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For the 'actual unit' suggestion pile:
The Heimdall
Mech-type unit. Neither light nor armoured.
Requires: Armoury, Orbital Command
Size: slightly larger than a Marauder, slightly smaller than a landed Viking.
Weaponry: Anti-air missiles (bonus against light, range 6), medium calibre anti-ground weapons (range 6).
This unit is not manufactured from a building. Instead it is called down, MULE style, to anywhere within the detection radius of a Sensor Tower. Does not require vision to do so.
Mineral/Gas/Energy cost, supply, health and damage to be decided through balancing.
Optional: the Heimdall could have a limited lifetime, just like the MULE, in exchange for lower costs and possibly zero supply.
Intended Roles
Late-game Mech raider, emergency base defence.
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Jackal
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/u7MEiZz.jpg)
The Jackal is a highly mobile infantry-support unit built from the Barracks, requiring both an ghost academy and tech-lab.
Specifications
Look: Bionic/Ecotoskeleton-suit/psionic/agile
Required Tech: Barracks—>Tech-Lab—>Ghost Academy
Cost: 200-minerals/150-Gas/40-Seconds/2-Supply
Attributes: Biological, Psionic
Attack: None
Speed: 3.75
Health: 125
Upgrades: An standard energy upgrade at the Ghost Academy would probably be a good idea. Ability upgrades for balance as needed.
(Note1: All specifications and/or values are rough estimates and placeholders set in order to flesh out an economic and strategic standing of the unit.
Note2: The Jackal should be nothing less than very fast. The unit has no offensive capability to exploit its mobility. It is purely a support unit and an expensive one at that, such speed is warranted)
Abilities:
Kinetic Shield- Creates an barrier on a single target biological unit for 7 Seconds, which negates all incoming damage dealt to the target from it’s front facing side. All damage dealt from the rear or flank sides of the unit are unaffected by Kinetic Shield. Range 9. 75 Energy
Place Shift- Instantly swaps positions with another friendly unit. Range 11. 25 Energy.
Lockdown- Stuns target mechanical unit for 5 seconds. Affected unit can be attacked, repaired and targeted by other abilities. Range 7. 100 Energy.
The Jackal’s role in every matchup is to increase late game Bio-army viability in direct engagements through micro intensive abilities. The goal with the Jackal is not to disincentives the harassment potential of Bio-armies, but to allow more compelling and challenging late-game engagements for players on each side of the match-up. The Jackals interactions with ling/bang/muta/ultra, Marine/Tank, Pure Mech, Sky-Terran, Protoss death-ball and Sky-toss will stimulate both greater micro and multitasking engagements. I will be going through each ability in regards to the matchup (and each associated composition) vs the Bio/Jackal army in order to depict a more comprehensive understanding of the unit.
At first look, It may seem off-putting that both Kinetic Shield and Lockdown are very similar, or in the latter’s case nearly identical, to their predecessor’s equivalent, but it is critical to understand how different each respective game is. In Starcraft 2 where maxed out armies of hyper cost-effective units, such as Colossi, dominate competitive play, Lockdown will be invaluable and will allow Terran to be less reliant on the Viking in the Bio vs Deathball. Jackal’s will be attempting to flank said army, avoiding feedback, Lockingdown Colossi, while the MMM Kites the zealots. If done successfully the Terran player will be able to dissect the Protoss by splitting the gateway units from the Colossi. Overall, Lockdown would spread out the entire Bio vs Deathball engagement, while requiring more multitasking from the Terran (multitasking both bio/ghost and Jackal) as well as the Protoss (Colossi position, Templar spread for effective storms and defensive feedbacks.. Further, Lockdown would greatly impact both Air-Air and Ground-Air engagements in all three of the Protoss/Terran matchups. Air-Air combat is sadly some of the most uninteresting, and frankly boring, engagements in all of Starcraft 2 and that doesn't look like it will change in LotV. So by having a ground unit that would strengthen viability of non-viking units, to combat Air forces would increase unit diversity and complexity substantially. Lockdown would also create an interesting back and forth relationship with the coming Disruptor. Lockdown(range: 7) would seem to soft counter nicely the Disruptor if cast prior to it’s activation. This could add positive complexity. Sadly, more speculation would be weak with our current understanding of LotV and how this unit will affect the Deathball composition.
The Place Shift ability grants additional mobility to the Jackal in hopes to create more synergy with its other abilities and army compositions. It is relatively simple, swapping the Jackals place with another friendly unit, and will likely be most valuable in the TvT and TvP matchups vs mechanical units when coupled with Lockdown. The ability would allow Jackals (with near full energy) to Kinetic Shield themselves, close the rather short range required for Lockdown, disable the unit and Place Shift out. This would allow Jackals to be cost effective, when microed correctly, even when engaging very defensive positions (Tanks, Lurkers, Deathball). In the scenario stated, feedback would be the most obvious counter and vulnerability to this tactic. Overall, Place Shift is a little less cost efficient then blink, in both resources and energy (something will likely die in its place), but could add up to more creativity (TLO back to Terran?) with the unit and fulfill the Jackal’s inherent need to be agile.
Kinetic Shield (KS) is likely the most game affecting ability from the Jackal. In all matchups Bio’s late game direct engagement potential is stunted by its own virtue of being a glass cannon. This low health high damage/mobility and apparent vulnerability to AOE has created arguably the most compelling gameplay in Starcraft 2’s history, with players needing to utilize micro (splits, drops, etc) to overcome the compositions weakness. That understood, KS is not an attempt to change this composition design in the slightest, but supplement it so greater army control can yield more value. The ability’s design to be only frontal damage prevention creates an dynamic that both players must utilize. In TvZ, for example, KS would increase the value the role the marauder plays in current meta. Small creep clearing pushes turn into full scale army engagements with the marines splitting behind the marauders and the Zerg attempting to detonate his Banglings on the marines. KS would be cast on the forces in front at the start of the engagements and incentivize Zerg players to flank and be more conscious of their detonation or they could be lost on an single unit. KS would also be invaluable for taking aggressive engagements into defensive positions of Lurkers in LotV. Similar to how KS would be used against Tank lines vs Mech, units protected would be able to aggro the AOE long enough for their army to engage. Of course an top Zerg would have opportunities to pick off these shielded units with Mutas from the rear or sides before they engaged or target fired with Lurkers. Vs Ultras Kinetic Shield would greatly increase positioning and terrain advantages in tight closed off areas by bottle-necking with shielded units. In open areas, Ultras would have to be microed in order to not derp wasting attacks on shielded units. KS in TvP, as with Lockdown, would spread out the engagements. KS would be cast on units in the front line to tank Chareglot/Archon/Colossi, while the rest of the Bio army would stutter step retreat. This would add difficulty for the Terran player for each unit shielded would have to be separated from their control group. If the shielded unit were to stutter step and leave their back vulnerable, they would die quickly. It is important to note at this point that both KS and the Jackal are expensive, neither should be thrown away lightly. If controlled correctly shielded units would be able to tank enormous amounts damage from a poorly controlled Deathball. Therefore, storm would increase in value, by being able to damage shielded units, while Colossi would decrease. Obviously, if Colossi were target firing skillfully their value would be maintained, but either way KS would increase micromanagement and Bio-late game engagement viability. KS in TvT would be hugely innovative in all three Bio vs Mech Bio vs Marine/Tank and Marine/Tank vs Marine/Tank matchups. KS would allow one marine to tank multiple volleys of unmicroed Tank lines. This would allow for far more aggressive engagements and FAR LESS incentive for Turtle Mech. Bio would finally be able to harass in multiple areas, then take a favorable engagement when the Terran player is unawares targeting an KS. Overall, the strength of KS in terms of design is its ability to make one unit indirectly valuable. Design often focuses on how quickly X unit defeats X unit or how many units will X damage X, but by giving a single or few units, unsubstantial by themselves, the ability to, not destroy, but distract a miscontrolled army gives depth to gameplay and allows for new play styles and continual innovation. When a ability/composition/strategy is both strong and vulnerable it creates an obstacle that must be overcome by both players simultaneously. That is competition worth watching.
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On March 29 2015 20:17 Umpteen wrote:
For the 'actual unit' suggestion pile:
The Heimdall
Mech-type unit. Neither light nor armoured.
Requires: Armoury, Orbital Command
Size: slightly larger than a Marauder, slightly smaller than a landed Viking.
Weaponry: Anti-air missiles (bonus against light, range 6), medium calibre anti-ground weapons (range 6).
This unit is not manufactured from a building. Instead it is called down, MULE style, to anywhere within the detection radius of a Sensor Tower. Does not require vision to do so.
Mineral/Gas/Energy cost, supply, health and damage to be decided through balancing.
Optional: the Heimdall could have a limited lifetime, just like the MULE, in exchange for lower costs and possibly zero supply.
Intended Roles
Late-game Mech raider, emergency base defence.
Interesting.
Curious about a few things:
How could the unit be a raider when it requires sensor tower "vision"? (And why that instead of just vision?)
Why bonus AA vs light?
This isn't criticism, you were just very specific about a these and I'd like to hear more of your thoughts behind them.
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We gona have another C&C in the end
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New structure for terran:
The tech-reactor addon from the campaign
Available once a fusion core has been built (and maybe requiring a research from the fusion core)
Reactors and techlabs can now be salvaged and replaced with tech-reactors
Solves the problem of terran not being able to get their production out quickly enough in late game despite large bank (especially with mech). Zerg can remax instantly with any unit and Protoss can warp in 30 zealots or 15 archons in front of your base and you lose the game simply by not being able to get your units out.
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I am new to TL forums and accidentally posted a bunch of comments incorrectly. I was trying to reply to a unit someone made and messed up. Sorry for the spam. I have one more blank post in the forum.
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Fencers- If 2 Fencers come in vicinity of each other, they can connect via an electric beam
- The electric beam deals damage to units that come in contact with it
- Up to 4 Fencers can connect
- The beam costs energy that replenishes fast
- The Fencers can move around individually while the beams are active
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Ar09kN4.png)
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Unit: Aether
Greek meaning: God of the upper sky.
Built from either factory or star-port, no tech lab required but it will require a fusion core or a completely new building, though fusion core is fine already. The Aether is a Flying armored unit that will cause a major change in battles, it is shaped sort of like a donuts with Banshee like fans to keep it aloft, in the center of the donuts where the whole should be, it has a platform that units can stand on. it will create a whole new way of dealing with units like colossi and air units, and not only this, but it will help Terran Mech greatly. when i made this unit, i wanted it to have a Brood War feel to it, in this i don't mean that it was like units from Brood War but i wanted it to be a unit that had great micro capabilities but was not built specifically to be micro`d like some units are (blink stalkers, infestors, high Templar, ghosts, ect) and this is what made brood war such a great game, it didn't force players to micro, it just turned out that way.
Stats:
Cost: 300 minerals, 200 gas. obviously this can change, but these are the starting numbers I have come up with.
Health: 550 Armor: 2 Speed: 3.15 size: about 80% the size of a mother ship.
Energy: 200 Supply: 4-6
Skills:
Elevate: the first and most game changing spell, perhaps in the whole game of Starcraft, elevate allows ground units to climb onto the Aether and attack from it, while units are on the Aether, its speed is slowed to 1.15. But when units that could attack ground are on it, they then can only attack air. Have you ever wished you could kill Mutas with hellions, or face void rays with marauders, well with the Aether you can. And with the new buffs to tempests, they will be great against Mech with their new speed and disintegrate spells, so now how about stopping the tempest with siege tanks. this spell will not be to overpowered though for multiple reasons.
1: when Aether dies, all the units on it die also.
2: it can only hold 8 cargo space, meaning two tanks, or 4 hellions, or 8 marines, or anything else that fits in it.
3: if you put two tanks in it to fight off air, that means that there are two tanks not on ground, and since there ground attacking units only in the Aether can only attack air when on the Aether this will force players to make smart decisions of how much to put on the Aether.
Trapping Field: the second ability of the Aether is the trapping field, this ability makes a Circular field beam down from the sides of the Aether putting a field the size of the Aether on the ground below it, anything that is under this field will be slowed by 50 % and also slow their attack speed by 25%, meaning if are army of ultralisks were dashing at your army of marines, and you hovered the Aether of them and turned on trapping field, the whole group of ultralisks would be slowed, this is even more helpful with banelings, if you can cover a whole group of banelings with Trapping fields than they will all be slowed to the point where you will either have time to kill them, or time to split you army well. this ability will cost 25 energy and 1 energy for each second of use.
While using trapping field, the Aether is slowed to 1.15, but units on top of it can still attack.
Aether vs Medivac:
it may seem like the Aether replaces the Medivac but it definitely does not for multiple reasons, its to slow with units on it to be a reliable transport. it does not have afterburners so it can not easily escape, making it much more of a risky unit for drop play. And obviously it cant heal so its pointless for many harass play styles.
Upgrades:
armor upgrades for air improve Aethers vision by 1.
Eagle Eye: this makes the Aethers vision range increase by 5. researched at fusion core.
A few things that I have thought about that might make you look at the Aether in more interesting ways:
1: units on it can attack on it while moving so if you have a longer ranged unit on it, say like ghosts, or something else, you can move the Aether back while the units continue to attack making this a unit that has no need of kiting, just go in and pull back and deal damage the whole way.
2: while under trapping field you units are still normal speed, so kiting enemies will be much easier.
3: with attack speed slowed, many units that used to counter your units will now be much less effective, this will change the whole game into a more interesting play style in late game.
4: with the eagle eye upgrade, the Aether will have the vision large enough so a tank can see to the edges of its attack range, meaning that you wont need something in front of the Aether to let your tanks attack to their whole vision range.
5: in narrow passage ways, Aethers trapping field will cover the whole path so this will make it extremely effective against melee based armies. and even roach armies.
6: with the Aether there will be many new ways to take down enemy air, vikings will still be helpful but you wont need to waste 20 supply on vikings to take on a few colossi that could of been marines.
And of course here is a drawing of the Aether
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/2D3mZiE.png)
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The Archangel
Idea and motivation: I think there is still no viable answer for terran to mass mutalisks and late game protoss deathball, based on colossi/archon/blink stalker combinations. My suggestion as an new answer to these problems for the terran armee, is the Archangel, a new midgame (tier 2) to lategame unit from the starport.
The Archangel, is a light, fast and micro intensive midgame (tier 2) to lategame unit from the starport. The Archangel attacks air only, but can be upgraded to attack ground units in the lategame. (I will not say to much about the precise values of the unit, because I think these values are a matter of testing and have therefore to be balanced anyway by trial and error).
Description: The main (and probably only) ability of the Archangel is a weapon called „plasma device“. The plasma device has actively to be activated/released by the player. After it has been released, the device moves/floats into the same direction like the Archangel, but independtly from it, and dissapears at a distance of 12. This means if you change the direction, the plasma doesn't and you have to move with foresight around your enemy to give the device the right direction. If the device comes close to a (enemy) air unit, it attaches to the unit and explodes after a short time period with splash damage. So if you want to hit a enemy but come not to close to it (to not give your enemy the chance to attack you), you have to go into the direction of the target, release the device just in front, stop/brake, and change the direction. After a very short cooldown of probably one or two seconds the device should be available again.
The plasma device opens up a vast of opportunities for interesting micro. Imagine for example, that the area striked by the plasma device depends on the specific formation of a group of Archangels. If they fly side by side the devices will hit an area with the shape of an plane, if thier trajectories cross the devices will open up to the shape of a triangular. So the intensity and accuracy of attacks will depend on the formation the player decides for. A player who is capable of organizing his units well and controling them in a precise manner, will be able make the best of the Archangel, while players with a weak micro will not be able to reach the full possible gain of the unit. (Just in case you think the device resembles the hunter seeker missile: consider that the way the plasma device functions is quite different, because it can't be manually targeted on a specific object).
The movement speed of the Archangel should be just a little bit lower then the speed of mutas (and phoenix), so that the Archangel is becoming dangerous for mutas or phoenix only if they stop and float somewhere to attack SCVs, armee or infrastructure. This means the Archangel can still be outmicroed by a good player and can be even used to distract the terrans attention of skirmishes at other locations of the map, since the unit is microintensive und needs some attention to be effective.
For the lategame, against protoss deathballs, the Archangel can be made useful too. For example, a upgrade for the plasma device (probably in the ghost academy, to make sure its a Tier III extension) can be designed to make it attacking units on the ground, increase the radius of the splash, but decrease its overall damage (so there should be a button to switch from the initial form to the upgraded form and back). This make me think of a new terran lategame armee, consisting of a combination of Archangels and Ghosts, where Ghosts use EMP to take away the protoss shields. The archangels, in a second step, use plasma devices to finally help the protoss to find thier way back to thier homeworld. Consider again, that the archangel can always outmicroed by players with a superior control of the armee. A protoss player who control the whole armee by a-clicking will have a armee densely clumped together and therefore easy to target for archangels. But if a protoss spreads his armee, for example to a wide konkave, it becomes very difficult for the archangel to hit this armee seriously. In addition the archangels can be countered by a skillfull use of blinkstalkers, who just blink around the main damage dealers, like collossi and archons.
Unitname: Archangel
Production Facility: Starport
Tier: II
Cost: ?
Supply: ?
Counter:
zerg: corruptor, infestor, hydralisk
terran: widowmines, static defence (towers and bunkers), raven
protoss: blink stalker, archon
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On March 29 2015 23:48 Skynx wrote:
We gona have another C&C in the end
with all these mech units that do nothing but make it easier to turtle and hard counter units that actually require control... its sad but true...they should just make a terran mothership/swarmhost and call it a day RIP #daedgahme
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On March 29 2015 23:30 y0su wrote:Show nested quote +On March 29 2015 20:17 Umpteen wrote:
For the 'actual unit' suggestion pile:
The Heimdall
Mech-type unit. Neither light nor armoured.
Requires: Armoury, Orbital Command
Size: slightly larger than a Marauder, slightly smaller than a landed Viking.
Weaponry: Anti-air missiles (bonus against light, range 6), medium calibre anti-ground weapons (range 6).
This unit is not manufactured from a building. Instead it is called down, MULE style, to anywhere within the detection radius of a Sensor Tower. Does not require vision to do so.
Mineral/Gas/Energy cost, supply, health and damage to be decided through balancing.
Optional: the Heimdall could have a limited lifetime, just like the MULE, in exchange for lower costs and possibly zero supply.
Intended Roles
Late-game Mech raider, emergency base defence. Interesting. Curious about a few things: How could the unit be a raider when it requires sensor tower "vision"? (And why that instead of just vision?) Why bonus AA vs light? This isn't criticism, you were just very specific about a these and I'd like to hear more of your thoughts behind them.
Nice questions 
I liked the idea of a call-down unit. It fits the Terran 'feel', but simply scanning and calling down units felt like it would be OP. The sensor tower creates an interesting dependency.
In defence, it's pretty straightforward: you can cover all your bases with a sensor tower and call down Heimdall units to defend - this is particularly useful if they have a limited lifespan and zero supply, as you can push out across the map and still have a way to defend against being stabbed in the back - provided you have the resources.
Raiding is a little more complex. The idea here is that, rather like Protoss, you don't need to commit huge resources to a drop. You can send out an SCV, or an SCV in a medivac, construct a sensor tower within range of the enemy base, and call down a powerful raiding party before the enemy has a chance to respond.
Thirdly, it adds another layer to mech play, harking back to the slow-push mech strength of BW: a map area 'fortified' with a sensor tower is very strongly YOUR territory, since you can near-instantly reinforce or strike anywhere within it. Anyone trying to fight their way to the sensor tower is going to have to worry about getting an assful of Heimdalls.
You can also use it to mind-game your opponent, building sensor towers to draw his attention away from where you're actually going to attack (since the sensor radius is visible to your opponent)
The anti-light AA bonus is intended to round out the unit by making it a useful deterrent to mutalisks, without creating a monster that can instantly counter broodlords, corruptors etc.
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Ascetic
Ground Psionic Biological unit, built from Barracks (with Tech Lab)
Stats
Health 100
Cost 75/150
Energy 50/200
Speed 2.25
Supply 2
Attack: None
Ability:
Psionic Shroud / Preserving Wind / something else along those lines
Effect: all friendly biological units (except other Ascetics) within the area of effect are rendered impervious to all forms of splash damage
Range: a very small area around the unit, say 2 or possibly 3
Energy cost: 100
Duration: 20 seconds
The Ascetic would increase the viability of Terran bio against Protoss deathballs in the late game. It would (hopefully) require some interesting and unique micro to distribute them evenly through the bioball. They wouldn't do much if they are just kept in a ball due to their small area of effect. They would also encourage some micro from the opponent, as they would need to be target fired or feedbacked (or EMPed in TvT).
In TvZ, they might be too effective against banelings, so they might need to be made ineffective against melee splash damage. If that is too artificial and unintuitive to a casual viewer, they could possibly be made effective against all (splash and non-splash) ranged damage only.
Edit: I guess this is somewhat similar to the Jackal posted above, but oh well. Didn't see it before posting and there are some differences anyway.
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Last day to submit ideas good luck everyone
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On March 30 2015 03:43 BlackRa69 wrote:
["Wow this guy made a unit actually good for competitive play instead of 'this guy made a unit that would really help his keyboard to face roll strategy and get out of bronze league'"]
Yeah, I feel like a lot of my favorite serious suggestions have come in the last couple of pages. Specifically the Heimdall (Which I personally believe should be renamed "Ragnarok -something-"), the Boomerang, and the Death Race Hellion.
That said there were a lot of suggestions earlier in the thread for a more combat focused SCV type unit or some kind of mobile bunker that I think (if balanced properly) could be very cool additions to Terran.
Overall I think I prefer adding a new upgrade or unit transformation over adding another unit to the game. There's already lots of things to build. We'll see what the "Powers that Be" decide, and then ultimately despair when Blizzard does the exact opposite. 
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On March 29 2015 21:36 threnickelsandadime wrote:
Jackal
The Jackal is a highly mobile infantry-support unit built from the Barracks, requiring both an ghost academy and tech-lab.
Specifications
Look: Bionic/Ecotoskeleton-suit/psionic/agile
Required Tech: Barracks—>Tech-Lab—>Ghost Academy
Cost: 200-minerals/150-Gas/40-Seconds/2-Supply
Attributes: Biological, Psionic
Attack: None
Speed: 3.75
Health: 125
Upgrades: An standard energy upgrade at the Ghost Academy would probably be a good idea. Ability upgrades for balance as needed.
(Note1: All specifications and/or values are rough estimates and placeholders set in order to flesh out an economic and strategic standing of the unit.
Note2: The Jackal should be nothing less than very fast. The unit has no offensive capability to exploit its mobility. It is purely a support unit and an expensive one at that, such speed is warranted)
Abilities:
Kinetic Shield- Creates an barrier on a single target biological unit for 7 Seconds, which negates all incoming damage dealt to the target from it’s front facing side. All damage dealt from the rear or flank sides of the unit are unaffected by Kinetic Shield. Range 9. 75 Energy
Place Shift- Instantly swaps positions with another friendly unit. Range 11. 25 Energy.
Lockdown- Stuns target mechanical unit for 5 seconds. Affected unit can be attacked, repaired and targeted by other abilities. Range 7. 100 Energy.
The Jackal’s role in every matchup is to increase late game Bio-army viability in direct engagements through micro intensive abilities. The goal with the Jackal is not to disincentives the harassment potential of Bio-armies, but to allow more compelling and challenging late-game engagements for players on each side of the match-up. The Jackals interactions with ling/bang/muta/ultra, Marine/Tank, Pure Mech, Sky-Terran, Protoss death-ball and Sky-toss will stimulate both greater micro and multitasking engagements. I will be going through each ability in regards to the matchup (and each associated composition) vs the Bio/Jackal army in order to depict a more comprehensive understanding of the unit.
At first look, It may seem off-putting that both Kinetic Shield and Lockdown are very similar, or in the latter’s case nearly identical, to their predecessor’s equivalent, but it is critical to understand how different each respective game is. In Starcraft 2 where maxed out armies of hyper cost-effective units, such as Colossi, dominate competitive play, Lockdown will be invaluable and will allow Terran to be less reliant on the Viking in the Bio vs Deathball. Jackal’s will be attempting to flank said army, avoiding feedback, Lockingdown Colossi, while the MMM Kites the zealots. If done successfully the Terran player will be able to dissect the Protoss by splitting the gateway units from the Colossi. Overall, Lockdown would spread out the entire Bio vs Deathball engagement, while requiring more multitasking from the Terran (multitasking both bio/ghost and Jackal) as well as the Protoss (Colossi position, Templar spread for effective storms and defensive feedbacks.. Further, Lockdown would greatly impact both Air-Air and Ground-Air engagements in all three of the Protoss/Terran matchups. Air-Air combat is sadly some of the most uninteresting, and frankly boring, engagements in all of Starcraft 2 and that doesn't look like it will change in LotV. So by having a ground unit that would strengthen viability of non-viking units, to combat Air forces would increase unit diversity and complexity substantially. Lockdown would also create an interesting back and forth relationship with the coming Disruptor. Lockdown(range: 7) would seem to soft counter nicely the Disruptor if cast prior to it’s activation. This could add positive complexity. Sadly, more speculation would be weak with our current understanding of LotV and how this unit will affect the Deathball composition.
The Place Shift ability grants additional mobility to the Jackal in hopes to create more synergy with its other abilities and army compositions. It is relatively simple, swapping the Jackals place with another friendly unit, and will likely be most valuable in the TvT and TvP matchups vs mechanical units when coupled with Lockdown. The ability would allow Jackals (with near full energy) to Kinetic Shield themselves, close the rather short range required for Lockdown, disable the unit and Place Shift out. This would allow Jackals to be cost effective, when microed correctly, even when engaging very defensive positions (Tanks, Lurkers, Deathball). In the scenario stated, feedback would be the most obvious counter and vulnerability to this tactic. Overall, Place Shift is a little less cost efficient then blink, in both resources and energy (something will likely die in its place), but could add up to more creativity (TLO back to Terran?) with the unit and fulfill the Jackal’s inherent need to be agile.
Kinetic Shield (KS) is likely the most game affecting ability from the Jackal. In all matchups Bio’s late game direct engagement potential is stunted by its own virtue of being a glass cannon. This low health high damage/mobility and apparent vulnerability to AOE has created arguably the most compelling gameplay in Starcraft 2’s history, with players needing to utilize micro (splits, drops, etc) to overcome the compositions weakness. That understood, KS is not an attempt to change this composition design in the slightest, but supplement it so greater army control can yield more value. The ability’s design to be only frontal damage prevention creates an dynamic that both players must utilize. In TvZ, for example, KS would increase the value the role the marauder plays in current meta. Small creep clearing pushes turn into full scale army engagements with the marines splitting behind the marauders and the Zerg attempting to detonate his Banglings on the marines. KS would be cast on the forces in front at the start of the engagements and incentivize Zerg players to flank and be more conscious of their detonation or they could be lost on an single unit. KS would also be invaluable for taking aggressive engagements into defensive positions of Lurkers in LotV. Similar to how KS would be used against Tank lines vs Mech, units protected would be able to aggro the AOE long enough for their army to engage. Of course an top Zerg would have opportunities to pick off these shielded units with Mutas from the rear or sides before they engaged or target fired with Lurkers. Vs Ultras Kinetic Shield would greatly increase positioning and terrain advantages in tight closed off areas by bottle-necking with shielded units. In open areas, Ultras would have to be microed in order to not derp wasting attacks on shielded units. KS in TvP, as with Lockdown, would spread out the engagements. KS would be cast on units in the front line to tank Chareglot/Archon/Colossi, while the rest of the Bio army would stutter step retreat. This would add difficulty for the Terran player for each unit shielded would have to be separated from their control group. If the shielded unit were to stutter step and leave their back vulnerable, they would die quickly. It is important to note at this point that both KS and the Jackal are expensive, neither should be thrown away lightly. If controlled correctly shielded units would be able to tank enormous amounts damage from a poorly controlled Deathball. Therefore, storm would increase in value, by being able to damage shielded units, while Colossi would decrease. Obviously, if Colossi were target firing skillfully their value would be maintained, but either way KS would increase micromanagement and Bio-late game engagement viability. KS in TvT would be hugely innovative in all three Bio vs Mech Bio vs Marine/Tank and Marine/Tank vs Marine/Tank matchups. KS would allow one marine to tank multiple volleys of unmicroed Tank lines. This would allow for far more aggressive engagements and FAR LESS incentive for Turtle Mech. Bio would finally be able to harass in multiple areas, then take a favorable engagement when the Terran player is unawares targeting an KS. Overall, the strength of KS in terms of design is its ability to make one unit indirectly valuable. Design often focuses on how quickly X unit defeats X unit or how many units will X damage X, but by giving a single or few units, unsubstantial by themselves, the ability to, not destroy, but distract a miscontrolled army gives depth to gameplay and allows for new play styles and continual innovation. When a ability/composition/strategy is both strong and vulnerable it creates an obstacle that must be overcome by both players simultaneously. That is competition worth watching.
This unit sounds sick, i could really see its legitimate use in competitive play and i would love to see something like this put into the game, it would be a very interesting change up
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On March 29 2015 21:36 threnickelsandadime wrote:
Jackal
The Jackal is a highly mobile infantry-support unit built from the Barracks, requiring both an ghost academy and tech-lab.
Specifications
Look: Bionic/Ecotoskeleton-suit/psionic/agile
Required Tech: Barracks—>Tech-Lab—>Ghost Academy
Cost: 200-minerals/150-Gas/40-Seconds/2-Supply
Attributes: Biological, Psionic
Attack: None
Speed: 3.75
Health: 125
Upgrades: An standard energy upgrade at the Ghost Academy would probably be a good idea. Ability upgrades for balance as needed.
(Note1: All specifications and/or values are rough estimates and placeholders set in order to flesh out an economic and strategic standing of the unit.
Note2: The Jackal should be nothing less than very fast. The unit has no offensive capability to exploit its mobility. It is purely a support unit and an expensive one at that, such speed is warranted)
Abilities:
Kinetic Shield- Creates an barrier on a single target biological unit for 7 Seconds, which negates all incoming damage dealt to the target from it’s front facing side. All damage dealt from the rear or flank sides of the unit are unaffected by Kinetic Shield. Range 9. 75 Energy
Place Shift- Instantly swaps positions with another friendly unit. Range 11. 25 Energy.
Lockdown- Stuns target mechanical unit for 5 seconds. Affected unit can be attacked, repaired and targeted by other abilities. Range 7. 100 Energy.
The Jackal’s role in every matchup is to increase late game Bio-army viability in direct engagements through micro intensive abilities. The goal with the Jackal is not to disincentives the harassment potential of Bio-armies, but to allow more compelling and challenging late-game engagements for players on each side of the match-up. The Jackals interactions with ling/bang/muta/ultra, Marine/Tank, Pure Mech, Sky-Terran, Protoss death-ball and Sky-toss will stimulate both greater micro and multitasking engagements. I will be going through each ability in regards to the matchup (and each associated composition) vs the Bio/Jackal army in order to depict a more comprehensive understanding of the unit.
At first look, It may seem off-putting that both Kinetic Shield and Lockdown are very similar, or in the latter’s case nearly identical, to their predecessor’s equivalent, but it is critical to understand how different each respective game is. In Starcraft 2 where maxed out armies of hyper cost-effective units, such as Colossi, dominate competitive play, Lockdown will be invaluable and will allow Terran to be less reliant on the Viking in the Bio vs Deathball. Jackal’s will be attempting to flank said army, avoiding feedback, Lockingdown Colossi, while the MMM Kites the zealots. If done successfully the Terran player will be able to dissect the Protoss by splitting the gateway units from the Colossi. Overall, Lockdown would spread out the entire Bio vs Deathball engagement, while requiring more multitasking from the Terran (multitasking both bio/ghost and Jackal) as well as the Protoss (Colossi position, Templar spread for effective storms and defensive feedbacks.. Further, Lockdown would greatly impact both Air-Air and Ground-Air engagements in all three of the Protoss/Terran matchups. Air-Air combat is sadly some of the most uninteresting, and frankly boring, engagements in all of Starcraft 2 and that doesn't look like it will change in LotV. So by having a ground unit that would strengthen viability of non-viking units, to combat Air forces would increase unit diversity and complexity substantially. Lockdown would also create an interesting back and forth relationship with the coming Disruptor. Lockdown(range: 7) would seem to soft counter nicely the Disruptor if cast prior to it’s activation. This could add positive complexity. Sadly, more speculation would be weak with our current understanding of LotV and how this unit will affect the Deathball composition.
The Place Shift ability grants additional mobility to the Jackal in hopes to create more synergy with its other abilities and army compositions. It is relatively simple, swapping the Jackals place with another friendly unit, and will likely be most valuable in the TvT and TvP matchups vs mechanical units when coupled with Lockdown. The ability would allow Jackals (with near full energy) to Kinetic Shield themselves, close the rather short range required for Lockdown, disable the unit and Place Shift out. This would allow Jackals to be cost effective, when microed correctly, even when engaging very defensive positions (Tanks, Lurkers, Deathball). In the scenario stated, feedback would be the most obvious counter and vulnerability to this tactic. Overall, Place Shift is a little less cost efficient then blink, in both resources and energy (something will likely die in its place), but could add up to more creativity (TLO back to Terran?) with the unit and fulfill the Jackal’s inherent need to be agile.
Kinetic Shield (KS) is likely the most game affecting ability from the Jackal. In all matchups Bio’s late game direct engagement potential is stunted by its own virtue of being a glass cannon. This low health high damage/mobility and apparent vulnerability to AOE has created arguably the most compelling gameplay in Starcraft 2’s history, with players needing to utilize micro (splits, drops, etc) to overcome the compositions weakness. That understood, KS is not an attempt to change this composition design in the slightest, but supplement it so greater army control can yield more value. The ability’s design to be only frontal damage prevention creates an dynamic that both players must utilize. In TvZ, for example, KS would increase the value the role the marauder plays in current meta. Small creep clearing pushes turn into full scale army engagements with the marines splitting behind the marauders and the Zerg attempting to detonate his Banglings on the marines. KS would be cast on the forces in front at the start of the engagements and incentivize Zerg players to flank and be more conscious of their detonation or they could be lost on an single unit. KS would also be invaluable for taking aggressive engagements into defensive positions of Lurkers in LotV. Similar to how KS would be used against Tank lines vs Mech, units protected would be able to aggro the AOE long enough for their army to engage. Of course an top Zerg would have opportunities to pick off these shielded units with Mutas from the rear or sides before they engaged or target fired with Lurkers. Vs Ultras Kinetic Shield would greatly increase positioning and terrain advantages in tight closed off areas by bottle-necking with shielded units. In open areas, Ultras would have to be microed in order to not derp wasting attacks on shielded units. KS in TvP, as with Lockdown, would spread out the engagements. KS would be cast on units in the front line to tank Chareglot/Archon/Colossi, while the rest of the Bio army would stutter step retreat. This would add difficulty for the Terran player for each unit shielded would have to be separated from their control group. If the shielded unit were to stutter step and leave their back vulnerable, they would die quickly. It is important to note at this point that both KS and the Jackal are expensive, neither should be thrown away lightly. If controlled correctly shielded units would be able to tank enormous amounts damage from a poorly controlled Deathball. Therefore, storm would increase in value, by being able to damage shielded units, while Colossi would decrease. Obviously, if Colossi were target firing skillfully their value would be maintained, but either way KS would increase micromanagement and Bio-late game engagement viability. KS in TvT would be hugely innovative in all three Bio vs Mech Bio vs Marine/Tank and Marine/Tank vs Marine/Tank matchups. KS would allow one marine to tank multiple volleys of unmicroed Tank lines. This would allow for far more aggressive engagements and FAR LESS incentive for Turtle Mech. Bio would finally be able to harass in multiple areas, then take a favorable engagement when the Terran player is unawares targeting an KS. Overall, the strength of KS in terms of design is its ability to make one unit indirectly valuable. Design often focuses on how quickly X unit defeats X unit or how many units will X damage X, but by giving a single or few units, unsubstantial by themselves, the ability to, not destroy, but distract a miscontrolled army gives depth to gameplay and allows for new play styles and continual innovation. When a ability/composition/strategy is both strong and vulnerable it creates an obstacle that must be overcome by both players simultaneously. That is competition worth watching.
wow this guy made a unit actually good for competitive play instead of a unit that would only help you to keyboard face roll your way out of bronze league
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The Disposable Personnel Transport (DPT)
Design for the DPT
The intended purpose for the DPT is to provide a unit that can help bio by providing additional strategic options in all stages of the game without being an “a move” kind of unit or a unit that is so good it gets used in every game.
How the unit works
The Disposable Personnel Transport allows players to store and transport bio units (units inside DPTs cannot fire until they exit/unload) for a period of time until the DPT times out (timeout bar will be visible to all players).
If units are inside the DPT when it is destroyed then the units survive with 50% of their health. If the DPT times out the units survive but lose 30% of their health.
Possible uses
In the early game the DPT has proxy utility and defensive utility by allowing players to micro their units in and out avoiding melee units and messing around with targeted fire on ranged units like stalkers.
In the mid and late game the DPT can give players the opportunity to bluff with groups of empty DPTs, the ability to engage large armies without taking a lot of AOE damage before getting into firing range, the ability to dodge storms and the option to move bio around faster for harassment. However, players will need to micro carefully or they may end up just segmenting their army.
Limitations of the unit
The main limitation of the DPT is its lifespan. This requires dedicated barracks to produce DPTs at a fairly constant rate (each one can only store 6 marines worth of bio).
Given the limited lifespan, players need to take into consideration the time left and where the next wave of DPTs is before engaging. For example, if a group of bio in DPTs is sent out for harassment, the DPTs will most likely time out meaning that your force may be stranded unlike if you harassed with medivacs.
An additional limiting factor is the need for dedicated production facilities to build the DPTs.
Also, with three levels of upgrades, it makes it harder for players to instantly start using the DPT in the mid and late game as they would simply get destroyed too easily without the upgrades.
In terms of player skill, this unit can be beneficial for lower level players but can only be fully utilized by players with greater planning, decision making and APM. This fits into, SC2’s ideal where casual play benefits from the unit but the “pros” can take it to another level.
Note: I'm not especially knowledgeable about unit specifications like hp, move speed, etc so if anything sounds extremely off keep that in mind...
Unit Specifications
Builds from: barracks without add-on – reactor allows you to build 2
Cost: 10 Minerals
Supply : 0.25 supply
Building Time : 13 sec
Unit duration: 50 seconds
HP: 300
Armor : 2
Movement : Zealot speed
Attribute : Mechanical, armored
Weapons : none
Abilities : stores 6 marines worth of bio (2 less than a medivac)
Upgrades: Combo upgrade
First upgrade – speed increases to speed of a stalker, +20 seconds duration, +75 hp
Second upgrade – speed increases to speed of a muta, +20 seconds duration, +75 hp
Third upgrade – speed increases to speed of a ling with ling speed, +20 sec duration, +75 hp
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The Battle Base
An upgrade to individual buildings that allows it to fly faster, land on and crush small units and knock back medium units. -Maybe add a second level upgrade to give it 2 auto turrets.
-Maybe able to produce at half speed while flying, normal speed landed.
Used for defensive fallback/offensive staging and production.
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EPT
