Neutral units and envinronments!

[Meloku]

I think it would be awesome if blizz added more neutral units and creatures to levels, to make the ambience feel real, yet playable.

I think they did an awesome job with the space platforms, there are so many little things that it just looks amazing, then you realize you can play an RTS on it. It just blew me away!

anyways, do you think that these neutral units should be hostile, or are we getting too much into warcraft 3 here?

[Gold]

it should never interupt the gameplay, in warcraft3 there is nothing more annoying than having a critter block the path of one of your near death units, that element of luck should be reducded to a minimum.
But once again blizz has done it so well, althose places are unreachable places where you cant get units, so waht better do do with it and fill it up with things that look nice.

[Inside Sin]

There should be Neatral things like in WarCraft III where u can train on them.

But these should be like if its snow level, SnowBeasts/Creatures, Etc.

[mc2]

I agree with Gold. The hostile creatures will complicate things too much, imagine some murderous creature walks into your base before you get a chance to build a spawning pool or gateway or barracks. They would better just be neutral and are there for decoration.

As always there will be times where the player can take advantages of those crittors with spells like mind control or parasite. And let's not forget the fun with exploding them by clicking on them.

The other thing that annoys me is those trees on Aiur. They prevent the continuous smooth expansion of my bases. Those certain "unbuildable" terrains should be kept to a minimum.

[Fenix]

Yeah, I hated it in the Char levels.....So much freaking unbuildable terrain. They should give the SCVs, Drones, and Probes a terraform ability. Or give the siege weapons the ability to destroy blockables.

[jamaylott]

agree with the annoyance factor.


i personally liked it how they were more like art.... just going around, doing their own thing.


i thought it might be kind of cool if some neutral units, when destroyed, kind of act like some sort of trap, which could damage surrounding units. i dunno, like an exploding gas sac or something lol.

[mc2]

The Zerg units might probably have the ability to duplicate itself by assimilating those neutral creatures.
e.g. When a zergling infests a creature, the creature becomes a zergling. But I doubt it'll have any real effect on the game.

Also, since most of those animals are native to certain planets and cannot be found elsewhere. There could be an option where be destroying a creature, the player will get added bonuses. Things like a sudden increase in mineral deposit, etc, etc.

[Meloku]

The other thing that annoys me is those trees on Aiur. They prevent the continuous smooth expansion of my bases. Those certain "unbuildable" terrains should be kept to a minimum.


I could not agree with you more, did you notice in the gameplay trailer how the player was building almost everywhere? Check when the missile turrets are being constructed to fend off the mothership. That terrain was always off limits in the original starcraft.

[Remy]

I'm with Gold on this one.

I like to have as little random elements in my games as possible.

[xxkylexx]

Neutral creeps are not necessary in StarCraft 2. That just seems too WC3 for me.

[Zeratul]

They don't affect gameplay much.. except with parasite and annoying blockages.
I think they should be taken out.

[10-Neon]

Unbuildable terrain is part of the gameplay. Just like ground units can't go over water/space/etc., buildings can't be built on unbuildable terrain. Don't be annoyed by not being able to build on large doodads, like trees. Just consider them to be another piece of unbuildable terrain, like a cliff. Most of the time, trees are placed like cliffs and water, used as a natural barrier, but not as extreme. I personally place trees and other such doodads near unbuildable terrain so that they don't get in the way of normal movement, and they can be used to defend against units attacking from a cliff.

I like critters because, like it has been said, they add to the environment of the game. Perhaps they can be given AI that makes them avoid open areas and builders. Anyway, there is nothing that forces map makers to include critters on competitive maps, so more variety is fine with me.

[Pix]

I think some hostile environments would be nice. I always wanted that strange fanged doodad in the "Desert" terrain to actually cause some damage to units...
~Pix~

[Heretic666)GC(]

I think that environments should be more interactual (if thats a word). Seige units should be able to attack ground and leave craters or destroy trees and small dodads. As for critters, I think they are fine the way they are now.

[Zeratul]

Interactive is the word you were looking for ^_^
Interactive elements wouldn't be bad unless they complicated it a lot which I doubt they would.

I like critters because, like it has been said, they add to the environment of the game. Perhaps they can be given AI that makes them avoid open areas and builders. Anyway, there is nothing that forces map makers to include critters on competitive maps, so more variety is fine with me.

Thats true, most maps that Ive seen with them have too many IMO though. One had like 20 Rhynadon's in a middle raised area making it almost useless.. But yeah, its up to the creator.
+ if they weren't in the game there'd be less units to use in UMS.

[coalescence]

There should be Neatral things like in WarCraft III where u can train on them..


Train for what? There is no leveling up in starcraft so you mean train for skill? There is a singleplayer part and thousands of people on battle.net to train on.

[T-man]

I think the terra-form idea is excellent. Maybe give it a mineral cost (no gas, because you might want to terra-form before gas has been reached) like bull-dozing in SimCity, etc. Or you could even have it as a "unit" for terran or protoss, where you build a "platform" which can be then built upon. This would make the "terra-forming" destructible as well.
Thinking again, the terra-forming idea (even with a cost, like bull-dozing) is my first choice, but I think the creep should maybe be able to eat away at large doodads, and make them disappear so you can build there. Say like a tree or lightpost (if some map designer built it in the middle of your base), you could surround it with creep, and it would slowly become buildable.

[Lord David]

Critters aught to attack if provoked, mind controlled critters (if mind control does exist in SC2) will be able to be used under your (Protoss) control. Clicking critters multiple times will make them explode. ;) :good:

[[LightMare]]

what is that creep that looks like a big wildcat with purple and red fun, and a gold eye? something like a gnaal, but i can't find it

[mc2]

Thinking again, the terra-forming idea (even with a cost, like bull-dozing) is my first choice, but I think the creep should maybe be able to eat away at large doodads, and make them disappear so you can build there. Say like a tree or lightpost (if some map designer built it in the middle of your base), you could surround it with creep, and it would slowly become buildable.

That's a very good idea. I think not only should the creep be able to eat away trees, also drones and workers of other races should be able to remove the trees in quite little time. Those are such big burdens when you try to expand your base. And certain units such as firebats should also be able to remove the trees. Oh yeah and those pre-made structures. There's heaps of them on Aiur. They look like those ancient walls that were built to surround a settlement. But it's so annoying when trying to build around them, even the placement of photon cannons are limited. And basically the only efficient unit for that is the Dragoon.



I think the terra-form idea is excellent. Maybe give it a mineral cost (no gas, because you might want to terra-form before gas has been reached) like bull-dozing in SimCity, etc. Or you could even have it as a "unit" for terran or protoss, where you build a "platform" which can be then built upon. This would make the "terra-forming" destructible as well.

Good idea too! I also suggested that in other topics ;) And those platforms should be buildable as well. Like the ability to have photon cannons on them. Terran's siege tanks can go on them so that's good enough. The only problem we have with this idea is that will the artificial platform have a HP? If it does how many HP should it have? and would the entire walled platform be one structure? If so then the enemy can fire at one section of the platform and demolish the whole thing.....

[FlyingTiger]

I think not only should the creep be able to eat away trees, also drones and workers of other races should be able to remove the trees in quite little time. Those are such big burdens when you try to expand your base. And certain units such as firebats should also be able to remove the trees. Oh yeah and those pre-made structures. There's heaps of them on Aiur. They look like those ancient walls that were built to surround a settlement. But it's so annoying when trying to build around them, even the placement of photon cannons are limited. And basically the only efficient unit for that is the Dragoon.


hmmm aren't the large doodads like the trees there for a purpose? I mean if you are playing in multiplayer, everyone usually have the same disadvantage. It is sometimes annoying when there's a huge ass temple where you want to put a photon cannon, but usually that indicates that you need to explore the map more and expand. I mean it's not like there are going to be massive amount of trees and other crap like in WC3. It would look cool if the creep was taking over a doodad, but I don't think it should be able to make that area buildable just for balance purposes.


The terra-form idea is pretty awesome idea, but to what extent can this feature go so far? Can we flatten cliffs to make ramps or make a artificial platform to cross a river? It is just too much for the game of starcraft. Do anyone see what I mean? I think Blizzard is trying to be as much conservative as they can to the original starcraft. There should be improvements to the game of course like new units, graphics, minor aspects of gameplay, but I don't think any radical changes like 4 spells for each unit, terra-forming, having specific minerals for specific units, and others is going to cut it.

eh I know it's easier to criticize than come up with new ideas so I'm gonna shut up now ^_^

[PowerkickasS]

what is that creep that looks like a big wildcat with purple and red fun, and a gold eye? something like a gnaal, but i can't find it

bengalaas i think?

i would love it if mind controlled units remained neutral to enemy maps so enemies dont autotarget it and you can spy with it.
and blizzard could add more birds and as someone else said somewhere else, and fish in maps with rivers or lakes :)

[MrFrancko]

Yeah, I hated it in the Char levels.....So much freaking unbuildable terrain. They should give the SCVs, Drones, and Probes a terraform ability. Or give the siege weapons the ability to destroy blockables.


This is actually a good idea to an extent. Especially if you could lay waste to creep before it goes away on it's own. That way you can take over a resource spot sooner. Just use firepower!