Niadra Concept/Ideas

Co-op Missions Discussion
1

I have some ideas for how a Niadra commander might work. I’m not sure about specific units and upgrades, so feel free to discuss.

Edit: maybe one of her calldowns could be her luring Protoss to fight or attack an area

The concept behind Niadra is that of an alien hive (think aliens vs predator), where you poison and infect Amon’s forces and use them to grow your army. Her reliance on DOTs encourages a hit and run playstyle. I also imagine there being some Protoss upgrades for her army due to her taking a Protoss ship.

Mechanics:
-No hero unit, to differentiate herself from Zagara
-Her permanent units are given shields and do damage over time when they attack. This DOT would stack a number of times. These DOTs could also have debuff effects
-When one of her units die, they do a similar DOT to enemies around them.
-When an enemy dies while under the effect of the DOT, they spawn units. I have two ideas how this could work:

  1. They spawn small units such as Zerglings or broodlings with a timed life (think Abathur locusts)
  2. They spawn larva. These larva are timed, but morph into her units faster and cheaper than at a hatchery

Potential top bar:
-Diseased pod: a drop pod comes down at the target area. It then aggroes enemies around it while releasing poisons. Could later be upgraded to release a timed noxious Ultralisk as well
-Matriarch: spawns a giant queen from below. The queen does the transfuse ability on nearby enemy units, inflicting a massive DOT on them. Any enemies killed under the effect of the DOT spawn units.
Consuming Nydus Worm: a Nydus worm comes up from the ground and consumes hostile forces in a large area (think Zagara’s ultimate from HOTS)

That’s all I can think of for now. While I like the idea of her using Protoss tech as well, I think she should focus on the infection/poison theme. This would be a commander where it makes sense to give her corpser roaches, noxious ultras and defilers.

Thank you for reading. I look forward to seeing your responses.

2

I was thinking of some of those with my Izsha concept

Gorgelings (banelings that get resources from those they kill)
Corpser leechs (Corpsers, but with lifesteal as well)
alpha Corruptors (units killed become temporary air turrets)

I do think Protoss-Zerg Niadra is too good of an idea to throw away, my idea for her does include infestors (with a neural parasite), and bioenergy (her abilities come from her Shuttle in Orbit, and need energy…small base regeneration + more per units killed)

IZSHA: Econ/Drop Combat Leviathan
Key ideas:
Izsha, heroic Leviathan with Combat or Econ mode
_Combat Mode:_buildable Tentacles with attack, Leviathan has powerful energy abilities
Econ mode: Leviathan replaces Hatchery, Tentacles replace workers (OLs provide creep)
Drop Sacs: ‘warp in’ type combat unit production anywhere in large range from Econ mode Izsha

Units/Buildings:
Detector Overlords,
Slime Feederling & Autoextractor (resource collection at expansion/Izsha is Combat mode)
Gorgeling, Locust, Locust Nest Defense Building, Corpser Leech, Blightbringer, alphaCorruptor, Swarm Guardian, Noxious

Combat mode Abilities: Allied Speed boost ooc, Biostasis heal nearby units on fatal damage, Long range bombard, Unload units through drop Pods long range

NIADRA: Front Line anti-Protoss Production
What if: Niadra has been adapting her brood to fight Protoss and use their technology. She is ready to assist Kerrigan in the fight v Amon, before returning to her original goal.
Key ideas:
Queens: are on the front lines producing and supporting units and upgrading themselves
Zerg using Protoss tech: shields, most units are redesigned protoss ala Stukov
Anti-Protoss: anti psi/shield/energy/abilities

Units/Buildings:
Corrupted: EmpDragoon, ObserverSymbiote, meleeImmortal, ReaverHost, UrunPhoenix, Ark Shuttle
Infestor, antipsi“Zerglot”, 4 levels of Queen
Shriekers, Swarm Clutch (defense buildings)

Abilities: (Use Niadra Shuttle Energy with extra energy from kills)
Warp to Shuttle (friendly relocates, enemy dies), Shield Armor bonus, Mass EMP

1 Like
3

Sounds pretty cool, but it might take them a lot of work to transform the Zagara Hi-res model into Niadra.

4

What if Niadra played a bit like Zag, and a bit like Dehaka?
She absorbs essence from enemy units to grow and level up. However, each tier of unit requires a certain level, or levels are expensive in essence.
Niadra herself is the hive. She gives birth to her Zerglings, Roaches, and Hydras – giving her a very specific play style. However, in her evolution pit, not only can she make use of attack and carapace upgrades, but if you have the appropriate tech building (Spawning pool, Roach den, Hydra den), you can select an evolutionary path for her spawns.
Pool and both dens would contain “generic” research for her spawned units, and specific upgrades for whichever evolution path you chose.
Tech path would be Hatchery > Pool > Lair > Hydra Den (needed for Hive) > Hive.
Niadra’s Overlords provide double supply and morph near instantly.

5

Thanks for your responses

Niadra could work as a Protoss-Zerg hybrid, but I envisioned her taking the alien route. She could definitely still augment her forces with Protoss tech though. I appreciate your ideas though, especially the leviathan idea for Izsha. I’ve also wanted a commander with universe at war hierarchy hard points / walkers.

Regarding making Niadra look pretty, I wouldn’t have her as a hero unit. Also, the Matriarch could be any queen as long as it’s big and imposing. I’m not sure how they’d make her portrait though.

6

Would it make sense for her to get a Zerg-incorporated version of the Giant Ursadon she infested?

Basically a big, beefy melee unit with an ability to leap to stun targets.

7

So like an Ultralisk with burrow charge but a different skin?

8

Pretty much.

It’d probably need something more to distinguish it.

9

As above, I always liked the idea of Niadra using Protoss technology and mixing it with Zerg biology as a concept for a commander. It’s really the only thing that makes sense for her.

I remember distinctly disliking that one comic they put out because it turned Niadra into a generic broodmother and threw away her potential in that regard. At least Coop Missions doesn’t sweat canon stuff so much, so I still hope that we see some neat creative ideas for Niadra as commander.

10

However they do it, I hope they make her unique. She’s one of the more interesting Zerg characters

11

I’d love to see her as a weird mash up of HH, Dehaka/Abathur, and Zagara. Mobile production from Niadra herself, collection of biomass/essence (bioessense?) as a supply and tech tree mechanic, and a bit of a grab-bag of swarm groud units (no air units in the campaign mission. No reason to change that).

Resource collection is done into a unique building (“occupied” nexus?), which is exclusively responsible for making drones and accepting resources.

12

It looks like people have three different ideas for her:

  1. Protossified Zerg or Zergified Protoss. Basically, a non Amon Zerg-Toss hybrid
  2. Hero unit that grows and gains access to more units as the game goes on (like her mission).
  3. Some sort of poison/infection commander. Similar to how she acts in her comic (haven’t read it myself, but I’ve seen the wiki)
13

I always liked to imagine her having a starting structure for unique researches, similar to some other commanders. An infested Ark shuttle that lands at the start of every game, the same one she infested in the campaign mission, from the same class of vessels from the HotS mission you had to shoot down, as well as in Void Launch.