• Terran Air Units
• Starcraft 2 Units Index
• Terran Air Discussion

Find out everything about the Dropship and the Battlecruiser today!

Online, we’ve learned a lot. In the original “StarCraft,” there was no online matchmaking system. That’s going to be huge…for “StarCraft 2.” In “Warcraft 3,” you had to press the “play game” button and it’d put you in a game with similarly skilled people. We’re going to do yet another improvement on that system for “StarCraft 2,” which is going to be huge for the online market — especially broad market users.

Read the rest here.

What are your first impressions of Starcraft 2? Ownage!    200    81%  Not Bad    39    16%  Disappointment    5    2%  Daboo?    3    1%  TOTAL 247 100

Well, naysayers be damned. This is perhaps one of the most unanimously positive survey that we have ever witnessed. Quite frankly, almost everyone is blatantly ecstatic about Starcraft 2, and I am one of them.

Size	Small
HP	?
Cost:	??
Air/Ground Attack:
Damage	8
Cooldown:	?
Range	3

Armed with experimental jet packs, the Terran Raiders are highly skilled mercenaries who have come to join the Dominion in search of plunder. With more combat experience in their belts that the ex-convict marines, Raiders are fast, quick, and lethal. While physically weak, and lacking in any defensive armament, Raiders are aimed with twin pistols that deal considerable burst damage. Never seeking for a fair fight, raiders have become a guerilla force that is a constant bane to enemy commanders.

Strategic Properties:
Raiders should never be used as base defence, a role which the Marine is far more cost efficient for. Due to their low range, large groups of raiders will also be at a disadvantage in a pitched battle between two armies. The primary purpose of a Raider is to disrupt the enemy economy. When massed in enough numbers, they can also be used as assassins to pick off enemy spell casters, immortals and other slow moving targets..

The main advantage of the Raider is his jet pack, which not only allows raiders faster travel, but also the ability to jump up and down cliffs. Together with their high damage potential, a group of raiders has the potential to burst into a base from behind, and annihilate supply lines before the enemy can re deploy their forces. Raiders make a perfect compliment to a Terran army that is generally known for its lack of mobility.p

Specal Properties:

	Cliff Climber: The Raider can traverse different Terrain levels without using a ramp..
	Can Enter Bunkers: This unit can enter a Bunker

• Terran Ground Units
• Starcraft 2 Units Index
• Discuss it!

Stay tuned for Terran Air very soon!

Those of us situated in the United Kingdom may well be interested to know that the BBC’s flagship business show, The Money Programme, will this Friday be turning its attention to the increasingly lucrative world of online worlds.

There are two points of focus in this paticular episode. The first concentrates on the likes of Second Life and how numerous business have created a virtual presence in the world. The second focuses on the business of more ‘traditional’ MMOs such as World Of Warcraft, and the ever-present culture of real money trading.

For more information, check out Game Politics.

Can Units fire both weapons they have at once?

In certain instances, yes. Units with both a Ground and an Air Weapon can target a separate air and ground unit simultaneously, and the cooldown between the weapons are not shared. Examples of units that can do this include:

Protoss Stalker
Protoss Phoenix
Terran Battlecruiser

These units are particular powerful against ultra large units, who can be hit by both air and ground weapons at the same time.

Check out the rest:

• Starcraft 2 FAQ
• Starcraft 2 Facts

With the inclusion with such properties, we can see why the collosus will truly be frail against aerial combatants. The Battlecruiser, for example, can unleash double its usual payload on such a unit.

This looks like it'll be extra strategic consideration into combat. For example, such units would excel at defeating air/ground hybrids such as the collosus. Meanwhile, units such as the Warp Ray, uses the same weapon for both ground and air, and hence can be quickly overwhelmed.

Discuss it here!

We felt that it was important to share with the community just how serious we are in our efforts to combat this type of abuse. Blizzard has filed a federal lawsuit against the operators of Peons4hire, a popular gold-selling organization which many of you have no doubt seen advertised. As part of the lawsuit, the operators of Peons4hire have been asked to immediately cease all in-game spamming efforts by all entities and websites under their control.

Read more here. It is currently unclear where Blizzard is sueing them for selling gold, or simply in game spamming.

Jake Ramsey -- an unassuming, yet talented archaeologist -- has been given the chance of a lifetime. Hired to investigate a recently unearthed Xel'Naga temple, he knows this latest assignment will open up whole new possibilities for his career. Yet, when Jake discovers the remains of a long-dead protoss mystic, his hopes and dreams are irrevocably drowned in a flood of alien memories. Bonded to the spirit of the dead protoss, Jake has become the sole inheritor of the protoss's total history -- every event, every thought -- every feeling.

Struggling to maintain his own fragile identity amidst the raging psychic storm in his mind, Jake soon realizes that he has stumbled upon a secret so cataclysmic in magnitude -- that it will shake the very foundations of the universe.

The book forms part of the background, and will tie in with the storyline of Starcraft 2. In particular, it hints at the coming of a new race that will swallow both Zerg and Protoss... If you're interested in SC2 Lore, you may want to buy it!

Yesterday, we showed off the Protoss Ground Units, today we continue with a showcase of Protoss Air.

• Factions Index
• Protoss Air Units

Because is such cool news... I thought we'd check out one unit on the main page:

Size	Large
HP/Shields:	100/40
Cost:	?2
Attack:
None	?

Using psionic manufacturing processes, the Protoss have learned how to create a robotic mind whose programming is built into the molecules of an advanced crystal lattice. This "crystal computer" is able to manipulate matter and energy with a precision no ordinary organic mind could comprehend.

The protoss use these "phase prisms" in several ways. Their primary function is to transport protoss forces on the field of battle. Both living and inorganic subjects can be transformed into energy, and their unique energy signature imprinted into the prism's crystal lattice core. Upon reaching the destination point the operation is reversed and the stored energy signatures are reconfigured into matter in proximity to the phase prism.

A secondary but no less vital function of the phase prism is to act as a mobile focus for the protoss psionic matrix. Once the prism is deployed it will power protoss structures around it. In this configuration phase prisms are often used to temporarily replace destroyed pylons in a colony or enable the rapid establishment of a forward base of operations.

Strategic Properties:
The Protoss Phase is arguably one of the most important units to an experiences Protoss player. Due to the Gateways ability to teleport units to any location powered about Protoss Pylons or Phase Prisms, a Phase Prism when deployed, allows an unlimited amount of Protoss Troops to teleport from one location to another. In conjunction with the transportation of initial defensive units and a few probes, this allows a Protoss player to create photon cannons instantly to help with a assault, or to bunker the enemy within their own bases.

In the original Starcraft, a Protoss Players Base Expansion was always hindered by the fact that a Pylon needs to be established first. The Phase Prism can act as a substitute, giving enemies a much shorter leeway of time to destroy an expansion before its defenses come online.

Special Abilities:

	Acts as a Transport: The Phase Prism is able to physically transport Protoss Units
	Pylon Deployment: The Phase Prism may be deployed as a Mobile Pylon. In this form, the Phase Prism cannot move, but generates a psi radius as if it were a Pylon, allowing Protoss buildings nearby to be built and powered.

Go read the rest! Got suggestions? We want your feedback.

Source: Joystiq

• The Protoss Collosus is treated as both a ground and air unit. More precisely, it can be attacked by Missile Turrets and other unts which typically attack air only.
• The Collosus Costs 6 Supply!
• High Templars will most likely make a return due to the fact that Blizzard leakes psionic storm will be in the game.

So go check it out:

• Starcraft 2: Protoss Ground Units

We'll be compiling the rest very soon, stay tuned!

Unfortunately, there's no cool hybrid unit. Still it's worth reading more on.

• Starcraft 2 Units

That should keep you busy till we bring about our Unit Archives!

• Starcraft 2 Screenshots

Do go check it out!

The second BlizzCon gaming festival is coming to the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, August 3-4, 2007. Following the success of the first BlizzCon in 2005, this year’s edition of BlizzCon will feature:

• Discussion panels with Blizzard developers
• Artist and developer signings
• Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
• World of Warcraft Trading Card Game tournaments and demos
• Costume, machinima, and character sound-alike contests with great prizes
• Commemorative merchandise and other products based on the Blizzard franchises
• A silent auction
• Live orchestral performances of music from Blizzard games

Sounds Cool, find out more.

If Blizzard were to create a MMORPG in the World of Starcraft, what would you play?
World of Starcraft	310	46%
World of Warcaft	99	15%
Both!	103	15%
Neither	168	25%
TOTAL	680	100 %	..

Looks like Blizzard has made a right choice in not designing World of Starcraft, given that only a very small minority would be willing to pay subscriptions for both. If such a game was ever released, it looks like it could be the one thing that can ruin World of Warcraft. So, Starcraft RTS it is, and we all rejoice!

What are you waiting for? Go there now!

Zealots: Damage seems the same, hp are the same (60/100). 2 psi.
Immortals: 100/240 s/hp. 3 psi. I suspect they can't hit air units.
Stalkers: 60/120 s/hp. 2 psi. As they can actually hit air units (see the final battle) and they have two attack icons. If this is the case I suspect they'll be your mobile AA.
Colossus: 225/400 s/hp. 6 freaking psi.
Phoenix: 60/120 s/hp. 2 psi.
Warp Ray: 75/125 s/hp. 3 psi.
Mothership: 350/850 s/hp. 8 psi. As the Marines were doing 1 damage depletion to the shields, and there were no upgrades (and I suspect the Terrans had no upgrades either), I'd presume it has a base 5 or 6 shield armor if we assume the Marines are the same, which we don't know for sure. Even if it can regenerate its shields as fast as the video showed (about 15 s/sec after 10 seconds out of combat) it still has very few in proportion to how much of it is body hitpoints.

Although these stats are far from final, it gives you an idea of how Blizzard intends each unit to be used. Check out the thread, with more unit speculation here.

• Unofficial FAQ

Be sure to check it out. Go a question? Post it and we'll have it answered!

The last group of questions concerned the game's obvious similarity to the original. While many present thought the game looked great, it was hard to miss how closely the footage shown seemed to hew to the original's gameplay. Pardo seemed to feel the question a bit negative and said that during the design phase of the game, the team took a look at a lot of competitive products and felt that all of the big new "meta-features" they advertised (he specifically mentioned Supreme Commander's zoom camera) actually help keep them from being competitive.

So, beauty in simplicity is the motto. Looking at the popularity of Starcraft, we cannot agree more.

• Starcarft 2 Demo Video 1
• Starcraft 2 Demo Video 2
• Starcraft 2 Demo Video 3
• Starcraft 2 Demo Video 4

Be sure to check them out!

• Starcraft 2 has been in development since 2003
• Resource Management in Starcraft 2 will be just as important as in Starcraft.

Read the rest.

Got comments, sugggestions and speculations? Check out the Starcraft 2 Forums!

Pardo continued to contrast Warcraft III against Starcraft II, explaining that Warcraft III had less of an emphasis on economic buildup to allow more focus on battles. The 2002 game also, suggests the VP, was much less about early-game victories--while that game did introduce "creeps"--neutral creatures that could be fought for experience, early armies in Warcraft III were generally capable of only harrassing your enemies, not defeating them. Pardo suggests that "with Starcraft II, [Blizzard is] really going back to its roots to make a true sequel to Starcraft"--a sequel where resource management will be much more central to gameplay, with less micromanagement of different units with special abilities, and in which full-on early-game "rushing" (making an early all-out assault) will be much more viable. In fact, the VP went on to state that the game will probably offer more early "tech tree" optons--different development paths players can take by building different structures and researching different upgrades--which will make early-game scouting more important, and will make early-game rushing a more-diverse and deeper strategy.

Read the rest here.

The long-rumoured new instalment of Blizzard's massive StarCraft series is set to be unveiled later this month - and it's another massively-multiplayer online game in the style of World of Warcraft, CVG learns.

Well placed US sources have revealed to us that the StarCraft MMO will be unveiled at an upcoming Blizzard event on May 19 in South Korea - the epicentre of the sci-fi RTS series' rabid fandom.

It is certainly true that the unannounced project will be in the Starcraft universe, given that the announcement will be made in Korea. A MMORPG, however, would put Blizzard directly in competition with its current game. Could it perhaps be a MMORTS?

Discuss it