Co-Op Commander Theorycrafting

[Drake Clawfang]

With the initial six and Karax, Stukov, and Matt Horner in consideration; who else would we like to see, and what would their specializations be?

I'd like to see acknowledgement of SC1 some more, so my top pick for representation from that game would be DuGalle. The UED quite clearly established their combat preferences throughout Brood War, and it'd be easy to adapt them to Co-op. DuGalle can get Marines, Medics, Goliaths, Siege Tanks, Wraiths, Valkyries, and Battlecruisers. His gameplay style would focus on aerial dominance with Valkyries, Wraiths and Battlecruisers, with his ground units serving as support. His upgrades could give the Medic Restore and Optical Flare back, Goliaths their upgrades from the WoL campaign, Siege Tanks could get an anti-air mode or alt attack, Wraiths can get their WoL abilities, Valkyries can have speed boosts and a damage buff (perhaps armor-piercing attacks), and Battlecruisers can get back their WoL abilities like defensive matrix and missile barrage.

EDIT - I've done a lot of commanders in this thread, here's a list.

Admiral DuGalle
Dehaka
The Overmind
Ulrezaj
Duran
Aldaris
General Duke
Mira Han
Arcturus Mengsk
Matt Horner

[NikoMyCousin]

I'm not sure what the strategy is for Blizzard. All commanders and all future commanders so far played a role in LotV against Amon's forces. If they don't want lore to attach to it then I'd say commanders like the Overmind, General Duke, and Tassadar, all with unique abilities and all with SC1 units.

[FanaticTemplar]

I also don't know if they're willing to make new models for this, so I don't know about getting some of the SC1 guys.

I feel they definitely should get some actual Terran Dominion representative in there though, if not Arcturus or Valerian then at least that Warfield general guy.

Having Selendis in there might make up for her being introduced way back before Wings of Liberty and doing pretty much nothing.

And Abathur, because of course.

[Drake Clawfang]

Well, they wouldn't have to make new models, just new portraits, and the portrait models are typically just the torso with a background. And they recorded new voice clips for the game and such. I don't think a few portraits would be difficult.

[ragnarok]

I also don't know if they're willing to make new models for this, so I don't know about getting some of the SC1 guys.

I feel they definitely should get some actual Terran Dominion representative in there though, if not Arcturus or Valerian then at least that Warfield general guy.

Having Selendis in there might make up for her being introduced way back before Wings of Liberty and doing pretty much nothing.

And Abathur, because of course.

Personally I just don't think Warfield would work because he's too arrogant and too stupid for his own good.

This could be easily seen in WoL.

Right before the Char invasion began, Raynor warned him not to attack head on. Warfield accused Raynor of being a coward and a terrorist while he led 5 separate offensives against the swarm. He completely forgot the fact that Raynor already defeated him on Korhal in the "Media Blitz" mission, and his head on attack failed miserably, and Raynor and Tychus had to rescue him.

Thus as I saw it, right now the Dominion has a serious lack of COMPETENT commanders. Most of them have swallowed Mengsk's propaganda BS of their invincibility, which isn't the case.

[Mangled]

If we're going to be given canonically dead commanders, then I'd like to see Aldaris offering Scouts, Shuttles, and Arbiters. Maybe he could also have some emphasis on High Templar and not offer any Dark Templar units whatsoever. If not, then Selendis representing the Golden Armada would be very cool as well, but I suppose she wouldn't bring Arbiters. I'm pretty annoyed at how much she was talked up when being introduced, but then given no major role in the Protoss's own campaign. Maybe they'll do something like Nova's mission pack for her? I'd begrudgingly pay for it, anyway.

DuGalle would be cool, but I would like to see actual UED unit models and associated decals being added for that (even if they're just locally conscripted colonial units). Maybe we could get Edmund Duke and his Alpha Squadron boys? Again, if we're not going to be given dead characters, then maybe a new one could be invented? What if a remnant of the UED took the same drugs and techniques used to pacify the Overmind and applied them to a cerebrate straggler, hijacking his brood and selling it out as a mercenary force or something? Probably stretching the whole idea behind Co-Op missions a bit too much, but damn if that wouldn't be fun to play - I imagine it would involve an interesting mix of Terran and Zerg units working in tandem. Could involve some mechanics built around Hive Mind Emulators or Psi Disrupters, I don't know.

Thus as I saw it, right now the Dominion has a serious lack of COMPETENT commanders. Most of them have swallowed Mengsk's propaganda BS of their invincibility, which isn't the case.

Minor spoiler:

Hidden Content:

With Admiral Horner at the helm, is this still the case? He seems like a pretty solid commander to me, and he's the one reaffirming the military's loyalty to the Mengsk dynasty at the end of the Epilogue. So, that leaves me to wonder: Will he be representing the Terran Dominion in Co-Op? I really hope so, because I'd love to play as them for once instead of being some dirty, ragtag rebel. Most of the Terran units added for multiplayer are Dominion-engineered anyway, so I think there's a lot to work with in regard to unit composition and commander abilities.

[ragnarok]

Hidden Content:

With Admiral Horner at the helm, is this still the case? He seems like a pretty solid commander to me, and he's the one reaffirming the military's loyalty to the Mengsk dynasty at the end of the Epilogue. So, that leaves me to wonder: Will he be representing the Terran Dominion in Co-Op? I really hope so, because I'd love to play as them for once instead of being some dirty, ragtag rebel. Most of the Terran units added for multiplayer are Dominion-engineered anyway, so I think there's a lot to work with in regard to unit composition and commander abilities.

Well yes HE'S a good commander, but I'm talking about the Dominion commanders who were always part of the Dominion, not former Raiders.

[TheProgramer]

I'd like to see Stukov with a shadow-ops based theme.

[Mangled]

Well yes HE'S a good commander, but I'm talking about the Dominion commanders who were always part of the Dominion, not former Raiders.

Well, fair enough then. It's a damn shame Dominion command had such competency issues, though. Did Mengsk just purge anyone with a clue in exchange for yes-men? Being pitted against a really solid leader in Wings or Swarm would have been great, especially in Swarm. I'm sure they intended Warfield to be something like that, but as you said, he just fell flat.

[ragnarok]

Well, fair enough then. It's a damn shame Dominion command had such competency issues, though. Did Mengsk just purge anyone with a clue in exchange for yes-men? Being pitted against a really solid leader in Wings or Swarm would have been great, especially in Swarm. I'm sure they intended Warfield to be something like that, but as you said, he just fell flat.

In some ways yes. The problem is that Mengsk had WAY too huge an ego thinking he was without limits. Even to the very end of HotS, he still had it, and that's why the Dominion ended up in chaos.