#16 - StarCast: "Epic Launch Detected"

Episode 16

*News*

The obvious:
StarCraft II launches worldwide.  
Analysts predict sales of up to 7 million copies by the end of the year.  Generating $350 million in sales.
Links: http://games.venturebeat.com/2010/07/23/starcraft-ii-could-generate-350m-in-sales-this-year/
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/28/analysts-predict-starcraft-2-sales-in-2010-to-be-out-of-this-wor/
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6271382.html

Name Thing
Your StarCraft II character name will be the only one you get.  When logging into SC2 we were greeted with this:
“Welcome to StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.  When logging into StarCraft for the first time you will be prompted to create your character.  This is the name you’ll go by on Battle.Net and while playing in all multiplayer games.  You only get on shot to choose your permanent character name.  So make it count!”
AKA ButtFuz

Reviews come late  
This is normal with beefy, large-content games.  Much like with MMO’s, gaming sites like IGN and Gametrailers need more time to make a complete review of the game.  Overall reaction to the game is positive however.  But honestly, it’s a Blizzard game.  No surprise there.
Kotaku’s Review: http://kotaku.com/5600857/starcraft-ii-wings-of-liberty-review-upgrade-complete?skyline=true&s=i
Gametrailer’s Score: 9.5
Gametrailer’s Review: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-starcraft-ii/702433

StarCraft II’s campaign can be finished in 16 hours.

Strategies

Mar writes:
hey guys.
Here is a strat that will really make your jaws drop. a proxy hatchery. on a 1v1 map u put all of your drones to work BUT 1. the one that u leave out send him to your appoints base and hide him in a dark corner. then as fast as you  make a hatchery in his base. when you start the proxy work on a pool at your main base. then make zerglings from your main to attack the front and make drones from the proxy for spine's.... with a queens and lost of spines/ zerglings you can win in about 8 mins. if you can talk about this strat on the show I'd love it....i love the show it makes work go by very fast.

Grimdore writes:
I was listening to your podcast, and one of the writers asked about which race combo works best in 2v2, and you mentioned a double zerg team with ling rush is deadly.  This is very true as well as a reaper rush when your playing protoss.  The thing that saves over all is to build to early cannons, and proxy your base around your economy line with the cannons resting behind your bigger buildings. This prevents the lings easy access to your cannons and supply long enough for your cannons to mame.
Thanks,
Grimdore

Matt asks:
What is a good counter against roaches?

Roger writes:
Hey guys,

A lot of the listeners seem to have a wrong opinion about Dark Templars. They are amazing units but don't nearly have the potency that some of the listeners describe in the higher tiers. DKs have the distinct disadvantage of diminishing returns, the more you use them the less likely they are going to be useful later (there are exceptions to this of course since it will make the opponent wary of attacking without detectors and may tie up robotics facilities and starports).

Think about how many structures are needed before you can fast rush with DKs, You need a Gate, C-Core,Twilight Council and Dark Shrine, if your opponent attacks with a small diverse force you won't be able to defend. For example I once lost against a force of Marines and Hellions.  

However thats not to say that Dks are bad units. They are a scalpel unit, use them to make small surgical cuts in your opponents forces that keep him/her busy enough to strike with your main forces.

For example using stalkers to attack from the front while you perform a DK drop with warp prism into mineral lines is a great way to use them. Stalkers are your fastest units so you can always pull out if you dont think you can win, but in the mean time your DKs will decimate a mineral line. A single DK does 45 damage and if you have 2-4 dropped while your opponent is distracted it is devastating.

It is probably the single best unit against a fast expand zerg. If you can kill drones while keeping forces engaged your opponent will have a hard time balancing production.

Anyways love the show, but wish you guys had a toss player. If you guys ever need one though let me know, my favorite race is toss and then terran and although I'm not the best player in the world I know and understand each and every unit and structure.

Thanks

Emails

Anonymous writes:
Hi guys it's mr anonymous again and I was wondering what you guys thought was the worst unit. Also what do you guys think is the least used unit.
Great show 5/5

Mr anonymous

Richard writes:

I love listening to your show, talking about Starcraft is great!  Every week I mean to write in to say something great about the show and add a few cents.

For example, a few shows ago when talking about Steven Colbert you guys were trying to remember the name of Pow Wow, FSU's version on Gator Growl.  Almost every year FSU gets better guests then UF does, but you've got to be an FSU fan so remember to take the good with the bad.

But I'm writing today to say one thing, Dont buy a Mac book to play Starcraft!  You guys dont sound like you are made of money, why would you throw away so much cash so frivolously?  Obviously you guys like Apple products so I'm not going to bore you with logic about why its a poor investment other than to say this.  Every Mac / Windows cross platform game requiresmore horsepower on the mac platform1, 2, 3, and at the same time every equal horsepower device costs so much more under the Mac banner.  So you'll end up paying a lot more for something that will be obsolete sooner.

You'd be much better off building a desktop system for gaming, get a cheaper laptop for running Diablo and all your usual portable needs.  While you're in Florida I'll even build it for you!  But if your lifestyle really requires you to game on a laptop, invest in a linux / windows based laptop.  You'll find more apps available for less money on this platform, and honestly it 'just works'.

But if you ignore everything I just said, keep up the great work on the show.  I love it!
Richard

Granite returns with:
hey everybody just wanted to say that in the ghosts of the past trailer, the badge matt handed raynor was his old marshal badge, from when he was marshal on mar sara. Also you should really read heaven devils the book it explains so much of the lore.
Granite
PS. in reference to comments made last week my email is my real name .
PPS. have you heard anything about a Ryk Kyde in wings of liberty

Zes writes:
Hello starcast. i recently played my placement matches and won 5/5 of them, placing me in the platinum league. so i was wondering, how do you get up to diamond league? i figured 5/5 wins would put me in the best one.
Thanks, sincerely,
Zes

Ivan writes:
Hi,
I really enjoy the show, thanx..keep up the good work.
I live in the wonderful country of South Africa, but unfortunately do NOT have Internet at home :( so I'm one of the many people who are appalled at the fact that SC2 is only online. I never played allot of SC1 but did and still do enjoy WarCraft 3, especially DotA.  (I got this uber cracked version of SC2 with a maphack which lets me play against ai without ever having to connect to Bnet which is wonderful for now but would like to play against people at some point when my game is respectable ;).... SssssHHHhhh, don't tell anyone!) But i would really like to play the campaign as well, which i also cant do.. this really sux!
Anyway, hope to get Internet soon and then maybe (if i can afford it) SC2. If/When I do get internet and the game which server (US/Euro) should I play on?
Thanx again, sincerely your loyal listener / fan / subscriber... ;D
IvanTheTerrible

#15 - StarCast: "If you like pina coladas, and too much key lime pie."

My apologies for the delay on this week's episode but I have been in Key West for the past week.  I jus recently had access to a computer to edit and upload this. 

Enjoy!
-Garrett

*News


Ghosts of the Past

The Dominion website has reached 100% and unlocked an absolutely amazing SC2 trailer “Ghosts of the Past”. In it we are shown a lot of footage from the campaigns pre-rendered and real-time cinematics.

What we know: There will be a cinema documenting the fall of Sarah Kerrigan. Jim Raynor is experiencing guilt after what happened to Kerrigan. Jim seems like he is also the reluctant hero due to his guilt. The Dominion is very powerful. Jim will lead a revolt against the Dominion. Jim has a pimp-ass marine suit, and a HUGE sniper rifle. There is some fancy blonde dude named Prince Valerian. Valerian is the son of Arcturus Mengsk current emperor of the Dominion. Xeratul likes to speak in riddles,“the answers you seek lie within”.

Beta Patch #18

General
-The Mac StarCraft II Editor is now available!

Bug Fixes
- Burrowed Ultralisks now have the correct 500 hit points while burrowed.
- Fixed an issue where custom maps utilizing custom loading screens could cause players to lag or be dropped from Battle.net.
- Fixed an issue during replays when rewinding could cause the replay to desync.
- Fixed an issue with in-game menus causing performance issues.

Beta Phase 2 ended July 19th. Many cried.

Blizzard is hosting a SC2 launch event at Fry’s Electronics in Fountain Valley, CA Monday night starting at 9pm. Members of the StarCraft II development team will be present to celebrate with the fans. There will be other official Blizzard launches around the globe. For more info visit the official launch site.
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/events/starcraft2-fountainvalley.html

New Starcraft Community Site:
Pre-download

Learn the Lore in a hurry
Kotaku posted a great article that wraps up everything you would ever need to know about the original Starcraft lore.

http://kotaku.com/5591671/learn-the-starcraft-storyline-in-a-hurry

*Strategies

Back next week

*Emails

Matthew writes

I was playing 2v2 with a friend it was our 4 or 5th game of the night we make our wall we both play terran. Everything seems fine we keep building try a reaper rush yeah great nice could be our 4th win in a row. The two protoss come at us with some zealots and sentries. We think no problem stand there shoot. But it seems we may have over looked the fact that we left 1 space between buildings. Insert swearing here.
Will I ever move up in division. I am number 1 in my divisions 21 and 17 so more wins than loses my opponents seem to be always favored against me. Is it some sort of weekly thing?

Adam writes

Hey guys I thought I'd add to your strat on how to beat old school SC AI. If you are playing 1 V 1 all you have to do is take one drone/SCV/probe whatever your race, then send it to the AI mineral line and attack one of their miners, their entire line of miners chase after it now and just run it around set a few way points for it with CNTRL click you can set up to 7. and then go back and work on your base for a little bit, after a little time doing this you have an army and they do not. solved ;)

Noah writes

Dear Starcast,
I was listening to your latest podcast in which you talk about 3d displays, I am not sure how the Nintendo 3Ds works but 3D on the computer works like this, your moniter must have a 120hz refresh rate because the glasses darken one eye and then the other, this is called active shutter. what happens is the glasses let you see with one eye at a time and the moniter shows that eye its specific image, then it all switches. the reason the moniter must be 120hz is because then each eye is seeing 60hz.

Designfire writes

Hi Garrett and Kyle,
Really loving the show, both the content and banter.
Was curious...
Since SC2 is nearly out, I think we need to start speculating on the zerg and protoss expansions, you know because us blizz-fans are never satisfied :p. With that in mind I recall that in SC1's expansion, new units were introduced for each race, and was wondering if you think blizzard will release new units for multiplayer in the upcoming expansions. Any from SC1 or BW that you would like to see come back for multiplayer if blizzard did this?
Thanks again and keep up the biscuit-ee goodness!

Liam writes

Hey I would just like to say I really enjoy listening to your show and I always look forward to listening to you every week. FOR AYUR!
P.S. I was the 70th member of the facebook group!
Retro StarCraft Game Club
Terran and Zerg campaign discussion

#14 - StarCast: "The Interruption Episode"

News
StarCraft II Beta – Patch 17 (version 0.20.0.16036)
Bug FixesMany of the following bug fixes were intended for internal testing only, and are now being reverted.

• 250mm Strike Cannons can no longer deal damage to hidden targets.
• Barracks build time decreased from 65 to 60 seconds.
• Bunker build time decreased from 40 to 30 seconds.
• Canceling morphing Banelings now returns 75% of the cost like other morphing Zerg units.
• Hellion range reverted from 6 to 5.
• Reaper build time decreased from 45 to 40 seconds.
• Zealot build time decreased from 38 to 33 seconds.

Still no situation report
Patch 17 Link: http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=23094049316&postId=259662834748&sid=5000#20
Dominion website is at 80% and has unlocked the second lore-recap video “Uncertain Future”.  As well as more art and a new Protoss score call “The New Protoss”.
Starcraft II to get 3D support in a patch following release. This comes from an IGN interview with lead producer, Chris Sigaty, who looks an aweful like the guitarist from Metalocalypse and plays guitar for the Lv. 80 Elite Tauren Chieftans.
Original article: http://pc.ign.com/articles/110/1102379p2.html
Starcraft II Collector’s Edition leaked unboxing footage.  Look legit, and makes me wonder if the game has gone gold.  With only two weeks left until launch we can only assume that it has.
Link: http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/30322
Strategies:
Kyles Stuff:
Suddenly Queens!
Roaches vs. seige tanks
Always hydra
Anonymous:
1. Dark templars are the protosses best ground unit. Pull about 8 of em out in mid game and that destroyes armies.
2. Warp prisims are good 4 gettin a few immortals into mineral lines. Make sure that the imortals hit the nexus/hive/Command centre as if u give em like 20-30 sec that nexus is gone. Also once imortals r unloaded make ur prisms do their power field ability and you can use warp gates to warp in units. Preferably dark templar.
3. At start of game put a hide a pylon on the out side of his base so that the warp field can reach up into his base. Later in game you can now bypass his wall and warp armies into his base.
4. It is important that when in a terrens base that you kill his orbital command or any other detector unit so the carnt scan you.
5. 5 Dt's (dark templar) can kill 15+ workers in about 5 sec as they 1 hit kill scvs, drones or probes.
Note: For these strategies to work effectively you shall need 5-7 warp gates which means you need a lot of money rolling in. A dark templars cost 125m & 125g each. So try and get sneaky expansions.
Alexis:
Since you talked about both Ghosts and Dark Templars in your last episode, I thought I'd point out one important feature of the EMP round that you didn't mention is that it reveals cloaked units for a short period of time. Which can come in pretty handy when being harassed by Dark Templars and you don't have enough energy for a scan.-
Isadork:
Hey I guess I would direct this more toward Kyle. What Build Order do you use for fast expand to naturel? And as always keep on keeping me entertained.
Eric:
1. How early is too early to scout?
2. Any tips for defending against a Thor drop?
3. Your opinion on the best 2v2 race-combo and why.
4. Wanna see a dead body?

#13 - StarCast: "Why are you listening to this? Beta is back!"

News
*Phase 2 of Beta Update released July 7th!
Closes July 19th
How to get back in.
The bazaar fix kyle used.

Add a trial account of WoW to your Battle Net account.
*Patch 16
Everything reset again. Except for Real ID friends.

General
- Rally points now behave as a move command, instead of an attack move command. -be aware.
- Enabled the ability to manually add a StarCraft II character friend using the player's character code. Character code is a server-assigned numerical code that is displayed within the Add Friend panel.
- Battle.net Achievements & Rewards have been updated.
- All Quick Match modes are now available: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, and Free For All.
- All A.I. difficulties are now available for play.
- Cooperative matchmaking versus A.I. players is now available as a play mode.
- Enabled cross-game social features between World of Warcraft and StarCraft II.
Balance Changes
ZERG
Infestor
- Frenzy spell removed.
- Infested Terran spell added.
Overseer
- Infested Terran spell removed.
Ultralisk
- Now immune to stuns and mind control.
Undocumented changes:
GENERAL

• All menu sound effects changed
• Many changes to all races sound effects -Zerg Voice changes.
• “Beta” removed from title screen
• New music added
• StarCraft installation directory drops from 10gb to 3.5gb as the patch deletes all previous versions
• Only 2 placement matches are required (down from 5 before and 10 at the start of the beta) A display bug incorrectly shows that only 2 placement matches are required while 5 are needed in effect
• Xel’naga towers now look like eyes on the minimap

GAMEPLAY

• Tabbed browsing through production buildings has been removed. Instead, units are assigned to the most efficient building. Early reports inform about many issues with this. -aka marines in your maurader barraks
• Neural Parasite is no longer unlimited, lasts about 12 seconds
• Infested Terrans last 30 seconds (from 20)
• Infested Terran can be cast while the Infestor is burrowed -HOLY AWESOME
• Roaches can no longer move under Force Fields while burrowed - :(
• Stalkers can no longer blink over “unpathable” terrain, meaning no more blinks across islands

30 second timers for custom games
Pop up messages that have to be clicked down.
More victorious victories
New Attachments.
*Blizzard put your real names on the forums.  On second thought, just kidding! Says Blizzard.  On Tuesday July 6th, Blizzard poster Nethaera made an official post in the forums detailing a earth-shattering change to the Blizzard forums.

Quote:
The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players — however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven't been connected before. With this change, you'll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well.
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25626109041

The forums then erupted into an overwhelming negative response.  As of today the plans have changed.  Due to the response from players, Blizz is not going forward with the change.  Nethaera posted a response from Blizzard CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime.

I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25968987278&sid=1
Chat Channels
There will definitely be “chat channels” coming in one of the patches after the release. The system will be based around groups, where you will be able to join public channels that are based around your interests, which can be virtually anything. Also the system will include private chat channels (in plans for release in the first few months after the release), where you will be able to meet with your friends.
Cross Regen play.
We are aware of players’ concerns about the cross-region play and they are being addressed. As stated previously out long term plan with Battle.net is to allow players to play together. This unfortunately cannot be achieved at this point, due to various challenges and issues connected to it, making it more difficult to implement than in the past.
On the other hand we are looking into solutions which will allow interested players to get access to different regions without buying another full copy of the game. There will be support for this on the Account Management site in the first few months after the release.

Strategies:

Joel covers all the trickery that our friend the ghost can provide for us.

http://twitter.com/joelduggan

Hey,

I’m a Protoss player and my favorite strategy utilizes the Dark Templar. If in the bronze or copper league, you first start with dropping a Pylon in a blind spot in the enemy base. Afterwards, wall off completely to prevent the usual rush and tech into Dark templars and Warpgates. Shoot Dark templars straight into the enemy base and head right for the enemy economy. You may have to macro the Templars around detectors or to any workers making detectors once the player figures out what’s going on, by then the game is over anyway, In higher leagues, it’s a bit slower in the you must build Warp Prisms via Robotics Facility. If you’re clever, you’ll only need one to pull off the trick. Position it behind the enemy economy or somewhere undetected and start wrecking. In the higher leagues, you may also want to begin a more brutish force of Void Rays and Stalkers to keep the pressure and the panic to a maximum. This has worked for me in both 2v2 and 1v1 matchups. Hope this helps my fellow Protoss fans!

Hey Guys!
Myself and 3 friends were playing 2v2 on lost temple. I was playing horrible. My one buddy was just about to take me out of the game when I typed to all -  "has left the game".  The message then displays my name "Zinger has left the game".  He didn't note the source of the message and left me alone!  I was able to build up a force big enough to fight a little while longer.  So when my partner was destroyed, and the victory screen didn't come up for him... I laughed so hard when I started attacking him.  If anything it was fun to do it to my buddy. Sometimes people are so into the game they may not notice the source of the message being from "all".  Its also fun type "no longer has any forces" in a 2v2 or 1v1 game and get the LOLs from it.

Not a real strategy, but it could certainly mess with a few heads or atleast get a laugh.

Hey guys,

I’ve just happened across your podcast about a week ago and just finished listening to each in the series. You’re doing a terrific job and keep up the great work. I listen particularly to strategies and through the backlog of episodes you have, I had not heard of the strategy I tend to use. First, I’m a Protoss player and my favorite strategy utilizes the Dark Templar. If in the bronze or copper league, you first start with dropping a Pylon in a blind spot in the enemy base. Afterwards, wall off completely to prevent the usual rush and tech into Dark templars and Warpgates. Shoot Dark templars straight into the enemy base and head right for the enemy economy. You may have to macro the Templars around detectors or to any workers making detectors once the player figures out what’s going on, by then the game is over anyway, In higher leagues, it’s a bit slower in the you must build Warp Prisms via Robotics Facility. If you’re clever, you’ll only need one to pull off the trick. Position it behind the enemy economy or somewhere undetected and start wrecking. In the higher leagues, you may also want to begin a more brutish force of Void Rays and Stalkers to keep the pressure and the panic to a maximum. This has worked for me in both 2v2 and 1v1 matchups. Hope this helps my fellow Protoss fans!

#12 - StarCast: "What's your favorite sandwich?"

News

Korean Air wraps their planes with the beer-scented image of Raynor.

Drunken Moogle mixes a tasty beverage from zerg creep.

Awesome zerg cake above!

The Dominion site unlocks an awesome recap of the original Starcraft.

Retro-Starcraft Gaming Club

Protoss campaign discussion.