Hellion Visuals

[Nicol Bolas]

There is really no difference between a vulture and hellion.

Right. Outside of Spidermines. And AoE damage. And firing rate. You know, everything.

[n00bonicPlague]

The Hellion is more like a highly concentrated Firebat.

[KadajSouba]

The Hellion is more like a highly concentrated Firebat.

Its a freaking firebat on wheels, which is very efin stupid. I mean, if the vehicle is moving at a high speed, its just goddam imposible to shoot flames to the front. It will just return to the vehicle and burn it.

Just think about it, a vehicle with a flamethrower turret. Simply stupid.

[Bisso]

I dont care too much about the animation. But I am a bit worried about something else, which is more important.

Their attack range!

Their aquisition range if I can call it like this is just fine, but as soon as you keep moving your unit, the helions just keep trying to get in range, then fire for half a second which I think doesn't deal alot of damage (cause I think the damage is calculated by time more than by burst of fire).

That means that as long as you "kite" them, they suck. The hellions are the kiters, they are the one who should move out of trouble, not their opponents.

2 solutions:

1. change the mechanic of the attack, make it a normal burst damage like vulture (sucks cause it's common)

2. Increase the Hellion attack range. But not the "starting" range. So they start firering at says like 5 units, then they can keep firering until the targets is at 7-8 units away, this way, the hellion is a very good harrassment units, since you can't really run away from them.

I was impress by the speed, and I first thought the game was nearly over when Kim passed the 3 stalkers to reach the probes. Then, when I saw the poor attacking mechanic that made the hellions look rly weak, I said, that not perfect yet.

[Pandonetho]

They've stated that the Hellion does complete damage upon burst fire, so leaving them flaming away actually wastes time.

[n00bonicPlague]

I dont care too much about the animation. But I am a bit worried about something else, which is more important.

Their attack range!

Their aquisition range if I can call it like this is just fine, but as soon as you keep moving your unit, the helions just keep trying to get in range, then fire for half a second which I think doesn't deal alot of damage (cause I think the damage is calculated by time more than by burst of fire).

That means that as long as you "kite" them, they suck. The hellions are the kiters, they are the one who should move out of trouble, not their opponents.

2 solutions:

1. change the mechanic of the attack, make it a normal burst damage like vulture (sucks cause it's common)

2. Increase the Hellion attack range. But not the "starting" range. So they start firering at says like 5 units, then they can keep firering until the targets is at 7-8 units away, this way, the hellion is a very good harrassment units, since you can't really run away from them.

I was impress by the speed, and I first thought the game was nearly over when Kim passed the 3 stalkers to reach the probes. Then, when I saw the poor attacking mechanic that made the hellions look rly weak, I said, that not perfect yet.

There was a similar problem with Warp Prisms (or whatever the hell they're called now). The issue was that the Warp Prism couldn't maintain the lock they needed on a moving target to get the level of damage up. So, they enabled the Warp Prism to have limited movement once the weapon started up and adjusted the ranges like you suggested in solution #2. The Warp Prism would get into targeting range, start the weapon, and then move when necessary to keep the target within firing range.

However, I don't think this needs to be done for the Hellion. Unlike the Warp Prism, the Hellion is a very fast unit — one of the fastest units in the game. All that needs to be done is for the player to command his Hellions to catch up to the escaping unit and then fire once they are on right behind it. That's what David Kim failed to do when harassing those probes with those two Hellions. It wasn't some failed mechanic or poor pathing. He just didn't keep them moving with the Probes.

[Hav0x]

Can ya hook me up with some links?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puK4NxGKNdQ

I couldn't really find any good ones of larger vehicles. But I know things like what Quirel posted are very similar.

There is also a steering style in which the wheels on each side turn in opposite directions which spins the vehicle around very very quickly, its like tank treads but using wheels instead. Something like this could be applied to the hellion easily. It would make the turning smoother without removing very much responsiveness. And in all honesty, from watching the BR, those things seem to be a little too fast. Giving them a slight turn delay could be good for the game.

Now I'm not talking anything like the Thor. Something, maybe .25-.5 seconds to do a 180 (which would be the most it would ever have to turn) would be alright to me.

[KadajSouba]

They've stated that the Hellion does complete damage upon burst fire, so leaving them flaming away actually wastes time.

Then the entire flame animation is a waste of time. That means that they could replace the flames with a single bullet... This unit just keeps gettin worse

[electricmole]

change the stupid buggy model to something else then give it a different attack animation. GIVE IT SOME FREAKING FIREBALL BOMBS!

I can't believe blizzard is so close minded being satisfied with a buggy with a flame thrower turret. So mediocre so simple so bland.

[Pandonetho]

Then the entire flame animation is a waste of time.

Yep, it is indeed a waste of time.

That means that they could replace the flames with a single bullet... This unit just keeps gettin worse

Well, a bullet wouldn't be splash damage.