Infestation Omnidiscussion

With the Zerg recently revealed its time to do our first Omnidiscussion related to them.

To that effect this month's Omnidiscussion will focus on all the nasty aspects of zerg infestation.
_________________________________________________
--What are your overall thoughts on the new mechanics and the greater variety?

So far we have only seen Terran units being corrupted and Terran Buildings being infested.
--How should infestation affect the Protoss? Should the spores used in infestation just outright destroy their equipment or would you like to see infested Zealots and corrupted Carriers?
--What about enemy Zerg? Can they be infested? What would happen there, simple control over their buildings as if they were your own? Something more hideous?

The Infestor
This unit is able to spray a vile fluid at enemy structures turning them into tentacled masses of flesh. So far we have seen barracks and an engineering bay infested and all of them produced infested Terran that fire their rifles.
--Do you like these new Infested Marines that fire their weapons instead of suiciding?
----Should their weapons fire the same rounds as regular marines or would some kind of acid round with greater damage be better being (most likely) a mid game unit?
--If other buildings higher up the tech tree were infested what should they produce? Would you like to see infested tanks? Infested (not corrupted) Battlecruisers?
----Being mostly mechanical would these higher up units self regenerate? Would a Terran ally be able to repair them?

The clip shown was rather short so we don't know what happens to the structures long term. What should happen?
--Should the infested structures be parts of the swarm until destroyed?
--Should the structures remain in the swarm for a few minutes then revert back to normal structures if they don't receive more spores?
----How long till they revert?
----How much hitpoints should they have left afterwards? 100%? 50%? 0%?
----Should infestation be curable? The Medic is currently out but could the Dropship have a uninfest ability?

The Infestation took a few seconds but we never saw the hitpoints of the structure so the process is still a partial mystery
--Should infestation be based on how long the spore spray has been on the structure? How long should it take to infest a building?
----Would it be a fixed number or based on hitpoints so a Command Center takes longer than a Barracks?
--Alternatively should the Infestor's spray do damage to the buildings and infestation happens when the building hits the red zone like it once did when the Queen infested CCs in SC1?
----How much damage should the spray do?

We have seen the Corruptor take control of air units but not ground units.
--Should the infestor be able to do to ground units what the Corruptor does to air units?

The Corruptor
This is an air to air unit designed to be the Zerg's primary anti-air flyer. It fires spores at enemy air units eventually corrupting them. Once corrupted the enemy units grow tentacles and become imobile firing what appears to be glaive wurm though lacking the bounce ability.
--How should corruption work? Should it happen after a unit has been hit X times by a corruptor or should it happen when the unit dies/ hits a certain HP
----How many hits would the unit need to receive/ what health should it be at for corruption to occur?
----If corruption occurs on death should the corruptor need to make the death blow or would the unit still be corrupted as long as a corruptor hit it a short time ago?
--How much health should the corrupted unit have?
----Same for all or larger units having more?

--Should the units fire the glaive wurm attack when corrupted or turn and fire their original weapons?
----How much damage should the glaive wurm attack do? Would it b fixed where all units from the banshee to the BC do the same damage or would a BC do more?
----Will this attack be AtA only or attack air and ground or would it be whatever the corrupted unit can do (corrupted banshees have AtG only while BCs have both)?

--Should the units be imobile or would you like to see them move?
----How fast?

--How long should corruption last? 3 minutes? 5? Should it be permanent until the unit is destroyed?
----What happens when the corruption wears off?
----Would it be curable by the Medevac Dropship? Another unit (perhaps a Protoss unit)

--Would corrupted units take up pop cap?
----How much
The Colossus counts as both an air and ground unit. Should it be corruptable?

Overlord
The overlord will be able to spray a vile mist to corrupt resources for area denial purposes
--What should be the effects of this corruption? Total prevention of use by other players or a resource rate reduction? ----How should it affect the player who corrupted the resources? Same as enemy? None? Increase gather rate?
--Should Vespene be corruptible or just minerals? Maybe the other way around?
--How long should this corruption last after the Overlord has stopped spraying?
--Will other players be able to remove the corruption early (that dropship thing again)?
===
Add any other questions and comments as you see fit and at the end of the month your thoughts will be carefully perused choped up into 3 word phrases and put in the monthy report.


Bonus 400 minerals for helping out.

 

I was asking myself yesterday, can the infestor infest every building? And do they all produce the same infected marines?

 

As far as I know all buildings including protoss.
But this isn't finished yet, so protoss infested buildings still produce infested marines ;D

 

Im going to answer you post in the next days, as I dont have time right now. But it seems like you AGAIN have choosen a good topic, and made a nice post!

 

--What are your overall thoughts on the new mechanics and the greater variety?
I think it is great, it really makes the zerg who they are.

So far we have only seen Terran units being corrupted and Terran Buildings being infested.
--How should infestation affect the Protoss? Should the spores used in infestation just outright destroy their equipment or would you like to see infested Zealots and corrupted Carriers?
I think that infestation should only affect the terran, particularly the terran barracks to produce infested marines. Anymore infested units and we have an extreme amount of zerg units. Also if we add protoss to the loop, then it interfers with the lore of starcraft having to do with the hybrids. However, I do think it wouldn't matter if other terran buildings were infected, if they don't produce units; just have them taken away from the enemy.
--What about enemy Zerg? Can they be infested? What would happen there, simple control over their buildings as if they were your own? Something more hideous?
The zerg should be immune to infestation.

The Infestor
This unit is able to spray a vile fluid at enemy structures turning them into tentacled masses of flesh. So far we have seen barracks and an engineering bay infested and all of them produced infested Terran that fire their rifles.
--Do you like these new Infested Marines that fire their weapons instead of suiciding?
Yeah, we already have the banelings to do that, I like the idea of infested soldiers =P
----Should their weapons fire the same rounds as regular marines or would some kind of acid round with greater damage be better being (most likely) a mid game unit?
Honestly, it really makes no difference to me, but I say keep the marine's original attack.
--If other buildings higher up the tech tree were infested what should they produce? Would you like to see infested tanks? Infested (not corrupted) Battlecruisers?
No, that just gives the zergs too many advantages and too many units. Just infested marines is good enough.
----Being mostly mechanical would these higher up units self regenerate? Would a Terran ally be able to repair them?
No infested tanks, battle cruisers, etc please.

The clip shown was rather short so we don't know what happens to the structures long term. What should happen?
--Should the infested structures be parts of the swarm until destroyed?
I can't make a decision for this.
--Should the structures remain in the swarm for a few minutes then revert back to normal structures if they don't receive more spores?
The structures should never revert, to me that makes no sense; they should forever be a part of the swarm until destroyed or have an expiration timer.
----How long till they revert?
No revert.
----How much hitpoints should they have left afterwards? 100%? 50%? 0%?
0%, assuming the infestation isn't permanent.
----Should infestation be curable? The Medic is currently out but could the Dropship have a uninfest ability?
No.

The Infestation took a few seconds but we never saw the hitpoints of the structure so the process is still a partial mystery
--Should infestation be based on how long the spore spray has been on the structure? How long should it take to infest a building?
Yes, depending on the structures max hitpoints.
----Would it be a fixed number or based on hitpoints so a Command Center takes longer than a Barracks?
based on hitpoints
--Alternatively should the Infestor's spray do damage to the buildings and infestation happens when the building hits the red zone like it once did when the Queen infested CCs in SC1?
When I think about it, I think it would be better to make the infestation process the same as it was with the sc1 queen. When the structure is the red, the infestor enters the building, and we see the building being infested and then the infestor exits. Now if the structure is destroyed, then the process ends and the infestor dies. However, if we use this new way of "spraying" a building, then it would bring new base raid strategies for the zerg, so I am really torn on this.
----How much damage should the spray do?
I really couldn't tell ya =P

We have seen the Corruptor take control of air units but not ground units.
--Should the infestor be able to do to ground units what the Corruptor does to air units?
No, I like the distinction

The Corruptor
This is an air to air unit designed to be the Zerg's primary anti-air flyer. It fires spores at enemy air units eventually corrupting them. Once corrupted the enemy units grow tentacles and become imobile firing what appears to be glaive wurm though lacking the bounce ability.
--How should corruption work? Should it happen after a unit has been hit X times by a corruptor or should it happen when the unit dies/ hits a certain HP
Both should be tested as both have pros and cons. I think the corruptor should do normal damage, however its attack would add an effect to the unit (similar to the devourer's acid spore) and if the unit loses all of its hitpoints under this effect, then instead of dying it gets infested.
----How many hits would the unit need to receive/ what health should it be at for corruption to occur?
It should have no health for the corruption to occur
----If corruption occurs on death should the corruptor need to make the death blow or would the unit still be corrupted as long as a corruptor hit it a short time ago?
As long as the corruptor hit it.
--How much health should the corrupted unit have?
As much as the original, however I think corrupted units should be on an expiration timer.
----Same for all or larger units having more?
Larger units have more.

--Should the units fire the glaive wurm attack when corrupted or turn and fire their original weapons?
glaive wurm or some other form of zerg attack.
----How much damage should the glaive wurm attack do? Would it b fixed where all units from the banshee to the BC do the same damage or would a BC do more?
I think the damage should be based on the unit's size . . . smaller units do less damage while larger units do more.

--Should the units be imobile or would you like to see them move?
Imobile, it is more balanced.
----How fast?
Refer to the above

--How long should corruption last? 3 minutes? 5? Should it be permanent until the unit is destroyed?
I would say for about 1-2 minutes
----What happens when the corruption wears off?
The unit dies.
----Would it be curable by the Medevac Dropship? Another unit (perhaps a Protoss unit)
No.

--Would corrupted units take up pop cap?
No.
----How much
0

Overlord
The overlord will be able to spray a vile mist to corrupt resources for area denial purposes
--What should be the effects of this corruption? Total prevention of use by other players or a resource rate reduction?
I really don't like this idea period, but if it must be in I say make it a mineral gain reduction that can be cured by medic/medivac.
----How should it affect the player who corrupted the resources? Same as enemy? None? Increase gather rate?
Same as the enemy.

--Should Vespene be corruptible or just minerals? Maybe the other way around?
Just minerals . . . the vespene gas pumping would clean out the infestation =P
--How long should this corruption last after the Overlord has stopped spraying?
About a minute.
--Will other players be able to remove the corruption early (that dropship thing again)?
Yes.

 

With the Zerg recently revealed its time to do our first Omnidiscussion related to them.

To that effect this month's Omnidiscussion will focus on all the nasty aspects of zerg infestation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--What are your overall thoughts on the new mechanics and the greater variety?

i like the new mechanics of the infestation since it has a time limit while the infested building (barracks) constantly creates infested marines automatically and for "free" during the infestation period. so much better than having to build them on you own.

--How should infestation affect the Protoss? Should the spores used in infestation just outright destroy their equipment or would you like to see infested Zealots and corrupted Carriers?

i dont think the protoss are too weak to be infested. i rather see their buildings destroyed on the infestation duration time.


--What about enemy Zerg? Can they be infested? What would happen there, simple control over their buildings as if they were your own? Something more hideous?

no, you just get to control their buildings and maybe units.

The Infestor

This unit is able to spray a vile fluid at enemy structures turning them into tentacled masses of flesh. So far we have seen barracks and an engineering bay infested and all of them produced infested Terran that fire their rifles.

--Do you like these new Infested Marines that fire their weapons instead of suiciding?

yes, this will make the infested marine more useful and infesting terran buildings will be more of use since you can do more than just the suicide ability which is really hard to use and be really effective in real games.

----Should their weapons fire the same rounds as regular marines or would some kind of acid round with greater damage be better being (most likely) a mid game unit?

acid rounds would be nice and should be stronger than normal rounds, but to counter this the infested marine should have lower hp than regular marines so that swarm of them can be easily counter by higher tech units like tanks and battlecruisers.

--If other buildings higher up the tech tree were infested what should they produce? Would you like to see infested tanks? Infested (not corrupted) Battlecruisers?

that would be cool, and if they can implement this then it should have a cost building these units to balance or is limited in production.


The clip shown was rather short so we don't know what happens to the structures long term. What should happen?

after the infestation period where it produces infested terran the structure remains as a zerg player building even there are no more infested terran being produce.

--Should the infested structures be parts of the swarm until destroyed?

yes, the terran player can get it back by destroying or cleansing the infested part of the building to return the structure back as their own.

--Should the structures remain in the swarm for a few minutes then revert back to normal structures if they don't receive more spores?[/b]

i think it should remain in the swarm unless the infested thing are removed by attacking it or cleansing it with an ability but after that the original building will be back to the terran player with full health.

----Should infestation be curable? The Medic is currently out but could the Dropship have a uninfest ability?

yes. let the dropship normal healing ability cure it...or it can be cured by simply attacking the infested building which will only destroy the infested things but not the building.

The Infestation took a few seconds but we never saw the hitpoints of the structure so the process is still a partial mystery.

--Should infestation be based on how long the spore spray has been on the structure? How long should it take to infest a building?[----Would it be a fixed number or based on hitpoints so a Command Center takes longer than a Barracks?

i think it should be based on hitpoints, a command center should take longer time for it to be completely infested compared to a barracks.



--What kind of units do you want to see after a command center is infested?

IMO command center, engineering bay, armory, space relay, etc... should produce infested MASS civilians. they have low hp, can melee attack and are produce twice as more than the infested marines (barracks). so that for balance reasoning, you can choose to infest either a barrack or command center(engineering bay etc.), which can produce different units respectively (like for the barracks, 15 infested terrans which have range attack and enough hit points / for other terran buildings like the command center, 30 infested civilians which have melee attack and low hp.)


The Corruptor
This is an air to air unit designed to be the Zerg's primary anti-air flyer. It fires spores at enemy air units eventually corrupting them. Once corrupted the enemy units grow tentacles and become imobile firing what appears to be glaive wurm though lacking the bounce ability.

We have seen the Corruptor take control of air units but not ground units.
--Should the infestor be able to do to ground units what the Corruptor does to air units?

no. coz they still have the guardian. tho i expected something more than the guardians. =\


--How should corruption work? Should it happen after a unit has been hit X times by a corruptor or should it happen when the unit dies/ hits a certain HP
----How many hits would the unit need to receive/ what health should it be at for corruption to occur?

i think it should be a continous hit before enemy air units can be corrupted so that it is balance and enemies can still micro their units away from the corruptor. there should be an indication where you can see your unit being corrupted, orange colored unit - lvl 1 corruption and so on, as it hits level 3 the unit is corrupted and is permanently own by the zerg player. and it should be base on number of hits as well.


--Should the units be imobile or would you like to see them move?
----How fast?

i would like to see them move but slower.

--How long should corruption last? 3 minutes? 5? Should it be permanent until the unit is destroyed?

i think it should permanent.

----Would it be curable by the Medevac Dropship? Another unit (perhaps a Protoss unit)
yes.


The Colossus counts as both an air and ground unit. Should it be corruptable?
i think certain units should be immune to corruption or the corruptor will be always mass and be a core zerg unit.

 

With the Zerg recently revealed its time to do our first Omnidiscussion related to them.

To that effect this month's Omnidiscussion will focus on all the nasty aspects of zerg infestation.
_________________________________________________

--What are your overall thoughts on the new mechanics and the greater variety?
I love it! I always thought that Zerg should have a mechanic like this.

--How should infestation affect the Protoss? Should the spores used in infestation just outright destroy their equipment or would you like to see infested Zealots and corrupted Carriers?
I would like to see infected Zealots. That would be great! But they shouldn't be so powerful, or they should
come in smaller numbers.

--What about enemy Zerg? Can they be infested? What would happen there, simple control over their buildings as if they were your own? Something more hideous?
Some cool mutations would be great! But if that isn't possible, then the infested building should just produce some Zerglings/Hydralisks.

The Infestor
This unit is able to spray a vile fluid at enemy structures turning them into tentacled masses of flesh. So far we have seen barracks and an engineering bay infested and all of them produced infested Terran that fire their rifles.
--Do you like these new Infested Marines that fire their weapons instead of suiciding?
Yes, it's a great mechanic. They are a lot better than the original infested terran.

----Should their weapons fire the same rounds as regular marines or would some kind of acid round with greater damage be better being (most likely) a mid game unit?
No, the attack should be the same. Only the units could become slower or faster, depending on their numbers and balancing issues.

--If other buildings higher up the tech tree were infested what should they produce? Would you like to see infested tanks? Infested (not corrupted) Battlecruisers?
I think that that would be too powerful. Maybe if it only produced 1-2, but Marines should be produced from all buildings.

----Being mostly mechanical would these higher up units self regenerate? Would a Terran ally be able to repair them?
No and no.

The clip shown was rather short so we don't know what happens to the structures long term. What should happen?
--Should the infested structures be parts of the swarm until destroyed?
Yes, they should.

----Should infestation be curable? The Medic is currently out but could the Dropship have a uninfest ability?
No, the buildings shouldn't be curable.

The Infestation took a few seconds but we never saw the hitpoints of the structure so the process is still a partial mystery
--Should infestation be based on how long the spore spray has been on the structure? How long should it take to infest a building?
That speed that we saw in the clip is fast enough. I wouldn't change anything.

----Would it be a fixed number or based on hitpoints so a Command Center takes longer than a Barracks?
No.
--Alternatively should the Infestor's spray do damage to the buildings and infestation happens when the building hits the red zone like it once did when the Queen infested CCs in SC1?
No.


We have seen the Corruptor take control of air units but not ground units.
--Should the infestor be able to do to ground units what the Corruptor does to air units?
That would be a good idea, jut don't overpower it.

The Corruptor
This is an air to air unit designed to be the Zerg's primary anti-air flyer. It fires spores at enemy air units eventually corrupting them. Once corrupted the enemy units grow tentacles and become imobile firing what appears to be glaive wurm though lacking the bounce ability.
--How should corruption work? Should it happen after a unit has been hit X times by a corruptor or should it happen when the unit dies/ hits a certain HP
It should happen when the unit has low HP.

--Should the units fire the glaive wurm attack when corrupted or turn and fire their original weapons?
They should fire their original weapons, just abilities would be disabled.

----Will this attack be AtA only or attack air and ground or would it be whatever the corrupted unit can do (corrupted banshees have AtG only while BCs have both)?
It should be whatever the corrupted unit can do.

--Should the units be imobile or would you like to see them move?
----How fast?
They should be immobile, or move really slow.

--How long should corruption last? 3 minutes? 5? Should it be permanent until the unit is destroyed?
It should be permanent.

----Would it be curable by the Medevac Dropship? Another unit (perhaps a Protoss unit)
No.

--Would corrupted units take up pop cap?
No.

The Colossus counts as both an air and ground unit. Should it be corruptable?
Yes, but decrease his damage a little.

Overall, the infestation ability is a great mechanic. It should definitely stay in the game, although it need a little bit more tweaking.

 

I'll only talk about the Overlord thing, as the rest I don't have an opinion yet.

[What I think should be the mechanics] Overlords should prevent mining by becoming attached to minerals. It should be able to remove him by killing him with long ranged units. An Overlord should be able to prevent mining as long as it is attached. Therefore, fast expos from non-zerg players could be partially prevented until they attain an air-hitting unit and proceed to kill the Overlord. The Overlord could revert this procedure and get away before being killed. Terrans would have Marines early on, but Protoss wouldn't have Stalkers so soon, further diferentiating the gameplay and fast expos mechanics. In case another Zerg tries to prevent mining on the same mineral that has an overlord, that would be pointless, as this ability should prevent mining from anyone, even yourself. In order to keep the minerals from being mined, an Overlord would have to remain in position, vulnerable if not followed by defensive units. Zergs should not be corrupted, and therefore Overlords hit by Corruptors would never become corrupted while locked attached to the minerals, and in case a Zerg player attacks it, it would really die, freeing the minerals. [end]

I think it wouldn't be OP, because placing an Overlord would be like sending out a drone to an expo and create a Hatchery there, with creep, preventing the enemies from building anything there. But to a lesser extent, as Overlords are cheaper, and would be vulnerable if you don't build defenses there. And if you build defenses, placing that Overlord would be pointless. It is just another strategy that would increase diversity in Starcraft, and I love it!

 

What are your overall thoughts on the new mechanics and the greater variety?
Its a very interesting ability with so many possibilities. They just have to be done right or it will fail valiantly.

How should infestation affect the Protoss?
In the current build it was suggest that any Protoss strcture can be infested and possibly produce infested Marines.
Infesting anything seems overpowered and would rule out Antigravity since infesting would be much more effective.
If anything, allow the Nexus and Gateway to be infested so you can produce infested Zealots.

Should the spores used in infestation just outright destroy their equipment or would you like to see infested Zealots and
corrupted Carriers?
Refer to above.

What about enemy Zerg?
It should have a different effect from Terran and Protoss which would allow more diversity in a single abilitiy.
Naturally the unit wouldn't come under the control since it doesn't work against Zergs. But it would 'servre the connection'' where the Zerg unit is controlled meaning it runs wild attacking anyone. This would be for the Corrupter since you can't infest units directly

Can they be infested?
Refer to above.

What would happen there, simple control over their buildings as if they were your own?
For Corrupter refer to above.
Infesting Zerg buildings would be weird to control them since it wouldn't fit in with their lore and stuff.
How about the building slowly diteriates, similar function to plague but since disease only works on units, this would be a plague in effect but as the building diteriates it creates poisonous creep. Damaging all units and buildings without in area of effect.
Shouldn't work on Hives since they are too precious.

Something more hideous?
Refer to above.

The Infestor
This unit is able to spray a vile fluid at enemy structures turning them into tentacled masses of flesh. So far we have seen barracks and an engineering bay infested and all of them produced infested Terran that fire their rifles.
Do you like these new Infested Marines that fire their weapons instead of suiciding?
I love the new Infested Marines, as Banelings fill the suicide role. Allowing Zerg to have a cheap range attacker to simply disrupt bases or kill expansions. They also allows Zerg units to get in to better position for attack while the Marines make a distraction.

Should their weapons fire the same rounds as regular marines or would some kind of acid round with greater damage be better?
From what I've seen. The Infested Marines fire but miss some of their shots due to lack of control.
It would be nice to see them fire a corrosive acid similar to the Devouer's effect since the attack misses a lot.

If other buildings higher up the tech tree were infested what should they produce?
I think the only Terran buildings that should be infested at Barracks since its the only structure which produces Marines.
But it would be nice to see something like a factory be Infested, allowing the Zerg to have infested Firebats which shoot streams of burning acid onto their enemies.

Would you like to see infested tanks?
Infested Battlecruisers?
No. This would be weird since the unit doesn't have full control over its self meaning whatever pilots the machine would not be able to use the machine correctly.

Being mostly mechanical would these higher up units self regenerate?
If a machine was infested, it would be covered by Zerg type membranes and stuff meaning technically it could regenerate health but balance wise, if mechanical units like Battlecuisers got infested, they shouldn't regenerate health as their strcture would get weak thus not allowing the Zerg infestation to operate within the unit.

Would a Terran ally be able to repair them?
No.

The clip shown was rather short so we don't know what happens to the structures long term. What should happen?
It should be the same as Sc1 where the structure could lift off if possible and remain until it is destroyed.

Should the infested structures be parts of the swarm until destroyed?
Yes. There is no reason why they cannot remain.

Should the structures remain in the swarm for a few minutes then revert back to normal structures if they don't receive more spores?
The infestation is created from spores which continuously grow like a normal unit or building. And since they get nutraiants from the Creep they have supplements.
But if the building is left on normal terrian it should slowly lose health.

How long till they revert?
-1hp per second.

Should infestation be curable?
The Medic is currently out but could the Dropship have a uninfest ability?
Whether it be Medic or Medivac Dropship, they could have a serum which is inserted into the infested building allowing it to recover over an amount of time.

The Infestation took a few seconds but we never saw the hitpoints of the structure so the process is still a partial mystery.
This was probably just to showcase the ability.

Should infestation be based on how long the spore spray has been on the structure?
Fully infested til the 'infestation damage' has taken over the structure.

How long should it take to infest a building?
-100hp per second. Meaning a strcture with 500hp would take 5 seconds.

Would it be a fixed number or based on hitpoints so a Command Center takes longer than a Barracks?
Refer to above.

Alternatively should the Infestor's spray do damage to the buildings and infestation happens when the building hits the red zone like it once did when the Queen infested CCs in SC1?
If its mechanic is changed from spray to physcial infestation, then it should be almost instantly infested when in red zone.

How much damage should the spray do?
Refer to above.

We have seen the Corruptor take control of air units but not ground units.
Should the infestor be able to do to ground units what the Corruptor does to air units?
This wouldn't work because if a melee unit is corrupted is cannot hit the enemy and it would be useless.

The Corruptor
This is an air to air unit designed to be the Zerg's primary anti-air flyer. It fires spores at enemy air units eventually corrupting them. Once corrupted the enemy units grow tentacles and become imobile firing what appears to be glaive wurm though lacking the bounce ability.


How should corruption work?
Similar to the Queen's infestation in Sc1 but unit-wise.

Should it happen after a unit has been hit X times by a corruptor or should it happen when the unit dies/ hits a certain HP?
If the unit is in redzone it should be corrupted. This means a player has to micro to effectivly corrupt units. As corrupting some Battlecruisers easily would seem overpowered.

If corruption occurs on death should the corruptor need to make the death blow or would the unit still be corrupted as long as a corruptor hit it a short time ago?
Death shot.

How much health should the corrupted unit have?
If the original mechanic stays where the corrupters have to deal corruption damage; full.
If its corruption by redzone, it should have whatever HP is left, but regen HP. Or half HP.

Same for all or larger units having more?
All.

Should the units fire the glaive wurm attack when corrupted or turn and fire their original weapons?
Original weapons. This gives the zerg player a choice of units to corrupt, deciding which would be best for the situation.

How much damage should the glaive wurm attack do? Would it b fixed where all units from the banshee to the BC do the same damage or would a BC do more?
Relative to unit.

Will this attack be AtA only or attack air and ground or would it be whatever the corrupted unit can do (corrupted banshees have AtG only while BCs have both)?
Relative to unit.

Should the units be imobile or would you like to see them move?
How fast?
Speed similar to a Sc1 Overlord before the speed upgrade.

How long should corruption last, should it be permanent until the unit is destroyed?
Permanent.

What happens when the corruption wears off?
It shouldn't. But if so the unit returns to the former player's control.

Would it be curable by certain units?
If it has restore.

Would corrupted units take up pop cap?
No. They havn't taken any resources from the army to be.

How much?
If so, relative to unit.


The Colossus counts as both an air and ground unit. Should it be corruptable?
Yes.


The overlord will be able to spray a vile mist to corrupt resources for area denial purposes
This ability is overpowered in my opinion. There are other means in which you stop mining.

 

isen't anyone realizing that infested protoss = hybrids

i say let the terran barracks be the only infestable building like in sc1 (expect that it isent the command center now)

 

Zerg can infest Protoss now.

 

What are your overall thoughts on the new mechanics and the greater variety?

I love it. I think that Blizzard has done an amazing job with the new Zerg. They feel and act like a Swarm even more than the original Starcraft, and mechanics like the Queen add more uniqueness to the race as a whole. As far as the infestation mechanics go - Blizzard has hit a home run!

So far we have only seen Terran units being corrupted and Terran Buildings being infested. What about Protoss and Zerg?

Actually, according to Dustin Browder (source: sclegacy), there will be Infested Protoss - they just haven't been made into the game yet. In any case, I really like how in Starcraft II infestation is going to actually be a viable mechanic. It was rarely used in the original.

I'm also glad that the Protoss can be infested as well. Just because they are super-advanced aliens doesn't mean that they are immune to Zerg infestation. After all, the Zerg did lay waste to their homeworld and infest a lot of important structures (like the Dragoon Shrine). Some people would say that Infested Protoss would be the same as a Protoss/Zerg hybrid. Technically that's true, but what Duran is trying to accomplish is a much more complex, intertwined being than would be formed after a few hours of exposure to the Zerg hyper-evolutionary virus.

On the other hand, Zerg infesting Zerg just doesn't make sense. These abilities should simply do damage - for example Corruptors killing Zerg air units and the Infestation ability destroying Zerg buildings.

All in all, I am a huge fan of the new infestation mechanic. It seems balanced (although we don't know how the Zerg will be affected) and lots of players will actually use it.

The Infester

Aside from the design, this is a great new unit - and as I've mentioned above so is the infestation mechanic. I like the non-suicidal Infested Terrans, but I would like to see a different weapon instead of the typical Gauss rifle. However, for simplicity and balance I would not like to see infested units of different types. It would overlap with the Corruptor anyway.

Infested buildings currently revert back to their owners after twenty seconds, and the production of Infested Terrans/Protoss is automatic. I think that this is the most balanced way to do it, even though it doesn't really make sense lore-wise.

I do have an idea to fix this conundrum. Instead of an infestation spray, the Infesters could physically attach to the enemy building. After a certain amount of time (during which they could still be targeted by the enemy), the building becomes infested, permanently. To balance this, the Infester is lost in the process and infested units are produced similarly to Infested Terrans in the original Starcraft (cost, supply, and time).

The Corruptor

Again we come to a new Zerg unit I love. The way Blizzard has corruption working (enemy air unit becomes tentacled and stationary, fires a glave wurm-like attack at enemies) works for me. By turning the enemy into essentially a turret, balance is insured while still keeping the corrupted units a neat mechanic.

I do think, however, that the Corruptor should work slightly differently in the way it actually corrupts units. Currently, an air unit simply becomes corrupted after it is killed by the Corruptor. I'd like to see a spore-based mechanic instead. For instance, one Corruptor attack could do fifteen damage PLUS attaching one spore to the enemy flyer (not unlike the Brood War Devourer). After a certain amount of spores (say ten or so), the enemy air unit would become corrupted. This way, units already close to death would actually be killed by the Corruptor instead of turning into a Zerg minion.

The corrupted units shouldn't be permanent, either. Lore-wise, I figure that the infestation did so much damage to the ship that it would eventually fall apart. After a certain amount of time (or expiration of energy like the Brood War Broodling) the corrupted air unit should self-destruct. This would seem to be balanced.

The Colossus is a tricky point since it counts as an air and a ground unit. The Corruptor should definitely be able to attack a Colossus at least, but I'm not sure as far as full corruption goes. Maybe it could just die? In any case, I'll be happy with whatever Blizzard decides.

The Overlord

I'm not too familiar with exactly how the Overlord's creep mechanic works, but I assume it's based on energy or a cooldown. Both gas and minerals (why not?) should definitely be totally inaccessible by other players while the Overlord is using its ability, but upon death of the Overlord the affect should cease. Sounds fair to me.

 

--What are your overall thoughts on the new mechanics and the greater variety?
It's interesting to say the least. Infestation is a huge part of zerg lore, but i'm a bit apprehensive about how it's being implemented so far. I'm sure that the infestations we saw in the demo were sped up so we could actually see what the result is, but it still seems like something that has the potential to be very imbalanced.

So far we have only seen Terran units being corrupted and Terran Buildings being infested.

--How should infestation affect the Protoss? Should the spores used in infestation just outright destroy their equipment or would you like to see infested Zealots and corrupted Carriers?
I'm honestly not sure.

--What about enemy Zerg? Can they be infested? What would happen there, simple control over their buildings as if they were your own? Something more hideous?
Other zerg can be infested?
The building should go darker/duller in color, as if it is sick, with tentacle blobs similar to the ones on the barracks sprouting everywhere. And they should produce broodling-like creatures...like infested larva, or something.

The Infestor
This unit is able to spray a vile fluid at enemy structures turning them into tentacled masses of flesh. So far we have seen barracks and an engineering bay infested and all of them produced infested Terran that fire their rifles.
--Do you like these new Infested Marines that fire their weapons instead of suiciding?
I liked how powerful the suiciding Infested Terrans were in SC1, but i'm still happy to see units that can do something other than die.

----Should their weapons fire the same rounds as regular marines or would some kind of acid round with greater damage be better being (most likely) a mid game unit?
No. It doesn't make any sense. How can you infest bullets?

--If other buildings higher up the tech tree were infested what should they produce? Would you like to see infested tanks? Infested (not corrupted) Battlecruisers?
Similar to above. I don't see how you can infest technology. It would seem Zerg are loathe to that idea anyway. I'd rather the buildings just produce Infested Terrans.

The clip shown was rather short so we don't know what happens to the structures long term. What should happen?
--Should the infested structures be parts of the swarm until destroyed?
Yes. CC's were hard enough to get in SC1. Barracks and Engineering bay will probably lie farther out in the base, but'll still be tough as hell to infest.

The Infestation took a few seconds but we never saw the hitpoints of the structure so the process is still a partial mystery
--Should infestation be based on how long the spore spray has been on the structure? How long should it take to infest a building?
I think HP base is a better idea for infestation. You'll probably be bringing some attack force to clear out resistance anyways, so why not?

--Alternatively should the Infestor's spray do damage to the buildings and infestation happens when the building hits the red zone like it once did when the Queen infested CCs in SC1?
----How much damage should the spray do?
It should be a very low amount, something similar to shield/mana regeneration rate.

We have seen the Corruptor take control of air units but not ground units.
--Should the infestor be able to do to ground units what the Corruptor does to air units?
Maybe.

The Corruptor
This is an air to air unit designed to be the Zerg's primary anti-air flyer. It fires spores at enemy air units eventually corrupting them. Once corrupted the enemy units grow tentacles and become imobile firing what appears to be glaive wurm though lacking the bounce ability.
--How should corruption work? Should it happen after a unit has been hit X times by a corruptor or should it happen when the unit dies/ hits a certain HP
HP. Being hit X times just sounds too cheap

----How many hits would the unit need to receive/ what health should it be at for corruption to occur?
10-20% health to trigger corruption. Maybe on death.

----If corruption occurs on death should the corruptor need to make the death blow or would the unit still be corrupted as long as a corruptor hit it a short time ago?
As long as a corruptor hit it a short time ago, it should be corrupted. Withi 3-5 seconds, perhaps.

--How much health should the corrupted unit have?
33%-50% of original health. It'd be too much to get a full health unit after killing it.

----Same for all or larger units having more?
Percentage could be greater depending on the unit.

--Should the units fire the glaive wurm attack when corrupted or turn and fire their original weapons?
Glaive Wurm, definitely.

----How much damage should the glaive wurm attack do? Would it b fixed where all units from the banshee to the BC do the same damage or would a BC do more?
Fixed damage. similar to the Mutalisk's attack

----Will this attack be AtA only or attack air and ground or would it be whatever the corrupted unit can do (corrupted banshees have AtG only while BCs have both)?
AtA only, since the corruption is supposed to make air units turn on each other

--Should the units be imobile or would you like to see them move?
Immobile. corrupting units at the right time and place could help with base defense.

--How long should corruption last? 3 minutes? 5? Should it be permanent until the unit is destroyed?
Until destroyed.

--Would corrupted units take up pop cap?
nope. If it can't move, then it's not actually a unit.

The Colossus counts as both an air and ground unit. Should it be corruptable?
I don't think so. it should just be destroyed.

Overlord
The overlord will be able to spray a vile mist to corrupt resources for area denial purposes
--What should be the effects of this corruption? Total prevention of use by other players or a resource rate reduction
Workers should still be collecting, but should get 0-2 resources instead of the usual 8.

----How should it affect the player who corrupted the resources? Same as enemy? None? Increase gather rate?
Same as enemy. Corrupted means corrupted

--Should Vespene be corruptible or just minerals? Maybe the other way around?
Not sure.

--How long should this corruption last after the Overlord has stopped spraying?
30 seconds? I don't really know

--Will other players be able to remove the corruption early (that dropship thing again)?
Again, don't know. I really just want the medic back

 

I agree on this one, infested zealots seem too interfering with the hybrid story. If anything, only allow terran buildings to be infested.

 

How can they intefere if hybrids would be a complete merge with Zerg and Protoss DNA thus creating a power greater than both races.

Infestation just uses the infestee's abilities for certain situations thus aiding the Zerg in victory.

 

The way I see it infested Terrans and Infestd zealots aren't hybrids but actually chimeras (a creature made up of of 2 or more sets of cells with different DNA ie. Zerg cells coexisting with Terran cells. [A hybrid would be the DNA of the zerg merging with th DNA of the protoss to make a new DNA sequence])

If that were true then the storyline would be intact. The hybrids would b Duran's crazy experiment while infested Zealots would just be Chimeras where the Zerg cells are in control of the Protoss cells

 

To elaborate on Zergalicious's point (and BirdofPrey's, I posted this the instant after his post):

Infestation - An enemy of the swarm is infected with the Zerg hyper-evolutionary virus. This causes an astounding amount of directed genetic mutations to occur in the host organism, leading to a twisted remnant of a Terran/Protoss that yearns only to obey the swarm. (although not exactly a chimera)

Hybridization - Zerg DNA and Protoss DNA are spliced together to create an entirely new organism with a unique genome (the Hybrid). Unlike infestation, it is not primarily done through genetic mutations, but rather a recombination of the two species' DNA.

So again, Zerg infestation of the Protoss does not overlap at all with the Hybrid due to pure genetics. Hope that helped to clear things up!

 

To that effect this month's Omnidiscussion will focus on all the nasty aspects of zerg infestation.
--What are your overall thoughts on the new mechanics and the greater variety?
In short, Zerg are going the right way, but there're still some things to work on.

So far we have only seen Terran units being corrupted and Terran Buildings being infested.
--How should infestation affect the Protoss? Should the spores used in infestation just outright destroy their equipment or would you like to see infested Zealots and corrupted Carriers?

I don't see why corruption shouldn't affect Protoss air (+ colossus). Not that I'd like to see my Carriers corrupted, but there's just no reason to limit this mechanic to terran, since it's only Zerg dedicated AtA.
As for infestation, I'd rather not see infested Zealots running around. As ItzaHexGor said in another thread, Protoss would rather kill themselves than let Zerg infest them. If that was not possible they would be teleported to their homeland (like in case they're mortally wounded on the battlefield) and eradicated there. Also there's a high chance that infested Zealots wouldn't be able to use psi energy to materialize their blades, which leads to question about what kind of attack would they have. Suicide bombers aren't imo an option, because Zerg now have Banelings for that.
Not to limit the mechanic though, Zerg could receive some kind of bonus from infested Protoss buildings themselves rather than units. Generating even small ammouts of creep inside of enemies base could be devastating for instance.

--What about enemy Zerg? Can they be infested? What would happen there, simple control over their buildings as if they were your own? Something more hideous?
This is a tough question, how can Zerg be more hideous. The way I see it it could be using corruptors/infestors to exchange conrtol over Zerg between cerebrates (possibly Queens in SC2). The problem is that it could be easily imbalanced.


_________________________________________________
The Infestor
This unit is able to spray a vile fluid at enemy structures turning them into tentacled masses of flesh. So far we have seen barracks and an engineering bay infested and all of them produced infested Terran that fire their rifles.
--Do you like these new Infested Marines that fire their weapons instead of suiciding?
With Banelings being gruond kamikaze units, it's a great change to have them shoot instead of suiciding

----Should their weapons fire the same rounds as regular marines or would some kind of acid round with greater damage be better being (most likely) a mid game unit?
Since I see them more of an additional firepower than regular units, I think they should have regular weapons like the ones marines actually use.

--If other buildings higher up the tech tree were infested what should they produce? Would you like to see infested tanks? Infested (not corrupted) Battlecruisers?
They should produce regular infested units like all other buildings do. There shouldn't be too many kinds of infested units.

The clip shown was rather short so we don't know what happens to the structures long term. What should happen?
--Should the infested structures be parts of the swarm until destroyed?
--Should the structures remain in the swarm for a few minutes then revert back to normal structures if they don't receive more spores?
----How long till they revert?
----How much hitpoints should they have left afterwards? 100%? 50%? 0%?
----Should infestation be curable? The Medic is currently out but could the Dropship have a uninfest ability?
Of course they should remain infested. I don't see any way they could de-infest on their own. Protoss would rather glass the entire area just to be sure than try to revert the process. Also no sane Terran would get anywhere near the thing unless with an intent to blow it up (Scientists are an exception and that's why they don't do the fighting).

The Infestation took a few seconds but we never saw the hitpoints of the structure so the process is still a partial mystery
--Should infestation be based on how long the spore spray has been on the structure? How long should it take to infest a building?
Since you don't lose a unit and it seems like you don't have to damage the building beforehand, the process of infesting should take much longer than what we saw in the video.

----Would it be a fixed number or based on hitpoints so a Command Center takes longer than a Barracks?
Imo it should be longer based on hit points of a building

--Alternatively should the Infestor's spray do damage to the buildings and infestation happens when the building hits the red zone like it once did when the Queen infested CCs in SC1?
Unless it did tons of damage it would, in turn, take too long that way.

----How much damage should the spray do?
Alot if buildings will be infested upon destruction, next to none otherwise.

We have seen the Corruptor take control of air units but not ground units.
--Should the infestor be able to do to ground units what the Corruptor does to air units?
No. Zerg already have enough means of fighting on ground with Baneling, Roach, Lurker and Ultralisk.


_________________________________________________
The Corruptor
This is an air to air unit designed to be the Zerg's primary anti-air flyer. It fires spores at enemy air units eventually corrupting them. Once corrupted the enemy units grow tentacles and become imobile firing what appears to be glaive wurm though lacking the bounce ability.
--How should corruption work? Should it happen after a unit has been hit X times by a corruptor or should it happen when the unit dies/ hits a certain HP
----How many hits would the unit need to receive/ what health should it be at for corruption to occur?
----If corruption occurs on death should the corruptor need to make the death blow or would the unit still be corrupted as long as a corruptor hit it a short time ago?
Currently units become corrupted upon destruction and imo it should stay that way. Corruptor should also be the one to deal the killing blow for corruption to occur.

--How much health should the corrupted unit have?
----Same for all or larger units having more?
I think a % of corrupted unit's original HP would be good

--Should the units fire the glaive wurm attack when corrupted or turn and fire their original weapons?
Definately glaive wurms. Turning over units like Mothership or Colossi would be too strong, unless corrupting a unit was much harder to do.

----How much damage should the glaive wurm attack do? Would it b fixed where all units from the banshee to the BC do the same damage or would a BC do more?
----Will this attack be AtA only or attack air and ground or would it be whatever the corrupted unit can do (corrupted banshees have AtG only while BCs have both)?
Imo it should be the same for all units and target air only. The only exception could be colossus if it remains corruptable

--Should the units be imobile or would you like to see them move?
----How fast?
I'd rather they were immobile.

--How long should corruption last? 3 minutes? 5? Should it be permanent until the unit is destroyed?
----What happens when the corruption wears off?
----Would it be curable by the Medevac Dropship? Another unit (perhaps a Protoss unit)
Like with infestation it should be permanent and irreversible. Corrupted units could take damage overtime though until they are destroyed.
It would be even more reasonable lore-wise than with infestation since loss of single units isn't worth the trouble to try and get it back while it shoots at you.

--Would corrupted units take up pop cap?
----How much
If they are to remain stationary they shouldn't. Otherwise the ammount should depend on how much of an original unit's capabilities stay with it.

---The Colossus counts as both an air and ground unit. Should it be corruptable?
Imo it shouldn't, but I don't really see why not.


_________________________________________________
Overlord
The overlord will be able to spray a vile mist to corrupt resources for area denial purposes
--What should be the effects of this corruption? Total prevention of use by other players or a resource rate reduction? ----How should it affect the player who corrupted the resources? Same as enemy? None? Increase gather rate?
Total prevention, but the overlord user shouldn't gain anything from it.

--Should Vespene be corruptible or just minerals? Maybe the other way around?
Imo it shouldn't if there's a building on it.

===
Overall the new infesting and corrupting mechanics are very interesting and fitting for Zerg. How exactly should they work is mostly matter of balance, especially the state of corrupted units.

 

Ah, the Protoss infestation debate rises again! For anyone who is interested, we had a pretty solid discussion about it in this thread (starting about halfway down the page).

 

Well, I liked the way it became of infestation. Attaching to the building and loosing the unit wouldn't be so cool, or adding bugs that take each unit individually. I mean, it's gotta be a practical thing. Broodling has been redone for that matter: 150 mana for just one unit in a zillion unit game that SC is, just wasn't worthy.

To be worthy using in the game it has got to be something dangerous to try, that disrupts the enemy base, and compensates the danger by giving something good in return. From what we saw in the first demo, all it would need is balancing accordingly, and it can be done in many ways. The number of marines generated, the cooldown between each infested marine generated. The type of buildings that can be infested could be restricted. The stats of the infested units. But it shouldn't be reversed, as generated Infested Marines shouldn't become an asset to your enemy over time. There should be no set back for infestation in case you succeed into performing it, and it should be simple.

EDIT: Bringing something I just thought of: what if a Terran Allied with a Zerg donates a Barracks so that every time an attack comes, the Zerg can infest the Barracks and get free units for a brief period of time? The Terran would get back his Barracks after a while, and if they attack the enemy of the Zerg player, a Barrack donation would work well as defense mechanism.

However, in case infested units only attack its own army, then allied Protoss and Terrans would get an advantage, as each army could fight the other's infested units without a problem. This effectively narrows down the possibilities for ways to which Infestation can work.