Starcraft can kill

[Legion]

when using the carriers I expected to lose Intercepters too, they carrier did not care about them either, and man a fleet of those full of Intercepters was the best looking swarm of attacking units ever, man I loved that

[Archon]

That wasn't English. And you still lose.

[Entsuropi]

Damn man, use a period from time to time please D:

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

you expected to lose units because you didn't know how to use the carrier. It DOESN'T tend to lose interceptors, unless you have one or two carriers up against a huge mass of targets that don't die easily (say, one carrier against 50 hydralisks, or 2 against a 8 or 9 photon cannons). That's why they move so fast. If it were real, than yes, it'd be a swarm. But since it's just a single unit AI in a video game, it behaves as one unit, and thus it's really just one big unit in terms of characterizing the race's units. The carrier depends on it's huge shield and the relative indestructability of the small units to operate. Whereas a swarm relies on the shear numbers to ensure that not ALL of them will die.

[Entsuropi]

Also, to ensure that when both forces die, your losses are minor in the big scale of your side, but the enemy losses are major to them. So you win longterm even if you get decimated in every encounter shortterm.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Well, the carrier and its interceptors don't act as one unit where attacking is concerned. If you've got 10 interceptors and there are 10 different targets, each one will target a different one (more or less, randomly) unless you specifically target them. That's why hotkeys are so good.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

actually, I've noticed very little randomness to their attack pattern. they attack the closest thing, obeying the rules everything else does (units that can attack them, buildings that can attack them, combat units not capable of attacking them, non-combat units, buildings -- then add on zerg larvae and zerg eggs on the end, if you want to be that specific). the only behavior that is really different is that they don't pursue a fleeing unit they started attacking until it's dead if they weren't specifically ordered to attack a single unit. Which is something I love.

But yeah, intercepters follow that AI just like everything else, favoring the closest target if multiple ones at the same level exist.

[Spriggan]

not to cut away from the conversation, but if this is going to be a discussion mostly about stuff in the game and not the fool who died it should probably be in the VG section.

[Chimera]

That's what I was thinking--that it was kind of funny that instead of talking about how video games can kill you went off on how great the game is.

Ironic, just a bit.  

[GorgonlaVacaTremendo]

It kills you with goodness.  You know, like cheeseburgers.

[The Jade Knight]

You know, Computer Gaming World gave Tiberian Sun a bad rating and explained it by comparing the game to a cheesburger.

[GorgonlaVacaTremendo]

Didn't you get the memo?  The Cheesburger is the new zenith of goodicity, therefor all things should be compared to a cheeseburger to determine its value.

[Master Gopher]

*recalls a certain long-past game*
It's always fun to create an incredibly massive hoarde of Mutalisks, and then launch them at a little mob of Terrans. Much amusement, even though 8/10ths of them die...

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

The  "I'm bored" setup is Big Game Hunters (or Even Bigger) 7 computer 1 player Free for all. The Goal is to control a fully evolved/developed set of all three races (which means you start with Protoss, the only way to gain control over a different race). This includes having all buildings so you can make any unit available on demand. My friend's variant is to fill the entire board with Creep.
Naturally, the most effective tactics are nukes against protoss (I use 4 silos, which guarantees that one will be replaced by the time the fourth hits, meaning the ghost can immediately move to the next target) and a full squad of carriers against everything else. Though it's fun to send a squad of carriers and a squad of battle cruisers as well. the Zerg are too weak to go in and be victorious in one massive sweep, imo. Still, it's fun to hide behing huge banks of Photon Cannons and send wave after wave of zerglings out (esp. against protoss guarded by Templars, that storm they do makes a really neat set of popping zerglings, but it doesn't do much to hurt the Protoss). Sometimes I send out a bunch of Guardians, just to see what they'll do.