The Creep

Re: New creep mechanics

I'm not being a *smart aleck* to you, I am showing you that this simply cannot happen if the creep is a fluid, like you said in your original statement, being:

Also, the reason that blood does not pool at your feet, it because the whole circulatory system is pressurized and uses a pump (the heart). The heart muscles contract, to push blood into arteries, and relax, to allow the blood from veins to flow back into the heart so that it can then be forced into the arteries again. A similar thing happens with trees and plants, except it relies more on evaporation and surface tension. The xylem tissue in a plant is basically an extremely thin straw which naturally draws water from the roots, through the stem and to the leaves/flowers/etc. The water that is already in the leaves/flowers/stem/etc, will inevitably evaporate, which will cause the xylem to draw up more water. Stuff like this can only happen inside organisms and structures, and cannot possibly happen with the Creep on an open surface.

I was not saying that Creep going up and down cliffs is overpowered. It is when Creep can only go down cliffs, but not up that is overpowered, because it allows players to create maps that would either give a huge advantage to Zerg (if they start on top of a mountain) or a huge disadvantage to Zerg (if they start in a valley/gorge).

The Creep in StarCraft1 and BroodWar, enable the Zerg to morph into structures by changing an area of ground so that it is able to support the structure being built. It basically acts like how water acts for plants. The water is essential to the plant's growth, and it is impossible for a plant to grow in a completely dry environment. How would tentacles or vines achieve this? If anything there would need to be creep below the vines, so that the vines are able to live so that the buildings are able to live. Also, with your comparison of creepers, maybe you can only get one Drone or Reapers are actually apes. The Creep is called 'Creep' because that's how it acts. It 'creeps' out from the Colonies and Hatcheries/Lairs/Hives that produce it. Most Zerg units are named by how they act, not by what they are. Lurkers lurk, Defilers defile, Guardians guard.

As people have already said, Zerg are an offensive team. They should not get bonuses from remaining on their Creep, because that would encourage the player to defend instead of attack.


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Re: New creep mechanics

I really like the 'moving underground on creep' one. That would be a neat mechanic, especially if you made a trail of creep with colonies to a strategic place. Of course, this IS sort of similar to Phase Prisms and Nydus Worms...

 

Re: New creep mechanics

Well, creep is like an algae's goo, a nourishment/protection substance. It is very much like an algae's goo.

 

Creep Consuming

Why this idea?

The regeneration of health/shielding has always played an important role in Starcraft 1 and Starcraft BroodWars. In Starcraft 2 this idea is expanded, but as far as we know that only applies for the Protoss. (with that, of course, I mean the new shielding system) The Terran and Zerg don’t get anything.

Also, the battles seem to get a lot longer in Starcraft 2. With more high tier units added, more HP for your units and even more deadly abilities you will want your units to last longer, especially the easy to kill Zerg units.

The third reason for this one is the almost useless regeneration ability for the Zerg. They are inexpensive cannon fodder and often their units don’t last long. A slow regeneration process isn’t their thing and it doesn’t work to well… On its own.

Last of the reasons is that Creep is kind of boring. It does nothing, except enabling the Zerg to grow their buildings on it. With this you will be able to do a lot more with Creep.

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What is it?

The idea is to let Zerg units consume Creep to let them regenerate a lot faster. When they stand on a certain kind of Creep, they will automatically start to consume it and regain HP. Zerg buildings will regenerate faster when they are near the special Creep, which I will call Nutritious Creep from now on.

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How will this be produced?

We all know the Creep Colonies and the way they are upgraded into Sunken Colonies or Spore Colonies. For this idea a new upgrade will be added: The Nutri Colony. This new “building” will start producing Nutritious Creep when it is made. It will grow around the Colony just like normal Creep. However, it will only be in a small radius, about as large as the Protoss Shield Battery used to have.

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How does it work?

You will have to research the Nutri Colony at your Evolution Chamber just like any other Creep Colony upgrade, but this one will only be available at Hive level. (which makes this a high tier upgrade) This is needed for balance: since Zerg units are weak and don’t cost as much, a Zerg player always has a disadvantage in late game, since the other two races are stronger at that point. This gives the Zerg a way to hold on a little longer.

Once upgraded all Creep Colonies will be able to evolve into Nutri Colonies and all Zerg Ground units will gain the passive ability to consume Creep. This will automatically be used when they are at low HP and near a Nutritious Creep patch.

A Zerg building in the radius of a Nutri Colony will use the Nutritious Creep automatically to, so when you want it to keep it for your units you will have to keep other buildings away from them. On the other hand, placing Spore/Sunken Colonies in the radius creates some new defensive capabilities. This gives the player some new interesting tactical decisions to make.

When a Nutritious Creep patch is used up you will have to wait for it to grow back, but you can also attach an additional Drone to let it grow back at the same rate it is eaten. This will also be an upgrade. When you attach the additional drone the Colony will grow taller and Zerg Flyers will be able to eat the Nutritious Creep to, but the radius will stay the same.

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What are the statistics?

These are very important, until more is known about the new Protoss shielding system and possible changes in the Terran repair system, (by SCV’s) discussing this is practically useless. What I can point out already is that this of course will not be a cheap upgrade. You will require a Hive, an additional upgrade at the Evolution Chamber and the evolution itself at a new Creep Colony. To get the most out if it you will even have to sacrifice an additional Drone, but this is not required.

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That’s about it for now.

If you have read all of this patiently, I thank you for that. I’ve put some time on thinking of this, and now it’s done. The idea of adding an additional Drone is something I came up with during the typing of this one, so it isn’t very detailed. Sorry for that, but I can’t do everything at once you know.

I will be adding more or deleting information later on. I will do this after I heard some comment on this one. So, what do you guys think of this one?

:gossip: :gossip:


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Re: Creep Consuming

I think that there should be as few ways of encouraging the Zerg player to stay on his or her own Creep as possible. They are meant to be a solely offensive team, so if anything they should regenerate slower on Creep, so that they are encouraged to always be on the attack. Obviously this won't happen, but I am just simplifying for the point of clarity. Regeneration was a fine way of replenishing Zerg's health, even if it was a bit slow. My suggestion for how the new regeneration would work would be the following. As we know, in StarCraft2, the Protoss shields do not regenerate directly after finishing the combat, but instead have a short delay before an extremely fast regeneration rate. My idea would be that they Zerg would get the opposite of this. When the Zerg unit has finished combat, it should immediately get an extremely quick regeneration rate for a couple of seconds, say anywhere between 2 and 10 seconds, before it levels out to the usual rate of regeneration. This would encourage the Zerg player to keep attacking, even with injured units, so that their units would be able to heal faster afterwards. There is a risk that the injured units would easily be killed, but if they manage to avoid any direct damage throughout the fight, then it would increase their health dramatically.

 

Re: Creep Consuming

That still encourages the Zerg player to sit in their base, because they get bonus's from being Burrowed on their creep. My way of doing the increased regeneration would make the Zerg army extremely aggressive and hostile, like how they should be. Even if they are just wanting to health a few injured units, then they would still go out in search of something to attack.

 

I just merged 4-ish creep-related threads together. I am stickying them so that we can keep all of this creepiness in one place.

 

4 threads into one? That has to be a sc2forum record!

 

im not big on units moving underground through creep.That would require a whole new underground vision system to see where they are. its a huge advantage for players who have a large zerg base, they can go anywhere unharmed! plus it take the same role as the nydus worm. There really is no need. and it play protects them from air fire.

as for slowing down units, i understand where people are coming from when they say that SC is about speed and that slowing units down would not be fair, but it does make sense. Can you imagine walking through a city thats completely covered in feet of a sticky fleshy purple thing?

 

Maybe this creep ability's can be an upgrade in the hatchery. a little antirush,the upgraded creep make enemy units slower (not very much) and ally units heals faster.

 

We talked about healing units and slowing down enemy units on creep before. I dont really like the idea because it is a really hard thing to balance, considering zerg bases are fairly hard to take down already, unless the effects are miniscule, then I think its not a great idea.

THe scaling idea is excellent and should definately be implemented!

 

I like the idea of nukes and planet crackers removing creep although if the colonies aren't destroyed the creep would regenerate quickly so it would only be effective if the nuke removes creep colonies as well.

 

I like the idea of creep being able to scale walls. It would allow the zerg to expand a bit easier, since their bases expand slower than the other two, and is would be an effective counter to the colossus's and reaper's ability to cross terrain.

It would also give the zerg a better defence by being able to move units on cliffs to bombard the enemy below when their base is under attack. Making defending easier with less casualties. This would work great for bases set up at chokepoints on the map as it allows the zerg to freely move their units around in a battle to hold the choke point.

 

I would take the Creep scaling walls one further by allowing the Zerg to build on Walls... Ya.. I can imagine it now.

 

What would be an iteresting concept. I would build sunkerns and spore colonies on the wall to protect them from enemy melee troops.

 

Building units on walls wouldn't make much sense at all. It would be like trees growing on a vertical cliff. I know that you do see some trees that have grown like that, but they are very fragile and never reach their full potential. Unless there was a specific building that was supposed to be built on a wall, I don't think it would work. Interesting concept though.

 

What if zerg units ONLY healed when on the Creep

i kno i kno, zerg units have always healed no matter where, but this is a new game!

it makes sense! the Creep carries though it the nutrients for all its Zerg buildings and units

but then what to do about flyers? i dunno, they could pull their nutrients from some gaseous cloud that hangs over the Creep and also heal when over creep.

 

That would make zerg players hide in their bases. They are supposed to be offensive, more or less.
They are also superstrong breeded beasts, so it makes sense that they can regenerate without standing on creep too.

 

I agree with gasmaskguy. Anything that makes the zerg players camp at thier bases won'y work in the same. The zerg are supposed to be offencive, the ability to regenerate only in creep would make many players play defensively.

 

yeah i see, theyd all become turtlers