[Builder] The Brood Mother

[BodyHammer]

[This is a discussion thread only, it is by no means finished. I'm looking for feedback on the concept, range and damage issues, and slow wall concerns]

Unit Information

Difficulty - Medium



Brood Mother
300 Hip Points and Medium Armor
Returns 10 wood per swing.
125 attack, Ranged - 100 Mana.
Orc styled building, to give the illusion of "digging" her buildings.

Brood Mother Abilities
Web - Throws a net around the target rendering it unable to move, lasts 2.5 seconds.
Cost: 50 Mana.  Cooldown: 5 Minutes.
Venom  - The Brood Mother spits her venom at the target unit, slowing movement speed by 25% for 3 seconds.  Does not stack with other abilities, overridden by any other slowing effect.
Cost: 50 Mana.  Cooldown: 3 Minutes.
Arcane Carapace - Cancels any targeted spell against the builder. Functions as spell shield.
Cost: 50 Mana.  Cooldown: 2 Minutes.
Feed - Allows the Brood Mother to sacrifice a target Spiderling or Arachnid killing the unit, granting her 10 hps regeneration for 5 seconds.
Lay Egg (Channeled) - Creates an egg in the target location.  Channeling lasts 2 seconds.



Spiderling (Worker Unit)
100 Hit Points, maximum of 10 workers.
Returns 5 wood per swing.  12 Food Cost.
Cannot be detonated, can be killed.

Egg - All units are spawned by the Brood Mothers eggs. When a unit has finished creation, the egg dies.  In effect, each egg creates one unit.
Abilities
Create Spiderling - Spawns a worker Spiderling.
Create Arachnid - Spawns a Arachnid.
Create Hunter - Spawns a Hunter.

Towers and Walls

Rock Wall - 250 Hit Points
Webbed Wall - 300 Hit Points and 15 armor - On hit, slows movement speed by 25% and attack speed by 50% for 3 seconds.


Arachnid -  Arachnids can function as towers and mobile army units, though are very weak and fragile, as such only recommended as support to a much better army based race.  Original maximum unit cap of 30.  Can be upgraded to 45 with Merchant and Advanced Research Center.  Note: Arachnids are researched and upgraded similar to catapults, requiring large base costs, however no additional wood cost for further creation.
Arachnid - 15 Piercing Damage, 450 Range, 100 Hit Points.
Vile(Enhanced) Arachnid - 25 Piercing Damage, 450 Range, 200 Hit Points, 4 Heavy Armor
Feral(Super) Arachnid - 30 Piercing Damage, 500 Range, 300 Hit Points, 4 heavy armor
Brutal(Mega) Arachnid - 40 piercing Damage, 600 Range, 300 Hit Points, 4 Heavy Armor


Hunter
130 Chaos Damage, 10 Hero armor, 850 Hit Points, 600 Mana.
Melee attack.  Blink, Syphon Mana, Avatar, Stats.

Super Towers

Heavy Cannon Tower
750 Hit Points, 20 Armor, 900 range, 200-200 damage. Gives an aura that provides +15 armor to nearby units and structures.  Cost: 90 gold, 2000 Wood, 1 Food.

Other Buildings

Den - Lumber drop off point.

Nest - Standard food increasing building.  Raises food limit by 15.  No attack.

Cave - Research Building.
Cost: 150 Wood.
Researches
Venom - The Brood Mother spits her venom at the target unit, slowing movement speed by 25% for 3 seconds.  Does not stack with other abilities, overridden by any other slowing effect.
Cost: 500 Wood
Feed - Allows the Brood Mother to sacrifice a target Spiderling or Arachnid killing the unit, granting her +10 hps regeneration for 5 seconds.
Cost: 1000 Wood
Arcane Knowledge - Increases the Brood Mothers mana by 50.
Cost: 300 wood.
Improved Arcane Knowledge - Further increases Brood Mothers mana by 50.
Cost 300 wood.
Arachnid Spawn - Allows the Brood Mother to hatch Arachnids from her eggs.  Maximum of 30 Arachnids.  Arachnids cost 1 Food.
Cost: 5000 Wood.
Vile(Enhanced) Arachnid Spawn - Upgrades Arachnid units to Vile Arachnids.
Cost: 5000 Wood.
Feral(Super) Arachnid Spawn - Upgrades Vile Arachnid units to Feral Arachnids.
Cost: 5000 Wood.
Brutal(Mega) Arachnid Spawn - Upgrades Feral Arachnids to Brutal Arachnids.
Cost: 5000 Wood.
Hunter Spawn - Allows the Brood Mother to hatch Hunters from her eggs.  Maximum of one Hunter.  Hunters cost no Food.
Cost: 800 Wood

Arcane Shield - Fully protects all Arachnid units from targeted spells in a 300 radius.  Only works on Arachnids.  These buildings allow the Arachnids to serve as towers, thus allowing the Brood Mother to base.  Effect only applies to Arachnid units.
Cost: 500 Wood.

Arcane Pit - Advanced Research Building.
Cost: 45 Gold, 500 Wood.
Strengthened Webs - Increases the hip points of walls by 200.  Requires Merchant.
Cost: 1500 wood.
Arachnid Hordes - Increases the maximum amount of Arachnids to 45.  Requires Merchant.
Advanced Hunter Research - +200 Hit Points, +200 Mana, +20 Attack damage and +60 Movement speed and the passive Paralysis ability: 15% chance to stun a target for 1.5 seconds.


Merchant - Self explanitory

Basic Information and Justifications
Unlike other builders, the Brood Mothers "towers" are 1x1 much like herself, this allows her to group many more units into a smaller area.  The damage and range of these units however are greatly reduced at all levels to compensate.  They also will not have a "root" effect.  You must use your Hold Position effectively.

Arcane Shield - This building provides an anti-magic buff in a 500 radius which ONLY applies to her arachnids.  This makes them only effective to use when basing, to prevent her Arachnids from being nukable and thus simply useless.  It allows them to function as normal towers.

Feed, Detonation loss, and Food building damage loss - The Brood Mother will not require gold to be effective.  Her basing and creation abilities however are to be user intensive.  If you wish to kill off workers or buildings for feed prevention, you must use Her, her hunter, or Spinderlings to do so.  As such, due to her having less workers than typical builders, the feed they provide will scale accordingly.

Wtf, walls with slow? - The Brood Mothers walls are much more weak and fragile than any other builder.  To compensate, instead her walls are covered with webs which slow the titan when he attacks the walls.  The 50% attack speed reduction functions in a way that despite the hp loss of walls, the titan will still spend the SAME amount of time to kill one of her lower hp walls, than another builders walls who have more hp.   In all cases, the titan will spend the same amount of time to seige her walls as other builders.

How does the Arachnid research work? - Good question.  Arachnid research will work similar to how the Ogre currently does in that you upgrade your tiers before your units.  Only instead of many small researches, there are only 4 researches in total.  The figures I went off of are based on the idea that you will be able to get over 15k wood by 20 to 25 minutes, thus getting your first 3 tiers like other builders.  Your last tier having enough wood by the 30 minute penalty or thereafter.  These researches are so high, due to the fact laying eggs does not cost wood.

Arachnid Hordes - Other basers get late game damage increases, or extra speed, or poison upgrades for more dps.  Instead, the amount of Arachnids will be increased by 15 units to provide the extra dps.

[Defcon_5]

Very innovative, but you can think of a better ultimate tower.  How bout a scorpion tower.  Spiders and scorpions both arachnids, so it kinda works.

[BodyHammer]

Very innovative, but you can think of a better ultimate tower.  How bout a scorpion tower.  Spiders and scorpions both arachnids, so it kinda works.

That's actually not a bad idea, I was kind of considering switching to the Scorpion model for the hunter even, as I prefer the way it looks over a bigger spider.  I may adjust that as it won't take away from the general idea of the builder.

[Shadow14l]

Nice idea, but it could use some changes. I'd say this seems more balanced:

Webbed Wall

This would have to be nerfed. When attacked it slows movement speed by 15% and attack speed by 30%.

Reason Why? -
Especially with Strengthened Webs. With 50% reduced attack speed the hp of the walls is basically doubled. So with 500 hp walls, you are making the most powerful walls

Arachnid

These units should have 5 less damage due to being able to being moved and their small size and able to being crammed.

Super Tower

Very innovative, but you can think of a better ultimate tower.  How bout a scorpion tower.  Spiders and scorpions both arachnids, so it kinda works.

What he said.
Maybe you can think of a neat spider tower that has like 30 dps and a 5% chance of webbing enemy for 3 seconds. Or anything like that really, just something original.

[BodyHammer]

Ehhh, I'm staying away from just adding an effect to the towers.  I'll stick with the ability to create more for now.

[Defcon_5]

You should probably throw in Scorpions to add more depth to the race.  In the way it is now, its similar to draenei in that there just isn't enough depth.  You might have to tweak the dmg of the spider towers if you plan on having them be unnukable.  Otherwise, this guy would be pretty useless late game.

[Illumanus]

Instead of having brood mother with the slow, make it so the spiderlings have it as an auto cast with small range (To give the illusion they are attacking, without actually doing damage). It should be something that stacks (For example, up to 5 times) at 5% per hit for 2 seconds.

You could charge the titan with 5 spiderlings and you make a speedy get a way.

[Defcon_5]

You can also take this in a different direction.  Spiders are primarily solitary animals.  There are a few species that live in the more tropical areas that are communal.  However, spiders such as the wolf spider are fast and use speed to eat.  Weavers use webs likes nets that they throw onto their prey.  There are also the ambush spiders (Trapdoor spider) that make a little hatch that looks like a rock.  When something walks over it, the spider jumps out and eats it.

[ShadowDream]

seems kinda like zergs with the eggs in all. But I like it. Perhaps have more diverse spiders... like some have a percent chace to web, and some slow a little. Kinda more spiderish.

[BodyHammer]

I suppose... I could set up the Brutal spiders with a gold upgrades to add different effects to their forms.  You guys are starting request a bit too much here, the race is already different enough as it is.  Leave room for other builders as well.

Spiderlings will not be getting a slow, they are lumbers and should not be in an area where the Brood Mother would actually need the slow.

Hell, towers won't be getting a slow either.  This builder already reeks with slow.

[Illumanus]

You can also take this in a different direction.  Spiders are primarily solitary animals.  There are a few species that live in the more tropical areas that are communal.  However, spiders such as the wolf spider are fast and use speed to eat.  Weavers use webs likes nets that they throw onto their prey.  There are also the ambush spiders (Trapdoor spider) that make a little hatch that looks like a rock.  When something walks over it, the spider jumps out and eats it.

You saw that Magic School Bus episode, too ?

[JayceJa]

i dont know what to vote, the concept may be good, but i DO support terrorism

[Northwind]

RAWR u stole my idea lol
Good work, mebbe I could incorpurate sum of my idea's in too.
Look for post called "Arachnid Builder (definatly incomplete)"

(I would make a link but I'm on my pocket pc and its hard enuf to post as it is)

btw, make buildings build themselves, u could explain it like "mini spiderlings help build the Brood Mother's structures"