The fate of the Ultralisk...

Although the Ultralisks became somewhat useful with Broodwar upgrades, they still remain one of the least used units in the Starcraft universe. In fact in my 9 years of on and off playing, I think I may have played against maybe less than 10 players that would fight me with them. (Although I myself used them occasionally with units mixes, they make great decoys, and strangely are very powerful only island maps when you drop them, its an expensive, albeit effective way of way of being able to easily destroy an expansion base)

Anyways, its fairly easy to assume the Ultralisk will all but be removed from the game, or if still in the game, in a largely different form. (A high level upgrade that allows you to combine 10 Zerglings with 200 gas to create a more powerful version of the original Ultra?) I just feel that as a distinct unit, the Ultralisks in SC original were really lacking.

 

i dont agree at all lol, ultralisk's are supposed to be used to break heavily fortified positions and they are great for that. they are really the same as a battle cruiser, used on its own and your just asking for trouble, but when used with a large group of units it is a good unit. I think the problem is that many people dont know how to use them, they think they can just send in 2 or 3 on their own and that should be able to destroy a base lol

 

The main problem with the Ultra, is that they are very expensive, come in the last element of the tech tree, and require numerous expensive upgrades to make them useful. They are also clumsy, and attack far to slowly. All they are really good is absorbing damage, used with the synergy of Zerlings and Defilers with Dark Swarm. Also for an ultra advanced unit, its lack of air defense is stifling. I agree with you to an extent, its just that things like, Sunken Colonies and Photon Cannons eat these babies for lunch. Not to mention low level vulture mines and siege tanks behind buildings leave these units almost useless. (They are so big that they can't manuever as well as most units)

I don't remember if anyone here remembers when Dragoons were classified as large, had a shorter attack range? The large size and shorter attack range made the dragoons by far the worst ranged shooter in the game. Look what a couple updates can do for unit balance...wow!

 

yea i think the ultralisks are here to stay. they were quite useful as a support unit when raiding a base. they are quite cheap for a "big" unit and they tare those buildings down so fast.

...and the ultralisk looked badass in that starcraft:ghost cinematic anyways

 

I used them a lot when I have to go up against several siege tanks near a choke point. The tanks would fire at my ultralisks while my lings and hydras rushes in to make the kill. I think ultralisks will make a return in the game, or a similar unit. They are required in large battles.

 

All they would have to do is give the Ultra long legs that would allow it to "walk over" smaller units, sorta like how the collosus does, but less dramatic. This would further enable them to act as a damage cushion, while making them an even more severe threat to smaller unit armies, where the ultras could simply run over them and attack their flank while the rest of the army attacks from the other, side annhilitating the power of siege weapons that auto target the most powerful units. (And the threat of splash to smaller HP units)

 

I do like the idea of allowing them to walk over units. This would make them more manuverable. I think it would be a good idea to be able to combine like 10 lings or w/e to get an ultra. This would make them more realistic to produce and would go along with the zerg them of massing. You mass units. If you need a tank, squish 'em together.

 

Yea I would like to see Zerg more modifable on the fly. I am thinking different morph paths for Hydras and Mutas, however you could also instantly demorph the units, if say you needed the unit for a seperate purpose, you could then remorph to the same unit branch for free, but could instead say pay to morph down a different tech path.

Imagine if Hydras could morph into three differnt unit types? Lurkers...PSYCHOLISKS!....and a spellcaster varition of a hydra, probably with upgrades for ensnare and plague...

 

i think ultralisk in sc2 should be buffed up. remember tarrasque? now the ultralisk in sc2 should be like that. tough and strong.

 

The Ultralisk is an great characterful unit. Unfortunately, I agree with Joker: No one used them.

The walk-over units idea is great, but what if their attack could 'sweep' side to side, attacking several units? I mean, the Ultralisk is similar to an elephant, right? It attacks by slashing with tusks. Up against a cluster of marines, one swipe of those tusks would slice several of the marines, not just one, since it sweeps the tusks from side to side. This gives more of an idea of a behemoth swinging huge blades left and right, butchering all who come close. I think it'd fit in more with the character model, anyway.

 

Hmm interesting ideas for the ultimate fate of the Ultralisk here...

How about having the Ultralisk be able to "stomp" on small ground units blocking it's way? It'll effectively kill/destroy the small ground unit within a matter of seconds but will potentially cause the Ultralisk to lose HP? Maybe have half a HP loss for every HP inflicted on an enemy unit? This will be non effective to Protoss shields (i.e no HP loss penalty for Ultralisk when attacking shields) and of course only limited to small sized ground units with the potential for splash damage? Oh and one more thing, it can also have a "timer" ya know, where one has to wait before being able to use this stomp ability again?

And here's another possible ability to prolong the Ultralisks' usefulness, how about having the ability to leap from cliffs? Zerglings could have this ability too where they can leap from cliffs to lower ground but not from ground to cliff? Maybe have this is a researchable evolution? :good:

Just some other thoughts to add...

 

The stomp idea is another thing that'd make it more characterful, but the 1/2 hp for every 1 dealt would cause the ultra to die fast. Think about it:

Ultralist charges 4 marines.
Ultralisk stomps on them all, dealing 160 damage(total).
Ultralisk loses 80 health, plus whatever marines did while it was charging/etc.

The ultra wouldnt be able to kill a dozen marines, even. A different ratio would have to be used, or the recieve-damage-back cant be implemented effectively, in my mind.

How about just allow enemies to attack while being stomped on? That way the ultra doesnt come away completely unscathed, but doesnt take more damage than it would via regular attacks. No one would stomp a zealot if they took 50 damage in the process, but 16 is an acceptable loss.

And, of course, stomp would have to do a lot of damage if it were set on a timer. Enough to one-shot most small units. The idea is great, though. Someone should write to Blizzard.

 

Well I still think it aught to have some damage inflicted to the Ultralisk, think about it, you would surely have some sore feet or whatnot if you were stomping on metal laden Marines and so forth...

Obviously it would need some HP tweaking on the Ultralisk's side if it were to prolong the Ultralisk's life on a battlefield, especially given the huge cost to make such a creature...

 

An Ultralisk/Tauren?? Maybe, I think I like the idea of doing a very small area splash to ground units, with the ability to walk over enemy/friendly units. It would be a great unit for small infantry and buildings, which is still a specialization, where as the splashes range would be minimized and focused when attacking large units where the no splash would be able to hit beyond the focal point of attack on the large unit. Anyways I am thinking that their will end up being an "evolved ultralisk" in SC2. So I am hoping.....

 

So they're more effective, maybe a passive cleave like the Pit Lord has in Warcraft?
A certain % of damage to nearby enemies. 60 - 85%?

 

Yes it would be good for them to go over/trample units to get past. But they should not be upgraded from zerglings... zerglings already have an upgrade and probally are going to have two, we don't need 3 of them.

 

Ultralisks don't really need to come back. But if really want them, I suggest to Blizzard that they give Ultralisks a strong attack against buildings and medium/large units. Those little marines are going to be hard to hit, but if a pylon or siege tank gets hit with the full force of a 2 ton Ultralisk, it BETTER break.

 

Yeah, if the Ultra or something like it remains i'm sure they will act like the colossus. It would make total sense. Plus it'll look really wild to have a huge swarm of lings coming at you with a few Ultras striding along with them.

 

The Stomp idea is a "hopeful" addition, really, the main usefulness of Ultralisks (and as I stated, Zerglings too) is an evolved trait that enables them to leap from cliffs to ground level. This would ultimately prolong the Ultralisks' usefulness and for those that can't afford, the Zerglings will get a similar ability too.

 

aye a trample ability for tha ultras would be great