Thor Drop

[Shadowdragon]

Start by assuming the Thor can be loaded into a dropship. Now, what you'll need...
A. two + thors
B. two + dropships
C. Ghosts
D. (optional) three vikings.

Load your thors/ghost into the drop ships. If you have vikings, put them in air form. Drop the thors in front of the enemy base, forcing the enemy units to chase after it (use the ghost as a spotter/distraction). If the base defense is light, put the vikings in ground mode and wipe the enemy out. If there are to many enemies, simply load the thors into their respective dropships, and make the vikings take to the air. Have all your units run (try to have the vikings cover the drop ships, if possible. Do this every 3-10 minutes. If your lucky, the player will begin to turtle, waiting to kill the thors on return. Return, only this time, bring a separate drop ship loaded with marines (keep it at the side of the base, for now). Drop the thors, repeating the attack as usual. The player should be ready for it by this point, and will attack with most everything he has.
This time, you don't need to save the thors (most people can't micro THAT well). Hopefully, all the defending units are gone. Drop the marines on the mining operation, and start to kill workers. The player will be stuck trying to kill the thors, so the marines will shred the workers up. The game is pretty much finished by this point. Note, if the enemy has stationary defenses near his workers, you may need to use some vikings to distract them. For example, the vikings can take the AA hit for the dropships, that land to be attacked by the stationary land defenses, allowing the marines to do their job.

[Outcaster]

Thor in a dropship .....NOT

[Shadowdragon]

Well, they have to be able to move around island maps somehow. Dropship is just a substitute.
Edit:
On second thought, why not the dropship?

[JimRaynor45]

I support your idea sir. I think though, based on the size of the thor it should take up all the space in a dropship, but im willing to go with the idea that it could just take 3/4 of the space. Thors are bound to be slow and im sure there is going to be some way to transport them, most likely through a dropship. If thors cant be transported, there probably gonna be stronger and more ranged to compensate. though im sure your gonna be able to transport them.....
Oh and another idea instead of teching to ghost and thors, is to build mass vikings with transform ability send, them behind enemy base, transform in base, attack workers then if they get attacked, transfrom into air phase and fly away...but your plan is better.

[Shadowdragon]

It's hard to tell how useful vikings will be until their price/build time comes out. That's my only real opposition to massed vikings.

[T-man]

I agree that Thors will probably be transportable, and that thy should take up 6-8 spots. However, what about a change in Dropship/Overlord/Phase Prism speed change depending on the units in them.
Say you have a single Marine being rushed around by Dropship, the Dropship would move at full move speed. Then load a Thor instead, and it would take a movement penalty (due to inertia and other things).
They could either have a "weight" stat, or just base it off of relative fullness, ie. all 8 slots full is the same movement penalty, whether they be two tanks, one Thor, or eight marines.

[generalrievous]

lol I cant imagine alittle dropship being able to hold that big ass thor tbh

[Chris Benoit]

I'm willing to bet that the Thor will not be able to be loaded into a dropship. In the case of a water map, one could load a SCV into a dropship, drop it to the desired location, and have it build the Thor.

[Shadowdragon]

Building a thor AT the enemies base? Sorry, but that won't work. Like any player is going to wait around and let you build 3-5 thors. Besides, when has size ever mattered to blizzard? If a dropship can't be used, than the unit better have some method of getting over empty space. Otherwise, it will be to slow and to big to survive. After all, you would need to escort it with an entire army to ensure it doesn't get killed before it reaches it's destination. If it can't be moved quickly, or at least through the air, than it'll become the most expensive piece of nothing money can buy.

[Fenix]

Yeah, if size mattered, how in the hell do you put two Ultras into a Overmind?

If a Thor can, and I'm not saying it will, fit into a Dropship, it'll take up all slots, no doubt about that.

[Itsmyship]

Hehehe...I just had a funny image of the Dropship holding Thor up on a bunch of cables and dropping it on a base :P

[Fenix]

LOL!!

That's awesome. One of our resident artists should make that image.

[zeratul11]

didn't you guys know that thor can fly..? uhm.. and jump as well. lol

im sure it can't be loaded in a dropship.

yes, load the scv and unload it somewhere on the map (where you plan to rally your troops) then start building the thor there.

[Wlck742]

Lol, the Thor looks big enough to just walk across the Pacific Ocean and back.

Anyways, the Thor should be transportable. Unless they could have a space ship grab them, lift them into orbit, and drop them wherever they wanted to go.

[GuiMontag]

you should just transport the scv around, becuase THOR is almost as big as a nexus

[Wlck742]

And exactly how would you attack with the thor that you haven't made yet? I don't think any player short of my grandma would let me build something that big in their own base.

[GuiMontag]

thats why you have to setup a contain, or expansion.

[wuffle]

How about instead of bringing marines in hyou just call them down with ghosts.

[ArchLimit]

I actually agree with those who think that the Thor will NOT be transportable. Some of you mentioned that Blizzard has never associated size with transportability, but on the other hand, the Thor really seems to stretch it, especially with the idea that it is probably more a mobile structure than an actual unit.

Even with Ultralisks in Overlords, there's still that suspended belief just because it's sort of one organic unit in another, and while I totally agree that it stretches the physics of it immensely, I don't find myself goin', "Okay, this is unbelievable."

Also, a Thor, given its power, probably would almost need a bit of a handicap in the respect. It's MEANT to bust down doors, good for those well guarded chokepoints 'n what not. So to be able to drop them within an enemy base just seems a tad bit overboard to me. I think given it's devastating power, it would only be right that you drop a heavily protected SCV into the enemy base, which would be a fun tactic anyway and add a strategic element to the game.

[qOcOp]

u could take him apart to pieces and put him back together. but it will not cost anything to put him together and its a little bit faster than the first time u made him.

[zeratul11]

why drop the scv direct to the enemy base? is the thor build time short? that would be imba.

anyway how long do you think it will take to build a thor? im guessing exactly 2 minutes on fastest gameplay.

[Wlck742]

Nah, more than 2 mins. At least 2:30. 2 mins is way too short for something that big.

[Z-BosoN]

If two big Siege Tanks can fit into a dropship half its size, then one Thor would fit quite comfortably inside it.

[Chris Benoit]

I wasn't implying that a player drop an SCV into an enemy base and build a Thor. I mean dropping the SCV somewhere near the base out of sight and build it there. Then have it move in with an army to attack the base. And some of you talked about how large units in SC unbelievably fit into Dropships and Overlords. However, none of those units are constructed BY a worker. Thor is practically a walking building.

[Wlck742]

When you're on an island map, there's nearly no part of your enemy's base that he doesn't know about, unless it's a huge island that fills up about half the map, or your opponent's a total noob who knows nothing about the minimap, scouting etc.

[T-man]

When you're on an island map, there's nearly no part of your enemy's base that he doesn't know about, unless it's a huge island that fills up about half the map, or your opponent's a total noob who knows nothing about the minimap, scouting etc.


Exactly. On Island maps, Thors would have to be transportable, there would be no way to do an "SCV Drop" and build a Thor. Rarely can Dropships even get into my base on island maps, and then they have time to drop one or two units, and I know they are there. No time to build a Thor, even if it only took 30 seconds.

[JudicatorPrime]

I could see like 4 dropships latched onto a Thor hulking it over a canyon... Like no one would notice that. Considering they can be built with SCVs, I'd rather find a good spot to settle where the enemy won't find me, and im still in range of their base. Preferably opposite to where the rest of my forces are coming from. Start building and fire away, hopefully they'll think the shots are coming from the bulk of the forces... I REALLY hope the shots for the Thor don't leave a streak in the air like the artillery in WiC... It was easy to estimate where the enemy was because of that.

Pretty sure the developers didn't give it that much range so people could attack close-medium combat with it.

[Wlck742]

Imagine how OPed the Thor would be if it had the same range as the Mavor from SupCom.

[JudicatorPrime]

Mavor wasn't that overpowered- probably because a nuke in SupCom is just about as common as... something common but not very common so its not all over the place.

[Wlck742]

It wasn't that overpowered in SupCom, just like you said, but in SC it'll be as bad as a mind control with an AOE.

[10-Neon]

This isn't a question about whether a Thor can be carried in a Dropship, it's a question of "How many Dropships can fit in a Thor?" My guess is about four.

...Maybe they'll give the Battlecruser a carrying ability (it had ship docks in the cut scenes) and let -it- worry about hauling Thors around. Maybe it'll have a Star-Destroyer-esque hatch in the bottom that can be used to pick it up.

Maybe, since the Thor is as big as a CC, it will have basic lifting engines like the larger Terran buildings. It would move slightly faster than an un-upgraded Overlord, and be unable to attack, but it would still be able to do it. That would make sense too, but Dropships? That would just be too weird.

[GuiMontag]

i like the idea of it being lifted by a battlecuiser, or they could have it attached to 2 dropships with string :P

[ImaGiNe.]

Duh! The answer is obvious on how Thor's would be able to move over water and other generally impassable terrain! Here is my equation along with the obvious answer:

[zeratul11]

and i thought red bull was made from our country.

[JudicatorPrime]

Eh, BC's are tiny, that'd be odd seeing a huge bulky thing under my BC... but 4 dropships would look right... considering things are already carried with multiple choppers like that in real life. Having its own take off thing would be cool but.. meh

[Chris Benoit]

Hmm, I've never seen or heard of two or more helicopters carrying one object.

[i2new@aol.com]

What on this green earth makes u think a thor will go into a drop ship. thats like trying to get a whale though a freakin door. and thors are so big there made by SCV's........ SO what makes u think a drop ship can get off the ground with a thor inside of it even tho they would have to build a drop ship around Thor...

[burkid]

Eh, BC's are tiny

they are scaled down for the game. watch the BW intro, the BC is huge in it.

[GrahamTastic]

I could see a Reaver in a drop ship, but Thor?? Maybe... but it appears, like, 300 times bigger on screen. It would look sort of silly. Who knows though; The Zeplins in WC3 were tiny compared to the units you could stuff into them...

[burkid]

and thats why thats WC3, and this is Starcraft.

[marinepower]

I can't see an animation done for this, getting 4 dropships and using them to transport thor. The thor itself is as big as a barracks, and i doubt anything can lift an entire building. On a side note, what happens if the dropships do manage to lift their cargo, then one of em is shot down by a few scourages.
It would be nice, but they are so slow and heavy that loading them would take forever.

[Gasmaskguy]

The Dropship can´t possibly be responsible for the Thors aerial transport. just think about it. its to big to be constructed in a freakin factory! why would it fit in something even smaller?!
The only logical thing for the Thor (since it is constructed by scv´s just like buildings)
is that it has the Lift off ability.

[bashologist]

It would be more realistic if some sort of helicopter looking unit like a bigger Banshee came and could pick it up, but would move very slowly during transport -- It could use some sort of a cable; Maybe too many sudden movements back and forth would drop it, breaking it into pieces! But an SCV could come and rebuild it!

This ability could be researched for 500min/250gas.

[Wlck742]

But this isn't an FPS.

[burkid]

This ability could be researched for 500min/250gas.

what!? thats 100 more minerals than a MS and 50 more gas than an ultra! if it cost that much no one would get it.

[Indigent]

Wow... I agree. The should have the walk up and down cliffs thing like the colosus. Only except instead of cliffs, water.. It's just like some guy earlier said that the thor could walk across the Pacific Ocean and back. Either that or it could be hualed by cables from like 4 drop ships. And like some other guy said, if you couldn't build a thor from a factory what makes you think it will fit in something smaller.

[Gasmaskguy]

Damn right you are!

[Indigent]

Not me the guy that said it the first time.

[DontHate]

i think the legs are too small for it to go up and down cliffs.

[Indigent]

Not cliffs, watter.

[Gasmaskguy]

but if the map is a space platform? No water there. then the Thor would once again suck in mobility

[Indigent]

Good point, the drop ship then lol. How do you think the colosus would work though? They can't be hualed by cables like thors. And robotics suport bays would not have the teleport ability like the gate ways. Only they can teleport stuff I think.

[gelu_gao]

Good point, the drop ship then lol. How do you think the colosus would work though? They can't be hualed by cables like thors. And robotics suport bays would not have the teleport ability like the gate ways. Only they can teleport stuff I think.

I think there should be at least one way to transport the existing units, maybe the colosuses can enter some kind of wrap gate? If there is no method, how can protoss do some frogleap attack island by island?
As blizzard has replaced Tempest with Carrier, Protoss has no air unit specialized in anti ground. How can protoss deal with massive ground defensive islands?

[Gasmaskguy]

well, I think the Carriers would still be the best choice. just look back to starcraft bw. The carrier was exactly out of range from immobile base defences.

[Indigent]

Oh yeah, I just thought of something. If colosuses can be warped from other places to your battlefield than they can just teleport them into the front ranks just like with the infantry.

[ArchLimit]

I'm thinking that only way to have a "Thor" transported would be to transport the SCV that builds it. Given the build time shown in the videos, and the fact that a CC can pick up 'n drop the SCVs, I think that's perfectly feasible. If you try to drop ship a Thor, u'll probably just get a message saying "Unable to life structure" message, or whatever.

Also, think about this lil tactic. CC drop SCVS protected by a handful of units into an enemy base. Utilize the units to cover the CC while it turns into a planetary fortress while SCVs do their Thor thing. That base is gone...

[burkid]

i think build times were greatly shortened for the demo. i mean, we saw the other guy cheating, so why not both of them?

[Indigent]

I thought they were the same person... Lol.
Guy: Oops. I guese that didn't go as I thought... Well..
*Starts cheating*
Guy: There. Then again we might need a little more...
*Starts cheating more and sicks his battle cruiser/ thor army on them*

[Wlck742]

Build times must have been shortened for the demo. No one would have wanted to wait around for five minutes watching the Thor get built. I dunno about you, but I wouldn't like that.

[Shadowdragon]

If it's as big as a factory, it will probably take as much time as a factory to build, maybe even a little longer. The biggest problem is that the Thor would than be stuck on an island. So you would be building something expensive and takes pop-cap, only to able to use it once. If your lucky.

That really won't do. Lift off or dropship, but it needs to move somehow.

[DontHate]

i always thought why couldn't they add booster rockets to the thor like they do to the buildings... i mean it basicly is a building.

[Indigent]

The thor is also at the end of the Terran family tree so it is usually hardest to get to so some pros might not even use them.

[TerranGod]

they should be lifted by dropships but take up the whole space as in the WHOLE space

other wise, they shouldnt be flying because thats ridicously cheap

[Indigent]

That wouldn't make sense as I said before. If it was too big to fit in a factory it can't fit into something smaller.

[Quanta]

Give em lift off boosters and a really ****ty flight speed. They probably wouldn't work for the OP's strategey then but they could at least get over empty space or cliffs.

[Shadowdragon]

It's better than nothing. But if it's too slow, people still won't use it. They will opt for siege tanks, and than you get the same result. So it should fly at least as fast as the barracks. Maybe faster.

I still like drop ships though. Just cut the drop ship speed down a *little*, take up the whole space, and problem solved. And by the way, it's not to big to fit in a factory, it's too big to be made in a factory. There is a difference. And I have yet to hear anyone state the fact that science vessels/command centers can fit goliaths in them, yet are only a little bigger than siege tanks.

Realism isn't the problem, balance is.

[Smokiehunter]

maybe the drop ship can have a ability to group with another drop ship and out side both they can attach cables to the thor and lift :P

being serios now why couldn't you deconstruct the thor or pack it up into that box again kida like a trebuchet in age of empires and then the drop ships could carry that.

[Indigent]

Yeah, I thought of all that stuff too. I was thinking about the box packing the lift off and the cabbles.. Alot of people already mentioned all that stuff yet somehow we mannage to stop talking about random stuff.
Edit: Oh yeah, and just sending SCVs to your enemy's base and building it there but we know that they won't just watch your SCVs build your thors.

[Gasmaskguy]

i think they should just make the dropship bigger and more expensive. like a double or tripple dropship. then it would work...

[MarineCorp]

it is quite balanced that the Thor can't drop because if you watch the Terran faction video the Thor used the artillery once to destroy the Planetary Fortress

[JBL]

Not a good idea, Thor was meant to assault a base from the front.

and it looks kinda weak when it's alone anyway. and over that, it's not like something that can take out all the workers really fast.. and that's what a drop is all about.

[Smokiehunter]

well i think it will suck pritty hard when your thor is stuck on an island after an assalt.

[Indigent]

i think they should just make the dropship bigger and more expensive. like a double or tripple dropship. then it would work...
Yeah, it could be like an upgrade. Like it is like bigger and carry only one thor. It doesn't even have to be inside the dropship. There should be some form of transportation for it like on island games. It's bad enough that colosuses can't be transported. But now the thor? It is supposed to be some kind of superunit...

[Smokiehunter]

no the thor is not a super unit. its just a heavey hitter like the colossus, just a bit more heavey.

[Gasmaskguy]

yeah, but you could call it the terran superunit based on the fact that it has the most hp 700 and prolly a high damage, and costs a ****load of money. (the most expensive unit is a "superunit" in my eyes)

[Indigent]

Isn't it?

[Gasmaskguy]

well, I dont think a superunit is a unit you only can have one of, ultimate units are the loners.
superunit means its the last in the tech tree/most expensive unit you build.

[Indigent]

Super is a synonym for ultimate lol.

[Gasmaskguy]

may be, but it is still not the same word

[10-Neon]

Super means above, ultimate means final. Neither says anything about how many there can be.

[Protosscommander]

Thor drop yeah im in favor ...

[madmatg]

http://c:\CH54_large

i think this would probly work, just have either A) upgrade (like the baneling upgrade for lings) for a dropship so it changes into a heavy lift(slow) transport, like the CH54 skycrane, that can only carry the Thor. or B) a late tech tranny that does the same thing. i know the thing would be huge but see in this universe they have loads of fusion power (if i remember right the BC's are powered by it) so if they have fusion working they should have no problems lifting something that large with a fusion reactor powering the engine :P as long as they have strong enough materials for the tranny.

[StarCraft144000]

Terran dont need two transports but anyway how can they fit in the Dropship I mean like in real life it can just crush it.

[Gasmaskguy]

dont compare starcaft to real life. Seriously. Starcraft is about balance, cool units and fun. if it where realistic, there wouldnt be crazy aliens and such in starcraft either.

[StarCraft144000]

Yeah but I mean think of it you see a dropship (like a airplane that carrys a decent amount of people)and a building thats is ten times the size of it but anyway it is about fun.

[Gasmaskguy]

yeah, i see your point but everybody, think about this; maybe a Thor is to big for a Dropship, but in SC1bw one Reaver was atleast the same size as a Shuttle. still you could fit TWO of them inside. AND, a Shuttle aint just an emty jar. it gotta have space for the cockpit, fuel, all the machinery, etc, etc. so maybe we can get used to the sight of a Thor fitting in a Dropship.

[LordofAngels]

I do agree that Thor should be able to be dropped. I do believe I heard the news that Thor is extremely expensive and takes emense time to produce. Having SCV over to build one near any base would require huge defense around it, and even with that, enemy will throw everything they got at the building Thors, and some units like SeigeTanks, Carriers, Ultrarisks, or massed lings can ignore the protective fire and attack Thor directly. Also, considering MotherShip still has weak PlanetCracker, I think its pefect for destroying building Thors, Also there is a possibility that enemy will have Thor standing by for base defense. Its just darn risky and it is no brainer that Thor will not be complete, or even when completed, there just will not be enough units left to engage into battle.

I agree with people from before, and Thor is way too large for DropShip to handle. Nor do I think Blizzard will make another upgrade in DropShip just to accomidate Thor. Even if upgraded but slow DropShips can load in more units, its that much risk of being attacked, and with Mutalisk and especially supercharging Pheonixs around, its unlikely that anyone will use it unless for Thor.

So enstead, I think 3 DropShips attatching Cables to Thor will be more accomidating. The DropShip can also carry the support unit for Thor, plus even if the one or two DropShips are destroied, it will only slow the transportation speed down, so it is much effective and safe way to transport Thor plus support units, which Thor requires to be effective.

[LordofAngels]

yeah, i see your point but everybody, think about this; maybe a Thor is to big for a Dropship, but in SC1bw one Reaver was atleast the same size as a Shuttle. still you could fit TWO of them inside. AND, a Shuttle aint just an emty jar. it gotta have space for the cockpit, fuel, all the machinery, etc, etc. so maybe we can get used to the sight of a Thor fitting in a Dropship.


Well, there is a point, but remember Shuttle is usually an autopioleted dropship. Plus I think with warp technology of Protoss, its possible for Two Reavers to fit into portable warp space of Shuttle for extensive period of time. But DropShips plus Terran in general does not have SuperNatural element on their side, so the techologies should be close to reality, since that is why many Terran users like Terran

[Gasmaskguy]

yeah, i see your point but everybody, think about this; maybe a Thor is to big for a Dropship, but in SC1bw one Reaver was atleast the same size as a Shuttle. still you could fit TWO of them inside. AND, a Shuttle aint just an emty jar. it gotta have space for the cockpit, fuel, all the machinery, etc, etc. so maybe we can get used to the sight of a Thor fitting in a Dropship.


Well, there is a point, but remember Shuttle is usually an autopioleted dropship. Plus I think with warp technology of Protoss, its possible for Two Reavers to fit into portable warp space of Shuttle for extensive period of time. But DropShips plus Terran in general does not have SuperNatural element on their side, so the techologies should be close to reality, since that is why many Terran users like Terran


ok, I am gonna take another example. One siege tank in SC1bw is of the same size as a dropship, if not even bigger. Still, you can fit TWO of them inside. AND, a Dropship aint just an emty jar. it gotta have space for the cockpit, fuel, all the machinery, etc, etc. so maybe we can get used to the sight of a Thor fitting in a Dropship.

[10-Neon]

Since the Thor unfolds from its building form when it is completed, maybe, to hop islands, they'll have it so that you fold it back up into building form, then lift off like a major building. It would be unarmed in the air, and would have to land and unfold before it can resume blowing things up.

[Indigent]

Hehe, just like the viking only except it is like 18047598347518345 times bigger, and 8234976 more powerful. It would be way more vulnerable but that is just the more reason not to send mass waves of one unit, like alot of people did with carriers...

[LordofAngels]

yeah, i see your point but everybody, think about this; maybe a Thor is to big for a Dropship, but in SC1bw one Reaver was atleast the same size as a Shuttle. still you could fit TWO of them inside. AND, a Shuttle aint just an emty jar. it gotta have space for the cockpit, fuel, all the machinery, etc, etc. so maybe we can get used to the sight of a Thor fitting in a Dropship.


Well, there is a point, but remember Shuttle is usually an autopioleted dropship. Plus I think with warp technology of Protoss, its possible for Two Reavers to fit into portable warp space of Shuttle for extensive period of time. But DropShips plus Terran in general does not have SuperNatural element on their side, so the techologies should be close to reality, since that is why many Terran users like Terran


ok, I am gonna take another example. One siege tank in SC1bw is of the same size as a dropship, if not even bigger. Still, you can fit TWO of them inside. AND, a Dropship aint just an emty jar. it gotta have space for the cockpit, fuel, all the machinery, etc, etc. so maybe we can get used to the sight of a Thor fitting in a Dropship.



I suppose you do have a point in SC. But this is SC we are talking about, and if you see it in a point of view, SeigeTanks are not as big.... you can probably fit SeigeTank in average DropShip. I think Overall size of DropShip was little messed up.
However, Thor is about the size of a command center plus addon...... I highly doubt that Thor will be able to fit into the DropShip with the engine, fuel tank, cockpit.... etc, etc. I don't think so.... and in SC2 programmars will probably try their hardest to make the game realistic.... and I'm willing to bet that programmars will not put Thor in normal DropShip.

[Gasmaskguy]

willing to bet what? ;)

[LordofAngels]

willing to bet what? ;)


Erm.... sure...... I still think the SC programars will do the right think by favoring the power of Reality rather than sissy excuse for loading units
Still, why is everyone so stressing out about Thor? I don't think they do much besides base damage..... and apart from TvT battles, its pretty much useless, since almost every player knows how to micro around Thor......Plus Protoss so far has more advantage in the air, and Thor is an easy kill for WarpRays..... I think most Protoss users know that and will probably carry around Collosus and WarpRays when fighting late Terran...... Thor is too big and too pridictable, I don't see why everyone is so stressing out about it..... so what if the drops doesn't work? Its pretty much useless in field battle......

[Indigent]

Well, if they are untransportable they will be worthless. It is going to be hard if they can't even move. Imobile giant super units is not good. Especially in island maps.

[Bizarro_Paragon]

I've been thinking about this for a little bit, and all of a sudden I think an answer may have popped into my head.

One of the new Terran mechanics that will be in SC2 and not in one is Salvage. Now, we haven't had much information on salvage, but we do know that it allows the Terrans to "sell" one of their buildings, probably using the Nomad, for a 100% return of resources. So far, it's been described as only for buildings.

But what if it's not? Thors are unique in that they are the only unit to be built directly by SCV's and are therefore startlingly like buildings- they even transform from a building into the unit after the SCV has completed it's task. So what if it's possible to Salvage a Thor, for a 100% return of profit? This would fix the transportation mechanic that seems to be problematic for the Thor, as it could simply be dismantled after a raid and re-built at the next battle.

The idea is pretty much self-balancing, as although you wouldn't have the extra firepower right away and the Thor would take time to be re-built, some of that time would be made up by only having to transport a tiny SCV rather than the gigantic Thor, and if your dropship is attacked or Mind Controlled (if MC somehow returns in SC2) then you wouldn't lose the Thor, only the SCV, as the Thor would simply be a bunch of resources at this point.

So do you think this works? Could they make the Thor salvage-able? And if so, is it a viable way to "Transport" them from one area to another?

[slugonice]

PARAGON!!!

t-up on that idea.

first time i really liked a Terran idea

[Gasmaskguy]

its a pretty good idea. But, then the Thor would need a medium build speed. It would even out since its probably gonna cost a lot, can be attacked while being build, and is really slow when finally built.

[Unentschieden]

Is it really that important that the Thor is useable on Island Maps? The concept seems like that the enemy is supposed to know that the Thor is coming (either it is build close to him or takes ages to wander there).
Yes you have to defend the building site but that might provoke the enemy to attack in advance, aka leaving behind his static defenses.
As Terran it should be relativly easy to defend a position, especially as you now can scrap static defenses once they lost their usefullness.
Yes being untransportable makes them useless on Island Maps but it seems like they would be useless on this kind of maps even IF it were transportable. They seem to be geared for a head on assault, IF you could get them into a base on Island maps where players usually don´t get (much) Ground defenses it might be unstoppable.
Island maps play differently than "Continentals" and the Thor might be Overpowered on these circumstances.
Also it isn´t like Terrans are the only ones loosing Options on Islands. Protoss can´t Transport their Colossus.

[Gasmaskguy]

Maybe with one of their teleportation-thingies? Like, recall?

[Unentschieden]

Do you mean to transport the Colossus? Wasn´t it somewhere mentioned that the Colossus can´t be Transported?

[Gasmaskguy]

Not transported. Teleported! Like in Recall!

[Wlck742]

Recall might not come back. Why are we talking about the Colossus now?

Lol, this is kinda retarded, but maybe the Thor and the Colossus could walk in water. Maybe not the Thor, but the Colossus looks maybe big enough.

[Gasmaskguy]

There is no water in space silly! Then Collosus would still be stuck on Space platforms!

[Wlck742]

O yeah, forgot about space platforms. Then they'll probably be stuck. I wonder how long the Thor artillery strike range is. If it was long enough I'd just stay at home and do Comsat + Artillery strike on my enemy's base. Wow, that's never going to happen. Maybe someone should do something like that in the map editor or something.

[Gasmaskguy]

I didnt say the range should be enough to shoot from one side of the map to another! I meant like 1.5 of the siege tank range.

[Wlck742]

Lol, I was just speculating what would happen if it did.

[Duke Nukem]

There's really no reason for the thor not to fit in a dropship. it's massive, so it should take up the whole space. And this wouldn't make it incredibly powerful, because you could lose the very expensive thor if the dropship goes down.

And i'm fairly certain salvage is something all terran buildings have, kinda like liftoff, not a unit's ability. Thor having it would be pretty cool though, and an excellent alternative to loading it in a dropship.

[Unentschieden]

I can imagine the Thor having Salvage but Fitting it into a Dropship would be silly. Salvage is only available on static defenses (and addons) to support Terran mobility, 100% return for EVERYTHING would be quite... hard to balance.

[Indigent]

O yeah, forgot about space platforms. Then they'll probably be stuck. I wonder how long the Thor artillery strike range is. If it was long enough I'd just stay at home and do Comsat + Artillery strike on my enemy's base. Wow, that's never going to happen. Maybe someone should do something like that in the map editor or something.
Lol. I just got a funny idea. If you made a map with only platforms and you only get one thor on a random platform and if you did the same with your oponent. You could play battleships!! That would be neat lol.

[Seradin]

Why not have two drop ships attach onto the thor and give it flight but the thor wont be able to use its weapons.

[darkone]

so do they just stare at each other

[Wlck742]

I just hope Thors could be of use on any map. On an island map, I think Thors will be a good defense, if coupled with some sensor/radar domes and missile turrets.

[Blackness]

I hope they will scrap the Thor...
First of all, it looks too much like transformers, and it would be almost impossible to micro in a battle. :P
I just dont like it..

[Unentschieden]

The Thor may not be microintensive when played with but most likely quite hard to play against. Remember that in a game of SC2 both Players are supposed to have fun.

[Gasmaskguy]

Instead of the Thor, a really really really big tank would look cooler. I dont get why Terran only have ONE tank. They should have atleast 2. tanks are cool :P

[DontHate]

are so many tanks really necessary? hey, why not bring in the reaver? We don't need another seige ground unit. All these roles are already filled and having another tank is useless.

[Duke Nukem]

The terran don't actually have a 'tank' unit. The Siege tank sucks if used as a tank, it's only good in the role as long range artillery. The terran pretty much lack a ground unit with high enough hp to survive head on fights. Thats why a good proportion of their strategy is slowly pushing forward with siege tanks.

Thor pretty much is the only terran 'tank.' It fills that gap well, and if it is scrapped, terran will lose a significant portion of its ground strength.

[Gasmaskguy]

So, replace it with a huge tank! The Thor was in the beginning actually gonna be a tank, but they prefered the Thor for som reason, and instead used the Thor-tank design to re-design the siege tank.
Still, Terran dont have a "real tank". "Are so many tanks necessary?" Seriously, is the number 2 too much or what?
Why not ask the question "are so many walking robots necessary?"
hmm lets see, we have the Stalker, The Collossus, The Viking, the Thor and the Immortal.
I insist that more tanks should be in the game.

[freedom23]

Thor Drop = Drop the thor during flight from a dropship ^_^ literally....
is the siege mode of thors able to fire air units?? maybe it would be useful if something is like that..

[BirdofPrey]

A few weeks back when the Thor was first revealed the BNet forums had some people suggeting that the thor have jets to fly like the buildings but would be unable to attack. How scary would that be a few Thors float into your base and land start blasting the crap out of your base

[Indigent]

Cobras are supposed to be tanks I think. Like a really light armored anti armored killing tank...

[Gasmaskguy]

Yeah, but I cant see any Treads, and thats ALL that counts for me ;)

[Indigent]

It's a HOVER tank.. If they had hover tanks, they should have hover everything..

[Gasmaskguy]

Hoovering tanks dont make me as horny as rolling tanks! More Treads!

[Indigent]

Yeah, I don't get that when ever anyone says it lol.

[Wlck742]

Cobra isn't really a tank, it's more of an ACV (armored combat vehicle).

edit: I put APC instead of ACV. Silly me.

[burkid]

umm... an APC is an Armored Personnel Carrier... that is not what the cobra is.

the cobra is a light, anti-armor hover tank that can shoot and move simotaneously. not an APC.

[DontHate]

i really don't see them taking out the thor and replacing it with some... super tank. if that happens a lot of fans will be annoying.. or at least me. Who really want's that? it's repetative and boring... the thor varries it up. also i don't see any reason to replace it with a tank just because the terran have only 1 tank. the thor looks fine.

[Gasmaskguy]

lol a siege tank 4 times bigger, now THATS looking fine i tell you 8)

[proswimma]

i dont think thor will be able to go in a dropship cuz if it is too big to be built in a building then it is way to big for drop...