Gorge Hydra Suggestion - Hydralions
MaxPower
Join Date: 2013-09-08 Member: 187992Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2013-09-08 Member: 187992Members, Reinforced - Shadow
What if Hydras were more like their mythical namesake, and also more plant-like; akin to dandelions?
What if the base/root of the hydra was the weak point, while the stalks and flower segments were destructible, but regrew?
Gameplay / Balance Changes:
-Hydras built on walls / ceilings / behind boxes with their roots out of line of fire may have their tops destroyed from a distance, but will regrow if left alone or until the root is destroyed.
-Hydra stalks have lower HP than their root. Stalks should be easier to destroy than the root.
-Clogs may be used to surround the root, making it more difficult to destroy and giving clogs additional utility.
-Increase the length of hydra stalks slightly.
-Hydra stalks regrow faster on infestation.
-Hydra roots have more HP on infestation and are harder to see on rich infestation settings.
-Research Hydralions could be an evolve upgrade, much like how Metabolize for Fades may be upgraded a second time into Advanced Metabolize.
These are just some ideas on making hydras more interactive and resilient.
What if the base/root of the hydra was the weak point, while the stalks and flower segments were destructible, but regrew?
Gameplay / Balance Changes:
-Hydras built on walls / ceilings / behind boxes with their roots out of line of fire may have their tops destroyed from a distance, but will regrow if left alone or until the root is destroyed.
-Hydra stalks have lower HP than their root. Stalks should be easier to destroy than the root.
-Clogs may be used to surround the root, making it more difficult to destroy and giving clogs additional utility.
-Increase the length of hydra stalks slightly.
-Hydra stalks regrow faster on infestation.
-Hydra roots have more HP on infestation and are harder to see on rich infestation settings.
-Research Hydralions could be an evolve upgrade, much like how Metabolize for Fades may be upgraded a second time into Advanced Metabolize.
These are just some ideas on making hydras more interactive and resilient.
Comments
-Hydralion starts with 1 stalk after 100% build completion, and a second stalk begins to emerge.
-Hydralion finishes growing its second stalk at 50% maturity, and a third stalk begins to emerge.
-Hydralion completes growing its third and final stalk at 100% maturity. Its appearance resembles that of what it is in-game now.
Each stalk represents how quickly it can fire its pins/needles/barbs:
1 stalk fires at 33% speed
2 stalks fire at 66% speed
3 stalks fire at 100% speed
This speed is compared to how fast hydras shoot in the normal game. 3 stalks shoots the same speed as it normally would on live servers.
Here is where Hydra legend comes into play.
A marine destroys a fully mature Hydralion's stalks, but leaves the root intact. Each stalk regrows, and with one more than it had before, up to a total of 6. Here's what it may look like:
4 stalks fire at 133% speed
5 stalks fire at 166% speed
6 stalks fire at 200% speed
The Hydralion is now firing twice as fast a regular Hydra on live servers.
It goes without saying that such a change would require damage balancing / number tuning and the like. The main idea is to make hydras more interesting. Marines would have to think carefully before attacking a Hydralion, as they would be punished if they are unable to destroy the root. Gorges would be rewarded for smart/strategic Hydralion placement.
A Gorge finds a nice clutter of boxes by a corner of the room. The Gorge chooses the exact place behind the boxes with the first click of the mouse. Next, the Gorge then moves the mouse up and down to determine how tall or short they want their Hydralions to be. The Gorge chooses a height that reaches over the top of the boxes to fire at enemies, and clicks the mouse a second time to commit to building the Hydralion. Gunfire may destroy the tops, but the root is safely hidden away behind the boxes and out of direct line of fire.
The functionality of this would be similar to how a marine commander must click twice in order to commit to building phase gates, robotic factories, and sentries.
I would LOVE that, brings a whole new meaning to battle gorge!
The hydra on your back would give you away if you were trying to be sneaky. Since another gorge would be putting it on you, that may be grounds for trolling. I like the idea, though.
I'm liking this idea in particular. Being able to stick hydras on other players like babblers would be pretty cool. I wonder how unbalanced a skulk with a hydra on its back would be, particularly in a 1v1 sort of situation (like a lone marine trying to save an extractor).
Could the hydras be made to not fire when on a player AND cloaked? Not just "don't attack when cloaked" because I bet that would apply to shaded hydras too and I'm not sure that would be desirable. I bet it wouldn't be a stretch to make the hydras not attack when the player is on fire, too.