This time from the official Starcraft II forums, via communitystarcraft:

After the release of the second Starcraft 2 Battle Report and the start of the Fansite Q/A series, many fans had followup questions for Blizzard.

So I was wondering, the guys Matt Cooper and Tim Messenger (I think this was his name), do they know the maps by heart now?
It wasn't a new map for both Matt Cooper and David Kim and they've played in this map quite a lot


Check it out in BR2, go to the time of 20:22, and WATCH THE HYDRALISK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RAMP!!
Correct. It really is the melee attack animation. But the damage is the same with the range attack:



What damage and extras (like extra vs Armored) does the Hydra deal: 1. melee, 2. ranged vs ground, and 3. ranged vs air?
It does not change the damage at all. It has the same attack rate and does exactly the same damage as the regular hydralisk attack. It is just visual


At about 16:20 in BR2 I noticed the banshees began shooting at the burrowed Zerg forces that they couldn't shoot at before. I didn't notice a comstat scan by the Terran player.

Was it the auto-turret or the nighthawk (I noticed there is an eye icon on the second row of their abilities) that revealed the cloaked units? Was there just a comstat scan I didn't see?


Also, can the Xel'Naga watch tower be under control of summoned units like infested Terran or auto-turrets?
Nighthawk has the detecting ability.
Xel'Naga Watch Tower only can be activated by the ground units.

Infested Marine can activate the Xel'Naga Watch Tower but Auto-Turret can't.

Many of us are worried that the Planetary Fortress will not be used in ladder and pro games, due to the extremely high benefits of building an Orbital Command. We think that if we add a few features to the PF we can make it much more viable and on par with the OC. Some of our ideas include:

Any comments and/or points of discussion from posters and developers would be appreciated.
Currently in testing, the PF (Planetary Fortress) is already quite beefy - It's ground attack has been buffed to 40 damage and has a 6 range. When upgrading to a PF, your command center also gets +2 building armor, making this building a very formidable obstacle, especially with 20 SCVs repairing at the same time.

There have been many games I've seen the PF hold off raiding forces and sometimes even attacking forces by itself and SCVs. While I wouldn't think it'd be wise to convert your first Command Center to a PF, converting strategic expansions could be helpful, such as those at high yields or may be farther away from the rest of your bases.

On a side note cause I'm sure somebody is wondering this as well - the PF upgrade costs 150 minerals and 150 gas whereas the Orbital Command upgrade costs just 150 minerals. The PF prerequisite building is the Engineering Bay and the Orbital Command prerequisite building is the Barracks.

EDIT: The PF does splash damage as well.

Does the fortress have an area-of-attack damage, or does it attack a single target at a time?
Splash damage, like a Siege Tank


Does the splash damage friendly units, Karune...?
The Planetary Fortress's splash damage will not hurt friendly units but the splash damage of Siege Tanks still will.

Karune if you were trying to be really nasty and bottle up your opponent would you put a planetary fortress right outside their base entrance?

Yup, they make for some pretty humorous games, though keep in mind each one of these are a 550 minerals and 150 gas investment.

It takes quite a bit of time to build + upgrade, but if you could pull it off early game (assuming your opponent does not scout) it will surely keep them bottled up until tier 2 or 3 where more mobility comes online.

To mount an attack on a Planetary Fortress takes quite a good number of units. Usually it would be better to bypass it if you can.

This is of course more of a gimmick than a strategy that will have high success repetitively


We know that in Battle Report 2, Banelings no longer roll. What I'm wondering is that do they have the rolling animation once they get the speed upgrade?
Yes. In the current build, Banelings are no longer roll but once they get the movement speed upgrade, they have the rolling animation.



What is the easiest race to play, and what race is planned to be the easiest? I know they are probably all "equally easy" but what do you recommend for beginners?
Terran is the most "understandable" since many of the units look and behave like more real-world weapons. Protoss are the easiest to play since they have generally less micro with their units (no siege tanks) and their units are pretty tough so they are more forgiving of mistakes.

The Zerg are the hardest. Their economy is difficult to manage, many of their units are powerful but unforgiving if you make a mistake with them.

At least that's the way it feels to me.=)



Just wondering if the winners for the Aprils Comic Contest have been decided...
Winners for April's Comic Contest are decided and we are on the process for the announcement. You can see the post no later than mid next week.


link: http://communitystarcraft.com/news-release/blizzard-answers-followups.php