I would really like to create a few units that act as "squad leaders" if you will. Here is the idea:
Terran "Squad Leader": Basically a marine that has 6 other marines that follow him around and do whatever you command him to do. The 6 other maines would not be selectable and could not be issued orders, but would follow the "squad leader" when not in combat or when the squad leader is told to move without attacking. If the squad leader is told to attack a specific target, all the marines would attack that target. If the squad leader is told to "A-move" then the marines would do the same. It would be really great if the squad leader could "reinforce" his squad (up to a maximum of 6 marines) by using an ability to call in a drop pod at the nearest barracks, containing just enough marines to get back to the 6 maximum, and then having them move to the squad leader.
Zerg "Swarm Host": Id also like to revise the swarm host, such that it has no attacks of its own but is surrounded by several zerglings that follow it around, and bounce around it when it is stationary. The only difference here is that the swarm host would periodically drop an egg that would hatch a zergling in order to replenish the number of zerglings up to a maximum, and when told to attack a target or a-move or a target simply comes into range, the swarm host itself would not move but instead the unselectable zerglings would move to attack.
Is this idea of a "proxy unit" possible? The protoss carrier sort of does this, but the interceptors dont follow the carrier around and instead are de-spawned when they return to the carrier and re-spawn when the carrier attacks.
The idea behind this map is a fairly simple 1v1 player versus player cross between a MOBA game and a traditional RTS. Like most "tug of war" style games, waves of units would periodically spawn and push towards a base at the opposite end of the map, with the ultimate objective being to destroy the enemy base. Unlike most MOBA games, however, hero units would not be the focus of the player-controlled elements. Instead, players would utilize a fixed income to create traditional RTS style units directly under their control to help push down the lanes or defend, and invest in upgrades for their base and units. The focus of the gameplay would be the use and control of multiple impactful units with interesting abilities, and high replay value through player controlled strategies and choices with a relatively simple and linear objective.
Map Design
The map design would look a lot like most MOBA style games, a long horizontal map with a base at either end and 1-3 lanes connecting the two. Artisitically, the map would appear as a human city that is still standing on one end, and progresses gradually from still-standing, to war-torn in the center, and then to zerg-infested on the other end. The general feel of the map should be that of a human military base in the heart of a city that is repelling an invasion of insectoid aliens that are infesting the city.
Gameplay Specifics
Minerals-"Minerals" would be generated at a fixed rate for both players, and simply serve as a limit to the speed at which additional units under the players control could be created. To prevent pooling a huge amount of minerals and simply countering whatever units the enemy has created, a maximum amount of minerals could be collected before income would stop, until some minerals have been used.
Energy-The player's main base would have several abilities that the player could cast, expending energy. The abilities would help turn the tide of battle when you are on the defensive or give an extra bit of a push when making an assault.
Gas-Each player would have access to several (possibly 3) "specializations." By killing enemy units using your player controlled units, gas (lets call it XP) would be generated that could be invested into these specializations to upgrade the waves of units, gain access to more powerful player-controlled units or upgrade existing ones, or gain access to powerful base abilities. The upgrades chosen would be integral to the strategies used by the players to counter the enemy's unit type or playstyle, so a player's specialization could be reset during the game to prevent hard-counters, but of course not all of the XP would be refunded and this process would take some time. The humans would have access to specializations such as robotics (granting access to drone-like units such as ravens and widow mines and smart-weapon abilities), aircraft (gaining access to aircraft-dropped infantry or attack based air units and airstrike abilities), or mechanized ground forces (gaining access to ground-based vehicles and mechs with powerful upgrades). The aliens would have access to specializations such as flying strains (adding wings to waves of zerglings and granting access to other player controlled air units and powerful abilities to swarm the enemy with flying creatures), parasitic strains (focusing on dealing damage over time and infecting enemy units to spawn smaller units to overwhelm the enemy), or caustic strains (focusing on creating powerful mostly-ground units that use ranged acid attacks).
Balance-Because the two races pitted against each other are not balanced equally and play differently, unlike most MOBA style games, balance would be a concern. The aliens would spawn more NPC units with each wave, but they would be weaker than the human's. Creep would automatically spread slowly down each lane, but tumors would be visible at all times and could be attacked by NPCs. Creep would weaken enemy units standing on it, so alien NPCs would generally lose fights off of creep and win fights on creep. This would be tuned such that the two sides would generally reach a stalemate in the center of the map without player intervention. Additionally, the humans would have more NPC controlled static defenses and be able to erect more defenses to hold ground that has been taken, while the aliens would get slightly more offensive upgrades that would help them push past these defenses if the right tactics and upgrades are chosen.
Units-The player controlled units spawned by each side would be much more impactful and powerful than in traditional Starcraft melee games, but would not be as powerful as hero units. For example, a late game unit based off of the swarm host (caustic strain unit idea?) might function more like a siege tank, able to fire off ranged attacks while unrooted, but also might be able to root in place to spawn waves of 3 banelings every few seconds. A viking-based unit (aircraft specialization?) might deal more damage in assault mode than in the base game and have no air-to air attack, but move much quicker to allow a couple of these units to rapidly move from one location to another when defending or pushing a lane. A human ground unit based off of the upcoming cyclone might additionally have an ability that unleashes a rain of missiles to saturate and area dealing damage over a couple of seconds. Units would not be created in as great of numbers as in melee games, and as such micro would be important. Though multiple units would be commanded by the player, each unit would usually have an active ability that would need to be used to get the most out of the unit, and to keep the game action packed and fast packed. The humans might command at most 15 units at a time, while the aliens would control anywhere from 10-30 depending on whether they specialize in many weaker units or larger stronger units.
Buildings-Some buildings would be able to be created by both sides, but most of these buildings would have some sort of attack or serve some purpose. For example, the humans may be able to create turrets or bunkers to help hold ground that has been taken, while the aliens might be able to create nests to help spread creep more rapidly or spawn a couple more zerglings to attack down a lane. Most larger buildings would be fixed in place and while they would serve some purpose, such as walls or turrets providing static base defense, or providing a place to invest in upgrades or activate certain abilities or train player controlled units, these types of buildings could not be rebuilt and would be pre-built at the beginning of each game.
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I am trying my best to get started on this, but I am very new to the editor so it is slow going. I would love to work with someone else if anyone is interested. Any input is appreciated, including on pointers to resources that may be helpful, gameplay ideas, or suggestions.
I am trying to modify the spawn locusts ability used by the swarm host. I would like to simply allow it to be used while unburrowed and instead of spawning locusts, I want to to spawn banelings.
I tried copying the ability and unit, and creating a new actor. The unit works fine, looks and walks like a swarm host. However, the new ability (copied, without any changes) requires that I have an infested terran or something and will not cast. I don't understand why this is and cannot figure out how to fix it.
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I would really like to create a few units that act as "squad leaders" if you will. Here is the idea:
Terran "Squad Leader": Basically a marine that has 6 other marines that follow him around and do whatever you command him to do. The 6 other maines would not be selectable and could not be issued orders, but would follow the "squad leader" when not in combat or when the squad leader is told to move without attacking. If the squad leader is told to attack a specific target, all the marines would attack that target. If the squad leader is told to "A-move" then the marines would do the same. It would be really great if the squad leader could "reinforce" his squad (up to a maximum of 6 marines) by using an ability to call in a drop pod at the nearest barracks, containing just enough marines to get back to the 6 maximum, and then having them move to the squad leader.
Zerg "Swarm Host": Id also like to revise the swarm host, such that it has no attacks of its own but is surrounded by several zerglings that follow it around, and bounce around it when it is stationary. The only difference here is that the swarm host would periodically drop an egg that would hatch a zergling in order to replenish the number of zerglings up to a maximum, and when told to attack a target or a-move or a target simply comes into range, the swarm host itself would not move but instead the unselectable zerglings would move to attack.
Is this idea of a "proxy unit" possible? The protoss carrier sort of does this, but the interceptors dont follow the carrier around and instead are de-spawned when they return to the carrier and re-spawn when the carrier attacks.
0
General Gameplay Principles
The idea behind this map is a fairly simple 1v1 player versus player cross between a MOBA game and a traditional RTS. Like most "tug of war" style games, waves of units would periodically spawn and push towards a base at the opposite end of the map, with the ultimate objective being to destroy the enemy base. Unlike most MOBA games, however, hero units would not be the focus of the player-controlled elements. Instead, players would utilize a fixed income to create traditional RTS style units directly under their control to help push down the lanes or defend, and invest in upgrades for their base and units. The focus of the gameplay would be the use and control of multiple impactful units with interesting abilities, and high replay value through player controlled strategies and choices with a relatively simple and linear objective.
Map Design
The map design would look a lot like most MOBA style games, a long horizontal map with a base at either end and 1-3 lanes connecting the two. Artisitically, the map would appear as a human city that is still standing on one end, and progresses gradually from still-standing, to war-torn in the center, and then to zerg-infested on the other end. The general feel of the map should be that of a human military base in the heart of a city that is repelling an invasion of insectoid aliens that are infesting the city.
Gameplay Specifics
Minerals-"Minerals" would be generated at a fixed rate for both players, and simply serve as a limit to the speed at which additional units under the players control could be created. To prevent pooling a huge amount of minerals and simply countering whatever units the enemy has created, a maximum amount of minerals could be collected before income would stop, until some minerals have been used.
Energy-The player's main base would have several abilities that the player could cast, expending energy. The abilities would help turn the tide of battle when you are on the defensive or give an extra bit of a push when making an assault.
Gas-Each player would have access to several (possibly 3) "specializations." By killing enemy units using your player controlled units, gas (lets call it XP) would be generated that could be invested into these specializations to upgrade the waves of units, gain access to more powerful player-controlled units or upgrade existing ones, or gain access to powerful base abilities. The upgrades chosen would be integral to the strategies used by the players to counter the enemy's unit type or playstyle, so a player's specialization could be reset during the game to prevent hard-counters, but of course not all of the XP would be refunded and this process would take some time. The humans would have access to specializations such as robotics (granting access to drone-like units such as ravens and widow mines and smart-weapon abilities), aircraft (gaining access to aircraft-dropped infantry or attack based air units and airstrike abilities), or mechanized ground forces (gaining access to ground-based vehicles and mechs with powerful upgrades). The aliens would have access to specializations such as flying strains (adding wings to waves of zerglings and granting access to other player controlled air units and powerful abilities to swarm the enemy with flying creatures), parasitic strains (focusing on dealing damage over time and infecting enemy units to spawn smaller units to overwhelm the enemy), or caustic strains (focusing on creating powerful mostly-ground units that use ranged acid attacks).
Balance-Because the two races pitted against each other are not balanced equally and play differently, unlike most MOBA style games, balance would be a concern. The aliens would spawn more NPC units with each wave, but they would be weaker than the human's. Creep would automatically spread slowly down each lane, but tumors would be visible at all times and could be attacked by NPCs. Creep would weaken enemy units standing on it, so alien NPCs would generally lose fights off of creep and win fights on creep. This would be tuned such that the two sides would generally reach a stalemate in the center of the map without player intervention. Additionally, the humans would have more NPC controlled static defenses and be able to erect more defenses to hold ground that has been taken, while the aliens would get slightly more offensive upgrades that would help them push past these defenses if the right tactics and upgrades are chosen.
Units-The player controlled units spawned by each side would be much more impactful and powerful than in traditional Starcraft melee games, but would not be as powerful as hero units. For example, a late game unit based off of the swarm host (caustic strain unit idea?) might function more like a siege tank, able to fire off ranged attacks while unrooted, but also might be able to root in place to spawn waves of 3 banelings every few seconds. A viking-based unit (aircraft specialization?) might deal more damage in assault mode than in the base game and have no air-to air attack, but move much quicker to allow a couple of these units to rapidly move from one location to another when defending or pushing a lane. A human ground unit based off of the upcoming cyclone might additionally have an ability that unleashes a rain of missiles to saturate and area dealing damage over a couple of seconds. Units would not be created in as great of numbers as in melee games, and as such micro would be important. Though multiple units would be commanded by the player, each unit would usually have an active ability that would need to be used to get the most out of the unit, and to keep the game action packed and fast packed. The humans might command at most 15 units at a time, while the aliens would control anywhere from 10-30 depending on whether they specialize in many weaker units or larger stronger units.
Buildings-Some buildings would be able to be created by both sides, but most of these buildings would have some sort of attack or serve some purpose. For example, the humans may be able to create turrets or bunkers to help hold ground that has been taken, while the aliens might be able to create nests to help spread creep more rapidly or spawn a couple more zerglings to attack down a lane. Most larger buildings would be fixed in place and while they would serve some purpose, such as walls or turrets providing static base defense, or providing a place to invest in upgrades or activate certain abilities or train player controlled units, these types of buildings could not be rebuilt and would be pre-built at the beginning of each game.
------------------------------I am trying my best to get started on this, but I am very new to the editor so it is slow going. I would love to work with someone else if anyone is interested. Any input is appreciated, including on pointers to resources that may be helpful, gameplay ideas, or suggestions.
0
@joey101d: Go
The only requirement is the burrow requirement. That is why I am very confused.
0
I am trying to modify the spawn locusts ability used by the swarm host. I would like to simply allow it to be used while unburrowed and instead of spawning locusts, I want to to spawn banelings.
I tried copying the ability and unit, and creating a new actor. The unit works fine, looks and walks like a swarm host. However, the new ability (copied, without any changes) requires that I have an infested terran or something and will not cast. I don't understand why this is and cannot figure out how to fix it.