Cannibalism

There have been a few suggestions to make zerg fit the swarming insect type species that they are. Some have been creep suggestions or new infestation options. I think something that fits their image a little better would be cannibalism. Maybe not a direct rip off of the WC3 Undead's ghoul ability but something of the sort. The zerg seem as if they wouldn't waste anything. Partially from the traits of mass insects or mass anything that they possess, really. Nothing is wasted, everything that can be salvaged will be recycled and used for the greater good of the colony/brood.

I would think that for all the resources that go into producing units the zerg wouldn't just let masses of them die and be lost, but rather they would go for efficiency if possible. The area where this is most prominent would be that of dead units. I was thinking that some sort of ability could be given to all zerg ground units that give them a benefit for being around a bunch of other dead zerg units. Maybe they could receive increased regeneration for standing in pools of their dead buddies. If not health then what about regaining a small percentage of resources lost on those units with drones. I'm not sure what would fit best but just something that gives them more of organic feel and make them more innately efficient, as their image suggests.

 

Omg! Just send like 50 zerglings to a spot then just send an Ultralisk is to bathe in their blood then pwn everyone to shreds...that would be some insane and imbalanced pwnage

 

Well, I never said it would be that powerful, just some benefit on the battlefield that gives zerg players incentive to risk staying in the battle area or using the enemies strength against them.

 

Eh, I'm not much a zerg player, so i can't give much incentive that'll have some bearing, but for me, the zerg's personality is just "send send send die die send more send more" It just kinda seems odd that they'd be particularly wanting of efficiency when they got legions upon legions of things that were born to die. Then again, there's the whole mutation/evolution thing, so maybe they developed said aspect...I can't really say for sure though.

 

Playing Zerg as a player should be incentive enough to just go with the "ICANAFFORDTOBUYYOUBACKSOJUSTGOIGOTLINGS". No need for extra reg, or "powerups"... the Zerg should be acknowledged not for "buffs", but for the massive, never-ending type of organic, ravenous mass we know as the Swarm. A Terran or Protoss player should not go like "ok i better take out these b1tches so they don't reg this large cloud of zergling that clot up the map", they should be like "OH F*CK THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! HAVEN'T HE REACHED POP CAP YET?"
Like this "ok you 100000 guys go over there, you 277573 guys go over there, the mass of infinity of 'lings standing over there... yes you, go bite anything that dares move - oh and don't mind they siege tanks, they sting a bit but that's about it"

 

For some reason I've never imagined the zerg as sending forces upon forces to die... just to send some more. That really doesn't fit the insect colony/mass organism image. It would seem more like a Terran strategy to send forces that aren't really salvageable and gather more resources just send more of the same. If anything, zerg would be the most efficient race out of all three races. They are spawned from an organic nature and science hybrid with heavy influence from biology and evolution. And I'm pretty sure biology and evolution are still some of the most efficient concepts around.

 

No one has EVER given me a better explanation of the Zerg... EVER!

 

^thats pretty much what i was thinking.

 

Anyway, defilers can SORT of cannibalize, with consume, (or devour w/e its called) which replenished psi depending on the consumed units HP.

 

this would create such massive imbalances that i have to say nay. imaginitive though.

and yes, this is exactly why i love zerg

"yes you, go bite anything that dares move - oh and don't mind they siege tanks, they sting a bit but that's about it"

 

Cannibalism?

THIS.
IS.
STARCRAAAAAFT. *Kicks into a pit... of Zerglings*

 

okay... it seems to useless to cannabalise. i mean with ur mass amount of armies and they regerate health. also most units are too small and dont need to cannabalise. for example... do you REALLY need to waste ur time and make a jerglign with 20 health have 40 health? i mean it would only take a couple mins for it to regerate by itself. also the extra bodies would lag like a dell.

 

I just wanna say SirBaron rox.

 

So then they wouldn't have to cannibalize directly. They could in fact be just standing in pools of their buddies absorbing health intravenously by special pores on their hide. Or when zerg units die they release pheromones that, in sufficient amounts, drive other zerg units into even more of a raging frenzy than they were before.

And as for SirBaron, I completely disagree with that. Not from a player's stand point but a story point of view. As a player, yes, that sums up how you play zerg. But from the zerg's concept, they are anything but wasteful. Just because they drove in numbers does not mean that all of that is wasted. The Zerg would certainly not be so callous when it comes to battle. As I said before, Zerg are obviously the most efficient of all three races because their main stead is evolution and their harbinger was biology; or at least I think anyway.

 

so they cannabalize AND get frenzy? are these zerglings or ghouls?

 

I suppose I should change the topic the topic name, if I could. Like I said, something 'like' cannibalize or maybe not at all. Just something, anything, that makes use of dead zerg ground units.

 

Ah, cannibalizing and regeneration, maybe not, since they already have it, it would be too uber. But what would be nice to do with the concept of endless recycling would be to take the dead bodies and use them to make protective walls or just use them as some kind of food for your armies? You know, like gather 20 bodies and you get to have a free pig farm-ish building or something, assuming they don't use "Control" anymore as their food system.

 

Zerghouls.
Ghoulings.

And Gorythax, like a Meat Wagon?

 

Yeah, kinda. I was thinking of some kind of unit that could get a couple bodies, to a max of 20, and when it does, you like "deposi them" in some space, to have the pig farm, or cantina or w/e it would be called.

Or just some kind of Stockage place that you build, with a worm, and when your guys or enemies die, you select the building, click "gather body", and click on a body and then a giant worm goes there and picks the body up. Then that would make 1 more food. I think a good idea would be like, a max of 8 food per building, like an overlord, cuz with the amount of dead bodies it would be way too uber.
Anyways... It would be like a feature that lets you use larvas to make lings or something instead of overlords. I don't know, it's just some random idea. Overlords are more useful but if Blizz can find some good use to a cantina... I really don't know.

Or apart from that, just, like, some kind of worm that gathers bodies and when he reaches a substancial amount he gets to build some kind of unit that would have extra armor and attack, because it's been reinforced with other body parts. It would be like a new super unit that requires body. Even though Blizzard said there wouldn't be a zerg or terran "mothership", it's my little concept of one

Anyways, as I said, I don't know about the idea's usefulness.

 

way too much warcraftesque. the two don't mix! it's like water and fire...