prides could get their extra yamato and warp jump charges from the start, and upon leveling from 0>1 get multishot (able to hit up to 3 targets with basic atk). the basic attack is very underwhelming, its only yamato and the warp jump that matters in the current state of things and nothing else. edit, the field targeting is insanely valuable but i didnt want to bring it up as its not something that affects the combat capability of the pride itself too much.
skyfury could get evasive maneuver as a researchable or a regular ability, and rank 1 ability be the lower its health is the higher its damage reduction on dmg received.
as for the ghost, i have nothing, its a very niche unit that only works vs marines, banes, mutalisks. the tactical missile is weak and i wish that some more upgrades were moved into the royal academy, and that the academy was limited to one but called down 3 tactical missiles onto an area, instead of a single one.
i also wish that the witness wouldnt have to be on overwatch to generate mandate. have it generate mandate when its in any mode, but have the area be larger when overseeing. that and have smart servos affect the witness.
aegis guard is powerful yet balanced, and the thor is very useful and balanced.
oh and also, have the royal guard cost reduction change from mineral and vespene to vespene only, but increase the vespene reduction (from 20 to 30%)
on a final note, i brought it up in the past once, but i still think it would be a nice addition, a royal guard marine, with something like a automatic short ranged teleport towards the closest enlistment center upon taking fatal damage (and 1 sec invulnerability to make sure it survives the teleport).
currently there is little to no reason to get intercessors, and with another infantry unit there could be some reason to. currently, intercessors are too impractical and niche. if i want to heal troopers i just make them repair each other via bunkering.
As the foreposter said, it seems like you play Mengsk in a weired way. Intercessors are not niche but core to Mengsk army.
Healing your infantry by converting troopers into laborers feels terribly ineffective to say the least… it costs not only ressources, but also time and APM. All stuff that you could be spending on something more important. Not to mention that you also have no in-combat healing, which is probably the biggest downside.
id say my way of playing mengsk is not weird at all but then again opinions differ. i have 109 minutes of me playing as mengsk available if you want. its without commentary, 60fps hd. oh yeah and if you dont care for mutation or defense missions then skip to 1:30:11. seems blurry, but i streamed that early today, maybe its still processing, idk.
there is some lag at minutes 70-80, cause vultures are apparently fps killers much like infested diamondbacks’ caustic mucus.
for context i play with more focus on tech if im with dehaka, nova, etc, and with more focus on units when with vorazun etc.
i usually go up to 200 supply, and intercessors are a early-mid waste of vespene, and mengsk doesnt have much air so enemy aa comps make quick work of intercessors unless microed away and i dont find that efficient as i rather pay attention to incoming enemies to reposition or target key unit types. troopers arent anyhow durable to begin with, and a few lurkers, midgame banelings, psionic storms, or siege tanks, all of which are a common occurence imo, make short work of the troopers, decreasing the potential effectiveness of the intercessors and their possible synergy. in-combat healing doesnt make a difference to me, the outcome is always a win but its the post-combat healing that has more of an effect.
since i often get many mechs, i already have the need to fix them from time to time, so why not combine the fixing efforts for mechs and troopers. paying a fraction of 40 minerals per trooper damaged doesnt twist my neck either, at around 150 i stop trooper production and leave it open for more mechs.
and regarding the time point, i have plenty of time inbetween fights and advances. have everyone repair while witness generates mandate, then switch back and move forward.
They dramatically increase the survivability of your troopers in the early game, and they have a cloaking ability specifically to help prevent them from getting killed by incidental damage. They also heal marauders and ghosts if/when they become wounded, which is quite nice as those units are much more expensive to replace than the intercessors are.
Here is my thought about each Royal Guards. Mastery
Royal Guards aren’t too expensive, especially when you consider how much minerals your troopers consume.
I dare say they are very well resource balanced like Raynor.
I don’t know if Royal Guard Support Mastery is useful but I think Labourer/Trooper Support Mastery is much better because Labourers are easier to make and easily massed (it depends).
Royal Guard Units
Aegis Guard (Excellent Anti Ground Tankers)
Wonderful Anti-ground tankers, when coupled with intercessors they become almost indestructible and invincible (Until Reaver compo comes along)
Emperor's Shadow (Tricky solutionist)
Not too shabby, although I am confused why Labrynth Cloak is not available at the get go and why the are not improved like other abilities like Pyrokinetic Immolation and EMP Blasts. Lots of controls are needed but they do great counters.
I personally wish that Tactical Missiles range and drop time are improved each time they level up.
Shock Division (Versatile Dealers)
They are excellent partners with the Intercessors against Air/Ground (with Control, they are capable of shooting on move). Their Splash attack does wonderful counter against air units and colossus. There are 2 minor complaints I have to make though.
I usually drop Shock Division to counter ground waves but it seems I can drop 2~3 tanks in same place because they overlap.
Also I would like an extra button which makes Medivac to pickup the nearest tank (Like Mount and Dismount for Hippogryph Riders).
I am confused why Shock Division Siege (40 + 30) in initial stage does less damage than Nova’s Heavy Siege Tanks (55 + 25) for lesser resources.
Blackhammer (Slow and steady)
Slow but steady heavy Ground/Air hitters. Their Overwatch mode is great against Air Units and they take good beatings from Battlecruisers.
Just incase you are confused about their Overwatch Mode range, it’s radius is 9 not 18 (18 is the Diameter).
I also have 2 complaints about this.
They are steady but slow, I wish Sky Fury’s Speed can benefit them somehow,
Increase Bulwark Field aura, I am thinking their range is either 1 or 2 this should be widened.
Sky Fury (The Worst RG)
Weak, Fragile and too complicated to use. I did not find them useful at all.
Their attack has no impact. I’ve made the new passive which why replace Level 1’s “extra damage to Massive” passive to “Dual Weapon system” that allows the Sky Fury to use every weapon it has in one mode (But still restricted from attacking both Air/Ground in one form). When implemented, the Sky Fury’s performance in fire power boosted greatly.
Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N64TW2wPyQ&t=10s
It’s another level 2 ability “Tactical Alignment” is ridiculous. Not only, you are forced to transform to trigger it, it only lasts for 5 seconds and immediately cancelled when you transform again after you trigger it. Why not make it longer and triggered when attacking an enemy?
Level 3 Phoenix Protocol is risky ability mostly because there is no shield indicator like Intercessors (Couldn’t Aegis have indicators too?). You can attack your enemies but if those shield run out, you will lose your Level 3 Sky Fury. Sky Fury needs some serious upgrade.
Pride of Augustgrad (The Ultimate RG)
The Mammoth of the RG and consumes great amount of gas but well worth the price when you level them up.
You will need to build lot of Troopers as meat shields to level them up.
Nothing much to say they are perfect as Aegis Guards.
Other
Your Royal Guard still get EXP when they are in Intercessors
Labourers and Dropping Supply Bunkers.
Labourers
I find the Labourers awkward because they slides to stop.
Another thing is, that they sometimes don’t do what you command to do. I tried to command one labourer to gather gas as soon as he finish build Barrack, but as soon as he finishes he just stand there.
this is a very minor complaint, but I found it weird that Supply Bunkers and EC have Call to Labor/Arms button at the left while the Labours/Troopers have the button at the right.
It’s kind of confusing but then again it is something you need to get used to.
Dropping Supply Bunkers
I can’t seem to select them until they completely finished to land on the ground (you need to wait a second).
Would be nice to select them as soon as they land.
I never said it was weird, I said it was different.
And lookin at your games you doin fine without them, but I’d say give them a chance, especially if you’re going marauders.
i gave them a chance, most of the time not even the aegis gets broken cause of the trooper frontline, and i have no other unit than the trooper that would benefit from the intercessors, hence why i keep bringing up (across various posts) the royal guard marine. also hey, thanks for looking at the games.
i thought that by different you meant weird, nevermind me then.
I like the idea of imporving Mengsk. THey shold give him more starting mandate( 1 additional bunker at start). And give the command center an artilery type upgrade, that way Mengsk will be even more a defencive hero. The idea of the ,dark templar marine’’ tho thats quite funny but i think we should be fine with additional starting supply and command center upgrade for damage.
He is kidding, its definitely OP. Even with +25 Mandate from the beginning gives you great advantages.
6 workers + 1 Supply Bunker saves up 340 minerals + 6 supplies from the start, it is a fantastic deal.
I hate the crap troopers and their screaming sounds put me off, I just don’t build up my confidence after many crap troopers die in seconds by baneling, lurkers, siege tanks… Medivacs are just stand far behind and not healing them actively. All in all I dislike them.
I hope splitter ordinance build time can reduce1/3 or even 1/2. To speed up the shooting rate, 2 troopers to maximize the shooting rate is better than 4 troopers (-2). I wish a drop down of splitter ordinance rather than a contaminated strike.
About Royal Guards, I think the ghost nuke damage is low (It cannot even take out an enemy siege tank in one hit) and too slow. Vikings ground weapon should have damage like void ray. Siege tank should have explosion effect of pulling enemy back. Battle cruiser should have quicker CD, Thor’s overwatch mode should not be stationary.
This commander need a lot to modify so that the micros are less troublesome and more playable.
Okay Okay, you are in the mood, I’ll play along.
Then again, quadruple power is truly a god sent, 24 Mandates + 24 extra supplies? It is more than enough to clear the rocks, build new expansion, pop out imperial witness at the same time under 2 minutes!
To be fair Mengsk is relatively a slow starter because there are lot of things to prepare (I mean this) and 100 mandate perfectly compensates for this weakness.
This is a huge Buff list for Mengsk. While I agree Mengsk is bit weak on the early stage but he becomes very very powerful once your expansion and intercessors settled up.
All of the Buff aren’t really needed.
They can be built by multiple labourers/troopers actually. Earthsplitter Ordinance is already a devastating weapon of war with extreme long range and can be built infinitely, it doesn’t need a buff. But if you insist it needs a buff I would say “have small projectile deal 50 damage on one unit”. I wouldn’t go any further than that.
Damage is OK, but it is slow. I suggested that with every level up, Nuke call down speed is decreased. Here is my Proposal for Mengsk’s Ghosts (Emperor’s Shadow)
Emperor's Shadow (Tricky solutionist)
Not too shabby, although I am confused why Labrynth Cloak is not available at the get go and why the are not improved like other abilities like Pyrokinetic Immolation and EMP Blasts. Lots of controls are needed but they do great counters.
I personally wish that Tactical Missiles range and drop time are improved each time they level up.
I have made improvement on that, Sky Fury can now attack with all of their arsenals (Missiles/Gatling).
here’s the link: [https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/sc2/t/improving-sky-fury-finished/12539]
No need, with Intercessors they are excellent.
They are Ok
You need to control them separately with Hot keys.
so anyway, about the original post, yknow, the reason why you’re all here
its not a dt marine, its a royal guard marine with an emergency blink.
not perma invisibility or massive dmg, just an emergency blink.
im not sold on intercessors dramatically increasing trooper survivability,
cause their 45 max hp as i once said, melts faster than intercessors can heal. lurkers, banes, arbiters, carriers, reavers, siege tanks, psionic storms…
