|
Forgive my random thoughts, but after watching Corruptors, I had an idea that would, in my opinion make them very interesting air to air units.
I figured they could be medium speed air to air melee units that sort of 'latch on' to enemy flyers, slowing down their movement speed (not their attack speed), and then start biting at it in melee. This would, while not making the enemy unit defenceless, make it quite vulnerable, especially if several Corruptors latch on to it.
Hopefully, this would make them quite vicious at hunting down lone harassing units like Banshees or Void Rays as well as transports, bringing back some of the fun of the StarCraft Scourge, while not being too overpowered in straight up fights, since the units can still defend themselves or be freed by allied troops.
Besides, I always felt that Zerg should have a melee air unit rather than having them all spit stuff at the enemy.
Your thoughts?
|
I don't know if I totally agree, but it is an interesting idea!
|
I'd agree with that being a special ability that does more damage. But not the normal attack.
The problem is that this is most effective against heavy air (armored) and they already have + damage vs armored so it wouldn't really work as an ability either.
But the idea is nice. I'd like smth like this implemented.
|
|
|
Very good idea IMO. The latched ship should be slowned though.
|
10387 Posts
would make more sense out of those tentacles they have
|
I like this idea. Actually, I'd like to see this as a return of the Corruptor's original ability to turn air units into corrupted stationary anti-air "turrets" as per the original design. Maybe as an ability that first requires the corruptor to latch onto the target to channel the ability, then remain latched on for a certain amount of time until the energy cost is met. Depending on the type of unit (or, to make it more balanced, maybe depending on the cost of the unit) it would cost more energy, so that a viking is easier/costs less energy to corrupt than a battlecruiser.
Or, it could be dependent on hp - the more hp the targeted unit has (current hp, not max possible) the less energy it takes to corrupt. Thoughts?
|
It's an okay idea....but how are the afflicted ships supposed to fight back (assuming they are ATA units such as the Viking)? While it sort of makes sense regarding the Corruptor's name....it seems to be rather overpowered considering enemy air units have to fire on their own units to get it off. Not sure if that is how you want the mechanic to work. ATA fighters would be virtually defenseless without support.
|
On March 08 2010 10:57 Flames wrote:
It's an okay idea....but how are the afflicted ships supposed to fight back (assuming they are ATA units such as the Viking)? While it sort of makes sense regarding the Corruptor's name....it seems to be rather overpowered considering enemy air units have to fire on their own units to get it off. Not sure if that is how you want the mechanic to work. ATA fighters would be virtually defenseless without support.
bigger chance to fight back than insta-death from scourge
|
On March 08 2010 10:57 Flames wrote:
It's an okay idea....but how are the afflicted ships supposed to fight back (assuming they are ATA units such as the Viking)? While it sort of makes sense regarding the Corruptor's name....it seems to be rather overpowered considering enemy air units have to fire on their own units to get it off. Not sure if that is how you want the mechanic to work. ATA fighters would be virtually defenseless without support.
Not sure if you're replying to my idea or to the OP, but in either case, I think it's possible to balance it so that even if the unit the corruptor is latching onto can't attack it, the others can - so, if you have three vikings and a corruptor latches onto one, then the other two can attack the corruptor but the one with the corruptor can't. Then, it would have to be balanced, either by modifying the cost of corruptors/position on tech tree, cost of researching the ability, and speed it takes for energy/corruption to take.
The units would still be separate, so you would be attacking the corruptor and not damaging your own unit. At least that's how I see it.
|
|
|
On March 08 2010 10:57 Flames wrote:
It's an okay idea....but how are the afflicted ships supposed to fight back (assuming they are ATA units such as the Viking)? While it sort of makes sense regarding the Corruptor's name....it seems to be rather overpowered considering enemy air units have to fire on their own units to get it off. Not sure if that is how you want the mechanic to work. ATA fighters would be virtually defenseless without support.
For myself, I was simply thinking of having the Corruptors fight the other air units in melee, much like a Zergling or Zealot would attack. After the first attack, the Corruptor would sink its tentacles into the enemy flyer and decrease its movement speed until the target was dead, Corruptor was dead, or it decided to leave.
|
On March 08 2010 11:15 Fanatic-Templar wrote:
For myself, I was simply thinking of having the Corruptors fight the other air units in melee, much like a Zergling or Zealot would attack. After the first attack, the Corruptor would sink its tentacles into the enemy flyer and decrease its movement speed until the target was dead, Corruptor was dead, or it decided to leave.
On March 08 2010 11:10 ReMaDe wrote:
Not sure if you're replying to my idea or to the OP, but in either case, I think it's possible to balance it so that even if the unit the corruptor is latching onto can't attack it, the others can - so, if you have three vikings and a corruptor latches onto one, then the other two can attack the corruptor but the one with the corruptor can't. Then, it would have to be balanced, either by modifying the cost of corruptors/position on tech tree, cost of researching the ability, and speed it takes for energy/corruption to take.
The units would still be separate, so you would be attacking the corruptor and not damaging your own unit. At least that's how I see it.
It's not a bad idea once its expanded on actually, but I think a mix of hydra's/ corrupter's could decimate any air force with ease, since the corruptor's latch on and then the hydra's take down the immobilized ships. However, if movement speed was decreased then it would be much better, but only for slow ships. A melee attack on a medium speed ATA unit would make it basically useless against Phoenix. It's not a bad idea, but then it raises up whole new balancing issues that Blizzard doesn't really have time for. It would be much easier to buff/nerf based on its damage bonuses.
|
Fanatic-Templar - I think it would be cool to have both actually. So, the corruptor's main attack is a melee anti-air attack, and it also has a channeled ability to "Corrupt" the ship it latches onto (x amount of hp takes y amount of energy to corrupt, with a certain rate of corruption subject to balance). Of course, only one corruptor could be corrupting a unit at a time.
Flames - would movement speed have to be decreased? Definitely not attack speed, but I don't see a problem with movement speed being unaffected as well.
|
I think movement speed would have to be increased to make an air unit that either (1) needs to get close to use its melee attack or (2) corrupt? a unit. Attack speed would be okay with what it has now.
The problem originally is that Fanatic proposed it to be a medium speed melee air unit. Corrupters would then be useless against Phoenix because its a fast flier with range. It would be impossible for it to catch up. Carriers would probably shoot down Corrupters unless they were massed. Warp Prisms have fast movement speed. Void rays would probably be the only effective unit to use them on.
The same limitations apply to Terran. Vikings have a massive 9 range. Banshee's, while they cannot attack air, have at least medium movement speed (not sure). Raven's are the same as Banshee's I think. Battlecruisers are slow enough but they make shoot down the Corrupter before it makes it.
I think that the whole fact of a melee air unit would not work because of the increased role of air in SC2. Any implementation of that would probably require an entire overhaul.
|
I like this idea alot. The current "corruption" doesn't seem that wonderful. (At least I haven't seen awesome uses for it yet).
|
On March 08 2010 13:13 Wr3k wrote:
I like this idea alot. The current "corruption" doesn't seem that wonderful. (At least I haven't seen awesome uses for it yet).
I haven't seen many uses for it either. Although, I thought of a semi-strat in which you get fast corrupters if you see you're opponent going air. Corrupt his starport/stargate/hatchery and then get muta's after. Might be able to win easily. Then again, this is pure speculation as I am not in the beta and I do not know if you can attack the corrupter while it is corrupting a building.
I did see a short clip where a building was corrupted, but then the observer moved the replay away and the game finished shortly after. The corrupter's building corrupt animation is the same as the old building infestation that was on the Infestor....
|
On March 08 2010 12:42 Flames wrote:
I think movement speed would have to be increased to make an air unit that either (1) needs to get close to use its melee attack or (2) corrupt? a unit. Attack speed would be okay with what it has now.
The problem originally is that Fanatic proposed it to be a medium speed melee air unit. Corrupters would then be useless against Phoenix because its a fast flier with range. It would be impossible for it to catch up. Carriers would probably shoot down Corrupters unless they were massed. Warp Prisms have fast movement speed. Void rays would probably be the only effective unit to use them on.
The same limitations apply to Terran. Vikings have a massive 9 range. Banshee's, while they cannot attack air, have at least medium movement speed (not sure). Raven's are the same as Banshee's I think. Battlecruisers are slow enough but they make shoot down the Corrupter before it makes it.
I think that the whole fact of a melee air unit would not work because of the increased role of air in SC2. Any implementation of that would probably require an entire overhaul.
If the Corruptor had a movement speed relationship similar to that of scourge/corsair it would make for some very interesting micro opportunities with the faster air units, and keep it viable in smaller numbers against more powerful air units.
I was actually wondering about changes to movement speed for the unit that the corruptor is latched onto - would that unit have a decrease in speed or would it stay at normal speed?
|
It seems everyone wants this flying squid to become a melee air-to-air =)
I'd love seeing this when the game is released... but with a ranged cooldown ability to lash on a non-massive non-building air enemy with its tentacles, and pull it towards the corruptor redering both the corruptor and the victim immobilised and unable to attack for some time (much like an anti-air gravity beam)
As for the corruption... I'd love to see these guys landing in large numbers over command centers and corrupting them =)
|
On March 08 2010 13:54 brocoli wrote:
It seems everyone wants this flying squid to become a melee air-to-air =)
Yeah, it just makes me think of the Kraken strangling ships with its tentacles, which is where I originally got the idea from.
|
I posted this idea up before =P
|
Think of corruption as a dweb that only targets buildings. A few corruptors can shut down turret defense quickly allowing mutalisks to kill the turrets or just kill what they were guarding and get out. It's pretty strong. Also they're fairly strong vs vikings, and can snipe medivacs and/or banshees. They don't need anything else ._.
|
This could be a secondary mechanic of the corruptor much like the gateway/warpgate works. You simply press a button on the corruptors selected to turn them into this melee unit and they change their appearance somewhat(perhaps now the tentacles face forward instead of backwards or something). Maybe grant the corruptors a bit of increased speed as well, or the same movement speed but something along the lines of the zealot charge where the corruptor gets a speed increase when within a certain range.
As far as motivation for using this ability it could(and should be since it's fing melee) be stronger than the corruptors ranged attack so you would want to get in close for a takedown, otherwise what would be the point in practically sacrificing your unit for another one if only to see a cool animation.
And for when the corruptor is latched onto a ship all friendly ships that are shooting at the corruptor will only target it so the ship takes no damage from it's own, IMHO it would be hard to balance it otherwise. This would work since sc2 has smarter AI(units no longer overkill).
I also agree on the unit being corrupted gets slower movement but not slower rate of fire.
|
On March 08 2010 17:22 Fanatic-Templar wrote:Show nested quote +On March 08 2010 13:54 brocoli wrote:
It seems everyone wants this flying squid to become a melee air-to-air =) Yeah, it just makes me think of the Kraken strangling ships with its tentacles, which is where I originally got the idea from.
UNLEASH THE KARKEN!
as a special ability yes but not as a normal attack lol them stacking then 1 raven missile gg
I already dislike the mechanic of +dmg to light or armored
vs in sc1 where it was attack type vs armor type and you were less effective against certain unit types vs this general the unit is always good crap then is extra good against other unit. Mainly i dis this because of my ultralisk armor lol i want to rip though all units with armor dmg reduction powers
|
Melee air-to-air as a normal ability, not every unit needs a special ability.
|
Right now the Corrupter seems like a a copy-paste off the sc1 Corsair. I think it would be cool if
1. The Corruptor had the ability to slow and melee down air units like proposed above.
2. The building/tower disable ability gets moved to the Infestor and replaces spawn terran. It would also be cool if this effect was some kind of area of effect multi purpose spell. Maybe kind of a heal/disable razor swarm thingy?
|
This idea is pretty cool, I like it!
|
Omg I love this! Corruptors as cheap, low HP, swarming, melee-attacking corruptor would almost be like zerglings of the sky. Air units being dogpiled by corruptors is very zerg. I think a small, stacking movement debuff combined with a DOT would work. (Numbers subject to balance!) 1 corrupter on a unit would only be strong when combined with other units, but 3-4 would be very strong as AA.
This could lead to some deep strategy and a versatile unit - do I dogpile a few units, slowing them to a crawl so I can kill 2-3 of them with my hydras as I let the rest of them retreat? Or do I split my corruptors to slow the entire air force just enough that my mutalisks can chase them across the map? (Or again, do I slow a few victims that my mutalisks can pick off before the air force retreats into reinforcements?)
It would make air battles more interesting both as a participant and as a spectator. SC2 would retain the micro-intense dances of air forces from SC1 - trying to pick off the scourge/corruptors chasing you while avoiding the mutas - but wouldn't have the insta-kill from scourge. Likewise when fighting corruptor-hydra - you want to lure the hydras over unpassable terrain so you can blast them, but don't want to overextend yourself lest they latch on and the hydras pick you apart before you can retreat.
My idea for the building disable:
The corruptor latches on to a building and smothers it like a giant squid! This would be a DOT attack as well. It would be balanced because it occupies a corruptor (kind of like the phoenix's anti-grav), but would be useful against massed AA with sufficiently cheap corruptors (the right unit cost could balance this). Maybe they can be shot off with ground units? Also, maybe the disable effect lasts for a few seconds after they unlatch (due to their smothering slime)?
Or maybe instead of/in addition to DOTs, having a corrupter latched to a unit makes it take more damage from other units?
This new unit would be hard to balance, but the effort would be worth it, making the zerg airforce truly unique. I think Blizzard is up to the challenge, if they want to live up to their legacy.
My $.02.
|
I'd be a fan if it could drag the unit down to the ground -- exactly the opposite of the Phoenix ability. Only light air units, of course.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
