Vikings: not so versatile on the ground...

I really find it hard to understand how bad vikings are as ground units. They do fine when they have numbers on their side against air, but as a ground unit, no. they only have 125hp, they are listed as armor units, but base armor value is zero, and they are the most unwieldly units to micro. A pair of my marauders with stims can almost kill three landed vikings single handedly. I know they are here to be versatile, but they shouldnt blow away in the wind when confronted by the measliest of forces. I would love it if blizzard gave the vikings some kind of buff in the next patch to either give them a base armor value, some agility on the ground, or decreased the cost. Correct me, but I believe they are 100 mins 100 gas right now, and for the price, they should have a bit more punch.

Runway227

 

First of all, welcome to the forum!

I agree with you about the Vikings, I have yet to see a game where someones strategy involves these units. So far I have only seen them being used as a counter to Mutalisks.

 

the viking on the ground is more of a harass unit, or at the very least it's an air unit with an ability to land to help the ground forces when air isn't needed.

 

I for one think that vikings are completely fine. They are incredibly powerful anti-capital unit with their incredible damage and range. They can also harass very well. Sure that marauders > vikings and guess what: They are supposed to! Minor hp/armor/cost tweaking is possible, sure, but I think they are currently one of the most balanced units in the game.

Oh and it is 150 minerals + 75 gas. Not 100/100.

 

Vikings may die fast on ground but they do a ton of damage to. On ground they are base raiders so i don't see the problem with this situation.

 

yeah, banshees are the real anti-ground unit. vikings are anti-air and ground-support, not anti-both.

 

Vikings are supposed to be anti-air with the added convenience of reinforcing ground-based firepower when there's nothing in the sky to shoot.

 

They have 9 range in the air, they are ANTI-AIR role. On the ground, it's taking down expansions(islands, high yields)

 

For me when theres no enemy air I ground them for the extra fire power, and yeah pretty good for taking down expansions.

 

yeah i rly wouldn't use them for much else besides anti-air or harassing a mineral line

 

They do have their uses.
Good to keep a pack around to skip around the map and see what's up, take out bases, etc.

I find they are very effective for Overlord sniping. With Zergs current AA problem, they usually don't have a choice but to try and hide Overlords, and if you find enough you can really shut down their unit production.

I have seen far too many Zerg players just pile overlords in a corner, only for me to find them with some Viking and just pick them off as they slowly try and flee.

 

Ahh man that sounds like a bleak situation, I think I'd just want to gg right there if that happened to me

 

pretty stupid thing to do, anyways. overlords are pretty useful in SC2- spread creep to deny expansions and increase your ground army's speed. no reason why they should be clumped up.

 

The range they have on the ground makes them fit nicely behind marines. They aren't really intended to soak up damage, just to add a bit more dps to your assault/defense.

 

I agree with FFenix. Times I use Vikings are with siege tanks and when someone is going heavy air. They are extremely useful for scouting expans and taking out scvs/probes/drones as well as supporting a 2v2 partner who has gone massive ground or air. The ability to fly in and land on the ground is best used for taking out any ground to air turrets.

 

They're really meant to be based on an air unit. not a Goliath replacement.

 

well, during development blizz kept moving them back and forth between the factory and starport. they're totally a goliath replacement, both lore- and mechanics- wise.

 

All I use Vikings for are anti-air, rarely do I drop them unless of course there is nothing left to attack. The time I build more than usual vikings are against Zerg in which case you might not need to drop them because you have overlords to kill, or other units.

Mostly if you are worried about your Vikings dying on the ground you should probably def. tech them give them the Armor they need to survive against whatever you are fighting. But it sounds to me like you are just massing vikings in a low level league which is a bad habit you should probably break.

 

Their anti-air use is good, but I do agree that they are slightly handicapped on the ground.

I don't know the exact cost of a mutalisk, but i do know that it is an air unit that attacks ground and air very well.

Since vikings are limited to attacking only ground or only air, i feel like they should keep their aerial stats the way they are, but perhaps alter their ground stats to make them more effective considering the situation you place the vikings in once they are actually landed.

Since they are made vulnerable to ground attack only units, i feel like a simple solution would be to do the following:
-aerial stats stay the same, they work. vikings aren't OP or weak in the air, they get the job done without dominating any units (or at least thats what my past experiences with the unit have been)
-on the ground, everything stays the same except they suddenly go from zero armor to 1 armor, that way they have some ability to be part of a ground fighting force.

the way i see it, aerial units that can attack ground and air have advantages to the viking in the sense that they can attack without changing form (changing form makes them fairly vulnerable for two periods of time, those periods being base entry and base exit) and don't have to worry about ground only units such as tanks, zealots, zerglings etc. so this way the vikings is still justified for being cheaper, but has a slight bit more staying power to make them more useful

 

dang does the transform take a while, you think its possible for the transformation to take place on the move, think of transformers in action....