For those who haven’t read “One People, One Purpose” yet, Nerath is a new Nerazim phase-smith character. I decided to design her around a nomadic mothership base as it seems this was originally the plan for Vorazun. I made this concept to try overcoming the obstacles to making a mobile base commander work.
Faction Features
- Mobile Base- Nerath eschews a traditional base in favor of a roving mothership. Resource gathering, unit/structure production and research can be performed by the mothership, but it can also build macro structures to supplement it’s busy build queue. The mothership also has an arsenal of powerful abilities with long cooldowns, so the player must switch between resource gathering and combat often.
- Mothership Power Field- The Mothership projects its own power field to warp in units.
- Independent Power Source- This passive effect protects allied warp-ins from being lost when their power field is destroyed or moved. Additionally allied cannons and structures will no longer power down; although power fields are still required for placement.
- Forager- Foragers are flying worker units that look like a Nerazim mothership core. These unique gatherers mine resources even faster than Terran Mules but experience the same timed life. The Mothership slowly accrues Forager charges which can be summoned when the player is ready to harvest. Only one Forager is required for each resource and they can mine Vespene buried beneath rocks. The Mothership should remain nearby to avoid wasting their timed life on transit.
- Unbreakable Rocks- Nerath’s nomadic nature lends her ally a free base for expansion. The trade-off is that the other expansions are now blocked by unbreakable Khaydarin crystals which only Nerath’s Foragers can mine.
- Khaydarin Monolith- Unlike that other phase-smith, Nerath has no cheap photon cannons. She prefers offence to defense anyway.
- Anchor Point- Anchor Points function like flying pylons, but their true purpose is to serve as a respawn point for the Mothership. If the Mothership is critically damaged it will be warped to the nearest Anchor. This warp-in is extremely long and will destroy the Anchor when the Mothership has completed repairs. Anchors aren’t free so they should be placed in safe locations. The Mothership can be safely used on the front-line as long as there is an Anchor Point to fall back on.
Nerath’s Mothership- The mothership can be toggled between economic mode and combat mode.
Economic Mode-Foragers and Anchor Points can be deployed from this mode. Units, macro structures, and research each have their own folders. Units and research have separate queues. The select all Warp Gates button takes the player directly to the unit menu. Instead of tech structures the Mothership uses research to unlock units.
Combat Mode-Offensive spells have long cooldowns, so the Mothership should be thought of as more of a calldown than a hero.
- Teleport- Useful for switching between harvesting and combat quickly
- Time Bomb- Creates a shield that stops enemy projectiles in mid-air.
- Devouring Black Hole- Unlike Vorazun’s ability this black hole completely consumes any enemy that enters it. If this ability needs to be nerfed then it may only consume a certain value of units before closing.
- Black Hole Bomb- All enemies consumed by the Devouring Black Hole will empower the Black Hole Bomb. Saving the BHB until the end of the game results in a very satisfying explosion.
Units- Nerazim Skins
- Soul Hunter (Adept) Gains increased attack speed and damage from kills. Can be upgraded with a hover chariot for greater speed and health.
- Nullifier (Sentry) This support unit’s primary spell is Null Void which silences enemy spellcasters and dispels things like psionic storms, seeker missiles, and parasitic clouds. Null Void can also be cast on the ground to remove cloaking or force Lurkers to unborrow. Null Void can be upgraded to cause feedback on enemy spellcasters.
- Signifier (High Templar) Nerath’s device enhances the user’s connection to the void, allowing Nerazim to cast Crippling Psionic Storms (reduces enemy armor by five in addition to regular damage) and Void Prison (entraps target unit). Signifiers can be upgraded with a permanent cloak.
- Observer- Vanilla unit, but it might be upgraded with a detonation ability
- Annihilator (Immortal) Upgraded with a Shadow Bombardment ability which rains artillery shells on a target area just beyond the Annihilator’s vision like a mini Earthsplitter.
- Contegor (Collossus) Despite resembling the Colossus this war machine is actually an upscaled Stalker variant (even it’s portrait and voice-lines are borrowed from the Stalker). The Contegor can be upgraded with a Null Flux Generator which protects the units underneath it from splash damage for as long as the Contegor has available energy. It can also be upgraded with Blink like its puny cousin (which also fits the Contegor with a larger version of the Stalker’s shield).
- Star Relic (Tempest) Resembles the Voidseeker. Upgraded with Psitrous Oxide (increases move speed) and Void Spheres (significantly increases Star Relic’s range and causes its attack to bounce on massive units)
- Harbinger (Carrier) Capital ship armed with shurikens and upgraded with a hardened shield that activates when struck from a ground-to-air attack.
Potential Units
Manipulator (Sentry)
Suicide Disruptor (Expensive but powerful)
Phoenix
Thanks for reading. Let me know if you have any ideas to enhance the fantasy of this nomadic commander.