[Megathread] StarCraft 2

[Deleted]

Have you heard about this contest? http://www.go2arena.com/heart-of-the-swarm. I wanted to buy HOTS anyway, so it looks interesting

[Shinzai]

Not to sure what to make of the IEM play offs. The Zergs in general weren't using all the current tactics and got severely wrecked by a lot of Terrans who've been highly active during the beta. Also there was no real pressure put on Protoss by the Zerg players, which gave the impression of Zerg being severely UP at the moment. If anything, I guess it's good to see that Protoss and Terran have been improved potentially to the point of being balanced. Still not sure about Medivacs not requiring energy to use boost. Yoda, aka Jedivacs really showed how to put it to work.

[Deleted]

LGIMedivacs seemed rather strong, not sure what should be changed with them if anything.
Maybe replace the medivac reactor with a research for speed, would probably prevent some early game DMG, but im sure there are better solutions

[ac1dburn]

You can't unlearn research choices, but Gamdwelf is correct you can pretty much beat the campaign without research choices unless most likely on brutal or something. Supernova was simple on normal, and hard the auto refinery helps but isn't necessary. At the start i suggest right after clearing the landing zone taking all your units to the top left and kill that toss base before it gets built, then you won't have to defend, and banshees are your friends on this mission remember that.

[Wass]

Medivacs should remain unchanged. Terran really needs this harass-option. Hellbat drops were already nurfed and the transformation upgrade is still in the game.

If anything then make the speedboost cost a bit of energy to use.

---------- Post added 2013-03-10 at 12:56 PM ----------

Also:

[Shinzai]

[/COLOR]Also:

The "...my APM is somewhere between Swedish and Korean..." amused me the most, strangely.

[Darkrulerxxx]

I'm literally dying for the wait for Heart of the swarm to come out...I feel like cartman in southpark when he's waiting for the Wii to come out. i might as well freeze myself >.<

[Wass]

The "...my APM is somewhere between Swedish and Korean..." amused me the most, strangely.

Indeed. I found this very amusing aswell since I am Swedish.

It's launchday! And I've gotta study for an exam that I have tomorrow! But I don't give a fuck! Yay!

[Nerraw]

I won't be able to play until tomorrow afternoon. Bloody school.

[Wass]

I won't be able to play until tomorrow afternoon. Bloody school.

Oh, same. I have an exam that might take up until 13 to finish. Then I'll go pick it up from the store, while carefully avoiding all places that might spoil the campaign.

---------- Post added 2013-03-11 at 01:01 PM ----------

Also,

http://www.twitch.tv/starcraft

Today's stream to "prepare" for the launch event. Loads of good showmatches are played.

And the most recent from carbot in case anyone missed it:

[Collected]

Is it worth getting the expansion if you're a casual player who just plays against A.I? Would I be missing out on new units etc? What if I wanted to play against other people?

[khalltusk]

Anyone else going to watch the livestream for a bit tonight?

[Deleted]

took some time with hots, but know i'm really starting to get excited. not even 8 hours to go, w00t!

[Millennía]

Have been watching the King of the Beta games and the Morrow Vs CatZ games were really awesome but it just seemed that Morrow turtled really hard and at about 15 mins or so into the game he became very dominant with Thor/Tanks/Viking/Raven + seeker missiles. This seemed like an extremely difficult combo to face as Zerg because Catz used Brood lords, lings, Ultralisk, infestor etc and nothing seemed to be able to break the Terran down. How would a zerg deal with that kind of build or prevent the terran from getting to that point in the game despite the turtling?

[TacTican]

Have been watching the King of the Beta games and the Morrow Vs CatZ games were really awesome but it just seemed that Morrow turtled really hard and at about 15 mins or so into the game he became very dominant with Thor/Tanks/Viking/Raven + seeker missiles. This seemed like an extremely difficult combo to face as Zerg because Catz used Brood lords, lings, Ultralisk, infestor etc and nothing seemed to be able to break the Terran down. How would a zerg deal with that kind of build or prevent the terran from getting to that point in the game despite the turtling?

I didn't watch the game in question but I do have a few thoughts concerning the metagame of Zerg vs. the other races.

Zerg units aren't really able to stand up to Protoss or Terran in a straight brawl, just as in Brood War where as a Zerg player you could expect to lose a quarter of your army before the first unit reached your enemy. Likewise, in SC2 conventional wisdom dictates that the Zerg player must be at least one base ahead of a Terran or a Protoss at all times just to have a chance. A mid-game Zerg army of Roaches and Hydralisks will just melt against Terran mech or Protoss robo. Positioning is important to Zerg players; a good tactical engagement with a strong concave can be the difference between a decent army trade and being badly slaughtered.

Where Zerg really shine is in mobility. Since their units are weaker pound-for-pound than Terran or Protoss, but faster on the average (and even faster on Creep), Zerg can exert map control with speedy units and dictate the terms of the engagement. Zerg players therefore have to overcome their opponents with superior tactics and positioning, but with proper play a Zerg can keep most enemy bases under constant threat while hitting hard and fading fast in guerrilla-style warfare (and some would argue that this may be the only way for a Zerg to play in the late game until a decisive advantage is reached). Brood Lord/Ultralisk/Infestor is a powerful combo and used to be one of the most feared late-game situations in Terran vs. Zerg - a Zerg who teched to Brood Lords forced a Terran to mass Vikings in order to neutralize the threat, only to be destroyed once the Zerg tech-switched to Ultralisks and Cracklings. The metagame has shifted since then, but Zerg mobility remains one of their key strengths. A turtling Terran player cedes map control to the Zerg; while the Zerg army might not be able to stop the doomball once the Terran army hits critical mass, the Zerg army shouldn't try. Instead, the Zerg should follow one of Sun Tzu's maxims, namely, "Attack what is precious to the enemy and force him to defend it" - namely, either the Terran's production facilities or his resource income, with a view to starving the army and perhaps picking off stray units. By doing so, the Zerg decides where and if a battle is to be fought.

Some more reading that may be of interest: a study of the play of Ma Jae "Savior" Yoon, the only Zerg player ever awarded the title of Bonjwa: God of the Battlefield

[Draenox]

I am so hyped for Heart of the Swarm, have been playing Stacraft 1 and Brood War through the last few months for the older story content. Will be even more enjoyable going back to the improved controls and pathing after so long :>

[Shinzai]

Is it worth getting the expansion if you're a casual player who just plays against A.I? Would I be missing out on new units etc? What if I wanted to play against other people?

The expansion is mostly focused around the single player. All the new Zerg units should be playable and I'd guess that a few side missions will let you play as Protoss/Terran too. There'll be a lot of units that probably won't be available to multiplayer players too. The whole storyline so far appears to be about the evolution of the Zerg race and how they modify and adapt their genetics to whatever it is that hey have to face. As far as I know, there's 20 or so single player missions and all the usual side attractions to go with it, so it should be well worth it whether you play multiplayer or not.

As to the multiplayer side, it so far seems more balanced than previously, but requires a lot more learning to master.

---------- Post added 2013-03-11 at 09:01 PM ----------

http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company...rm-launch.html

Just in case anyone's not aware, that's the link to the Twitch stream of the even, currently Tastosis commentating and amusing my face off, with Apollo and David Kim analysing and discussing the games. This is pretty awesome stuff.

[barackopala]

Been playing the campaign for a while now (started playing 6 hours ago, but haven't done much of a progress yet, I'm only at 33% of the game, it definately is longer than WoL), the map variety is amazing and smartly designed, i have to admit macroing is way easier in the campaign than in multiplayer and queens cost 50 gas (didnt get use to it the first few missions, thus screwing up). The missions are somewhat harder now (had to reset the 3rd mission on brutal like 2 times due to bad calls from me), but there are some that are just ezpz and end up being a "macro and win" situation.

What was improved by a lot were the map mechanics, each map feels somewhat unique and have some nice gimmicks that will leave you a bit more fulfilled than the sort-of stale maps from WoL, blizz definately learnt from WoL, props to them.


*Opinion about story writing, not presenting new stuff.
The only downside is that the story is still somewhat bland, not as much as WoL, lacking but still overall a nice improvement from the first version.


*For anyone who wants to play the game, it's already released in SEA Region, just create a regions.xml on the SC2 directory that says the following:*
<regions>
<region displayname="AUTHENTICATION_SG_REGION" hostname="sg"
allowedProductLocales="all" localesThatDefaultToThisRegion="enSG"/>
<region displayname="AUTHENTICATION_US_REGION" hostname="us"
allowedProductLocales="all" localesThatDefaultToThisRegion="enUS"/>
<region displayname="AUTHENTICATION_EU_REGION" hostname="eu"
allowedProductLocales="all" localesThatDefaultToThisRegion="enGB"/>
<region displayname="AUTHENTICATION_KR_REGION" hostname="kr"
allowedProductLocales="all" localesThatDefaultToThisRegion="koKR"/>
</regions>

Links to some pics i took from the campaign, only show cool new enemies, nothing too major.

http://i49.tinypic.com/fyq0j5.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/212ww0m.jpg -> EASTER EGG FOUND!
http://i45.tinypic.com/iqatk4.jpg

[Deleted]

I played like the first 10 Missions this afternoon and think its pretty cool. The "evolve" system is kinda cool. Flying Banelings ftw
And I just love the story, I hope for a happy end.


Little spoilerfrom the start of the Game
i.imgur.com/O0ecqeQ.jpg

[Dundebuns]

Anyone else found out that running the installer from the DVD will make it install from the internet? Anyone know how to get it to install from the DVD instead?