Reapers, NOTHING BUT raiders.

Agreed with Zergling above me.
Reapers will be a great choice early game, and on mid and late they will have interesting secondary roles. Anyway, everything will depend solely on the ability of the user. In fact, It always does.

 

Hehe don't take my post above too seriously. It's just that I have strong emotional loyalty towards the marines. Plus I've been paid by marine commanders to advertise for them. They think that jet packs are for sissies.

 

They ain't early units anymore, unless you consider Siege Tanks early too. In order to get Reapers in the current build:
Barrack - Factory - Merc Haven (Then you train them at the Barrack...)

In order to get Siege Tanks you just need a Factory after the Barrack. While the Factory is under contruction, a Tech Lab can be attached to the Barrack. When the Factory is done, lift off both the Barrack and Factory, and switch places. That's at least half a minute faster than going for Reapers. The first seconds in a game is the most crucial.

The D8 charges they throw have hp, 25 last I checked. Almost anything can take care of them, which might be why the Reapers only throw them at harmless depots in the clips we have seen. They might be cloaked though, but I don't think so.
I would rather perform hit-n-runs with Siege Tanks. Just Siege 2 or 3 on a cliff (not necessary) outside their base (they have even greater range now, it will be a lot easier to be in range to what you wish to destroy) and fire a volley on the worker line, (or maybe a key building). At least 60% of the workers will be gone after that. Go into Tank mode, and retreat before they counter. only problem will be mobility, but Siege Tanks are pretty fast, and can be supported by Drop Ships later on.

 

If that is correct then it will be changed before to long.

Reapers are fine. From what I've seen they get infinite D-8's. Its on a cool down. I think they'd be useful in ambushing armies in bottlenecks. Enemy army enters a bottleneck blocked up on one end with bunks and depots and have the reapers toss their mines onto the clogged up units and then use them to quickly block up the other end. The enemy won't have time to kill off your reapers before the mines detonate.

I don't like the idea of useing them to counter Immortals when rines will probably do that better. I like them more for their D-8's and their pistols as just a side arm for killing off small forces and workers. In that regard they'd be like Vultures. They aren't worth it just for their attack but their ability is excellent.

For base and expansion raiding they'll be great. D-8's could be useful in blasting holes in defense or if they can penetrate defenses they can wreak havok on the enemies buildings and economy. They also might be able to completely wipe out expansions efficiently. Also, hit and run harrassment would be excellent for distracting an opponent.

So yeah, they really only have a role as a raiding and potentially an ambusher but I think that since there is so much demand for that role that it isn't overly narrow. Not like firebats whose sole purpose was to counter early game melee.

 

But even if they have 25 health, if you throw ten or so, at least 5 will survive. Unless there are like 30 cannons situated around the nexus. Which would be wierd

 

1 or 2 shots from a Phase Cannon would suffice, and the D8-charges have really long timers, each Phase Cannon would have enough time to fire 4-8 shots each. By ignoring the weak Reapers, you could destroy the mines with 4-6 Phase Cannons.

 

Dude, They take like 4 seconds to detonate. Phase cannons will get off a shot a second, maybe. Unless they get and upgrade. But that's beside the point.

The point was that reapers have a role besides just raiding. WHich is a secondary marine. It'd be easy to kill zerglings/zealots/whatever else is melee. Especially if they get some kind of range upgrade.

 

4 seconds can be considered a long time to survive for something that has to sit and wait right next to its target with a meager 25 hp.

I can't see them countering zerglings and zealots since those are fast enough to A) chase the Reapers down and kill them B) Move away from/destroy the D8-charges.
The Reapers will be good against buildings/poorly protected bases though.
And I don't think that they will get a range upgrade, Marines got that already. More likely a permanent speed upgrade.

EDIT* Oh, and The Phase Cannons could go into phase form and escape. ;D (As long as they have something to distract the Reapers)

 

theorycraft is a waste of time at this point, but hell i cant resist. lets keep in mind some things:
the reaper deals 4 damage (i think)
he has a dual attack, like the zealot or firebat, so its probably safe to say its more like 8 damage.
each upgrade is probably +1 per pistol, so prolly +2 total

he seems to be a weaker marine that does less damage. in combat he will probably be targeted before the marine, but since he has jetpacks he will probably be able to fly to retreat behind the marines, and then fly up once the enemy is fighting your marines/medics.

yea its a stretch, but the fact is we know nothing about how the game will be balanced, so we cant know if this guy will be useful or not. its really up to the players to find uses for the units IMO. im sure SOMEONE will find a use for this guy.

 

I acctually love the Reapers. They're a great unit idea, and will certainly have uses. I can't wait to wipe out a huge supply line with the D8 Charges, then get out of there.

 

GMG, the point in using reapers for direct combat is to fly onto a cliff and then start attacking. Then, as they back away because they can't hit you, hit and run. I think that'll be the main combat use. And take into consideration the way a pro microer could use the reapers, throwing 20 mines in 4 different bases, then destroying miners from a cliff. Either way one of them will go down.

 

reapers are fine

colossus has to be so much more powerful because it doubles as a reaver replacement too




i don't really care about how great it's small damage is, i think most toss users will use stalkers anyways. it's bomb let's it be mildly useful for siege. what more could you really want?

 

That will be impossible when facing a medium/pro player. Reapers' range sucks @SS. They will be able to target units that stand 2 or 3 squares below the cliff. When they jet up the cliff, the enemy will probably already stand outside of the Reapers range. And if the Reaper starts chasinging them down, they will most likely loose since they lack firepower. A descent player will never be hit by a Reaper that tries to use the cliffs to an advantage. Reapers should only be used to harass weakly defended bases.

 

but then again how many bases are going to be weakly defended?
the colossus will force many players to heavily defend their bases

so...
currently the reaper is useless because it is also late tier 2

 

I wouldn't ever use my reapers to defend my base, just to rush enemy base and force his gathering units to stop gather or slow him anyway.

 

Yeah, that's exactly what I am saying.
Merc Havens should be buildable right after Barracks.

 

I think you need to think of Reapers as calvary. Great for cutting through units, raiding, scouting, etc... but against heavy defenses they'll suffer. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with them.

 

They are only riders and stop

 

they will not cut through units, at all even.


They need stimpack to be anywhere near combat viable.

 

Can be used on the enemy base as demolitionists. I think this is their more appropriate rule. Raiders/demolitionists.