Thor as LOS Blocker

[pure.Wasted]

Credit goes to DS a few threads down. It's been thrown about for some days now, and I think the idea merits its own thread.

Why I love it: it's an incredibly intuitive, SC-esque way to go about a more complicated problem. The Thor is supposed to tank damage for smaller units, right? Like the MG does for Night Elves in WC3? Well, the MG has an ability called "Taunt." But we play SC, we don't like Taunt (because it's too gimmicky, it's arbitrary, it takes control away from your units, and so on). Thor as LOS blocker accomplishes the same feat -- enemy ranged units will ALWAYS go for the Thor first, and as long as your units stay directly behind them, they will be mostly safe from enemy fire, while perfectly able to dish it out.

A walking line of Thors with a mass of MM behind it would absolutely demolish Siege Tank clumps, which is what the unit was initially made for. It'd also take advantage of a fun new SC2 mechanic by giving control of it to the player. Thor would probably have to lose his cannons to compensate -- but, really, they're a very arbitrary ability that adds nothing to his role as meatshield. We won't mind.

Thoughts?

[arthas]

Credit goes to DS a few threads down. It's been thrown about for some days now, and I think the idea merits its own thread.

Why I love it: it's an incredibly intuitive, SC-esque way to go about a more complicated problem. The Thor is supposed to tank damage for smaller units, right? Like the MG does for Night Elves in WC3? Well, the MG has an ability called "Taunt." But we play SC, we don't like Taunt (because it's too gimmicky, it's arbitrary, it takes control away from your units, and so on). Thor as LOS blocker accomplishes the same feat -- enemy ranged units will ALWAYS go for the Thor first, and as long as your units stay directly behind them, they will be mostly safe from enemy fire, while perfectly able to dish it out.

A walking line of Thors with a mass of MM behind it would absolutely demolish Siege Tank clumps, which is what the unit was initially made for. It'd also take advantage of a fun new SC2 mechanic by giving control of it to the player. Thor would probably have to lose his cannons to compensate -- but, really, they're a very arbitrary ability that adds nothing to his role as meatshield. We won't mind.

Thoughts?

Well seing various artworks i noticed that comparing a Thor and a Marine,they aren't that big to be LOS blockers,Hell,in some artworks ultralisks are even larger than Thors....

[pure.Wasted]

Well seing various artworks i noticed that comparing a Thor and a Marine,they aren't that big to be LOS blockers,Hell,in some artworks ultralisks are even larger than Thors....

And Colossus aren't really so much taller than Thors/Ultralisks that they ought to be hit by AtA fire while those units ... aren't. It's a gameplay mechanic. The Colossus is balanced around being incredibly vulnerable. The Thor's purpose is to soak up damage, and I think LOS would go about that in a very creative but intuitive way.

[Caliban113]

Read and commented on the same post - I think its a great idea; Mothership has cloak, Zerg had their LoS mechanic (which I think still fits.) I cant see why this couldn't be implemented.

A walking line of Thors with a mass of MM behind it would absolutely demolish Siege Tank clumps

Throw in 2-3 unsieged tanks. I like it.

.

[DemolitionSquid]

Its nice to know I'm not completely insane.

[Gt2slurp]

Its nice to know I'm not completely insane.

Yeah just partially >_<

Seriously, it could add the uniqueness and the deepness the Thor need. You should post this on Battle.net forum.

[Shadow Archon]

I think it would be fine if it had this and the Siege ability.

[Norfindel]

I think it's an interesting mechanic. If it passes a balance test, why not?

Its nice to know I'm not completely insane.

Well, let's not jump into hasty conclusions

This reminds me of a joke you may not heared: A guy is driving his car, when suddently a wheel goes off. He exits the car and finds the wheel, but not the bolts.
He doesn't knows what to do for some time, until he hears a voice that says: "Hey! You, there! Just unscrew a bolt from every remaining wheel, and you can keep 3 bolts per wheel!".
He looks up, and notices the guy saying that is inside a madhouse, so he says to him: "That's brillant! Why are you inside a madhouse??".
"Because i'm crazy, not stupid".

[phazonjunkie]

Credit goes to DS a few threads down. It's been thrown about for some days now, and I think the idea merits its own thread.

Why I love it: it's an incredibly intuitive, SC-esque way to go about a more complicated problem. The Thor is supposed to tank damage for smaller units, right? Like the MG does for Night Elves in WC3? Well, the MG has an ability called "Taunt." But we play SC, we don't like Taunt (because it's too gimmicky, it's arbitrary, it takes control away from your units, and so on). Thor as LOS blocker accomplishes the same feat -- enemy ranged units will ALWAYS go for the Thor first, and as long as your units stay directly behind them, they will be mostly safe from enemy fire, while perfectly able to dish it out.

A walking line of Thors with a mass of MM behind it would absolutely demolish Siege Tank clumps, which is what the unit was initially made for. It'd also take advantage of a fun new SC2 mechanic by giving control of it to the player. Thor would probably have to lose his cannons to compensate -- but, really, they're a very arbitrary ability that adds nothing to his role as meatshield. We won't mind.

Thoughts?

Actually it might be a nice idea, but couldn't it be a double-edged sword if the Thor also prevented your own ranged units from getting close enough to do their job?

[pure.Wasted]

Actually it might be a nice idea, but couldn't it be a double-edged sword if the Thor also prevented your own ranged units from getting close enough to do their job?

Absolutely. So you can't just A+click your army and hope it all goes according to plan. I don't think that was the idea with the Thor to start, but I think it's regressed to that as they've run out of ways to make it do what it was intended to do.