Ok, so we’re lying – Jim’s clearly only got himself a Masters.
In Kicking Ass.
Seriously, though, Jim is interested in both scholarship – by learning decisive and deadly strategies to use in combat against his mortal enemies – and in dedicated research ventures designed to benefit both the Raiders and mankind.
The Raiders immediately, and mankind more in a “not getting their faces eaten by Zerg” kind of way.
Thanks to Jim’s handy-dandy research assistant and lab – come on, who builds a lab if they don’t like science – player can assist Jim in discovering the sexy secrets of both Zerg and Protoss technology.
This is one of the “new things” that Starcraft II brings to its RTS table, and we have thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of the game. Along with the fact that any armory upgrades purchased stay with you in the single player, having research-created units or structure upgrades can help make any Terran base a force to be reckoned with.
While the research model isn’t perfect – we found that in the last 1/3 of the game, we had easily maxed out both 25 level research trees – almost everything on the research list was a big fat win.
Bio-regenerative steel for vehicles? Win.
A turret that stays cloaked until enemies show up and then appears and shoots flame? Win.
Dropping Supply Depots from orbit? Win!
The ability to instantly drop units from the Hyperion to a Barracks rally point? SUPER-WIN.
While it sucks to have to make a choice – at each level, you get two research options – both choices are generally good, meaning that on the one hand you feel like “damn, I got a great deal” and on the other you think “but that other car looked totally sweet too”. Researcher’s remorse is a common side-effect.
Though the game will continue to pay you for any “extra” research you do past the 25 on each side at 10,000 credits a pop, the drive to find all the research in every level drops off once you have all the ‘leet new stuff.
Sure – and we’ve talked about this before – Blizzard will often offer achievements for getting all of the research in a level, and we all love that “wowwnnnw” sound when we get ourselves an ever-more-nerdy accomplishment, but it’s not quite the same as getting a new unit that looks like a freakin’ mechanical panther or a Science Vessel that can beam radiation at bad guys.
At heart, Jim Raynor is really just a scholar, a quiet man driven from a life of solitude to defend the galaxy. We’re sure once this is all over, he’ll retire to a small study somewhere, light up a pipe, and relax.
Oh, and get a totally sweet old man hat.
