Mothership Time Bomb vs. Predators Intercept Form

I was hoping someone could shed some light on this for me and I apologize if this has been asked before but I didnt see a post about it.

What exactly is the distinction between these two abilities? The time bomb was really supposed to be the mothership's signature defensive move since they killed off the Black Hole ability for the Blizzcon build. But from Karune's Q & A, it sounds like the Predator, a small support ship which will presumably be a lot easier to produce will have an ability that does pretty much the same thing.

Now granted there are still a lot of unknowns about the Intercept and Timebomb abilities, and all things are subject to change, but just going on what we know right now, does this overlap seem kinda strange to anyone else?

It really makes me wonder what is so special about the mothership now?

EDIT: The quote that Im refering to is this:

"The Predator is equipped with a point defense laser system which destroys incoming enemy projectiles. This ability makes the Predator an excellent support fighter to help defend slower capital ships, such as the Battlecruiser."

 

I assume the Predator only stops it from one side, while the Time Bomb is a much more encompassing spell, slowing down units in it as well.

 

It reminds me of a mechanic from the Space RPG Space Wolves. You had to invest skillpoints and money in Anti rocket turrets since Rockets are pretty much onehit kills after a while. One of your party members had to destroy all trhe Rockets coming in your direction, the AR had a certain capacity of Rockets/Min that could be shot down.

One Predator won´t be able to shoot down all Projectiles coming his way, that would be unbalanced. Also not all attacks would count as "shootable". I don´t think that mechanic is 100% out of it´s design phase.

 

The Timebomb slows down time and hence stops all incoming projectile attacks within an Area of Effect (AoE). It is probable that the Predator can only stop a limited amount of projectiles (and probably only missiles at that, not lasers <-because shooting lasers at lasers doesn't really do anything) and it will probably only effect a limited direction not an AoE. Predator is cheaper than mothership, but it does not do the job as well. Also they are in two different races so you can't have one overlap the others ability, unless you are allied in multiplayer with the other race.

They are problematically similar but not by that much. Also, we don't know the full extent of the predator as it hasn't been fully released.

 

Yeah like everyone said, it's aoe compared to single take down. But regardless, whether or not they overlap. Theres one for a diff race so no overlap is truly present. Thats like saying Spores, Turrets and Cannons overlap cause they all have detection.

 

I guess thats one reason why Turrets lost independant detection. Blizzard trys to have uniqe Units/Buildings, between the Races and especially within the races. It wouldn´t surprise me if Spore colonies are changed in some way too. Honestly do Zerg need static detectors? Overlords don´t eat food...

 

I think my objection to the two abilities being similar is really just a result of me wishing they'd change the Mothership back to its original more powerful form. I guess now thats its been dulled down to a regular old unit, it doesnt need to have conceptually unique abilities.

 

my idea is

mothership stops all in radius
preds stops only a fraction of the damage i think...

 

point defence laser was somehting they actually tried in real life, its a cooler idea than time bomb, but if thats all that it does when being in intercept mode then it seem pretty silly.

the motehr ships is supposed to rape everything i believe, the ultimate unit, but they reliased that thats jsut not possbile in starcraft2. so now its jsut a big arbiter.

 

Well for me, the one who wins among the Two is the Protoss Mothership, because its too strong compare to that Intercept Form.
PEACE :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

I think the mothership damaged in the time bombs field too. (Just check the gameplay trailer) But The Predator will intercept all missiles in a range. This is my opinion.

 

Although this is the first I've heard of it, Starcraft IncGamers seems to think the Intercept ability redirects the missiles back at the target that fired them. It doesnt list its sources though. Heres the link:

http://starcraft.incgamers.com/wiki/index.php/Predator

 

the ship seems a bit pointless, its a battle cruiser could easily have this ability (its supposed to be gaint isnt it) whats the point of this dinky little ship?

 

I think 1 ability is enough for the BC. And Blizzard wants us to have more kind of units in an army, so the old 12 BC attack will remain for the SC1.. Actually I like the idea making the Battlefield changable with a lack of unit types.

 

wel each unit should really ahve a good role, not just a fringe unit for something you might need IF you decided an all air army, it needs a full role.

 

the mothership stopped all missiles fired at the center of the field, intercept will probably stop 25% of the missiles fired in front of him

war
:thumbup: :thumbup:

 

Yap im agreed, well i think not 25% but its 45%, dude.

Peace :thumbup:

 

where did you get that info?

war
:thumbup: :thumbup: