POLL: BlackHole Suggestion

I suggestion I made on the BNet forums (if any of you go to that spamfest):

The black hole when cast slowly forms it starts with 0 AoE and slowly rises to full size as it gets bigger.  In a close area around it units will be pulled into it ans will also move more slowly away from and more quickly towards it.  At a very close distance it will be inescapable but generally you will have a chance to move all but the few units right on top of it.  After it has grown it will stay at that size for 1 or 2 seconds before boiling off due to Hawking radiation.

It will grow more quickly if it consumes a unit so it will eliminate a clustered fleet nearly instantaneously but a well spread out fleet will take few losses.

It will act like a channeling spell with the mothership being immobile but it may still fire weapons If the mothership is killed before the black hole has finished then it will begin to close regardless of what phase it is in.

It will absorb ALL air units enemy, friendly or allied.

Weapons fire will arc towards the black hole with projectiles being more affected than beam weapons.  Weapons fire that has its trajectory altered my miss lasers will deviate less and have more chance of hitting a unit the deviation being smaller that the mothership carrier and battlecruiser but enough to make it miss a fighter.  Missiles though pulled off course may guide themselves back to the target based upon a minimum turn radius and the maximum range of said weapon.  Speed of projectiles  will also be affected. Nuclear missiles if close enough may be sucked into a black hole

Damage will occur once the unit enters the event horizon causing complete destruction regardless of hitpoints. This of course will be escapable if you react fast enough.

Main problem will not be destructiveness as that area is smell. usefulness will stem from its ability to stall units long enough for you to destroy them.

 

Is a multiple unit instant kill spell cheap? Yes. But then again it is a super unit. And that's what super units are for: destroying everything. Without all the neat abilities, it just doesn't seem like the mothership is worth the investment.

 

It doesn't have to be insta kill. If there is a chance to escape it is balanced just like the how nuke kills all but the most hardened structures but can be stoped if you kill the ghost quickly enough.

 

Edited out quotes. Please read the forum rules and refrain from quoting unnecessarily.

sorry, I had missed your post just prior to mine. I think the game graphics/physics involved with be awesome with your idea (like the nuke getting sucked in, projectile weapons being more affected, quickly expanding as it compressed more mass into the singularity). Also though, in the gameplay vid, the ships closest were sucked in, but it looks like you could get out of there if you were far enough way and not get sucked in.

I feel that if it is cast properly (i.e. on an actual unit) that unit can't run away and is an insta-kill.

 

It would most certainly be very skill dependent. You have to know where to cast it to reduce escapees and not get your own units taken out by it or as a result of the movement retardation.

You would also need skill and fast reflexes to get your units away form the blast. You would have to think fast to decide what you can save that is worth saving ad need to prioritize and move quickly.

It would be one of those OH Shit I am screwed moments like the nuke where you have to act very quickly if you don't want to die.

 

The thing is it's alot worse then a nuke for escaping. with the new nuke anything faster the the Thor can get out of the blast zone but this thing sucks it up instantly, and have you ever tried to keep a fleet spread out? it's the most annoying thing in the world.(spare getting Dragoons down a ramp)

 

It doesn't have to be instantaneous. As I have said before if it is like the nuke and takes time to take effect the dammage can be lessened if you act fast enough. We are talking about how the black hole can be changed not how it was in the short time it existed.

 

the problem is that unless you get a warning like the nuke the unite it's drop on it very very dead. Getting your flag ship and most likely a few ships near it taken out by a single spell is really a pain and if it grows faster after it kills that will take out a bunched group of air units instantly and like a said keeping a group of flying units apart is not an easy task and take an incredibly large amount of micro.

 

A warning could be in order but remember with my idea you actually see the thing forming. It will be more visable than the tiny red dot so you might not even need the verbal warning. I was already thinking there should be a "Mothership Detected" warning if it regains its superunit status.

Also remember these are basic ideas they can be changed if it doesn't work. The idea behind increasing the expansion rate after consuming a units was to mke it an answer to mutalisk and fighter stacking but if it is too much of a problem it can be removed

 

I'd like to see some kind of I don't know giant blue beacon like the new nuke laser. because i could see the starting of a black hole covered up by your flag ship.

 

I think the new nuke is also alot more visible on where its going to land. (this might be because it is more powerful but im not sure)

I dont think the black hole even in its original form does more damage than a nuke. (and you hva emultiple nukes) Someone in the past (maybe even in this thread) suggested a warning like " Singualarity Detected" with like a 3-5 second wait before the black hole opens i think something like this would be than addequite to keep the original black hole. (Assuming they revert the Mothership back to super unit status)

 

They said the nuke will still be the small red dot you will probably never find in that 20 seconds.


As for the singularity detected I was thinking it will go off as the hole starts to form but when you hear the warning the hole will still be small enough to escape from and just barely visable Also for visability sake the hole will be above the units or at least have some kind of overlay showing its position

 

The nuke will be a giant red beacon. go look at the first Starcraft game play demo. you will see the new nuke beacon.

 

They said that was only for the person firing the nuke and that everyoe else will still only see the red dot

 

Where does it say that?

 

That work for ya

 

o.k... you win. I submit. *bow*

 

Black hole should be back. Shouldn't protoss have the most destructive spell since the protoss are the most advance and the most powerful ships, weapon etc.... that is their theme, yet terran has the most devastating attack (nuke). Black hole can be balance as some have suggested here.

My own suggestion is to have concentric rings like a Target sign. In the center, which is very small, everything get suck in. In the the next outer ring maybe anything with 6 food or below get suck in but anything above just take damage, and in the next ring 4 food or less and then 2 food or less etc... That way the area of effect will be somewhat limited. Protoss should get a more spectacular attack that is worthy of something call a mothership, otherwise it would be another piece of junk that no one uses!

 

Well as a Mothership the Protoss Mothership should be a moving physics lab. Its the Protoss for crying out loud! They should make black hole a passive skill that activates on death. When the Mothership dies its quantum engine should overheat/ loose control. This does a number on the surrounding gravity. This will create a black hole. When the Mothership dies your adviser can be like " Gravitational Singularity Detected". Then after a 2 or 3 sec death animation the black hole is fully formed and begins dragging in units.

Now that would be amazing!

 

Have you ever played C&C 3? Ever killed a Scrin harvester? Ever lost an entire army to the death on one lowly unit? It sucks so I say NO no activates on death kills everything skill