Zerg Coverage >> Fansite Q & A With Dustin Browder


Zerg Upgrades

Zerg Upgrades went through quite a change. Instead of making general upgrades for ALL Zerg units of land/air, they were now unit-specific in this build. The plan behind this was to make the Zerg very specialist in using different units. For example: the upgrade for Zerglings is for both speed and armour/damage with the same upgrade, but the Zergling upgrades won't give any other unit any upgrades at all. As Dustin said "the balance on that one is *exciting* to say the least" with a big smile. It was something they were trying out, even if it got some complaints that it makes things too hard to change tactics mid-way. Dustin explained that they generally do this, try a lot of things out, and keeping the good ideas in, and removing stuff that don't work so well. Currently they are trying this out and see where it goes. This mechanic was abandon somewhat recently (June 2008), and the Zerg upgrades now work like in StarCraft I.


Attack Range and Anti-Air

Drones do not have any ranged attacks in this version of StarCraft II, and Dustin seemed to doubt that they will implement that. There are a lot of differences between StarCraft I and StarCraft II, and considering things like AI, pathing etc, it will make some things that worked in StarCraft I be unbalanced in StarCraft II. Minor changes are needed to make it all work as a good game.

Another change for Zerg is the fact that they now don't have any mobile anti-air units until after Lair, and I point out that only the Swarm Clutches and the Hive Queen to defend against air before that. This is an issue since they moved Hydralisks up a bit in the tech tree, and added Roaches in the lower tiers instead. Dustin was unsure what will happen with the Roaches and Hydras, if they will swap them or do some other change.


Overlords, Overseers and Detection

The issue with Overlords/Overseers is also something that the dev team is currently trying out. Dustin mentions how it was in the original StarCraft: "Zerg got a bit too much detectors with Overlords, I am not saying that didn't work in StarCraft I, but we are trying a different approach in StarCraft II. You can just send in a dozen Overlords, and you have detection, noting your opponent can do about it, but at the same time it is a question if the Overseer really is strong enough as a unit to take up a whole slot. I mean this is a slot I could use for something truly awesome, and I am just not sure this is the right choice".

He also mentioned Nomads and their detection. "Nomads made Terran detectorific", so they removed the detector status of the Nomads, in the same line of thought as with the Overlords. It all is a way to make Cloaking mean more in the games, and having a bigger stake at the Cloak/Detector battle as well as the terrain and Line of sight. It will make both you and your opponent think more carefully over all.


Infested Zealots

The infestation skill of the Infestors works on buildings of all factions, but currently they all produce Infested Marines. Before one of the site reps even have time to start the sentence, Dustin smile and interjects that there will be Infested Protoss as well. I mention that there is a balance thing here, as having randomly spawned units being able to shoot is a very good thing for massive devastation, but Infested Zealots would have to move in range for any attacks to be meaningful. The reply was: "that is true, it will be different for each race". I then went on to ask about "Infested Zerg", and if he had any ideas about that, but I didn't get a proper answer. After this discussion with Dustin, they have announced that Zerg will not be able to infest other Zerg.

Regarding the Infestor abilities and burrow-walking: "I'm a bit unsure about the Infestor. It's very powerful, and can move underground etc. We'll see what happens to it".


End of the Day
After this long and giving discussion with the "main dev" for StarCraft 2, he asked a bit if anyone had any further opinions or questions, and then took farewell, and went out. It did definitely seem like he enjoyed the talk with the actual fans more than the regular press, and as last time I talked to him, he was warm and open in his replies (except for any type of official-looking question). We will soon have the opportunity to talk to him again, so stay tuned at StarCraftWire.net.


Written by Gunnar "Leord" Petzall, 24/6 2008.
Thanks Andreas at inGame.de for the foto.

• Read the Full Browder Interview Here.


• Read the Chris Sigaty Interview Here!

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