SC2Mapster

Minor update 3.3

- Introduced "Population" resource that's persistent between campaign missions and provides an additional incentive to keep units alive.

- Increased health of structures that must be defended in Rogues.

- Tuned Stonehammer mission balance and enemy composition.

- Added buildable attack buggies and machine gun turrets to Stonehammer.

- Reduced health of Vutures.

- Updated particle effects of Terran cannons and machine guns.

- Updated main menu visualization of completed missions.

In reply to navynahibel: Those are good points. I'll take everything you said into consideration, and make some adjustments to the mission, particularly the ally/enemy wave ratio. Probably won't make the sharpshooters 100% accurate though. I'll bump their accuracy a bit more, but they already have a higher hit ratio than most other infantry, and are intended as "above average" infantry rather than elite. I also kind of like the "should I pull back or not?" feeling during an engagement where you can't make a perfect calculation of the outcome beforehand.

Update will probably take a while though. I have a few other changes planned that I'll try to batch together with this, but they will require a full playthrough of the first 2 campaigns to test, which will take a while for me to get through.

Thanks for taking the time to report these things.

In reply to navynahibel:

I'm glad it got better when you got past that mission. As far as reviews go I'm always interested to hear what people think. Negative parts (when specific) help me improve, and positive parts boosts motivation to continue.

In reply to spewardderekdoor: I don't think you're doing it wrong, and I think you're right. Taking out the barracks when you reach them is a bit more of a slog than necessary since they have so much health when all you have is a small squad of infantry. I'll add some explosive barrels around the barracks that will take a big chunk off of their health when detonated. Should reduce the time required to take out each production hub with your small force. It'll be available in version 3.2 which is being uploaded now.

Thanks for pointing it out. And it's always nice to hear that this, while a bit niche, still has a playerbase.

In reply to spewardderekdoor: Sorry I missed you last response. No worries, I know what it feels like when you've just experienced something you didn't like, especially if that was a dragged out experience. But I do appreciate when people point out things like this. Small things like this can have a big impact on the overall experience. And I'm glad that you like the campaigns :)

Glad to hear it! I'll see to fixing the things you mentioned for v3.1

Added 5 mission Zerg campaign "Arrival", taking place when the Zerg first invade Char.

In reply to ragingballistaee:

Thank you, those are great observations and I very much appreciate you taking the time to write them down. I have addressed them as follows (these changes are available in version 2.1 when it has been approved for download):

"Vultures are quite overpowered on mission 4 and to a lesser extent 5. They can quite effectively take out buildings and can handle a few vehicles thanks to Spider Mines. Vultures don't have access to Spider Mines on mission 6 and 7. Is the Spider Mine availability intended?"

Spider mines was not intended, but the main issue like you said is that they are too powerful, particularly offensively. I have enabled spider mines on all missions, but they have been changed:
* Slightly reduced damage
* Cost some gas
* Have less hitpoints
* Take longer to burrow
* Must be researched at tech lab
* Have to be built at the vulture after the vulture is built (so you can use cheap vultures for combat, or spend more gas to use the mines)
* Max 2 mines in storage
* The AI will target them with a higher priority to destroy the mines before they activate.

"Is it intended that I can build stuff on mission six for free? If so, then was it intentional for Barracks to be able to build Tech Labs and Reactors? Just to note that the free rocket troopers make the limited Rhinos quite useless."

Major oversight on my part. In Stonehammer 06 you are not supposed to be able to build anything, but it should be free to repair units and structures. I have now removed the ability to construct structures and units in that mission.

"On mission 5 the heavy mech attack waves came much later when I restarted the mission compared to my first try where they come around 20 minutes remaining iirc. On my second attempt I killed the hostile miner and the artillery earlier."

That's probably an effect of the dynamic AI. That mission contains both time triggered attack waves that launch at consistent times but may take different paths to your base, and a dynamic multiplayer AI that does its own thing to increase the unpredictability of the mission. The dynamic AI is restricted in what units it can make, and the strategy it chooses will affect how quickly it's able to gather a significant armored force. Bottom line is that this will probably not be changed because the unpredictability and better reaction to player actions is desired, and the unintended side effect of fluctuating difficulty may be the price that has to be payed in order to achieve that.

"Medics can't run out of energy."

I have slightly increased the energy drain when healing. Energy will now deplete very slowly (it's still supposed to be a slower but more energy-efficient alternative to the medivac).

"Workers can attack units from higher ground (noticed that when clearing rocks on mission 5)."

I think this is a basic StarCraft 2 behavior. All weapons have a range (melee weapons just have very short range), and height is not taken into account when calculating if a target is within range. It's possible to place e.g. firebats on cliff edges and have them attack enemies far below if the target is close to the edge. And in this case some rocks are placed in a way that clips through the cliff, which makes it even easier to attack it from the highground.

"Workers play an explosion sound upon death."

Should be fixed now.

"Dropship button says Build Medivac."

Should be fixed now.

"Dropship has energy, but no abilities."

Should be fixed now (no longer has energy).

"On mission 7 on the southeastern base, some Tech Labs are misplaced."

Nice catch, I had made the same mistake in the main base, should now be fixed.

"In the same southeastern base there is some unbuildable areas. I assume those are supposed to be the dirt roads, but the terrain around is the same."

That was an attempt to save the AI from itself, as it had a tendency to construct random buildings tightly around the resource gathering area, blocking it's own workers. I have now moved the AI build point instead, so more of the area should be buildable without the AI messing it up too badly.

Again thank you for letting me know so I can improve it for future players. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

In reply to ragingballistaee:

No problem, I appreciate all bug reports I get. A lot of things have been changed, so there are bound to be kinks. Changes mentioned below should be available in version 2.2.

"Weapons have a flag called Melee, which allows the weapon to only attack units on the same cliff level as the attacker."

Workers use the SCV fusion cutter weapon, which has the melee flag set, so either I'm missing something or it doesn't do what it's supposed to.

"Tanker trucks, cargo trucks (the explosive one and the one that provides supply) don't have portraits even though they have voicelines."

Have now given them the worker portrait so they at least have something.

"The APC doesn't get selected when pressing F2."

Should be fixed now.

"The Halftrack uses the default kaeo wireframe (I do know there is a wireframe for download) and has no portrait or voicelines."

I've added a wireframe, but the portrait and voicelines seem to already have been in place.

"The Halftrack lacks the full set of commands that all other units have. It misses Patrol and Scan Move. The latter of which prevents auto attacking when they are the active subgroup of a selection."

Should be fixed now, I've also lowered its selection priority so that it is less likely to become the default active subgroup of a selection.

"Workers slowly accelerate instead of moving at full speed, like other infantry."

Should be fixed now.

"I noticed on mission 7 (not sure on 6) but allied Workers use the SCV voicelines, while player owned Workers use the Mengsk trooper voicelines."

Should be fixed now.

"The Medic has an attack command and she would move up to a certain distance towards stare at enemy units when idle (noticed it on either mission 2 or 3)."

Should be better now. It was a side effect of the hidden medic dummy weapon which makes it keep distance from enemies when part of an attack-moving army. Should be less inclined to go toward enemies when idle now, while still keeping distance when attack moving toward them.

"On mission 5, the 1x1 unbuildable rocks have 1 life and can only be targeted by units that can attack both air and ground."

Should be fixed now. Unbuildable rocks also no longer show a big "Attack this to destroy it" tooltip when mousing over them.

While I was at it I also updated unit push priorities. Big vehicles will now take priority over infantry when trying to get to their destination, and infantry will move around stationary vehicles instead of pushing them. Looks more realistic and makes it easier to pull back e.g. damaged tanks that are surrounded by infantry.

 Added 7 mission Terran campagin "Stonehammer", taking place during the Guild Wars.

In reply to innerdesert4346steam:

 Thank you for your feedback. I agree, and will make adjustments to make the mission less tedious.