quote Turkagent

I really dont know what you mean by "mastering" the game. I mean, several people have become god-like at starcraft, or even incredibled skilled, if tahts not mastering the game(ie understanding every single units purpose, micro possiblities, limitation) and being able to understand what units are needed to counter what units...i mean what game can really be mastered in the way you're talking about?

quote

It's abilities were placed obviously for three reasons. First of all, it's a high tier unit - there should be a reward for at least teching to this unit. Second, it's a weak unit so it needs something to compensate for it. Finally, the abilities just matches with the storyline of the Ghost - easily put there. But the unit is only efficient where it can be used in a controlled atmosphere - ie singleplayer/ums playing where the computer players are only allowed so much intelligence. Now this is a result of efficiency issues involving the abilities - not so much as it's physical attributes of attack, speed, and hit points, but how you had to use this unit in the game just wasn't realistic. On a side note, a unit like the Ghost is just not viable in a RTS to be honest. I love the unit, but the unit by itself is just isn't dangerous on it's own to be effective, even with it's abilities.

You could always disagree with me, and say "Well look at the Zerg Defiler..." and say the exact opposite. Yes the Defiler doesn't even have an attack but without this unit and its abilties, I don't know how Zerg would defeat Terran and Protoss at this day and age. And actually that would go along with my point. Read on. So what happen with the Defiler's abilities is that you could use them in all situations: Consume for more energy, Dark Swarm works in all situations as it not only is it easy to cast, but the bulk of the Zerg army can take advantage of it relatively easily as it helps the rest of your units (the Ghost is different and is independant and leaves it as a standalone unit - not good enough to support or be supported by other units) and it's especially great verses Terran (as it only has ONE effective melee unit. Also last but not least, Plague. Although it is used [effectively in competitive game] by only the most skilled players, but even at lower levels of play it's very rewarding and can be used in any situation - it can even be casted on buildings! So now compare it with the Ghost!

The Ghost can only use Lockdown on mechanical units - which leaves It's options very limited for only 80% of both Terran and Protoss units whereas a spellcaster like the Defiler which has no attack, has all efficient spells. This is where the drawback of accessibility sets into place in SC1. By the time you tech to the Ghost, your usually already facing higher tier enemy units or a mass of maybe one or two very effective unit types in which are all stronger than the Ghost - even some low tier units are way too effective against it. By the time you select the Lockdown ability, your Ghost(s) is already dead and that is due to it's low physical attributes - it's hit points and speed. This also ties into the Nuke ability where the Nuke already takes a ridiculous amount of time to create, but also can be found by the enemy player quite easily once a Ghost has marked the target area. Then BAM! the enemy player uses it's ComSat, Overlord, Observer etc to reveal the ghost and kills it way before the Nuke lands. Thats why I feel that the Ghost is just not a viable unit in a RTS, but at the same time, I know it's role can be improved and in general, this unit can be improved. So now, that brings me to the Cloak ability; as it is only efficient in a singleplayer mission vs AI. Now this isn't exactly fair to say because of course, you could always get lucky and completely catch your enemy totally offgaurd - wait a tick, that could never happen unless your enemy is totally newb! Think of it this way. if your enemy hasn't noticed that you've teched to Ghosts, then your not exactly playing a decent player as 1, it takes a good 10 minutes in a game where decent players are evenly matched to tech to Ghosts, and 2, it's not an efficient unit, and not worth the money expenses/tedious micro to use it.