Post by Alpha on Aug 6, 2005 5:15:54 GMT -4
'Eyyyyy guys. I was kinda hoping to start a bigass thread (albeit a little arrogantly) about everything Starcraft II related! After all, no SC forum would be complete without one, and I'm more than a little surprised we don't have one already.
Anyway, I'd like to get the ball rolling by quoting this funny and inspiring post from the Starcraft General Discussion forums on Battle.Net.. I don't believe it for a second, but I thought the poster IronChefCarnage had some ownij ideas for SC2.
On the whole though, something like this would just be like manipulating variables like an expansion pack and not really new, but read on!...
Anyway, I'd like to get the ball rolling by quoting this funny and inspiring post from the Starcraft General Discussion forums on Battle.Net.. I don't believe it for a second, but I thought the poster IronChefCarnage had some ownij ideas for SC2.
On the whole though, something like this would just be like manipulating variables like an expansion pack and not really new, but read on!...
"When will SCII Start?"
It's already in development. I have a buddy who hacked the Blizz network. He got this image:
features.cgsociety.org/galleryimages/4471/Fausto_medium.jpg
And a bunch of other stuff, including the private beta! We've been playing on our LAN for a few weeks now. I'd upload it, but it's 37 GB!!!!
The splash screen says Sony, so maybe it's for the PS3, but the controls are all keyboard/mouse, so it'll definitely be for PC, too.
It's 3D, but the characters are smaller on-screen than WC3, so it's not as annoying. There are a few changes to control groups, like the WC3 ability to select a unit type within the group. You can stim your rines without unselecting your medics, for instance. Also, you can control 20 units at a time. It's still a little small for huge ling rushes, but it's certainly manageable.
The campaign mode has heroes (the guy in the pic is named "Faust", and he can use a rocket launcher for his special attack - only three shots, though), but they aren't like in WC3 - they don't level. But they are unique, as in you can't build more than one at a time. They're great in the early game, but later on their impact is lessened. We've found that they're kinda like static defenses: If you can make it through the first third of the game without them, you'll be glad you saved the money. T heroes come from the rax, P come from the gateway, and Z can come in as soon as you have a pool. I won't describe them all here.
No fourth race. Sorry. Not a lot of new units, either. The balance is just about the same. However, lings and zeals can climb cliffs now, so tank drops are tougher. Also, the Valk's attack is an air-burst which works like the sair, which is more effective.
There's a zerg scout unit that can move while burrowed, called the Infiltrator. It takes a while to burrow and unborrow, so it can't get away in a hurry, but you can park it in a base early on (you just need an evo and a spawning pool to build it).
SCVs can multi-build structures now, like WC's peasants, and BC's Yamato Gun is optional. You can research it at the Physics add-on, or you can get the "Yamato Pulse". Not both. The YP is a radial attack. We can't figure out exactly how much damage it does, because SC2 does the dice-rolling thing like WC3, but two BCs can annihilate any number.of mutas and devourers. There's a long charge-up time, so good zerg micro can get you out of the way.
The new T unit is the Gauche (Terrans sound French in this one, too). It's an automated guided missile-thing, a lot like a scourge. They come in groups of two, like lings, and can be controlled independently. The thing is, they can't attack or patrol or anything. They "escort". You assign them to follow a larger air unit, and they orbit around it, like toss interceptors, except they kamikaze into threats. They, and the YP, make the Cruiser really effective against carriers and far less susceptible to scourges. I think T air is the best now.
Toss is almost exactly the same, except there are two kinds of goons: "Plasma Dragoons", which are normal, and "Ion Dragoons", which are kinda like firebats. They shoot out a laser beam that sweeps around and hurts ground units. I don't like them; they're too weak.
Also, you can combine a High Templar and a Dark Templar to get a "Rift Archon". It's a flying melee unit. Wicked fast, and smaller than normal archons. It can only get one spell, "Rift" at the Templar Archives. It makes it invisible for about fifteen seconds. If you have a handful of them, they can do pretty good hit&run harrassment against big air, like BCs, but they're too expensive and too high up on the tech tree for me to find a good use for.
Everything's crisper and sharper than WC3. Not cartoony at all. Our copy uses placeholder sounds, so they're all the same as Brood War, and where there would be new sounds there's nothing. I'm not at home now, so I can't post any screenshots of gameplay, but if you wait a few days, I'll get some up.