Localized Warp Gates
Abstract:
This paper looks at the potential impact of adding a proposed new building-transformation to the protoss Gateway called a Localized Warp Gate. The analysis found many reasons to believe this would be a good change to the game in adding further strategy and also in strengthening some of the problem-areas of the protoss. The danger of this strengthening proxy-gates could potentially be very real.
Introduction:
+ Show Spoiler +
First off, this study does not have the goal of having blizzard implement this feature, but is rather made to help provide a template for how to suggest changes to the game in a constructive and well thought out manner. This study will focus on every aspect of the change and will hopefully shed some light into how massive of a impact small changes can make.
Our motivations for the building are three-fold:
* To make using warp-gates a choice rather than a necessity
* To allow more strategic room for protoss macro strategies
* To allow protoss to take easier thirds and strengthen their defensive capabilities
This study hopes to prove that the proposed changes could help all these three aspects without hurting other major aspects of the game.
Our motivations for the building are three-fold:
* To make using warp-gates a choice rather than a necessity
* To allow more strategic room for protoss macro strategies
* To allow protoss to take easier thirds and strengthen their defensive capabilities
This study hopes to prove that the proposed changes could help all these three aspects without hurting other major aspects of the game.
Terminology:
+ Show Spoiler +
Warp Gate - The standard Warp Gates from WoL and HoTS. Also referred to as globalized Warp Gates.
Localized Warp Gate - The suggested new form of Warp Gates being studied
Localized Warp Gate - The suggested new form of Warp Gates being studied
The Concept:
+ Show Spoiler +
The Localized Warp Gate is an additional form of the Warp Gate with limited range but a much shorter cooldown than both the Gateway and the traditional Warp Gate. It comes as a transformation from either a Gateway or a Normal Warp Gate and requires the Warp Gate upgrade from the Cybernetics Core.
The Localized Warp Gate allows units to be queued and will automatically warp in the unit at a designated location once the unit is produced. Once a unit is produced the gate starts producing the next unit immediately, just like most other buildings.
Core stats:
* Warp-in range - 8.5 units from centre of the Warp Gate
* Warp-in time - Instant
* Cooldowns - One half of the traditional Warp Gate cooldowns
* Unit costs - The same as the unit prices in the Gateway or Warp Gate
* Transform time from Gateway - The same as the Warp Gate (10s)
* Transform time from Warp Gate - Half of the Gateway transformation Time (5s)
The Localized Warp Gate allows units to be queued and will automatically warp in the unit at a designated location once the unit is produced. Once a unit is produced the gate starts producing the next unit immediately, just like most other buildings.
Core stats:
* Warp-in range - 8.5 units from centre of the Warp Gate
* Warp-in time - Instant
* Cooldowns - One half of the traditional Warp Gate cooldowns
* Unit costs - The same as the unit prices in the Gateway or Warp Gate
* Transform time from Gateway - The same as the Warp Gate (10s)
* Transform time from Warp Gate - Half of the Gateway transformation Time (5s)
Analysis:
+ Show Spoiler +
The Localized Gate Way are different from the normal Warp Gate in three major ways:
* Production time is much shorter
* You are able to queue up units
* You cannot warp in units on the other side of the map
The consequences of these differences is what hopefully satisfies our motivations for adding the unit. The consequences we envision are explained in detail below and hopefully covers the key impacts of this change.
Defensive impact:
+ Show Spoiler +
Agressive impact:
+ Show Spoiler +
General macro-impact:
+ Show Spoiler +
* Production time is much shorter
* You are able to queue up units
* You cannot warp in units on the other side of the map
The consequences of these differences is what hopefully satisfies our motivations for adding the unit. The consequences we envision are explained in detail below and hopefully covers the key impacts of this change.
Defensive impact:
+ Show Spoiler +
The reduced production time of the unit allows the protoss to reinvest the minerals that he traditionally would have to spend on Gateways.
When it comes to fast protoss thirds this allows the protoss player to stay on 2 gates, while producing the same amount of units as he would with 4 Warp Gates. This saves the protoss 300 minerals at the time when he would normally build those additional gates. This could be used to further speed up his third(to allow photon overcharge), or to add more cannons/zealots to the defence.
The fact that the Localized Warp Gates can still warp in allows the protoss to still have his gateways relatively safe in the main(given that his third is relatively close to his main) but makes reinforcing his base faster and/or easier. Being able to change the warp-in spawn also allows many of the same tactical opportunities that warp gates have(like spawning in chokes or behind cover).
When it comes to fast protoss thirds this allows the protoss player to stay on 2 gates, while producing the same amount of units as he would with 4 Warp Gates. This saves the protoss 300 minerals at the time when he would normally build those additional gates. This could be used to further speed up his third(to allow photon overcharge), or to add more cannons/zealots to the defence.
The fact that the Localized Warp Gates can still warp in allows the protoss to still have his gateways relatively safe in the main(given that his third is relatively close to his main) but makes reinforcing his base faster and/or easier. Being able to change the warp-in spawn also allows many of the same tactical opportunities that warp gates have(like spawning in chokes or behind cover).
Agressive impact:
+ Show Spoiler +
Generally:
While the Localized Warp Gate allows the protoss player to save minerals on production facilities this advantage is mostly lost aggressively by two facts.
1: The units have to spend time walking across the map.
2. The units have to spend time in production. Meaning you pay for the units longer before they are at the front.
This results in that the amount of units at the front are generally about the same as if you chose to warp them in using normal Warp Gates close the the engagement. It does give you more map-control and flexibility to deal with smaller counter-attacks by having a bunch of units on the middle of the map, but it also adds the strategic vulnerability of having to defend your reinforcements.
Proxy Gates:
The Localized Warp Gates can, just like the Warp Gate, be used to traverse map features like cliffs or chasms. This allows the protoss to, in some cases, spawn their units inside the enemy main or natural which allows the gateways to stay more protected as the enemy may have to traverse map features in order to kill the gateways.
The Localized Warp Gate also produces faster than a traditional gateway, so the aggression is both cheaper to initiate and holds less risk.
The saving grace of the defender comes from 3 major factors though.
1: The time it takes to get the Warp Gate upgrade
Both with the economic changes and the already long upgrade time this should not be able to hit very fast compared to the size of the enemy economy and tech level.
2: It should be fairly easy to scout.
With the low warp-in range, the places the gateways can be placed and still traverse map features should be quite few.
3: It takes a long time from the strategy is scout-able until your units spawn
Pylon build time, Gateway build time, Warp Gate transformation time and unit production time should together give the opponent a lot of time to scout and prepare for the attack.
While the Localized Warp Gate allows the protoss player to save minerals on production facilities this advantage is mostly lost aggressively by two facts.
1: The units have to spend time walking across the map.
2. The units have to spend time in production. Meaning you pay for the units longer before they are at the front.
This results in that the amount of units at the front are generally about the same as if you chose to warp them in using normal Warp Gates close the the engagement. It does give you more map-control and flexibility to deal with smaller counter-attacks by having a bunch of units on the middle of the map, but it also adds the strategic vulnerability of having to defend your reinforcements.
Proxy Gates:
The Localized Warp Gates can, just like the Warp Gate, be used to traverse map features like cliffs or chasms. This allows the protoss to, in some cases, spawn their units inside the enemy main or natural which allows the gateways to stay more protected as the enemy may have to traverse map features in order to kill the gateways.
The Localized Warp Gate also produces faster than a traditional gateway, so the aggression is both cheaper to initiate and holds less risk.
The saving grace of the defender comes from 3 major factors though.
1: The time it takes to get the Warp Gate upgrade
Both with the economic changes and the already long upgrade time this should not be able to hit very fast compared to the size of the enemy economy and tech level.
2: It should be fairly easy to scout.
With the low warp-in range, the places the gateways can be placed and still traverse map features should be quite few.
3: It takes a long time from the strategy is scout-able until your units spawn
Pylon build time, Gateway build time, Warp Gate transformation time and unit production time should together give the opponent a lot of time to scout and prepare for the attack.
General macro-impact:
+ Show Spoiler +
The fact that you can queue your units make it easier to have a constant stream of production. You dont have to spend all your money at once as long as you remember to add units to the queue. You also get the benefit of not having to look at a pylon every time you produce units, which allows you to macro purely with the keyboard and frees up more APM for other tasks across the map.
Also, it allows players using mostly Warp Gates to spend their money if they forget a cooldown cycle. They can transform their Warp Gates into Localized Warp Gates and having a higher production rate for a few production cycles before switching back to normal Warp Gates.
It adds a whole nother dimension to protoss macro as you have to figure out how many of each type of gate you want, and where you want to place the different types of gates.
Also, it allows players using mostly Warp Gates to spend their money if they forget a cooldown cycle. They can transform their Warp Gates into Localized Warp Gates and having a higher production rate for a few production cycles before switching back to normal Warp Gates.
It adds a whole nother dimension to protoss macro as you have to figure out how many of each type of gate you want, and where you want to place the different types of gates.
Summary:
+ Show Spoiler +
The Localized Warp Gate seems to be able to fulfil the motivations it was designed with. It adds more strategic depth to the protoss in giving them several pros and cons of different types of gateways. It allows the protoss to trade away some of their aggressive potential in order to save resources at key points in the game, like when they expand to a third. The Localized Warp Gate should not be capable of excreting too much pressure compared to regular Warp Gates early on, though the threat of proxy gates becoming too strong is present.
Lore Concept (mostly just written for fun):
+ Show Spoiler +
As the protoss decline is kicking in hard, protoss engineers have been looking for ways to salvage old technology. Inspired by the way the Terrans calibrate their scanning equipment they have found a way to use previously obsolete equipment to modify their warp gates to operate on a lower frequency. This allows the Warp Gates to use less energy and hence needs a lower time to cool down. This really weakens the range of the warp-in and so must be done inside the Gateway. However the engineers were also able to channel some the residual energy from the closing of the warp rift into a special Void Displacer similar to the ones used by stalkers for blink, and are as such able to teleport the unit a small distance just as they materialize inside the gateway.
About:
+ Show Spoiler +
I hope you found this to be a good read! If you have suggestions to things i have overlooked in the way i present the change i would love to hear it. Again, the goal of this post is not to make blizzard implement this(as they have a nearly non-existent track-record of adding community proposed changes), but is rather intended to be a template for further arguments in how the game could be balanced. I believe that even if blizzard has no intention of adding our propositions directly they might be inspired by our discussions and propositions!!