Random impulse, Spawn Larva change/suggestion.

One argument that seems to be brought up, is ideas like these lessen the reward for players being aware as well having a fast reaction time. There is truth to this, yet it also conflicts with the argument others have made about reducing the amount of extra controls players already have in SC2 from past RTS games; AI being more advanced/user-friendly, path-finding allowing different outcomes of a fight, and even the selection of more then 12 units.

We can remove said features to make the game more challenging, or you can go the other direction, by giving players more choices/options rather then making trivial tasks harder to do.

In the case of Zerg's Spawn Larva, it is a lost opportunity once you forget to recast the spell after the hatchery has been untouched for a few seconds to minutes. This does indeed set a rather unforgiving system which some will argue it sets the novices apart from the experienced. Yet if such is true, why again not go back to operation "strip" out player forgiveness features, and say...set a cooldown for Mules/Scans/Supply or set Cooldowns on said buildings C. Boost was just used on? You'd then have to hawk eye when the Cooldown is off in order to get use of that spell/building.

I'm not seriously suggesting that, because I think it's ridiculous, but it feels like a double-standard to treat the Zerg as such yet not the other 2 races.

Different Races is supposed to be a strenght of Starcraft. You´d go better with an Argument to differentiate MORE.

Looking at that it´s troubling how naturally People assume and argue under the assumption that the Macro abilities are equal. 1 Orbital Command Energy is not equal to 1Queen Energy. Queens are cheaper and more usefull to have as "spares" (Anti-Air) than Orbital Cammand centers or Nexus.
Also Queens don´t provide Mineral income like MULEs but Production capacity like the Nexus does.
So why is the Protoss mechanic "better"? Because you don´t have the same number of Production/research facilities as you have Nexus. The equivialent situation for Zerg would be as if you always had more Hatcherys than Queens.

After some careful consideration of the "problem" I've come to this conclusion; it's not a problem with the spell, it's a problem with our playstyle.

Why can't you use spawn larva more than once when it's forgotten for some period? Because each hatch/lair/hive will only support one spawn larva. The solution is to have an extra hatchery. This works exactly like chrono boost, affecting one building at a time. Comparing to Terran in this instance is less important because their mechanic only gets more resources or food, it doesn't speed up unit production. The major difference is that Protoss will always have multiple buildings that could benefit from a boost whereas Zerg players often forgo a second hatch which I'm willing to bet could change this dynamic considerably.

The thing is that when playing protoss you have to always click to chrono boost. There is no que for it... So I think that it woukd be overpowering zerg a little... because imagine if we could que chrono boost... we could put out 16 probes in 1:20 seconds

Queens, CC energy, and C Boost are all different, I'm not arguing that otherwise. The difference is that their energy is used for in the case of Protoss, production and upgrades. Terran it's for Econamy, Intel, and additional supply - in Zerg's case, Queen acts as production and field advantage, and the occasion heal when the situation requires.

Terran and Protoss don't have to worry if they hit 50 energy yet forget to use that energy till later. It may hamper them to not be getting the use of it there and then, but if it reaches 100+, you can use it all with out waiting*.

The ordeal with the Queen is it eventually comes down to SL takes up the most attention as 1-2 creep tumors can reproduce them selves. Sure more is better, but field advantage comes to nothing if you come up too short with troops.

It feels as though the only reason Blizzard went with the current system, is to avoid mass queens stacking SL on single hatcherys...yet they left leeway for the other 2 races if they don't keep a paranoid eye on when to recast their macro spells.

At the very least they should be held accountable to monitor their macros more intensely like Zerg with less forgiveness or Zerg need that fairness in return. (I'm of course more in favor of the non-downgrading idea)

Quote:

---

The thing is that when playing protoss you have to always click to chrono boost. There is no que for it

---

Uuuh, Zerg have to click their spawn larva too you know, yet if they miss out for several moments, that's a lost cause... they don't have a rebound type effect like Protoss/Terran holding upwards of 200 energy in case they forget to use it asap. Queens spare energy doesn't have as great of effect as that; Tumors and heal have their roles, just can't compare a 200 energy queen with a maxed out Nexus/CC.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Drake Clawfang

Epiphany!

All three macro mechanics for the races are similar but different. Extra supply and Mule boost mineral production or food, Crono Boost speeds up production rate of units and research.

Idea for ability - Spawn Creep Growth. Creep Growth is a building with low HP, doesn't spawn any creep. The Creep Growth can mutate into a building, any building the Drone can currently mutate into, but the Creep Growth mutates into the building faster than the Drone.

No? Now players can decide if they want more larva, or if they want their Spire or Hydralisk Den sooner than usual. Also saves a bit on building costs since you don't need a Drone for the building, saves you 50 min and a Drone.

By this, Terrans get boosted mining and food rates, Protoss gets increased unit and research speed, Zerg get increased building speed and faster unit production.

---

I like this. The game's gone gold though, so I doubt we'll see anything like it.

Another amazing idea I saw during beta (or perhaps even before beta) was to make the creep tumor evolve into a new type of tumor. There would be 3 possibilities, one unlocked by default (a typical uber-creep tumor which spreads creep twice as fast and further out than a regular tumor), another at lair, which grants some sort of regen bonus around it (or anything else), and another at hive which spawns broodlings (or whatever other ability).
These upgraded tumors don't have the option to create a new creep tumor of course.

With this system, a new creep tumor has 4 options:
-make a new tumor
-become a T1 tumor with a creep bonus
-become a T2 tumor with another bonus
-become a T3 tumor with another bonus

This way, queens would need more energy to replenish the creep tumor numbers as you upgrade them => hence creating a bit more energy tension, or forcing you to make a new queen.


I liked this idea a lot as well. Wish I remembered who came up with that.
Too bad we didn't see any of this IG.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SinsWage

After some careful consideration of the "problem" I've come to this conclusion; it's not a problem with the spell, it's a problem with our playstyle.

Why can't you use spawn larva more than once when it's forgotten for some period? Because each hatch/lair/hive will only support one spawn larva. The solution is to have an extra hatchery. This works exactly like chrono boost, affecting one building at a time. Comparing to Terran in this instance is less important because their mechanic only gets more resources or food, it doesn't speed up unit production. The major difference is that Protoss will always have multiple buildings that could benefit from a boost whereas Zerg players often forgo a second hatch which I'm willing to bet could change this dynamic considerably.

---

The problem with your logic is that hatcheries cost twice as much as Queens, and can attack. It is far more worth it to simply stay on top of your macro than it is to get the 300 minerals to get another hatchery. If you need the production of 2 hatcheries, you can get more than that with simply a queen and a hatchery. If you need the production of 3 hatcheries, you can get that with 2 hatcheries and a queen. However, you will rarely ever need the production of 3 hatcheries off of 1 base, unless you happen to be massing zerglings. This is why you see most top tier players expanding rather than building more hatcheries; with 1 Queen and 1 hatchery, you can usually produce enough for 1 base worth of income. You will probably need more production as you enter your third base, but by then your main has started depleting. In general, it is more beneficial to get at least as many queens as hatcheries, because creep tumors and transfusion are both really great spells.

Thinking about it, I really think it doesn't need more than 1 queue, as you suggested. That way, the only real effect of the queue would be this: you now have a 40 second window in which to cast spawn larva, once you forget it for more than 40 seconds. This would give you, in essence, 40 seconds of leeway. This would be in opposition to the Terran and toss windows of 320 seconds.

The real problem with the whole system is that energy for Queens is too readily available. Queens are very cheap, so you can usually get up an abundance of energy. This gets rid of the tension the other races have, and hence why there are so many problems with the mechanic.

Oh, and MasterSlayer: I'm going to assume from the fact that I have no idea what you are talking about that you have no idea what you are talking about.