With HotS beta being released, I've thought quite a bit about the units that Blizzard has been releasing for the beta and all the ideas they've had. Many of these ideas are stale, yet safe (widow mine, hellbat, viper, all of these are very similar to brood war units), and some are out of the box and unrefined (tempest, oracle). My question to you all is, what cool units would you want in an RTS? They don't have to be constrained to SC2 or BW, they can be anything!
I'll starrt:
I'd love for a spellcaster that used health as energy. I have no idea what it would do or the role it would function, but it'd be a cool mechanic! Maybe they could be "meat shields" like better immortals and the trade off of using spells is that they lose health and therefore tankiness.
Another cool idea would be the ability to create "walls" like in Age of Empires. I've always thought the idea of a building having no purpose other than blocking space has always been interesting! It'd be a nice alternative to the forcefield, because it provides space control without inhibiting micro! Also I'm a sucker for sim cities 
What would you all put in an RTS?
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I would put in some cool artillery units for the terrans, like a revolving artillery cannon which is really expensive but really hits home with the idea that terrans are the ultimate fortification race, dealing long-range destruction while they create the ultimate defense. Their siege tanks would also be more devastating. They would be able to build fortifications, and powerful stationary defense weapons platforms. Finally they would also gain access to true nuclear weapons using ballistic missiles. Terrans should also have access to tactical bombers.
I would give shield generators for the protoss that extend beyond their base (and mobile shield generators), and in general a dramatic increase in the price and supply cost of each unit, but an associated increase in their power. Stalkers should be powerful, heavy robotic units that have a powerful, rapid-fire photon cannon attack. Colossus would move much slower, but they would have the ultimate in AOE laser weaponry. This is in keeping with the protoss theme of being extremely powerful, but expensive and delicate to manage.
Finally, the zerg would have double the supply of their opponents, and cheaper units. This would be in keeping with being a true swarm race...which is only possible with higher supply. Creep should also do something cooler and more meaningful, like actually slowing down enemy units and having a corrosive effect on their armor. It would allow creep to play a meaningful and interesting defensive role. As far as more interesting zerg units, I would create large burrower worms which could swallow units whole and burrow back underground, and for larger units they could slam them with jagged, razor sharp teeth and burrow again.
I think the zerg should specialize in disease and plague attacks, and should be capable of infesting their enemies. I really liked the original design for the infestor, and how it could take over enemy unit producing buildings, but it was scrapped.
I guess I'm a bit disappointed at how tame and relatively uninspired SC2 is. A lot of the concepts are pretty generic. The infestor's fungal growth is really generic. Spewing out potentially infinite numbers of infested terrans make no logical sense, and is therefore lame. I feel like they could have done so much more. Make zerglings able to stampede over walls and flood enemy defenses. Allow terrans to build defenses against these flooding attacks, which only work for a certain time before they break through. Protoss will need to maintain their shields and defend with powerful technology. SIGH, I guess its just too hard to balance, or there isn't enough imagination.
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EPT
