[A] Starbow - Page 455

Upgrade Nexus
- 100 minerals
- 40 sec BT
- Starts with 50 energy
- Max energy 100
- Requires Gateway

- CB lasts 20 seconds, boosts by 50% and costs 15 energy.
- Rift cooldown 60 seconds, costs 50 energy.

Queen
- 150 minerals
- 40 sec BT
- Starts with 50 energy
- Max energy 100
- Requires Pool

- Inject lasts 24 seconds, boosts Larva by 50% and costs 15 energy.
- Creep tumor 25 energy
- Nurturing swarm costs 25 energy, heals 75 life OR speed up morphing structure by 50% during 20 seconds.

Orbital command
- 125 minerals
- 40 sec BT
- Starts with 50 energy
- Max energy 100
- Requires Barrack

- Calldown SCV cooldown 30 sec, costs 25 energy and 50 minerals.
- Overcharge costs 15 energy, boosts production speed by 50% at a Barrack, Factory or Starport during 15 seconds.
- Scan 25 energy.

Terran can still build Reactors and they work as in SC2. Engingeering bay is required though, to avoid breaking early game.

Overcharge and Chrono boost are essentially the same kind of mechanic. The difference lies in CB being better at higher tech units & upgrades, while Overcharge becomes better when used on a structure with a Reactor.

In pure time:
CB reduces production by 10 seconds.
Overcharge reduces production by 7.5 seconds. (If used on a structure with Reactor - production reduced by 15 seconds)


The Calldown-One-Time-Reactor-ability does not work properly due to editor problems so it will likely never get implemented into the game.

I looked at three criteria:
- Have potential to be more APM intensive than in SC2
- Have potential to boost worker production by the same % for all races if used perfectly.
- Have potential to boost army production by the same % for all races if used perfectly.

Worker production:
>>>+ Show Spoiler +<<<

Army production:
>>>+ Show Spoiler +<<<

Apart from the worker + army boost, Zerg can boost structures morph speed, Chrono boost can boost upgrades, Terran can Calldown SCVs anywhere + boost movement speed on flying structures.
Leads to some racial diversity at least.

I am however not esepcially good at math. If anyone find any flaw in my calculations, please enlighten me. Perhaps those values can be fine-tuned further.

December made a good point during the stream today - as the game progresses, macro mechanics become less crucial to use since a lot of structures are enough to cover the macro production anyway. Compare it to BW where macro is equally APM intensive throughout the game.

I think we can live with that problem though. Macro mechanics add APM especially in the early and mid game. That is a time period where there usually is not that much micro or multitasking to do. In the late game, when players have multiple bases over the map and large armies, there is so much to do with the APM anyway. I suppose the best players might also be able to squeeze in some APM at macro mechanics, but it won´t be as crucial? But if they do, they still get an edge over the opponent? Not sure how to calculate the dimishing effect of macro mechanics in relation to the number of production facilities added over time.

- Make Nerve Jammer not affect burrowed units.

- Let Corsair still have Graviton beam.
Lifted units are invulnerable and can not be attacked. Instead Graviton Beam deals 4 dmg per second to medium & armored units, 8 dmg per second to light units. (Kills a worker in 5-6 seconds. Can not kill Hydras, Dragoons, Queens etc as easily... Deals 48 dmg vs medium & armored. 96 dmg to light units. Lasts 12 seconds. Can ofc be tweaked.

- Scout requires Fleet beacon. (Which it already does. This is because it shuts down enemy air harassment so easily in a lame way. Besides, Corsair + Sentinel offers nice early harassment potential for P. ) Can still use the Phase missile ability to destroy energy. Will now be able to research an upgrade for 50/50 that allows them to attack Lifted units. (So Corsair + Scout combo is still possible to snipe units.) The Phase Missile ability might require some additional micro work though.

- I will bring up Sentinel spells later. (MAYBE will Phase Missile be mvoed here. PERHAPS can there be some kind of Disruption Web ability here as well.)

- Two reasons why I do not like the normal version of Abudct:
1) Together with a deathball, it essentially becomes a "destroy target unit" - spell.
2) With only a small Zerg army nearby, it is rarely as useful to use. (Since the dmg output is not enough to kill the pulled enemy unit.)

I know many of you have suggested some fun ways to improve it. But all of them require huge editor work. (Like Abduct can be dodged, the Abduct missile can be focus fired etc.)

Here is what I will likely do:
- Pull target unit towards the Viper. That unit becomes incubated in green slime for ca 10 seconds. It can not move, attack or receive dmg during this time.

It is now useful to disable units, even together with small Zerg hit squads. In deathballs, it is not just to A-move with mass Hydras and Abduct enemy units into the ball to instant kill them. Kinda like a mini-Stasis, if you so will. If you Abduct your own units, they are not incubated. (So you can save your stuff if you are gosu.)

Super great idea? There are surely better ways to "fix" Abduct. But this is easy to make in the editor and I do at least think it is better than normal Abduct.

I don´t consider it a problem. I like that Scourges can punish clumped up enemy blobs of Vessels, Corsairs and other stuff. Spliiit! Keep air units in small groups. Imagine ZvZ with splitted Mutas, instead of everything blobbed up like in BW. Aahhhhhh nerdgasm..
- Improve Scourge micro, enemy micro vs Scourge.
- Change Scourge splash damage or radius.

If necessary.

Two things are fun:
- Splash air combats
- High movement speed on air units

Splash air combats allows for splitting, flanking, focus fire, micro to a larger degree compared to single target dmg.
A smaller army can win over a larger air army with good micro, if there is splash dmg involved.

High movement speed allows gosu moves.. pew pew pew snipe that whaaaam whaaaam dodge shoot bam bam.


What is not fun:
- Splash dmg who instant kill everything. (Happens to Corsairs and Vikings who reaches critical mass.)
- High movement speed combined with super fast kiting, so Zerg Scourge or Mutalisks can never touch the Vikings.

Keep in mind that Vikings do have a speed upgrade. They start with speed 3.25. Can upgrade to 3.75. Same as Mutas.

I have not decided yet how to tackle this problem. Maybe make Vikings missile be dodgeable. Lower splash dmg. Rework how their attack work. Find ways to add more micro into Viking combats. Or as a last solution: Replace them with Wraiths.. O_oooooooooooooooooo

In BW, Zerg had to prevent P from getting a critical mass of Corsairs by sniping them with Scourge. Perhaps the similar will be true vs Vikings, in terms of "strategic play." But if we look at isolated micro battles, Corsairs vs Mutalisks are genereally quite fun as long as neither side has a critical mass. Mutalisks vs Vikings do not feel as fun IMO. Hmm..