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With LotV out and the SC2 saga coming to a close, I think it's time for the community to start on mods to incorporate many of the ideas that Blizzard never picked up. A good mod should appeal to casual players first and foremost, since the pro community will never leave a game with a professional infrastructure like SC2. This is why I think fun has to come first, balance and viewability second.
The more stuff, the more fun, is I think generally true. There are so many fun units, abilities and upgrades in the SC2 campaigns that can never be used in multiplayer. The stuff is already there, you just have to package it up in a playable mod.
Heptacraft is my attempt at this. I started with the concept for it when I became disappointed with the LotV beta, and began working on the actual mod a month ago, when LotV came out. I hope to release a playable version in January or February 2016. Right now I just finished up with the buildings, buttons and tech trees for all Factions. A lot of stuff is way more complicated to do in the Editor than I thought  .
I just want to give the community a preview of what I'm planning, get some feedback, and maybe get some people interested enough in the project that they want to get involved in it.
Just in case you are unsure about how mods work: if created as an extension mod, any StarCraft map can use the data and triggers of a mod, so you will be able to play this Mod on any SC2 map.
So here it is, my upcoming Mod: Heptacraft
Backstory
"Somewhere in the Korprulu sector, Jim Raynor wakes up from a weird dream involving his old friend Zeratul, some kind of phrophecy, and that girl he once had a crush on becoming a godlike naked angel creature for some reason, saving the universe or whatever.
Of course it was just a dream. Zeratul is long presumed dead, Sarah Kerrigan has been killed by the Dominion, the Korprulu sector remains as war-torn as ever, with his Raiders still trying to bring the Dominion down, and a bunch of new players arriving on the scene: Zeratul failed in uniting his people, and the Protoss remain split into the Nerazim and the followers of the Khala. While a couple of surviving cerebrates formed a new Overmind and the swarm is back in full force, a bunch of Zerg Queens who stayed out of any cerebrate's influence for long enough evolved in another direction and now field their infested Terran abominations to war. And if that wasnt bad enough, there is talk of sightings of immensely powerful Protoss/Zerg hybrid creatures, reportedly created by an alliance of the Moebius Foundation and some Protoss sect called Tal'Darim."
Basic design
- Instead of 3 races there is now 7 factions - two Terran, two Zerg, two Protoss and one Hybrid, with 14 units each.
- Racial identity of the factions is much more diverse than in LotV, especially with the "traditional" factions Dominion, Khala and Swarm.
- Hard counters have been toned down a lot, units generally have a higher ratio of HP to damage. Average movement speed has been decreased as well. Air units are generally weaker.
- Perfect balance is obviously impossible to achieve with so many matchups. This is why random play is heavily recommended. You can exclude any number of factions from the randomization.
- Lots of elements people were complaining about have been removed from the game: No more indestructible Force Fields, Mothership Core, Widow Mines, Siege Tank drops, etc.
- Some individual units, especially casters, are much more powerful now. To balance this out, they cost a new resource (Terrazine), making it impossible to mass them.
- Terrazine automatically accumulates at a fixed rate over time for all players.
Interface
- You can now zoom further out and also zoom in without tilting the view for better overview using the mouse wheel.
- All possible upgrades for a unit will show up on the unit's command card, making it easier to learn the game.
Macro
- Mineral patches now hold 2300 and 1800 minerals respectively, making bases mine out much slower.
- Harvest model is similar to double harvest, macro mechanics have been removed from the game, worker start is set at 7 (with the 8th worker already queued). Game pace is aimed at LotV beta without macro boosters, since I enjoyed that the most.
- Instead of Macro mechanics, there are now unique (mostly defensive) town hall abilities for all factions. These require micro and not just activation to work.
- Supply cap is raised to 230, and workers only take up 0.5 supply now. The supply cost of units is also generally lower.
Micro
- Most small units now have a damage point of zero, making them much more microable.
- Some big units, especially the huge capital ships,now move more sluggish or have low turn rates, enabling new forms of micro like real flanking from directions where units cannot fire back.
- Smart firing has been disabled on some units, most notably the Siege Tank, making overkill and all the tactical possibilities for counterplay that go with it possible once again.
- Energy system is used more extensively to create nonlinear cooldown for abilities and weapons.
Ladder
- HeptaCraft has a built-in Ladder Mode based on BW-like Ladder ranking system. Everyone starts at a rating of 1000, and you will gain/lose points depending on your opponent's rating.
- Ladder rankings are saved in local files. Easy manipulation of these files will be prevented via a key system. Of course I cant prevent you from deleting your file and restarting with a fresh rating of 1000.
- Ladder will obviously depend a lot on fair play - the mod cannot decrease your rating if you just leave a game without forfeiting it, similar to discs in early SC1 ladder.
- Given enough interest, a website could be created where people can upload their ranking files, creating a global ladder.
The opening dialogue for Heptacraft
![[image loading]](http://s4.postimg.org/cwpxreqlp/dialogues.png)
Preview of all the factions
The seven factions in Heptacraft are:
- The Dominion: tough but slow, made for positional games
- The Raiders: weaker but more flexible than the Dominion
- The Khala: old school BW-like Protoss - tough and powerful
- The Nerazim: SC2-like Protoss - fragile and gimmicky
- The Swarm: old school BW-like Zerg - masses of weak units
- The Infested: less aggressive than the Swarm, also relies on big numbers
- The Covenant: weakish robotic units for bulk, powerful Protoss units sprinkled in, and even morepowerful Hybrid units in late game
The screenshots should give you an idea of the unit and building lineup for all the factions. I am not adding any new models or textures to the game, but making do with the ones already included. The only thing I changed on some models is their size and sometimes tint color (eg to get the silver look on the Nerazim or the black look on the Infested).
The Dominion
![[image loading]](http://s4.postimg.org/zb7m7mtd9/dominion.png)
The Raiders
![[image loading]](http://s4.postimg.org/ewb4wkab1/raiders.png)
The Khala
![[image loading]](http://s4.postimg.org/m8bzod359/khala.png)
The Nerazim
![[image loading]](http://s4.postimg.org/w86w49eel/nerazim.png)
The Swarm
![[image loading]](http://s4.postimg.org/3xzvedlpp/swarm.png)
The Infested
![[image loading]](http://s17.postimg.org/wnhb47bbj/infested.png)
The Covenant
![[image loading]](http://s4.postimg.org/hnpt9fjfx/covenant.png)
Until now, I've invested a little more than 100 hours into the work for Heptacraft, so I hope at least some people will like it, and maybe even play it . Thanks for my laid-back job making this possible, since I have little time to work on this (or even play much SC2) from home.
As mentioned above, expect the first playable (and probably horribly imbalanced) version to be out January or February. The factions and their buildings and upgrades are already working, but the big work on unit properties and their abilities is still ahead.
And after that, of course, the perpetual balancing
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Seems pretty fun, i will give it a try when it's out.
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Hey summerloud, first of all, sorry for not responding to your message, I read it and then forgot about it completely.
In the meantime, I've finished the LotV campaign and that's almost it.
I'm really glad you've got some base working on your mod. I'm gonna give it a shot when it comes out, hope it will become popular
Side note: You can keep BW Queen named as Queen, and rename Infested faction Queen to Brood Mother.
Princess sounds just... tacky 
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Great looking project!
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On December 18 2015 05:04 Nazara wrote:Hey summerloud, first of all, sorry for not responding to your message, I read it and then forgot about it completely. In the meantime, I've finished the LotV campaign and that's almost it. I'm really glad you've got some base working on your mod. I'm gonna give it a shot when it comes out, hope it will become popular . Side note: You can keep BW Queen named as Queen, and rename Infested faction Queen to Brood Mother. Princess sounds just... tacky
no problem, sounded like you had little time so I didnt expect much.
also, due to pretty much everything taking longer than i thought to do in the editor (I never thought just creating copies of buildings would be such a pain in the ass...), I ve had plenty of time to think about design when I got bored of the tedious stuff, and Im pretty happy where I stand now.
I thought "Princess" was kinda funny as a name for that creature, but yeah your solution is better, gna change it to that
also, im curious: in the end, what did you think about the lotv campaign? (prolly better to respond to that as PM)
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This looks incredibly interesting and I'll look for this around January to test the fun factor.
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*tips hat*
Well done! What an awesome and creative idea. I hope you get some support from the community.
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that's pretty cool :D 7 factions :D lots of ideas
do you need to have LoTV to play?
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Oh lol. I literally wanted to do the same kind of mod (just came from the editor and opened teamliquid)
If you need playtesters or smth, lemme now. I am defo looking forward to it.
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I like how this is not trying to re-balance/revolutionize SC2, but rather something different and fun, yet still a potential competitive RTS. Will try it out for sure.
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On December 18 2015 06:30 ProMeTheus112 wrote:
that's pretty cool :D 7 factions :D lots of ideas
do you need to have LoTV to play?
yes, you need LotV to play since it builds on many of LotV's units
On December 18 2015 06:35 404AlphaSquad wrote:Oh lol. I literally wanted to do the same kind of mod (just came from the editor and opened teamliquid) If you need playtesters or smth, lemme now. I am defo looking forward to it.
definitely gna need playtesters as soon as its playable, gna PM you then
On December 18 2015 07:07 Xiphias wrote:
I like how this is not trying to re-balance/revolutionize SC2, but rather something different and fun, yet still a potential competitive RTS. Will try it out for sure.
yeah I think for a mod to be successful it needs to be sufficiently different from SC2 to create a large incentive to play it. that or appeal to nostalgia, ie BW. with heptacraft i kinda try to combine both of these things
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I always wanted another faction fro sc2 which would already mean 4 more matchups - but balancing that is so tough which is ofc why blizz doesnt want to mess with an esports title in this way. I see your project not as a competetive one so balance fine tuning isn't AS important, so I will probably love it as a fun mod!
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What are the different unit abilities that they come with as it currently stands?
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Very interesting. Since I'm a sucker for everything infested, I can't wait to play your Infested race and see if I can steal something from it ... ahum I mean put our heads together as mutual modders and see what fun stuff we can come up with.
Do I understand it right that mods like this function in such a way that they don't actually modify the game hub thingy where you select from TPZ, but instead have to wait to jump into the actual game and then you choose your race? I always wanted to add more races too, but never quite researched well enough the ways to do it. If you want to know my race ideas that seem to have a lot in common with yours, it would have been:
- Raiders (Jim's band of freedom fighters with outdated tech) - Hero unit: Raynor
- Dominion (Mengsk elite army and height of Terran tech) - Hero unit: Nova
- Kerrigan's Brood - Hero unit: Kerrigan
- Protoss - Hero unit: Zeratul
- Dark Voice - The hybrid race under command of Narud, also featuring Amon worshipping marines and zealots. - Hero unit: MAAR (I liked him)
- Maybe Primal Zerg, but now that HotS is behind us with LotV .. they kinda sucked. But I liked having Dehaka for their Hero as well as the Primal Hive as deployable Hatchery or something.
I'm not sure with turning the Kerrigan unit into a "massable generic spellcaster unit", as I believe changes like that wil quickly make you think "huh?! multiple Kerrigan's??" in the back of your head. I'll dive into the editor later to see if there's another unit that can be suited, although you already use the 3 infested units that are in the game.
By the way, I'm having issues modding myself at the moment: I don't own LotV, and don't plan to acquire it anytime soon. It took me 2,5 years to muster up enough courage to beat the HotS campaign and multiplayer wise I'm of the opinion that WoL was a somewhat manageable, balancable game, but every unit added since in HotS and LotV make the game spiral out of control.
Anyway, will keep an eye on this project, take care.
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Cool mod.
On December 18 2015 09:09 Masemium wrote:
I'm not sure with turning the Kerrigan unit into a "massable generic spellcaster unit", as I believe changes like that wil quickly make you think "huh?! multiple Kerrigan's??" in the back of your head.
It's funny the things players get used to. I remember back in 2010 when the Thor was unveiled, there was actually a mass outcry of people saying its name was dumb and it didn't make sense to be able to build multiple "Thors." It's the name of a God, you can't have more than one of him! A few weeks later, nobody cared. Sure, Thors, Goliaths, why not?
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plz change mini roach warren and turned Nydus/Evo into different building for the infested
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One small note from a lore perspective: [ I know that gameplay comes first, but I still want to point it out. Take it please as constructive feedback. ]
The Corsair is Nerazim design.
The Phoenix is affiliated with the Khalai.
There is no faction called "Khala" in the Koprulu sector.
The Nerazim symbol uses the Daelaam symbol. The Daelaam is the united government of the Khalai, Nerazim, the Purifiers (and Tal'darim).
The Dominions color in the campaign [sc1 and sc2] is red.
The Raynor Raiders [sc1 and sc2] have the color blue.
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looks great. integrated ladder will help tremendously.
i like each of your faction ideas a whole bunch. can't wait to see it in game!
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On December 18 2015 09:46 404AlphaSquad wrote:
One small note from a lore perspective: [ I know that gameplay comes first, but I still want to point it out. Take it please as constructive feedback. ]
The Corsair is Nerazim design.
The Phoenix is affiliated with the Khalai.
There is no faction called "Khala" in the Koprulu sector.
The Nerazim symbol uses the Daelaam symbol. The Daelaam is the united government of the Khalai, Nerazim, the Purifiers (and Tal'darim).
The Dominions color in the campaign [sc1 and sc2] is red.
The Raynor Raiders [sc1 and sc2] have the color blue.
im aware of corsair being nerazim design and i originally had corsair for nerazim and phoenix for khala
the thing is, the corsair does not have an alternative skin that makes it fit the silver theme of the nerazim, i cannot get a good-looking nerazim unit by adding color tint to a yellow corsair (the silver nerazim buildings use the darkprotoss texture as a base). the phoenix does have the purifier skin. also, giving the corsair to the khala makes it more like traditional BW protoss
the half moon is daelaam symbol? i wasnt aware of that, i just picked something that looked nerazim-ish. if you want, you can look through the decals and recommend something that fits better
i was thinking about naming the protoss faction "conclave" instead of "khala" - what you think about that?
im aware of the dominion/raider color issue, but i think blue fits them much better. not that it matters much, since you can pick any color you want anyways, which is another good thing about custom games - how blizzard kept their retarded color scheme for 5 years where you are unable to pick your own color and the affiliation of colors in team games changes between 2on2, 3on3 and 4on4 is just beyond me 
On December 18 2015 09:09 Masemium wrote:
Very interesting. Since I'm a sucker for everything infested, I can't wait to play your Infested race and see if I can steal something from it ... ahum I mean put our heads together as mutual modders and see what fun stuff we can come up with.
Do I understand it right that mods like this function in such a way that they don't actually modify the game hub thingy where you select from TPZ, but instead have to wait to jump into the actual game and then you choose your race? I always wanted to add more races too, but never quite researched well enough the ways to do it. If you want to know my race ideas that seem to have a lot in common with yours, it would have been:
- Raiders (Jim's band of freedom fighters with outdated tech) - Hero unit: Raynor
- Dominion (Mengsk elite army and height of Terran tech) - Hero unit: Nova
- Kerrigan's Brood - Hero unit: Kerrigan
- Protoss - Hero unit: Zeratul
- Dark Voice - The hybrid race under command of Narud, also featuring Amon worshipping marines and zealots. - Hero unit: MAAR (I liked him)
- Maybe Primal Zerg, but now that HotS is behind us with LotV .. they kinda sucked. But I liked having Dehaka for their Hero as well as the Primal Hive as deployable Hatchery or something.
I'm not sure with turning the Kerrigan unit into a "massable generic spellcaster unit", as I believe changes like that wil quickly make you think "huh?! multiple Kerrigan's??" in the back of your head. I'll dive into the editor later to see if there's another unit that can be suited, although you already use the 3 infested units that are in the game.
By the way, I'm having issues modding myself at the moment: I don't own LotV, and don't plan to acquire it anytime soon. It took me 2,5 years to muster up enough courage to beat the HotS campaign and multiplayer wise I'm of the opinion that WoL was a somewhat manageable, balancable game, but every unit added since in HotS and LotV make the game spiral out of control.
Anyway, will keep an eye on this project, take care.
i dont think there is a way to modify the p/t/z race selection outside of the actual game. also, my method has the advantage of being able to randomize from any number of factions
tbh im not that happy with kerrigan as a model for many reason, not the least of all that her model does not have any team color, so all kerrigans will look the same. i hope i find a way to attach team color to it in some way, since the same issue applies to all hybrid units and some infested/covenant buildings
thing is, like you said, im just out of usable models. stukov looks to much like an infested terran, and unfortunately, there is not many other options that fit the theme, if you find anything i overlooked in the editor, let me know.
even though im sticking to the built-in models now, i wont rule out eventually making my own or using other people's models. thats certainly not a top priority right now though.
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tricky question I'm interested about, did you catch the starbow pathing? any interest in that or you prefer to keep original? why? are there strong AoE attacks in your game compared to SC2?
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EPT
