Zerg blind unit

I was wondering, what if there were a similar to Ultralisk among the Zerg, a more powerful one, but it would be blind and every unit on the map would be invisible to it until an overlord comes close.

This way, the makers could boost this unit a lot, and count on the reliance for a nearby overlord (and not just available food) as a weakness. Without an Overlord, it would go uncontrollable and resume to run away from enemy attacks, not necessarily to a safe area (since it is blind).

Since Medic's blind is gone, but it is an already introduced Starcraft concept, I thought it could be nice to implement it in a new way. What if the new "Ultra" had to have a nearby Overlord to attack? Phase cannons need pilon power to work, why not use the overlord mobility to make a similar case, as a weakness for a new majorly powerful unit?

 

hey i like this idea haha its a bit odd, but i really like

i cant see any balance issues right off the mark, and i think it would make for some interesting play

im sorry i cant seem to think of anything to really contribute. but i figured id let you know of my approval hhaha i dig it

 

Interesting idea - I like it too. You'd have to make it pretty powerful though, because it'd be easily countered since it requires an Overlord nearby (Overlords are much less resilient to kill).

 

I would say even better for Zerg for an idea for this is if the unit would go on a rampage if not tamed by a nearby Overlord. Interesting idea...

 

I have a name for it, the BLINDling

lol

but really good post, incredibly imaginative overling.

Although maybe It could give a health regen aura in return or some bonus to the overlords in a symbiotic relationship to let it better survive, if it was good it would be an awesome unit to accompany drops.

 

nice idea, I like it. Make a very powerful unit, and it acts in a way seen in the campaign, without a overmind or overlord, they run wild. Give's more use for the overlord in combat areas beides being a detector and transport.

 

Would be too easily takken down by A to A.

 

give the unit a powerful AA attack as well. Problem solved.

 

Yes, but wouldn't such a super strong unit like that be most likely to go berserk and attack everyone nearby instead of running away? I like the idea btw, pretty creative.

 

That is why many are saying that you need to keep an overlord nearby. Two ideas going around are an overlords needs to stay nearby for sight reasons and another idea is that the player loses control of the unit if no overlords are withing range.

 

how bout it goes berserk when its attacked while no overlords are present....... it would kill your units! lol
kidding

but it seems a very good idea, but it has to be really strong or tough (or a super unit of zerg? protoss=unfair)

 

Yes, ShasOakis, I was thinking of something really powerful, and to do that the counter-part of it would be the requirement for the Overlord. The Colossi can be hit by anti-air, and this enables them to be much more of a unit. The blindness would be an excuse to make it stronger, still giving it a clear weakness.

Remember that lore-wise, the Ultralisks were originally peaceful herbivores, turned into a killing machine by the Zerg. It wouldn't be much different to see a big Ultra running scared. Also, it would be very hard to kill, and even if the overlord dies, it would still require effort getting rid of it. And if they didn't, when a new overlord arrives, it starts attacking again.

 

That is the best idea for zerg units i have ever heard

I really like it... hope Blizzard will implant this.....

The unit will go berserk without an overlord.. it don't have to be blind, but hard to control, superstrong, but with a great weakness: that its weaker "mind" (overlord) must be protected

 

I don't like the idea of it going berserk without an overlord nearby. Why would such a creature require more 'attention' so to speak? Physical attributes have nothing to do with mental abilities.

I like the idea of it being blind but have doubts about the way it could be implemented. The only way I can think of is to make its sight 0 meaning it wouldn't see even melee attackers but then any zerg unit would do to provide sight, not just overlords.

As for it having an air attack, I could very easily picture a really tall Ultralisk, as tall as a Colossus, with huge tusks and long thick legs. It would attack both ground and air with its melee attack using its long tusks. We don't have melee air attacks yet except for the scourges (if they're in) so it would make it a unique unit. It would also be susceptible to air attacks just like the Colossus.

 

I like this "blindling" idea!

But I think that loosing control over it might be to random; wether or not it flees or attacks etc.
Random things in strategy games usually suck. So here's my idea, that's instead of "rampage" ; It is considered blind (like in sc1), so you still have control over it. But only Overlords can make it see, and if it is close by to an Overlord, It gets armor (like 4 or something?). Otherwise, its armor is reduced to 0.

That's because when the "blindling" can't see, it can't see where the enemy attacks come from, therefore making it harder for it to protect itself properly.
So, it would still be able to fight without an Ovie, but it would be "blind" and not have any armor.

 

I don't see why it should get armour when it can see or lose it when not. If we were talking about smart beings with weapons and shield where the position of the shield could affect the damage received, it would make sense, but not with 'unarmed' primitive creatures. Besides I highly doubt these kinds of bonuses and auras would look right in SC.

 

i think the base idea was just perfect

 

Perhaps lowering its armor could be a little too much. But making it blind would be a good way to make it go along with other units. Let's see, if it can cross cliffs, that would require aerial escorts. If it is uber fast, would require fast units along. If it has both, it would require units like Mutalisks, as fast aerial units to go with it. Could be useful.

If you leave a buried zergling nearby the enemy, one of these "Ultras" would be able to see them and they wouldn't even know why.

And kuvasz, I didn't mean for physical strength to make it hard to control, but rather hyper-specialization, loosing something like the eyes to make it stronger. You know, genes are unpredictable: if you change one, you never know what's going to affect the other.

 

Well I think having the unit have a sight range of 1 could be feasible. The unit would be in the catergory of support, be a ranged unit and quite high damage/range. But you could not spam these units, because they needed other units to sight for them. Like a siege tank, except more costly but much stronger. And has a 100% miss rate if unaccompanied by a sighter unit.

An alternative option would be to pair this unit up with a sighter unit. The sighter unit would allow this unit to see, but be much more vulnerable. One sighter unit can only serve one blind unit, and without the sighter unit that unit cannot perform any attacks as it cannot see regardless of the units around it. This can create the symbiotic relationship between two creatures that the Zerg use. It is possible to make the Zergling to have this pathing evolution, but totally lose its attack but require no food as upkeep.

This prevents rushes of this unit from being uber, as merely killing the sighter unit totally disables the unit itself from attacking. This is where swarming comes in, to increase the chances of surviving to do massive damage for the stronger creature.

Any critism about this?

 

One overlord would be able to control all blindlings within it's vision or just one per overlord?