In comparing Zagara’s Bile Launchers to Mengsk’s Earthsplitter Ordnance, we see that the major difference is the Bile Launchers’ comparatively pitiful range and lack of mobility. (Mengsk’s Troopers can build defensive structures, and Earthsplitter Ordnance can be salvaged for a 100% refund, allowing them to be easily broken down and rebuilt elsewhere for no cost.)
Type
Damage
Min Period
Max Period
Min DPS
Max DPS
Starting Range
Max Range
Mobility
Bile Launcher
75
7
3.5
11
21
15
25
No
Earthsplitter Ordnance
100
30
6
3
17
50
75
Yes
In light of this, here are some possible improvements to Zagara’s Bile Launchers:
Bile Launchers start with 30 range. Artillery Ducts grants +20 range.
Bile Launchers can be mutated off creep, and generate creep.
Bile Launchers can use Deep Tunnel. (They now use the Virophage model from DoN, which was based on Zagara’s Bile Launcher model, but with added tunnelling animations.)
since its a living structure, some kind of mobility would make sense. they evolve everything after all, so make some legs! personaly, i would just like auto target; i dont wont them to become “zerg esos”, but makeing them able to move would be kinda cool, and open up some new strats.
It have Artillery Mode that shoots long range (as well as enabling multiple Bl to target separate areas rather than single area) (Also I agree with longer range but just 30 as maximum).
Has normal auto turret mode but with reduced range and fire power (its splash radius more than compensates).
It can be carried by Overlords (needs creep though).
Wouldn’t 50 range, + that much improved mobility and location set up really the opportunities to cheese objectives? BL cost 125/100/0. ESO cost 150/100/0, but you really need to direct 3 LaTr’s (Laborer/Troopers) to make them fire at any decent rate.
That said, even if it were to make them OP, I wouldn’t turn down a buff to them
Bile Launchers already have significant similarity to the ESOs, which is why I chose them as a comparison. The major difference is that Bile Launchers don’t need to be manned to increase their effectiveness, but their range is much lower. Bile Launchers actually win on paper in several categories; their potential DPS is higher, they hit the target location directly, and they hit air – however, none of that matters because Bile Launchers completely lack the high range and mobility of the ESOs, which limits their utility.
Overall, my intent with these proposed changes is to improve Bile Launchers with the lessons learned from ESOs. The mobility is part of what makes ESOs so good, and I think Bile Launchers would be much more viable if they could benefit from that. And I don’t think that would push them too far towards ESOs or cause any overlap, because the only difference from the way they are now would be the added mobility.
We could always forget about the range, or just have the extra range be +5 baseline. (Total 30 range when upgraded.) That’d keep their identity away from ESOs. They’d have increased mobility like ESOs, but in a significantly different way, and their shorter range would make up for their comparative accuracy. I like the idea of Bile Launchers being a short-range and accurate, while ESOs are long-range but inaccurate.
I wasn’t sure at first, but I could definitely see this working. It’d be like the Baneling structure attack toggle. Toggling it to short-range mode would pause the ranged bombardment for the duration, but would allow it to auto-target enemies at close range like a normal attack.
Definitely.
I wonder if the Deep Tunnel ability should require creep – which would require Overlords to generate creep for the Bile Launchers. Which could limit their offensive potential in a manner that may be desirable.
Having Overlords picking up structures is a bit too weird for me, and the way structure placement works might cause potential issues. But the basic concept of Overlords helping transport Bile Launchers is very good – and the Deep Tunnel idea provides what is essentially the same service (except Queens can also be of potential use).
Bile Launchers can use Deep Tunnel. Must target a location with creep. (They now use the Virophage model from DoN, which was based on Zagara’s Bile Launcher model, but with added tunnelling animations.)
Bile Launchers can switch to a close-range attack mode with range 10, automatically targeting nearby enemies. The weapon uses the same cooldown as Bombardment. Active Bombardments are paused when close-range mode is enabled, and resume when it is disabled. (Thanks to Bogdanov89 and Dehakaburger for this idea.)
Bombardment uses smartcast, allowing multiple selected Bile Launchers to target different locations. (Thanks to KrikkitOne for this and the next idea.)
Bile Launchers more clearly indicate which location they are attacking when selected.
If Bile launchers are going to be mobile, they already have a deep tunnel animation… I would have them Deep Tunnel to anywhere in vision with creep (so Overlords would be useful)
The big thing about Bile vs ESO is that Bile can hit air while ESO can’t. I agree that ESO is better overall, but in the niche cases (Oblivion Express, Mist Opportunities), Bile does just fine. I don’t want to see Zagara become a Bile commander like Mengsk, because in the situations where you would want to use Bile, they are fine as they are. Plus, Zagara’s whole idea is to be a swarm horde that doesn’t let up, and defensive structures aren’t very swarm-like to me.
I’m inclined to agree; you don’t see Bile Launchers that often because most players prefer to use Zagara’s faster and more aggressive options. I’ve tried them a few times since their buffs and they’re honestly not bad, especially when combined with Spine Crawlers vs Infested. They are incredibly niche and ‘out there’ for a commander like Zagara, though.
I think there’s a simpler way to make them more generally-usable that’s also compatible with Zagara’s general aggression. If they were to get a separate, manually-firing bombardment ability that’s global and lands more slowly (like the speed of Mengsk’s Contaminated Strike), it’d unlock an option for Zagara to soften up a wave or encampment before moving in. The cooldown of this global bombardment could be adjusted to be less directly-comparable to Mengsk’s CS (let’s say 60 seconds?) and to encourage its use as a support ability. Zagara players could hotkey a few Bile Launchers and use its global bombardment as a pseudo-topbar spell. An alternative (likely niche) playstyle could emerge where Zagara builds mass Bile Launchers to bombard a base every couple of minutes.
I think a change could be done in such a way that only adds to Zagara as a commander. As long as it doesn’t become overwhelmingly strong, I don’t see the harm in creating new gameplay possibilities (assuming the devs would even want to commit the resources, of course).
