one way an opponent may respond is to expand and build a stronger economy, as they do not feel threatened. In this case, a Terran player can simply build up a huge force of Marines and Marauders behind the wall without the opponent knowing, and then strike when their opponent drops their guard.
Luckily, the Dev Team is well on top of balance, as they have introduced new abilities such as the Nullifiers Anti Gravity ability to lift up buildings blocking choke points and Nydus Worms to bypass such defenses to keep those Terran players honest. Maps will likely have larger choke points in the future to offer a little more chance for opponents to get a Probe or Drone in early to scout early teching Terran players.
---StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 35---
1. Do Banelings damage nearby friendly units when they explode onto an enemy target? (www.starcraft2.com.au)
No, in the current build the Banelings do not damage friendly units caught in the splash. The splash damage does cover its area of effect range evenly, doing the same damage to enemy units throughout the whole area.
2. When a Nydus Worm is detected, is it possible to shoot it down while it is traveling? (www.starcraftcz.com)
Yes, having detectors in strategic places will keep you from being surprised by an unexpected Nydus Worm showing up in your base.
3. Does the Nydus Worm, a ground unit, move through open space? (battle.net) pop.helo
Yes. We dont know how we are going to make this look yet. When we come up with a visual solution we are happy with we will show it to the community.
4. Can Zerg buildings be infested, and if so, what units are produced? (starcraft2forum.org)
Zerg buildings cannot be infested. It is planned that infested Protoss buildings will produce an infested Protoss unit that will play differently than the infested Marine.
5. Will be there such doodads like customizable light or shader? (battle.net) Dagguh
Yes.
6. The first screenshot listed in Karune's 33rd Q&A shows what looks like the Mothership's Black Hole ability. However, it was said that the Black Hole was removed. Does this mean the ability has returned in the current build? (Starcraft.org)
As mentioned before, the state of many of these units are always changing. In the current build, the Mothership has become more of a support unit with increased hit points and decreased speed. The Mothership now allows Protoss Gateways that have converted to Warp Gates to be able to warp units straight to the Mothership. The warp-in mechanic (which cannot be queued) has also been tweaked to allow Protoss players who use it to get a slight time decrease in unit production as opposed to queuing units traditionally at the Gateways. In other words, the cooldown timer on warp-in doesnt take as long as the build time for units at a Gateway.
Furthermore, the Mothership will also have the ability to transfer energy down to casters below it, such as Templars. Both the Time Bomb and Black Hole abilities have been removed
7. Will Phase Cannons be able to rematerialize on an allys Pylon Power, or an enemys Pylon Power for that matter? (sclegacy.com)
Phase Cannons are no longer able to move in the current build.
8. Is the Tauren Marine going to be included in the StarCraft II map editor? (battle.net) scorpionbrood
Yes. [Borat voice: Great success!]
