EPTand not what made Brood War, Brood War.
LINKS
Link to SC2Mapster Thread: http://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/general/general-chat/125621-new-mod-shock-craft/
Link to Reddit Thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/4ksesd/shockcraft_a_new_redesign_mod/
Link to SC2 Forums Thread: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/20743585704
Moddb Link: http://www.moddb.com/mods/shockcraft
Skype Group for Replays & Discussion: https://join.skype.com/BLBRP3o5XZRU
You can play it RIGHT NOW! It is available on the Americas, Europe, Asia and Southeast Asia servers.
if you want to just get right into it, clicking these links will automatically launch SC2 and open up a new lobby for it in your client. Note that if you use Google Chrome, you won't be able to click the links. I don't know of an alternative for it yet, but as soon as I figure it out I'll update saying how to do it.
For Americas,
Cloud Kingdom: battlenet://starcraft/map/1/273678
King Sejong Station: battlenet://starcraft/map/1/273687
Tal'Darim Altar: battlenet://starcraft/map/1/273689
For Europe,
Cloud Kingdom: battlenet://starcraft/map/2/192181
King Sejong Station: battlenet://starcraft/map/2/192184
Tal'Darim Altar: battlenet://starcraft/map/2/192186
For Asia,
Cloud Kingdom: battlenet://starcraft/map/3/107133
King Sejong Station: battlenet://starcraft/map/3/107134
Tal'Darim Altar: battlenet://starcraft/map/3/107136
For Southeast Asia,
Cloud Kingdom: battlenet://starcraft/map/6/24804
King Sejong Station: battlenet://starcraft/map/6/24805
Tal'Darim Altar: battlenet://starcraft/map/6/24806
Alternatively, you can simply search "ShockCraft" in the arcade and you will find these maps.
I choose these maps because from a statistical stand-point, these maps have the best-looking and most equal winrates I could find out of like 50 or so maps. That doesn't mean they'll be balanced with my mod, but I believe this is a good starting point.
Hope to get Chinese versions up soon as well. I have someone I can contact for that but I can't do it for a few days.
This mod changes many things about all three races, and also slightly changes up the mechanics some. I have completely redone the Terran Factory, and there are many changes to the Barracks, Starport, Robo, Gateway, and Stargate. Zerg has been heavily modified to feel more like BW Zerg while still trying to keep it fresh and new. Protoss as well has been changed to reflect this. I have reworked many designs have been redone to best keep the same fantasy but fix problems they had with being too strong or weak or simply having no potential for skill-based play. To the best of my intentions and abilities I have tried to make all of my changes follow these principals: Low skill floor, high skill ceiling. Little complexity, high depth. Keep or improve the fantasy as best as possible. Fix blatantly broken design. Remove the Widow Mine, Disruptor, and Baneling.
Here is the Changelog:
GENERAL
!!STATS THAT ARE NOT MENTIONED ARE THE SAME AS LOTV!!
6 workers spawn now instead of 12.
Starbow Worker bouncing has been added.
Resource counts reverted back to WoL/HotS.
REAL Turrets added to all units that would reasonably have a turret.
TERRAN
UNIT REMOVED: Widow Mine
UNIT REMOVED: Thor
UNIT REMOVED: Banshee
UNIT REMOVED: Liberator
NEW BUILDING: Science Facility. Unlocked at Factory.
Orbital Command:
*MULE removed.
*Cost changed to 25/25.
Barracks:
*NEW ADDON: Covert Ops.
*Tech Lab removed.
Marine remains unchanged.
Ghost remains unchanged.
Marauder:
*Cost changed to 50/25/1.
* Damage changed to 5+4 vs Armored*2.
*Health changed to 80.
*NEW UPGRADE: Juggernaut Plating. Researched at the Covert Ops. Gives +1 armor.
Reaper:
* Damage removed from mine.
NEW UNIT: Medic.
*Heals units, obviously.
*NEW UPGRADE: Stabilizer Medipacks. Researched at the Covert Ops. Increases the range and rate at which Medics heal.
Factory:
*NEW ADDON: Machine Shop.
*Tech Lab removed.
Hellion:
*Cost changed to 125/0/2.
* Damage changed to 12+2 vs Light.
*Removed splash.
*Speed decreased to 4.
*NEW UPGRADE: High-Grade Fuel Cells. Researched at the Machine Shop. Increased Hellion speed to 4.6.
*No longer benefits from Infernal Pre-Igniter.
Hellbat:
*Speed increased to 2.65.
*Health increased to 145.
*Armor increased to 1.
*Hellions and Hellbats can transform while moving, but cannot attack while transforming. (No animation plays for this yet)
Siege Tank:
*Cost changed to 150/100/2.
* Damage changed to 25+5 vs Armored.
*Siege Mode damage changed to 50+20 vs Armored.
*Tracking turret.
Cyclone:
*Lock-On ability removed.
*Tracking turret.
*Cost changed to 150/75/2.
*Attack speed changed to 0.75.
*Health changed to 150.
*NEW UPGRADE: Mag-Field Accelerator. Researched at the Machine Shop. Increases the firing range of Cyclones from 6 to 9.
Starport:
*NEW ADDON: Control Tower.
*Tech Lab removed.
Medivac remains unchanged from LotV.
NEW UNIT: Wraith.
*Fast and reliable air unit. Has strong anti-air and can cloak.
* Damage: 8+4 vs Light (Ground), 7*2 (Air)
*120 Health
*Cost: 150/100/2
Viking:
* Damage changed to 6*2 with 1.3 splash radius. 0.5 second delay between each missile.
*Health decreased to 100.
GROUND MODE:
*Health increased to 150.
*Armor increased to 1.
*Viking can move while transforming, but cannot attack while transforming.
Raven:
*Hunter Seeker Missile removed.
*Point Defense Drone removed.
* Defensive Matrix added.
*Irradiate added.
*NEW UPGRADE: Research Irradiate at the Science Facility.
*Research Corvid Reactor moved to the Science Facility.
Battlecruiser:
*Attack speed changed to 1.75.
* Damage changed to 25 for ground and air attack.
*New DPS: 20.140.
ZERG
Hydralisk Den unlocks at Spawning Pool.
Lurker Den unlocks at Lair.
Roach Warren unlocks at Lair. Unlocks Hive.
Infestation Pit unlocks at Hive.
Spine and Spore Crawlers no longer can uproot. Name changed to Spine Colony and Spore Colony.
Spine and Spore Colonies generate creep.
Burrowed units can stack.
Creep Speed Multiplier: 1.1
Overlords, Overseers, and Drones remain unchanged from LotV.
Zergling:
*Creep Speed multiplier changed to 1.25.
UNIT REMOVED: Queen
UNIT REMOVED: Baneling
UNIT REMOVED: Swarm Host
UNIT REMOVED: Infestor
Nydus Network:
*Cost reduced to 150/25.
*Loads and unloads units much faster.
Nydus Worm:
*Cost reduced to 100/0.
*Loads and unloads much faster.
*Requires creep to be placed.
Hydralisk:
*Cost reduced to 75/25/1.
* Damage reduced to 8.
*Attack speed changed to 1.
Lurker:
*Cost changed to 125/125/2.
* Damage reduced to 20.
*Can stack ontop of each other!
Roach:
*Cost increased to 125/125/2.
*Attack speed changed to 1.
*Movement speed reduced to 1.8.
*Movement speed while burrowed increased to 2.25.
*Health increased to 175.
*UPGRADE REMOVED: Glial Reconstitution.
*UPGRADE CHANGED: Tunneling Claws increases burrowed movement speed to 3.
*NEW UPGRADE: Organic Carapace. Increases burrowed health regeneration rate to 8 and increases burrowed armor by 1.
Ravager:
*Cost changed to 150/175/3.
* Damage changed to 28+6 vs Biological.
*Is now armored.
*Speed changed to 2.5.
Mutalisk:
*Morphs to Brood Lord.
Corruptor:
*Cost changed to 25/25/1
*Spawns 2 in one egg.
*Health decreased to 35.
*Is now Light instead of Armored.
*Armor reduced to 0.
*No longer morphs to Brood Lord.
* Damage changed to 5.
*Range changed to 5.
*Attack speed changed to 1.56.
* Damage point is now 0.
Viper:
*Blinding Cloud removed.
*Parasitic Bomb removed.
*Spawn Infested Terran added. Mana cost increased to 50.
*Spawn Broodling added. Mana cost decreased to 75.
NEW UNIT: Defiler
*Unlocked by the Infestation Pit.
*Has Consume, Plague, and Dark Swarm. Consume and Plague must be researched.
*NEW UPGRADE: Metasynaptic Node. Increases Defiler starting energy to 60 and max energy to 250.
Ultralisk:
*No longer has splash.
*Cost reduced to 200/200/4.
*Health reduced to 400.
*Size decreased.
* Damage changed to 25.
PROTOSS
UNIT REMOVED: Sentry
UNIT REMOVED: Adept
UNIT REMOVED: Oracle
UNIT REMOVED: Void Ray
UNIT REMOVED: Colossus
UNIT REMOVED: Disruptor
NEW BUILDING: Tribunal. Unlocked at Stargate.
Phoenix remains unchanged.
HT remains unchanged.
DT remains unchanged.
Tempest remains unchanged.
Carrier remains unchanged.
WarpGates are unchanged from LotV.
Chronoboost speed increased to 18%
Zealot:
*Shields increased to 60.
Stalker:
*Life increased to 100.
* Damage changed to 24 - 6 vs Light.
Immortal:
*Barrier removed. No Hardened Shield added.
*Shields increased to 175.
*Health increased to 250.
*Range increased to 7.
*Attack speed changed to 1.5.
* Damage changed to 28.
*Cost changed to 250/100/3.
*Has a turret.
NEW UNIT: Reaver
*High damage, medium-ranged artillery power multiplier unit.
*Creates Scarabs for a small cost, that are launched at enemies and do high damage in a small radius.
*NEW UPGRADE: Upgrade Reaver Capacity. Increases the Reaver's Scarab capacity by 5. Researched at the Robotics Support Bay.
*Cost: 200/100/4.
* Damage per Scarab: 100.
*100/80 total health.
*Speed: 1.75
NEW UNIT: Scout
*Very flexible and reliable core air unit.
*Costs 275/125/3.
*150/100 total health.
*Air attack speed: 1.35
*Air range: 6
*Ground attack speed: 1.25
*Ground range: 5
*Short delay between the air missiles.
*Air Damage: 18 - 9 vs light.
*Ground Damage: 10.
NEW UNIT: Arbiter
*Late-tier supportive spellcaster. Has a cloaking field generator.
*Can learn Recall and Stasis. Researched at the Tribunal.
*Costs 100/350/4.
*200/150 total health.
*10 damage.
*1.5 attack speed.
*NEW UPGRADE: Kydarian Core. Researched at the Tribunal. Increases starting energy to 60 and max energy to 250.
For the brave motherfuckers that want to read what is basically a light novel here is the entirety of my thought process for virtually every single one of these changes,
To start things off, many units were removed, many added, and all that was left over has received some kind of redesign or balance adjustment. If you're looking for a fresh outlook and experience, and to learn a new game, this is right for you. If you're looking for a mod that isn't trying to be Brood War, than this is right for you. If you just want to experiment and play around with new ideas, than this mod is for you. A couple things to keep in mind. All of my math for balancing is based around the idea that 1 gas is equal to 2.4 minerals. Not all of you may agree on this, but for now this thread is purely discussing the designs. There are only 6 units this is important in. The
Stalker, Marauder, Hydralisk, Scout, Wraith, and Mutalisk. All the other units are balanced around the same idea, but they are much more asymmetrically designed than these units so it's less of a leveraging factor.
To start off the basic mechanical differences, I've changed the starting workers back to 6 and 8 minerals and 8 gas returned at a time but only one geyser per base. Then I have Starbow's worker bouncing mechanic. This not only hugely simplifies the economy compared to SC2, but it also evens out a lot of statistics that are very unpleasant and not ideal in normal SC2. There is no argument that SC2's economy is a broken mess. Even though LotV did fix it for the better it did it in a very sloppy way that didn't fix the real problem it only swept it under the rug. The change back to BW-style gas means less workers per base as a whole which means more supply can be invested in army. The Starbow mining also means the efficient amount of workers is 8, but the curve loss for more than 8 workers drops off a lot slower than SC2. This means that having more than 8 workers will still bring in more income on one base, but it would bring in more if the workers were spread out between two. Next, All units that would reasonably have a tracking turret do. Siege Tanks, Immortals, and Hellions just to name a few. These units should feel a lot more rewarding to micro because of it. Also for the starting workers, I changed it back to 6 because with my economy changes and Starbow's worker bouncing, the economy is already quite fast. Many changes will probably have to be made in order to incorporate the faster economy better. I decided with 6 because I felt 4 might be too slow and slow, but 12 will definitely be far too much with my changes. 6 to 8 seemed like a perfect number, so I went with 6 to try and put it on the slower side of things at the startup, because again it's already incredibly fast, but this will obviously still have to be tinkered with. In addition the starting supply is also changed a little bit to accommodate the less workers.
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/map-development-202/shockcraft-279150/
So now, I will finally list off Terran changes. Terran I feel, while being the most balanced in SC2, had the poorest design decisions. For starters, the lack of a map control unit that actually functioned as a map control unit. Or a viable Siege Tank. Or reliable Anti-Air. Or some way to keep their units alive longer other than for Bio. Finally, a plethora of really bad unit designs that simply are not fun to play against or are a nightmare to balance into a useful but not too strong position. Without further ado, here are the Terran changes:
All production structures share the Reactor, but have their own tech addon. Barracks have the Covert Ops, Factories have the Machine Shop, and Starports have the Control Tower. Terran also have a new tech structure, the Science Facility. It is in a completely different place in the tech tree and has no addons unlike it's BW counterpart. It is meant to be a supportive tech structure for all 3 existing production
structures. This way later one when I add new units I can use this structure as a tech requirement. For now, all it does is gate some upgrades and unlocks the Raven. The reasoning behind no Tech Labs is due to my many, many changes. With my mod, having Tech Labs would be far more of
an advantage than it is in SC2. This is because the tech for Protoss and Zerg is a little bit more complicated while terran received little tech changes. The added complexity in the addons helps balance it out some by not letting them be swapped around. The total investment in cost and time will be practically the same, but now you must invest in a different addon per production structure instead of being able to swap them around.
Out of the Barracks, we still have Marines, Marauders, Reapers, Ghosts, and Medics. Reapers remain mostly unchanged from LotV, but their grenade now only does the knockback. The damage on the grenade allowed them to do too much damage to too many things that cost significantly more than the Reaper. By not removing the grenade entirely, there is still some very skillful nature to using Reapers and their grenade that I think is very fun to play with and watch, though maybe not so much against. 2 out of 3 ain't bad, though. This main goals
with this production structure was to make it feel more rounded. Both SC2 and BW bio feels a little bit lack-luster to me. So with keeping SC2 Ghost (with some minor changes that will come later), adding the Medic, and the major changes to the Marauder, with the SC2 Marine, should give this production structure lots of versatility and reliability across all matchups and with many situations making it feel a lot more like what it's suppose to.
Marauders have seen a complete redesign. I always felt that the Marauder, as a concept, truly represented what Bio Terran is. Fast, agile, reliable, and packs a punch. So with this in mind, I designed them around being 1 supply. They now cost 50/25/1, have 80 HP, and 5+4 vs Armored damage at two attacks, no longer has
concussive shells but still has Stim. They now also have an armor upgrade that gives them +1 armor. They also only take 1 space in transports. This Marauder is much more massable and is designed to have a very close relationship with the Stalker and Hydralisk. It can be in more places at once by having a smaller supply cost and it's health has been made a lot more supply-efficient. From these numbers, you may be thinking that it's definitely lost a lot of it's punch and has actually been nerfed when it comes to damage. However, because
of the way a lot of my units are designed a lot of trades come out even at cost-for-cost and are completely up to the skill of the player and the slight asymmetrical balancing to try and get a better trade. For instance equal cost of my Marauders to Immortals or Ultralisks will tend to come out fairly even, from my own testing. Stim compared to Blink can really change the way fights work between Marauders and Stalkers, but should still add up nicely while providing more depth.
I still have yet to do anything in particular about the Ghost, but they are on my list to be changed. I completely dislike EMP, and want to replace it with something more skillful and interesting, but I have yet to definitely decide on something yet. The new LotV Snipe I actually do really like though, so I will be keeping that. Moving on, now that Medics are in the picture Terran can pull off some good pressures and timings early-game with bio. No more shall a Bio player sit in their base doing nothing but turtling until they get Medivacs. Medics do require the new Covert Ops Addon for the Barracks, but also have their Stabilizer Medipacks upgrade. This upgrade slightly increases the range and rate they heal at. The only problem I foresee with the Medic is it not entirely finding a place in the meta, being made obsolete once Medivacs come along. I am hoping that mixing Medics in a Medivac drop with Marines and Marauders will be worth it, but if not I will probably try giving them one
or two abilities. The first ability on the list is Restoration, but slightly modified to be an AoE target point effect instead of single-target unit effect. I have not planned beyond that, though.
Finally, some miscellaneous details. The Barracks, like all the Terran production structures, still have Reactors. Reactors are my favorite macro mechanic from SC2, and actually only one of two I actually like with the other being Chronoboost. Marauders do require the Covert Ops addon and cannot be Reactored. Only Marines from the Barracks can be Reactored.
The upgrades at the Covert Ops are Stimpack, Combat Shield, Juggernaut Plating (Marauder Armor Upgrade), and Stabilizer Medipacks (Extra heal range and speed).
Moving onto the Factory. We have the Hellion, Hellbat, Siege Tank, and Cyclone. While this may not seem like much has changed, all of these units have seen at least a small change. Hellions and Cyclones have been entirely redesigned. Cyclones are designed around being a power multiplier unit while Hellions truly fill their Map Control role now. Hellions no longer have splash, but instead have a high-damage single-target attack. They are slightly slower, 4 speed as oppose to 4.25, but are upgraded to be faster than before, with 4.6. Their
Turret tracks units properlly. Their HP is slightly increased and their cost is slightly increased. All of these changes make them function significantly better as a map control unit. They can legitimately engage with Zerglings, and they have the potential to pick off reinforcing units like the Vulture. They may even end up being just as good at harassment. They no longer benefit from Infernal Pre-Igniter, instead having the speed upgrade. They are 125/0/2 with 100 HP, 12+2 vs Light @ 2.4 attack speed. Finally, one of the biggest changes is that
Hellions and Hellbats can transform while moving but cannot attack while transforming. This lets them be able to get into positions easier and be ready when they get there too. Hellbats also have a slight speed and health buff, to make them more mobile and capable of responding to threats while adding a few more precious seconds to the wall they form between melee units and Siege Tanks. This should help them fill the absence of Spider Mines slightly and also providing their own role by being capable fighters too.
Hellbats have recieved some minor changes. They have slightly more health and DPS, but the biggest change is that they're a bit faster now too, with 2.65 speed. This lets them get around places they need to be while still being in Hellbat form, such as reinforcing a tank line that isn't too far away. Their improved health and damage should also ensure that they can function as a spiked meat wall much better. The Siege Tank has received minor changes. Cost changed and supply reduced with numbers such as health and damage slightly adjusted to reflect this.
Finally, the Cyclone. The Cyclone is also a completely different animal now. While balancing in my mod still needs a lot of work, I got the basic idea of how I want them down. Cost-efficient damage, supply-efficient health. They now have a tracking turret and much higher DPS as well as health and are 150/75/2 cost. This Cyclone is much more well-rounded. It provides good air cover and can support Siege Tanks with their damage and long range very well.
Now we move onto the Starport. Here we have the Wraith, Medivac, Viking, Raven, and Battlecruiser. The Wraith is slightly different from it's BW counterpart. It has a slightly stronger ground attack, making it much more versatile. Medivacs remain unchanged from LotV. Vikings, on the other hand, have received some major changes. They now have area of effect damage, the transformation time is significantly decreased, they can transform while moving, and the ground mode has some slight buffs. Ravens have been reworked a decent amount as well. They no longer have PDD or Seeker Missile, instead they have Defensive Matrix and Irradiate. However, they do not have EMP and still have Auto-Turrets. The Battlecruiser has been changed slightly to be more like it's BW counterpart. It has higher base damage and slower attack speed. After that, it still has the Warp Jump.
That is so far all of the Terran changes. I still want to make a lot more. In particular, I want to make the BC more like it's Brood War counterpart, becauseI don't like it. It's such a simple change that I constantly forget about it, though. The Ghost still has not been changed, and I want to change it. The logic behind some of my changes are quite simple while others might seem arbitrary. Hellions have been changed to the way they are because they did not function as a map control unit well, which is one of the most important roles missing from SC2's
Mech composition. Hellbat's changes on the other hand may seem a bit weird. The Hellbat's changes were made because I felt the unit drastically underperforms in the very situations it should perform well in such as protecting Siege Tanks and responding to counter attacks. The changes to the Marauder might not make much sense, however I feel they are the most important thing changes about bio. They are fast and dish out a lot of damage, and are even kind of hardy, however due to their more spread out nature they are much more susceptible to splash damage. My plans for Ghosts also may not sound necessary, but do keep in mind the point of this mod is to both be a complete redesign, to increase the skill cap and decrease the entry skill level, and to balance the complexity to depth ratio better.
Now we finally move onto the changes for Zerg. Zerg feels the most complete to me, and that is probably because I know them the best and knew what changes they needed the most. The biggest changes are the changes to the spellcasters and the Hydralisk. For Zerg, we have no new units but many redesigned and some removed. Zerg was the most functional but it was missing the most from it's identity. Several of Zerg's weaknesses came purely because their identity was not complete in normal SC2. They lacked the ability to hold ground like in BW for a long time. They had no supportive spellcasters, instead very offensive ones which they did not need. Their most valuable units in BW where very pigeon holed and made very niche With LotV, some of these changes were fixed. Vipers could provide very strong anti-air. Lurkers were added. Ravagers could also help in area control. There was still some things missing, though. No reliable core unit. No reliable unit to support Ling/Muta. Ultralisks were still too much of a fantasy unit than an actual unit, and this even lead to them being far too strong. Finally, many things that Zerg didn't need that was just simply over-kill or allowed for far too powerful compositions. Such as Infestors, Banelings, and Roaches. Without further ado, the list of Zerg changes and my commentary on them.
First off, one of the removed units is the Baneling. There are far too many problems with the Baneling and most of the changes that would need to be made to them would just completely change what the unit was intended to be and it's fantasy. I found it not worth it and removed it in favor of more BW-like Lurkers. The Baneling
has far too low of a skill ceiling and inherently makes the game more frustrating for Terran Bio players to warrent such a low skill ceiling. On top of this, the Baneling is simply not a fun unit to play with. There are very few things you can do with it that are fun, unique, skillful, and worth doing. The most important thing I felt
is that the longer the game goes on, the less and less cost-efficient this unit became. Not only did it have so few things going good for it, but the one good thing that does go good for it isn't even that strong of an advantage.
Next, I have removed the Queen. The Queen represents almost everything I hate about the changes to Zerg in SC2. Total reliance on a poorly designed mechanic, the lack-luster utilization of Creep as a defense, and just complete ignorance of potential with Transfusion. Larva Injects is by-far my least favorite mechanic in the entire game. It allows for one of the biggest problems with Zerg, the max out strategy, but at the same time not doing this means you will be insanely, insanely behind. It is far to important of a mechanic while also being completely boring and against almost everything I stand for in RTS design. Balancing complexity for depth hugely in favor of
depth. Low skill floor, high skill ceiling. Considering as many possible interactions and side-effects as possible, which was clearly not done with Larva Inject. Creep Speed as a mechanic isn't inheriently bad, what is bad about that is that Nydus Canal/Worms were completely gutted and rendered as a shitty harassment gimmic.
The Creep Speed mechanic was simply executed poorly and again was not entirely thought out. Because you can only be in so many places at once, you have to rely on some sort of defensive mechanic to help you get around to defend yourself as Zerg. In BW, this was the Nydus Canal. It worked very, very well. You could defend multiple attacks at once because you could transport from one end of the map to the other practically instantly. Creep Speed, however, does not give you that advantage. Therefore it's actually an objectively weaker form of defense. Finally, Transfusion's interactions with units like Ultralisks, Roaches, Brood Lords, and the Queen itself. While Transfusion isn't bad like the other spells, it just has the problem of lack of foresight.
Moving onto the Hydralisk and the Roach. These two units almost got a complete swap in SC2. Roaches became a more reliable core unit while Hydralisks became very niche and unique, but in their first incarnation in the early stages of the SC2 Alpha, these two units were swapped between each other. The Roach was originally meant to be more of a nich specialty unit while the Hydralisk was still the core unit. I swapped them back, as the Hydralisk originally is much more fit for the role of core unit. They are fast and agile, are able to attack air, and can morph into the Lurker which is also a very necessary unit for Zerg to have in all matchups. So, the Hydralisk
is now a T1.5 unit at it's BW cost and supply. It has lower DPS per cost, but because of the Zerg production and it's cost it can much more easily out number units if similar tier. On the other hand, the Roach now is a T2.5 unit. It is very tanky, having high health regeneration while burrowed. It is also quite stealthy, being able to move while burrowed. Finally, it has high DPS. It has very high cost and is much slower above ground than it is burrowed. This makes it an excellent Stealth Harassment unit as well as a strong map control unit, which is what I feel this unit is meant to be. It's high DPS will let it break through walls in medium-sized groups, and it's movement speed and health regen while burrowed will allow it to escape easily. This way, they can be a constant annoyance that can sneak past your opponent's army. If they try to deal with it, they could lose their position. If they don't, they will take economic damage or have reinforcing units picked off. It won't be the easiest
thing to pick off, however, because they are a heavy investment and are a bit of a later game unit. Without their health regen, they are very fragile for their cost. This will make it balance risk/reward.
Next, the changes to the Mutalisk and Corruptor. The changes to the Mutalisk is very small, the only change from LotV being that they morph into Brood Lords instead of Corruptors. This is primarily because the Corruptor is now much cheaper and hatches in pairs like Zerglings. Corruptors are now a low health, low cost unit. They now play more like a Scourge. They are made to scare off air units and hunt down arial spellcasters like Arbiters, Ravens, and Vipers much like the Scourge. However, there are problems with the Scourge in actual SC2 so instead of using the Scourge's melee-range suicide, the Corruptor is still ranged and does not suicide. Instead, due to their small health pool and size, they are highly susceptible to A2A splash damage. The problem with a normal Scourge is due to how the path finding functions. A Scourge in SC2 will not be anywhere near as strong as in BW because of how the pathfinding is much more tight and concise in SC2, which means more units have a better opportunity to attack the Scourge. Note that this isn't inherently a problem with SC2, it is simply a difference. I am considering removing the Mutalisk's regen passive if it is still a problem
in my mod.
The Lurker has received the least amount of changes. All Zerg units can now burrow ontop of each other, including the Lurker. This gives it the same strategies possible as in BW. It also has a slight damage nerf, from 20+10 vs Armored to 20 flat damage. Zerglings as well remain unchanged. The same for the Mutalisk. They are
as well mostly unchanged. These three units needed the least amount of changes.
The Infestor has been removed in favor of the Viper becoming T2. The Viper right now is probably the laziest thing I've done for this mod, but I still like it. All I've done is removed Blinding Cloud and Parasitic Bomb, and given it Spawn Broodling and Spawn Infested Terran. It still has Abduct. This gives the Viper some
harassment potential as well as some potential to deal with Siege Tanks and other mostly stationary non-robotic units. The Infested Terran also allow it some potential to deal with harassment themselves quickly and easily and give it some harassment potential itself. Spawn Broodlings also allows it to have some harassment potential.
I have modified the energy cost for both of these abilities so that Spawn Broodlings can be used slightly more often but Infested Terran cannot be spammed.
The final stretch of changes is the removal of the Swarm Host, and the added Defiler and the changes to the Ultralisk. The Defiler has all it's original abilities. Finally, the Ultralisk has been changed to be more like it's BW counterpart. This way it won't be insanely strong, but it can still fill the intentional role it's meant to, that is
to tank from other high damage units. They no longer have splash and cost less supply, while also having slightly less health. They still have a lot of armor, however.
That about wraps up the changes to Zerg. Most of these changes are geared toward making the race more defined and have more of a centralized army like they do in BW, while only a few changes and removed units are to fix design. Zerg really doesn't have much wrong in actual design, just the Ultralisk, Baneling, Roach, and Infestor, which is a lot better than some other races can say, but for their fantasy and their actual rooster they had many things missing to make Zerg what it actually is. They had no reliable core unit that was viable throughout the entire game in all matchups, they had bad support spells on their casters, the Ultralisk was made much more niche and harder to access for not much more benefit (Basically less health, the addition of splash, and a little bit extra armor, for 2 more supply and 100 more minerals). While what was there didn't have too much problems with design, the race as a whole was missing some very key components that made them what they are and kept them competitive. I feel like I have definitely addressed these problems with these changes.
Finally, we can now move onto the Protoss. The Protoss definitely has it's fair share of missing puzzles pieces and pieces that are too big or small. I want to try to keep Warp Gates, so we'll have to see later if it will still have problems especially considering I've gutted Larva Inject. Protoss sort of has the opposite problem that
Zerg has. It has some pretty solid core units, but most of the other roles have been over simplified or completely cut out. One particular missing role is a supportive T3 air spellcaster, at the Stargate. Another is well-rounded air core unit. With that said, here are the Protoss changes.
Firstly, I have removed both Sentries and Adepts. Neither of these units I am fond of. I feel the Adept have too many overlapping issues and doesn't really bring much new to the table, and the Sentry is too heavily relied on primarily for a terrible spell, Force Field. There is very little counter measures that can be done against this spell,
and almost all of it's potential is a big middle finger to whoever has to go against it. It is the mistake amplifier. In countless situations, the usage of Force Field is almost primarily to make a mistake your opponent made heavily in your favor, too much so. With enough Sentries, there isn't even much skill to placing them. Instead of having this unit, I have made a small change to the Zealot and retuned the Stalker's stats as well as some changes to Robo. I have increased the LotV Chrono Boost speed slightly, to 18%. 15% is a little bit too harsh. The numbers come out slightly lower, and that's considering the fact that it is running 100% of the time. 18% looks a lot better but shouldn't be overkill like 19% or 20% would.
The Zealot has recieved a slight health buff and I intend to make another change, probably to Charge, but I'm not entirely sure on it yet. The Stalker, on the other hand, has had it's stats shuffled around some. It has more health and damage for the same cost and still has Blink. The Stalker is one of 3 units that have been made to be tightly
balanced with, the others being the Marauder and the Hydralisk. These three units have been made to trade as evenly as possible without their specific upgrades. Once the upgrades come into play, you will be relying on both your own skill and their asymmetrical design instead of just skill.
Moving onto the Robo, I have removed Colossus and Disruptors in favor of the Reaver--woo! The Reaver has three main gimmicks for it that make it much better than the Colossus and Disruptor. It requires constant investment, it's very slow, and it attacks very slow but has very high damage. The constant investment means it's massive damage isn't going to quickly become too cost efficient like the Disruptor, like the High Templar's Psi Storm requiring energy. The slow movement and attack speed means ferrying it around with a transport is much
more efficient than with the Colossus. Nextly, the Immortal has had some changes to it. It no longer has Barrier or Hardened Shield. Instead, it simply will have a lot of health. It's damage has also been slightly changed.
Now for the Stargate. The Stargate has/will have the most changes for the Protoss. The Void Ray has been removed in favor of a slightly changed Scout. The Oracle has been removed in favor of the Arbiter, with a new tech structure being added for the Arbiter. The Carrier will have some slight changes later on. The Tempest may also have some slight changes, depending on if Protoss struggles against Zerg's air. The Phoenix remains the same. The Scout has had a slightly buffed ground attack and some slight changes to it's air attack. Like with the Marauder, Stalker, and Hydralisk, the Scout, Wraith, and Mutalisk are designed to be closely related with their asymmetrical designs spacing them out. The Arbiter has all of it's classic spells. The reason why I am adding the Arbiter is because of the playstyle that evolved around it. The Arbiter provided a crucial role that is completely absent in Protoss' arsenal in SC2. Being able to charge head on because of the Cloaking Field and Stasis and being able to easily counter attack because of Recall made for some very exciting games and for a very fun to
watch style. This ability set is important and well designed. It is exactly what I like about RTS design, as I've mentioned earlier. It has a low skill floor, it is easy to understand, but a high skill ceiling, it is important where and on what you cast it on and better execution means better results. Normally, I have a problem with snares or root spells. However, Stasis is a bit different. Because it makes it's targets invulnerable, it is not as punishing as these othet types of spells. Just enough for me to be okay with it.
That is it for the Protoss changes. The next thing I can talk about is the future. what I am considering doing and ideas I haven't tried yet. Beyond this point, I have tested nothing. So don't get your panties in a bunch over these just yet. I have many things between all three races I still want to change. Namely the Ghost, Viper, Carrier, and Tempest. I have many left over units I have removed or that are left over from the expansions that I could potentially do something with. The Thor, Warhound, HERC, Adept, and the Swarm Host.
One thing I want to do is remove EMP. I don't like it as a spell. It can't really work in SC2. It barely worked in Brood War. So as a replacement for EMP on the Ghost, I was considering making a spell that instead of immediately doing damage to shields and energy it did it over time. Or perhaps simply a skillshot silence. I also do have a problem with Feedback, but it doesn't cause many problems so I have left it alone. Perhaps this could also be a Skillshot, like in Starbow, though. I do want to give the Viper unique abilities, but I haven't
thought of anything yet. I do want to make some more slight changes to the Zealot, but I'm simply not sure what I want to do with it yet. I was thinking of making charge an instant spell that lasts for a small period of time, like Stim. This would greatly raise it's skill ceiling without raising the skill floor. I feel like Gateway should have one more unit, but I don't know what. I also feel like Zerg could use one more unit and the Factory could use one more unit as well, but I don't know what yet. I'll have to identify what roles are missing or what they could definitely make use of.
I think that about wraps this whole thing up. Lemme know what you think! Don't forget to give it a shot! It is available as both an Extension Mod and Arcade Maps.
