A Zerg army tries to break through a well-fortified Terran base. (Image Courtesy: Starcraft2.com)

There is one game I’m looking forward to, more than any other.  That game is StarCraft 2.  The sequel to the best selling real-time strategy ever, and a game that has changed at least one world culture. (It’s also my favorite game of all time.)

I’ve been looking for an excuse to write about it, and tucked away in BlizzCast 8 is some Q&A with the game’s Lead Designer, Dustin Browder.

Browder was asked to give some insight into game mechanics, especially the current setup for air units and their role in the game.

“Well obviously each of the races behaves differently with how they use their air units,” said Browder.  “The Zerg, obviously the mutalisk is still a powerful part of the Zerg air force and still used for a lot of fast raiding, a lot of sudden attacks from different directions to keep the enemy off balance and of course in mass in the end game you can obviously use mutalisks for mass air assaults.”

It’s good to see that the designers are keeping some of the traditional strategies alive, but it’ll be interesting to see how the new units counter.  For instance, Browder talked about how a new Terran air unit differs from the Wraith in the original series.

A Terran army assaults a Protoss base with plenty of Thor units. (Image Courtesy: Starcraft2.com)

“The Terrans with their Banshee, is very very powerful anti-ground unit,” said Browder.  [The Banshee] can even sometimes just power right through base defenses which really the Wraith couldn’t have handled in the original game.  So you see a lot of need for all the races to have some very powerful anti-air weapons to deal with these kinds of threats.”

But what kind of offensive weapons will the Protoss be able to employ when it comes to base destruction?

“A similar threat on the Protoss side is the [Warp] Ray,” said Browder.  “It is a very powerful bream that can really do a lot of damage to enemy buildings.  So you’ll see there are some very heavy hitters in the air in Starcraft 2 that really require you to get out there and use some of these more dedicated anti-air units.”

Those units include the Corrupter and the Phoenix. Browder says players will see some similarities with the original game, but “these really powerful hitters really do make a pretty big difference. ”

A Zerg army assaults a Protoss base defended by several Carriers. (Image courtesy: Starcraft2.com)

Browder also said there will be some authority given to the bigger units in the game.

“Certainly the Carriers have a much longer range than they’ve ever had before,” Browder said.  “It makes them a very powerful threat from the air in the end game.  We should probably see more carriers used in higher level games but obviously will see how that goes in the beta.”

The traditional Terran end game air unit was and still is  the Battlecruiser.  This time around though, the Battlecruiser will have three options for improvements.  The Yamato Cannon is back, but players will also be able to buy a shield instead.  Plus different Battlecruisers can have different upgrades.  Stick the shielded force in front with the cannons in back and it will make for a fairly formidable battle.  The goal, according to Browder, is to make them a little more practical in different matchups.

“Where previously you would only see Battlecruisers in certain match-ups in Starcraft, now in Starcraft 2 you’ll probably see them in more matchups sort of across the board,” he said.

Browder also talks about the art direction of the game, addressing the ‘warp in’ process for the Protoss.  There are two videos comparing the animations in the original to the modeling in the sequel.  Check out the videos at the bottom of the BlizzCast.

Questions?  Hit up the comments section below, shoot me a note on Twitter, or send an email to matt(dot)schuler(at)woodtv(dot)com.