Ay yo, hello, first post in this lovely place. Just an idea for zerg unit. I want to see how many holes you can shoot through it. Reading some ideas from this forum, I see alot of things are similar to this idea, but not quite. Anyways, I chose to call the unit the Nekrodont, or 'death tooth'. Contrary to Zerg norm, this is not a small, abundant unit, but a fairly large, expensive one, available late tier 2 or tier 3. I know, I know, nuff super units, but it has major weaknesses. Basically the notion is to have a fairly large sized creature, something like an Overlord, that can either fly or crawl slowly. Something like the speed of an upgraded overlord. I'm envisioning a massive potatoe bug/rolly poly but with longer proportioned legs, or a large floating Jelly Fish with many dangling tentacles (again something like the overlord). The creature has no ranged attack, and can only cause damage my moving over a biologically based unit at which point its speed is further reduced. The unit, or units under attack are essentially rendered helpless as they are consumed at a steady rate, losing HP as the Nekrodont slowly passes over them. If the Nekrodont is killed during this consumption the units are freed but keep the damaged they sustained. The Nekrodont CAN consume multiple units at a time up to a given limit. As units are consumed 50% (numbers negotiable) of the HPs lost are given back to the Nekrodont. It can pass over vehicles and bunkers and 'suck' victims from them, if they are completely consumed their vehicles are rendered inert. It can only attack ground units. Possible abilities: Storage- If the Nekrodont is at full health surplus health consumed can be stored in dorsal sacs that grow as enermies are digested. Compost- Alternatively, it can 'defecate' digested manner which can be consumed for health by other zerg units, or this defecation is in effect 'laying creep' allowing all the bonuses and abilities that come with that terrain. Sink- If the Nekrodont has its sacs completely full (or past a certain point) it can settle and become a new hatchery Coil- Like a Potato bug, it can roll into a ball, giving it addition armor and HP regeneration, but rendering it immobile, and ejecting any units being digested at the time The unit may be able to cross levels of terrain like reapers, Colossi and stalkers. These abilites aren't supposed to be had altogother, but are just possibilites to make things interesting. Strategic/Tactical implications: By itself the Nekrodont is fairly helpless, ranged units can simply stay away from it and kill it, fast units can hit and run. It is best used against static defences especially if it is able to traverse levels of terrain or in large battles where the opponent doesn't have time to micro. With support, even if it is evaded you can use it to corale opposing units to where you want them to go or fire at. It is decent against base raiding for killing workers in unprotected expansions, and with the 'sink' ability, offers a great transition between attacking and expanding. Also it could be useful as a defensive unit. ie. eating zealots that are attacking a sunken colony etc. For these reasons I see it has having a fairly high HP, (or low HP with alot of armor), and if it turns into a hatchery, at least costing 250-300 minerals plus whatever amount of vespene. Also, you could possibly create it by morphing an existing overlord, but losing the sensor ability.
Welcome abroad! And wow! Finally an implementing of consume I like! lol I do like it a lot! A Flying jelly fish that regenerates could fill in the gaps of aerial tanking the Zerg have. Being sustained by feeding on organic flesh makes it even more interesting lore-wise. Good job man! owerup: Also, good job on the name. Necro is death in latin, as in necrosis, a know biological process that can be induced on preys for some hunting organisms. EDIT: Have you considered making this unit a new evolution for the Mutalisk? Also, I didn't like compost ability. But that seems to be the only bothering thing in a great post.
It is very clear that you have put a lot of thought into this unit, and you have described it extremely well, but the concept doesn't sit right for me. Here's some constructive criticism, if you don't mind: My first point is very hard to express, (I apologise in advance if it sounds like complete gibberish to someone). I feel that all Zerg units are extremely defined. They are all extremely detailed, insectoid (in StarCraft2) creatures that are extremely hostile and are always aggressive. I don't think that a Jelly-Fish like creature (I tried to look up potato bug, but I couldn't find any images of one) seems way to undefined and doesn't have any particular detail (unless you would have it more like the Overlord than a classic Jelly-Fish) but also, whether it is a Jelly-Fish or Overlord, is would seem to be way too passive. Neither the Overlord nor Jelly-Fish ever express any kind of emotion, like hatred or blood-thirstiness, so I do not think it would fit in with the rest of the Zerg army, who appear to always be aggressive or hostile. I also don't like that it is a large-sized unit, (I always feel that the Ultralisk should dwarf all other Zerg units) but I congratulate you on acknowledging this. Secondly, if it is able to consume multiple units at once then it makes it pretty much immune to any melee attack. Even if it is a limit of 5 or so, to a Protoss player, it would take 6 Zealots before it they could actually start to deal damage to the Nekrodont. I know that your probably saying 'well just don't use Zealots or other melee units to attack it then' but melee units should be able to attack all other ground units, because that is all that they're able to do. And if melee units still weren't able to attack the Necrodont, then it would give Terran a huge advantage in countering them (because all their units are ranged), whereas Zerg and Protoss would not have this advantage. Again I want to state that all Zerg units should be relatively cheap to produce when compared to Protoss and Terran units, so I think that this would be costly to produce, targeted and killed by the enemy before it can do any significant harm (because it is slow), and as a result of this, it would not be used very often. All of the abilities seem that they would be able to be implemented into the unit, but I do not think that the unit would be able to be implemented into the Zerg team. Great idea overall, but it would need to be changed a lot to fit into StarCraft.
FYI, Jellyfishes are one of the most lethal creatures of the ocean! And about the well defined, well, you guys were suggesting a creature that grows on feeding! lol That's way more radical than one that recovers HP (faster) by eating! Also, have you seen Spongebob (lol)? Jellyfishes can portray emotion in fictional situations. And don't forget that an aerial unit is immune to melee for starters! So it being immuno to them doesn't make a difference, in fact, it surpasses the Guardian as ATG aerial unit, not loosing his weakness in the process. I'm sticking up with this guy's idea, I really like it!
When I said well defined, I meant physically. As in, they have defined features and detailed traits, but a Jelly-Fish is just a blob. I didn't mean that the concept is not well defined, I was talking about how it would appear in-game. And with that other idea, it was not that it grew by eating (although it could be implied), it was that it was like a Zerg version of the Soul Hunter, which was cut because it didn't suit Protoss. Jelly-Fish that portray emotions, like in 'Spongebob' (sigh), would have to be cartoon-ey, which definitely wouldn't fit in with Zerg. An actual image of a real live Jelly-Fish, will have absolutely no emotion, whereas almost all other creatures will have some sort of way of showing emotion, and if not, at least they will have a face. The Nekrodont was suggested to be a ground unit. According to this statement it could be either. But according to this statement, it would be a ground unit.
Well, Zerg Queen whistles "Happy birthday to you". Ultralisk talks with its eyes. Larvae... I don't really mind that it is less emotional than a human, it shouldn't be human anyway, lol! But Jellyfishes ain't blobs. They have tentacles, and the difference from Overlords would be the more round body, absence of a head and tentacles more downward. Doesn't matter if you can't see where it is staring at, zerg are supposed to be innovative in looks, don't they? It is easy imo to make it look differently than an Overlord. About the aerial/ground, I'm definitely against another Zerg ground unit. They're all about ground. If you make a unit whose endurance is greater when attacking, by absorbing HP, it is a great new feature that would suit the zergs current need for air tanks, imo;
I think this is an awfully expensive "corral" unit, when Zerglings would be just as effective (and faster) at the task.
I really like your idea but have to agree it'd need a lot of editing to fit into the SC universe. But what if (just an idea) this unit didn't attack units as much but latched itself onto buildings. It'd be an arial unit and those jellyfish like tentacles could be used to hold onto the building. And rendered that building inoperable until someone killed the Necro or it moved away. And maybe in doing so either created a little creep regained lost hitpoints a touch quicker. And cause my version of the unit wouldn't have an attach as such it could have an ability to have a stone skin where it added like +5 to it's armour value but becomes immobile at the same time.
Well, it is as much useful as a Guardian were. The difference is that it would be more resilient, but at same time it would be exposed into enemy fire to do it. It is like taking out the range, but giving him resilience and a way to recover this HP while attacking ground units. If Guardians weren't overlapping lings, then Necrolisk must not either. If you wish to raid a base, instead of being faraway and vulnerable to anti-air, now you are close but more resilient, and an aerial tank which imo was missing. Scourges can go for it much better if the enemy fire is targeting a giant Jellyfish in the sky.
Thanks for the criticisms/support- Ima direct this post generally Well in terms of appearance, I would say it looks like whatever would best fit the Zerg. If you can't find potato bug, look up SOW bug, and extend its legs vertically. In terms of the Jelly Fish, I was just using it to get across the notion of having a suspended eating apparatus, that grinds up its victims. Your'e right about the 'pacing' of the unit, in that it doesn't fit the Zerg tempo, but thats partly the point. Also, I still thinks its menacing in a more subtle way, a slow moving monster with a large eating radius, that eats up and digests you slowly! In terms of vocalizations, I imagine being a cross between the Ultra and the Overlord. Also, whatever, it can fly or it cannot, whatever works best, its probably better if it could fly, but then it would be more vulnerable to air attack, which could be a good things as well. In terms of attacking Melee units, I imagined it as having a sort of front end directional attack. So you can attack it from behind or the flank, until it turns on you, or perhaps it can atttack front-back, but not sideways. Think about C&C and running over infantry with tanks. On its own then, against a group of Zealots, it may take a couple with it, but in the end, be pretty dead. Also, I don't think Terrans have an advantage over it necessarily, due to the fact that it only attacks biological. Its useless against the phase cannons and robotic units of the Protoss. Not to mention the protoss are getting some new nifty ranged units. I would say offensively its great in attacking terran bases, but defensively better at nullifying a zealot mass attack. If anything, I don't think I've stressed how useful it could be on defence; seeing as the enemy HAS to attack a fixed point, because of this it might even too OP. I like the idea about having it, or another unit attach to buildings, in order to destroy them/ infest them. I don't think Blizzard has played around enough in what Creep can do, or how it can be layed down.
Hmmm, I still think it would be better to have a null attack versus air, just like the Guardian. In fact, even if it moves slowly, that's how the Guardian moved, and it was ok. I've always wanted a sort of Flying Ultra anyway. So, instead of being really like an Ultra, the fast recovering from eating ground units would fit perfectly, as in creating a new modus operandi (latin for 'way it works'). I don't think it should have a huge radius, or be huge itself. Just by eating the ground units and getting HP back is fine. Its weakness would be no anti-air fire, and slow movement. And that its attack has to be done while directly above the enemy. Its strength would be hard damage versus ground, recovering fast the HPs while attacking, and big total HP. This way, it could attack a base and survive (while eating enemies) and draw enemy attention to it, leaving room for scourges to kill air enemies. Scourges weakness is heavy anti-air dmg anyways. But I doubt Phoenixes will kill this one while eating zealots, probes, stalkers. Meanwhile, their attention would be required to kill it, leaving room for the scourges to run free.
Yeah, I never meant it to attack air at all. By 'huge radius' I mean relative to experiences in everyday life; it would look about the same size as an Ultra/Overlord on screen.
The Sow Bug does make more sense than the Jelly-Fish. It should be a unit that focus' on defense because Zerg should generally be an offensive team. The reason it would be effective against Terran is that they are all ranged (except SCV) so they wouldn't ever really have to be forced into combat. Also, for the reason you said it would be pretty much useless against Protoss.
keep in mind however that the point in zerg is numbers, and i cant picture too much use for more than 5-6 at a time. i like the idea, but if you could "refine" it a bit id like to see its potential. and if it moves slowly, how would it stay "on top of" the enemy biological unit?
No, no and no. Zergs are about survival. Numbers, higher HP, cheaper cost, reproduction availability, that's what they're about. Numbers alone don't fit the description. Ultras can take down zounds of terran units. Dark Swarm can finish an entire Terran army, along with consume. They're not about numbers, they're about survival skills and strategy.
Well the point of discussion is to get different ideas from different people, how would you refine it? or is it conceptually off the mark? As for 'staying on top'; once it reaches an enemy unit the unit is frozen and losing HP, it can only be freed by other units, (or unless the Nekro uses the "Curl" ability), the Nekro 'moves over it' slowing its own speed down depending on the amount consumed (adjustable), when it passes over completely, then the victim unit is dead.
@ Overling, I've already explained to you in another topic that Zerg are about having more units than the other teams, even Terran.
Well.. i like the idea, but i think it should be changed when it comes to slow and only able to attack biological units. 1. The unit should be a flying unit... an evolution to overlords whoud be perfect. 2. I don't like the idea of it being slow and having high HP, why not make it have upgraded overlord (medium) speed and not that expensive. 3. Then give the unit a huge radius of ground attack where it drains HP for all units with its tentacles (i whoud like to see the animation of that), but not as to much as a super unit. 4. It will have the ability to attack all kinds of units and buildings (because both Terran and protoss buildings have biological targets inside). 5. This will make the unit a good base killer, and with a "sink" upgrade a perfect extend base killer. This will fit better to the zerg.
i would like to see a unit which was designed by kerrigan beacause of zaszes rouge clan and the cerebrate alan schezar controlled: a unit to kill en masse
