Dark Pylons in the works?

This is directly from the Q&A from http://www.starcraftwire.net.

http://www.starcraftwire.net/articles/678/wwi-2008-starcraft-rts-fansite-event-part-2/page1

Additional info

This idea sounds very interesting. I hope that Blizzard actually implements this idea. Fits the Protoss theme perfectly and I can think of many strategy involving the Dark Pylon.

Thoughts?

 

I like this idea. It fits the Dark Templars' image and tactics completely, and it only makes sense to have more DT technology in the game. There are so many things you can do with this. I would assume it's similar to C&C's stealth tower (whatever it was called) that's visible even when the other buildings aren't. Within a few weeks every player is going to freak every time they see a Dark Pylon. "Holy ****, what's under that thing?" and waste time sending detectors at it. Basically it's the best mind raper you're likely to ever get.

 

Sounds cool.
I am the guy who builds 100 stealth towers in C&C so I like this idea.

It might not hide your defenses but it will hide the pylons powering the defenses.
I wonder how long canons stay uncloaked? If its a short enough time it could help protect the cannons in between firings.

 

I highly agree with BirdofPrey as i am also always the one with seemingly no base but cloack towers lol. It would be awesome if the protoss got an arbitor building. i am wonder if they give power or require power, otherwise they should call them something other than pylons

 

Definitely an awesome idea. When they announced the MS cloak, that had fairly good reception. This Dark Pylon thing adds quite a bit of depth to base building strats, especially expos. A few well placed DPs in an expo, filled with nothing but cannons and Colossi....That's gonna be freakin' sweet. I hope to hell that they don't try and add "You need the Dark Pylon to power Dark Templar buildings", cause that'll get it axed in a second.

And I respectfully disagree, the Changling holds that title.

 

I would agree the changeling would be a better mind rapist if it was permanent and could attack, but gah!

 

!!!

Mmm....Idea!!

Instead of the classic "Nothing there, blur" cloak....To fit with the Dark Templar aspect, what if it casts a shadow type thing? Like, for the graphic....just a circle of blackness.

 

That sounds pretty awesome, but a mysterious patch of blackness is a lot more conspicuous than just a pylon. Besides, Dark Templar are only "dark" because they haven't accepted the Khala, nothing to do with their cloaking abilities.

 

Shakuras is a shadow world from their doing iirc. Not sure though. And really, I'd be more afraid to sent units into BLACK than into emptiness.

 

Nah, Shakuras was a shadow world before they got there. What they did was activate the Xel'Naga Temple, which somehow made the sun rise. I agree with you though. I'd be a lot more afraid to send my units into to the middle of god knows where.

*Lightbulb moment*

We should have the black patch, and make only the Dark Pylon visible inside the patch. The patch will be lifted when the DP is destroyed or if a detector is nearby. If that's what you meant, I'm all for it, it's a lot cooler than just a generic cloak.

 

Yeah, exactly like that. Like an in-between of unexplored and FoW

 

i dont like the idea of a black shroud compared to a true cloaking. wHEN YOU SEE A BLACK SHROUD, YOU GET A GOOD IDEA THAT SOMETHING IS THERE, you just dont know what .When everything is not there, you can be ambushed when you walk through what you thought was nothing. Instead of avoiding the area, the enemy might just put themselves in a position to be destroyed.

P.S. srry for the all caps, i accidently pressed the butto and didnt fix

 

It works the same way even if there is no shroud. You could put up a shroud and still have nothing at all in there just to mess with your enemy. It's a classic strategy from the good (pre-EA) C&C days.

 

I would think the Dark Obelisk would be required to build a dark pylon (DP) not the other way around.

That level of defense tech is usually somewhat deep on the tech tree

A dark place might be better than the cloak mirrage since the lack of a cloak mirrage would blow the cover of Dogs used as decoys if the other player is observant.

Something that might be interesting is if the area wasn't cloaked but instead forces For when not in the presence of detectors.



One thing that I wonder about is if the DP will be cloakable.
There's three options
Not cloakable (arbiter)
cloakable in other's fields but not its own (visible on its own but not in close pairs or more)
Self cloakable

 

@ Wick: wouldn't it be easier to use something like hallucination than to do the shroud??? the shroud gives you less possibilities than the full cloack. THe shroud can make people think enemies are there, but that doesn't do much unless you are leading them. Otherwise, the cloack adds ambushes, a place to hide, safety and can be used to trick people because the enemy sees the pylon. I think it would be easier if the pylon just fully cloacked, and MAYBE had a power to cast a shroud

 

the shroud would be better than a cloak, and since the arbiter/ms/statis orb mass cloaking seems more of a high templar thing than DT, a mysterious black shroud would be more DT.

and if they're expermenting with DT defenses i would like to see the phase cannon with blink

 

I think this only belongs in single-player.

The explanation is "there's not enough Dark Templar structures" which is a lore explanation.

I don't actually like the idea of a Dark Pylon in-game, as I think it's a bit silly that structures can be cloaked. (This is especially true against Zerg with their large number of melee units; if you run into a building you should be able to attack it, even if you can't see it.)

In StarCraft: Enslavers II, you face Ulrezaj, a Dark Templar terrorist. He hates the Protoss from Aiur and so shouldn't have Zealots, High Templar or Arbiters in his army... yet he does. There just wasn't enough of a Dark Templar tech tree. Ulrezaj also looks like he might be in the plot of StarCraft II, and if so, he'll need followers. Dark Pylons could be part of a Dark Templar-only tech tree.

 

so cloaked dark templar doesn't make sense either? why can't zealots randomly striker out untill they hit something?

thats why the black shroud would be alot better, more like you're gonna get lost if you go in...

these shouldn't need pylon power, that way you could pop them up at the same time as nexus/pylons and you would very quickly be able to cover a base.

 

Dark Templar can move. Buildings (usually) can't. A Nexus that turns invisible is still going to be in the same place when you swing a psi-blade at them.

 

Hmm, Dark Pylons. SOUNDS ****ING SEXY.

This idea is very nice, I understand how it works, basically you build this Dark Pylon and what ever building is in it's matrix will be cloaked, but if the building moves or something it becomes visible, so when a cannon shoots it will become uncloaked, as that would be very OP if it remained cloaked all the time.

Oh what, it said cloaks all units, I think thats imbalanced to cloak all units as well, buildings are enough.

Ohh and about this dark shroud. No. Normal cloak would be fine, I don't want black stuff all over my base to give them a bigger hint of what is there.
Remember when a large unit was cloaked by an Arbitor? You would vaguely see its outline with some distortion, thats probably how it will look.

A cloak is a cloak man, Dark Templar are not dark as in black, dark is just a lable the other Protoss used, it has no influence on their abilities. When something is refered to as dark you genrally can't see it, unless you're in bright DAYLIGHT so, how would black buildings conceal anything? When a Dark Templar cloaks it isn't a shadow, its just cloaked like any other cloaker.

On the lore arguments, don't even bother cuz I can bring up how Marines have unlimited bullets or why a Zealot can't jump on the back of a tank. Its called gameplay, lore doesn't justify everything.