UBT, we hear you say – just what the hell is that?
It’s something clever we’ve come up with for a mini-series of StarCraft II Beta posts. The general ins and outs of each race and the Beta in sum total have been discussed, and though there will undeniably be more posts of such nature in the future, now is the time to let the creative juices flow. Get a mop, because we’re creative like you wouldn’t believe.
At any rate, UBT simply means “Unit, Building, Technology”. In a series of articles over the next few weeks, we’re going to discuss one unit, one building, and one technology that makes each race in StarCraft II so distinct and, gosh darn it, just so damn fun.
First up – those lords of snoot themselves, the Protoss.
The Unit – Voidray
The Voidray is a handy little fellow produced at the Protoss Stragate. Sadly, this thing isn’t going to take you to Atlantis or the edge of the Universe, and we haven’t seen any sign of Richard Dean Anderson, but it can bring in some pretty badass stuff. To wit, the Voidray.
There are two very important things to know about the Voidray. The first is that it can attack both ground and air units. This is a big deal in SCII, as it was in the original. Sure, units that can attack both ground and air enemies are inevitably less powerful overall than those that can do only one, but versatility is key. A squad of Siege Tanks, mighty as they are, become simply cannon fodder if faced by a gaggle of Voidrays. A flock? Maybe a murder.
The second thing to know about the Voidray is that the beam it uses to shoot stuff with does more damage the longer it is on the target. So, four Voidrays all shooting a Command Center will begin by doing a reasonable amount of damage, slowly ramping up to “wow, that’s a lot”. Voidrays never get up to “oh god oh god we’re all gonna die” levels, but they do well enough. There is also a bug currently where if a player switches targets quickly enough, the beam will not reset, and the massive damage will continue. This will likely be changed soon.
The Building – Pylons
Pylons are the lifeblood of Protoss bases, and their Achilles heel. They are necessary to increase population, and also provide the power to all other Protoss buildings. When they are built, the player will see their effective range, as will be the case when they attempt to build any other structure. Not enough pylons or poor placement means a small or badly-defended base.
While Pylons, like all Protoss buildings, aren’t built, but merely warped in, they are easy and quick to get started. Having said that, if an enemy hits all of your pylons in quick succession, you can lose both the capacity to handle new units, as well as the ability to produce them. This can be bad, bad news.
The Pylon provides an interesting mechanic to the Protoss side, requiring careful planning and consideration, at least in early stages. Once your minerals are flowing, start cranking these bad boys out. Put them everywhere. Nothing says fun like making your opponent find and kill every one of your fifty-eight Pylons. No sir. Nothing like it.
The Technology – Chrono-Boost
Put simply, this technology is awesomesauce. That’s right. Imagine awesome, pureed into a sauce and then infused into a piece of technology. Aw yeah.
This technology comes from the Protoss Nexus, and speeds up the production queue of any building by 50% for 20 seconds. Any and all unit and upgrade structures can have this ability used on them, and it’s a great way to start fielding a decent-sized Protoss army, or get them kitted out with the latest in Protoss blowing-things-up wizardry. The only thing this technology can’t be used on is building that are being warped in. Apparently some things just take time.
Chrono Boost costs 25 energy to use and there is no reason that every Protoss player shouldn’t be using it every single time it is up. Faster units for the same cost = win.
That’s our brief look at the Protoss UBT. They’re an interesting race, of that there’s no doubt. Their technology is intriguing, and their units are slick. Their cooking is terrible, though. Just terrible. Some awesomesauce would probably help.
