Hey i'd like to help balance and come up with suggestions and ideas for the project!
I'll add some notes that i'd like to suggest.
General:
- I first thought of this when reading about the scouting drone being worse than the marine, but costing the same. A macro mechanic that allows the 'Town hall' to send out tiny invoulnerable salvage drones that pick up the remains of a target robot corpse as scraps and give a 'Scrap discount' buff on (everything?), returning minerals when something is built (or just reducing the price if possible). Perhaps let robotic untis that die just leave a scrap pile for a minute or two that you pick up, so corpses dont have to be forced to stay.
Smog generator:
- I dont think this would be useful as a building for itself, but perhaps include it in the junker or supply building as a togglable/upgradable ability
Harvester structure:
- could be cool to have an autoharvest building you could go out and place on other bases of the map, but you shouldnt be able to just spam it everywhere, maybe make it cost gas?
- Perhaps it's not necesery with another macro mechanic if you implement the scrap discount mechanic?
Junker:
- I think this is way to complex allow me to give a simpler suggestion, feel free to disregard:
Static Defense Structure
Name: Junker
Mode/Appearance: A pile of scrap with a cannon-ish thing ontop. Fires random pieces of scrap.
Special traits: When a nearby robotic unit dies, the corpse is sucked in (magnets / hooks?) and empowers the Junker increasing damage (a mechanic making last stand defense easier)
Attacks air and ground
Perhaps it could somehow attach to a building to gain the extra health, this would be overpowered if not for the powerfield preventing you from building junkers anywhere you want.
Droid:
- I dont like the concept of this unit, unless its used as mats for higher tier units just as extra cost.
- I think it would make the merging more difficult that it needs to be.
- Command card space can be saved with something like the hallucinate ability
Scout drone:
- Damage is higher vs light, this can ofc be perfectly balanced early game, but you mention you want the unit to be more useful later on, where most units are armored, so to encourage this, perhaps remove the light bonus.
- You want this unit to be able to merge to higher tier units but also be useful as itself in lategame? If so, i think its okay that it fills a swarm'ish role that will be situational, such as mass speedlings are against a pure stalker immortal ball. While they wont be good against splash, they should be easily massable for emergency defense or against compositions as mentioned before. You could achieve this with an t2/t3 upgrade reducing buildtime dramatically, so it becomes a good mineral dump aswell.
- Perhaps make it attack ground units only, so it doesnt fill the same role as S.C.U (which i presume can hit air?)
S.C.U:
- The trait is misleading, you simply mean that it doesnt have bonus vs light like the scout drone?
- I think the range upgrade is a little weak, but i guess it could be very situtational, shooting down workers from behind mineral patch on some maps.
Clanker:
- Personally i think it would be cool if this unit was melee, and had a ultralisk like splash or atleast shorter range than scout drone
Walker:
- I guess this fills the role of denying mutas and phoenix, so im cool with that.
- Since it has a Ground to ground attack i dont think it needs an ability vs ground, i like the idea that its just one kind of ground to ground and upgradable AA
- I dont wanna get to far into balance, but i think its health is too high (200)
Drillbot:
- I think this could be a very cool harass unit, if it doesnt have a role as harass i dont think it would be very usefull.
- As noted it could be a harass unit, with advantages to attacking enemy structures (such as bonus damage vs structures) to gain the extra resources from salvage and mess them up.
- WIth the turret upgrade it would be good at killing workers aswell, it should be a slpash attack with bonus to light.
- The 'Latch onto unit' is a bit too strong vs say a thor, unless it has a too short duration. Perhaps if it sacrificed itself in the process and imobilized for like 60 seconds onto mechanical units while dealing somethnig between 100 to 300 damage.
- To increase its harass abilities, i suggest giving it an ability to drill underground to a distance within a fairly high range (like a long range delayed blink) im thinking between 15 and 50 range. So you would put it outside the enemies base and drill into his worker line/buildings and start harassing. This should obviously have a fair cooldown. I dont think the drill should be a one per unit upgrade, as i think the other upgrades give different types of harass.
Petard (lol):
- Is it large enough be massive? (archon cough)
- I like this unit as a large support unit like the kodobeast from wc3 a bit, but i defo dont feel like stealth fits into the unit as a whole ( i might just be picturing it wrong)
- The bonus damage to buildings i think is unnecessary for it to be a siege unit.
- If stealth is removed it only has one ability that costs energy, making it kinda boring. Perhaps add an ability like barrage from the Odin? or a nanobot virus cast on a single unit but spreads to nearby units fast (requiring micro to avoid taking alot of damage).
Bomber bot:
- I dont quite understand its attack, does the air to ground units suicide explode? does the AA work like a mutalisk bounce?
- I really like the burrowed mine upgrade, but couldnt it be exploited without a cooldown (attacking Scout drones causing the mines to spawn and keep doing that creating extreme amounts of mines) or would it be balanced to make such things reasonable?
Air superiority fighter:
- The harpoon with a chain, sounds like a cool idea, but what if you fire the harpoon and then just fly home, do you drag the air unit? does the chain disappear? Perhaps requiring two harpoons from two units to be attached (or more) at the same time to immobilize the unit and each of the harpoons deal some damage. More micro d00d
- I dont think it should have a ground attack, and i dont think it should move wihle shooting, i think the harpoon is a mechanic thats cool enough in itself.
Hauler:
- A cloaked transport unit sounds really really cool, would fufill all stealth needs aswell, so i dont think the Petard needs stealth. The cloak would be overpowered if the unit wasnt ground based, so thats really cool.
- With the stealth i dont think it should be able to fire units across distances, i like the mechanic in it, but i think it would be too strong, since you arent risking anything. I think the entire vessle jumping itself is fair since it has stealth.
Tier 3 Aircraft “Powerhouse” air unit:
- The repair mechanic is kinda cool, but i dont think it would be too usefull unless it has a very high amount of hitpoints (enough to tank missile turrets/marines etc to break turtles?) in that case, the attacks shouldnt be too powerful.
- Just an idea: i think it could be cool if it was immobilized while landed, enabling strong AA capabilities but unable to move untill airborn.. dunno
Destroyer Mech:
- I think the race already has enough anti air, i dont think an AA upgrade would be used nor make sense
Unit upgrades:
- A crush ability thing, Where two huge clamps grab a target and crushes it over 5 seconds for units 20 seconds for buildings. (kinda like a melee/short range strike cannon that can target buildings) would rarely be used vs units i guess?
- A huge emp/shockwave (called emp shockwave?) explosion, disabling and stunning all sorrounding units both mechanical and biological including itself for an extented period (20 to 60 sec?), would work to pause a battle and maybe even use haulers to haul units out of the area in a losing battle.
Hope you found some of my suggestions useful! if you want me to help brainstorming something specific let me know!
I have alot of experience with these kinds of maps on wc3. I have worked on about 5 different projects using similar systems, even so i never finished one completely.
Yours is more complex tho, i have not been working on most of the features you intent to implement, mine were simply wander around looking for food, and clone once you ate enough.
But one thing i can advice you, is that you need something to make it less boring.
what i attempted to do in my later versions, was to create evolution. Let the behavior of the creatures depend on variables, which together form a strand of DNA; which can randomly mutate, creating new lifeforms. Models become a problem with this solution, but its not impossible to let the models be determined by different ranges of variables or be random.
Alternatively you can make it multiplayer and let players create their own lifeforms with restrictions.
Or have multiplayer evolution type game, with DNA points to be used for mutations or whatnot.
Anyhow your current idea is alot of work, for not alot of fun!
I have alot of experience with the warcraft 3 editor and would be able to make pretty much anything there, but i have very limited experience with starcraft editor.
That being said i would like to help, partially to give myself some motivation to learn the editor and especially the object editor!
Im starting computer sceince in a month (uni) so i have lots of spare time until then and i would love to get started on the editor.
If you are searching for people with lots of experience in the sc2 editor, im not your man though... yet
0
Dunno if i shoulda posted it here, but i made alot of suggestion and posted them under brainstorming/design :)
0
Hey i'd like to help balance and come up with suggestions and ideas for the project!
I'll add some notes that i'd like to suggest.
General:
- I first thought of this when reading about the scouting drone being worse than the marine, but costing the same. A macro mechanic that allows the 'Town hall' to send out tiny invoulnerable salvage drones that pick up the remains of a target robot corpse as scraps and give a 'Scrap discount' buff on (everything?), returning minerals when something is built (or just reducing the price if possible). Perhaps let robotic untis that die just leave a scrap pile for a minute or two that you pick up, so corpses dont have to be forced to stay.
Smog generator:
- I dont think this would be useful as a building for itself, but perhaps include it in the junker or supply building as a togglable/upgradable ability
Harvester structure:
- could be cool to have an autoharvest building you could go out and place on other bases of the map, but you shouldnt be able to just spam it everywhere, maybe make it cost gas?
- Perhaps it's not necesery with another macro mechanic if you implement the scrap discount mechanic?
Junker:
- I think this is way to complex allow me to give a simpler suggestion, feel free to disregard:
Static Defense Structure Name: Junker Mode/Appearance: A pile of scrap with a cannon-ish thing ontop. Fires random pieces of scrap. Special traits: When a nearby robotic unit dies, the corpse is sucked in (magnets / hooks?) and empowers the Junker increasing damage (a mechanic making last stand defense easier) Attacks air and ground Perhaps it could somehow attach to a building to gain the extra health, this would be overpowered if not for the powerfield preventing you from building junkers anywhere you want.
Droid:
- I dont like the concept of this unit, unless its used as mats for higher tier units just as extra cost.
- I think it would make the merging more difficult that it needs to be.
- Command card space can be saved with something like the hallucinate ability
Scout drone:
- Damage is higher vs light, this can ofc be perfectly balanced early game, but you mention you want the unit to be more useful later on, where most units are armored, so to encourage this, perhaps remove the light bonus.
- You want this unit to be able to merge to higher tier units but also be useful as itself in lategame? If so, i think its okay that it fills a swarm'ish role that will be situational, such as mass speedlings are against a pure stalker immortal ball. While they wont be good against splash, they should be easily massable for emergency defense or against compositions as mentioned before. You could achieve this with an t2/t3 upgrade reducing buildtime dramatically, so it becomes a good mineral dump aswell.
- Perhaps make it attack ground units only, so it doesnt fill the same role as S.C.U (which i presume can hit air?)
S.C.U:
- The trait is misleading, you simply mean that it doesnt have bonus vs light like the scout drone?
- I think the range upgrade is a little weak, but i guess it could be very situtational, shooting down workers from behind mineral patch on some maps.
Clanker:
- Personally i think it would be cool if this unit was melee, and had a ultralisk like splash or atleast shorter range than scout drone
Walker:
- I guess this fills the role of denying mutas and phoenix, so im cool with that.
- Since it has a Ground to ground attack i dont think it needs an ability vs ground, i like the idea that its just one kind of ground to ground and upgradable AA
- I dont wanna get to far into balance, but i think its health is too high (200)
Drillbot:
- I think this could be a very cool harass unit, if it doesnt have a role as harass i dont think it would be very usefull.
- As noted it could be a harass unit, with advantages to attacking enemy structures (such as bonus damage vs structures) to gain the extra resources from salvage and mess them up.
- WIth the turret upgrade it would be good at killing workers aswell, it should be a slpash attack with bonus to light.
- The 'Latch onto unit' is a bit too strong vs say a thor, unless it has a too short duration. Perhaps if it sacrificed itself in the process and imobilized for like 60 seconds onto mechanical units while dealing somethnig between 100 to 300 damage.
- To increase its harass abilities, i suggest giving it an ability to drill underground to a distance within a fairly high range (like a long range delayed blink) im thinking between 15 and 50 range. So you would put it outside the enemies base and drill into his worker line/buildings and start harassing. This should obviously have a fair cooldown. I dont think the drill should be a one per unit upgrade, as i think the other upgrades give different types of harass.
Petard (lol):
- Is it large enough be massive? (archon cough)
- I like this unit as a large support unit like the kodobeast from wc3 a bit, but i defo dont feel like stealth fits into the unit as a whole ( i might just be picturing it wrong)
- The bonus damage to buildings i think is unnecessary for it to be a siege unit.
- If stealth is removed it only has one ability that costs energy, making it kinda boring. Perhaps add an ability like barrage from the Odin? or a nanobot virus cast on a single unit but spreads to nearby units fast (requiring micro to avoid taking alot of damage).
Bomber bot:
- I dont quite understand its attack, does the air to ground units suicide explode? does the AA work like a mutalisk bounce?
- I really like the burrowed mine upgrade, but couldnt it be exploited without a cooldown (attacking Scout drones causing the mines to spawn and keep doing that creating extreme amounts of mines) or would it be balanced to make such things reasonable?
Air superiority fighter:
- The harpoon with a chain, sounds like a cool idea, but what if you fire the harpoon and then just fly home, do you drag the air unit? does the chain disappear? Perhaps requiring two harpoons from two units to be attached (or more) at the same time to immobilize the unit and each of the harpoons deal some damage. More micro d00d
- I dont think it should have a ground attack, and i dont think it should move wihle shooting, i think the harpoon is a mechanic thats cool enough in itself.
Hauler:
- A cloaked transport unit sounds really really cool, would fufill all stealth needs aswell, so i dont think the Petard needs stealth. The cloak would be overpowered if the unit wasnt ground based, so thats really cool.
- With the stealth i dont think it should be able to fire units across distances, i like the mechanic in it, but i think it would be too strong, since you arent risking anything. I think the entire vessle jumping itself is fair since it has stealth.
Tier 3 Aircraft “Powerhouse” air unit:
- The repair mechanic is kinda cool, but i dont think it would be too usefull unless it has a very high amount of hitpoints (enough to tank missile turrets/marines etc to break turtles?) in that case, the attacks shouldnt be too powerful.
- Just an idea: i think it could be cool if it was immobilized while landed, enabling strong AA capabilities but unable to move untill airborn.. dunno
Destroyer Mech:
- I think the race already has enough anti air, i dont think an AA upgrade would be used nor make sense Unit upgrades:
- A crush ability thing, Where two huge clamps grab a target and crushes it over 5 seconds for units 20 seconds for buildings. (kinda like a melee/short range strike cannon that can target buildings) would rarely be used vs units i guess?
- A huge emp/shockwave (called emp shockwave?) explosion, disabling and stunning all sorrounding units both mechanical and biological including itself for an extented period (20 to 60 sec?), would work to pause a battle and maybe even use haulers to haul units out of the area in a losing battle.
Hope you found some of my suggestions useful! if you want me to help brainstorming something specific let me know!
0
I have alot of experience with these kinds of maps on wc3. I have worked on about 5 different projects using similar systems, even so i never finished one completely. Yours is more complex tho, i have not been working on most of the features you intent to implement, mine were simply wander around looking for food, and clone once you ate enough.
But one thing i can advice you, is that you need something to make it less boring.
what i attempted to do in my later versions, was to create evolution. Let the behavior of the creatures depend on variables, which together form a strand of DNA; which can randomly mutate, creating new lifeforms. Models become a problem with this solution, but its not impossible to let the models be determined by different ranges of variables or be random.
Alternatively you can make it multiplayer and let players create their own lifeforms with restrictions. Or have multiplayer evolution type game, with DNA points to be used for mutations or whatnot.
Anyhow your current idea is alot of work, for not alot of fun!
GL regardless of what you do!
0
I have alot of experience with the warcraft 3 editor and would be able to make pretty much anything there, but i have very limited experience with starcraft editor.
That being said i would like to help, partially to give myself some motivation to learn the editor and especially the object editor! Im starting computer sceince in a month (uni) so i have lots of spare time until then and i would love to get started on the editor.
If you are searching for people with lots of experience in the sc2 editor, im not your man though... yet