Level 2 Nukes

I don't like the idea of having an earlier, weaker Nuke. It would take away from its awe.
Having an earlier, weaker Nuke would be like having an earlier, weaker Mothership. The idea is that they're meant to be an extremely powerful and extremely expensive late game unit/ability, not a kinda powerful and kinda expensive mid game unit/ability.
Provided that its cost is balanced properly, I'd be happy with changing it to a different tier altogether, but I don't think having it weaker and upgradeable would be a great idea. Also, the old system was fine. Five hundred or two thirds damage dealt, if I'm not mistaken. I thought that was a fine system, so there shouldn't really be a need for all these proposed new systems. EMP and radiation are interesting things to muck around with though. If they're able to be balanced into the Nuke, it'd be fine, but it would require a heck of a lot of balancing.

 

I think the whole idea of having a lvl 2 nuke IS to keep that "awe," in a way.

The old nuke was not fine, because it was never used. Never used = useless. One way to make it more useful is to scale everything down, weaker, cheaper, lower tech, less supply, shorter launch time, etc. That would propably be a very realistic and viable fix to the problem. Having a lvl 2 nuke in that scenario is much like balancing the nuke while keeping the old one at the same time.

Personally, I think that cracklings are the most awesome things in SC1, bar none. I am being completely honest and serious when I say that. They are the highest damage output units in the entire game (damage per cooldown per supply), and they're also the cheapest. It doesn't take away from their awesomeness that they starts out as the most basic and "throw-away" combats units before the tier 3 upgrade. If it worked fine for lings, I don't see why it shouldn't work for the nuke.

The ghost is now one of the most useful units in the game, almost boardering OP, and also much lower on the tech tree, so part of the problem has already been fixed. It's still only part of the problem, and with things as they are now, I still doubt that nukes would be used much in real non-newbie games.

Nuke isn't really a big issue, keeping it useless is fine because the current ghost is a very complete unit even without it(well, that and the fact that I'm Zerg). Level 2 nuke still sounds like a very good idea.

 

I gotta disagree with you there. Having a weaker Nuke has got to retract from its awe. Zerglings, and Cracklings, are different. They're like the polar opposite almost. They're still just as effective but work in a completely different way. They're a constant wave of masses and masses and masses and masses of small, weak units. They don't require much setting up, it's basically just a full on charge. The Nuke is an instant strike from a single extremely powerful warhead, and requires a fair bit of setting up. To keep its awe it has to retain its power.

 

My suggestion would be just have one late game extremely poweful nuke that is difficult to set up and have a early to mid game (basicly whenever the Ghost is unlocked) cruise missle that has a much smaller raduis and damage and in exchange only takes a couple of second after the ability is activated to reach the target.

 

I suggested the weaker nuke so that it could be used at a lower tier. Then in later tier it could be upgraded to super weapon status again, regaining the awe you seem to require.

 

I guess 2 levels of nuke is enough. I think nobody would research level 3, cause the nuke (even a weakened one) would be bad as a tier 1 weapon. So lets say it starts at tier 2, than the last upgrade would be ready at the end of tier 3..

 

It still wouldn't be the same as if there was just the single, powerful Nuke. It's like if there was a weaker, earlier Mothership. You'd have lots of weak ones early on, and when you finally get to the later and more powerful one, it'd just be like 'well, we've seen this before. It's just a better version of those weak ships.'
LordKerwyn's idea could work, but I still think there'd have to be more differentiation between the cruise missile and the Nuke. Changing the name and stats around isn't enough in my opinion.

 

Would you rather have an awe inspiring unit that no one used (based on SC1) or a less powerful unit that is used more often?

 

I dont like the idea of having weaker nukes I must say. The idea about nukes now is that they are a "bonus". When you already have ghosts out on the field using Snipe etc., and just teched higher up in the tech tree, those ghosts get a "bonus". Like Zerglings got the crackling upgrade, ghosts get the nuke upgrade.

 

Yes, when a nuke sends off an electromagnetic pulse when it detonates,(the reason why the animatrix does not make any sense what so ever) and radiation would have a nasty effect on organic units and light vehicles, but what would that emp pulse do to protoss shields?
Logically, they should be shut off, making a follow up attack by a squadron of air units to deal with the left over defenses (assuming upgraded nukes have emp effects and radiation effects, air units would be the most effective as a follow up attack). They then would hold the protoss base in a chokehold, where you could either finish off the base or march in ground troops once the radiation subsided. Sounds awesome.

 

As LordKerwyn said last page, if they made nukes do all the things in real life, then all the other races would be as powerful as they are lorewise. If this happened then starcraft2 would be one of the crappiest games ever made.
So while there should be emp and radiation, I doubt BLIZZARD will add them to the nuke, not only because they make it op but also because it would make the nuke more expensive in time and minerals.

 

if all races were equally that powerful , then wouldnt it balance out?

 

in theory yes but..... the minor units of each would die so easily that the game would just be stupid, because zerg would be at a large disadvantage due to they have weaker units on average.

 

True. Oh well, it was a neat idea.

 

as a terran player, i would love to see the upgrade for the nukes go as this


P.S. hoew do you create images in the new setup
before and after

 

I think the nuke should not kill burrowed units. Maybe just wound them.

 

Burrowed units would still be injured. It's not as though when they Burrow they tunnel deep into the planet's core. They're just on the surface and would still take the full impact and heat, etc. Besides, that would make the Nuke much less useful against the Zerg and it's already an ability that isn't used too often.

 

Well I think the nuke is fine as it is. Instant 500(?) damage is good enough for me. Unless its changed.
The thing I find amusing; a Defiler's plauge did 500 damage and it was free and reusable.

 

The Nuke dealt either 500 or 66% damage instantly, whichever was higher. Plague dealt 300 damage over time and most teams had a way to combat it. Terran have Medics and SCV's, Protoss have shields and Zerg regenerate slowly and also have plague.

 

Omg. I could have sworn it did 500 damage but checked on the Starcraft site and it is indeed 300, my bad.