|
Also throw in a cartoon screenshot for the Brood War units and any heroes with unique sprites.
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2023 10:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 22:07 |
|
|
”Unit” Spotlight: Static Defense Static Defense, or “Static D” as it’s often referred to, can be one of the most maligned parts of the game. Why is that? Well, there’s two key defining aspects of static defense: First, it’s almost always going to be the most resource-efficient source of damage by a considerable margin. Aside from units that have a range advantage – like Siege Tanks, Guardians, and Reavers – if one player spends X amount of resources on an army and the other player spends that same amount of resources on static defense, the second player is going to win almost every time. Let’s do a stat breakdown to see just what we’re looking at here: Structure: Bunker/Missile Turret/Sunken/Spore/Cannon/Battery Cost: 100/75/125*/125*/150/100 HP: 350/200/300/400/100/200 Shields: 0/0/0/0/100/200 Armour: 1/0/2/0/0/1 Damage: 24**/20/40/15/20/NA Damage Type: Varies/Explosive//Explosive/Normal/Normal/NA DPS: ~38**/~32/~30/~24/~22/NA Range: +1/7/7/7/7/4 Sight: 10/11/10/10/11/10 Special: Loads Units/Detector/NA/Detector/Detector/Restores Shields *75 minerals for Creep Colony, 50 minerals for upgrade to Sunken/Spore. **Assuming four Marines There’s a couple of “hidden” costs there as well: Sunken and Spores actually cost an extra 50 due to the Drone being lost, and a Bunker is going to run at minimum an extra 200 minerals for the units inside. Also I think in the past I’ve erroneously stated that Bunkers provide +2 range to their garrison but it seems they actually only provide +1. I may have confused it in my mind with Bunker + U-238 Shells giving Marines a total of +2 range bonus. So let’s take the Sunken, for example. A mere 125 minerals gets you 300 HP and 40 explosive damage at good range with a fairly steady clip. That’s ludicrously good value. This is balanced out by the second defining aspect, which is found in the name itself: static defense is static. It’s immobile. Once you’ve plunked it down, it’s there for good. This means that it only provides value so long as battles are happening in its area. The enemy can just circumvent it, or ignore it, and even if they don’t eventually the front lines will move to a place where the buildings are no longer relevant. Because of this, many new players will heavily overbuild on static defense, creating a wall to try to keep other players out while they tech up to their preferred unit (probably either Battlecruisers or Carriers). This style of play is called “turtling.” This is generally a terrible idea because it’s essentially ceding the rest of the map to your opponent, who’s perfectly happy to let you sit in your base and tech up while they seize every expansion there is and steamroll you with macro. And because of this, many more experienced players will denounce static defense as a “noob trap” and say it’s something you shouldn’t bother with. Instead, invest those resources into soldiers that can play defense but also go on the attack when you need them to. And that’s not entirely wrong, but it’s not entirely right, either. The truth is that static defense is incredibly powerful and a very important part of the game, but not in the “turtle to Carriers” or even the “cannon rush your opponent” ways that your 11 year old self might have thought it was. See, the trick to using static defense effectively is that you have to have enough game knowledge to be able to assess the current flow of play and determine whether you are currently on the offensive or the defensive. This is a surprisingly nebulous thing in Brood War, and if you were to pull up a pro match right now, unless you’ve got experience with the game at a competitive level you’ll usually have a hard time parsing who’s on the back foot and who’s in control of the game. But if you know the game well enough to be aware that your opponent’s currently got an edge and you’re playing defense, well-positioned static defense can make the difference between victory and defeat. There’s also kind of a rule of thumb that says Terran is normally on the offensive vs Zerg, Zerg is normally on the offensive vs Protoss, and Protoss is normally on the offensive vs Terran. And that’s… it’s not entirely wrong, but it’s flawed. But we’ll dig into that sort of thing in other posts. Here we’re going to go through each static defense building in detail and take a look at when and how they’re used. This will mostly be focusing on competitive because in campaign, static defense usage is pretty, uh, static. Lay out defenses for your base and expansions. Bunker:  These are pretty common in TvP, or rather, in TvP it is pretty common to get a Bunker. We’ve talked about how Terran is normally getting 2-6 Marines in this matchup to fend off early Zealot pressure; putting a Bunker at the natural and loading those Marines into it is a great next step there. Vs Zerg, you’re mostly going to see it as defense against all-ins. In TvZ, Terran generally wants to be out putting the pressure on, and when it comes to harassment you’ll be mostly facing Zerglings (which can just run by the Bunker) or Mutas (which are usually better handled with Missile Turrets). But if Terran scouts an early Zergling rush, a Bunker or two in the main base can be just the thing to fend it off. TvT tends to jump into Mech play so fast that there may not be time for even Marines, let alone a Bunker, but if a highly aggressive player tries to turn the matchup into Marine Wars, a Bunker can be helpful while you get your Factories up and running.  Mini sends a Zealot in to do some damage...  ...but inguh has a Bunker with Marines ready for it at the natural. Note that on many maps, it's not always possible to wall off the natural; you get cases like this, where the Zealot can just walk by. But the Bunker is still essential, both making it difficult to harass the natural itself and allowing Terran to get some good damage off before the Zealot arrives at the (presumably) wall'd off main base. Missile Turret:  This is the one you’re most likely to see irrespective of circumstances. Good damage and crazy rate of fire combine for ridiculous damage output, and its price tag is as small as it gets. Combine that with the building’s small footprint, Detector trait, and Terran’s ability to build anywhere and you’ve got a very tantalizing structure. Even when Terran is the aggressor, putting a couple of these near some or even every mineral line you control to discourage harassment from Mutas, Shuttles, Dropships, Wraiths, and even Dark Templar makes it a no-brainer. There is a hidden cost to them, which is that if Terran is going mech then you’ll also need an Engineering Bay, but even with that factored in these are a steal (plus the Engineering Bay flies so you can just lift it up so it’s not cluttering your base). I mean, bio Terran also needs an Engineering Bay to get these but they want an Engineering Bay anyway so it doesn’t matter. Just bear positioning in mind, here: It can sometimes be tough to fit it around your mineral patch, and mining workers can only travel through other units, not buildings, so putting these in the mineral line itself can cause non-trivial congestion.  Zerg's Mutalisks are looking for an opening, and the high ground behind this base seems to provide just that.   One Turret is picked off easily...    But a quick-reflexed repair by Terran saves the second one, and the Mutas are forced to look elsewhere for their entertainment. Sunken Colony:  Zerg static defense is extremely scary, but that’s by necessity because it also has the highest cost. 125 total cost for the Creep Colony and mutation into the Sunken Colony is quite reasonable; factoring in the 50 for the Drone mutating into it takes us to 175 which still leaves us with an extremely good cost:power ratio. The real problem here is the opportunity cost of the larva: Every piece of static defense that Zerg gets is a worker or unit that will never, ever be. In fact, often you’ll see a Bio Terran player put the pressure on Zerg early on to try and force them to morph one or even two of these. Doing so will effectively end Terran’s ability to harass with Marines (at least at that base), because even a single Sunken, with some support, is very difficult for an early squad of Marines to break through. At the same time, though, the opportunity cost of spending larvae on this can end up putting Terran ahead, so long as they don’t actually lose any Marines to the Sunken. So despite being very strong, Sunkens are something that Zerg will normally get because they have to, not because they want to. The end result is that you will very often see one of these at Zerg’s natural (the expansion beside their main base) in the early game. That being said, it’s not unheard of for Zerg to drop more of these, maybe one at other expansions or even every expansion. You’ll mostly see this with either a particularly greedy Zerg that’s tried to take more expansions than they can hold, or if Zerg is hard-pressed by a particularly aggressive Terran that’s got squads of infantry everywhere on the map. They’re less common against Protoss – it takes a Sunken a lot of hits to kill a Zealot – so if you see them there, it will generally be in bulk as a response to a Protoss rush. Terran Mech vs Zerg is maybe still too in flux for me to make a good call here. In general, Vultures can just do a run-by, negating a Sunken entirely, and of course as the game progresses Siege Tanks just shut this right down, so they’re not the best option here. And Zerg vs Zerg they’re right out.   A big Zealot forces comes rushing in on Jaedong's base, but a Sunken behind the relatively rare Zerg Wall keeps them at bay. This is another key use of Sunkens - where midgame Zerg's focus is very much aerial, sometimes a little extra ooomph is needed on the home front to hold off ground attacks. Here JD's got big clumps of Mutas and Scourge seizing control of the skies, so a nice wall like this really helps to prevent attempts to punish that. Spore Colony:  By far the beefiest static d – 400 HP – and pretty significant damage, as well. 15 might not look like a lot but it’s got a real fast rate of fire – and also does Normal damage, meaning it outpaces the Missile Turret against Mutas. This is, however, also probably the least common form of static d. First, like the Sunken, you’ve got the immense opportunity cost. Unlike the Sunken, Spores are something that don’t really serve too much of a need for Zerg. Zerg’s almost definitely going to have a lot of Mutas and they’re probably going to have Scourge, and if they don’t they can easily get them. So Zerg usually ends up owning the skies, and thus doesn’t have much to gain from AA static defenses. Instead, if you see a Spore Colony in competitive, it’s normally for Detection. Overlords are very slow and your opponent can pick them off or shoo them away quite easily, leaving a big opening for Dark Templar or cloaked Wraiths to exploit. So if Zerg scouts the other player going for some sort of invisible harassment, they may well plunk down a Spore to give much more durable and reliable Detector coverage. But that’s about all you’ll see them for. ZvZ is interesting here; in theory, where this is mostly just Muta wars, Spores could be quite good. A player who’s fallen behind in Muta production could invest in some to keep their opponent’s flock from sealing the deal and instead try to tech up to Defilers or even Devourers. In practice I don’t think I’ve ever seen this pan out – where you’re ceding map control to your opponent it mostly ends up being a “You still lose the game, you just lose it twenty minutes from now instead of twenty seconds” approach. But who knows, maybe you’ll pull off a Hail Mary. And this most recent ASL has shown us that maybe ZvZ has a lot of potential to be shaken up, so who knows where things will go. Effort throwing up Spores to hold of Action's Mutas in possibly the best ZvZ match of all time. Photon Cannon:  Generally not as powerful or resource efficient as other forms of defense, but it makes up for that by being a self-contained, all-in-one solution. In competitive usage this is kind of similar to Missile Turrets? But as they’re more expensive – twice the price, in fact – you won’t really see them as often as a throwaway to discourage Shuttles or Dropships. Instead, they’re mostly used against Zerg, and they’re often placed within the mineral line itself. Why? We’ve talked about this a little: Muta wings are brutal harassment tools, but Templar are a big pain for them to deal with. So how do Mutas survive? They hover over the mineral line itself, so the Templar can’t Storm the Mutas without getting their own workers. The Protoss response, then is to include Photon Cannons as a way to blast the Mutas that try to hover over the mineral line. Mutas then try to clear the Cannons before they harass but from a vantage point where they can’t get Storm’d and the whole thing becomes like its own minigame within the game. Cannons also play a big role in early game defense in PvZ. Scouting is absolutely vital here, because knowing what Zerg is up to in the early stages will help you decide whether you need Cannons, how many, and where. Finding the correct amount of Cannons that will keep you alive against early Zerg pressure without overbuilding is an art form. Against Terran, Protoss generally really wants to be putting the pressure on rather than sitting back with Cannons, and if you’re worried about cloaked Wraith shenanigans then trying to rush out an Observer or two is normally a better play than Cannons. Also, note that the Photon Cannon does Normal damage. It did Explosive upon release, I believe I may have erroneously said that it does Explosive damage once or twice, but this was patched very early on to Normal instead to make them more viable vs Mutas. I would be remiss, however, if we didn’t cover Cannon Rushes. Protoss has the easiest time plunking down a cluster of defenses far from home (I guess Terran technically has an easier time with the static d itself but then needs Marines to fill up its Bunkers), so a common “cheese” tactic is to plunk Cannons outside or even inside of the enemy’s base. Since the Cannons are, resource for resource, stronger than units, this can be quite difficult to deal with. In Brood War this normally isn’t used as an all-in “kill the enemy with Cannons” ploy but rather a way to try to hamstring the opponent’s early game. This is particularly the case against Zerg, where a good Cannon Rush can pick off quite a few Drones and force them to get Sunken Colonies to deal with it, effectively chewing up a whole bunch of larvae. It's always something that needs to be weighed, though, because you’re sinking probably 500 or so minerals at minimum into Cannons and Pylons, and that’s a big investment that you’ll never get back. So Protoss always needs to consider whether they’ll be setting back their opponent more than they’ll be setting back themselves. And like many cheese strategies, it also hinges on successfully denying scouting; if your opponent realizes what’s up early enough, things can go south on you real fast. You will occasionally see Terran trying Bunker rushes, and while it’s extremely rare you might even sometimes see Zerg doing a Sunken rush, so it’s not just a Protoss thing, but it is mainly a Protoss thing.  This illustrates a typical early-game Protoss wall against Zerg. The Gateway and Forge are barricading most of the passage, with a Zealot blocking off the rest to keep Zerglings from sneaking through, and Cannons behind it to blast any Zerg foolhardy enough to charge in. Protoss' next goal is to get Storm up and running before Zerg can amass the Hydras to break through this. Shield Battery:  Last but… okay, last and arguably least is the Shield Battery. It recharges shields at a rate of up to 119 shields per second, and at a cost of 1 space mana for every 2 shields restored. Also note that unlike everything else in the game, it starts with 100 space mana, not 50. It’s a pretty niche building; since it’s static it isn’t really helpful for topping off the shields of your attack forces, meaning it mostly plays a defensive role, sitting behind a wall or at the top of a ramp to top off your forces that are holding back an enemy push. And even then, it often isn’t as good at bolstering defense as a Cannon is, and unlike a Cannon it does nothing to help against later harassment once your troops have moved on. It does have two things going for it, though. First, it requires a Gateway, not a Forge, which can make it a more viable option for certain builds. Second, it has a much shorter build time than the Cannon, making it better for emergencies. But I think a big reason why Shield Batteries aren’t seen very often is because there isn’t really a hard and fast rule for them. You know, with most static defense there’s kind of these general principles or rules of thumb about “Get one if you scout x, or if you get to a certain point in build order y,” etc. With Shield Batteries there’s none of that. The principle is “Get one when your gut tells you that you need a Shield Battery,” which makes it difficult to plan around or work in to a strategy. In other words, Batteries, more than any other static d, need thorough game knowledge to be used effectively. So I know my “arguably least” quip above implies that it’s useless, but it isn’t. It’s just kind of weird and situational.   Snow spotted Terran ready to do a big early push, so a Shield Battery helps keep the Dragoons running as they hold it off. Unfortunately...  ...Terran was in pretty good shape. Man, I just want to stop and take a look at the positioning there for a second. Siege Tanks to keep the Dragoons away from the Shield Battery, and Mines to keep the Dragoons away from the Siege Tanks. Very cool. This is why it's so important for Protoss to be diligent about minesweeping, too. Yes, Spidey Bois are a pain in their own right, but you never know when a few mines planted ten minutes ago will suddenly become the barrier between you and Terran's tank line. So, to summarize… Bunkers: Great defensive tool in early TvP, otherwise mostly used to hold off rushes. Missile Turrets: Helpful and effective in all three matchups. Sunken Colonies: Powerful weapon against early attacks, but the cost is dear. Spore Colonies: Very niche and normally only seen in response to specific rush strategies. Photon Cannons: Solid defensive tool for rushes and harassment while also having decent offensive potential. Shield Batteries: Situational emergency defense; low level players may even forget they exist. Five Minutes Shorter: A few interesting things here. The Missile Turret gets Big Bertha, a stronger version that has increased range and huge dama – nah, I’m just kidding. There’s no hero versions of the static defense (unless you count the Ion Cannon, but that doesn’t shoot anything).
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2023 19:17
|
|
|
JohnKilltrane posted:(unless you count the Ion Cannon, but that doesn’t shoot anything). Unless you're playing UEDAIP! 
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2023 19:37
|
|
|
Extrapost: Protoss Unit Quotes Protoss is a bit trickier to this for, since the purely robotic units don’t use any words. The non-robotic units also have quite a few lines in the Protoss language, Khalani. Most of these don’t have a translation – it seems that the idea of Khalani being an actual language rather than “cool sci-fi-y sounding words” is something that mostly came about for StarCraft 2. Very little of the lines here in SC1 have any meaning - or, at least, if they do have meaning, they haven’t been publicly revealed. The Protoss also have a few robotic units that don't actually have lines; what you see here is just whatever lines they do have that can be transcribed. Each unit is accompanied with a link to a video of their lines. Probe: The Probe mostly communicates in a series of very synth-y robot-y noises, lots of “w” and “u” sounds. Its annoyed lines are kind of actual words run through that voice. https://youtu.be/T34INhDg_lI?si=_gdTtm5uVje5EoCA Annoyed: Yeah? What do you need? No. Nevermind. Zealot The Zealot’s voice delivery is loud, confident, and, well, zealous. The dude loves Aiur and he loves fighting and he loves fighting for Aiur and he’s not ashamed of any of those things. https://youtu.be/Ct-AfZJOfUI?si=2B64Hwfu6K1KJ699 Produced: My life for Aiur! (Famously often misheard as “My wife for hire!”) Selected: What battle calls? Issah’tu! I long for combat! Gee’hous! Acknowledged: Gau’gurah! Thus I serve! (Sometimes misheard as “Khas I serve!”) Honour guide me! For Adun! Annoyed: En Taro Adun! (In honour of Adun) All for the Empire! Doom to all who threaten the homeworld! Dragoon: The Dragoon’s voice is low pitched, flat, and very mechanical, kind of the next level of robot-y up from the Goliath. It’s also got a lot of lines, for whatever reason. Most units have four each selected and acknowledged lines, some have more, but I don’t think anything’s got near as much as the Dragoon. https://youtu.be/mf3OEAD8EBQ?si=ksUqNGnZcxylEAFu Produced: I have returned. (Remember your lore: Dragoons are repurposed Zealots. The Protoss are pretty green). Selected: Receiving. Awaiting instructions. Transmit. Input command. Galahoslos? Za Khaladas. Make use of me. I am needed? Acknowledged: Confirmed. Initiating. Lokh-tai. Metonah. Commencing. Nagat Zuul. For vengeance. Annoyed: Unauthorized transmission. Incorrect protocol. Drop your weapon! You have ten seconds to comply. (Robocop reference) Five… Four… Three. Two. One! (attack sound). Scout: The Scout’s voice has more reverb and delay than a U2 song, which makes it a little hard to make out what he’s saying at times. https://youtu.be/tYrHNTsn-Oo?si=w0e2gXQx4yFkUm_M Produced: Teleport successful. Selected: Awaiting command. Standing by. Contact? Joh’giiv? (Frequently misheard as “Cho’Gall?” which honestly would be better tbh. I’m down with Ogre names being Khalani words). Acknowledged: Chaos. (This one I’m particularly unsure of; it’s what every list of unit quotes online I could find says but my ears just aren’t having it) Koh’koh rii. Locus acknowledged. It will be done. (Definitely sounds like “It will be joyous”) Annoyed: [distortion] Signal unstable… [more distortion] Psionic link, dissipating… Adjusting neural transmission… [gibberish] [distortion fades] Self-refraction inhibitors engaged. High Templar: Kind of a harsh, shadow-y stage whisper with a bit of distortion. https://youtu.be/zzn7tdXEDu8?si=Qepd592RnfLJpFk2 Produced: Khassar de templari… (“From order comes justice”) Selected: Your thoughts? Zerah’hah. I heed thy call. State thy bidding. Acknowledged: You think as I do. It shall be done. My path is set. Zzz’togh. Annoyed: Your thoughts betray you. (wild that it took this long for a Star Wars reference to appear) I see you have an appetite for destruction. (Guns and Roses reference) And you have learned to use your illusion. (Also a Guns and Roses reference). But I find your lack of control disturbing (Also a Star Wars reference. For that Star Wars/GNR sandwich, I guess). Archon: Despite the popular schoolyard myth that the Archon tells you the cheat codes, in reality only one of the Archon’s lines actually corresponds to a cheat. https://youtu.be/wAaN1PbTtUo?si=W1_4ocIzVJsHmzcS Produced: The merging is complete. Selected: We burn… We need focus… Thoraso’cahp! Power overwhelming! (This is the cheat code, for those unfamiliar with the game) Acknowledged: Destroy… Annihilate… Eradicate… Obliterate… Annoyed: It all looks so different on this side… (Contact reference) Break on through! (The Doors reference) It’s beautiful… (Contact reference) They should have sent a poet… (Contact reference) Shuttle: The Shuttle communicates mostly through high-pitched beeps, as well as sounds that I assume are the “air unit engine noise” but for all I know could also be part of the Shuttle’s “voice.” https://youtu.be/RD5mjAFE5XQ?si=NIs6dpPERUjiY9qZ Reaver: The Reaver communicates through a series of chirps and whistles that, as mentioned, are weirdly kinda cute? It sounds a lot less terrifying than it actually is. https://youtu.be/z_7BXBI23Nw?si=n3P5oJHaXdmCmtJK Observer: Rounding out our robots is the Observer, which is kind of an odd mixture of sonar-esque pings, distant voices talking, and almost theremin-esque noises. I think it might also be the only standard unit to have less than four selection and acknowledgement lines? https://youtu.be/Uj-PBkVNQ2I?si=YpglraNJrZ27gBxk Annoyed: (All of these lines are distant, static-y, and distorted) I sense a soul in search of answers. (From Diablo 1 – note that this isn’t a reference, it’s literally Adria’s sound bite direct from Diablo 1 being played here) That sounds like a…HUGE, GARGANTUAN, SWOLLEN, BLOATED MUSHROOM! (Again, from Diablo 1, and again, literally the direct sound bite being played. It’s Griswold, this time). [Neil Armstrong] One small step for man, one giant – [Grunt] STOP POKING ME! (the latter being, once again, a direct sound bite, this time the Orc Grunt’s annoyed line from Warcraft 1). [Medieval Man plays] (hidden song from Warcraft 2 that was an homage to a similar hidden song in Command and Conquer; sooner or later I’ll show a similar hidden song in Starcraft) [German advertisement for Warcraft 2 Battle Chest plays] Dark Templar: Deep, gravelly, and kind of menacing. https://youtu.be/XkBKC0NXPv0?si=QZQ0XfuBnW691V2m Produced: Adun Toridas (Adun hide you) Selected: Yes? Zerashk Gulida. (Oblivion awaits) I’m waiting… Neraz Gulio. Acknowledged: For Aiur. Ner’Mah. So be it. Very well. Annoyed: Your taunts are ill-advised, Templar. Do not provoke me to violence. You could no more evade my wrath… …than you could your own shadow. Carrier: A truly iconic voice, the Carrier is deep, commanding, and leaves no doubt that he considers himself in control of any situation. https://youtu.be/kSc3n4SczEY?si=D0-m_uIgPZKam5NT And you know what? Just for fun, here’s a video of the Interceptor quotes: https://youtu.be/rK-Z3aDkCH8?si=sCppIZxfRq5pT10U Produced: Carrier has arrived. Selected: Instructions? Your command? Loh’Klahs? Ischk’nu? Acknowledged: Commencing. Kokal’tulah! Gau’ju! Affirmative. Annoyed: Our enemies are legion! And still you procrastinate! Command, or you will be relieved! This is not an idle threat! Arbiter: Voice-wise, it’s kind of similar to the Carrier? But slightly less authoritative and a fair bit more reverb-y. https://youtu.be/kCmG8xrzd8A?si=ffr0GYOzja1eQ2OE Produced: Warp fields stabilized. Selected: We feel your presence. Duras? (It’s being presented as Khalani but it is, in fact, a Star Trek reference). Dunad’wynn. We are vigilant. Acknowledged: Nihn’kas Neehn. J’tokoh Zohl. Gowron. (Another Star Trek reference disguised as Khalani. Glory to your house, Judicator! Also, Duras and Gowron are both Klingons, and while we’ve already talked about the main inspiration of the Protoss being Roswell, surely the Klingons were a big influence as well). Annoyed: We sense a soul in search of answers. (Same Diablo 1 reference as the Observer, but this time it’s the Arbiter saying it, rather than Adria. Which I guess is obvious from the pronoun). Do you seek knowledge of time travel? We’ll take that as a yes. And now for your first lesson… [laughter] [previous three lines played rapidly in reverse] Do you seek knowledge of time travel? Fenix: As mentioned, his voice is very Orc-y, sounding fairly close to the voices his actor and Blizzard exec Bill Roper did for the Warcraft 1 and 2. Zealot Fenix and Dragoon Fenix have the same lines, but Dragoon Fenix has the sort of Dragoon-y voice modulator applied to it. Still not nearly as robotic sounding as normal Dragoons, though. https://youtu.be/lD5axPZAd1g?si=udB2Hzd2x_sqVKyr https://youtu.be/YBLVOn4Oa8A?si=Na8gwqD9NVNTHmLh Selected: Executor? Your command? What would you ask of me? I hunger for battle! Acknowledged: For Aiur! Immediately! Nach ta’kala! As you will! Annoyed: I fear no enemy! For the Khala is my strength! I fear not death. For our strength is eternal! Tassadar: Tassadar’s voice is clear, firm, and confident. https://youtu.be/kKtx67G_HlQ?si=XBSForphHcFzHUdl Selected: Yes, Executor? I hear you. How may I help? Your will? Acknowledged: Of course. It shall be done! For Adun! Terrie Khala! (Khala is, of course, “The Path of Ascension,” but we have no idea what Terrie means). Annoyed: Speak quickly, Executor! I don’t have time for games! I was Executor long before you! So do not try my patience! Zeratul: Zeratul’s voice is deeper and richer than even the Dark Templar. The voice actor does a pretty good job of conveying “both dangerous and wise,” IMHO. https://youtu.be/LJTGm1D1GYs?si=7tidjcDJ5CZvjvjl Selected: Hmm? You address me? Your orders, Templar? Khas Naradah! (Again, we know who Khas is; no clue on “Naradah”). Acknowledged: I do this for Aiur. So be it. It will be done. En Taro Adun! (In honour of Adun, again). Annoyed: You have persecuted us for generations… …and now you beg us to aid you? We will do what we must… …but we do it for Aiur, not for you.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2024 16:54
|
|
|
ah Protoss, the race that often made me wonder "...what are they saying? this zealot sounds so gruff, did he just say 'bla sah zerb'? the gently caress does that even mean?!". Some of them I can look at the transcription and think "yeah, ok, I guess that tracks" and then there are others where I think "how the gently caress did they explain that pronunciation to the VA?" also the zealot was totally telling me "it's all true"
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2024 19:36
|
|
|
I wish I was half as enthusiastic about anything as the Zealot is to murder the enemies of Aiur.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2024 20:19
|
|
|
the Zealot posted:Issah’tu! You will never convince me this isn't the zealot sneezing: "Is- a- achoo!"
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2024 22:02
|
|
|
ninjahedgehog posted:I wish I was half as enthusiastic about anything as the Zealot is to murder the enemies of Aiur. Right? Also I just noticed that I somehow forgot the inimitable and irreplaceable Aldaris. I'll edit him in once I get a chance.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2024 01:57
|
|
|
Enslavers 2: Playing With Fire Disclaimer: I recorded this in two parts, and for the first part I was a little out of practice, so my gameplay here is a little inconsistent. See if you can spot where I improve! The briefing is found at the end of the last update. If you've forgotten and can't be bothered to go back and re-read it, Alan's got a Cerebrate under his control, Mengsk wants us to kill it, some Protoss named Mojo warned us that killing it would be a mistake and asked us to rescue his buddies instead. We have to choose one or the other and the thread voted to rescue the Protoss. Also the elite Wraith pilot Tom Kazansky and scientific genius Magellan have joined our ranks.  Commander, I just want to reiterate the importance of the work we’re doing here. I trust you will do the right thing. Certainly, Emperor. By the way, I have been meaning to ask you: is Emperor your title or your name? I assumed it was your title but then I realized I do not know for sure. Or perhaps it is both? I’ve had about enough of this, commander. I will expect a full report. Do not fail me in this. Permission to speak freely, commander? Denied.Our start:  A CC and a Barracks - more than last time. We also get our two heroes.  Tom Kazansky, with a beefy 500 HP and twice the damage of a regular Wraith…  …and the Magellan, with a whopping 800 HP and 4 armour. It's not the most durable unit we've seen, but it's pretty close. It's top 3. Also, being heroes, Tommy and the Magster start with all research unlocked - immediate Cloaking and Vessel spells is huge. …oh very well, Thomas. I can feel you sulking from here and I am not even psychic. Permission granted. Are you sure it’s wise to antagonize our Emperor like that? Ah, my dashing knight of the skies. So much to learn. Commanding officers are all the same, darling, emperor or no. If you are careful, you can annoy them just enough that they don’t want to deal with you, but not so much that they write you up. Then you are free to operate as you see fit.As a tanky flying Detector, Magellan is the ideal choice for recon.  A bridge, which later scouting will reveal to be the only ground approach to our base…   …and Zerg immediately on the other side. Typical. We also spot:  Our geyser, which is a huge trek from our start position. Which means it's almost mandatory for us to get a second CC up before we can start harvesting gas. But first, we'll need some defences:   Yo what the hell  Where did these come from  I lost a bunch of SCVs because I froze up. I spent precious seconds just furrowing my brow in confusion. What happened? They didn't come across the bridge. Were they burrowed nearby? No, because we scouted with Magellan, so we would have spotted them. And I can look back at those above screenshots and confirm yes, no burrowed Zerglings. (Too hectic to get the whole battle, PS, but Tom and a couple of Marines finished the Zerglings off). Well, if we rewind a bit and take this screenshot:  Check the minimap. You can see a small orange square just in the bottom right of our base. So my best guess is that Allan's pet Cerebrate used an Overlord to ferry over some Zerglings and make things miserable for us. The good news is that I managed to make the connection that defending against airdrops like this might be part of why they gave us a Wraith hero to start. The bad news is that I made that connection now, while writing this, rather than while playing. Womp womp. Finally get that other CC started.  Firebats, here we come. Hey, wanna watch Tom in action?   First, we get as close as possible, being careful to use the Move command to do so. Overlords will start running as soon as they're hit, so the closer you are when you open fire, the more shots you get off before having to chase them.  He runs. Is he fast enough?   He is not.  Commander, if I may be so bold, would you care to let us know what you are planning? Well, I thought that perhaps after this I might retire to the cantina for something I like to call a “Deconstructed Margarita.” You and Thomas are welcome to join me, if you’d like. Apologies, Commander. I meant about the Protoss. Oh, that. I have not decided yet. On the one hand, I have worked hard to be where I am and being a traitor does not sound very convenient. On the other hand, I have never seen a Protoss before and am very curious. And besides, Mengsk seems like he likes to micromanage. I cannot abide a micromanager, darling. Ah… understood. Please keep me in the loop, Commander. Certainly. By the way, is Magellan your name, or the name of the ship? Commander, I strongly advise against antagonizing your own men. Thomas, you wound me! Why would I want to get under Magellan’s skin? I ask because I genuinely do not know. As improbable as it sounds, the answer is both. Magellan is my surname, but the ship is named for the famous Earth explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, who accidentally proved the world was round while trying to discover Sacagawea, the greatest of the Seven Cities of Titanium. Although, I have often wondered if perhaps I am not descended fr - That is a fun story, Magellan, but I am afraid that we have work to do.Meanwhile, orange isn't just using transports:   And they're not alone:   Oh, and look:   Two Terrans. Again, the colours aren't representing the usual Sons of Korhal red and Omega Squadron brown, but rather different branches of Schezar's Scavengers. Dude's pretty set up for a pirate. We've also got defences around the perimeter:  I normally like to put up perimeter Turrets like this, but I think this is the first time I've ever done it for practical reasons rather than because I think it looks cool. We're being hit hard on most sides. But this base won't last us for too long. We're going to need an expansion. Scanners show…  The Zerg base near us is moderately defended. Not the scariest thing we've faced, but not a pushover, either. Wait a minute…   Aha. So the Terrans may not actually be on our landmass, they're just using the Zerg as a staging ground. They're definitely working together, alright. That'll make this base a fair bit trickier to take - with the frequency of attacks, we can generally assume that there'll be Terran forces there to overcome as well - and if there aren't, they'll probably arrive mid-battle. Which could be even worse - I don't want Firebats dropped on top of my tanks.  Hmm. Looks like the occasional transport can still make it through. Okay, Tom. Do your stuff.   Man. Mengsk wasn't exaggerating about the best in the fleet. If you're not familiar with the game this might seem underwhelming but trust me, a Wraith easily handling a Goliath is a big deal. So, commander, have you reached a decision yet? And would you care to share it with us? No. No you have not reached a decision? Or no you will not share it with us? I could tell you, but it is so much more fun to watch you try to guess, darling. Never fear, Tom! Simple logic can solve this for us. You see, there are only four possibilities…Meanwhile, our tech has been slowly but surely progressing. Firebats are out and we've got a couple Factories up and running. Space is at a premium, but…   The cliff behind our base gives a nice spot for tech buildings. It'll also be ideal for our Starport. When we eventually get there. It'll be a while.  Orange likes sending loads of Queens.  Seriously. Like, four Queens. They don't seem to have Spawn Brooding, otherwise this would get real unpleasant real fast. Their constant Ensnaring would be a big issue if we were running bio, though.  Ah, crap.   Phew. Doesn't look like they have Siege Tech yet, but it's coming. The good news is we have lots of ways to handle Siege Tank wars. The bad news is they're things like Lockdown and Defensive Matrix and Yamato Gun, i.e. all high tech things that will be a pain to achieve running off a single geyser. At least we've got Magellan for some Matrixes. Actually, in retrospect, if you're going to run high tech off a single geyser, Ghosts with Lockdown are very reasonably priced and we could have pulled that off. Oh well. Next time. Wraiths are good, too, but they've got more important duties in this mission. Let's do a bit of constructive mining:   Sadly, it's short-lived. The AI is better about clearing them out:  N.B. I don't believe the AI is actually scripted to seek and clear minefields like this; it's just a bit of bad luck that an attack group of Mutas and an Overlord happened by. Oh well. Magellan, dear. Dinner time! On the contrary, it's scarcely past - ah. I see. So long, Muta clump (they died offscreen  )Oof. Brown has also been teching up:  First things first, let's Matrix that frontal Tank to keep it safe from Wraith lasers.   Uh… or I could hit the wrong key and EMP the tank by mistake. Whoops. And the way the terrain is set up, it's tough to get Turrets close enough for battles like this. I start to scramble Tom and some of our Goliaths, but…  …I forgot how good Marines are. Handled. (We will see Terran Bio in action, PS. Just… not until Brood War. But still. It’s coming. Yessir, only another dozen or so missions to go until we can take the very first unit we ever used and kick it into overdrive). Alright, it's time.  Let's take a second base. We've got a stack of Vultures, four or so each of Tanks, Goliaths, and Wraiths (including Tom), and Magellan.    We'll start with bringing down that Sunken.  Here they come.  More…   …That Siege Tank is in trouble. Zergling inside its minimum range will easily kill it, possibly on its own but more likely by drawing fire from other Tanks.  Fortunately I press the right button this time and the Matrix saves the day. Alright, time to move in:     Wait, where'd all our guys go?     …Huh. That's not ideal. Magellan! What happened? You assured me we had enough soldiers. I did no such thing. It’s okay, dear, Emperor Emperor is still tuning us out and was not around to see this. I am sure you will do better next time. Just remember: being bad at exterminating vicious alien lifeforms is the first step on the path to being good at exterminating vicious alien lifeforms. Commander, with all due respect, I was not in charge of this assault. You were. Interesting. That is not what the record says. Commander! Oh, relax, darling. I am only joking.So what happened? Why was that attack such a disaster? First, there's the terrain. You only get a very small staging ground between the bridge and the Sunken. In particular, there's very little room for any screening action by Vultures or Mines in front of the Tanks. This meant that our Tanks were susceptible to the Zerglings running out, and there were a lot of them. There's also a lot of trees there: not only did they make pathfinding a nightmare, they also provided cover, effectively making this like pushing into high ground. Second, there's unit composition. Where quarters are very cramped and Hydras are plentiful, Vultures maybe just aren't a great choice here. I went with them because they don't cost Vespene but I think Marines would have worked much better. In fact, in retrospect a far better approach would have been to get a few Barracks and stage an early infantry assault. With all those Zerglings about, Firebats would also be very strong here. I also think we just needed more Tanks. Third, our forces got divided after a surprisingly well-timed gooping from a Queen's Ensnare. Our Vultures in particular were hamstrung by that, and while it didn't do anything for our Goliaths’ attack speed, it did leave them stuck bumbling around at the back. Wait! Wait wait wait! quote:the Starcraft AI is just really not great at handling Zerg spellcasters in particular - it has this weird thing where it likes to fire off Ensnare at the exact moment when it would have the least possible impact. So it’s not going to be much of a concern. Ever. It happened! Amazing. And finally, I didn't bring along Tom and his Wraith buddies. I don't remember if this was an oversight on my part or if I decided to keep them around on defense. I'm also not sure if they would have made a difference but intercepting that Queen could have turned things around. Oh well. Once more with feeling.  Our force this time is a fair bit larger. We’ve got more Tanks, more Goliaths, we’ve actually brought Tom and his buddies along for the ride, and we’ve even mixed in Firebats. I thought they might be our best option for clearing Zerglings away from our Tanks.  Oof. A bit of a tough nut to crack. But there are no unclaimed expansions on this map (...that I found) so crack it we shall! While we put the finishing touches on our force, Magellan thins out their numbers a little bit:   It's, uh, about as exciting as you would expect Irradiating burrowed units to be.  Looks like red’s pushing in.  Which means…  Oof, that is not a small force. Anyway, which means…   …once they're dealt with…   …it'll be the opportune moment to attack.   Wait, what?  …what?  …What!? How did that happen? While we were fending off red these Mutas plowed through like four Turrets. Were there Guardians involved? I don't see any. Did they just have a whole bunch of Mutas? Oh well. They can munch on some Depots if they like. We have bigger priorities.   The Zerglings charge out, and…  We obliterate part of our own front line (my favourite part is the Firebats at the back stuck on the Vultures). But we've still got most of our force:          Boom! Okay, not the world's greatest mine hit.  They just keep coming…  Our Firebats finally made it up <3  Looks like we've finally maybe got this under control.    And there we go. Man, that was still brutal. Part of it is my Terran micro is awful, but a big chunk of it really is the aforementioned geography. I think it's the most treacherous terrain we've encountered to date. It doesn't help that the home front was almost never quiet during that.   Or      Man, Tom is a badass. We've mostly got the area under control, but Orange isn't ready to concede it quite yet:     Boom. Goliath’d.  Looks like there's another bridge connecting this new spot to another part of the map. And further along…  …another base. Which we may well need. And that terrain looks a whole lot more favourable to us. It also looks like that bridge is the new staging ground:   …Is it ever. Huh. Fortunately…  …our surviving attack force is our new defence force.  Can we get some mines out in time?    Well, it thinned them out a little, I guess.    So far so good.  They finally bring the first of their tanks up, which will make things a little painful.  …But not too painful. Now, check this out. This was awesome:  They set up the rest of their tanks, so…  …we move up to engage. But those Queens came in and spattered us with goo.   It's a truly nasty interaction I'd never even anticipated. Moving up on already-sieged tanks with your own unsieged tanks is already pretty tricky, but with Ensnare thrown into the mix, halving your movement speed? Forget it. Micro becomes a huge pain and you're in big trouble. We might have lost that engagement if it weren't for Magellan nearby to drop a couple Matrixes. Speaking of which, while I used to think of him as underwhelming, Magellan is quickly proving to be my favourite hero unit. A super tanky Science Vessel with all spells from the get-go is just so good, and tends to scale better as the game progresses, too. I might even like him more than Dragoon Fenix. It's very close.  Even more goop, because Orange is obsessed with Queens. Okay, quick question: was anyone sitting there thinking “Huh, I wonder if while this has been happening, brown's been airlifting units into the main base?”  Ugh. That's okay. Tommy time.  Looking back at these screenshots, it's really becoming clear that I skimped on Wraiths way too much. A bunch of them could have made my life a lot easier by keeping the skies clear. Something to keep in mind, I suppose. Closeup of our critter for this tileset:  The Rhynadon is, as the name suggests, a very rhino-y creature, so I’m not sure why Cartooned made it a giant piggy. Orange is persistent:   They will keep doing this for some time. They really want this base without having to retake it, I guess.  Finally. All set up. And…    We're getting defences up as well - and we're airlifting our buildings up too, to get units in the field faster. Excellent work, gentlemen. Now it is time to plan our strike against Alan’s prison. The prison? So you’ve made your decision, then? We’re to rescue the Protoss? I made my decision some time ago, darling. I thought it might be fun to see if I could trick you into going against our orders, but… I suppose you and Magellan have the right to decide for yourselves. Ah, one step ahead of you, commander! I have run this scenario through my ship’s computers which indicate that abandoning the Protoss and ignoring their warning would be unethical according to 81.527% of today’s leading moral philosophers. But what about the soldiers? The soldiers? You mean my soldiers who have accompanied me to remote worlds on dozens of special operations? Darling, when the Confederacy fell it took ages for news to reach us. We had not even heard of this “Mengsk” or his “Dominion” until just recently. They do not care about him. They will go where I go. That just leaves you, Thomas. You do realize that Mengsk will have us executed for treason, right? Only if he catches us. …Fine. I’m in. I’ll do it. Wonderful! What are you so excited about? I have never been a traitor before, and new experiences are always interesting. Besides, perhaps I will finally get to meet a Protoss. I have heard that they smell like nothing. No odour at all. Do you think that is true, Thomas? …Let’s just get this over with.The objective we aren't pursuing:   I won't show this part in the Non Canon Zone, just because it's a pretty straightforward attack on a Zerg base. Nothing we haven't seen already, this mission even. But now you know what a cartoon Cerebrate looks like.  Another red attack. Oh well, their landing site is in range of our tanks. Should be eas -  Oh.   Frigging Lockdown.   There we go.    …Or not?  We get Magellan over, but if this isn't a sign we need more Science Vessels, I don't know what is (I’m actually not sure I ever grab a shot of us having more Science Vessels, but we do eventually get them and make use of them).  Tom and his pals are far away, but our Goliaths can handle these Wraiths, no worries  (Remember back in Terran 05 when I mentioned that units affected by Lockdown can still be affected by other abilities? Threw a Matrix on our Tank there).  …No, there's some worries, man. Our Goliaths can't reach the Wraiths from here. Man. It's not as big a deal as the upcoming top-secret Ultra upgrades, but we are still very much hurting for the upcoming top-secret Goliath upgrade. That would have punished here. Instead we have to go all the way around…   …oh good. I was just thinking “This isn't annoying enough. Let's make the Goliaths slower.”    Finally. Let's make sure that doesn't happen again, shall we?  Better. Red's still doing drops, but…  This new base finally gave us the gas to really up our Wraith game.    Man. We didn't actually lose any Wraiths, but that was stressful. Okay. Our defenses are shored up, our attack force is assembled, and we're almost out of Vespene (again). Let's move out:     :/ The AI hasn't actually learned how to intelligently use Ensnare. It's just producing enough Queens that sooner or later it's bound to hit us during meaningful moments. This wasn’t one of those, but it does make maneuvering around this ledge a pain.      Never underestimate the importance of terrain in this game. It's a huge tactical factor. This base is now ours.   Red is being a bit more direct with their drops:  But we've been teching up:   Lol I can't believe I forgot to Cloak the Ghost first. Oh well, still got the most important one.   Actually where we're using Wraiths Lockdowning a Goliath probably would have been better. Oh well. Across the water from our new base, we see the source of Red’s attacks:   Oof. Wraiths and Turrets everywhere, and I'm not seeing a ground approach. We do, however, see this:  Our objective. Commander, it would appear that sensors have determined the location of Schezar’s prison. Interesting. So that is a Protoss? I wonder why some of them have four legs. Perhaps those are their pets. We will have to get closer to investigate.I try to bombard from across the water:  But that skeleton is taking up most of the space there and we can't really get a good shot off.   We can kill a Turret, though. Which is something. More experimenting:     Still can't really do a lot, but you know, that created a good opening for us. …or at least it would be a good opening, if our Dropships were ready, instead of this just being something I'm doing to entertain myself while they build. Red retaliates:    Lol get Goliath'd. But also, note the Wraiths in the bottom who didn't follow their buddies and are instead rudely picking off my SCVs.  Not a small number of them.  Takes our Goliaths forever to bumble over there, though, and I'm not sure where our Wraiths are right now. Probably off throwing a… Wraithe. No, wait. I can do this. Wrave. poo poo. Wraive? Some sort of dance party, anyway. Man, this joke works better out loud. (DISCLAIMER: The joke does not actually work better out loud).  Oh never mind, there's some Wraiths there.  Done. Fun fact:  Orange actually still has some stuff up here, and brown and red will sometimes hide out among it. It's not really worth dealing with, though. Orange also still has their main base going - in the center of the map where the Cerebrate is - but in gobbling up their two expansions we’ve majorly hamstrung them. They don’t have the resource income or the larvae to do anything but kind of send the occasional Queen out now. Also, while we're at it…  Here's a glimpse of brown’s base. We won't be worrying about them. Alright, our force is built up. A stack of Goliaths, a stack of Siege Tanks, a couple Ghosts, the Dropships to carry them, a bunch of Wraiths, Magellan, and a few Battlecruisers to help blast us an opening.    KNOCK KNOCK  Alright Tom, that's your cue.  And now…    BOOM!     There's a fair bit of stuff, but not nearly as much as I was expecting. I guess red sends most of its units out attacking.      Commander, we’ve breached Schezar’s prison. The Protoss have been liberated. Oh, how exciting! : Greetings, Terran. Our gratitude for our rescue cannot be expressed. Oh, do you feel that? It is tickling my brain. Hello, Protoss! Are you Mojo?: Alas, Praetor Mojo is imprisoned elsewhere. We will need your help to secure his release. Oh, very well, I suppose. I shall prepare my soldiers. Commander, explain yourself. You were already on thin ice, so you had best have a very good reason why this isn’t what it looks like.: Well that all depends on what it looks like, darling. For example, if it looks like my notice of resignation, then that is exactly what it is. Ta-ta. I don’t know who you think you are or what your endgame is, but you’ve made a dangerous enemy today. You will soon find that there is nowhere in the sector that my reach does not extend. I will not be double-crossed. This is - What a bore. So what is the plan, my Protoss? We can initiate dimensional recall, but it will take some time to bring your soldiers through. I recommend relocating them to a safe position while they wait. In the meantime, we can only bring you and an honour guard. Perfect. I will bring my new friends Thomas and Magellan.  And that’s that. Hmm, but what if… we were to attempt to wipe out the Protoss and disguise it as a rescue mission? Oh ho ho, delightfully devilish, Mira.      …Huh. Well that’s not what I expected at all. Nukes count as a unit (actually, quite a lot of spells count as “units” but Nukes are maybe the only spell that counts as a unit belonging to the player), so the warhead “rescued” the Protoss. Since the map just looks for the Protoss being rescued, not surviving, that counts as a win, I guess. Hmmm, this gives me an idea.            Hah! Yep. It worked. Since the rescue happened before Magellan died it clocks the former before the latter and we still win. It’d be even easier if Science Vessels could Matrix themselves. The more you know.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2024 23:02
|
|
|
the magellan cheese is just...
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2024 23:25
|
|
|
Fun fact: the terrain for this map was re-purposed from a cut mission from the Terran Campaign called "Biting the Bullet" - it would have featured the player, with Raynor on his bike and Duke in a Tank, fending off zerg on Antiga Prime. The objective was to destroy the Blue Zerg player's Hive on the central island, at which point the objective would switch to "survive the zerg onslaught" as a wave of Zerg attacked you and Orange, where Schezar's red base is in this mission, would come online and go nuts. Then Tassadar would show up, offer to help, and you would get control of the Gantrithor, three other carriers, and I think like... 12-16 scouts? And then you would take it all and just bulldoze the rest of the zerg on the map. Because all the Protoss stuff is fully upgraded. This would have been the player's formal introduction to Tassadar, too, instead of during Episode 2.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2024 23:42
|
|
|
This LP has been going great so far. I'm glad I caught up with it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2024 23:47
|
|
|
i wish you could go back to normal graphics except for the zerglings cartoon zerglings are the best
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 00:59
|
|
|
BlazetheInferno posted:Fun fact: the terrain for this map was re-purposed from a cut mission from the Terran Campaign called "Biting the Bullet" - it would have featured the player, with Raynor on his bike and Duke in a Tank, fending off zerg on Antiga Prime. The objective was to destroy the Blue Zerg player's Hive on the central island, at which point the objective would switch to "survive the zerg onslaught" as a wave of Zerg attacked you and Orange, where Schezar's red base is in this mission, would come online and go nuts. Oh man! I can't believe I forgot to mention that. I've decided that I'll be showing off Biting the Bullet, as well as Operation Silent Scream, in the Non-Canon Zone at some point during Brood War, where I figure it might be fun to go back and revisit the Jimmy and Matty and Sarah days.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 01:54
|
|
|
Rescuing the Protoss with the nuke is so loving funny, I can't believe I never heard of that before. Presumably if it was an exploit in the main campaign it would have gotten a million Cracked-esque "5 Weird Gaming Hacks That Developers Don't Want You To Know" listicles instead of being tucked into a corner of the game that most players never touched
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 02:01
|
|
|
Dr_Gee posted:i wish you could go back to normal graphics except for the zerglings Agreed. They look so happy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 02:05
|
|
|
Dr_Gee posted:i wish you could go back to normal graphics except for the zerglings
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 02:09
|
|
|
I agree and would 100% vote for doing the next zerg campaign cartoonized, but OP's mentioned it's throwing off his game hence the def. switch back Just, you know, having uwu zerglings amidst the GRIMDARK WAR OF THE FUTURE would be the best
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 12:58
|
|
|
ninjahedgehog posted:Rescuing the Protoss with the nuke is so loving funny, I can't believe I never heard of that before. Presumably if it was an exploit in the main campaign it would have gotten a million Cracked-esque "5 Weird Gaming Hacks That Developers Don't Want You To Know" listicles instead of being tucked into a corner of the game that most players never touched I didn't even know it was a thing. I only did it to compensate for not really getting off any good nukes this time. Crazy stuff. Dr_Gee posted:I agree and would 100% vote for doing the next zerg campaign cartoonized, but OP's mentioned it's throwing off his game hence the def. switch back Who knows? Maybe the Cartooned skin will sneak its way into one or two missions in the Zerg campaign. Maybe it won't. Time will tell.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 16:21
|
|
|
Saving the Protoss by literally dropping a nuke on them is hilarious
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 17:48
|
|
|
Cartoon skin is fun but I definitely think it will have worn out its welcome by the end of Enslavers.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 17:51
|
|
|
Looking at that last cheese, could you also do it by getting Magellan to matrix Thomas?
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 18:14
|
|
|
Tenebrais posted:Looking at that last cheese, could you also do it by getting Magellan to matrix Thomas? Possibly, although where Tom has 500 HP and Matrix effectively adds 250 HP, he'd still be a bit weaker than Magellan's 800 HP, so it might be a bit trickier. On the other hand, if you Matrix Tom and sent both of them it could split incoming fire and end up making it easier. Tommy boy can cloak, but with so many Turrets everywhere that might be a moot point.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 18:56
|
|
|
JohnKilltrane posted:Possibly, although where Tom has 500 HP and Matrix effectively adds 250 HP, he'd still be a bit weaker than Magellan's 800 HP, so it might be a bit trickier. On the other hand, if you Matrix Tom and sent both of them it could split incoming fire and end up making it easier. Tommy boy can cloak, but with so many Turrets everywhere that might be a moot point. Tom is also a bit faster, so that + occasional blindspots in turret coverage might make the difference.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 19:15
|
|
|
BisbyWorl posted:Tom is also a bit faster, so that + occasional blindspots in turret coverage might make the difference. Oh! Good point, I hadn't considered that. That should work as well. Also, I'd meant to say - there is dialogue that happens when you complete the mission by killing the Cerebrate, but we'll take a look at it in the No-Canon Zone update rather than here.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 20:36
|
|
|
Enslavers Part Three: The Rescue. Thank you for coming to our aid, Commander. I realize that you did so at great risk to your own career. Schezar has trapped me in a Stasis Cell along with Danimoth and Warbringer. Only my telepathic powers allow me to communicate with you. Even now, Schezar is plotting how to control more Cerebrates. Free me and my companions, then together, we will go to his stronghold on Aiur and deal with him. Hmm. I don’t know. This does not entirely make sense to me. You Protoss seem brave and strong, why bring me here? Our numbers are limited and we face an enemy that we have very little experience fighting against, where you seem quite confident fighting against your own kind. Your tactical expertise is… requested. Ah, so I am to be the thief that catches the thief, yes? Very well, we have a deal. I shall liberate you and your compatriots and then we shall liberate this Aiur. For a nominal fee, of course. After all, we must eat, darling. So be it. I am not familiar with this “darling” but if it is what you and your people must eat then we shall do our utmost to provide it. Once I am freed, of course.Mission Objectives: Recuse Mojo, Danimoth, and Warbringer. All heroes must survive. Our start:  No base, but Magellan, Tom, and a pretty substantial Protoss force, including…  A helpful Observer to recon for us.  Hmm, looks like purple is nearby.   Yep, we’ve found them.   Easy enough. But that’s just the appetizer.      There we go. And zero casualties so far. Nice. Mostly thanks to Magellan. Turns out Dragoons and Defensive Matrix are a really, really strong combo.   This looks like purple’s actual base itself.     Hmmm, a rear attack from some Firebats. This may not be their only base. Not that Firebats do much to Dragoons, but it’s good to keep in mind.   Some Zealots have wandered off to pick on the SCVs:  Uh oh.  Hmm. Well, that’s okay. Our surviving Zealot should be able to get inside the tank’s minimum range. Then it’s in trouble.  …or not.  Found the Stasis Cell, at least.   The rest of our assault continues unchallenged, and I have an idea for dealing with those Siege Tanks:   Unfortunately…    It turns out to be a game that two can play at.  And how.    Now purple’s basically done.     Thank you for freeing me, commander. I owe you a debt of gratitude. Are you Mojo? Yes, but my allies are still imprisoned. They will need freeing as well. If you were wondering how we could free those allies with our current forces, each Stasis Cell also includes two Probes.    …one of which almost immediately gets roasted by a Firebat. Fortunately Tom was there to intervene. Thanks Tom. We’ll have to look into that mystery extra purple base, though.  Yep, there it is. Way down to the south. We can handle that in a bit. In the meantime, we need to get our infrastructure set up.   Hahahaha the absolute audacity of this poo poo. More fool me for leaving that Bunker, I guess. Now purple’s sending units right through my base to the other side to poke at my Pylon. Let’s address that:   …and just in time, too. I guess red’s come out to play.  A distinctly un-frightening Bio force.    I Irradiate anyway, for fun, but it lasts a grand total of three frames before the Marine dies anyway. Oh well. Our Dragoons are taking care of all this because…   Our Zealots and Archon were off getting rid of purple for good. No more weirdly contemptuous trolling from them.  …okay, almost no more. They’ve still got plenty of Turrets, and we’ve got no way of repairing Tom, so any damage he takes is permanent. Speaking of flying heroes that can’t be healed…  Phew. Big tanky boi with absolutely massive air damage. Scout heroes, like our buddy Mojo here, are actually pretty great. They take the Scout’s advantages and crank them up to 11, and at the same time the fact that we get him and his upgrades for free eliminates the Scout’s disadvantages (other than the crappy range). Pretty solid unit. While we get our base together, let’s do some closeups of the Protoss units and buildings.  …I do not understand, there is something missing… Perhaps if you modify the phase variance… …Hmm, now there is some food for thought, darling… …No, that’s not working… The physics here are too distorted, although it reminds me of the readings when the Morians tried to extract energy directly from that black hole… Hmm? Oh, the failed Operation CWAL. Such a sad little rush job. You know, dear, when I was in school we used to joke that it meant “Can’t Wait Any Longer.” Hah! Yes, it might as well have. You are right, it is just like that. Interesting. You know, my supervisor, Dr. Noglues -  Really? You worked under *the* Dr. Ophelia Noglues? I had no idea, commander! I know darling. I was her assistant during one of her experiments. It turns out that certain synthesized radioactive isotopes, when contained entirely by organic matter such as wool, exert a gravitational pull simi - Similar to a black hole! Yes, the Black Sheep Wall Experiment! You may be right, we could substitute that here. Although the power requirements would be… overwhelming. True, but only at first. Once we’ve ignited the process, it should have no trouble staying alive. Certainly, but that won’t be easy. The gathering of the energy required would be… What are you two doing? Shhh! We are trying to reverse engineer the technology the Protoss used to warp us here. Now? We’re in the middle of a battlefield! Tom, have you read Jacobsen’s Gilded Wars: Technological and Economic Revival in the Confederate-Morian Conflict? What do you think? Because she makes quite the compelling argument that improvisations in the middle of the battlefield is precisely where many innovations of the past decad -  Yeah, I get the picture. Listen, Commander, the Protoss are looking for you. They say they’re about to do some sort of recon and want you there to interpret the results. I am very sorry, Magellan, but I cannot pass up the opportunity to meet more Protoss. Be a dear and keep at this, won’t you? Certainly, commander! And don’t let Tom’s attitude get to you. He can be something of a medieval man when it comes to this sort of thing, I’m afraid. Ugh. War ain’t what it used to be. Let’s use this little guy to go find our next objective.  Ah, commander. There you are. I was hoping you could help with our findings. Step over to this terminal, it will allow you to interface with some of our technology. Look through the sensors of our Observer, and tell us your thoughts. Well, you should probably avoid those towers, to start with. They are dangerous, darling.Oh, right. I see. Is dangerous darling still suitable for consumption? Because my warriors can set the wreckage aside, if you’d like. At least our Dragoons are around to capitalize on it (being attacked by an enemy gives you vision on it). Hmmm? I meant that they have sensors of their own. You must be cautious. Here, let me show you. How do I command these for myself? Is there some sort of joystick? The terminal provides partial Khala integration. You have only to form the command in your mind and the Observer will follow. Interesting! Hmm, I wonder… Self destruct! I do not understand how such a command will benefit us. Furthermore, it is not necessary to replicate your thoughts with your facial orifice. Your mind will suffice. Oh, Mojo, I was only joking. …but would it have worked? Actually, do not tell me. I do not want the surprise to be spoiled.Fortunately we’ve also got this little guy:  We started with two Observers but since I only needed one the other’s just been chilling here at the start point the whole time.     Red’s attacks are getting more serious, though it looks like they don’t have Siege Tech yet.   That looks like their base there. It’s right next to ours. Citadel of Adun…  (Big fan of the new artwork for Leg Enhancements on that one, BTW).   Hmmm, a mostly aerial attack force, and while we’ve got plenty of Dragoons, they’re too clumsy to get there quickly.     Hahaha absolutely unreal. Mojo and Tom are an incredible pairing and it is very fun to watch them clear the skies. Note that the rest of the Scouts trundled along at the end of the fight - as mentioned above, Mojo starts with the Scout speed upgrade for free, so he can keep up with Tom. His buddies? Not so much. Templar Archives:  Robotics Support Bay:  Reaver!  What a fun little guy. Red’s hitting us again…   …but doesn’t have enough to crack our wall.     Okay, that one’s on me for tempting fate. Still, that Tank is easily handled by our Zealots.   Oh no! There’s one more Marine! Our poor Probe is in peril!   Heh. Alright, we’ve got our force built up. Two stacks of Zealots (well, okay, 23 Zealots and an Archon), one stack of Dragoons, The Mojo, Tom, and Magellan Show, and a couple of Reavers.    Oof, look at all those visible shields indicating Zealots being hit. Firebats, man (that’s not just from the one there, there’s one or two in the Bunker as well).   Having a hard time wrangling all my Dragoons :/     I suspect that trying to push up that ramp will be suicide.  Yeah, looks pretty nasty.  Uh… extremely nasty.  Fortunately, they’re more than willing to oblige us by coming down here. This does mean they’ll have the high ground advantage, but I judge that to be a lesser evil compared to trying to funnel my army through that chokepoint.         Fortunately our Reavers have gotten close enough to do some damage.    Hahaha man. Defensive Matrixing a Tank on a ramp. Classic. Fortunately…   We have enough firepower to break through it relatively quickly.  We’re thinning things out, but those Battlecruisers are a huge pain. I’d like to snipe that Turret so our anti-air squad can get in there and mix things up without me having to worry about Tom taking big damage. Until then, our Dragoons will have to take care of things.    There we go.    Oof, big losses just trying to get all our Dragoons up there.    Now we’re talking.  So at this point we’ve effectively won the battle - Red still has most of their base but we’ve dismantled their active army and they won’t be able to produce reinforcements fast enough to deal with our force here - but boy was it messy. This might be the most pyrrhic victory we’ve seen so far. What happened? In this case, it’s mostly just that I was too impatient. This would have been an absolute slaughter if I’d waited to get High Templar online. Like let’s go back to this screenshot: Imagine dropping a couple Storms on that. Boom. Easy. No problem. Of course, part of the reason why I pushed earlier than I normally would have here is because I needed to secure a second geyser to help afford things like High Templar. The other issue is that for some reason my brain just forgot Shuttles exist? Like imagine if I’d brought along a Shuttle to get the Reavers right in on the action. So in other words, it mostly boils down to “I’ve already forgotten how to play Protoss.” Anyway. We’re not out of the woods yet.     Uh oh.   Boy is that going to be a running theme of this invasion.      I’ve queued up a bunch of Dragoons and set their rally point to red’s base to make sure I keep this momentum going.     Well, that’s some of the unit production taken care of, at least.  Gotta clean up those mines.   The last pocket of resistance.   Commander, I have found the Stasis Cell! They shall not evade my wrath! I do not think this is a good idea, Mojo. Besides, I prefer the colours when your four-legged friends make the explosions. And the slugs. Especially the slugs.Yeah, sorry bud. You’re strong, but you’re not “Recklessly charge four Turrets” strong. At least we know where the objective is now.      Typical.     Commander, we have found the Warbringer. It seems to be intact. Here’s the Warbringer. As mentioned in the Reaver Spotlight it might be the most boring hero, just a regular Reaver with roughly triple durability. Really what makes the Warbringer a little disappointing is that unlike heroes like, say, Magellan, getting the Reaver upgrades for free from the start isn’t really all that exciting. Oh well. It’s better than a kick in the head.    Red’s dead, baby.   Haha of course they got off one last Spider Mine, but at least it didn’t kill anything. Anyway, now we can relax and tech up some more.   Magellan, Magellan, can you hear me, darling? I am afraid we will have to stop playing with the Protoss toys for a bit, I have another project for you. Certainly, Commander. How may I be of assistance? I have a strong suspicion that these Protoss do not even know what credits are, let alone have any to pay us with. Be a dear and see if you can think of alternative compensation they might have access to. Commander, this is highly irregular! Should we not be offering relief simply because they are in need? That is a nice thought, Magellan, but remember that we are now traitors. How will we sustain ourselves, darling, aside from blowing things up for money? Commander, do you have any idea why the Protoss just warped aboard fragments from a missile turret and said “bon apetit?” Do not be silly, Thomas. Protoss do not speak French. Now hush. You are interrupting. Hmm. I’ll work on this problem for you, commander, but I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with this direction. It seems rather mercenary. Yes, dear. That’s the general idea.Our Observer finds…  Brown. Looks like the third and final base.    Hmm, now this is interesting…   Aha. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? I’ll give you a hint:    The rare instance where no smart casting makes your life easier.         The Danimoth is secured. The crew seems to be in good health. We are in your debt, commander. And I will not forget it. Is everything satisfactory? What about your sky templar? Did he enjoy his nourishment? Hmm? Oh, do not fear. I’m sure it was perfect, darling. Truly? Perfect darling on our first attempt? I am glad we could be of service. We shall continue to refine the terminal, however. I have noticed that its use has resulted in the spontaneous combustion of several smaller maintenance robots. No doubt there is some confusion from the machine interpreting Terran brain waves. No doubt. And there you have it. I can’t tell if it’s considerably easier than the first two missions or if I’m just much worse at Terran than I am at Protoss. Probably both. In any case, we’ll have to wait for next time to actually see the Danimoth in action, but it’s exactly what you’d expect from a hero Arbiter. So, same as Magellan: seemingly boring but actually low-key amazing. Oh, also, just so you know, you can in fact get Carriers in this mission. Like every other mission in Enslavers, we’ve got the full tech tree. I just held off on them. For now.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 18:30
|
|
|
You know, I've never seen Brown not die first and Red not die last. Also, this is the second mission whose terrain was repurposed from a Cut Mission from Episode 1. This mission, Operation: Silent Scream, would have taken place after The Big Push, and featured Raynor and Kerrigan being sent to secure the New Gettysburg area, which confuses the hell out of Kerrigan since it wasn't the plan the originally discussed. Then there's a cryptic line from Duke about how he'd come in afterwards to put down any attempted counter-strike. The implication here being that the big reveal about the Emitters would be happening at the end of THIS mission, not The Big Push. You started with a strong force of various Terran units, with Raynor's bike and Kerrigan of course, but still no base or SCVs. The objective was to destroy all enemy Starports and Factories. Thing is, unlike this mission, you never receive any workers to build a base of your own (I initially got this part confused with this mission and was surprised when you got Probes out of the Stasis Chamber). Instead, you are given a set amount of reinforcements upon destroying certain enemy Command Centers. And yes, there were still three enemy bases, and yes, all three were active and producing units. It was... a bad mission. UEDAIP took it (since it added both it and Biting the Bullet back into the campaign) and overhauled it rather significantly. It added Duke to the map in the central area with a mini-base, he would exclusively use Infantry and his job is just to hold the area, and also produce vehicles for the player out of his Factory; any units he makes there are given to the player immediately, and he is actually smart about what he gives you, with there being a priority system built into his AI script that checks how many you have of what vehicles. You still need to work through the three enemy bases, but having an area to fall back to and heal is very helpful; Duke's base is centered around a Science Facility that must be protected that also heals your units when they're close to it. Mods let you do fun things with the editors.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 19:00
|
|
|
Protoss in general aren't as interesting in Cartoon form, but the dragoon portrait? Simply perfection And the reaver is obviously fantastic
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 19:43
|
|
|
Dr_Gee posted:Protoss in general aren't as interesting in Cartoon form, but the dragoon portrait? Simply perfection Yeah, while the Zergling is obviously the best Cartooned unit, all-in-all I think the Protoss are the best overall 
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 20:11
|
|
|
I see what you did with the cheat codes
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 20:45
|
|
|
Sanguinia posted:I see what you did with the cheat codes I don't, what's the joke?
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 21:04
|
|
|
Sanguinia posted:I see what you did with the cheat codes
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 21:07
|
|
|
While the Reaver is obviously adorable, credit to them making the Zealots look great in cartoon form too.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 21:17
|
|
|
lol the Dragoons. Crammed in their little domes, awkwardly pushing joysticks around.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 21:19
|
|
|
Kith posted:I don't, what's the joke?
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 21:25
|
|
|
Dr_Gee posted:i wish you could go back to normal graphics except for the zerglings Agreed. I do not like this motif except for zerglings and the pink pig. Edit: and Scouts. They look like a bath toy that I had as a lad. JustJeff88 fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Jan 12, 2024 |
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 01:50
|
|
|
Cartoon is great but obviously go back for Brood War.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 01:55
|
|
|
JackSplater posted:There's a bunch of cheat codes hidden in the dialogue between Mira and her friends I looked them up and there sure are! Very cute. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 03:08
|
|
|
I can take or leave the cartoon graphics, except for Zerglings and Reavers - happy bug puppies and happy worm bombers are great. EDIT: Ok, three including the Robotic Vacuum Supply Store. Falconer fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Jan 12, 2024 |
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 04:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 22:07 |
|
|
What about the Robotics Support Bay, which has three vacuums sticking out of it?
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 04:33
|
|