Protogod
08-07-2007, 6:26 PM
Alright, well, to kick off this new section, I'm gonna write this analysis of the current terrain in sc2.
Now then, we know that in SC2 units will be much more mobile than ever before. With the phase prism, colossus, stalker, reapers, vikings, nydus worms and everything else we need to watch ourselves.
This will be a very important factor when considering melee terrain. The new mobility rules of the colossus and reaper allow them to not only jump up cliffs, but allows them to cross crevasses that are thin (presumable 1 unit thick)
The biggest problem will be the defense of mains and expos. No longer will a cliffed main be enough to guarantee defense. I expect to see flat mains now, because the only semi-guaranteed protection now comes from wide areas of water. However, there is another option. For those of us who are mappers, I'm sure you may have seen a classing sc1 mapping trick, originally designed to prevent tank drops while denying lower traversability. That would be making cliffs with holes in them, with interlocking webs of lowground and high ground that are only 1 unit thick at any given point.
This prevents units such as the siege tank from landing, but whats more - it is pure cliff without passable terrain. I suspect that such terraining tricks will also prevent reapers and collossi from passing it. Just as wide areas of water are still considered unpassable, it may also be that these cliffs will also be unpassable, due to the lack of flat ground for them to land on.
Either way, both solutions (flat land surrounded by water and holed cliffs) will also have another side effect- they will help you with scouting. In sc1, cliffs around mains would impede your sight radius, meaning you couldnt see drops coming. However in sc2, the passable cliffs mean that you will be forced to use a method such as those stated above. Those will either leave you cliffless or on the high ground granting you a wide area of vision for scouting vikings or phase prisms.
However, thats not all. The high ground will become a more important function than ever. High ground peppered liberally throughout a map allows you to take advantage of a greater sight radius, which will make every inch of cliff a point of interest, given the changing nature of unit mobility.
As such, maps that were previously called Terran imbalanced may now become wholly acceptable due to the necessity of cliffs.
However these are simply my thoughts and speculation on the subject and I am interested in hearing your opinions on the matter.
-Discuss-
Now then, we know that in SC2 units will be much more mobile than ever before. With the phase prism, colossus, stalker, reapers, vikings, nydus worms and everything else we need to watch ourselves.
This will be a very important factor when considering melee terrain. The new mobility rules of the colossus and reaper allow them to not only jump up cliffs, but allows them to cross crevasses that are thin (presumable 1 unit thick)
The biggest problem will be the defense of mains and expos. No longer will a cliffed main be enough to guarantee defense. I expect to see flat mains now, because the only semi-guaranteed protection now comes from wide areas of water. However, there is another option. For those of us who are mappers, I'm sure you may have seen a classing sc1 mapping trick, originally designed to prevent tank drops while denying lower traversability. That would be making cliffs with holes in them, with interlocking webs of lowground and high ground that are only 1 unit thick at any given point.
This prevents units such as the siege tank from landing, but whats more - it is pure cliff without passable terrain. I suspect that such terraining tricks will also prevent reapers and collossi from passing it. Just as wide areas of water are still considered unpassable, it may also be that these cliffs will also be unpassable, due to the lack of flat ground for them to land on.
Either way, both solutions (flat land surrounded by water and holed cliffs) will also have another side effect- they will help you with scouting. In sc1, cliffs around mains would impede your sight radius, meaning you couldnt see drops coming. However in sc2, the passable cliffs mean that you will be forced to use a method such as those stated above. Those will either leave you cliffless or on the high ground granting you a wide area of vision for scouting vikings or phase prisms.
However, thats not all. The high ground will become a more important function than ever. High ground peppered liberally throughout a map allows you to take advantage of a greater sight radius, which will make every inch of cliff a point of interest, given the changing nature of unit mobility.
As such, maps that were previously called Terran imbalanced may now become wholly acceptable due to the necessity of cliffs.
However these are simply my thoughts and speculation on the subject and I am interested in hearing your opinions on the matter.
-Discuss-