STARCRAFT 2 - BATTLE TANKS

[TKF]

SC2 is nearing it's release state and how's the progress on SC2 Btanks map? Will it be in beta testing stage before the end of July?

[Paladon]

I have absolutely no idea.

[TKF]

I have absolutely no idea.

Well it seems like it's not done when Beta Phase 2 is being started at any time.

[Exodus]

Yeah, it also seems, that they'll add some functionality to the editor again. This was the main reason, I didn't do that much for BT SC yet. Otherwise I'd waste time coding some stupid workaround for a missing function, which then will be added in some update of the beta client.

All I can say to the state of BT SC is, that you should not expect a fully playable version too soon. The biggest part that is missing at the moment is ... well, content. Creating a reasonable amount of tanks and items for the start will sure take some time. I just hope, that they added better support for skills with multiple levels, otherwise this will become really tedious work.

[StendekX]

If I would create models in 3D Studio max would you be interested to use them?
Rumor is that there will be working conversion 3DSm > SCII will be out soon.

[Paladon]

I'd like to repeat that this thread is not a place to spread messages which are not related to the thread's purpose, thanks
There are other subforums here for ..other things.

We surely are interested in useable models if they meet the usual quality and file size standarts

PS: Also, the new patch and beta relaunch just...well, pretty much fucked up the whole custom user interface which i made for Btanks. I guess i'll need some days to rework it.

[TKF]

So battle tanks for sc2 won't be released without tank custom models? There's a lot of mech models ingame and also a merc tank that looks more awesome than siege tank. With protoss and terran mech units there should be plenty enough at least for initial versions. More can be added later in updates.

What is the current progress of SC2 Battle Tanks?

[belun]

SC2 is out. it's 27 July. should i buy it ? am i gonna have a btanks maps to play on ?
anytime soon ? or at least an estimate...

thx

[ssl]

With protoss and terran mech units there should be plenty enough at least for initial versions.

+1

also I can imagine having organic zerg unit tanks
think of guard or ghost tank or even earth robot are also quite organic.

[TKF]

There is other tank models in the campaign which can be used.

[Paladon]

So battle tanks for sc2 won't be released without tank custom models?

Who said that?

As it seems currently, there's no need of imported models in SC2-BT.
You can even combine existing models to new ones.

[Velocity2k]

[off-topic]
Maybe we can continue working on it in 24855 days


[/off-topic]

[ssl]

Maybe we can continue working on it in 24855 days

No we can't. We then will still have to wait for another 3 hours and 14 minutes!

[Paladon]

I "repaired" the problems which occured with the second beta release and the final release of sc2.
That means, the developement can finally go on.

Also, there is no need for writing chat commands anymore, you can easily click on the corresponding button.
For often used commands (e.g. zoom), you will have a corresponding hotkey for that button.

A screenshot featuring the current (!) upper part of your screen while playing BT:

Unbenannt-1.jpg

[4tyn]

I play WC3 since many years and now also SC2. I am a big fan and cant wait to play SC2 Btanks! Just want to say that I count myself lucky that such talented developers are working on this map. Can't wait to play it

[TKF]

YES proof of progress for battle tanks.


Btw is the tank layout ideas though out? Are we going to have some similar tank settings like in wc3 battle tanks, or are we going to have new abilities with new tanks unique for battletanks sc2?

[Paladon]

I guess most of the tanks will use completely new concepts. We may overtake some (like classical BT-Tanks), but this is not thought to be a 1:1 copy of "btanks wc3".
Same applies for the weapons and items.

But the real developement of tanks, items and weapons did not start yet. I'm working on an engine for BT on SC2 that will easify updates and further developement of the map. That includes the User Interface but also tanks, items, units, weapons.
But currently, i just finished an engine for menu options

[Scarlioni]

Hi guys.

Take your time and get it right. FYI I purchased SC2 because I read the post saying you were developing a Btanks map for the game. No pressure.

The quality of the custom maps on SC2 atm are pretty poor. There's a dota clone called Epic up that's still in obvious alpha mode (never liked dota). The map called resugence base is a new take on tower defence games and is fairly fun. The campaign is a gem, I usually cant stand rts campaigns and feel that blizzard has just about reinvented the genre.

My questions to you are as follows...

1. Is the random shots to targets in range mechanic still in effect? I've always felt that this was the central game mechanic to your map that makes it so seductive.

2. Will you be using unit attribute tags to modify dps output for the weapons? (Light, Armored, Biological, Psionic, etc...) I think it would be intersting to have some weapons do bonus/less damage to certain vehicles. Can a unit be made with both the light and armored tags or are they mutually exclusive?

3. Will the number of spells for the tanks still be three regular and an ultimate?

4. If I posted tank suggestions which thread would you want them in?

The only feature I would like to see that's lacking in branks wc3 8.71 would be a general class that summons/modifies the creeps somehow. (beyond simple spawning factories.) A sort of tech wars/boreal conflict/nexus wars type of thing going on.

Anyone else notice that zerglings sprout wings when they're movement gets upgraded. Flying zerlings would be sick!

I'm also betting that blizzard's next mmo will be set in the starcraft universe.

Thank you in advance for your answers.

Scrumptous Scrotums

[Exodus]

Hi Scarlioni,
thanks for your interest and it's an honor for us, that you bought SCII just because of BT :)
Concerning your questions:
1. Well, unlike before we now have control over the algorithm that choses the next target of your weapon. This means we could implement all kind of fancy stuff. Or we leave it like it's implemented right now - random
2. As of right now, we didn't plan to implement such differentiation between the tanks, although this is possible. As far as I know you can also combine any unit attribute
3. That's actually an interesting question. At least the command card board provides more space this time around. I myself didn't even think about changing the number of different skills a single tank can have. I guess we stick to the 3 normal, one ultimate variant right now, but I guess it's also very possible, that there will be tanks that somehow differ from that.
4. Just use this forum for now, we will add more forums for SC later

There also are summoners already, like the Ghost Tank and Guard. But I guess you want a tank with more creep interaction. I can't promise anything, but we'll see what the future holds :)

[Scarlioni]

Name: Verytech fighter
Model: Valkyrie Air/Valkyrie Ground
Speed: Air Average/Ground Slow
Cost: 3300
HP: 2750

Skill: Gravity Bolt
Model: Marauder Attack
Range:1000
Target: Single Ground Unit
Channel: No
Effect: Damages and slows target for three seconds, both effects increase with level
Operation: Hotkey and select target
Notes: low damage skill, the slows the thing. Speed reduction and duration increase with level

Skill: Stirling Shot
Model: Valkyrie attack
Range: 750
Target: Everything in range
Channel: 1.5 second
Effect: Damage
Operation: Hotkey
Notes: Intented as a creep killer similar to the Goblin Shredder's metal stars. While channeling the Verytech Fighter pivots wildly blazing with machine guns

Skill: Fusion Bottle
This is really to skills...
Air Mode
Model: None
Target: Self passive
Effect: Speed Boost
Notes: Standard Air Model Speed Boost

Ground Mode
Model: Terran Missile Turret Swarm missile upgrade (Found only in campaign)
Range: 1300
Target: Air only large AoE
Channel: 1 seconf
Effect: Damages all air units under template
Operation: Hotkey and place template
Notes: Needs to hit fairly hard to give a reason to go around in ground mode

Ultimate: Agility
Model: None
Target: Self Passive
Effect: Damage reduction
Notes: 10% per level, at level 5 it's a 50% damage reduction

Design Notes: The starcraft Valkyrie is an obvious homage to Robotech's Veritech fighter. In FASA's Battledroids game (the predessasor of Battletech) the Veritech image was stolen and dubbed the Valkyrie, something I'm sure someone at Blizzard is aware of. Thus Verytech Fighter to avoid any copyright BS.

The transformation fuction requires an additional spell slot, I dont know if this causes you guys a problem.with your interface. Also the transforamation should have a cooldown of somehting like a minute. The transformation is it self a powerful ability if you reintorduce things like flak, bombs, axe launchers and the like as the verytech would be essentially immune to these weapons at will.

The Gravitc Bolt should work well in air mode in conjuction with Fusion Bottle to allow the Verytech to overrun ground vehicles. Add in agility and you have a nasty late game knife fighter.

Stirling is the name of the Ace Veritech pilot from robotech.

The Fusion Bottle ground mode is the killer skill this unit has. The AoE template so it has a chance to hit more than one target.

Anywhos... be tickled if any of these ideas influence the work your doing. If you want more let me know.

[Scarlioni]

Not to pester but a couple of more questions...

What graphic are you going to use for the basic cannon skill? (aka the hydralisk spike, the stalker twin laser bolt thing, etc)

I noticed in the screen shots that your tooling around in a raven... planning on giving the raven the auto turret ability? I'd pegged either the raven or the phoenix to replace the copter.

1. Well, unlike before we now have control over the algorithm that choses the next target of your weapon. This means we could implement all kind of fancy stuff. Or we leave it like it's implemented right now - random

I couldnt even begin to imagine how that would work. Like firing arcs?

[Paladon]

I am just using a Raven as a test tank because it's a flying unit^^
That doesn't automatically mean that we'll add a Raven tank

Currently, i designed the engine that way, so the tank units can be just regular units assigned to be a "Tank" by a custom function.
Of course, this has several effects on the general appearance ingame. But behind the scenes, all units are pretty much "regular" ones.
The whole custom engine is probably the biggest difference to BT @ Wc3 yet.

[Bob666]

1. Well, unlike before we now have control over the algorithm that choses the next target of your weapon. This means we could implement all kind of fancy stuff. Or we leave it like it's implemented right now - random

Definitely random!! That's what Battle Tanks is about. In WC3 it actually isn't completely random by the way: High-HP units take more damage (Try attacking two units with different HP at the same time, they will die about at the same time). And manipulating the chance could also be done in SC2, for examples weapons with a priority of 5 for tanks and 1 for simply units would fire 5 out of 6 bullets on a tank, if theres one tank and one unit nearby. Or priority of 10000 for buildings and 1 for units/tanks, would only fire on buildings as soon as in range. This way weapons could be controlled a bit, without losing the main game aspect of movement being responsible for your weapon's target choice.

And now pro/contra on an early (but without many features) release. At first I expected BT to be released some days after SC2's release date due to working on it during the beta phase. This didn't happen and it seems to me like a big chance was already missed (Imagine BT being the first map hosted in SC2). Here are my thoughts about the release date of BT:

Pro early release:
- There aren't many maps yet, especially good ones. This means there is a good chance a intermediate BT would already attract lots of players.
- Not all SC2 players played WC3 before, so Battle Tanks has to form its reputation from zero.

Pro late release:
- Planned release dates will make some players wait for BT and give it a fast start.
- Bugs/Imbalances could occur

In my opinion, you need to work on BT a lot now, and do it fast. It's all about the first two months of SC2. Once the position is established, development can slow down to a normal level. Waiting for patches before doing anything is a very bad idea: You get to know the editor by finding solutions to difficult problems. And by doing so, you can create a special map which is very different to any other map, which is restricted to the intended features of SC2.

You won't be able to release a perfect BT instantly. BT was never perfect or any kind of "final", but it improved over the years. Actually now it got to some kind of final state, but I think the evolution of BT is a big factor why people like it. So do not try to launch a perfect BT, just start somewhere (of course with some basic concept) and then improve it. Things like priorities in weapons, special effects on weapons and so on can easily be added later. I think BT is ready to release it as soon as there are about 5 tanks and 10 weapons. It would be very limited of course, but make the players thirst for more.

[TKF]

If we could release before dota is out, maybe this get more popular than later popular maps.

[Prog]

Well said Bob - I completely agree.