Customized play styles: uber universal upgrades

i forgot to say that i don't like the phoenix overcharge concept very much. to me that seems like a terran solution

 

@ijffdrie

Your explanations make a lot of sense.

@BnechbReaker

Yeah, I absolutely agree.

 

I reckon that it suits Protoss, much more than Terran anyway. The Terran seem to be off to a weaker start in the StarCraft World. The Protoss are really technologically advanced and Zerg are really biologically advanced. I don't think that Terran would damage their ships/vehicles or whatever just to get a bit more firepower. They rely on their ships and vehicles to much to willingly damage them themselves.

 

That would make the Protoss truly a masochistic race. But the Protoss rely on psi power and the Terran rely on electricity. Overcharge will suit the Terrans perfectly.

 

the terrans need to overcharge their engines because they don't have the technology to produce more power, so they use it as a temporary solution with lots of down sides, just like the stim pack. the protoss however, have greatly advanced technology so they don't need to do all this, they can just combine their psi and void energies to create great deal of power like the weapons of the warp rays. they also don't need self damaging drugs to allow them to temporarily move faster, they simply use their technology and training to achieve this, as demonstrated by the zealot's charge ability

 

I just don't feel that it would suit spellcasters/units with an energy bar.
However it would fit in with the infantry's Stim Packs, but maybe Overcharge could be an ability for certain vehicles, similar to the Phoenix, where it would increase their attack power by a lot but slowly start tearing the vehicle itself apart (like in all of those Science Fiction shows!). I seriously don't think that it would work for spellcasters though. Just doesn't work for me.
And the Protoss Phoenixes aren't masochists, they don't actually injure themselves. I took it as the overload the psychic energies that surround the ship.

 

ideas for the protoss:

last ditch - non robotic units does double damage when hp becomes red.
units don't stay in red health very long before they die, this gives them a massive power boost while they are near death

psi-void reactor - all energy units gets 50 additional energy.
it make sense for the protoss to utilize their advanced technology to create massive amount of energy

universal shield manipulator - allows buildings to transfer their shields to units, every 2 points of building shield gives 1 point of unit shield. rate of transfer is 30 building shields per second.
now every building is like a shield battery but instead of costing energy, it cost the building's shield, and a 2 to1 convert ratio means shield is always lost during the transfer.

 

I don´t like the idea of mutually exclusive tactics. It would discourage adaption, also it goes against overall Starcraft upgrade policy. Upgrades are "brakes" they delay ussage of certain units. How usefull is a Tank without siege tech?

Upgrades are less a "if" decision but a "when".

But assuming they come up (even if they would be exclusive for one race) they would have to significantly change tactics for the upgrader. Most suggestions here simply improve the overall ussage of the races forces without impact on the actuall tactics. We have the 3stage upgrades for that.

Global upgrades can exist but they really should not be mutually exclusive. That would mean a "wrong" upgrade turns into a liability. They can be expensive so that they roughly equal teching for a Tier 4 unit. Overally I think it might fit for the Zerg, the swarming mentallity goes well with global upgrades.

 

sorry m8 but there is already a shield generator so universal shield manipulator is totally useless, and i think it already is upgrades for high Templar's for additional energy but last ditch sounds good, but it could use a rename, like frenzy for example. Last Ditch sounds so not protoish

 

we don't know if the protoss will have shield battery anymore, many people have said they are way under used in sc1 so it doesn't matter if they come back or not. the energy upgrade gives all casters extra energy not just high templar. and how about "strength of auir" or "final sacrifice" for last ditch

 

hmm, to balance that out the transfer rate have to be slower or you can only use transfer from one building per unit, so you don't just place a high templar close to a cluster of buildings then starts transfer energy and starts spamming psionic storm

and btw i think Last stand sounds better because i just don't like the name strength of aiur and they aren't really sacrificing themselves

 

Breaker, I think conscription for Terran isn't really needed with the reactor.  Overcharge, I kinda had in mind for Protoss.  I think nanobots is a great idea though, but they need to get rid of nano repair, I hate that ability.

I think psi-void reactor should either be a universal increase in energy regeneration rate, universal reduction to spell cost, or something similar to your overcharge idea.  The actual usefulness of raising the energy max is very limited and situational considering it's an uber upgrade that you choose over two other uber options.  The +50 energy cap isn't a full-time benefit, it only takes effect once a unit has sat there long enough to charge energy completely up to its original max.

I love your other two ideas for Protoss though.  But I think last ditch needs to apply to more units.  If you go strictly biological only, then you'll only have zealots and DTs that really take receive the effect, and it's only a very brief period of time when near death per unit, so you won't see it much.

For Protoss I think more widely applicable last ditch and the shield transfer would be good, plus one of the following:

Enhanced Psionic Channeling - All Protoss units receive a 50~100% increase in energy regeneration rate.  Protoss strengthen the link to their homeworld or whatever source of their psionic energy, and is able to draw psionic energy better than before.

Enlightenment - All Protoss units have the energy cost for each ability reduced by 20.  The Protoss race gain a higher understanding of the mysteries of the universe and can channel their psionic energy more efficiently than before.

Refocus Energy - All Protoss can actively recharge their energy at the cost of shield.  It makes sense to me for the Protoss to be able redirect their shield energy as usable psionic energy, even more so than Terran overloading their equipment.  Depleting shield is just draining one form of energy and using it as another, it isn't really hurting themselves since it doesn't drain from HP.

I think for Terran, at least one of the uber upgrades should boost their damage or range, since Terran is heavily reliant on both.  And I think universal increase in movement speed is also one that Terran can benefit immensely from, even if it overlaps with one of Zerg's uber upgrades.

So my suggestion for Terran is nanobot and the following:

Upgraded Parts - All Terran units gain a 15% increase in movement speed.  All Terran depend on some form of machinery/technology, even M&M's have power suits for example.  So a universal boost in movement speed through upgrading those machinery/technology should make sense.

  Precision Calibration - Increase the normal attack range of all Terran units by one.  Improved Terran weaponry calibration process, increased range, simple.

OR

  Advanced Munitions - All Terran units receive a 10% increase in normal attack damage(minimum 1 point increase).  Terran put more money into the stuff they shoot, they do a bit better damage, simple.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining a lot and nitpicking, it's because I like your ideas.

 

Man that's great, where do you get all things from?

you deserve a power up  owerup:

anyway Advanced Munitions doesent work, anyway not in description (its the small things who counts ya know )

terrans want as good stuff as possible as CHEAP as possible, we are still just greedy monkey's.

anyway its pretty much as my idea but i thought it was to be for terrans infantry only (with laser scope they aim better and do more damage, and for a cheap price)

 

I really didn't think my post would get good feedback. I was thinking it would be unbalanced, but it turns out it was a popular idea

After i read Remy's post further down, I decided to make a few changes

Terran Uber Upgrades
Advanced Weaponry - All terran units gain a small damage boost.
Explosive Rounds - All terran attacks gain a small AoE, but do only 1/2 damage to splashed units and thier attack speed is decreased slightly. Increases the AoE of units that already have an AoE attack.
Titanite Buildings - All buildings have a reduced build time and +3 armor.

Protoss Uber Upgrades
Psionic Guards - All Protoss units gain 10-20 Shield.
Enhanced Warp - Protoss units warp in (build) faster.
Psionic Weaponry - Protoss weapons ignore armor of 3 or less (Armor = Natural Arnor + Upgrades, not just upgrades)

 

Remy, the last ditch is for all non-robotic not just non-mechanical, meaning all units except reaver, pbserver, prism and colossus (2 of them can't attack anyway) because robotic units don't have emotions, they wouldn't channel their fury when they are nearly dead.

the reason i made psi-void reactor give extra energy instead of increasing regeneration rate is because i thought it would be too similar to overcharge. i think increasing energy capacity is useful because it would also increase the initial energy of a unit when it's built. this could be the difference between a high templar having to wait around for 30 seconds after being built before casting a psi storm and being able to cast it right off the bat. also in competitive games ground casters rarely gets the opportunity to cast their spell, wait around for energy to fill up, then cast again. many of them die before their energy is refilled. ht gets merged into archons after using up their energy, medics die along side marines, defilers gets irradiated all the time. most casters' spells are one-shot, then they die and get replaced by new ones. aerial casters obviously survive better, that's why in late game tvz the terran army always consists of many sv's but the zerg's army at any particular time only have a few defilers. if not for consume the zerg would have no chance against all those sv's spamming cheap 75 energy irradiate everywhere.

if +50 energy is not quite powerful enough for an uber upgrade then +75 energy definitely is.

 

@ Breaker, I see, I misunderstood what you meant by non-mechanical.  I think it's a great idea so long as it applies to all the prevalent Protoss units.  But I think you need to exclude the carrier/tempest as well, it attacks with robotic interceptors.  It's actually a ginormous ship, and I don't think one angry Protoss up in the control room would be able to all of a sudden make those interceptors double their attack power, no matter how hard and how frantically he smashes on the buttons. Btw, the alternate names you came up with sound a lot better, but that's of little importance at this point.

About the psi-void reactor, it being too similar to overcharge was actually the reason why I didn't like it for Terran.  But while what you said about the raise energy cap makes good sense, unless you're counting on blasting one 75 energy spell right at production and die immediately after, faster regen or overcharge would almost still always be better.  The increase in starting energy is very small, only 12.5 energy(18.75 if it's +75).  Faster regen or active charging would quickly make up for that difference and continue to be useful.  While it's true that ground casters often have a short life expectancy, they don't always die after just one cast.  For instance, as often as Zerg lose defilers to irradiate, if Zerg had +50/75 energy max over consume, it wouldn't work.  But more importantly, you should keep in mind that not just hi-temps are effected, it's all Protoss units that end up having an energy bar.

I think improved energy regen would still be more useful overall.  If you like active charging over faster natural regen, I think overcharge should go to Protoss instead of Terran.  Protoss is the more spell dependant race, where as Terran is more reliant on the actual firepower from the units' normal attacks.  And two out of three Terran casters are arguably hybrids, so it would be more useful to Protoss anyway.

@ Heretic666)GC(, I think your idea was quite awesome, let me power you up now, forgot about it before from all the excitement.  But I think a flat +3 to all Terran wouldn't work well.  It would be a very small increase for tanks, but it is insane for marines.  If they kept the same damage and attack mod of 1 as SC1 for marines, at full upgrade marines would be doing 12 damage a shot, with stimpack that's pretty insane.  But overall, I think the ones you came up with here are pretty good ideas again.

@ Inpox, Terran already had upgrades like U-238 Shells, Infantry Weapons, Vehicle Weapons, Ship Weapons, and Charon Boosters.  Spending more money to shoot stuff up better than before is perfectly Terran.  Terran is the firepower race.

@ Unentschieden, Your post contains a mix of arguments that are a bit contradicting.  You said mutually exclusive tactics would discourage adaptation but also said that the idea suggestions here make no impact on actual tactics but only increase overall usage.  If the uber upgrades don't take away from anything else already in the game and do not even have impact on tactics, why would any of it discourage adaptation?  I personally that it would actually encourage adaptation, since you'll have to adjust accordingly going up against an overall faster moving Zerg army or an overall more resilient Zerg army or whatever else.

There is no such thing as a SC upgrade policy, especially here in SC2.  There was no hard rule that unit upgrades were to only be restraints while effecting tactics, while only the attack/armor upgrades were to be for improving overall usefulness while having no impact on tactics.  Some unit-specific upgrades were actually only there for slightly improving overall usefulness.  All reaver upgrades and all attack range upgrades are examples.

And you should realize that every "wrong" decision in macromanagement is a liability in StarCraft.  Building one too many drones early on could cost you the game.  There are a great many other examples.  Even attack vs armor upgrade is the not immune.  Two Zerg players both going mutas, air attack would be the "wrong" upgrade, the one upgrading air armor would win the muta war.

The idea is to add flavor to each game by allowing each player to choose a universal upgrade that suits their own play style.  The very fact that you believe that the ideas suggested here have no impact on tactics makes me believe that everything is going in the right direction.  But even the ones mentioned here would slightly change how each game would play.  But I think that's a good thing as it would make the multiplayers games on a whole more dynamic.

 

ah you thought it in that way, i was thinking of something completely else but nvm.

 

Remy....Why, WHY do you do that?

 

WHAT IS THIS. I can give another powerup again!! This will be the third one in a hour!!

 

i already told you, you can give as many power ups to different people as you like, just not the same person twice within 72 hours