Warp Ray = Void Ray

"Long range bombardment" even tho its range is 4, which means its role is a bit misleading imo.

 

Nah, 'Death Ray' sounds too... Instant kill. If you ever see someone fire some kind of death ray, they only really fire once. This's like the opposite. It's long and drawn out, 'cause it has to charge up...

Should be called the Shoop Da Whoop instead and, when ordered to attack it should shout "IMA CHARGIN MAH LAZARS!!!"

 

Agreed, this unit must at least be slower when already firing at something and chasing it if it tries to go away: we can't have a unit in the game that can autolock anything and deal tremendous damage after a while, without any hope to escape the "goddamn lazer of doom".

My opinion is that the original unit has been designed to provide the Protoss a kind of bomber, able to destroy buildings, supposed to be static and to have a lot of HP, pretty quickly, and possibly to deal with massive units managed by people who never heard about micromanagement. But the fact that this unit can chase a unit while keeping at attacking it... No, that's not a good idea to me. Opponents should be able to dodge the attack if they control their units correctly, otherwise it's the whole system of guerrilla-style hit-and-run micromanagement etc, where the whole point of the game is to make the best with every unit you have, that vanishes into the nothingness.

It reminds me somehow the channeling leech abilities of the Dark Ranger and the Blood mage in Warcraft 3, you know, Mana Siphon and Life Siphon, where you have a continuous beam draining the points from the target to the caster, and the opponent just have to move the targeted unit away from the range of the still casting attacker. That's a good system to me, efficient and balanced.

 

Well what if it's targetting something as fast as a 'ling or something? Obviously it wouldn't have time to run, but would the Void Ray match the speed of its target or what? If it retains its normal speed, then chances are a lot of units will still be able to run off and reset the Void Ray's attack.

Another point of interest is this. Say you order a Guardian to attack a Siege Tank. So, as you'd expect the Siege Tank would get out of Siege Mode and start fleeing. Once the Siege Tank's out of range, what's the Guardian going to do? Follow it. Same goes for any unit, so why should the Void Ray be any different? It's basically dealing damage just like any other unit, only its attack animation and bonus is different.

That said, I'd rather if the Void Ray didn't move while attacking, but instead had both an initial and maximum range. The initial range being the range it has to be within to start attacking, which I think is four or so at the moment, and the maximum range being the range it has to be within it continue attacking, which could be anywhere between four and say, ten or so. It wouldn't technically be improving its range, and it would reduce the ability for your opponent to simply reset the beam. Opponents would still be able to micro, only it wouldn't be as simple as moving one space away and immediately back again. It'd also mean that the player with the Void Ray wouldn't have to be afraid of starting to attack from its maximum initial range, if you get what I mean.

 

I think warp has a better ring than void...

 

@ItzaHexGor: My point was to reduce it's speed so it can still give the chase but for less long than 100% speed. Micromanaging the targeted unit will still reset the beam, but instead of moving the unit a pixel back and forth, you would need that unit to go a bit farther to have the beam reseted. This removes the unit longer from the fight.

This being said, you need to take a look at the *Voidka-Ray user, that has all his unit stopped from firing and only his Voidka-Ray moving alone in the front to give chase. I think it opens up tactics for ennemy to lure the Voidka-Ray into their army and destroy it. Portoss player will need to bring it back to his army for protection Having the unit moving while firing will add a lot of Micro to both sides in my opinion.

About your idea of min-max range I liked it ! It removes the micro part for Protoss and that 10 max range is kinda long . I would make it min-4 max-6 (SC marine range without and with the range upgrade) That would be a very viable idea ItzaHexGor

*Voidka-Ray = Void-Ray + Vodka's taste

 

Yeah you're right. That's what I was trying to overcome with my idea. If Protoss players are using Void Rays, they're going to want to be able to take advantage of their range, just as any player wants to do with any ranged unit, but in order for them to be attacking from their maximum range, the targeted unit would simply be able to move one space away, hence resetting the beam.

I don't think luring Void Rays would be a problem, or an opportunity. Any unit could hypothetically be lured into a base or ambush that way, but it simply doesn't happen. That said, feel free to correct me on that one if I'm wrong.

Haha, yeah. I seriously have no clue on range distance is in StarCraft, so I just said anywhere between four, being its range at the moment (though I only know that because I'd just read it in this thread), and ten or so, being something like the range of a Siege Moded Siege Tank, isn't it? Basically, seeing as I didn't know how large the difference between the two should be, or how far x range would equate to in game, I just tried to be as vague as possible, haha. Anywhere between four... And ten... Or so...

And thanks for your support on the idea.

 

It's true that you could lure any units in SC. No sure how AI takes that in SC2. Protoss Void-Ray players now have an advantage with the chase now. Damage and possible kill , but you need to voluntarily move it foward. I hope it has backup *Let's say your fighting Roaches and hydra, a roach moved back and (without micro) the Void-Ray give chase and moves in. It's actually begging to be singled out by the hydras.* With your idea it removes the need for the protoss player to make a choice and micro it back.

The word is that micro is present already but macro is missing, so it could be a great idea to implement that.

Correction marines have 4 range and 5 with upgrade.
Tank: Range 7 (12 Siege Mode)
Spore Photon missile Turret : Range 7
Guardian : Range 8

10 range is a lot, 4 min and 6-7 max could be nice.

 

Erm, what's up with wanting to have the Void Rays move while firing? Not that I don't like the idea, but I thought that the Void Ray wasn't supposed to be able to fire on moving targets at all. That's what balances the unit. If you want to fire on moving targets, why not use the Carrier, or the Mothership, if you get the chance to tech that far?

Isn't the primary function of the Void Ray to destroy buildings? It's even demonstrated like that on the official site:

Maybe that the moving could be added as some kind of unit individual upgrade. A player could choose between adding an enhanced movement subsystem, while sacrifising some beam power, or the standard version. Create some kind of check box in the build selection menu of the Stargate and there you go: more tactical choices and an unit that has a much wider choice of targets then before.

It's just some crazy idea, but isn't that how all great ideas start of?

 

Void Rays are designed to take on anything with a large reservoir of health. Basically, anything that can last until it's fully charged, because that's when it's most effective. But most things with large amounts of health, including a lot of buildings, can easily move away. Obviously you'll get the Void Ray to start attacking from its maximum range, just as you do with almost all ranged units, but with this type of attack the Protoss player's opponent can simply move one space away and instantly move back, which would reset the beam. That's why, seeing as we know so little about the Void Rays, we've come up with these ideas, as they prevent this from happening so easily, hence making the Void Ray a heck of a lot more useful.

The idea isn't to have a unit that can attack on the move, despite the idea being that the Void Ray simply follows the unit it's attacking, so wouldn't be like the Cobras or anything we saw in the Terran gameplay video as that simply wouldn't work with the Void Ray, it's to fix a simple micro exploit.

 

you're saying there is a maximum range of when the beams will stop firing at a fleeing target that is >400?

 

i don't think theres a problem with it attacking while moving, as its designed to take on slow high hitpoint units its not like its going to be chasing something across the map for long.

 

That was precisely what I feared, a kind of autotracking attacker that you can't get rid of once it locked you, unless you destroy it or disable it. I don't want this kind of units nubs will mass like hell in the game, and then claim in chat channels "look at me am roxorz lol u nub", no thanks...

I don't like the idea of multiple versions of the same unit. Well, I think it's a good idea personnally, don't get me wrong, but that that doesn't fit with the usual Blizzard gameplay: it is starting to be too complicated in my opinion. But I like the idea of an upgrade: originally let's say the unit can't move when starting its firing animation, but thanks to this upgrade, it could slowly slide, in order to be able to chase slow targets.

The range could be upgradable as well, like 4-5 basic, and a +2 available upgrade.

It is not like I don't want Protoss to have superunits, but I want them to pay the right price for that, not just click click click click and tada, here is my invinsible, autolocker, chase-you-until-the-hell, you're dead before have time to settle some defensive strategy, super fighters, I don't need to support this group with anything else that few detectors lol you're so dead you nub. No thanks. If the final concept of this unit, with high-damage + long range + chasing etc, can exist, ok, but I want it only in late game, like tier3.5 unit, so the Protoss players may have fun massing them if they want, but the opponents may have the time to think about some counters meanwhile.

My two cents are currently that this unit should only have offensive upgrades, like damage + range + speed + chasing + ability to attack air etc, but no armour upgrade, no shield upgrade, no possible detection or sight upgrade etc, so they will need to be supported everytime by something else, and the game would still be interesting for everybody.

 

How is it different to a Mutalisk or a Phoenix or anything? Once ordered to attack a unit, it'll attack that unit until it's destroyed or disabled. It'd be the same with this, only the beam won't be reset each time, making it practically useless.

Besides, if noobs mass these, just mass Marines, Hydralisks, Mutalisks, Stalkers, etc, and you'll snap them. Void Rays are only good against units with a lot of health. Massing Void Rays is in no way an effective strategy, and they simply can't win by doing so.

Also, yeah, I wouldn't like to have individual upgrades for Void Rays. If there were, then you'd basically have effective Void Rays, and ineffective Void Rays. You shouldn't need to upgrade each Void Ray for it to work as a unit.

 

I agree,
this unit should be easily countered by massed low hp / low cost units, because of the fact it needs to restart its whole firing animation everytime it switches to a new target.
I am not 100% sure until now that the firing animation does not stay to its full potential once reached, as long as this unit has something to attack within its range.

 

We are pretty sure about that point

Unless any recent changed, all videos had beam reset to first stage even with targets still in range. Our modification is not to make this unit a super unit. It's actually to make sure that it is a useful unit both in beginners hand and in professional hands.

 

Just state that this unit has been mainly designed for bombing purposes, ie destroying buildings, and I think everybody will be happy with that in my opinion: Give to the new players some campaign missions where they have a squad of these guys, and some enemies bases to clean, and they will quickly get the point into the increasing-over-time damage system I think. More experienced players may feel like later considering this unit as a valid counter against anything that have a lot of HP and low speed, and considering a counter to this unit etc.

What is the tech level of this unit by the way?

 

Keep in mind that a lot of building are also capable of moving. The vast majority of Terran buildings can Lift Off and Zerg defences, defences obviously being one of the Void Ray's top priorities, can also uproot, so even when attacking buildings the Void Ray's charged attack can be rendered pretty much useless.

 

@Jissé : The void ray is produced at the Stargate, and does not require further technological advancements to be built. It can be immediately constructed after the Stargate is built.

Taken from Starcraft Wiki taken from Blizzcon '07, quite old but Jon or other people that played latest might be able to tell us more. I don't know what "tier" it is. Never been good with tiers over 3 XD

 

There is basically no tier with the Protoss, as they do not have to upgrade their "town hall" to get some higher technology. The tier system only applies to Warcraft in general and the Zergs in Starcraft.

The tech level of this unit is therefore 3.

Nexus > Gateway > Cybernetic core > Stargate
You have to build 3 buildings in order to reach this unit.

A Probe = tech level 0 (you can do it straight away the game started)
A Zealot = tech level 1 (you may consider 1.5 because of the pylon)
A Dragoon = tech level 2
etc

I was expecting a level a bit higher. I guess then this unit is slow and/or has low hp (for a protoss unit)...
As they have no more the Scout if I understood correctly, I take it Blizzard provided some air bomber early/middle game for the Protoss this way through this unit, while waiting to be able to mass carriers later...