Toastmold
Here's a 16 minute interview between Chris Sigaty and Dustin Browder conducted by a Swede and a Germ in front of a sedate mob of thirty people. There are no earth shattering new information but there are some interesting facts about single player. Something seemed a little unusual with the interview. I can't quite put my finger on it though.

Gavimandius
They totally spoiled single player! With the revelation that you will be surfing a super nova they've completely destroyed the plot of Starcraft 2. I'm not even sure if I can justify the purchase anymore.

Economicraft II: Wings of Puberty

In an effort to add depth to the economic side of Starcraft II Blizzard is planning on bestowing at least one ability per race that can boost their economy. Lets take a look at the units these abilities are being applied to.


Dark Pylon
- Powers nearby structures, has 3 abilities that require energy
- Costs 50 more minerals than a normal pylon (assuming their cost hasn't changed)
- Weaker shields than a normal Pylon
- Evil twin to the normal Pylon

#1 Proton Charge: Area of effect ability that temporarily increases the amount of minerals that probes collect. Lasts for 30 seconds.

#2 Null Shield: Temporarily cloaks a friendly unit.

#3 Argus Link: Gives energy to nearby caster.

zkss5
The Dark Pylon seems a little clunky to use. I think it would be a better idea to just allow Pylons to upgrade into Dark Pylons. This way you don't have to worry about keeping space open for their eventual placement.

Proton Charge is easily my least favorite of the economic spells. You basically want this active all the time so it's this tedious "Oop, it's been 30 seconds, need to reactivate it, blarg" ordeal. A slightly stronger effect with a greater cost would be a more interesting decision and have more conflict with its other abilities.

I don't understand why Null Shield is apparently not getting a lot of use, other than the fact that its name doesn't make any sense. The more I think about cloaking my own units, the more useful it sounds. Cloaked scouts early in the game, cloaked Colossi tromping around the map, cloaked Warp Prism drops, cloaking Archons, etc etc. It really seems like it has a ton of potential. The only real concern I have with this is the duration - if it isn't long enough then that would certainly cut into its use. But Invisibility's duration in Warcraft 3 was pretty great, so hopefully this one's long enough to be useful too. My mouth is kind of starting to water at getting my hands on this...

Argus Link I hardly need to touch on - more energy for Templar = more Psi Storms = more viktories. 'nuff said.

Toastmold
I'm a little concerned that it seems that you can build multiple dark pylons per mineral group and permanently have Proton Charge active. I don't think the slightly increased mineral cost (50) and weaker shields are a big enough trade off when you consider that you will quickly make the money back, and they have two other useful abilities. Blizzard might want to consider limiting the amount of dark pylons you can make to one per nexus, or making them cost a bit of extra gas.

Null Shield looks like it won't have a large amount of uses, assuming it only lasts around 10 seconds (I have no idea). You could use it to save defenders, or hide motherships or maybe squeeze a scout out of an offensive blockade. Another tweak they could do is to increase the duration, but make the cloak fade when you attack.

Argus Link looks like it could be potent. In addition to disgusting amounts of psi-storm you could use it to help you make a larger hallucinated army with your Nullifiers. [Those are called Disruptors now, Toast. -zk]


Orbital Command
- No longer an add-on, it is an upgrade to the Command Centre
- Retains ability to lift off
- Mutually exclusive to the Planetary Fortress
- Picks up HBO

#1 Calldown Mule: Brings down a nomadic MULE that can mine minerals for a short time.

#2 Calldown Extra Supplies: Adds 2 permanent supply.

#3 Scanner Sweep: Works like in Starcraft 1, reveals map and cloaked units.

zkss5
I'm not sure why this thing is competitive with the Planetary Fortress. I don't exactly see how giving up the ability to lift off, be salvaged, use Scanner Sweep, call down MULEs and improve Supply Depots is really worth the attack of the Planetary Fortress, particularly on the race with Siege Tanks and Bunkers.

There's not much to say about Scanner Sweep; it was invaluable in Starcraft and I don't expect that to be changing. Ever.

MULEs are looking rather strong; the only thing keeping them mildly in check is that they compete with Scanner Sweep for energy. They mine more than an SCV and they can mine from a mineral patch at the same time as an SCV. These things make Proton Charge look silly. Oh yeah, but then we take into account they can also be used to block pathing and can be called down anywhere the Terran can see. So you can do things like dropping MULEs on enemy Siege Tanks and chuckle as they blow each other up. *sigh* I can't believe they could actually attack and repair earlier. I know it's alpha but come on. Hasn't blizz learned anything about summoned units by now?

Calldown Supplies seems like an ability they should be worried doesn't compete. Yes, okay two permanent additional supplies on an existing depot that costs you no resource other than energy seems rather nice on paper. But it's competing with Scanner Sweeps and MULEs for energy... and that's a losing fight right there. I wonder, can a depot only be upgraded like this once?

I'm also wondering if I'll seriously consider making extra Orbital Commands in place of some depots just to have MULEs and Sweeps coming out the wazoo, and then use Calldown Supplies somewhat to make up the cost.

Toastmold
Calldown MULE is a more interesting mechanic than Proton Charge. The fact that it brings down a physical unit leads it to a lot of other potential uses. I envision some last second blocking, or using it scout. I'm wondering how many you can produce from one Orbital Command though. In the last Battle Report the Terran player seems to be able to call a very large amount at a time.

Calldown Supplies seems like a boring ability. It is interesting in that it permanently augments a structure, but I don't really see myself using it that much.

Scanner Sweep will probably be the difference between victory and defeat at times in Starcraft II just as it was in it's predecessor. Except now if a Terran gets too greedy with MULEs he will have even less energy for revealing cloak. Also, everytime he uses it he is losing potential minerals, so it is an interesting dynamic there.


Zerg Queen
- Glue that holds the hive together
- Lost its ability to fly
- Important for spreading creep
- Zerg formed from her larva have large ears

#1 Build Creep Tumor: Placed on creep, produces additional creep, is burrowed.

#2 Spawn Larva: Generates four additional larva at a hatchery.

#3 Razor Plague: A controllable swarm of tiny units that damage units.

zkss5
She's neato, I love the direction they're going with her. She'll just be chillin' at hives going' "grar, get away from mah babies!" usin' her nifty abilities, and generally just making me smile.

Razor Swarm and Creep Tumors seem like pretty straight forward useful abilities that don't require further explanation.

Spawn Larva's where all the fun on her's at the moment. Although I'm also concerned it's currently overpowered. Once a Spawning Pool’s up, you can spend 150 minerals and wait 25 seconds for a Queen to pop out with 50 energy that can use Spawn Larva for 25 energy to immediately generate 4 larvae? Compared to the 300 minerals/100 seconds/Drone of a new Hatchery? That seems really, really good early in the game. Like crazy good. And I’m not even one of those number cruncher types who gives a crap about optimizing builds or stuff like that! Balance concerns aside, I love this ability though. And I’m not exactly sure why, ‘cause it’s just “now you have more larvae” but there’s just so many wonderful things you can do with them that makes me grin. :D

Toastmold
Queens are the most important out of these three caster units, but they are also probably the most vulnerable. The queen promotes base management, defense and most importantly unit production.

Build Creep Tumor is interesting because if you lack a Queen, you won't be able to expand your own base's creep cheaply. (Yes I know you can use Hatcheries or the Overlord's ability) Creep is also doubly important in Starcraft II because zerg ground units move substantially faster on creep.

Spawn Larva seems like it might be the most potent of the three economic abilities. While it doesn't boost your mineral income for 'free' you have the option to build extra drones with it, thus giving yourself permanent miners. Also, it is equally useful for making any other Zerg unit. This would particularly help mortal players like me who when finishing crucial tech structures, like the Spire for instance, find that they often don't have many larvae available right away. Spawn Larva would let you build a substantial extra amount of units at any given time. I suspect that Spawn Larva will need to be researched so it probably won't be usable right after making a spawning pool.

I think all the introduction of these units will add some strategic depth to Starcraft II, but some abilities need tweaking and it might be a while before the mechanics emerge from adolescence and mature to hit the right balance. Periodic raiding will probably also increase, at least versus Protoss and Zerg where their 'economic casters' can be relatively quickly eliminated to meaningfully disrupt their economy. An Orbital Command should be less vulnerable to this sort of attack, but will be more vulnerable to energy drain from cloaked harassment.