Conceptually it is nice... But in terms of actual game-play and mechanics? Could be a bitch to pull off
...
Few ideas (brainstorming)
Power Moleculiser - Ability (Passive) Increases the Power-Radius of your main unit by 0.5 per level.
Energekinetics - Ability (Active) Blasts the target unit with Power (mind-control for x duration). % Chance to work on opponent/enemy/neutral units based on level of unit and level of ability.
Force Field - Ability (Active) Pretty much like the Sentry has but on a low energy cost, and minimal cooldown...
Energy Burn - Ability (Active) Mana-Burn...
Khaldarim Crystals - Item (Passive) Increases the strength of your energy Field by 5%.
Warp In (Zealot, Stalker, Sentry, Immortal etc) - Ability (Active) costs minerals & Khaldarim Crystals.
Maybe make a unit's Energy level (amount of current mana) determine the strength of it's abilities? So, if I have 200/200 Energy, my Power Moleculiser will give 100% radius (7 Radius), then I get Energy-Burned for 50 points leaving me on 150/200 Energy, my Power Moleculiser will now be at 75% radius (5.25 Radius), meaning I lose all units which were on the fringe of my aura.
Note on the Khaldarim Crystals - what happens when one player, and an enemy player have over-lapping power fields? Who will gain control of the units then? Would there be no switch-over - like with a Xel'Naga watch tower? My idea was for the Power Source unit to have a buff which determines the overall strength of it's powerfield. A Higher Strength means you are more likely to convert an opponents units (but lots of things will factor into this - such as, unit level, unit hitpoints, etc)... These Khaldarim Crystals can be consumed to restore Energy to your Power Source (hero) thus sacrificing the strength of your energy field, or they can be consumed when using ultimate abilities (such as Warp In - Zealots) - or perhaps you use these Khaldarim Crystals to develop your Tech-Tree / Talents-Tree. Unlocking abilities and powers...
Maybe make it a bit more technical, and have the Power of the Field determined by the Size & Strength of the Field. For example, a Radius of 2 Field and a Strength of 10, will mean that the over-all power of your Field is 5.
Field - (Radius) The size of your Power Source
Strength - (Integer) The theoretical strength of your Power Source
Actual Power -
The Strength / The FieldWith this into consideration, as a players energy decreases, the Size of his Power Source will diminish (but Actual Power will increase). Therefore, players will have to prioritize between a really big Field Radius (and in turn, a weak Actual Power) or a smaller field Radius (and a high Actual Power). Perhaps have Neutral Units on the game field in different Tiers - so a Zealot and a Sentry require an Actual Power of 2 or more to operate. A Stalker and Immortals require Actual Power of 5 or more to operate... Colossi and Void-Rays require 8 or more power... Then perhaps have unit abilities require more power? Or drain energy? For example Blink and Extended Thermal Lances only become available when your Actual Power is 10+... or maybe spending Khaldarim Crystals will enable these upgrades?
What do you think?
edit: You can tell I like the idea... I am pretty pro at brainstorming/game design... give me a shout if you're interested in working on this with me Payne!
Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Oct 23 2010, 2:32 pm by Cardinal.
None.