More variety in buildings

starcraft has many unique and different units but most buildings are basically the same, they either build units or allows units and tech.

i think buildings could be made more unique to increase strategic diveristy. we've already seen some nice new mechanic introduced in the supply depot and starbase. this thread expand on this and suggests more possibilities that could be implemented.

1. Aerial Buildings
just like some units are ground units while others are air units. each building should be either a ground structure or an aerial structure. aerial structures are not to be confused with terran lift-off as there will be some major differences. they will not be able to move or land like lift-offs, they just function in the air.
aerial buildings can only be targeted by anti-air weapons and this will provide strategic diversity.
examples: protoss stargate, zerg spire, aerial base defense

2. Subterranean Buildings
just like the new supply depot, some other buildings could be made submergeable. one idea i have for the terrans is to make the missile turret submerge-able. and make it look the same as the submerged supply depot. so it's indistinguishable by the enemy.

3. Cloakable Buildings
why not make some buildings cloakable? the covert ops is a perfect example of such building. cloackable buildings could be help to:
- make invisible barriers to block enemy units
- increase the possibility of sneaky proxy factory strategies
- secret tech rush without the enemy realizing, even with proper scouting
all cloaking buildings would need to cost energy so the game doesn't end in dead lock.

4. Buildings with abilities
similar to shield batteries in starcarft 1. give more building abilities. for example queen's ensnare could be given to a colony, and high templar's hallucination could be given to shield battery. and emp shockwave could be given to the sensor dome.

5. Buildings that turn into units and vice versa.
examples are the terran thor and the zerg overlord, also the seeker colony which i suggested in another thread.

when building turn into units it would cost supply and optionally resources, imagine if the thor could turn into a building and start producing a new type of terran unit that can't be produced in any other buildings. feel free to suggest what this new unit could be.

6. more variety in defensive structure's attack
currently all defensive buildings shoot ranged projectiles. why not increase their variety?
ok the reaver's gone but it's attack mechanism could be given to the nexus so nexus will be able to build and store scarabs and fire them, because each base usually only have 1 nexus this will prevent people abusing this and cause imba. another idea is for defenses to release area of effect attacks, e.g. circular orb structure that releases low range shock waves that damage units in its close proximity. or how about a defensive buildings that produces drones and release them like carrier.

7. generally more variation. e.g:
some zerg buildings that damage or slow melee units that attack it.
buildings that can "transform" like vikings and provide a different function
buildings that can merge together (i can imagine the zergs doing this)
buildings that cause a explosion when destroyed (e.g. nuke silo)

feel free to suggestion your own ideas on how buildings could be made more unique.

 

i think the buildings are fine lol.
1. starport can also lift off and produce units after upgrade, if the building attacks then it should just be remodeled as a unit
2. im not a big fan of subteranean, i think the supply depo is enough
3. invisible barriers sounds awsome
4. only defensive buildings should be given abilities otherwise theyl be useless lol
5. not a big fan of this, wc3 night elf buildings were silly
6. sounds interesting

owerup: for a nice post

 

thanks for your reply, i just want to clarify one point

they are not units because they can't move

 

THIS IS SIMPLY ONE OF THE BEST IDEAS EVER!!!!!!! owerup:

building should play an important role to in starcraft not just building units.

its really GREAT! ive been thinking something similar to this. but well most of my ideas are for base defenses. i say turrets should also get an upgrade. PHASE CANON AND TURRETS LOOKS SO GAY! weak. hahah.

I SAY PHASE CANONS etc shuold have a tier 2 system! yes an upgrade! to have more defense and not worrying much about space or terrain access. so that you and your enemies will be push to build tier 3 units!

anyway back to your idea. i like it. the zerg building that can change into a unit and vice versa. nexus having defense to itself etc. aerial buildings and variation for building FTW!!!!!

wheres the terran static base defense? come on! wheres the ion canon? wheres the protoss ultimate base defense? not only a boring phase canons, bunkers and turrets.

BLIZZARD READ THIS!!..lol. focus on buildings mechanics too not just units.

base defense should play an important role and as balance as offense in starcraft 2.

 

Yeah, just like there is Zealots and Collossuses, there should be phase cannon and the superphase cannon. It could be a phase cannon upgrade, but since the other races has 2 defences each, protoss should have a bigger, tier 2 or 3 defence that is a totally different structure

 

i agree with base upgrades...not much on the "buildings being an important role" kinda thing...that would make the game more like "BIG AND LESS BUILDINGS/UNIT VS BIG AND LESS BUILDINGS/UNIT."

sc is a game where large groups of units fights large group of units..so like.....yeah...

tahts just my opinion =P

 

at the moment the terrans can already build lots of starbases which could make the game like as you said, buildings/units vs buildings/units

but only Terran buildings can move, so it wouldn't be possible for other races

 

Its a good idea... air buildings sounds great!

 

Air buildings are a bit strange, why wouldn´t hey be able to move? Also it would take away from the Terrans uniqness.
Subterran buildings: Interesting but why would you submerge an Turret?
Cloaked Buildings: A bit silly and invisible walls would be frustrating instead of challenging (for me).
Building abilities: Fine, we already have Submerge, Link-Detection, Scanner sweep...
Varied defense: Actually a bad idea as it promotes Turtling even more. "Tower Defense? That will never work"
More variation: Good, I don´t like damaging explosions for Buildings though-the loss itself should hurt the enemy, not the side effects.

:/ Meh I sound all negative, I actually like the idea to make Bases "more fun" but think it´s quite a challenge to do so.

 

Sounds good. I am actually put off by the fact tah all the buildings share the same 2 add-ons. It gave each building its own style.

Defensive buildings that dont nescecarrily fire sounds good. Some that passively boost buildings and unit effectiveness would be cool.

I also always thought buildings that fly or at least hover and count as air would be cool maybe like an aerial stargate it can't be killed by those pesky zerglings and thus would REQUIRE force mixing to completely destroy a base

 

or at least a legion of hydralisks

 

which get torn apart by the zealots at close range. Thus the hydras need meatshields

 

true they should bring ultras instead, Zerglings don't do so good fighting zealots

but enough Hydralisks can survive a wave or two of zealots if the mass fire on one at a time so as to kill them quicker, thus LEGION

 

about the bit on the ion cannon? thats just brilliant, genius, perfect. Its would be such a distinct addition and attack from the plain old lasers and missiles. Only what exactly would its attack look like? Something like the orc shaman's attack in wc3? Or a white glowing beam? WOO zeratul good idea. Its like adding a whole new attack style.

 

I think it's fine the way it is.

 

They already have some new mechanics considering buildings, defiantely with the supply depot, plantery fortress, AND the protoss pylon and phase cannons, where you can warp your photon cannons around and warp units into pylong energy, use phase prims etc.

So its not just units. There alot of new things with buildings and I think they have the perfect amount of that. There is a point where things start to get too over the top.

You can't just go around adding flying base fortresses, all thse floating buildings, super defense weapons etc, etc, just because you think its cool without thinking how it will impact the game overall.

 

hehe i didn't mention any flying base fortresses, they only difference air buildings make is they look neat and they can only be targeted by air weapons, what's all the fuss about? and it wouldn't take away terran's uniqueness because unlike lifted terran buildings, aerial buildings couldn't move or land. (as for why they can't move, well use your imagination... e.g. no engine or thrusters bah) also, unlike aerial buildings, lifted terran buildings can't build or research while in air (excpet for starbase)

it'll act as a disguise and will automatically rise and fire at enemy when they come within range. also reduce base clutter. there could also be underground factories although i could think of too many use for that apart from not letting the enemy know exactly which type of factory they are.

well use a detector!

well varied defense will just look cool, it doesn't mean they'll be any more powerful than the boring defensive buildings that all currently fire projectiles (which are the same game mechnic wise) just make it balanced and it won't promote turtling any more than the "urge" to waste 3000 mineral on building 20 photon cannons.

 

they had stuff like that in the early development in the game not sure why they took them out

 

Well if we get Attack Position the point will be moot anyway. One thing I could imagine would be a tower (spire) that is as high as te Colossus and can be attacked by AA.

 

BnechbReacker, those are some terrible ideas; im glad your not actually on Blizzards design team.