It's been almost 3 years since the announcement of Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft 2. An event that took the gaming world by storm and instantly made it one of the most anticipated games in production. But 3 years is a lot of time. Blizzard, sticking by it's “you play it when it's done” motto, has made numerous changes to many aspects of the game. From introducing new units to shifting roles of previous units, graphical changes, game play updates, you name it, it's probably been changed. So what of it all? Unless you're a die hard StarCraft fan who constantly refreshes the battle.net forums every day for a new Karune (the Blizzard representative to the StarCraft 2 community) post chances are you probably aren't quite up to date on what's happened. The purpose of this article is to help fill in that gap by shining light on some of the major changes that have taken place since the original announcement and early versions (referred to as alpha) and the current private beta.
General Changes:
Lets start with the obvious. For anyone who isn't visually impaired the game looks much different now than it used to in the alpha phase. Blizzard has made enhancements to just about every aspect of the game. Terran units that used to look shiny and clean have been given a makeover of dirt and grime. Zerg units that looked almost cuddly have been revamped into more fierce looking creatures that are designed for naught but killing. Even the Protoss, the least graphically changed race, has seen small changes in it's look. Many of these changes and refinements were made due to fan concern about the game not being visually up to snuff. Some units were simply retextured. Others had their models tweaked and still others, most notably the Siege Tank, were redesigned completely.
Blizzard has revealed several new terrains since the announcement as was expected. For the most part many of these bear similarity or relation to the terrain set from Brood War. One thing that has changed is the ability of some units to traverse this terrain in different ways. Units like the Terran Reaper and the Protoss Colossus are able to practically ignore cliffs and move over them without the assistance of a ramp. Another instance is the Zerg Infestor which can move while burrowed.
Other additions to maps are yellow colored “Rich” minerals. These minerals contain the same amount as the regular blue minerals however they can be harvested much more efficiently. Normal mineral fields return 5 minerals per mining trip while the yellow mineral fields return 40% more. These higher yielding minerals were designed to be put in places that are difficult to protect making players have to decide if taking a high yield expansion is worth the cost of defending it.
Additionally each base, both starting and expansions, contain two vespene geysers now with both equaling the same amount of gas contained in one geyser in the original StarCraft. This move was made to help speed up gas mining and also give an additional amount of control to the player with the cost being that, once a geyser runs out of gas, you can no longer mine it. (Unlike the original StarCraft where you could mine a depleted geyser and still get a reduced amount of gas from it.)
Above: The difference between the look of StarCraft 2 at the announcement and now.
But one of the most important changes that cannot be overlooked happened during Blizzcon 2008 when Blizzard announced that it was going to split the game into three chapters to be released in succession. Many fans were unhappy with this move however the few petitions to Blizzard to revert on their stance fell on deaf ears.
Also announced in June was the fact that Blizzard was not going to pursue a LAN option for multiplayer. In an effort to help thwart piracy all games would have to be authenticated and played through Blizzards new Battle.net 2.0. This too angered many fans and Blizzard later backtracked and stated that LAN play may be available but only after the game connected to, and authenticated with, a Battle.net 2.0 server.
Unit Changes:
Many of the units in StarCraft 2 have changed since the announcement. Some only slightly, others quite radically.
The Terrans:
An addition to Terrans in early 2009 was that of the MULE harvester unit. In addition to SCV's a player can tech up to what is known as an Orbital Command add on to the Command Center. This add-on can produce MULE units which harvest resources faster than SCV's can. Their downside is that they have a limited “battery” and when it runs out, they must be replaced. MULEs cannot build structures but they can repair them. Instead of costing minerals/gas they cost energy that is generated by the Orbital Command add-on.
In 2008 Blizzard yanked the Firebat and replaced it with the eerily similar looking Marauder. The reason they look so similar? It's the same unit model with a few tweaks. Now, instead of wielding twin flame throwers the Marauder fires grenades that do heavy damage against thick armor. The unit still cannot attack air targets however.
The Reaper unit was given a new ability in 2007 called the D8 Charge. Activating this caused the Reaper to throw a small bomb a short distance away which will detonate after a few seconds. Reapers have unlimited charges that are affected by a cool down timer. In 2009 Blizzard removed this ability and also removed Reaper's ability to jump over buildings, destructible objects, and spells.
Very little was known about the Terran Ghost after the announcement except that cloaking and his nuclear strike abilities were still there. It would soon turn out that the Ghost would undergo numerous changes during the course of development. In the Terran game play video released in mid-late 2007 two new abilities were revealed. One was the ability to “snipe” biological units. The snipe ability caused a lethal dose of damage to whatever unit it struck. Also introduced was a “Drop Pod” ability which, when used, would cause an pod to drop from the sky which opened to reveal a squad of infantry. In 2008 an EMP ability, similar to what was used by the Science Vessel in StarCraft and Brood War, was given to the Ghost. This sparked much debate and the ability was removed late that same year in addition to the removal of the Drop Pod ability. The EMP was later tweaked some and given back to the ghost this time dealing a fixed amount of damage to shields in addition to draining all mana from mana wielding units within it's radius.
Also introduced in the Terran game play video in 2007 was a unit known as the Cobra. This unit was designed as a quick-hit hover vehicle to replace the vulture. However, this unit was quickly dropped at the end of 2007 and replaced by but another unit by name of Jackal equipped with the same weapons as the Cobra. In mid 2008 the name was changed to Hellion and the unit received an art change as well as a weapon change. It currently wields a flame thrower and is no longer a hover craft but land based.
Shortly after the announcement, the Siege Tank was given a complete makeover based on strong fan feedback. Otherwise the Siege Tank itself has remain unchanged since the announcement.
Above: The Siege Tank redesigned.
The Viking was introduced in 2007 as a replacement for the Goliath (this was a planned replacement from the start). The main advantage it holds over the Goliath is that, while it looks similar in “Assault Mode” it can also transform into a “Fighter Mode” and become an airborne vehicle. This unit has had many minor adjustments and role changes since it's inception. The most noticeable being it's move from the Factory to the Starport, the removal of it's ability to attack air units while on the ground, and added bonus damage against heavily armored units.
The Thor is a unit that has had many little changes made to it since it's inception ultimately resulting in a much different unit than what was originally conceived. Debuting in 2007 a batch of changes came late that year including a physical size shrinking, removal of it's slower turning speed, and, most notably, a sizable difference in cost and stats. The Thor was originally built by an SCV in open ground. It was later moved and is now built by the Factory. Role-wise it was considered a jack-of-all-trades initially. In 2008 it waffled between anti-ground and anti-air before finally being deemed as an anti-air unit with ground attack capabilities. It received a small art upgrade in early 2009 as well as a range upgrade to it's air attack to further reenforce it's role as anti-air.
When StarCraft was announced in 2007 one of the staple Terran units that was mysteriously absent was the Medic. She appeared later on in the Terran demo but was never actually introduced and it was revealed a short time later that Blizzard was scrapping her altogether. During this time the Dropship did return and, aside from the graphical redesign that made it look very similar to the concept from the shelved StarCraft Ghost, it remained virtually unaltered. This all changed in 2008 however when Blizzard introduced the new, upgraded, Medivac Dropship. This unit not only still served as the air transport for Terran units, it also included the former Medic's healing ability. Since then however, aside from some minor tweaking of health restoration value, the Medivac has not gained any other special abilities or had any major changes made to it since it's conversion.
The Raven is one of the more heavily changed units in the game going through multiple waves of feature additions and subtractions. It was introduced as the Nomad, a unit that boasted most of the same abilities as the Science Vessel from the original game. A few months after it's introduction it's EMP was replaced with a new ability called the Auto Turret which is a small machine gun turret that can shoot down both ground and air units. In 2008 Spider Mines were added. These were later removed in 2009 and replaced with the current Hunter Seeker Missile. A target tracking projectile that deals heavy damage on impact and has splash bonuses. Another ability that was replaced in 2008 was Nano Repair. This was replaced by an ability called the Targeting Drone that would point a laser at a target which would then take additional damage from all units firing on it. This was later replaced yet again by the current Defense Drone which instead shoots down incoming fire. The Raven has also undergone numerous name changes since it's inception. Originally known as the Nomad this was later changed to the Vulcan in mid 2008. In late 2008 it was renamed again, this time to Nighthawk and also received a graphics change from what looked like a yellow crane bent into a horseshoe to it's current model which bears resemblance to the Protoss Arbiter from the original StarCraft. Once more the name was changed to Raven in mid 2009 where it remains today.
Above: The former Nomad and the current Raven.
Last but not least, the Battlecruiser has undergone some minor refinements. When originally introduced the Battlecruiser's attack was a large number of small, light laser attacks that dealt low damage but fired quickly. This was changed back to a version of the single, large, laser attack from the original game in 2008. The Battlecruiser also had two special weapon options. The first was the classic Yamato Cannon with the second being a Plasma Torpedo attack. The latter of these attacks was changed in mid 2008 to a missile attack that has much the same effect minus splash damage. A few months later the Defensive Matrix was taken from the Raven and given to the Battlecruiser thus giving it a third ability. However, all of this was removed shortly before beta release leaving the Battlecruiser with just the plain old Yamato gun as it's lone ability.
The Protoss:
The Protoss Stalker is the first Protoss ground unit that has had any significant change since the announcement in the form of an art upgrade in 2008 to a revised design in effort to make it more closely resemble the original concept.
One unit that has changed a bit is the Sentry. Introduced as a replacement for the Status Orb (which was a replacement for the Star Relic) it was originally known as the Nullifier containing three abilities: Molecular Displacement, Force Field, and Hallucination. In early 2008 it received two new abilities: Null Void and Anti-Gravity. Both of these abilities however, were removed in mid 2008. In early 2009 Molecular Displacement was removed and replaced with a Guardian Shield ability which reduces damage to all units inside it. Also in early 2009 it received a graphics update and was renamed to Sentry.
Above: The evolution of the Sentry.
Like in the original game, High Templars were brought into StarCraft 2 with a base attack. Again like in the original, this attack was removed during development in 2008. The templar was originally given both Psi Storm and Hallucination as abilities. In 2008 Hallucination was removed and given to the Sentry. It was replaced by a Phase Shift ability which acts much like Stasis Field from the original game with the exception that it only targets a single unit. In beta patch 1 Phase Shift was replaced by the Feedback ability which functions the same as the Dark Archon ability from Brood War.
When originally introduced as the Twilight Archon, this unit was basically a merger of both the Archon and Dark Archon from Brood War containing some spells from the Dark Archon but still blue and able to attack like a normal Archon. This was later revamped and the Twilight Archon was changed into a regular Archon nearly identical to the first game.
The Colossus has fallen prey to a few minor updates dealing mostly with it's attack. It's first rendition featured twin energy beams that narrowed into focus on it's target. Once this target was destroyed the beams would move to the next and so on until there were no more targets within range. Several months later this was changed to a multiple target attack in which several beams were released and focused on individual targets. These beams were not constant like the previous version and were instead, fired multiple times while the Colossus was attacking it's target. In mid 2008 this attack was changed again to a single sweeping beam that inflicts linear splash damage and has a short duration. Once more this was changed to a double beam that cross sweeps in a horizontal line and inflicts linear splash. The Colossi's only special ability was removed sometime in 2008 which was an enhancement to it's shields. This was replaced with an attack range upgrade a short time later.
Above: Evolution of the Colossus attack.
The only major changes revolving around the Phoenix was the dropping of it's “Overload” ability which dealt a large amount of damage to all surrounding air units at the cost of being rendered temporarily useless. This was replaced with it's current Graviton Beam which lifts ground units off the ground disabling them. It was also originally able to attack both ground and air targets. It now is air-to-air only.
When StarCraft 2 was announced, one of the units that had been replaced was the Carrier. In it's place was a very similar unit named the Tempest. However, citing emotional attachment, the Tempest was re-skinned and renamed back to the Carrier and given a new ability called escorts which was later removed. The current Carrier is statistically nearly unchanged from the original game however looks much different.
The Mothership is probably the most altered unit of the Protoss faction, if not the entire game. When revealed at the StarCraft 2 introduction in 2007. It had a base attack and three distinct abilities: Time Bomb, Planet Cracker, and Black Hole. It was also a special unit and only one Mothership was allowed per player at any time during the game. Three years later, after many additions, removals, and general tweaks it is now a normal unit that is very expensive and has three abilities of which one is passive. It provides a cloaking field around itself much like the Arbiter from StarCraft, it has Vortex which is very similar to the Black Hole with the exception that it can affect both air and ground units of every player on the map including the owner. It also contains Mass Recall, another ability similar to the Arbiter. This last ability was inherited during the beta itself as a replacement for two former abilities: Temporal Rift and Wormhole Transit, the former being related to the old Time Bomb ability while the latter allowed the Mothership to warp to any Protoss building owned by the player. The Mothership has been changed quite frequently during development and it would not be surprising to see additional changes as the beta continues.
The Zerg:
The Zerg were kept fairly quiet at the 2007 announcement of StarCraft 2 and were the last race to have a “reveal” trailer. Because of this many of the Zerg units haven't been publicly changed as much as the previous Terran and Protoss races have during development.
Infestors were introduced during the Zerg reveal trailer and were initially able to infest both Terran and Protoss structures. (even though an infested Protoss was never actually “seen” during development.) This ability was dropped shortly before beta and, in beta patch 1, replaced with a “Terran Infestation” ability which spawns an egg which then produces an Infested Terran. It also originally had both Dark Swarm and Plague, two special abilities from the Defiler in Brood War. Both abilities were dropped during development. Fungal Scourge, also known as Fungal Infestation, was an ability that would drain a single unit's life until it died, this was later changed and renamed into the current Fungal Growth which is an area-of-effect ability that damages units within a radius. Neural Parasite was added in 2008 which allows the Infestor to control a single enemy unit for a short period of time. During the beta this ability was changed. The time limitation was removed from the ability and, in exchange, it can no longer target air units and also suffered a short range decrease. Besides these changes the base effect remains the same.
Above: See that little puff in the dirt? That's an Infestor heading to your base.
When introduced, the Queen was a unique unit and only one could be had at any given time. In addition, it had the option to be upgraded to a Large then a Huge Queen as the transitions from Lair to Hive were made. When upgrading, the Queen would gain additional abilities. By Blizzcon in 2008 the Queen lost it's unique status and upgradable abilities. Queens also used to provide the defensive structures for the Zerg however this duty was given back to the Drone in mid 2008. The Queens current abilities include Spawn Larva which is a changed and renamed ability from Mutate Larva. The latter ability having a timed life on the “Morphalisks” it produced and was considered too tedious for players to maintain. Transfusion remains with the Queen after a brief stint with the Overseer allowing the Queen to heal any biological unit or structure up to 125 hit points in exchange for a small energy cost. Creep Tumor is a small structure that spawns from the Queen which extends the edge of the creep while remaining concealed to other units without detector ability.
Both the Overlord and Overseer had an ability called “Slime” which temporarily disabled resource nodes and watchtowers from being utilized causing a slowdown in resource mining or a lapse in scouting ability. This ability was removed in mid 2008. Around that same time the Overseer gained an ability to produce a small unit called a Changeling. This unit could move into enemy territory and, on sight of an enemy unit, would morph into a base unit of that race (marine, zealot, or zergling). The Changeling cannot attack and is very weak. It is only utilized for deceptive scouting purposes. The Overseer also had two other abilities removed, Spore Cloud and Acid Spore. The former keeping enemy units from being able to see in a specified area and the latter increasing damage taken to all affected units.
When revealed in late 2007 Zerg Corruptors, instead of damaging units they attacked, “corrupted” them turning them into Zerg-controlled turrets with a short lifespan. This was later changed for balancing purposes into a general, damaging, air attack.
Above: A normal Battlecruiser (left) and a corrupted Battlecruiser (right).
Brood Lords are a renamed and redesigned replacement for the former Swarm Guardian. It's abilities have not changed much. It's attack is to “throw” Broodlings, creatures similar to Zerglings but smaller and weaker, at it's target. The initial attack does some damage and the Broodlings are able to deal additional damage to whatever targets they can attack during their limited lifespan.
Nydus Worms, at first, acted like transports carrying a limited number of units to a destination. This was later changed to act more like the Nydus Canal from the original StarCraft. Nydus Worms also had the ability to “pack up” and move from one location to another after being deployed however this was removed in mid 2008. Later that same year creation of Nydus Worms was given to the Overseer as an ability but was removed shortly afterwords. Currently, the worm acts as a structure being deployed by the Nydus Network anywhere the owner can currently see. Once deployed, Nydus Worms can be given rally points where units will move to after re-emerging from the worm out of the Nydus Network.
Conclusion:
As can be seen, there have been many changes made to StarCraft 2 during the development period. Some of these were done due to balance, others done because of the “feel” of the game. One added bonus is that most all of the abilities and units that were removed during development may appear at some point in the campaign and will be available for use in the Galaxy map editor.
I hope you enjoyed this briefing of the StarCraft 2 unit development changes and that it was as informative to you reading it as it was for me writing it. Be sure to stay tuned for additional articles detailing beta patch changes. Till then, good hunting.
-Linus D
General Changes:
Lets start with the obvious. For anyone who isn't visually impaired the game looks much different now than it used to in the alpha phase. Blizzard has made enhancements to just about every aspect of the game. Terran units that used to look shiny and clean have been given a makeover of dirt and grime. Zerg units that looked almost cuddly have been revamped into more fierce looking creatures that are designed for naught but killing. Even the Protoss, the least graphically changed race, has seen small changes in it's look. Many of these changes and refinements were made due to fan concern about the game not being visually up to snuff. Some units were simply retextured. Others had their models tweaked and still others, most notably the Siege Tank, were redesigned completely.
Blizzard has revealed several new terrains since the announcement as was expected. For the most part many of these bear similarity or relation to the terrain set from Brood War. One thing that has changed is the ability of some units to traverse this terrain in different ways. Units like the Terran Reaper and the Protoss Colossus are able to practically ignore cliffs and move over them without the assistance of a ramp. Another instance is the Zerg Infestor which can move while burrowed.
Other additions to maps are yellow colored “Rich” minerals. These minerals contain the same amount as the regular blue minerals however they can be harvested much more efficiently. Normal mineral fields return 5 minerals per mining trip while the yellow mineral fields return 40% more. These higher yielding minerals were designed to be put in places that are difficult to protect making players have to decide if taking a high yield expansion is worth the cost of defending it.
Additionally each base, both starting and expansions, contain two vespene geysers now with both equaling the same amount of gas contained in one geyser in the original StarCraft. This move was made to help speed up gas mining and also give an additional amount of control to the player with the cost being that, once a geyser runs out of gas, you can no longer mine it. (Unlike the original StarCraft where you could mine a depleted geyser and still get a reduced amount of gas from it.)
Above: The difference between the look of StarCraft 2 at the announcement and now.
But one of the most important changes that cannot be overlooked happened during Blizzcon 2008 when Blizzard announced that it was going to split the game into three chapters to be released in succession. Many fans were unhappy with this move however the few petitions to Blizzard to revert on their stance fell on deaf ears.
Also announced in June was the fact that Blizzard was not going to pursue a LAN option for multiplayer. In an effort to help thwart piracy all games would have to be authenticated and played through Blizzards new Battle.net 2.0. This too angered many fans and Blizzard later backtracked and stated that LAN play may be available but only after the game connected to, and authenticated with, a Battle.net 2.0 server.
Unit Changes:
Many of the units in StarCraft 2 have changed since the announcement. Some only slightly, others quite radically.
The Terrans:
An addition to Terrans in early 2009 was that of the MULE harvester unit. In addition to SCV's a player can tech up to what is known as an Orbital Command add on to the Command Center. This add-on can produce MULE units which harvest resources faster than SCV's can. Their downside is that they have a limited “battery” and when it runs out, they must be replaced. MULEs cannot build structures but they can repair them. Instead of costing minerals/gas they cost energy that is generated by the Orbital Command add-on.
In 2008 Blizzard yanked the Firebat and replaced it with the eerily similar looking Marauder. The reason they look so similar? It's the same unit model with a few tweaks. Now, instead of wielding twin flame throwers the Marauder fires grenades that do heavy damage against thick armor. The unit still cannot attack air targets however.
The Reaper unit was given a new ability in 2007 called the D8 Charge. Activating this caused the Reaper to throw a small bomb a short distance away which will detonate after a few seconds. Reapers have unlimited charges that are affected by a cool down timer. In 2009 Blizzard removed this ability and also removed Reaper's ability to jump over buildings, destructible objects, and spells.
Very little was known about the Terran Ghost after the announcement except that cloaking and his nuclear strike abilities were still there. It would soon turn out that the Ghost would undergo numerous changes during the course of development. In the Terran game play video released in mid-late 2007 two new abilities were revealed. One was the ability to “snipe” biological units. The snipe ability caused a lethal dose of damage to whatever unit it struck. Also introduced was a “Drop Pod” ability which, when used, would cause an pod to drop from the sky which opened to reveal a squad of infantry. In 2008 an EMP ability, similar to what was used by the Science Vessel in StarCraft and Brood War, was given to the Ghost. This sparked much debate and the ability was removed late that same year in addition to the removal of the Drop Pod ability. The EMP was later tweaked some and given back to the ghost this time dealing a fixed amount of damage to shields in addition to draining all mana from mana wielding units within it's radius.
Also introduced in the Terran game play video in 2007 was a unit known as the Cobra. This unit was designed as a quick-hit hover vehicle to replace the vulture. However, this unit was quickly dropped at the end of 2007 and replaced by but another unit by name of Jackal equipped with the same weapons as the Cobra. In mid 2008 the name was changed to Hellion and the unit received an art change as well as a weapon change. It currently wields a flame thrower and is no longer a hover craft but land based.
Shortly after the announcement, the Siege Tank was given a complete makeover based on strong fan feedback. Otherwise the Siege Tank itself has remain unchanged since the announcement.
Above: The Siege Tank redesigned.
The Viking was introduced in 2007 as a replacement for the Goliath (this was a planned replacement from the start). The main advantage it holds over the Goliath is that, while it looks similar in “Assault Mode” it can also transform into a “Fighter Mode” and become an airborne vehicle. This unit has had many minor adjustments and role changes since it's inception. The most noticeable being it's move from the Factory to the Starport, the removal of it's ability to attack air units while on the ground, and added bonus damage against heavily armored units.
The Thor is a unit that has had many little changes made to it since it's inception ultimately resulting in a much different unit than what was originally conceived. Debuting in 2007 a batch of changes came late that year including a physical size shrinking, removal of it's slower turning speed, and, most notably, a sizable difference in cost and stats. The Thor was originally built by an SCV in open ground. It was later moved and is now built by the Factory. Role-wise it was considered a jack-of-all-trades initially. In 2008 it waffled between anti-ground and anti-air before finally being deemed as an anti-air unit with ground attack capabilities. It received a small art upgrade in early 2009 as well as a range upgrade to it's air attack to further reenforce it's role as anti-air.
When StarCraft was announced in 2007 one of the staple Terran units that was mysteriously absent was the Medic. She appeared later on in the Terran demo but was never actually introduced and it was revealed a short time later that Blizzard was scrapping her altogether. During this time the Dropship did return and, aside from the graphical redesign that made it look very similar to the concept from the shelved StarCraft Ghost, it remained virtually unaltered. This all changed in 2008 however when Blizzard introduced the new, upgraded, Medivac Dropship. This unit not only still served as the air transport for Terran units, it also included the former Medic's healing ability. Since then however, aside from some minor tweaking of health restoration value, the Medivac has not gained any other special abilities or had any major changes made to it since it's conversion.
The Raven is one of the more heavily changed units in the game going through multiple waves of feature additions and subtractions. It was introduced as the Nomad, a unit that boasted most of the same abilities as the Science Vessel from the original game. A few months after it's introduction it's EMP was replaced with a new ability called the Auto Turret which is a small machine gun turret that can shoot down both ground and air units. In 2008 Spider Mines were added. These were later removed in 2009 and replaced with the current Hunter Seeker Missile. A target tracking projectile that deals heavy damage on impact and has splash bonuses. Another ability that was replaced in 2008 was Nano Repair. This was replaced by an ability called the Targeting Drone that would point a laser at a target which would then take additional damage from all units firing on it. This was later replaced yet again by the current Defense Drone which instead shoots down incoming fire. The Raven has also undergone numerous name changes since it's inception. Originally known as the Nomad this was later changed to the Vulcan in mid 2008. In late 2008 it was renamed again, this time to Nighthawk and also received a graphics change from what looked like a yellow crane bent into a horseshoe to it's current model which bears resemblance to the Protoss Arbiter from the original StarCraft. Once more the name was changed to Raven in mid 2009 where it remains today.
Above: The former Nomad and the current Raven.
Last but not least, the Battlecruiser has undergone some minor refinements. When originally introduced the Battlecruiser's attack was a large number of small, light laser attacks that dealt low damage but fired quickly. This was changed back to a version of the single, large, laser attack from the original game in 2008. The Battlecruiser also had two special weapon options. The first was the classic Yamato Cannon with the second being a Plasma Torpedo attack. The latter of these attacks was changed in mid 2008 to a missile attack that has much the same effect minus splash damage. A few months later the Defensive Matrix was taken from the Raven and given to the Battlecruiser thus giving it a third ability. However, all of this was removed shortly before beta release leaving the Battlecruiser with just the plain old Yamato gun as it's lone ability.
The Protoss:
The Protoss Stalker is the first Protoss ground unit that has had any significant change since the announcement in the form of an art upgrade in 2008 to a revised design in effort to make it more closely resemble the original concept.
One unit that has changed a bit is the Sentry. Introduced as a replacement for the Status Orb (which was a replacement for the Star Relic) it was originally known as the Nullifier containing three abilities: Molecular Displacement, Force Field, and Hallucination. In early 2008 it received two new abilities: Null Void and Anti-Gravity. Both of these abilities however, were removed in mid 2008. In early 2009 Molecular Displacement was removed and replaced with a Guardian Shield ability which reduces damage to all units inside it. Also in early 2009 it received a graphics update and was renamed to Sentry.
Above: The evolution of the Sentry.
Like in the original game, High Templars were brought into StarCraft 2 with a base attack. Again like in the original, this attack was removed during development in 2008. The templar was originally given both Psi Storm and Hallucination as abilities. In 2008 Hallucination was removed and given to the Sentry. It was replaced by a Phase Shift ability which acts much like Stasis Field from the original game with the exception that it only targets a single unit. In beta patch 1 Phase Shift was replaced by the Feedback ability which functions the same as the Dark Archon ability from Brood War.
When originally introduced as the Twilight Archon, this unit was basically a merger of both the Archon and Dark Archon from Brood War containing some spells from the Dark Archon but still blue and able to attack like a normal Archon. This was later revamped and the Twilight Archon was changed into a regular Archon nearly identical to the first game.
The Colossus has fallen prey to a few minor updates dealing mostly with it's attack. It's first rendition featured twin energy beams that narrowed into focus on it's target. Once this target was destroyed the beams would move to the next and so on until there were no more targets within range. Several months later this was changed to a multiple target attack in which several beams were released and focused on individual targets. These beams were not constant like the previous version and were instead, fired multiple times while the Colossus was attacking it's target. In mid 2008 this attack was changed again to a single sweeping beam that inflicts linear splash damage and has a short duration. Once more this was changed to a double beam that cross sweeps in a horizontal line and inflicts linear splash. The Colossi's only special ability was removed sometime in 2008 which was an enhancement to it's shields. This was replaced with an attack range upgrade a short time later.
Above: Evolution of the Colossus attack.
The only major changes revolving around the Phoenix was the dropping of it's “Overload” ability which dealt a large amount of damage to all surrounding air units at the cost of being rendered temporarily useless. This was replaced with it's current Graviton Beam which lifts ground units off the ground disabling them. It was also originally able to attack both ground and air targets. It now is air-to-air only.
When StarCraft 2 was announced, one of the units that had been replaced was the Carrier. In it's place was a very similar unit named the Tempest. However, citing emotional attachment, the Tempest was re-skinned and renamed back to the Carrier and given a new ability called escorts which was later removed. The current Carrier is statistically nearly unchanged from the original game however looks much different.
The Mothership is probably the most altered unit of the Protoss faction, if not the entire game. When revealed at the StarCraft 2 introduction in 2007. It had a base attack and three distinct abilities: Time Bomb, Planet Cracker, and Black Hole. It was also a special unit and only one Mothership was allowed per player at any time during the game. Three years later, after many additions, removals, and general tweaks it is now a normal unit that is very expensive and has three abilities of which one is passive. It provides a cloaking field around itself much like the Arbiter from StarCraft, it has Vortex which is very similar to the Black Hole with the exception that it can affect both air and ground units of every player on the map including the owner. It also contains Mass Recall, another ability similar to the Arbiter. This last ability was inherited during the beta itself as a replacement for two former abilities: Temporal Rift and Wormhole Transit, the former being related to the old Time Bomb ability while the latter allowed the Mothership to warp to any Protoss building owned by the player. The Mothership has been changed quite frequently during development and it would not be surprising to see additional changes as the beta continues.
The Zerg:
The Zerg were kept fairly quiet at the 2007 announcement of StarCraft 2 and were the last race to have a “reveal” trailer. Because of this many of the Zerg units haven't been publicly changed as much as the previous Terran and Protoss races have during development.
Infestors were introduced during the Zerg reveal trailer and were initially able to infest both Terran and Protoss structures. (even though an infested Protoss was never actually “seen” during development.) This ability was dropped shortly before beta and, in beta patch 1, replaced with a “Terran Infestation” ability which spawns an egg which then produces an Infested Terran. It also originally had both Dark Swarm and Plague, two special abilities from the Defiler in Brood War. Both abilities were dropped during development. Fungal Scourge, also known as Fungal Infestation, was an ability that would drain a single unit's life until it died, this was later changed and renamed into the current Fungal Growth which is an area-of-effect ability that damages units within a radius. Neural Parasite was added in 2008 which allows the Infestor to control a single enemy unit for a short period of time. During the beta this ability was changed. The time limitation was removed from the ability and, in exchange, it can no longer target air units and also suffered a short range decrease. Besides these changes the base effect remains the same.
Above: See that little puff in the dirt? That's an Infestor heading to your base.
When introduced, the Queen was a unique unit and only one could be had at any given time. In addition, it had the option to be upgraded to a Large then a Huge Queen as the transitions from Lair to Hive were made. When upgrading, the Queen would gain additional abilities. By Blizzcon in 2008 the Queen lost it's unique status and upgradable abilities. Queens also used to provide the defensive structures for the Zerg however this duty was given back to the Drone in mid 2008. The Queens current abilities include Spawn Larva which is a changed and renamed ability from Mutate Larva. The latter ability having a timed life on the “Morphalisks” it produced and was considered too tedious for players to maintain. Transfusion remains with the Queen after a brief stint with the Overseer allowing the Queen to heal any biological unit or structure up to 125 hit points in exchange for a small energy cost. Creep Tumor is a small structure that spawns from the Queen which extends the edge of the creep while remaining concealed to other units without detector ability.
Both the Overlord and Overseer had an ability called “Slime” which temporarily disabled resource nodes and watchtowers from being utilized causing a slowdown in resource mining or a lapse in scouting ability. This ability was removed in mid 2008. Around that same time the Overseer gained an ability to produce a small unit called a Changeling. This unit could move into enemy territory and, on sight of an enemy unit, would morph into a base unit of that race (marine, zealot, or zergling). The Changeling cannot attack and is very weak. It is only utilized for deceptive scouting purposes. The Overseer also had two other abilities removed, Spore Cloud and Acid Spore. The former keeping enemy units from being able to see in a specified area and the latter increasing damage taken to all affected units.
When revealed in late 2007 Zerg Corruptors, instead of damaging units they attacked, “corrupted” them turning them into Zerg-controlled turrets with a short lifespan. This was later changed for balancing purposes into a general, damaging, air attack.
Above: A normal Battlecruiser (left) and a corrupted Battlecruiser (right).
Brood Lords are a renamed and redesigned replacement for the former Swarm Guardian. It's abilities have not changed much. It's attack is to “throw” Broodlings, creatures similar to Zerglings but smaller and weaker, at it's target. The initial attack does some damage and the Broodlings are able to deal additional damage to whatever targets they can attack during their limited lifespan.
Nydus Worms, at first, acted like transports carrying a limited number of units to a destination. This was later changed to act more like the Nydus Canal from the original StarCraft. Nydus Worms also had the ability to “pack up” and move from one location to another after being deployed however this was removed in mid 2008. Later that same year creation of Nydus Worms was given to the Overseer as an ability but was removed shortly afterwords. Currently, the worm acts as a structure being deployed by the Nydus Network anywhere the owner can currently see. Once deployed, Nydus Worms can be given rally points where units will move to after re-emerging from the worm out of the Nydus Network.
Conclusion:
As can be seen, there have been many changes made to StarCraft 2 during the development period. Some of these were done due to balance, others done because of the “feel” of the game. One added bonus is that most all of the abilities and units that were removed during development may appear at some point in the campaign and will be available for use in the Galaxy map editor.
I hope you enjoyed this briefing of the StarCraft 2 unit development changes and that it was as informative to you reading it as it was for me writing it. Be sure to stay tuned for additional articles detailing beta patch changes. Till then, good hunting.
-Linus D
