NEW Hydra Idea
Fluttermingo
Join Date: 2012-05-30 Member: 152732Members
Join Date: 2012-05-30 Member: 152732Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Not another "increase cost" thread</div>I haven't seen this idea suggested on the forums, but if it has, please enlighten me. This is a way to make hydra's useful late game, while also putting a PRes sink on Gorges. It is NOT just another "Please make hydra's not free" or "Please buff hydras", etc.
A Hydra starts with one tentacle when it is spawned, is very weak and costs nothing(less than the current hydra). The base of the hydra would have 2 "upgrade slots" (see picture attached) and 1 "upgrade slot" per tentacle.
Some base upgrade ideas could include:
-Adding another tentacle (And an upgrade slot for said tentacle) - 5 PRes
-Range increased significantly - 5 PRes
-Increasing health by 500 (or some other value)(Requires Crag Hive) - 10 PRes
-Cloaks Hydra when not attacking (Requires Shade Hive) - 10 PRes
-An improved structure makes Hydra's immune to ARC's, leaving defenses during or even after a siege (Requires Shift Hive) - 10 PRes
Some tentacle upgrade ideas could include:
-Poison Tentacle does x damage over y seconds after striking a marine, resets timer with each hit - 5 PRes
-Attacks heal the hydra for x health, each kill increases the heal rate by 10%/hit - 5 Pres
-Increase damage of attacks (Requires Crag Hive) - 10 PRes
-Increase attack speed by significant amount (Requires Shift Hive) - 10 PRes
-Disorients marines, cloaking the hydra during combat (only to the marine it is hitting, requires Shade Hive) - 10 PRes
This way, a fully upgraded Hydra could cost anywhere between 20 - 40 PRes a piece and still provide a use late game. Additionally, it would give the Gorge something NOT boring to do (tending to his Hydra's so they don't die as they mature and gain strength, which one could argue is already a part of the game).
Now, obviously, this would have a LOT of exploits and bugs which would need to be addressed, but at this point, I'm just tossing ideas out to see if I can help. Some of the drawbacks that I've come up with are as follows:
-Some people would NOT find this fun at all as it seems a bit too much like a tower defense game.
-A Hydra that is fully upgraded could become useless if the frontlines move (Being able to echo these Hydra's or have the gorge "regurgitate them"(for a price) should solve this).
-Grenade launchers are still a major problem for lone Hydra's, possibly an explosives resistant shell upgrade to fix this.
-Something that will no doubt be posted that I can't think of.
Note that it is very late and this very well may be a terrible idea, but I would like to have some constructive feedback if at all possible. Discuss :)
My crappy art skills:
<img src="http://www.hostthenpost.com/uploads/cc9e66fc7e7e780850b5028d8718cf96.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Obviously it would be flashier than this, but this is to give you an idea of what I mean.
A Hydra starts with one tentacle when it is spawned, is very weak and costs nothing(less than the current hydra). The base of the hydra would have 2 "upgrade slots" (see picture attached) and 1 "upgrade slot" per tentacle.
Some base upgrade ideas could include:
-Adding another tentacle (And an upgrade slot for said tentacle) - 5 PRes
-Range increased significantly - 5 PRes
-Increasing health by 500 (or some other value)(Requires Crag Hive) - 10 PRes
-Cloaks Hydra when not attacking (Requires Shade Hive) - 10 PRes
-An improved structure makes Hydra's immune to ARC's, leaving defenses during or even after a siege (Requires Shift Hive) - 10 PRes
Some tentacle upgrade ideas could include:
-Poison Tentacle does x damage over y seconds after striking a marine, resets timer with each hit - 5 PRes
-Attacks heal the hydra for x health, each kill increases the heal rate by 10%/hit - 5 Pres
-Increase damage of attacks (Requires Crag Hive) - 10 PRes
-Increase attack speed by significant amount (Requires Shift Hive) - 10 PRes
-Disorients marines, cloaking the hydra during combat (only to the marine it is hitting, requires Shade Hive) - 10 PRes
This way, a fully upgraded Hydra could cost anywhere between 20 - 40 PRes a piece and still provide a use late game. Additionally, it would give the Gorge something NOT boring to do (tending to his Hydra's so they don't die as they mature and gain strength, which one could argue is already a part of the game).
Now, obviously, this would have a LOT of exploits and bugs which would need to be addressed, but at this point, I'm just tossing ideas out to see if I can help. Some of the drawbacks that I've come up with are as follows:
-Some people would NOT find this fun at all as it seems a bit too much like a tower defense game.
-A Hydra that is fully upgraded could become useless if the frontlines move (Being able to echo these Hydra's or have the gorge "regurgitate them"(for a price) should solve this).
-Grenade launchers are still a major problem for lone Hydra's, possibly an explosives resistant shell upgrade to fix this.
-Something that will no doubt be posted that I can't think of.
Note that it is very late and this very well may be a terrible idea, but I would like to have some constructive feedback if at all possible. Discuss :)
My crappy art skills:
<img src="http://www.hostthenpost.com/uploads/cc9e66fc7e7e780850b5028d8718cf96.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Obviously it would be flashier than this, but this is to give you an idea of what I mean.
Comments
Most of the time youre moving around your hydras destroying and rebuilding them, I dont think anyone would feel its worth it to upg your hydras if moving them all the time is the better way to play with them.
Scale the free Hydras down by 50% and keep them free
Allow a Gorge to "Use" a Hydra to open a buy menu
Gorge either "Use"s again or clicks "Accept" in window to pump PRes into the Hydra
Which would scale up the Hydra to their normal size + 50% (so there is an obvious difference between the two) as well as provide a single benefit as you described (like increasing health/damage).
Just keep it simple and clean, if it works, you could start tagging on the other things you mentioned.
Btw, love the regurgitate idea -> are you meaning like TF2's moving of sentries? Cause that would be awesome.
As it is now, there is no real insentive to pour anything into hydras in anyway shape or form.
even if it made it "stronger" so to speak, theres no reason to just plop another one in it's place if it dies.
As it is now, there is no real insentive to pour anything into hydras in anyway shape or form.
even if it made it "stronger" so to speak, theres no reason to just plop another one in it's place if it dies.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm not understanding you.. you're saying this would only work if you were paying for the base Hydra as well as the upgrade? Why?
The incentive would be that you are making it stronger - no trick, that is the incentive, more damage/more life/more usefulness.
"theres no reason to just plop another one in it's place if it dies." - You're saying there's no reason to build another one, or there's no reason why you can't just build another? Either way, its called building defensively. If your structures are destroyed, you build more.. because you're trying to deny the enemy from entering your territory and the Hydras are the tool with which to do so. As it is with any iteration of the Hydras, if they are destroyed the Gorge place more in the same or a more useful location.