AYE! random thought, what about a new zerg unit, that 'grows'. Starts off as a fairly early game unit, and every 10 minutes of game time the unit gets slightly bigger and more powerful, unitll it finally develops into some mad unique unit. or somthing. You could make more last game, but would have to wait the time for it to develop. Could make for various game tactics im sure. Havnt thought it through, just popped into mind. Now im gonna eat some dinner
no way man haha camp out for just one unit? i was hoping there would be more brainstorming then just shuttin the idea down... Ok, i get your point. So,.. what if this unit developed, by the number of kills it had? Or, what if it COULD NOT develop on creep? That would discourage camping, and give the zerg an opporunity to be clever with micro skills to earn a few of these units. Dont know what this special unit would be though yet.
Nah...I can see units having multiple levels of evolution (like this evolves into this evolves into this) like a pokemon or something, but having it just develop automatically over time, that sounds a bit un-starcraft like.
yeah fair enough haha 2 people to reply, 2 people dislike the idea haha thats fair enough, im not particularly strong in this idea anyway, was just a random thought before dinner. no harm in asking right? cheers for the critisism
this doesn't really fit with zergs becasue zergs are supposed to be massive amounts of shit units, not one uber mad unit. What could happen is u can "fuse" units with each other to upgrade and whatnot. Sort of like an archon but using more than just 2 of a unit, maybe in the 30's or something. The more u do this the stronger it gets. the unit would still "act" as the same food count thoough, so basicly it's a big unit, and maybe once it dies it turns into the units that made it again. Sure it might be a little imba but w.e.
i dont follow.. you just said zerg arent about having one massive uber unit, but then you gave an idea for one massive uber unit... i dont want my idea to be somthing that turns heaps huge and strong, this isnt a zerg superunit we're talkin about. but i want it to be something unique. give it dark swarm once its fully evolved, or somthing I dont want this to be a way to get a new crazy unit I want it to be a unique way for the zerg to get a more powerful late game unit. Just say you can build unit X early game, you build a few of these, then they 'grow' over time, while still being usable, then eventually turn into unit Y. Unit Y automatically has special abilities such as dark swarm, and consume, and has a decent melee attack. Its just a unique way to get a late game unit, and a unique way to gain some of these abilities. Instead of building them directly, and researching upgrades, i thought having a unit made in this way would create insteresting game play. If yas dont like it im not fussed, but i thought id clarify.
Hey don't get me wrong I don't mean it's a bad idea, I just think it makes more sense if you had to command it to evolve to the next level. Otherwise it's as if the unit is leveling up with time, which doesn't really fit.
The lame-ass soul hunter got more powerfull from killing, but after a timer, its attack got weak again. Getting stronger from devouring enemy units sound SO much better when we're talking about a zerg unit, it makes so much more sense! And this one would not get weak again from not killing more. I think you deserve a owerup: Just evolve it a little bit more; what kind of unit will it be? Will it be the new Ultralisk, or Lurker?
The way i can see this unit work is one, being a 4 supply unit, starting off pretty weak, having an upgrade or mutation if you will that costs 10 minerals / 10 gas and takes a bunch of times but doesnt have a limit on mutations, every mutation increases its stats, so you decide when its upgraded enough to attack
I think the idea is pretty cool. Anything that creates new gameplay mechanics is cool in my eyes. I get tired of people being too conservative when it comes to change. I think what made starcraft so cool was that the 3 factions were so distinct, rather then each having a specific game play strategy. I'm not denying that they mass well, just saying that there is so much more that can be done , and I hope that options will be encouraged. --------- Cheap and disposable units for zerg; yeah but they also have regeneration. Mutating into specialized or stronger units, post production. They can burrow to avoid danger, as well as make use of some stealth. Even Terrans could mass marines effectively... -------------------------------------- Units that evolved/grew stronger with time could be very cool, as long as there was an eventual cap. Strength & Armor increases could be cool maybe even just armor!! (not zerg like you say, Zerg are versatile organism) Type of Attack changes maybe not, because if you need one type (melee), then it changes to a different one (ranged), you could be annoyed unless you could control the change. Abilities Unique Abilities, then they would be time dependent, which would suck if one died. Wait all over for a unique ability. Redundant Abilities (another unit's ability) is unlikely since Blizzard wants there to be no overlap. Movement/Attack Speed IDK what do you think, faster movement, or faster attack speed. Or even type (ground ->flying hehe mothra?) -------------------------- I'd like to see it as a spawn broodling like function: Parasite enemies, and the broodlings evolve over time!!!!
I think it shouldn't be about time. Or kills. It should be about mineral spending. But then again it would get like Hydra->Lurker evolution, or Muta->Guardian/Devourer evolution. Having upgrades costing nothing would be cheating the economy, universal side of Starcraft. However, I'm wondering a different yet equal thing: what if it spawns into an immature creature, that is much weaker than it fully developed, but available sooner than the whole waiting period of hatching from an egg? A Kangaroo is exactly that: it doesn't get out of the mother's belly fully ready, but matures outside. Reaper already has a different way of spawning, being ready before you purchase them. Why not make a zerg unit that hatches before time, and is available sooner as an immature form, but eventually finishes maturing over time? It would even facilitate battle positioning, just like Thor can be spawn into battle-field, a zerg that comes from a larva but can move and attack before being ready. The balancing point would be its vulnerability and less effectiveness for its price when on immature form. EDIT: The only problem would be that a fast building unit is already the zergling, and it can evolve in the battlefield into baneling. A fastly spawn and weak unit that changes farther than hatchery is already the baneling. It would overlap, imo.
Well the Zerg are all about evolving, this is a unique mechnic that none of the other races have. Mutalisk too weak? Evolve into guardians! Mutalisk suck at antiair? Get a few devourers! Hydralisks getting owned by marines? Change them into lurkers! Perhaps this unit could have multiple evolutions, each costing a bit of resources and its role changing slightly. Maybe you could have scourges evolve into melee attackers which cost more, then evolve again into slightly ranged units, but with less hp, then evolve again into hydralisk range slow attack with more hp etc. Or it could be an advanced form of larva, opening the Zerg to twice the amount of available units! It might provide the Zerg with 16+ units altogether, evolving into the various strains it has encountered. This opens up the Zerg to more variety of units to mix and match with. Various units could overlap each other, but they would come from different larvae types, to reduce redundancy. But these units could probably have different effects, different roles to show why they are of a different larvae type, perhaps experimental and not fully intergrated into the swarm, lorewise.
I don't want too many of my units to require multiple steps to get. Just the 3 2 step units was enough
I think it's a great idea, but that there should be a cap on how powerful it can get. It shouldn't end up being as powerful as a super-unit, but it should be about as valuable to the Zerg player as Ultralisks are, even if they aren't as big size-wise, they would still be a very strong unit in the Zerg army. Having them evolve slowly, and making their stages unnoticeable from the previous one and the next one would be better than having them evolve in stages. Also, once you get one to maximum power, even thought they aren't a super-unit, they would be a huge loss to the Zerg player if they are killed, due to the amount of time and protection they require to grow to their full strength. In my opinion, I'd prefer a unit that uses a mechanic like this to be a melee ground unit. I'm not suer why I think this, but it's probably because I kind of picture the unit growing and feasting on the flesh left behind (not that it would physically eat the corpses), which is not able to be done from a distance, or in the air. Great idea though, have you thought of a name for it yet?
Eatling? I think that it should get to its final stage after its third or second biological kill. Zerg unit lifespan=short, so it should not need to kill too many. For every stage it gains 10 or 15% in size, maybe adding some textures to keep it good looking when it gets bigger.
It shouldn't be that easy to max. It should require about 15-20 kills to gain its full power. This may seem hard, but as it gets more powerful it should be able to do more damage, and thus, able to get more kills. The hard part would be getting these units the first few kills to start it off. Also, the physical change to the unit should be minimal from stage to stage. It wouldn't be as good if each kill it grows 10 to 15% in size. It would be better if it were a gradual thing throughout, so it is unnoticeable when it is happening, but the final, fully maxed unit should look quite different to the original, starter unit.
A unit that can evolve into many different ways? You mean a larva? I still don't get how this idea is different from regular evolution process and mutation from larva. This unit would still come from a larva too, so why not mutate from larva directly into the desired zerg unit instead of this one and try to morph it into many units? Change into many? Zerglings are 2 that come from the same egg. Tougher armor? Spawn an Ultralisk. The main problem I think is that eating must not be a way to make units, or it will draw the enemies into turtles: they'll hold back in bunkers/base until they have enough firepower to own the entirety of the zerg enemy, without making it stronger. I would rather have a way to infest raiding survivors than a unit that grows powerful on kills.
The idea isn't that it would get stronger/evolve through eating units, it is that it would evolve through killing units (I guess that it could be assumed that it eats them as well, I don't know). Similar to the Soul Hunter before it was cut, except the effect would be permanent and it would also give a physical change to the appearance of the unit.
