This week’s Q&A has been released and focuses on peripheral issues regarding Starcraft 2. Questions covered include teasers about cheats, map making, and cinematics. But of course don’t forget the usual cookie discussion about abilities on units like the Battlecruiser.

There’s no Gameplay shout this week or message from the Devs, just Q&A! But there’s still a lot of information to be gleaned here! Enjoy!
–StarCraft II Q&A Batch 42—

1. What was the main reasoning to shifting the Hydralisk backwards one technology level? How does this affect the Zerg early-game, especially since the Zerg will have absolutely no anti-air units before the Hydralisks? (gamereplays.org)

Actually, the Hydralisk has been brought back down to Tier 1.5, giving Zerg early anti-air capabilities without upgrading their Hatchery to a Lair. The test originally was to put Hydralisks at a later tech and have Corruptors be buildable earlier without a prerequisite building other than upgrading to the Lair. To make this happen, the Corruptors had to be nerfed appropriately to fit that tech, which made it very weak and much less fun. Additionally, without a prerequisite building, opposing players could not scout the Zerg player to see when they were going air, which did not fit the gameplay style we were shooting for.

2. What kinds of cheats will be included in Starcraft 2, and how will they be accessed/unlocked? (starcraft.org)

There will be cheats, but you wont know what they are from us sorry.
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Brian Morrisroe, the lead Diablo 3 Art Director apparently quit last week, according to a statement released by Blizzard to game blog Kotaku. The announcement comes on the heels of criticism from Diablo fans about the style of the new game’s art, but according to Blizzard Morrisroe’s disembarkment is unrelated. Blizzard also stated that the game art would not be changed and that they “are pleased with the look and feel” of the game, and it won’t change after Mr. Morrisroe’s departure. Personally, I thought the gameplay trailer for D3 was pretty amazing.

Still, the timing of the event leaves one to wonder if the Diablo community has offended. Blizzard is now seeking new talent at the Art Director position. Shouldn’t be too hard, seeing as how working for Blizzard is a dream job for many.

Via Kotaku.com

In this weeks’ Q&A Karune discusses some of the issues brought up since our last gameplay experience at WWI. We’ve all been brimming with questions, so he picked out some of the most pertinent topics including the Zerg static defense buildings and the highly debated new vespene gas mechanic. Enjoy!

Chat with Devs: Since the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, the topic of the new Vespene Gas mechanic has come up a lot across many different fansites and message boards. Thus far, this is one of the biggest changes which will affect the macro management of bases in StarCraft II. To shed some more light on this new mechanic, I have gotten a chance to talk to Dustin Browder, our Lead Designer for StarCraft II, about the progress thus far of the new mechanic, as well as the objectives this new mechanic is designed to achieve.

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Zeratul is a dark templar, a renowned psionic warrior and assassin whose forbears were exiled from the protoss homeworld of Aiur over a thousand years ago. The dark templar refused to submerge themselves in the communal protoss mind link, the Khala, preferring instead to strive as individuals. Zeratul holds the rank of prelate and is probably best known for his role in the ensuring the survival of the protoss since the zerg threat first became apparent.

Read more after the jump:

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New Starcraft 2 lore was released recently about the planet Char:

Char was formerly one of the thirteen core worlds of the Confederacy, but it is most notorious as the primary hive planet of the alien zerg. Upon its discovery, Char was found to be an inhospitable volcanic planet with thick ash covering most of its surface and tainting its acrid atmosphere. The hazardous environment is further intensified by extremely high levels of cosmic radiation from Char’s volatile pairing of binary stars, a class VI F0 sub dwarf orbiting an M8 irregular variable. Char’s elliptical orbit means whole regions of its sunward face can become molten seas during a close approach, with temporary islands forming in them due to rapid cooling as the planet swings away to the frozen outer reaches of the system.

In spite of the hellish conditions, Char was originally settled to exploit its fantastically rich reserves of heavy metals to fuel the rapidly growing Confederate economy. However, the planet became a source of friction between the Terran Confederacy and independent mining guilds operating out of Moria.

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Actually, the Hydralisk has since been boosted up quite a bit in terms of damage. They currently have 80 hit points and have a ground attack of 13 + 3 versus armored and an air attack of 12 + 5 versus armored. The Hydralisk also has a range of 6 and moves at a ‘fast’ speed, with no need to upgrade with the speed bonus anymore. Roaches on the other hand, only have an attack of 10, half the Hydralisk’s range, and is slower to move as well. The new damage the Hydralisk is able to put out now makes it very dangerous, as Zerg players will be able to take out buildings with a pack of Hydras, with only a few volleys (same goes to Battlecruisers!). Nonetheless, they are extremely weak at 80 hit points, and thus need to always be protected. The new cost for Hydralisks are also 100 minerals and 100 gas.

via StarcraftLegacy 

This week’s Q&A, Batch 40, has been released! This week’s batch is focused again on community question, no doubt because of the wealth of information Blizzard is readying to unveil at WWI in Paris later this month. We’ll have to be a bit patient, but there is still a wealth of interesting information in this week’s batch including discussion of the Battlecruiser’s loss of the Plasma Torpedo ability.

The ability is being replaced with a Missile Barrage ability that will be effective against light air units in an area of effect, like the Mutalisk. Enjoy this week’s batch!

This week we have launched the 3rd episode of BlizzCast, featuring an interview with the Lead Designer of StarCraft II about the Evolution of the Zerg from the original StarCraft to StarCraft II. Be sure to check that out here:
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcast/

Also, I’ve been curious - would you guys prefer having these Q&A Batches (multiple answered and added into a consolidated release) or would you rather these 4-7 questions be spread out across the forums in pertinent threads on battle.net? I have been doing a bit of both, but would love to get your feedback on it, to make it easiest for you to follow up on the latest updates in regards to the development of StarCraft II.

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The baneling is a creature so bloated with fluid-filled sacs that it can barely walk; instead, it moves itself by tucking into a tight ball and rolling. However, this ungainly appearance belies the fact that the baneling is an extremely dangerous organism, one of several new zerg specialists recently seen on the battlefield. When a baneling gets close enough to an enemy, the creature triggers a reaction within its volatile chemical payload that causes it to explode with devastating force and shower the immediate surroundings with searing acid. The baneling is destroyed in the explosion, which is very likely to inflict a huge amount of damage.

These living bombs are highly effective against both structures and ground forces; in fact, a clutch of them is capable of wiping out a group of vehicles and infantry in the blink of an eye. The banelings’ lethality is further enhanced by the zerg predilection for burrowing. An apparently safe area can soon turn into a deathtrap as these monstrosities emerge and roll into the midst of their foes, giving them virtually no time to react.

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Check out this video of a Korean Pro Starcraft Player:

This month’s Q&A deals heavily with the development of the Starcraft 2 Map Editor in all it’s glory. All the questions center around the map editor as well. Quite a few community questions in here. Enjoy!

As development for StarCraft II moves forward, so is the Map Editor for StarCraft II. We have no doubt that there will be countless awesome mods created for StarCraft II, so we want to make sure your Map Editor questions are definitely not left out of the Q&As. Keep the questions pouring in!

Also, in Batch 38, it was mentioned that Sunken and Spore colonies could move and plant off of Creep while also taking damage when not on Creep. To update, Zerg defenses will not be able to plant off of Creep.

Chat with Devs: Batch 39 focuses on the development of StarCraft IIs Map Editor and I got a chance to chat with our Map Editor Designer, Brett Wood. Brett was able to answer quite a few of our community map editors below. Furthermore, he wanted to also add that the StarCraft II Map Editor will improve upon the World Editor from Warcraft III in every way, with several new features such as having all abilities in the game being data driven. Brett Wood elaborates here on what it means for all data in the game to be data driven:

[Brett Wood] Lets say you have a cool idea for an implosion type of ability that will rapidly shrink down a targeting unit, then cause an energy shockwave that damages all nearby units within a certain area. Since there is no standard ability with a shrink-down effect, in Warcraft III youd have to resort to some fancy trigger work to achieve this effect. In StarCraft II, this kind of effect can be set up completely in the data files, and you could make the entire ability without having to use any triggers or scripting at all. Generally speaking, setting up abilities and effects will be easier through data customization than using triggers, although there will definitely be a learning curve there as well.

As always, feel free to give the Dev Team and I a w00t if you are enjoying the Q&As!

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This week’s batch is purely Q&A and features a number of questions from the community regarding the Roach and the map editor. Enjoy!

We have a traditional Q&A Batch this time around, in which we were able to add in additional questions from the community! There are still several art changes which prevent new screenshots from being shown, but once we get them out, they will be worth the wait! The development team has also been experimenting with many upgrades for all sides, which we’ll also be updating the community on as testing progresses.

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A German magazine was granted a visit with Blizzard Entertainment and has released an article about its supposed system requirements. They do seem a bit high; perhaps it would be a good time to upgrade your computer!

Here’s what the magazine suggested:

StarCraft 2 is at the moment at the alpha phase and it’s possible these could be final requirements. Of course it is, however, possible that the system values could easily change before release of this game.

Minumum Requirements
GFX: GeForce 7/8 Series or Radeon 1000/2000 with 256 MB RAM
CPU: Pentium 4
RAM: 1 GB
Internet: ADSL 1 Mbit

Recommended Requirements
GFX: GeForce 8000 or Radeon 2000 series with 512 MB RAM
CPU: Core 2 Duo or Athlon X2.
RAM: 2 GB
Internet: ADSL 3 Mbit

Optimal Requirements
GFX: Geforce 9000er or Radeon 3000er Series
CPU: Core 2 Duo 3 GHz or Athlon X2
RAM: 2GB with DualChannel mode

Is it possible? A Blizzard fanboy’s wet dream:

There is no cow level?

1) How many units can Nydus Worm and Phase Prism transport (does it depend to number of units or population)? Is it possible to load Zerg defensive buildings to Nydus Worm? That means loading Sunken Colony to Nydus Worm, burrowing and getting into enemy Zerg base, unloading and taking roots in enemy creep.

The Nydus will be able to transport as many as can be selectable (which is currently 255). Phase Prisms will be able to transport the same amount of units as the transport from the original StarCraft. Zerg defensive buildings will not be able to be transported in a Nydus Worm.

2) Does the terrain in the game affect damage which deal shooting units? E.g. shooting down of cliff, hiding behind the trees…

Terrain will not affect damage, but will affect line of sight. Without LOS (line of sight), you will not be able to fire back at enemy units with LOS on your units.

3) Can Baneling explode at command? (for the best using damage radius, for killing cloaked units) Does a killed Baneling explode? Can it be actived like a mine? (it’ll automatically explode when enemy unit gets closer) How can (immobile) Baneling hurt air units while they’re lifted up by Nullifier’s Anti-Gravity ability?

Banelings will not be able to explode on command. They will only explode on contact with an enemy unit or by a unit killing it. If Banelings are lifted up by Anti-Gravity and an air unit kills the Baneling, it will do damage to air units- which will be highly effectively against light units such as Mutalisks.

4) How complicated will it be to destroy Nydus Worm while moving?

In the current build, Nydus Worms are able to be seen while traversing the terrain. You do not need a detector to be able to see it traveling.

5) Is there some method in SC2, how Protoss can replenish their HP or shields or will they have to wait? Will Shield Battery replenish shields for buildings?

The Protoss will not be able to replenish their hit points unless they have allied Medivac Dropships healing them.

6) Does the Drop-pod’s falling hurt units/buildings in place of falling?

The Drop Pods ability has been removed from the Ghost in multiplayer.

7) Are Reapers, while flying, considered ground or air unit?

Reapers are still considered ground units when they are jumping up and down from cliffs.

How does the final mosaic of I <3 SC contest look like? When will we able to see it, how many pictures is it in sum? What are its proportions?

This will be out very soon. Keep checking the I <3 SC page for updates.

(via starcraftcz.com)

Check out this cool video I found of starcraft’s history: