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Zerg and the Queen
 

After a small discussion with a friend on the way home from Uni we got talking about
Queens and mainly the inject mechanic of Zerg production.

Which then reminded me of a quote that Nestea said, he basically said that at the current
top tier level of play, if you miss an Inject you are then playing at a disadvantage, and every
other missed Inject adds up. As well as Queen kills etc.

So then we came across the question, how would you chance the mechanic to be less
brutal on zergs who miss an inject.
Simple ones came across like remove the queens at all, and bump up the spawn rate of
the larvae all to gether (Then Zerg has no early game AA)
Another one is have inject on autocast.

But one thing we came up upon sounded to me like a interesting mechanic and something
I want to spark a discussion with this particular mechanic.

Make Inject cost 20energy, and inject 4 larvae on the ground.
Then, if the queen has any left over energy convert that into an extra larvae inject too.
(At the rate of 5 energy / larvae)
Example;
Queen with 50 energy injects. 20energy is removed for the basic ability cost(4 larvae)
then 30 more energy is used as the leftovers(6 additional larvae added) So then your
Hatch is now sitting on 10larvae to pop after a certain amount of time.

Main things that are bad about this is, if you want to lay down a tumor, you have to do
it before an inject.
And late game when your capped on larvae stacking energy on your queens might let
Zergs re-max even quicker.
But the idea comes from Terran and Protoss' mechanics as the energy on the Orbitals
/ Nexus.

How do you guys feel about the topic at hand?
Or is it something that is just perfect in the game and your ment to technically inject
as well as your opponent's macro (EG Bronze injects will equal the same ratio as
Bronze Terran's macro) so at all levels of games your not at a loss unless you go braindead?

Thoughts? Ideas?
Lets hear em!

PS: Sorry about the horrid wall of text, looks horrid

Re: Zerg and the Queen
 

It will be imbalanced. Since i see GM zergs with about 75 energy 15 mins in game. There's no need for macro hatches and those 2-3 macro hatches (900 minerals) are lings/drones. Too imba

Re: Zerg and the Queen
 

Dont see anything wrong with the current mechanic. Sure, it is less forgiving than T or P - but that's what makes the race challenging and fun!
And as you said, it'll mess up the whole creep tumor thing.

Also, why didnt you post this in SC2 Discussion? Would generate more views there

Re: Zerg and the Queen
 

Wayyyyyy to imba. If you have solid mechanics, Zerg is the race best suited to that, and by simplifying not only the mechanics, but dumbing down the amount of production Zerg has, it would be very unforgiving in alot of situations for the other races.

Re: Zerg and the Queen
 

mass queens = mass production

Re: Zerg and the Queen
 

Although zerg macro mechanics is very demanding, it escalates in value and effect the longer the game goes on. 3+ bases with 3+ queens, even with sloppy injects, produces stupid amount of larva.

Same with terrans. In late game, the energy build-up allows to sac SCV's, because 4+ full energy CC's can replace 30+ scv's for enough time to make that final vital push with supply advantage.

Protoss, however, has it's chronoboost value diminish. It's very useful in the beginning, because you can fine tune which tech or upgrade is done faster. However, in late game, when all upgrades are done, It's usually better to have more production facilities instead of chronoing existing ones. Probes are already there, so basically chrono can't make that dramatic effect (0 compared to insta-200/200 for zerg, or 50 more supply for T after scv sac for a minute).

For all its hard investment, zerg queen produces outstanding result and huge impact on gameplay. Protoss chrono is much more forgiving, but doesn't affect the game so much. All fair, imho. Protoss have to focus on other things though, like perfect upgrade and tech line-up and switching, which is game-breaking if done incorrectly. Zerg can switch tech much more readily, just need to add one more building, and use up that larva.

Re: Zerg and the Queen
 

It would help greatly zerg at low leagues especially and even at higher leagues: The APM needed to make larvae could be used to do something else. In consequence something else should be nerfed to equalize things and that could be difficult to find.

But more importantly, I don't think that's the spirit of the game. Each race has one economic special power to be actively cast regularly (Mules, Chronoboost, Inject). Injects are certainly the hardest one (and mules being the easiest), but it's compensated by other advantages that enter the whole balance of the game (reprod, tech switch, etc.).

Re: Zerg and the Queen
 

I like the Zerg mechanics as they are currently.

All I can say that I wouldn't mind adding would be some sort of global audio alert when Larva pops. (Think a less scary Nydus, but your opponent can't hear it.) Currently I think it makes a little "Sploosh" noise if your camera is centered around your hatch, and of course theres the Alert on the left hand side of the screen.

But a global audio alert would make it easier to not miss an inject, (Should help level the playing field in terms of macro mechanics.) Since you just listen for the sound then Backspace inject to yoru hearts content.

This wouldnt change Inject or the Queens, so Balance wise It wouldnt change anything, would just make it easier for Zergs to keep up on the most brutal macro mechaic in the game.

Re: Zerg and the Queen
 

that's a really good idea, they did change it so it alerts you when chronoboost is finished

edit: nevermind i misread it. that might not work, because if you don't line up your injects, it'll get really annoying in the lategame getting an alert every few seconds