This map will be either a third person shooter, or third person aerial view.
Ok, so I've finally created a balanced system with unique abilities. A lot of things haven't been listed (the below collapsible box). I created some unique variables that can/will affect the others, making the game very much more complex, yet still balance-able.
Unit Attributes
Concussion Damage Organic/Soft units take more damage
Normal Damage
Explosive Damage AoE effect - Large units take more damage.
Piercing Damage This damage is dealt as though the enemy has no armor/shields/resistances.
Splash Damage Damage that affects units other than the targeted unit
Poison Does damage over time.
Radiation X counts of radiation will kill the unit regardless of hp. This also impairs the radiated unit in some way.
Corruption X counts of corruption will kill the unit regardless of hp.
Decay Does damage over time. This also impairs the poisoned unit in some way.
Size
# of Weapons Number of weapons that fire. If 1 weapon misses, the other may/may not.
Weapon Cooldown
Unit Movement Speed
% Organic % of the unit that is organic. Humans/Zerg/Some Toss are 100%, while cyborgs are some fraction, and machines are 0%
HP
HP Regen Rate Rate HP regens
Armor (Elements) Armor that only defends against elemental damage. Exactly what an "element" is has not yet been decided.
Armor (Dmg Type) Armor that only defends against non-elemental damage and non direct damage (poison, etc.).
Shield Amount
Shield Regen Rate Rate Shields regens
Attack Accuracy Accuracy of each weapon, independently.
Natural Element Attack Bonus Elemental Attack Bonus that the hero starts with.
Natural Element Defense Bonus Elemental Defense Bonus that the hero starts with.
Evasion % Chance to passively evade an attack (or the ability to trigger a duration of 100% evade).
Temp Attack Bonus Temporary attack bonus (may/may not include elemental/direct damage bonus)
Temp Defense Bonus Temporary defense bonus (may/may not include elemental bonus)
Temp Movement Bonus Temporary movement speed bonus.
Temp Regen Bonus Temporary bonus to a regenerative property, such as HP, or mana.
Perma Aura Permanent Aura. This affects the hero and near by allies, or if it is a negative aura, only near by enemies. Think WC3 auras.
Mana Amount Mana Max
Mana Regen Rate Rate at which mana regens
Psionic Dominance Dominance of your hero/other units. Units with high psionic dominance can control other units (summoner) by creating them, or taking them from the spawn. The summoned units need to have a total dominance less than the hero's.
Tactical Rank # Ability to order spawn around. The hero can order any amount of spawn to do anything, if and only if the spawn unit's rank is BELOW the heroes (not equal to).
Exp Rate Rate at which the hero gains experience. EXP gain rate is not the same for all heroes; some will exp faster than others depending on what they choose to do.
# Spell/Abilities # of spells. Some units will have more than others.
Fear Fear is affected by appearance, size, kills, and if you are losing. Fear affects opposing spawn & heroes when they are near the hero; it lessens their moral (individual unit) and their team's moral. Fear on a unit will impair the unit in some way.
Courage Courage is affected by appearance, size, kills, and if your are winning. Courage affects the hero 2x, and near by spawn and heroes 1X. Courage on an individual unit provides a stat boost for that unit. Courage and Fear counter each other.
Moral Moral provides a boost in npc production, stat boosts, better ai, and more. If moral is very low (less than 10%), you probably lost the game.
Initial Level The level the hero starts at. Some heroes start at higher levels than others.
Day Light Time of day. This light may just be a timer, or may be the WC3 day/night. It may have dusk/dawn, and may have multiple suns/moons. Depends on the editor. The hero gains a stat boost, or special abilities at certain times of the day.
Jump Height/Cooldown ... If the units can jump...
Elevation Accuracy Bonus If unit is higher than the defending unit, it gains an accuracy boost for each attacking weapon, and spells/abilities. (only if SC2 has this feature)
Elevation Evasion Bonus If unit is higher than the attacking unit, it gains an evasion boost. (only if SC2 has this feature)
Tree Evasion If trees provide cover, then this boosts the units evasion chance as long as it is under it. This evades air attack as well.
Gender Male, Female, None
Sexuality Straight, Gay, Bi
Try using some real world ideas/physics. Poison/radiation wont work on a non organic unit. Decay could, since acid can "decay" things. Large units probably won't move fast, but will be stronger, etc.
He are some hero builds I made. I will be making 10 of each T, P, Z, TP, TZ, PZ, and possibly TPZ (thats 60-70 heroes). Tell me what you think of the ones I made, or post your own hero ideas. Feel free to expand on heroes I or others have made (looks, attributes, spells/abilities, personality, background story, etc.).
Hero Builds
Organic HP whore that emits radiation, so he constantly takes damage. High energy with a flury of R&C spells, and morale boost to R&C units.
Fast hybrid with medium shield regen (always) and high evasion. Does all damage in poison, and has an fast exp rate. Can provide poison weapon damage for allies as well as morale boost.
An organic support type unit: temp attack boost and perma attack aura for allies. Attack accuracy for heroes. Rapid hp regen for allied heroes, neutral units, and organic buildings.
Summoner unit (can create units using energy. Control them with psionic dominance) with low energy max, but a fast energy regen rate. All summons and the hero have higher elemental armor. Starts at a higher initial level. High level summons have multiple weapons.
Starts at a high initial level. Has fast hp regen and medium evasion. Good attack accuracy, and decay and radiation damage (combine for each shot). Think ghost/survivalist type hero.
Psionic dominance to control allied P, T, and PT spawn. Cheap spells; small size, high armor and medium hp - this guy is a tank. However, he does concussion damage. He can provide temporary stat boosts to those under his control, but not himself.
(variation to the above) High HP and damage armor, and elemental armor. Psionic dominance; does concussion damage; has a large size to tank.
Radioactive (radiation damage per hit) summoner (psi dom) with high mana max, medium regen. Each summon does radiation damage. The hero and summons are organic and have high hp. They all constantly take damage. They do normal damage.
In 2 words: Protoss zergling. This guy has high damage armor and hp, yet has a fast movement and attack rate. He does normal damage, has medium evasion, and has increased shield regen, energy regen, and hp regen at the darkest hours.
This guy has low hp. He starts with high armor, and medium physical damage. As he gains experience, experience, his physical damage decreases along with his armor. His mana regen rate, mana max, and spells increase exponentailly.
Starts with small size, and is movement speed and attack rate. He starts below the normal starting level, but has a fast exp gain. As he levels, the size increases, as does his damage. He becomes slower.
A protoss spirit with out a physical shell. He is only affected by elemental attacks, but has very low life, and low elemental armor. He has a fast exp rate, and starts at a high initial level. His only draw back is that he cannot do physical damage, and his elemental damage is low.
Think Infested Jimmy. This guy is a ranged terran unit with medium life and and ranged attack. His abilities are increased attack rate, and fast movement. His final spell infests him permantly (untill he dies), making him immune from corruption damage, but not radiation. The transformation changes his ranged attack to melee, and makes him slower. His attack is qudruppled, however.
Machine unit with multiple weapons. He does low damage, but has a combination of all damage types. An effective farmer with medium movement. No HP regen, medium HP amount, and medium tactical rank.
Essentially just a hydralisk. Does explosive and poison damage. Has a normal damage melee attack. Can morph into a lurker to do splash damage.
In a word: ninja. Similar to the DT, this guy is a fast moving unit with a sword. He has throwing knives that can be laced with poison at the expense of his cloaking abilities. He can cloak temporarly. He can cast many auras that benefit himself and his team (movement speed, attack rate, damage amount, and poison damage).
A priestest that gains exp by healing. She can heal enemies for 3x the exp than allies. She provides morale boosts to the team, and grants massive courage to unit(s) she is currently healing. Healing is dependant on the % organic of the unit. She does not have any attack damage, but does have a few spells to do minor elemental damage.
Terran gambler. He gambles with everything, and all of his attacks have random effects. Sometimes he will miss, other times he will do extra damage or some other effect. He will have a small % chance to use enemy abilities (randomly). His finaly attack is passive, and will give a small % chance to OHKO any unit he is attacking, as well as himself.
Corrupted machine. This was a goliath that was infested by the zerg. It's weapons are all physical with no added effects. However, he has a very fast hp regen at night time, but no regen at day. He has 2 guns, and 1 missile pack. He has 2 build paths: T or Z. The terran part will add more weapons, greater damage, splash, range. The zerg will add poison damage, even faster regen at night, and regen at day, and a melee attack.
A zerg unit that is like a moving infested command center. It's a slow moving fatty with no attack. Instead, it spawns bannelings (psi dom) that do massive damage.
Normal, quite, unextradordinary, hero. Uses a fast shooting gun implanted with radiated bullets. He is like the common marine. He has very average stats, and have a small moral boost. He is greatly affected by fear and courage.
This hero is a mom. She gives birth to offspring every day/night. These heroes are quite strong, but cannot be recreated. As time passes, the offspring can level up, or evolve to new forms. When she gives birth, she is temporarly imbolized; she cannot do anything other than melee attacks.
Hot chick with a crossbow. Think resident evil "Alice." She can poison or heavily radiate her bolts. She can spend money to upgade the damage her bolts do. The bolts can be fused to do elemental damage. The standard bolt does piercing damage. She provides a moral boost to male T and P units.
A farmer. He can plant crops in any walkable terrain. The crops take up space like trees, and can be killed. They start lightly armored, and with low hp. They can be watered+left alone to mature. They can be picked at any time; the amount of watering+time it has been there = how strong it comes out. It's a plant+antimal creature. The farmer has low damage and moves slow. His minions are stronger and faster. Overall, he has a slower exp gain by him self, faster with his minions. He can sacrifice his plants to do various spells.
note that low energy regen = normal energy regen rate
psi dom = psionic dominance
"elemental" spells/attacks are things like lightning, gravity manipulation, emp, etc. Things that aren't just bullets and laz0rs.
I was thinking, with that 4 base layout, would it be legit to do these things?
1 - Random Start Locations with everywhere covered with Fog of War, to promote "scouting" the enemy early game?
2 - A four team FFA (With 2-3 players per team)
3 - A *gasp* 2base VS 2base, with 2-3 players per base? (Kind of defeats the purpose... but...)
4 - Any other combination of teams, 1v1v2, 3v1, etc.
These of course would be optional rule sets determined before the game started.
1) yes. I'd like the start points to be random enough that the computer + human players must scout, then formulate a plan and attack accordingly.
2) Different options + game types can be added, it wouldn't be hard. However, the main game type would be 1 team vs 1 team
3) maybe, but it would just be another game option, not the main game.
4) said above.
None.