Hypothetical StarCraft: Brood War Balance Patch
Ever since the remastered version came out in 2017, StarCraft: Brood War has seen a resurgence in popularity. Seeing as the last balance patch came out in 2001, some personalities like Artosis have been publishing their ideas for a hypothetical balance patch for Brood War. Although I'm not a prominent personality by any means, I have played the game on-and-off since 2009 and I also have almost as many years of experience in game design, so I thought it might be fun to craft and post my own ideas.
Terran
Firebat:
- Add Science Facility upgrade that increases attack range from 2 to 3 (200 minerals / 200 gas / 60 seconds)
Since all Terran units are ranged, dark swarm is extremely strong against Terran. This would give Terran more ability to counter units under dark swarm, but the Firebat can still be countered by Mutalisks, Defiler Plague + Hydralisks, and Lurkers.
Medic:
- Restoration research time reduced from 50 seconds to 25 seconds
- Restoration energy cost reduced from 50 to 25
- Optical flare research time reduced from 76 seconds to 50 seconds
- Optical flare energy cost reduced from 75 to 50
- Optical flare is no longer permanent (lasts for 45 seconds), but can be instantly removed using restoration
Medic spells are almost never used in professional play because they take too long to research and the energy cost is too high. Since the bio composition is primarily used against Zerg, restoration still won't be useful if a bio army gets hit by plague, but it might be used as a countermeasure against plague on science vessels and battlecruisers. Realistically, optical flare is only useful for denying detection, so this change will be made in conjunction to a change with the ghost.
Ghost:
- Cloaking no longer requires research
- Lockdown research cost reduced from 200/200 to 100/100 and research time reduced from 63 seconds to 30 seconds
- Lockdown energy cost reduced from 100 to 75
- Damage increased from 10 (concussive) to 20 (concussive)
- Attack upgrade bonus increased from +1 to +2
Based on how the game was put together, ghosts were meant to help counter large mechanical units. The problem is, the research for lockdown costs too much and takes too much time, and it takes a while before a ghost reaches 100 energy. The proposed changes to lockdown also make the energy upgrade more useful since ghosts can cast lockdown shortly after being built and an idle ghost accumulates enough energy for 3 lockdowns instead of 2 lockdowns (but the player must decide between 3 lockdowns or 2 lockdowns + cloaking on a full energy ghost). Against Protoss, ghosts can still be countered by High Templar Psionic Storm and Dark Archon Feedback (or Maelstrom), all of which outrange lockdown.
The damage increase will also make ghosts a viable late game harassment unit. Two ghosts can effectively harass worker lines. Against Zerg, the medic changes would introduce a ghost-medic strategy in which medics can temporarily blind lone overlords while the ghosts attack workers. The Zerg can counter this strategy by using spore colonies, which are immune to optical flare, to spot for cloaked ghosts.
These changes would also make ghosts a more viable counter to mutalisk harassment as a single ghost would now require 6 to 7 shots to kill a mutalisk.
Wraith:
- Change unit size from "large" to "medium"
Every Terran flying unit is considered to be "large", and classifying wraiths as "large" has made them needlessly delicate since they take full damage from missile turrets, goliaths, dragoons, and hydralisks. This change would give wraiths more viability against carriers and Zerg flyers without really influencing air-to-air combat situations (large wraith fleets would still be countered by valkyries, corsairs, and devourer + mutalisk + scourge).
Science Vessel:
- If a science vessel is stunned by either stasis or lockdown, any spells that were queued up are cancelled and the energy that was consumed is returned to the science vessel (something repeatedly emphasized in Artosis's video)
If a science vessel is ordered to cast EMP, and an opponent casts stasis on a science vessel before the EMP missile is launched, the science vessel will cast EMP after the stasis field wears off. This results in wasted energy as the highly delayed EMP cast is unlikely to do anything meaningful. In such a circumstance, the spell should be cancelled completely with compensation.
Protoss
Probe:
- Sight range reduced from 8 to 7 (in line with other workers).
This is a change that is already mentioned in Artosis's video on the matter, and I echo his sentiments. All of the workers should have the same sight range.
Dragoon:
- Fix movement issues
Dragoon pathing is among the worst in the game. There should be a way to fix this so that dragoons move similarly to other ground units.
High Templar:
- Duration of hallucinations increased from 56.7 seconds to 120 seconds
- Hallucination energy cost reduced from 100 to 50
- Hallucination creates 1 fake copy instead of 2 fake copies
- Hallucination research cost reduced from 150/150 to 100/100
- Hallucination research time reduced from 50 seconds to 30 seconds
- Hallucinations can be identified by detectors
Hallucination is mainly useful in very late game situations where resources are limited. This would make hallucinations a potential scouting option while preserving its late game usage. The last change is something that was implemented in StarCraft 2, and it would fit well within StarCraft 1.
Dark Templar:
- Attack damage reduced from 40 to 35
Dark templar one-shot probes and drones, but not SCVs. This change will require two shots to kill an enemy worker until (at least) +2 ground weapons have been researched. This prevents a lucky Protoss player from dropping a single dark templar into a Protoss or Zerg mineral line and getting 10 worker kills before the opponent even realizes what's happening. Under such a change, this tactic only becomes possible in the late game when the opponent also has the resources to proactively counter this tactic. At the same time, dark templar rushes will still kill an opponent that fails to get detection in a timely manner.
Scout (Rework):
- Cost reduced from 275/125 to 200/100
- Build time reduced from 50 seconds to 34 seconds
- Gravitic Thrusters upgrade removed
- Movement speed increased from 3.720 to 4.963
- Shields and health reduced from 100/150 to 80/120
- Air-to-air attack unlocked by a fleet beacon upgrade (100 minerals / 100 gas / 60 seconds)
- Apial Sensors upgrade increases sight range and air-to-air attack range by 2
- Add a Fleet Beacon upgrade that increases shields from 80 to 100 and the base health from 120 to 175 (200 minerals / 200 gas / 120 seconds)
The original version of the scout tried to fulfill the role of an early game harassment unit while also fulfilling the role of a late game counter to large flyers. This made the unit impossible to properly balance since its air-to-air attack was too strong for an early game unit, and its air-to-ground attack is much too weak for the unit's price tag. This rework allows the scout to fulfill both the intended early game and late game roles, but with proper balance.
Under this change, the scout will have the same movement speed as mutalisks, corsairs, and wraiths; but will only be able to attack ground when first built. For the same time and resource cost as 8 corsairs, this change would allow a player to build 6 scouts to one-shot Zerg drones without making it too easy to completely annihilate overlords until a fleet beacon is constructed.
The fleet beacon upgrades would allow the scout to assume its intended late game role as a counter to capital flyers (if built by the opponent). The new base shield and health upgrade would also prevent a full health scout from being destroyed by a single Yamato shot.
Carrier:
- Build time increased from 88 seconds to 100 seconds
- Interceptor build time increased from 13 seconds to 25 seconds
- Sight range reduced from 11 to 10
- Add an animation indicating when an interceptor is being built
- If a weapon projectile is targeting an interceptor, and that interceptor enters the carrier before being hit, the projectile hits the carrier and deals 50% damage
- If an interceptor enters a carrier, any lost shield hit points are replenished by the carrier's own shields at a 2:1 ratio (for example, if an interceptor loses 40 shield hit points, then 20 shield hit points are deducted from the parent carrier if available)
On 4 player maps, two base carrier rushes against Terran are really strong in cross-spawn scenarios. By increasing build times, that will make this strategy riskier and harder to pull off. This also will force players to take better care of their interceptors since they cannot be replaced as quickly.
The sight range reduction will make it slightly harder to utilize the "leash range" of 12 for deployed interceptors without utilizing other units.
Arbiter:
- EMP cancels recall cast
Assimilator:
- Reduce shield and health from 450/450 to 375/375 (in line with refinery and extractor, another point of emphasis in Artosis's video)
Gateway:
- Add animation showing when a unit is being produced
Robotics Facility:
- Add animation showing when a unit is being produced
Citadel of Adun:
- Add animation showing when an upgrade is being researched
Templar Archives:
- Add animation showing when an upgrade is being researched
Observatory:
- Add animation showing when an upgrade is being researched
Arbiter Tribunal:
- Add animation showing when an upgrade is being researched
Miscellaneous:
- Add a Protoss structure (unlocked by building a Templar Archives) that allows biological ground units (Zealots, High Templar, and Dark Templar) to recover lost health at the expense of resources. This way, plagued zealots can theoretically recover health, but only by retreating from an offensive position after the plague spell has worn off. The time and resource cost would have the same proportion to the unit's base price as SCV repair (25%). And, like the shield battery, the healing unit cannot attack or move while being healed. This new structure would not benefit air units, dragoons, archons, dark archons, probes, or reavers. As for the exact cost, it would probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of 200/150 with a ~45 second build time (something that makes it only viable for sparingly defensive usage in the late game).
Zerg
Hydralisk:
- Grooved Spines upgrade increases the ground-to-air attack range from 4 to 6
This is a change to help balance the change to the Scout. Since hydralisks are only really used for anti-air against Protoss, this won't affect other matchups too much (except for perhaps early Wraith builds, but it will still take a while before Zerg is able to have hydralisks that can fully shut down the aggression).
Defiler:
- Units under dark swarm have vision reduced to 1
- Reduce armor from 1 to 0
- Consume grants energy based on unit size (25 for small, 37 for medium, and 50 for large)
Dark swarm is the strongest spell in the game and makes it possible for a single Zergling to destroy static defense and entire bases while also fleeing before reinforcements arrive. This change will provide a reason for having ground units outside of the dark swarm to grant vision to the units under the dark swarm. If all ground units are under dark swarm, they cannot see where the opposing army is located. Vision could also be granted by flying units.
Overlord:
- Antennae upgrade increases sight range for all Zerg flyers
- Antennae upgrade requires a hive
Queen:
- Parasite energy cost reduced from 75 to 50
- Ensnare energy cost reduced from 75 to 50
In order for queen spells to be used, a player must produce queens proactively so that there is enough time to accumulate energy for the desired spell. This change would allow queens to cast parasite or ensnare as soon as they spawn, but would still require the same amount of forward thinking to use the most powerful spell (Spawn Broodlings).
Infested Terran:
- Cost reduced from 100/50 to 100/25
- Inflicts damage upon dying
On the rare occasions that Infested Terrans are used, they are primarily used to destroy clusters of buildings and to destroy workers. The cost has been adjusted based on the fact that workers only require minerals and that most buildings mainly require minerals.
Having Infested Terrans inflict damage upon dying makes their usage in combat very double edged. An alert player can target down any Infested Terrans within a larger army to inflict collateral damage to the opponent's army. Theoretically, this will make the Infested Terran more preferable for harassment than as a combat unit.
Devourer:
- Fix bug that allows a devourer's attack to get cancelled
- Morph cost reduced from 150/50 to 100/50
- Health increased from 250 to 300
- Base armor increased from 2 to 3
If you have a devourer move in the middle of its attack animation, the attack is cancelled, but the cooldown is still activated. This glitch should be fixed.
Also, devourers can be killed by a single Yamato shot. The health adjustment will require two Yamato shots to kill a single devourer while still requiring 3 scourge. Furthermore, these changes give Zerg players a chance to more effectively counter any corsair fleets that are still alive late in the game.
Zerg Buildings:
- Add animation showing when an upgrade is being researched
Most of the proposed changes are intended to affect late game tactics. That way, the early game openers that have been around for decades are still largely viable even with this proposed patch. There is something beautiful in having so many different strategies to choose from, and I would criticize any balance patch that heavily influences early game strategies.