First just wanted to say thank you for re instating the colonists! It's great to play as them again and incredibly fun. AND HEROES!!! Thank you thank you thank you. A few need to be nerfed from their campaign forms(fenix lol) but it's great to have them in there as a lobby option.
Playing through nearly all terran and protoss factions more or less everything seems to be in working order. Noticed one minor bug with the terran starport tech lab, the nomad energy button and one of the raven upgrades appear no matter what under all factions, you can only access irradiate (if you choose science vessle) after paying for one of these upgrades.
Now all we need is some more definition to some of the factions! Thanks as always and keep up the great work.
I forgot about the goliath connection, you're right. As for the tanks, who cares? Isn't the point of this mod and the factions to switch things up? If every faction is the same except for 2 units and those units are just the same thing but one does heavy damage to armored units and one does crazy splash to light units then there's barely a purpose for it to exist at all. This is a great mod because of the risks it takes- the initial versions with the crazy colonists vs raynors raiders vs mercs.. That's what it should strive to be IMO. Obviously balance is crucial but don't let balance blind you into staleness. If people want to use siege tanks there are plenty of factions that should have them, but we shouldn't be afraid to have factions with unique unit compositions.
In regards to Kel Morian factory units, I have your solution:
LAV replaces Hellion, Vulture w/ cerebus upgrade available replaces hellbat. Sloth should be a unit with decent splash damage, like the Vanguard from LOTV, since we're getting rid of the hellion, hellbat, and siege tank which all feature some splash. Laserdrill tank should stay more or less as is but with a range increase, with possibly an upgrade to hit air(either this or LAV should be given option to hit air). Ditch siege tanks, and up to you if you keep thor/goliath or ditch completely. Oh, and obvious keep mines because Kel Morians invented them.
I know the Ripper is very close to marine, its more for visual flair and a slight difference in nod to their lore of beefing up standard marine suits with extra padded armor. It would be cool to have it be a slightly different unit or a different ability than stim but obviously changing a marine too much can really mess with terran, so I figured why not a slight visual change with an armor perk to help distinguish the faction.
I based the units and their abilities on lore available about Kel Morians, even if you don't go with most of the units I think it's important to give units and abilities that drive home the pirate/miner combination, So things like the theft of minerals/gas and harassing mineral lines would be really cool to work in.
Another random thought, some kind of ability to construct or make collapsable rocks could be neat and fits the miner theme!
I have lots of ideas for other factions as well, when I get time I'll do up more faction suggestions.
@SoulFilcher: Go
Thanks for the fixes! Looks like most things are good, though when you select Marauders for a unit option firebat pops up instead. Not sure if firebat selection is switched or accurate.
Here's my big Kel Morian Combine Suggestion post:
You're right that in actual gameplay we've seen very little of the Kel Morians, but that hasn't stopped you before, just look at how crazy and mindblowing you made the colonists faction for example. Between unused units and Kel Morian lore there's plenty that could be done. Obviously they have a focus on mining and being pirates, so why not combine the two?
Some lore notes:
- Pirates and miners come together to form this resource hungry faction
-They painted their often cobbled together armor and equipment black
- Invented the spider mine and it's upgrade
- Had their own ghost program, had spies armed with nuclear detonators that would suicide if captured (!!)
Notable lore based units:
- Ripper (Marine Reskin in black with late game additional armor upgrade, only accessible after infantry armor 3 upgrade is completed, ( this would work or something close( for hero mode Raynor for Raiders should be the model from HotS Back in the Saddle] )
- Outrider (Replace reaper, light armored fast harass unit, focus on resource harass.. give a "Sabotage Mining" ability similar to the mineral freeze from protoss? Unit appearance can be something similar to Tosh Specter or this guy or even a black reskinned reaper, Outriders are noted as having a skull emblem
-Hammer Securities (Replace standard Marauders with the Hammer health/stats? Have increased cost, but their additional resources balance it out)
- Kel Morian Ghost (Replaces standard ghost, reskin with something fun, abilities include cloak, something like a theft ability, control target CC for 20 seconds or something and pilfer minerals, control target refinery and pilfer their gas, and SUICIDE NUKE! Make it smaller than standard nuke and a little cheaper, but after a delay the ghost explodes with a nuclear detonation! badass.)
- LAV - Light Armored Vehicle (replace hellion with the hellion with a gun turret, I think this was part of colonists for a while? give either this or laser drill take an upgrade to hit air)
-Vulture w/ cerebus mine
- Sloth - (replaces standard siege tank, has splash damage cannon attack. I know you remember these since you were working on another game with them!)
-Cerebus Pirate Ship (Replaces BC, has Electric field, can research Cloak, cloak costs 75 energy to cast)
Additional "makes sense" units:
-Mining Bot or Miner(call down ability, should be in addition to mules not instead of, increases rate of mineral gathering)
-Herc
-Laser Drill Tank (with either this or LAV an upgrade to attack air)
"Why the hell not" Unit?
A dropship type thing that lays spider mines.
Plus keep the CC double SCV upgrade and the gas percentage upgrade and bam, Kel Morians. For a hero give them(because you definitely should do a lobby hero option!) Victor Kachinsky, a Warfield/Hammer securities reskin that has spider mines as an ability with cooldown. Across the board make the units kind of dark black, like the Tal'Darim of the Terrans.
What would this mean for this faction? Some really cool options. Openings could focus on light, fast, and cheap units like the vulture, LAV, and outrider for mineral harasses while you build up to massive resource intake in the mid game, then use those extra resources to mass the beefy Hammer Securities marauder and extra armor marine Ripper(they are noted as padding their armor, beefing it up sometimes in lore) for viable late game barracks use. Lots of mines and unique tank options add to the flair and possibilities of this faction. And seriously, suiciding theiving ghosts! What's not to love?
I would love there to be a version of the game with the hero option! Having a single special commander unit really adds some flavor to the factions, and with rare exception they did not feel overpowered the way you had them balanced before. Plus it would always piss me off to no end when in most campaign missions you'd see cut scenes of the commanding unit *with* the player army and then as soon as control switched over to the player they would be gone, just to show back up at the end of the level like they'd been there the whole time kicking ass.
Anyway, been playing through what I can, seems like the updates have put a few bugs in the game:
TERRAN:
GENERAL
-Cancel button for SCV production at regular Command Center is gone
-Can still select Tosh's pirates at the supply depot, but only AFTER selecting your faction. You can access it from any supply depot that is not the one you originally chose a faction from. This disables ghosts for the game(nor are they replaced with specters).
-Firebat choice does not register, barracks still make marauders. Firebat upgrade appears so you can no longer upgrade marauders.
MERCENARIES Faction-
Most Merc Compound units have cooldowns PLUS build times for single units, is this intentional? Should either be drop squads with cool downs or timed building, not both. As of now the following have both cooldowns AND very low unit limits for the entire game:
Merc Marine(war pig) unit limit of 3 for entire game(not 3 squads, 3 total marines)
Merc Marauder(Hammer) unit limit 2 for entire game
Merc Viking(Hel's Angel) unit limit of 2 or 3 for entire game
Merc Banshee(Dusk wings) unit limit of 2 or 3 for entire game
Merc tank(Siege breakers) unit limit of 2 for entire game
Merc BattleCruiser(Jacksons Revenge) unit limit 1 entire game(only one that makes sense IMO)
Whereas the following have either no cooldown or unit limit meaning i can make unlimited of them:
Merc reaper
Merc Medic
Merc Medivac
Merc Vulture
Merc Thor Ragnarocker(should probably add a limit to this beast)
Just a heads up so you can fix this, as I assume it's supposed to be either one way or the other. Having access to only 3 marines total for example is pretty useless, while things like the BC, the Thor, and even the Siege breakers i could see having strict limits on.
-Just a suggestion, but perhaps make them Mira's Marauders? If you've merged Tosh with Raynor it seems silly to have his Merc Contact guy be the header for this group. On the plus side all of the weapon upgrades seem to work for this faction now, I remember it was messed up for a long time with the upgrades not registering for the mercs, or doubling up, bla bla.
KEL MORIAN Combine-
No specific bugs noticed outside of the standard terran bugs for this particular faction, just feels a bit under developed so far. They are a great faction though, definitely keep them.
Looking forward to having the herc for these guys.
A hero firebat (Gui Montag) could be fun.
Any thought of putting miners back with these guys in some way? Really does fit the lore well. Maybe a timed calldown from a command center, like mules(in addition to mules, not in place of) where for whatever energy you get 4 miners for 30 seconds to increase productivity, they autocast their ability instead of manual control like the Colonists.
Raynor's Raiders-
No specific bugs but merging with Tosh has really nuetered these guys. No more Raider unit, no more Hyperion call down, and most importantly no more Jim Raynor! Lots of cool possibilities with this faction, should really stand out, hope you bring some of their old options back.
Dominion-
Same as above, no bugs but it seems you've already removed most of what made this unique. Kind of bummed because while you are working on it, at current it's pretty pointless to play as most of the terran factions.
COLONISTS! Seems like you deleted everything here, I REALLY hope you keep these guys as they are extremely unique and were awesome to play as.
Great to see this mod being worked on in full swing again! I need to play through a lot more before making comments, but it's great to see the protoss having so many fairly distinct options now.
Are you moving away from spawning heroes? I noticed my favorite, Raynor, is gone, and it would have been cool to be able to spawn units like Alarak, especially now that more or less every major faction from the games was represented with a hero.
Keep up the great work, I'll post up more thoughts once I can run through more factions!
Since everyone would love a Umojan Marine but you are right in that changing the most basic of terran units would be problematic, what if it was an additional unit vs a replacement unit? Higher cost with different stats and any of a variety of abilities. Just off the top of my head from others suggestions and my own ideas, they could either:
-Have a melee attack, or melee attack option/ability like stim(something like Zealot's charge, or even an attack like the Predator's electroshock but that bounces any melee units a few steps back)
-Have a passive "Royal Guard" ability where when in close proximity to any player own structures they gain either range or armor, something like that
-Have either passive or targetable ability where they can disrupt player control over non massive enemy zerg units for several seconds- much like the colonists blimp "broadcast" ability but on a smaller, more specific scale.
-Have shields
Plenty of factions have additional units, I know you worry about unit roles and what not but considering how massively different some of the play mechanics are in certain factions like infested, colonists, etc, and how the various mercenaries and primals work, an extra unit wouldn't be a game breaker, but it would be a fun option and it's clearly something everyone wants!
In regards to the 15% increase upgrades, I think that in theory in could be problematic from a balance perspective but I've yet to really experience it in a game.
But you have to consider that the factions in many ways encourage imbalance much the way that SCBW did. Factions give definitive advantages that, should someone go the entire game without picking one, would hinder that player against someone who has chosen a faction. Tosh and Nova are stealth, Colonists are fast, mobile and strong in numbers, Kel Morian are resource hounds.. etc etc. So "brute force" ie stronger and faster makes sense as a type of role to pick, although it is the only one that seems like it could outweigh the other options in an otherwise even matchup. For example, a late game Umojan protectorate vs Raynor's Raiders.. army for army, there's not much a raider's player could do vs Umoja to win assuming that both players didn't screw up. But the key word there is assuming, as so much can happen during the game with either side that such an event could be null and void anyway. So I understand the concern, but I think that advantages are something that play into the game and make it so fun in the first place- if you're that worried that the 15% upgrades will beat you in a match, then just pick that choice every time until you see how others beat you with it.
What if for the Umojan marines you try and work in their vibro blade looking weapons and took advantage of the large blade attached to one of the marine models(like the new raynor or the merc marine)? You could replace stim with this ability/effect: still increases movement speed like stim, but turns marine into a melee combat unit only with new attack(stabby vibro blade) for x amount of time. That way it gives marine new uses, takes advantage of the new model and the lore, and wouldn't potentially be imbalanced because it replaces stim and has the option of being misused by player.. ie if you trigger it at the wrong time, marines become butter to slice through when vs a ranged army, but if fighting lings or zealots or ultras, gives them a new temporary edge.
Can Umoja get a special Marine or marine replacement? Those gaurds in the campaign cinematic were sick, and they had merc based models in the Back in the Saddle mission(personally I'd dig a model closer to the art and cutscene appearance, but beggers can't be choosers.. maybe Raynor's model from that mission, but modified much the same way you modified Raynor from belly of the beast to become Raider?).
Going to go through and try to find as many bugs as possible:
Terran (all?)-
-Ravens/Sci ves. selection still bugged. If you pick ravens you can build them but the "option" remains, so you could make some ravens, then select Sci ves, then make science vessles. Buttons and options only dissappear once/if you choose sci ves.
-Barracks is still on WoL mode- reapers require tech lab, etc.. should be auto for HoS
-Research spider mine button in tech lab remains even after you research it. Minor bug, figured I'd report just in case. Spider mines still researchable and work, just the button remains.
-Thors still have 20mm cannons(or whatever they are) listed under their unit stats, listed as disabled.. just a visual bug(if the cannons are supposed to be gone)
Terran Mercs:
-Death Head Reaper Mercs do not receive upgrades.
-All Mercenary Compound mech and ships(with the exception of Jackson's Revenge) do not receive armor upgrades. Weapon upgrades work, armor does not.
- Merc Medivac spawned from merc compounds leave a trail of healing green beams all over map. Once it appears it does not dissappear for the rest of the game(or at least a long time). Purely a visual bug, but annoying.
Kel Morian Combine:
-Cerebus does not receive Air weapon upgrades. Armor does work. This is a cool unit, ability is fun
- Laserdrill tank not classified as an army unit.
Raynor's Raiders:
-No bugs specific to this faction, standard terran bugs listed above still apply
Alpha Squadron:
-Faction selection info is out of date- still lists ARES, doesn't list Warhound
-New Valkyrie model has no death animation, just dissappears.. and it does seem a bit too large.
Oh, I didn't necessarily mean just for the colonists SF- Another faction with a herc styled dropship or an APC could be cool too. (Yeah I know the infesteds have herc, but I always thought they should have infested BC Helios). Super excited to see what you've been up to! I know everyone's excited about the zerg changes coming, but I'm really excited to see updates to Kel Morians, Mercs, and Moebius over the coming months.
Oh, and a minor bug I noticed- newly created units for the mod (ie Raynor's Raider) don't register as "Army" units for when you hit select all army units. Not really important at all, but there it is just in case. Slightly more pressing, Mercs still don't get upgrades and Ravens can't be selected :P
The more varied units the better- Herc and APC are literally my two favorite units from the entire game, so I'd love to see a couple more of them available as options.
Glad to see we'll be getting a terran carrier, whatever unit you wind up deciding upon- both are cool but I have a soft spot for Hercules, but I'd like at least one to remain a super transport ship!
Re the small ships from the terran space mission, could be neat to make up at least one unit that's sort of a Terran carrier- like modified Hercules that houses the small ships to fly out and attack.
@SheogorathSC, the nomads are in the colonists faction and they are awesome. They repair ships and vehicles, act as flying infestors that spawn little techy attackers, and can slow down enemy units.
I would love to see Zurvan! I know it's a bit rediculous but it would be awesome in any form- a nuke/hyperion style calldown, a completely stoic base defender like a planetary fortress, anything. Hell, there's probably a way to turn his (cavern mouth face doodad) into a building you sacrafice units into in order for him to come out of the ground. I don't know, I just work here.
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First just wanted to say thank you for re instating the colonists! It's great to play as them again and incredibly fun. AND HEROES!!! Thank you thank you thank you. A few need to be nerfed from their campaign forms(fenix lol) but it's great to have them in there as a lobby option.
Playing through nearly all terran and protoss factions more or less everything seems to be in working order. Noticed one minor bug with the terran starport tech lab, the nomad energy button and one of the raven upgrades appear no matter what under all factions, you can only access irradiate (if you choose science vessle) after paying for one of these upgrades.
Now all we need is some more definition to some of the factions! Thanks as always and keep up the great work.
0
I forgot about the goliath connection, you're right. As for the tanks, who cares? Isn't the point of this mod and the factions to switch things up? If every faction is the same except for 2 units and those units are just the same thing but one does heavy damage to armored units and one does crazy splash to light units then there's barely a purpose for it to exist at all. This is a great mod because of the risks it takes- the initial versions with the crazy colonists vs raynors raiders vs mercs.. That's what it should strive to be IMO. Obviously balance is crucial but don't let balance blind you into staleness. If people want to use siege tanks there are plenty of factions that should have them, but we shouldn't be afraid to have factions with unique unit compositions.
0
@SoulFilcher: Go
In regards to Kel Morian factory units, I have your solution:
LAV replaces Hellion, Vulture w/ cerebus upgrade available replaces hellbat. Sloth should be a unit with decent splash damage, like the Vanguard from LOTV, since we're getting rid of the hellion, hellbat, and siege tank which all feature some splash. Laserdrill tank should stay more or less as is but with a range increase, with possibly an upgrade to hit air(either this or LAV should be given option to hit air). Ditch siege tanks, and up to you if you keep thor/goliath or ditch completely. Oh, and obvious keep mines because Kel Morians invented them.
I know the Ripper is very close to marine, its more for visual flair and a slight difference in nod to their lore of beefing up standard marine suits with extra padded armor. It would be cool to have it be a slightly different unit or a different ability than stim but obviously changing a marine too much can really mess with terran, so I figured why not a slight visual change with an armor perk to help distinguish the faction.
I based the units and their abilities on lore available about Kel Morians, even if you don't go with most of the units I think it's important to give units and abilities that drive home the pirate/miner combination, So things like the theft of minerals/gas and harassing mineral lines would be really cool to work in.
Another random thought, some kind of ability to construct or make collapsable rocks could be neat and fits the miner theme!
I have lots of ideas for other factions as well, when I get time I'll do up more faction suggestions.
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@SoulFilcher: Go Thanks for the fixes! Looks like most things are good, though when you select Marauders for a unit option firebat pops up instead. Not sure if firebat selection is switched or accurate.
Here's my big Kel Morian Combine Suggestion post:
You're right that in actual gameplay we've seen very little of the Kel Morians, but that hasn't stopped you before, just look at how crazy and mindblowing you made the colonists faction for example. Between unused units and Kel Morian lore there's plenty that could be done. Obviously they have a focus on mining and being pirates, so why not combine the two?
Some lore notes:
- Pirates and miners come together to form this resource hungry faction
-They painted their often cobbled together armor and equipment black
- Invented the spider mine and it's upgrade
- Had their own ghost program, had spies armed with nuclear detonators that would suicide if captured (!!)
Notable lore based units:
- Ripper (Marine Reskin in black with late game additional armor upgrade, only accessible after infantry armor 3 upgrade is completed, ( this would work or something close( for hero mode Raynor for Raiders should be the model from HotS Back in the Saddle] )
- Outrider (Replace reaper, light armored fast harass unit, focus on resource harass.. give a "Sabotage Mining" ability similar to the mineral freeze from protoss? Unit appearance can be something similar to Tosh Specter or this guy or even a black reskinned reaper, Outriders are noted as having a skull emblem
-Hammer Securities (Replace standard Marauders with the Hammer health/stats? Have increased cost, but their additional resources balance it out)
- Kel Morian Ghost (Replaces standard ghost, reskin with something fun, abilities include cloak, something like a theft ability, control target CC for 20 seconds or something and pilfer minerals, control target refinery and pilfer their gas, and SUICIDE NUKE! Make it smaller than standard nuke and a little cheaper, but after a delay the ghost explodes with a nuclear detonation! badass.)
- LAV - Light Armored Vehicle (replace hellion with the hellion with a gun turret, I think this was part of colonists for a while? give either this or laser drill take an upgrade to hit air)
-Vulture w/ cerebus mine
- Sloth - (replaces standard siege tank, has splash damage cannon attack. I know you remember these since you were working on another game with them!)
-Cerebus Pirate Ship (Replaces BC, has Electric field, can research Cloak, cloak costs 75 energy to cast)
Additional "makes sense" units:
-Mining Bot or Miner(call down ability, should be in addition to mules not instead of, increases rate of mineral gathering)
-Herc
-Laser Drill Tank (with either this or LAV an upgrade to attack air)
"Why the hell not" Unit? A dropship type thing that lays spider mines.
Plus keep the CC double SCV upgrade and the gas percentage upgrade and bam, Kel Morians. For a hero give them(because you definitely should do a lobby hero option!) Victor Kachinsky, a Warfield/Hammer securities reskin that has spider mines as an ability with cooldown. Across the board make the units kind of dark black, like the Tal'Darim of the Terrans.
What would this mean for this faction? Some really cool options. Openings could focus on light, fast, and cheap units like the vulture, LAV, and outrider for mineral harasses while you build up to massive resource intake in the mid game, then use those extra resources to mass the beefy Hammer Securities marauder and extra armor marine Ripper(they are noted as padding their armor, beefing it up sometimes in lore) for viable late game barracks use. Lots of mines and unique tank options add to the flair and possibilities of this faction. And seriously, suiciding theiving ghosts! What's not to love?
0
I would love there to be a version of the game with the hero option! Having a single special commander unit really adds some flavor to the factions, and with rare exception they did not feel overpowered the way you had them balanced before. Plus it would always piss me off to no end when in most campaign missions you'd see cut scenes of the commanding unit *with* the player army and then as soon as control switched over to the player they would be gone, just to show back up at the end of the level like they'd been there the whole time kicking ass.
Anyway, been playing through what I can, seems like the updates have put a few bugs in the game:
TERRAN:
GENERAL
-Cancel button for SCV production at regular Command Center is gone
-Can still select Tosh's pirates at the supply depot, but only AFTER selecting your faction. You can access it from any supply depot that is not the one you originally chose a faction from. This disables ghosts for the game(nor are they replaced with specters).
-Firebat choice does not register, barracks still make marauders. Firebat upgrade appears so you can no longer upgrade marauders.
MERCENARIES Faction- Most Merc Compound units have cooldowns PLUS build times for single units, is this intentional? Should either be drop squads with cool downs or timed building, not both. As of now the following have both cooldowns AND very low unit limits for the entire game:
Merc Marine(war pig) unit limit of 3 for entire game(not 3 squads, 3 total marines)
Merc Marauder(Hammer) unit limit 2 for entire game
Merc Viking(Hel's Angel) unit limit of 2 or 3 for entire game
Merc Banshee(Dusk wings) unit limit of 2 or 3 for entire game
Merc tank(Siege breakers) unit limit of 2 for entire game
Merc BattleCruiser(Jacksons Revenge) unit limit 1 entire game(only one that makes sense IMO)
Whereas the following have either no cooldown or unit limit meaning i can make unlimited of them:
Merc reaper
Merc Medic
Merc Medivac
Merc Vulture
Merc Thor Ragnarocker(should probably add a limit to this beast)
Just a heads up so you can fix this, as I assume it's supposed to be either one way or the other. Having access to only 3 marines total for example is pretty useless, while things like the BC, the Thor, and even the Siege breakers i could see having strict limits on.
-Just a suggestion, but perhaps make them Mira's Marauders? If you've merged Tosh with Raynor it seems silly to have his Merc Contact guy be the header for this group. On the plus side all of the weapon upgrades seem to work for this faction now, I remember it was messed up for a long time with the upgrades not registering for the mercs, or doubling up, bla bla.
KEL MORIAN Combine-
No specific bugs noticed outside of the standard terran bugs for this particular faction, just feels a bit under developed so far. They are a great faction though, definitely keep them.
Looking forward to having the herc for these guys.
A hero firebat (Gui Montag) could be fun.
Any thought of putting miners back with these guys in some way? Really does fit the lore well. Maybe a timed calldown from a command center, like mules(in addition to mules, not in place of) where for whatever energy you get 4 miners for 30 seconds to increase productivity, they autocast their ability instead of manual control like the Colonists.
Raynor's Raiders-
No specific bugs but merging with Tosh has really nuetered these guys. No more Raider unit, no more Hyperion call down, and most importantly no more Jim Raynor! Lots of cool possibilities with this faction, should really stand out, hope you bring some of their old options back.
Dominion- Same as above, no bugs but it seems you've already removed most of what made this unique. Kind of bummed because while you are working on it, at current it's pretty pointless to play as most of the terran factions.
COLONISTS! Seems like you deleted everything here, I REALLY hope you keep these guys as they are extremely unique and were awesome to play as.
More when I can! Keep up the great work.
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Great to see this mod being worked on in full swing again! I need to play through a lot more before making comments, but it's great to see the protoss having so many fairly distinct options now.
Are you moving away from spawning heroes? I noticed my favorite, Raynor, is gone, and it would have been cool to be able to spawn units like Alarak, especially now that more or less every major faction from the games was represented with a hero.
Keep up the great work, I'll post up more thoughts once I can run through more factions!
0
Since everyone would love a Umojan Marine but you are right in that changing the most basic of terran units would be problematic, what if it was an additional unit vs a replacement unit? Higher cost with different stats and any of a variety of abilities. Just off the top of my head from others suggestions and my own ideas, they could either:
-Have a melee attack, or melee attack option/ability like stim(something like Zealot's charge, or even an attack like the Predator's electroshock but that bounces any melee units a few steps back)
-Have a passive "Royal Guard" ability where when in close proximity to any player own structures they gain either range or armor, something like that
-Have either passive or targetable ability where they can disrupt player control over non massive enemy zerg units for several seconds- much like the colonists blimp "broadcast" ability but on a smaller, more specific scale.
-Have shields
Plenty of factions have additional units, I know you worry about unit roles and what not but considering how massively different some of the play mechanics are in certain factions like infested, colonists, etc, and how the various mercenaries and primals work, an extra unit wouldn't be a game breaker, but it would be a fun option and it's clearly something everyone wants!
0
In regards to the 15% increase upgrades, I think that in theory in could be problematic from a balance perspective but I've yet to really experience it in a game. But you have to consider that the factions in many ways encourage imbalance much the way that SCBW did. Factions give definitive advantages that, should someone go the entire game without picking one, would hinder that player against someone who has chosen a faction. Tosh and Nova are stealth, Colonists are fast, mobile and strong in numbers, Kel Morian are resource hounds.. etc etc. So "brute force" ie stronger and faster makes sense as a type of role to pick, although it is the only one that seems like it could outweigh the other options in an otherwise even matchup. For example, a late game Umojan protectorate vs Raynor's Raiders.. army for army, there's not much a raider's player could do vs Umoja to win assuming that both players didn't screw up. But the key word there is assuming, as so much can happen during the game with either side that such an event could be null and void anyway. So I understand the concern, but I think that advantages are something that play into the game and make it so fun in the first place- if you're that worried that the 15% upgrades will beat you in a match, then just pick that choice every time until you see how others beat you with it.
0
What if for the Umojan marines you try and work in their vibro blade looking weapons and took advantage of the large blade attached to one of the marine models(like the new raynor or the merc marine)? You could replace stim with this ability/effect: still increases movement speed like stim, but turns marine into a melee combat unit only with new attack(stabby vibro blade) for x amount of time. That way it gives marine new uses, takes advantage of the new model and the lore, and wouldn't potentially be imbalanced because it replaces stim and has the option of being misused by player.. ie if you trigger it at the wrong time, marines become butter to slice through when vs a ranged army, but if fighting lings or zealots or ultras, gives them a new temporary edge.
0
Can Umoja get a special Marine or marine replacement? Those gaurds in the campaign cinematic were sick, and they had merc based models in the Back in the Saddle mission(personally I'd dig a model closer to the art and cutscene appearance, but beggers can't be choosers.. maybe Raynor's model from that mission, but modified much the same way you modified Raynor from belly of the beast to become Raider?).
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Going to go through and try to find as many bugs as possible:
Terran (all?)-
-Ravens/Sci ves. selection still bugged. If you pick ravens you can build them but the "option" remains, so you could make some ravens, then select Sci ves, then make science vessles. Buttons and options only dissappear once/if you choose sci ves.
-Barracks is still on WoL mode- reapers require tech lab, etc.. should be auto for HoS
-Research spider mine button in tech lab remains even after you research it. Minor bug, figured I'd report just in case. Spider mines still researchable and work, just the button remains.
-Thors still have 20mm cannons(or whatever they are) listed under their unit stats, listed as disabled.. just a visual bug(if the cannons are supposed to be gone)
Terran Mercs:
-Death Head Reaper Mercs do not receive upgrades.
-All Mercenary Compound mech and ships(with the exception of Jackson's Revenge) do not receive armor upgrades. Weapon upgrades work, armor does not.
- Merc Medivac spawned from merc compounds leave a trail of healing green beams all over map. Once it appears it does not dissappear for the rest of the game(or at least a long time). Purely a visual bug, but annoying.
Kel Morian Combine:
-Cerebus does not receive Air weapon upgrades. Armor does work. This is a cool unit, ability is fun
- Laserdrill tank not classified as an army unit.
Raynor's Raiders:
-No bugs specific to this faction, standard terran bugs listed above still apply
Alpha Squadron:
-Faction selection info is out of date- still lists ARES, doesn't list Warhound
-New Valkyrie model has no death animation, just dissappears.. and it does seem a bit too large.
-Valkyrie portrait off center
Will update more as I play more factions
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Oh, I didn't necessarily mean just for the colonists SF- Another faction with a herc styled dropship or an APC could be cool too. (Yeah I know the infesteds have herc, but I always thought they should have infested BC Helios). Super excited to see what you've been up to! I know everyone's excited about the zerg changes coming, but I'm really excited to see updates to Kel Morians, Mercs, and Moebius over the coming months.
Oh, and a minor bug I noticed- newly created units for the mod (ie Raynor's Raider) don't register as "Army" units for when you hit select all army units. Not really important at all, but there it is just in case. Slightly more pressing, Mercs still don't get upgrades and Ravens can't be selected :P
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The more varied units the better- Herc and APC are literally my two favorite units from the entire game, so I'd love to see a couple more of them available as options.
Glad to see we'll be getting a terran carrier, whatever unit you wind up deciding upon- both are cool but I have a soft spot for Hercules, but I'd like at least one to remain a super transport ship!
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Re the small ships from the terran space mission, could be neat to make up at least one unit that's sort of a Terran carrier- like modified Hercules that houses the small ships to fly out and attack.
@SheogorathSC, the nomads are in the colonists faction and they are awesome. They repair ships and vehicles, act as flying infestors that spawn little techy attackers, and can slow down enemy units.
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I would love to see Zurvan! I know it's a bit rediculous but it would be awesome in any form- a nuke/hyperion style calldown, a completely stoic base defender like a planetary fortress, anything. Hell, there's probably a way to turn his (cavern mouth face doodad) into a building you sacrafice units into in order for him to come out of the ground. I don't know, I just work here.