Snail (infestation-bound lifeform)

CrushaK

An idea for a new playable lifeform would be some kind of creature that is made of infestation or is vitally dependent on it.

It would be a strong defensive unit that excels in alien home territory but requires a lot of synergy with the khammander to get around the map, since it has to wait for him to cyst to the respective location. The lifeform would take continuous damage whenever it is not walking on infestation, so it's still able to pass small gaps where infestation got cleaned away but could not survive long outside of alien territory. Damage would increase exponentially with the time that the lifeform is off infestation, so it couldn't be kept alive by Gorges either.

CrushaK

Bumpety Bump

PsiWarp

Sounds interesting. To add to this concept, maybe a lifeform exclusive Cyst-travel ability (go up to a Cyst, press E, move super fast between Cyst chains) would help with its limited mobility.

CrushaK

In terms of abilities, the lifeform could probably take the place of a late-game defensive/support unit.
Make it 50 res, so it's an alternative to the Fade, which can be seen as offense unit.


Now some ideas for the look and gameplay:

To emphasize the "defense" aspect, the lifeform could have a shell itself and does not look like a real threat initially:


Since it wouldn't really be able to do any melee damage until marines walk onto infestation themselves, the lifeform could have to rely on a slow but strong ranged attack. (You could think that it has a pretty strong melee attack as well, since the price for it is that the enemy has to move into that lifeform's territory already, but I feel like this would be a bit too much)

The twist about it is, that the lifeform has two or three different states that it can change into. The transformation will always take a short moment, similar to evolving a trait when egging.

In it's normal state, the lifeform sticks close to the ground with it's shell like in the image above. It has relatively slow movement (like a walking Fade without Celerity or even slower) and can use it's ranged attack.

In it's speedy state, the lifeform's shell would hover at a fixed height above the ground and let it look like a stream of infestation goes from the ground up to it, similar to this concept:

This is the state in which it can quickly relocate itself to where it's needed, but it is unable to attack in this state. As soon as it walks about one second off infestation, it would also fall back into it's normal state since the stream of infestation that keeps it in the air is gone.

I am not so sure about the third state. The idea was to let it retreat into it's shell, falling on the side of it's shell and turning completely immobile but reducing any incoming damage a lot, maybe by 70 - 80%. Up to a point where it would be too tedious for marines to empty all their magazines into that lifeform during an ongoing fight. To kill it, they could simply destroy the nearby cyst and see the lifeform wither quickly due to a lack of infestation.
From within it's shell, the lifeform could constantly emit Heal Spray, Spores or Umbra (Spores and Umbra have to be researched already by the Khamm) in an area around itself and act as deployable defensive outpost.

Benson

I'd think only 2 modes would be good. Movement mode and defensive mode.

Movement mode: Moves quickly along infestation, but can't use its abilities.

Defense mode: Locks the unit in place and allows it to use it's abilities
-- Should have to use and target its abilities or else it might as well be a structure

Abilities could include:

Sap - Shoots a sticky projctile that if it hits, marks the marine and jams his weapon for 5 seconds (very slow travel time, no damage)

Infestation spike - Sends a pulse through the infestion that creates a series of 4 deadly spikes out of infestation after a 2-3 seconds, dealing 25 light damage. A target hit by Sap or Parasite makes this ability instant if used in their vicinity. Must target infestation, covers a moderate area, only full damage at center
**2-3 seconds gives marines a chance to get out of the way, making parasite and Sap more important

2 Hive:
Infestation wave - Pushes infestaion at a location, blocking shots and moving anything in its way back (no damage), usable with shift key

3 Hive:
Infestation Prison - Fires a blob of infestation that creates a ring around it's target area, tall enough that a marine has to crouch-jump to get out (will also block shots). Doesn't allow marine to move much, but they can get out and jump-shoot over the rim.

**Sap ability passes thorough its other infestaion-based abilities, so it can CC enemies, sap one or two, then spike the crap out of them, great on groups

CrushaK

Many of those abilities would seem pretty hard to aim at infestation on the ground if the lifeform is deployed on the ground.
At least if we stay in the first person view, which I assume we do for consistency of the immersion.

Benson

I was thinking it would have to have a higher perspective, like the onos' to let it target them. Could have a long shell that it props up vertically with eye stalks comming out of the top? Simple modeling issue I guess.

Feel like a lifeform filling this function would fit well, however it works. Just figured if it's gonn abe bound to infestation, it should be able to manipulate it in some fashion.

Azn_Warreur

huh... interesting.. though the infestation probably wouldnt last long