The second coming is upon us! The PCgaming world will never be the same again!
Music is good. Nice and relaxed. Sound effects are good (voices are really good!)
Gameplay is fast and furios and combatmicromanagement is rewarded so nothing for slowheads. Every race have a unique macromanagement mechanic that gives benefits if used (and is necessary for keeping up with a good player.)
Here's a stream: http://www.livestream.com/jobbies/video?clipId=pla_d3b54ec8-0b46-4706-925b-78a1216aab86
The graphics are better then what's shown in the stream (thank GOD for that!)
There are a some screenshots over at http://www.gosugamers.net/starcraft2/blogs/1656
I'd like to see a comparison between the online population of Sins before and after the StarCraft II beta was available
Feedback is almost as useless as snipe is on ghosts.
Not at all. Mules provide ~270 minerals over thier lifespan while workers produce ~90. They're worth 3 SCVs already. And, when using Mules it doesn't matter if the minerals are saturated or not. So, even though Protoss and Zerg can produce workers quicker if they want(they also need to use boost/larva to produce units), once their mineral line is saturated, thats it. While with Mules you can add up to 8 extra workers bringing in triple the resources of an avg worker on top of a fully saturated mineral line.
Also, you should watch some Orb streams at teamliquid.net. He uses Feedback on pretty much everything with energy and does quite well with it - he's like 5th in one of the top divisions.
Glass bunkers, hard counter oriented, illusions of choice (mules vs scan) have all contributed to damaging the hype around this game. SC2 has way too many serious problems right now.
I disagree. There are some balance issues. I personally think ZvZ is boring as hell. But hard counters are no more prevelent in SC2 than the original. It's micro that makes soft counters viable, and that takes time to develop. The only thing I have a real problem with is autoattack priorities.
Mules are friggin great.
You can't just spam mules all day. If you look at graphs of income over 10 minutes of a game, Terran has a slight lead if he goes early orbital command, but then he gets run over by Zerg and Protoss because they far outnumber Terran in workers as the game goes on. This is not to mention that mules cost TWICE as much energy as Larvae Injection for Zerg and Chrono Boost for Protoss.
You can spam mules all day. A mule lasts 90secs and in that time 55 energy builds up(I just tested this). So, once mid game hits and mineral lines are full with workers, Terrans will be getting an extra 270 minerals every 90 seconds that protoss and zerg cant get. Assuming same number of bases of course.
You can call multiple mules at once, and it's generally better to wait until just before you need the influx of cash. Protoss and Zerg get more workers that last for the whole game, so the longer the game gets, the weaker the Terran econ is in comparison. Your extra 270 minerals per second starts to suck once you're behind 20 workers while constantly pumping them.
If anyone wants some additional reading, this thread has a very good analysis of mules.
Now you're talking nonsense. Your opponent would have to be a base ahead of you the whole game to maintain a 20 worker lead. Zerg and Protoss may get to saturation quicker, but once they reach 20-24 workers per mineral line they cant add any more and get a benifit. So while it takes them 2/3 the time to to get to saturation(that assumes that the spend some of thier boosts/larva on army) once saturation is reached Terran can get more minerals than they can.
So doing some math, it takes 17 secs to build a worker, so 408 secs to max saturation for terran. Protoss and Zerg get here in 2/3 time that is 272 seconds, so a 136 second difference. Workers mine at ~1 mineral per second(~5 mineral/trip at ~5 seconds/trip) so they get ~136 extra minerals in the time it takes you to catch up per extra worker. Assuming they average a 5 worker advantage over the 136 seconds than they get 860 minerals extra. So it takes ~3 mules or 270 seconds to make that up. So if you get a barracks up in 120 seconds, then orbital commands at 160 by the time you saturate you mineral line you should have made up that difference.
The first person to reach saturation will have the most minerals, then the largest army, and then will win the game. There is a very good economic timing window to attack Terran players.
Thats a huge simplification. If that were the case then games would always be over by 10 minutes.
But because I realized how difficult it is to model SC income with basic math, Im doing some tests. I'll report what I get when Im done.
GL, I'm sure we'll both probably be wrong lol SC is a hard game to understand, it's a very complex system.
Ok, did tests seeing how long it takes for each race to reach saturation.
Terran did supply on 10 and barracks right after it finished. The Mule was dropped at about 3 minutes. Worker saturation(24 workers) was reached at roughly 5:45.
Zerg did overlord on 9 and pool on 12. Had queen out by 4 mins and saturation at 5 mins.
Protoss did boost every 25 energy on probes. Reached sat at 4:30 into the game.
Unfortunently, my income on replays doesnt seem to work(I do have to use a cracked version ) so I couldnt see how much money I was making.
When protoss reaches sat at 4:30 terran has 19 SCVs, its mule is just about to fall apart, and it's 2nd is about to come down. So terran has equivilent of 22 SCVs.
At 5 mins when zerg is at sat terran has 21 SCVs and a mule, which is eqivilent to 24 SCVs.
It breaks down that with pure worker construction protoss comes out a little ahead while terran and zerg are near the same if you count a mule as 3 SCVs. Considering that larva and chrono boost are important parts of army building, and pure worker production during the early game is unlikely/impossible, it doesn't appear any race has a significant advantage over another in the early economy.
So I have a shameless question of asking if anyone has a spare beta key that they're willing to part with and send a PM my way.
I've been a huge fan of Starcraft since it came out and it would appear that none of my friends have gotten into the beta to share a key. I'd love to be able to report on the balance of the game with true patch notes and get a feel for the eb and flow of the mechanics.
So if you're willing to part with Beta key to a complete stranger for sake of kindness, I'm your guy to give it to!
Thank you in advance.
Also, here's a joke so it's not entriely spammy...
A nun walked into Mother Superior's office and plunked down into a chair. She let out a sigh, heavy with frustration. "What troubles you, Sister?" asked the Mother Superior. "I thought this was the day you spent with your family." "It was," sighed the Sister. "And I went to play golf with my brother. You know I was quite a talented golfer before I devoted my life to Christ." "I seem to recall that," the Mother Superior agreed. "So your day of recreation was not relaxing?" "Far from it," snorted the Sister. "In fact, I even took the Lord's name in vain today!" "Goodness, Sister!" gasped the Mother Superior. "You must tell me all about it!" "Well, we were on the fifth tee...and this hole is a monster, Mother. A 540 yard Par 5, with a nasty dogleg left and a hidden green...and I hit the drive of my life. The sweetest swing I ever made....it was flying straight and true, right along the line I wanted...and it hit a bird in mid-flight, not 100 yards off the tee!" "Oh my!" commiserated the Mother. "How unfortunate! But surely that didn't make you blaspheme, Sister!" "No, that wasn't it," admitted Sister. "While I was still trying to fathom what had happened, this squirrel ran out of the woods, grabbed my ball and ran off down the fairway!" "Oh, that would have made me blaspheme!" sympathized the Mother Superior. "But I didn't, Mother Superior!" sobbed the Sister. "I was so proud of myself! While I was pondering whether this was a sign from God, this hawk swooped down, grabbed the squirrel and flew off, with my ball still clutched in the squirrel's paws!" "So that's when you cursed," said the Mother with a knowing smile. "Nope, that wasn't it either," cried the Sister, anguished, "....as the hawk started to fly out of sight, the squirrel started struggling, and the hawk dropped him right on the green. The ball popped out of the squirrel's paws and rolled to about 18 inches from the cup!" Mother Superior sat abruptly back in her chair, folded her arms across her chest, fixed the Sister with a baleful stare and said... "You missed the f%king putt, didn't you?"
Also saturation occurs at 3 workers per mineral field and 3 per gas for Blizzard placement of command centers, nexus, hatcheries. Myles has the correct conclusions on evaluation of the workers. Plus, it's never a bad idea to have more minerals.
YOU REQUIRE MORE VESPENE GAS.
That I do...
You must construct additional pylons.
On a side note, I was watching a live eSports game where one of the commentators said: "I think we're might see some overlords this game." All of a sudden the chat window exploded with messages about teching to overlords being an unbeatable strategy, overlord rushes being imba, you get the idea. It was so hilarious
Anyone else not like the new bnet ladder system? It seems impossible to determine how good your opponents are and where you stand. All these divisions and different ladders...
Edit: Double post so I'm just going to ask what is everyone's rank to those who have the beta? I'm rank 11 Gold atm.
The ladder system looks pretty good to me. From the patch notes it looks like they are working on displaying equal matches and favored players more accurately. What I really don't get is why they made divisions. The divisions, they do nothing! You're basically stuck in a random division with a meaningless number and are sent to compete against a set group. Reminds me of the cube series....
No one likes being ranked 1,999,999 of 2,000,000 people. I'm pretty sure it's to help people out and say "you're rank 199,999 of 200,000 of the copper league. Looks a little better really...
blizzard is sure taking their time to get it poslished.
It's better than having a rapeface strategy like a 6 pool that will always win. ( I know someone out there is going to give me a long reply about how this doesn't exist, so just so you know, I'm not saying it does, I'm giving an example of why balance is important)
6 pool? What's that mean?
-Twilight Storm
6 drones then you go to build a spawning pool but you start with 6 workers now.
Oh. kk.
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