Carrier death => suicidal Interceptors

When a Carrier dies, its Interceptors ram into the last known target, dealing considerable damage. If the target dies, any remaining Interceptors die. If the target is too far away, any remaining Interceptors die.

LORE:
Learning to waste nothing, the Protoss have programmed a protocol into each Carrier so that, when one is just about to die, it engages a self-destruct program in its respective Interceptors that steers them into their last known target for a final, spiteful blow to the enemy. They have found it to be rather effective, especially in a battle against enemy capital ships.

WHY:
This would add the interesting micro option of targeting the biggest target nearby just before death so that the interceptors ram into it. It would also challenge players to use inexpensive units around Carriers.

See what others are saying:
http://sclegacy.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17819#1
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=98710

EDIT1:

For it to work, the target of suicide:
-- must have been targeted before carrier's death
-- must still be alive after carrier's death
-- must take no longer than 2 seconds (normal speed) to reach
-- must not be cloaked or burrowed
So there are many situations in which the Interceptors can be avoided.

The damage done would be about 10 per Interceptor, so it would be small but still nothing to laugh at. Note that this works against both ground and air targets.

 

Interesting, but arent the inceptors controlled by a psionic link from the carrier?

 

Can't say that is a very good idea.

Why? Gameplay wise, Carriers will be far too powerful. A force of carriers themselves can hit and run any base and leave almost unharmed. In fact, whenever there is a fleet of carriers, players will immediately try to take them out first, it becomes overpowered if the interceptors can suicide-run the enemies, because the enemies will have to target to interceptors to protect the air units (I'm assuming it only affects air).

 

Don't forget BC are kinda buffed as well, they have the defense matrix, the yamato cannon, AND the missile barrage, though not all in one BC, they only have one of these so if the BC have more abilities, why not the Carriers, it will balance things more especially when both race are engaged in AtA combat

 

It affects both air and ground, and the suicide won't be that strong. About 10-12 per Interceptor would do.

Plus, there are ways to dodge it. For it to work, the target of suicide:
-- must have been targeted before carrier's death
-- must still be alive after carrier's death
-- must be within attack range
-- must not be cloaked or burrowed

 

is this for real?

sorry uni has blocked those sites...which...seriously..i dont know why..

anwyayz...if it is for real.....im meh-meh about this situation. it could turn out great, or turn out bad.

 

I get the rationale but.. kamikaze strategies are a Zerg classic... would feel weird seeing protoss doing that... even if its just robotic aircraft.

I thought the whole theme with the protoss is that their technology is so advanced that they cant really build anything in the field but have to warp it in. In that context kamikaze interceptors look out of place.

 

[eq]

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Do the words "Reaver" and "Scarab" bring anything to mind?

 

I'm with ace, since I'm not sure how effective or not effective this would be in-game (it's neat though). Anyhow, I'd like to ask a question. If the corruptors corrupt the carrier, do the interceptors attack the protoss or the zerg?

 

Seems like that I can answer my question myself. According to Starcraft Wiki's thread about Carrier's (http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Carrier), the Interceptors are computer controlled, so it could be possible to make a command that make them suicide lorewise.

 

this is very interesting. but i think that they would do something more like 6 (or what ever there base damge is) just for balence reasons. i mean i guess its only 40 damge unless they changed it to more intercepters.

 

you guys really like the idea of suicidal interceptors (it keeps coming up)

 

Zerg, because the Carrier has to "die" to be corrupted, which still signals the Interceptors to kamikaze.

 

This is one of those mechanics that can either be horrendously overpowered or of so little use that people forget it's there - Too little damage, and one has to order the Carrier to attack one target to do any meaningful damage on death. Too much damage, and there'll be one more reason people will want to mass Carriers. Not only that, but imagine the people who would then want an equivelant for Terran and Zerg, like Battlecruisers doing Air/Ground splash damage upon exploding, all Zerg units having acid blood, etc. IMO it'd be best if this mechanic was left out.

 

Please, I dont want this in starcraft 2. I just dont find the fact of suicide Interceptors appealing D: I just want the game, its fine where it is, mechanics wise. Just balance now........sniffle.

 

I'd personally like this mechanic. I'd even go so far as to say, let the player issue the command after the Carrier has died.

Scourge were originally introduced as these last-ditch "avengers" that would emerge from a dead Overlord (I think). They didn't get through to the final game that way, but who's to say this wouldn't work in SC2? The Interceptors are already there.

Actually, I'd go even further. Make the kamikaze attack a standard, or perhaps researched Interceptor ability.

The Carrier is playing these roles: build, repair, command. When fighting, the Interceptors have already been built, and don't always need repairs. But once the Carrier dies, you can't issue them new commands. They keep doing whatever they were told to do last, until they die. Interceptors are actually a lot weaker than they appear- since most of the time, even as they take damage, it is repaired by the Carrier the next time they dock. Without the Carrier, orphaned Interceptors shouldn't be a serious threat.

The Zerg have residual-attack/defense units that are created when buildings die, I don't see why it would be too crazy for the Protoss Interceptors to simply not self-destruct with the loss of the Carrier.

Woo- take it further! Why not include the ability for the Carrier to abandon its Interceptors? Issue an attack command at some difficult target, and then run away! You'd give up the ability to use them efficiently for a chance to keep your Carrier from taking damage.

 

You know, I kind of like this idea too. Maybe not take it as far as you (10-Neon) in unleashing Interceptors and running away, but definitely keeping them alive a few moments after the Carrier dies. Having them suddenly explode just because their control center was destroyed doesn't really make too much sense, but continuing their work does.

For the record, the exact numbers (e.g. 10 damage attack) should not be part of this discussion, just the mechanic. If Blizzard put it in the game, they would worry about the numbers and balance.

 

i would like the suidal intercepters. espcially if this "ability" was researched. nice bit of lore with the idea too =D

@10-Neon: Running away with carrier...ehh i dun think so, that might be imba?

anyways, i like the idea of the interceptors living after carrier death. how about, when carrier dies, interceptors continue fighting but lose all shields? its a researched ability
and how about a researchable ability so when interceptors die, they release an explosion dealing 5(+1 per upgrade) damage to all enemy air units in the area? It would also penetrate through one armor point (so if the unit has 1 armor, it takes full damage, while if the unit has 2 or more armor, it would take one less daamge. 0 armor means full damage, not extra damage)

it might make up for the reduction in carrier health as well as the now-better-than-carriers battlecruisers. how ever, i would still like to see an uupgrade for carrier health and !! INTERCEPTOR FORMATONS !!

 

If a Carrier abandons its interceptors, the Interceptors can no longer be commanded (can't focus fire) and can't repair. The Carrier that launched them is itself basically defenseless until it rebuilds. It's less threatening than Mind Control, and costs minerals to use.

 

i acully like this idea the ability to basicly command intercepetors to attack the enemy while the carrier retreats and also you could have them explode afterwards.