Day & NIGHT CYCLE II

[electricmole]

This was already been discussed like more than 1 year ago in blizzforums, thread by me but now i got a new name.

anyway.

Day and night cycle (not only the visuals but actually affects gameplay), i always thought this would have made starcraft innovative and stand out.

In a recent march article, blizzard said that they tried to implement day and nigh cycle in multiplayer(just visuals) but they thought it will make things harder to see. So it means its implemented in the single player camapign anyway.

Regardless, what if theres a day and nigh cycle in starcraft 2 and it will actually affects certain if not all units.


The Visuals

The visuals will be a little darker, just enough to notice that it is night time without actually making things harder to see.

Some units and environments lights will stand out more to give the night effect (see warcraft3). The colossus will have its beam lights on. The protoss building glows more, zerg buildings moves more violent. the ghost armor will turn to neon dark green.

Gameplay innovation.

Some units will become more effecient or less effecient but not useless.

Ok to make it more balance and never win by luck or by day and night changes lets just make the unit changes minor, like a small buffs but can still be handle by the right enemy units.


Dark templar - they moves faster / can jump cliffs during the night. But the cost value is 2 times higher.

Collosus - will have a greater field vision than any other units during night time. Passive. *just a minor buff not really tide changing or anything.* Colossus support raid at night is the win.

Infestor - during the night can create locusts, which are camouflage when stationary. This small flying air units does not attack, but can infest marines, zealots, etc. They can be seen when they are moving or by any detectors. The locusts automatically dies during day time.

Zergling "berserker rage" upgrade - zergling can upgrade their specialized attack upgrade during the night. The zergling becomes berserk during nightime giving them lethal fast attacks. Zergling raid attacks during nights is always predictably surprising and fun.

Overlord - the move faster during the night even when upgraded. So beware of last ditch overlord drops.

Hellion (i still want a redesign of the buggy)- head spot lights are on, and can see stuffs in front in a circle radius. Passive ability.

Ghost - can use psionic thermal visions giving it increase field vision as well as allowing it to detect enemies units with energy. Drains energy.

Nighthawk or Raven - will have the flash missile ability which you can fire at any location which sounds and sends red signal if enemies are detected on the directed path. Energy Base.


These units gain gain buffs but their stats, weaknesses, vulnerabilities are still very much intact just like in the morning.


New exclusive night time units are available.

Zerg Abyssalisk - Enormous Zerg range ground attack unit that have weak eyesight which make them almost useless during daytime. During daytime it can act as a zerg base to base transport.

Terran Night Drones - effective against direct night raids by the enemies. This things have timer and don't last long. They are preferred to be deployed during nighttime.

Protoss Zodiac - A unit that can use an energy light to stun enemy units in an area during nighttime. During the day it acts a s a stationary defense just like the photon canon but does not require pylon power.

The Cycle. (You can start the game with the day/night cycle or only daytime or only nighttime.)

You can pick before you start the game at what time the night comes or the day resumes.

Nighttime comes after 12/18/24/30 minutes. Daytime resumes after 12/18/24/30 minutes.


These are just ideas and are never meant to be perfect. I just want to share the idea. Thank you.

[Kimera757]

Putting aside graphical problems for the moment, what is the point?

I don't see this kind of randomness adding anything good to the game. "Don't use X for another two minutes, wait for the sun to come up?" What. The. Heck.

It will also be weird for some tilesets (Twilight, space platform). Could you imagine zerg players avoiding twilight tilesets for this reason (as an example)?

[Perfecttear]

From the GameStar interview May 7th



Q: Will there be night battles or weather effects in Multiplayer mode?

A: We are considering it in any case! Weather effects are possible and we are even testing the day-night cycle at the moment. I am worried, however, if everything is easily discernible at night. In the battles, many units clash that have varying size, from the tiny zergling to the gigantic Battle Cruiser. Also, the speed of the game is extremely fast, a bunch of things are happening with rapid speed.

Q: But the day-night cycle and the weather effects wouldn't have any gameplay effects?

A: We talked about it, and even tested it, but the answer's: No. We do not want maps with differing rules. Just imagine a snowy area in which ground troops move more slowly. That would completely revert the balance. The Zerg would suffer a lot, since they are highly dependant on their speed. Or imagine rainy maps, on which the sight-range of flying units is reduced. The balance would be shaky and we would have to rebalance the races just because of the stupid rain. That might be an interesting idea for the future, but at the moment we don't want it.


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[DemolitionSquid]

I do not support day/night cycles in multiplayer, and I do not support buffs or nerfs due to such changes either.

[electricmole]

Putting aside graphical problems for the moment, what is the point?

I don't see this kind of randomness adding anything good to the game. "Don't use X for another two minutes, wait for the sun to come up?" What. The. Heck.

It will also be weird for some tilesets (Twilight, space platform). Could you imagine zerg players avoiding twilight tilesets for this reason (as an example)?

It adds coolness to the game. Mainly jsut for the visuals, and since you think cool graphics is actually pointless thats the reason why i added actual changes in gameplay as well.

Like your hellions get free frontal vision sights to see incoming units.

it plays just like the morning, only it looks different(but still clear) with minor gameplay changes.

New night untis doesn't add up anything? anyway im not fond of new night exclusive units but just the specific night time buffs and abilities.

[RainbowToeSocks]

Honestly these kind of ideas make games too complex and ruin them

save these ideas for UMS games. not for a real game

[Medzo]

Day and night cycles are fine as long as they dont effect gameplay.

[ExT]

I think day/night and weather cycles would be fun to use in the game, but i stand by the fact that it should not effect game play in anyway. There for visuals should be easy and units do not get special abilities.

[The_Blade]

people like u created the Thor...

and nigh/day cycles should stay with warcraft

[Pandonetho]

Bad suggestion is bad.
Obvious bad idea is obvious.

Starcraft should never have these stupid day and night cycles affecting gameplay. Ever.