I got this idea of an unit that will be a combination of the Ghost and the Viking. It is probably going to be overpowered in normal game play, but perhaps hero characters like Nova can use it. It is a bit long, so please bare with me. After the Blood Wars, the Terran Dominion decided that its elite soldiers known as Ghosts can be used in more ways then merely stealth missions. As mentioned in the description of the Viking, it is a powerful unit that few pilots can master. The next logical step will be to assign them to the Ghost, and customize the Viking to take benefit of their psi abilities. The project was a combination of efforts from both the Ghost Program and the Viking Project. This combination would make a new unit that I will call "Psi-Viking", which will have a combination of abilities from both units. 1) Increased sight range: Thanks to the better psi equipments onboard the Psi-Viking, which is too heavy to be carry by a normal Ghost, the Psi-Viking can see enemies from 50% further. The range of Energy Detection was also increased. 2) Range attack evasion: Ghost often sees what its enemy is planning to do, but few can react fast enough due to body limitation. Instead of focusing their mind on stealth, the ghost within the Psi-Viking unit focus their mind on their enemies 's thoughts. This allows the ghost to "predict" where the enemy will attack and hence give they a chance to evade the attacks. 30% chance of evasion from normal ranged attacks from the air and 20% chance of evasion from ranged attack on the ground. Melee attacks from enemies and skills like High Templar 's Psionic Storm cannot be evaded. 3) Sniper Railgun replaced the twin gatling cannons: Ghost 's sniping ability has never been questioned. The limitation is only in the size of the sniper rifle that the ghost can carry. After minor modifications to the original Viking design, the machine guns of the Viking have been replaced with mechanical hands to steadily hold a large Sniper Railgun mounted from its back, and its legs was modified to stand the recoil of the weapon. This allows the ghost inside the Psi-Viking to shoot at large mechanical units from far away (200% the shooting range of a normal Ghost) and deals devastating damage. The shot is powerful enough to allow the Psi-Viking to attack enemies that are in the air, and the ghost rarely misses. The draw back is that the shot is single target and has a slow rate of fire. This means the Psi-Viking is not nearly as effective as the Crucio Siege Tank in stopping a swarm of zergs. 4) Duel Psyblades added: When attacked by enemy melee attacks, Psi-Viking does not provide enough stability (unlike this Crucio Siege Tank) to use its heavy Sniper Railgun. To counter this weakness, Terran engineers equipped the Psi-Viking with duel Psyblades, one on each of its arms. This last line of defence allows the Psi-Viking to combat in melee when land enemies approach within a small radius around the Psi-Viking. Although the duel Psyblades attacks fairly fast and deals decent damage, it is highly recommended that the pilot flies away from combat in these situations, and deploy its more damaging railgun when the opportunity arises. 5) Mini-Interceptors replaced MT50 Lanzer Torpedoes: The idea of the Psi-Viking have been around almost as old as the Viking itself, but was never realized until recently because of one fatal problem. Mounting the Sniper Railgun on the Viking greatly limits the Viking 's ability to fly. A non-flying Viking is an useless Viking. It was decided that the heavy stack of Lanzer Torpedoes need to be replaced with another type of weapon, one that is much lighter and just as effective. After studying all the aerial units of the Blood War, it was decided that a mini-version of the interceptors (from the Protoss Carrier) need to be designed. Great effort was applied to extract and collect ruins of destroyed Protoss Carriers and bring them to Terran research facilities for study. Two problems was immediately discovered. Firstly, the computer technology that the Protoss used to control their interceptors are well-advanced of Terran 's current computer technology. It was estimated that it will take at least a few decades for a complete reverse engineering. Secondly, the energy source of the Protoss, which allowed the interceptors to attack non-stop, cannot be matched. In the Psi-Viking case, the interceptors will need to return to the main body for refueling after a 10-15 second of use. After a few years of research, mini-interceptors were successfully created, but with no means on controlling them. The project finally catch a break when an elite member of the Ghost Program suggest that the interceptors be control telepathically instead of by computer. The concept was immediately tested. Brains of small critters was surgically removed and mounted onto nano-machine computers onboard the interceptors. It was found that ghost members with a Psi-index of 5 or more can control the brains of the small critters, and though them control the interceptors. The weapon turns out to be highly accurate, as the ghost can literally see its target though the critter 's brain, which sees though optical lens attached to its nerves. A total of 3 mini-interceptors can be mounted onto the Psi-Viking. Due to its smaller size, mini-interceptors cannot be shot down. However, its energy pack only allows a small window of usage before the need to recharge. As a result, mini-interruptors is not used as a normal attack. Rather, it is used as an energy costing skill at the pilot 's choice. And unlike the Protoss interceptors, mini-interceptors cannot attack land units. 6) Nuclear Strike: Psi-Viking can guide nuclear warheads from both the ground and in the air at a distance 50% further than a normal Ghost 's range. During casting,the Psi-Viking losses its evasion ability. Since the Psi-Viking is without stealthing, it is recommanded that it chooses a location with natural defenses (river or mountain) before guiding the nuclear warhead. Tell me what you think about this idea. Thanks.
First of all, welcome the forums CHIPS. It's a pretty decent idea, but there are a couple of huge problems that I have with it: 1) Too many abilities. Switching to a melee attack when in close range? Mini-interceptors? Evasion? Starcraft isn't about units that can do everything. And even though you suggest that the interceptor idea is stolen from the Protoss, I would prefer not to see a simple duplication. 2) Random chance does not belong in Starcraft. Hence, I particularly dislike your evasion idea. 3) Call me traditionalist, but I really like the Ghost. I would not want to see it be combined with any unit at all. That said, I do like your suggestion that something like it could be used for a hero unit. I definitely could see a Ghost piloting a Viking to great effect in the single-player campaign. However, I see it being much less complicated - maybe just increased sight range, an effective railgun, and slightly sleeker design.
Not to be mean, but it's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard. You have a Carrier, a Viking, a Ghost, and a Zealot all rolled into one, with Snipe as a normal attack. No unit should be able to do 150 damage in one hit, no matter how slow the attack speed.
I agree wuth kuvasz on all his points, and I have one more: Removing the Ghost is completly wrong according to lore, its perhaps the most original Terran unit. But it was a good idea!
WAAAAAAAYYYYY TOO MANY ABILITIES!!!!! 1: find maximum two things you would use 2: change the lore so you dont have to get rid of the ghost and it is just a veteran. 3: too much damage
imo ghost are also exceptionally trained to drive many if not all types of military vehicles. so your right about a ghost piloting a viking. but overall the idea is very complicated.
No offense, but my first thought while reading this was "This is Starcraft II, not some anime." Ghosts are a staple part of the Terran army... You really can't perform stealth operations when manning a machine. There's less than a handful of Ghosts which have telekinetic ability. The vast majority of Ghosts only go as far as telepathy; they're not "psychic" in the sense people make them out to be (No 'mind blasts' or mind control, etc.). They're an elite group of handpicked individuals with hieghtened mental properties, used to improve thier already impressive physical abilities. Operating a machine only defeats thier purpose.
Thanks for the input dudes. No I am not saying remove the ghost all together. I am saying that perhaps when you build a Ghost and a Viking, you can combine them to form a new unit (similar to the Hippogryph Riders from Warcraft III). And I also agree that the Psi-Viking have too much abilities. But I decided to put all my ideas into one post so perhaps some can be implemented. The Psi-Viking is not a stealth mission unit. It is an upfront fighting unit focusing on ranged support. Although the human involved is the same (both a ghost), the use of his abilities are different. While the ghost focus on hindering the enemy though special ops, the Psi-Viking focus on dealing the maximum damage using the ghost's Psi abilities. The damage of the Sniper Railgun wouldn't be too high, probably similar to a siege tank 's damage. It is single target and have a slow attack rate. The biggest benefit of this weapon is its range. The only ability that most ghosts will have a hard time using is the ability to use mini-interceptors. This ability requires the ghost to mind control a critter 's brain. Although this is much easier than mind-controlling other humans, it might still be differcult for most ghosts. So perhaps only a hero unit of the Psi-Viking should have this weapon equiped. For the rest of the abilities, I think any ghost can preform them. Lastly, if this unit is indeed overpowered, it can be made to be a hero unit in single player only. I am just wondering if the idea sounds interesting to you guys. Thanks.
er...too anime 2) Range attack evasion: Its a lumbering mech. theres no way they could evade, for instance a hypersonic guass round or a collosus laser beam. 3) Sniper Railgun the viking is a war machine with built in weapons not a robot with hands that holds them... a railguns not a bad idea for this though...with linear AoE ofc... 4) Duel Psyblades: eh...no...just no... 5) Mini-Interceptors intrudes abit on the protoss carriers. I could see this working as crude blades telekinetically controlled instead of mind controlling brains to fly interceptors tho. nice overall idea...for a hero unit but the concepts don't seem starcrafty... welcome to the forums btw
I agree the the ideas and concepts sounds way too..... I don't know... outrageous and crazy and not fitting to the over all style and setting of the game. It just sounds way too over the top and pushing it a bit.
