Zerg Coverage >> Fansite Q & A With Dustin Browder


Transport Tunnels and Nydus Worms

Zerg has their own new transport system with the Nydus Worms, and the interesting mechanics surrounding them. Dustin realises that it might be too powerful with the fact that it's instant movement, and tells us about one match he had, where the opponent had put three worms inside his base, and poured out units. The description was slightly incoherent, but the basic thing was that it is really hard to stop the invasion in this manner, as you need to kill all of the nydus worms in order to stop the pouring of units. As Dustin said, that this was a completely new way to use the unit, and needs to be taken into consideration.

A question I didn't think of asking at the time was if you would be able to empty the Nydus Canal faster with three worms than one. Perhaps a balance can be struck with a global cooldown on emptying the canal? Either way, they wanted to have something really different, making the transportation of units work in different ways for each of the three races. This goes very much hand in hand of what Browder said in the interview with me the day before, that they really wanted to differentiate the three races rather than making a fourth race. If you want more info on the fourth race, you can read the articles I made from BlizzCon, where Rob Pardo (VP of Game Design) did give out a few (very few) details on what they did with those thoughts.

As for the Nydus Worm, it is still unsure if it will make the game. It could potentially be gone next week according to Dustin. The fansites and pro gamers in the room all agreed that it was a very interesting mechanic, and actually made the whole Zerg race more fun to play, or to play against. Especially if the Overlords have lost their ability to transport units permanently, it makes these worms a must for the Zerg player.


Zerg Climbing and Cliff Mentality

One of the few journalists that still lingered with us hardcore fans asked if there was any thoughts into giving Zerg some type of unit able to climb up cliffs (like the Colossus, or Reapers), as they don't have any unit that can do that. Dustin replied that he doesn't know if that is a good idea or not. It might be unfair that Zerg doesn't have anyone at all. Dustin said: "On the other hand I want those cliffs to be unknown, something to look out for. It should feel dangerous with cliffs around you, not knowing what could be up there. It is all still a balance issue, as you don't want too much of the focus to be on the terrain either. I don't know, we'll see how it plays out."


Medic + Dropship = Medivac Dropship

As we discussed different types of movement, we started talking about the new Medivac Dropship, the combination of the Medic and the Dropship into one unit. As Dustin explained before, the reason for the change was that M&Ms (Marines and Medics) would still be better than Reapers, as Medics are unable to jump with them, and they are not as strong alone as M&M combined, thus making the Reaper almost useless.

This change gives a greater flexibility according to Dustin. Still, in the discussion he said he was on the fence on the issue. People love the Medic (its a girl!), and they are also unsure of where they want to put it in the tech tree. They could make it an upgrade, but that goes against the principle to make every type of action or counter as visible as possible. They would either make two Dropships, or making one that has healing from the start. No "invisible" upgrades.

Still, the concept of having a ship healing ground units feel a bit silly to me, and the current graphics of a regular Dropship doing it surely does not help. Dusting said: "Looks are a minor issue, those will of course be upgraded to look more like an ambulance ship, that sends down small robots, or something, like properly animating the healing. Perhaps changing the unit's name, that is no big deal, I am more concerned about the mechanic, if that works, etc". An example that would make it really powerful is having Dropships with Marines popping out, wrecking havoc and being healed.

The dev team is generally looking to have as few types of units as possible in the game, and a type of strategy similar to chess. It should be easy to see what your opponent is doing, and giving you the option on how to counter it. Having a game that clearly shows what is actually happening is what makes it most fun for everyone involved. It seemed very clear that Browder implied that combining Dropships and Medics is here to stay.


Mutalisk Dancing

In the build we were shown, you could not use your Mutalisks to "dance" around, shooting and moving through micro. The pro player next to me asked Dustin about this, and he explained that they are really supposed to be able to do that in SC2, and the lack of "dancing" is a bug; "I am pretty sure this originally was a bug in the old StarCraft, but it has been used so much now that people expect to be able to 'dance' with the Mutalisks. So it's planned for StarCraft 2, it is just amazing how much we got to break in our engine to get the same "bug".

The bug appeared in StarCraft as the game only checked if it should react like every 0,5 second or so, like stopping when firing. So the unit fired, and half a second later, the game told it to slow down, but at that time it had already received a new command to move, which enabled 'the dance'. With our new, more powerful engine, it checks that a lot often, and so they stop moving when they shoot. Our problem is that this version is so much better. It will be done though, it is just a lot of work, and we didn't have time to add it to this build".


Anti Gravity Mechanics and Scaling Balance

The Anti Gravity mechanics were all very new at the playtesting, and so there were a few questions that were not tried in the game. One question is what happens if you are researching, and get lifted up. Dustin said that he didn't actually know, but thought it was supposed to just pause it. He pointed out that there was a need for something like anti-gravity, as the current building mechanics makes it so easy for everyone to wall themselves off. He said they want people to be scared of rushes, but that the mechanic still needs some tweaking, as it scales badly with higher tier units.

It's one thing to lift off a Supply Depot, but it is quite a difference to incapacitate a Thor or an Ultralisk with a relatively cheap, low tech ability. One of the site representatives suggested that perhaps they could make the units that are "bigger" have lower time in the air, and while that certainly is one way to go, Dustin also said that they try to avoid special rules like that.

The graphics for the Anti Gravity isn't nailed yet, and there are even more uncertainties with the ability over all. Another representative asked if it would be possible to build under a lifted unit, and while Dustin didn't have a straight answer, he thought that it shouldn't be possible. Still, that brings up the question of what happens to units that are under the lifted buildings when they land again... One suggestion was to have any units under the lifted one be crushed, and while that sounds hilariously fun, it's also hard to balance. Another aspect is that people would be too afraid to use it, in case they loose units under buildings. Browder told us that the current mechanic will not affect the units under the building being lowered. They would not get damaged, and they could walk *out* of it, but not back in. It was very clear that he thought this wasn't the best of solutions either, so expect some changes on this one.

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