Improving the Ultralisk's attack

i think they will bring back the ultra, becuase if not people might get annoyed like taking away the carrier.

 

Nah we'll see old Carrier, I think i've read about this somewhere...

 

I kinda see it as an old carrier and what the i2new@aol.com has -7 power? I got 4 power with 70ish posts and he has 123 :|

 

I say get rid of the crappy Ultralisk and replace it with a more useful and well rounded unit.

The Ultralisk was only good to use it as a tank, but even then you needed two or three of them to successfully tank for the rest of your attacking squad, which is very very expensive. Only really useful late in game when you have the minerals to burn and it is a game deciding battle.

 

Yap lol, im agreed, they are only useful in Bunkers Tanks and Marines but they are very weak when it comes to a Air attack and irritate attack , well if they will back the ultralisk, it must be a good one now

 

Need a good fastish mobile AA gun

 

yes the ultra was not very useful in game play, but conceptual-wise it's great, that's why many people want to have it back, it just need improvement, which is what this thread is about, suggesting improvements for the ultra.

 

Yeah I heard that many people wanted it back but it did just needed more improvment's for mostly in it's strangth and possibley a little more armor to iff that happen's then it will be something to keep in the next star craft game!

 

And I think the only way to improve it would be to scrap it and integrate it's concept into a new unit. The Ultralisk would need SO many improvements to make it a good unit. So many that it would barely be an Ultralisk anymore, except for appearance. Scrap it and integrate the basic concept of Ultralisk into a new unit.

 

it doesn't need too many improvement to be effective, if only splash damage is added, it would become more useful. the ultra attack mechanic in sc1 didn't make much sense anyway, how can it not damage adjacent units when attacking with those massive blades

 

Imagine if it just tore through like 3 marine bodies at a time like the cinematic??? Like in the game the ultra does like a snipe ability against the ground units, only it gets to tear through like 3-5 ground units, that ought to get rid of them pesky zelots....

 

an special attack that kills 3-5 zealots is a bit too powerful, i do like the "each blade attack individually" idea though

 

WHY DOES SUCH A CLASSIC UNIT NEED ALL THESE CHANGES?!?

As moobox said.... It may need a huge make-over to make it a well rounded unit, but it is not meant to be a well rounded unit! The Ultralisk is designed to take the brunt of the damage, to take down buildings and large units. That's IT!

It does not need a powerful AoE or splash damage effect so that it can take on lots of small units, because it shouldn't even be attacking a whole lot of small units! Using an Ultra to attack or defend against lots of small units is like using a Zergling to take on a Carrier. It is simply not designed for that role!

However, a small amount of splash damage would suit it's character, and due to it's size it would make sense for it to be able to step over, or on, Zerglings and stuff. But it doesn't need all of these crazy ideas, like being covered in blades, turning into an insanely powerful neutral creep for a specified time or being able to eat smaller units! (or act as a ramp/bridge ) Keep the classic units classic!

But! And even though this sounds extremely hypocritical, the Ultralisk should have a resistance to Spawn Broodling. Broodling is far too powerful when used on Ultras, and even if the Broodlings were spawned, deep inside the Ultra's body, all they would really do is feed him.

Long story short... The Ultralisk should not be altered to fit any other roles, but to fit the one it was originally given even better!

 

the Ultralisk should have some sort of splash damage,but it would be different from the normal splash damage,it would work like this:

the Ultralisk attacks using it's two kaiser blades,right ??it opens the blades far and then bring them close to each other,kinda like a scisor(yes,it's a rough comparison).due to that,the Ultralisk should cause damage not only to his target,but to all enemy units close enough to the kaiser blade's range.now to the damage itself.

let's say that each blade causes "X" damage. let's also say that the Ultralisk is facing 3 Zealots,all close to each other.so it would look like this:

U
ZZZ

U = Ultralisk
Z = Zealots

note:actually,the Zealots would be kind of surrounding the Ultralisk,but i couldn't draw them in these positions

since it's blade causes "X" damage to the enemy,the Zealots from the sides would each receive "X" damage,and the middle one would receive "2X" damage,because in the middle would be the point where the two blades come together.

that's basically it.hope this hasn't been posted here before.

 

Great idea Vindicatormsc, that is actually an awesome way for the Ultralisk to distribute its damage, and on top of that it makes logical sense, due to the side units only being hit by one blade. However this might have to be scaled for medium to large units, after all, if an Ultra is attacking 3 Immortals or 3 Vikings or something, it's not going to be able to reach the other units. This would have to just be for helping the Ultra take on swarmed units a bit more easily.

 

yes,unless the units are close enough to the Ultralisk's blades,they won't be hit by them when the blades are wide open.probably this couldn't be applied to large units such as the Immortals,but it could be easily done with units like the cobra...

 

I'm not sure about the exact size of the Cobra, but I still doubt that an Ultralisk's swing would be able to hit 3 of them directly. It might be able to hit 2, but then its attack wouldn't be able to be concentrated on one specific Cobra, it'd be aimed kinda in the middle of them so that its each blade is able to hit one directly, but then, there isn't any crossover. Maybe, for example, if the crossover attacks are X, and the single 'splash' attack to small units (Marine, Zealot, Zergling) either side is 1/2 X, then against medium(Cobra, Immortal, Hydra) sized units it would only be 1/3 X, and there would be no side attack for large units (Siege Tank, Colossus, Ultralisk). This would make more sense, because the larger the units are, then the less the Ultra's side attack should be able to get them.
Now, this would get tricky to program, when an Ultra is attacking 2 immortals and a zealot:

Ultra
Im Im Ze

I reckon that the side Zealot should still only receive 1/3 damage because the immortal pushes it further to the side, making it harder for the Ultra to hit, i.e. it's the unit that the Ultra is directly attacking that determines its side damage.

EDIT: Cobra's shouldn't actually be in melee combat with anything anyway, because they can shoot on the move!

 

With the zerglings swarming around, Blizzard HAS to give the ultralisk splash.
But then, ultralisk are resistant to colossus, so I'm guessing the ultralisk will serve as a tanker.
Again.
The damage of the ultralisk also has to go up. Those massive claws shouldn't be doing a puny 4times a zergling damage, it should be killing infantry in one hit (except Zealots, they're too powerful).

 

when i said "units like the cobra",i was referring to it's size(it's width,to be more especific).sorry i didn't explained myself well.

yes,definitively the Ultralisk's damage should go up.i never really understood how those giant blades only did 20 damage...so yes.it's damage should go up...a lot.maybe 34 damage or something along those lines...

 

Perhaps if the Ultralisk was given a way to fly. Hmm, ok, this is terrible.
But if we just give it a thought for a sec.: perhaps it would force Battlecruisers to choose Yamato gun still; to be on ground accessible areas (enabling Hydras to fight them) to enable Cobras anti-armor atks vs. the Ultras; to be on ground accessible areas to enable Ghost snipe ability; enable the Zerg to hunt long-range air-units that shoot from safe distances like the Carrier (in a safe spot they can take out scourges with a settled army of anti-air, preventing Zerg from fighting back efficiently).

On the other hand, they could land on your base from the back and wreck havoc like never before. They can be out of reach to Zealots (but Stalkers and Cobras are the main anti-armor now, and they're both anti-air). Well, lemme just say in defense of the Ultralisk that with Snipe, it can be taken down even better than old sige-tanks would. And snipe can hit air too. If it's main function is still as tanker for the ground units, going to air would just ease it's mobility and enable a different zerg air-strat. And that I know how crazy this idea is though.