Nerubian Race Ideas & Design

[SgtWinter]

I'm unfortunately too lazy to edit the whole post again since I've made a lot of changes! I was working on another custom race so I didn't exactly get to finish what I started with the Nerubians.

Well, I don't think I have to say anything else. If you want to see the changes, just go ahead and download the map posted below. Feedback and criticism is much appreciated as I'm always looking for ways to improve this race.

Major Changes:
- Renamed some units
- Addition of the Ambusher unit with the Abduct ability
- Heroes are all functional and have useful abilities now! (Thanks to MogulKahn)
- Map is changed from Lost Temple to Stone Cold Mountain (Might change again)
- Made Nerubians start with 6 workers to compensate for the fact that workers are sacrificed when building
- Added Web Ward
- Trigger fixes
- Added victory & defeat condition

The Nerubians are currently in a state of imbalance and are probably full of bugs (pun intended), but I just wanted to upload a test map for people to see the current progress. There's a whole lot of things to do and I barely have any time to do the maps. I'm just slowly adding content as the days go by during my free time, but don't let that stop you guys from replying with ideas and suggestions.

Original Post

T'was bored, so I decided to make myself a custom race.

I'm not very well versed in Nerubian lore, so forgive me for any inaccuracies. My Nerubians are based on the concept of overwhelming combat units that have low health and armor, but can be backed up by powerful spellcasters to support them and improve their combat capabilities.

The player has the choice of either amassing weak Tier 1 units or making use of the powerful but expensive Tier 2 and Tier 3 units.

Techtree - Buildings

Haven - Main hall structure. Hatches Workers. Can hatch up to 3 units at the same time similar to how the Zerg produces units. Can be upgraded to unlock additional units, upgrades and structures.
Spawning Pit - Tier 1 Barracks. Hatches Workers, Arachnids, Webspinners, and Stingers. Can hatch up to 3 units at the same time. Units are not cheap, but can quickly reinforce your army if you have the funds for it.
Colony - Food structure. Provides 10 food. Able to spew Hatchlings out to attack move towards a target point. Hatchlings last for a few seconds only and cost mana. Serves as both a food supplier and defensive structure.
Altar of Wrath - Altar structure. 'nuff said. Trains the Guardian, Ancient One, Chancellor and Wraith.
Reliquary - Lumber mill slash upgrade structure. Contains various upgrades for Nerubian units. Has a frost attack to fend off enemy invaders.
Silkenspire - Tier 2 Hall. Unlocks various units, structures and upgrades.
Twilight Council - Trains Viziers, Widows, and (Insert Third Spellcaster here). Also contains spellcaster upgrades. Trains units normally.
Ancient Lair - Trains Horrors, Brood Hosts and Glacial Reavers. Also contains upgrades for them.
Darkweb Bastion - Tier 3 Hall.
Foundation - Produces the powerful Obsidian Disruptor. Also contains upgrades for it.

Techtree - Basic Units

Worker - Standard worker unit. Can be Disposed to refund gold if not needed anymore. Hatched from main structure.
Arachnid - Light melee unit with Burrow. Can be upgraded with Resilient Carapace, Poison Sting, Hunter Instincts and Regenerative Skin. Hatched from Spawning Pit.
Webspinner - A weaker Crypt Fiend. Originally going to be something that spits acid, but I figured that wasn't Nerubian enough. Learns Web, Regenerative Skin and Hunter Instincts. Hatched from Spawning Pit.
Stinger - Highly mobile air unit. Has Cling, which causes it to cling to a target enemy air unit and leech life from it. Can be upgraded with Metabolic Wings.

Techtree - Spellcaster Units

Vizier - Essential spellcaster. Can cast Insight, which allows it to give a friendly unit True Sight and increases their maximum hit point by 100. Trained from Twilight Council. Can also cast Focus Magic, which dispels magic and gives units in an area 2 armor. Lastly, Forced Evolution, which increases damage drastically but heavily damages the target.

Widow - Versatile spellcaster. Can cast Infest, which allows a friendly unit to spawn Spiderlings periodically but take damage from it. Can cast Transfusion, which heals Nerubian units around the Widow. Lastly, Spin Web, which creates a large web that slows all enemy units inside.

??? - Need ideas. Preferably something like a Spell Breaker or Obsidian Statue.

Techtree - Advanced units

Horror - Flying siege unit. Weaker than most siege units, but it being able to fly is definitely a bonus. Can learn Acidic Corrosion to be able to poison e\ structures. Hatched from Spawning Pit.
Brood Hosts - Specialist unit similar to a Kodo Beast. Does not regenerate mana but gets mana from eating corpses. Has Fleshmite Swarm to cause a swarm of Fleshmites to attack enemy units. Can learn Blinding Fog.
Glacial Reaver - A powerful melee and siege unit. Slow and lumbering but is able to take heavy punishment and slow enemy units if upgraded with Frozen Tempest. Also benefits from Resilient Carapace upgrade. Burrowing it will allow it to heal twice as fast and give it Fortified armor.

Obsidian Disruptor - Ultimate unit. Fortified and disruptive flying vehicle. |Has an attack that damages multiple enemies at once. Also has Poison Mist, which can drop a poison mist that damages and silences units in it. Can learn Dark Summoning. Produced from the Foundation.

Techtree - Heroes (Not really thought out yet)

Ancient One - Mystical Hero, effective at using dark magics from the void to assist his allies. Can learn Summon Faceless Servant, Shadow Pulse, Darkness Aura and Forgotten One.
Guardian - Warrior Hero, adept at taking heavy punishment and sustaining himself in battle. Can learn Overwhelm, Intimidate, Hardened Carapace and Adaptation.
Chancellor - Mystical Hero, effective at using ice magic to deal with his opponents. Can learn Frost Bolt, Frost Surge, Usurp Magic and Finger of Death. (Need ideas for this hero)
Wraith - Cunning Hero, good against enemy spellcasters. Can learn Manaburst, Ensnare, Spellbane and Wraith Form. (Pending Hero. Will change in the future)

That's all I have for now. Any thoughts/comments about what you think about this? I've never really seen a Nerubian Race done right, so I'm hoping for some feedback to help me improve this custom race.

Here's a test map. Feedback and criticism is much appreciated.

Changes to V3:
Fixed Worker build time*
Fixed Glacial Reaver attack animation*
Fixed the problem where ESC doesn't cancel Cocoons*
Changed Colony's Spew Hatchling requirement to need a Treasury instead of a Silkenspire to make it more useful*
Added Wraith hero*
Fixed tooltips*
Fixed icons*
Added burrow regeneration*
Increased the duration of Insight*
Fixes to the triggers*

To play as Nerubians, pick Undead when choosing your race.

Another race I'm working on (The Twilight Hammer Clan) is included in the map - which explains why the map size is big) and can be played by picking Orc. I don't really need advice or feedback for the Twilight Hammer Clan as it's just something my friend wanted me to make (which is why it's not 100% completely accurate to the current day Twilight Hammer) but if you want to play it too, it's there.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Guardian: A skeleton/cryptfiend combo made by raising dead Nerubians (and the food in their tombs) to fight again. Medium melee.
* CryptRider becomes CryptKnight with Evolution.

Elfider Ranger/Elfider Warden: The horrifying result of an ill-advised Night Elf expedition into the Nerubians' lands. Heavy ranged/melee.
* FemaleDrider has Searing Arrows. Gains passive Incinerate with Evolution.
* HeroDarkWidow has Cleaving Attack and Evasion. Gains Frenzy with Evolution.

Necromancer: A Nerubian practicing forbidden arts to counter the Scourge threat. Spellcaster. Gains Skeletal Mages with Evolution.
* Casts Raise Dead, dead Nerubians return with Crypt Fiend models.
** Ideas: Crypt Fiends are permanent but leave no corpses, have randomized stats at creation, can fuse with Skeleton Warriors to become Guardians.
* Casts Devour Magic, can be upgraded to have passive Spell Block.
* Casts Essence of Blight.

Spiker: (HeroCryptLord, cannot unburrow) A digging subspecies of Nerubian that can strike from hiding. Has Wind Walk. Gains Impale with Evolution. Takes damage while in water.

Glacial Reaver: Monstrous creatures of living ice and chitin found in the deepest and coldest crevasses of Azjol-Nerub. Superheavy melee with a powerful anti-air attack. Has Barrage (ice attack projectile), Spiked Carapace and Fan of Knives (Frost Bolt projectile). Gains Frost Armor with Evolution. It took ever muscle in my body not to call him Coldlossus.
AntLion.blp or HeroFrostLord.blp


Spiderkin (racial ability): Can walk across walls, but moves very slowly in water.

 

[SgtWinter]

Guardian: A skeleton/cryptfiend combo made by raising dead Nerubians (and the food in their tombs) to fight again. Medium melee.
* CryptRider becomes CryptKnight with Evolution.

Elfider Ranger/Elfider Warden: The horrifying result of an ill-advised Night Elf expedition into the Nerubians' lands. Heavy ranged/melee.
* FemaleDrider has Searing Arrows. Gains passive Incinerate with Evolution.
* HeroDarkWidow has Cleaving Attack and Evasion. Gains Frenzy with Evolution.

Necromancer: A Nerubian practicing forbidden arts to counter the Scourge threat. Spellcaster. Gains Skeletal Mages with Evolution.
* Casts Raise Dead, dead Nerubians return with Crypt Fiend models.
** Ideas: Crypt Fiends are permanent but leave no corpses, have randomized stats at creation, can fuse with Skeleton Warriors to become Guardians.
* Casts Devour Magic, can be upgraded to have passive Spell Block.
* Casts Essence of Blight.

Spiker: (HeroCryptLord, cannot unburrow) A digging subspecies of Nerubian that can strike from hiding. Has Wind Walk. Gains Impale with Evolution. Takes damage while in water.

Glacial Reaver: Monstrous creatures of living ice and chitin found in the deepest and coldest crevasses of Azjol-Nerub. Superheavy melee with a powerful anti-air attack. Has Barrage (ice attack projectile), Spiked Carapace and Fan of Knives (Frost Bolt projectile). Gains Frost Armor with Evolution. It took ever muscle in my body not to call him Coldlossus.
AntLion.blp or HeroFrostLord.blp


Spiderkin (racial ability): Can walk across walls, but moves very slowly in water.

Neat ideas, but I'd prefer not to use anything related to the Undead since Nerubians really despise Necromancy. So Necromancers and Skeleton Guardians are off the list. I'd also prefer not to use any default WC3 abilities, because they're already being used by the other races and because I enjoy triggering my own custom abilities.

I like the idea of turning units into other units with Evolution though, so maybe an Arachnid can turn into something like a Arachnid Lord instead of giving it Spiked Carapace.

I can probably replace the Elfider with the Nerubian Sniper model found on this site. Would probably be an expensive but stronger alternative to the weak T1 Webspinners.

The Glacial Reaver is a good one though, especially since Nerubians are kinda lacking in the anti-air department... I want to call it a Coldlossus too, but that won't look good on paper, haha. I'll take some creative liberty to add a fancy way for it to attack air instead of using Barrage. (Maybe make it throw flying Ice Beetles to chew on enemy air units, haha.)

The Spiderkin ability won't work well on a normal melee map, unfortunately. If you have more, feel free to comment. The race is sorely lacking in a lot of areas. (Especially Heroes)

 

[cleavinghammer]

I know they don't like the Scourge, but I figured learning the enemy's ways was as good an explanation as another for why they have units that can cast Raise Dead in the first place.


Some hero abilities:

Birth Cocoons (Active): Spawns 3 Cocoons at the target location. Cocoons continuously spawn spiderlings until their life run out. Spiderlings cost no food and are permanent, but become Neutral Hostile after a while.

Fertilize (Active): Targets a Nerubian. Devours the target, regaining health and mana (based on the target's own) and gaining a long-lasting buff to all abilities (damage, cooldown, range and manacost).

Wrap (Channeling): Targets a unit (melee range). While channeling, target is stunned as long as the caster is uninterrupted. If the channeling completes, the target is Webbed.

Sling (Active): Targets a point or a unit. If targeting a point or destructible, drags the caster to the target point. If targeting a unit, drags the unit or the caster to the other's position (depending on the difference in max HP).

Trapdoor Nest (Active): Targets a point. Creates an invisible ward at the target point. If an enemy unit triggers the trap, creates X spiderlings around the unit.

Spidersense (Passive): Gives Evasion, True Sight and increased sight and attack range.

Lunge (Passive): Gives Permanent Invisibility, dealing additional damage when attacking (has a cooldown).

Digesting Venom (Active): Targets a unit (melee range). Target is severely slowed and takes heavy damage over time. If target is slowed, takes double damage, if immobilized (webbed, stunned, etc.), takes triple damage.

Sticky Strands: Targets a point. Creates an invisible ward at the target point, which can summon another invisible ward at a target point. Enemy units walking between the wards have their movement and attack speed reduced to almost zero until X units are trapped (breaking the string) or one or both wards are destroyed.

 

[Trill]

Reliquary - maybe give Nerubians double amount of upgrades with half the cost/benefits? Sacrificing artefacts (excluding purchasable ones!) to the Reliquary instantly completes the current upgrade.

Caster units - Spellweaver
Catch Spells - toggleable ability, drains mana while active or when procs. Each spell cast by enemy (and possibly allied?) casters within 1200 radius charges the Spellweaver, and consumes extra 50% mana.
Arcane Cocoon - passive ability showing the level of charge he has. Gains 1 level each time Catch Spells catches a spell, up to, I dunno, 12 levels.
Soul Sting - unleashes gathered magic, putting a damage over time effect on a number of enemies in range (number of targets scales with Arcane Cocoon charge), preferring casters. Non-casters get regular DoT, casters also get slowed and silenced (based off Soul Burn).

Guardian - has two "modes". Regular mode has decent damage, slightly above average speed, that sort of things. Defender mode gives him Hardened Skin, aura that slows enemies movements, and Bash (reskinned to wrap enemy in webs maybe?), but he loses a lot of damage and his movement speed drops to a minimum.
For balance reasons the transformation might either have a very long cooldown and mana cost, or be simply permanent.

Weaver - two different attacks. Long-ranged bouncing one with slow attack speed against Air, and short-ranged bouncing one with high attack speed against Ground. Has Drop Webs ability which immobilizes ground units within short range and maybe reduces their defense. Kinda like flying shooting net-casting spider.

Brood Host - has Charge, allowing it to rush at enemies, Burrow, and most importantly, can act like transport, storing up to 10 infantry within itself. Basically a way to quickly deliver soldiers in the thick of battle.
Is kinda fragile, large and bad fighter.

Ultimate unit idea one - Deepcaller
Pretty expensive, but rather fragile and has barely no attack. Has ability to sacrifice itself in a magical explosion blowing a hole deep underground, allowing a horde of Neutral Hostile Faceless Ones to emerge.
Flavour text about how Nerubians use things they sealed deep underground as last resort weapon, blah-blah-blah.

Ultimate unit idea two - Flying Ziggurat (stupid name, can't think of better one at the moment)
Remember that Undead Necropoli are originally Nerubian structures? So yeah, Necropolis as a unit. Very tough (fortified armour, Hardened Skin), flying, can shoot at multiple enemies at once. However is slow. Instead of being built as unit, it is built as building and then uses an ability similar to Destroyer Form to take flight.

Ultimate unit idea three - Stoneweaver
Infantry-sized ranged ground unit with Hardened Skin. Has strong damage but low attack speed. Attacks against units affected with Web deal extra damage and stun the target for one second, as webs turn to stone and crush the target.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Alternate takes on the brood host transport:
** Can move and has more armor while burrowed, and has a passive swarmling attack even when burrowed.
** Can burrow to gain a long-range siege attack, and gains a medium range swarmling attack when units are loaded inside.
** Can burrow to gain short-ranged auras/automatically give buffs to the units it unloads.
** Can devour units (enemy and ally) to gain bonuses (damage, movespeed, etc.).
** Gains +2 cargo space with Evolution, allowing it to carry ultimate units (size 11). Defend and Hardened Skin with Evolution.

Nerubian Tunnel Network: Two tunnel networks can be connected to each other once built to provide instant waygate transport between their locations, however the tunnels are usable by any player.

Nerubian Deathtrap: Creates an invisible ward that automatically casts Breath of Frost on any enemy unit in range.

I like the flying ziggurat, let's see...

Obsidian Citadel: Flying fortress. Constructed as a land building. Can produce some units while grounded.
** Can Lift Off and Land (requires buildable and empty terrain) or Crash Land (ignores terrain and units and deals 500+ damage to all units in the targeted LZ, but the building is heavily damaged and cannot be given orders for X seconds).
** Take Off is disabled as long as the Citadel has less than 25% HP. Automatically Crash Lands if at less than 25% HP while flying (crash location is at a random distance and angle from its current position and unloads all carried units with Dizziness debuff).
** Poison Mist (Passive): Any enemy unit directly under the flying Citadel is poisoned.
** Can spawn air units (either as units or a locust swarm).
** Can transport ground units.
** Has a strong ranged attack. Gains a passive multitarget secondary attack with Evolution.
*** Alternately, gains abilities depending on the units loaded with Evolution: ranged units increase attack damage (primary or secondary), casters give Mana Shield/increase mana, melee units increase armor.

 

[Trill]

AFAIK, 10 is the absolute maximum cargo capacity, no?

 

[cleavinghammer]

Apparently so, just tried with 12 and it crashed the game. Okay, then: gains Hardened Skin and Defend with Evolution.

 

[SgtWinter]

Alright, I've been taking a lot of your guys ideas into account.

One thing I didn't really like was the Brood Host transport since it was kind of weird.
I've decided to turn the Brood Host into a sort of support unit like the Obsidian Statue. The Brood Host can devour corpses to gain Mana, which can then be used for support abilities. (I have no idea what abilities, and I can't just put a healing ability since the Nerubian Widow has Transfusion for healing. Perhaps armor or mana regeneration? Maybe a debuff to enemy units?)

I've added Trill's concept of the Spellweaver, except it's ability would improve the survivability of Nerubians by giving them magic resistance to help them counter AOE spells like Flame Strike since the Nerubians are kind of frail and weak on their own.

The Weaver - Nerubian air unit - is renamed to the Stinger. I wanted to give it two different attacks like Trill suggested, but I figured... Meh, too complicated... so I instead made it a T2 anti-air unit similar to a Dragonhawk Rider. It now has the ability to Cling onto an enemy air unit, dealing damage and draining the target's life. It gets stuck into an enemy's face like how a mosquito would leech blood off someone.

VIZIER'S AVAILABLE EVOLUTIONS:
Worker - Nothing. Evolution does not affect Workers.
Arachnid - Learns Burrow Strike. (Teleports to an enemy and damages them)
Webspinner - Can Cocoon enemy units. (Cyclone but with different effect)
Stinger - Turns into a Nerubian Horror (Flying siege unit) Much more cheaper than being trained.
Vizier - Nothing. Evolution does not affect Viziers.
Widow - Nothing. Evolution does not affect Widows.
Horror - Learns Melting Acid, which causes it to drop a pool of acid upon death.
Brood Host - Allows it to Consume friendly units for extra mana.
Glacial Reaver - Learns Raging Frost, which causes it to damage nearby enemy air units.
Spellweaver - Nothing. Spellweavers are naturally Immune to magic, even Evolution.

Things I need to complete the techtree:
- Upgrades (Lots of them), Hero Ideas, T3 Ultimate Unit (I'm torn between using a Flying Ziggurat or the Glacial Reaver), and lastly... Items for the Shop building.

Also, to prove that I'm actually working on this thing. Here's a few screenshots. You might get a clearer picture of what I'm doing here.

Tier 1 Base

Nerubians Fighting Orcs with a Stinger using Cling on a Wind Rider

Nerubian Units

Failed Nerubian Assault

 

[cleavinghammer]

Do you have a model for the flying ziggurat?

Brood Host abilities:
* Dark Swarm (Active): Targets an area. All units in the area gain 90% Evasion while the spell lasts.
** Alternate version (Passive): All units in a small radius around the Brood Host gain 30% Evasion, including the Brood Host.
** Still alternate version (Active) All units in the area gain Evasion, enemy units have reduced accuracy.
* Bloodsucker Cloud (Active): Targets a unit. Drains the unit's life and Leeches Life from a single unit without channeling).
* Burrowing Fleshmaggots (Active): Targets a unit. Target unit takes increasing damage over time and cannot cast spells. When the unit dies, creates X spiderlings from its corpse (number increases with the unit's health percentage at casting time).
* Locust Plague (Active): Targets a building. Target building cannot attack. If the building provides food, reduces food provided to 0.
* Honey Trap (Active): Targets a point. Creates a beehive ward at the target point, which slows enemy units and causes damage over time when triggered.
* Termite Nest (Active): Targets a building, reducing its armor and taking damage over time.
* Mites (Active): Targets an area. Reduces the armor of all Heavy and Hero enemy units by 1, Medium units by 1.5, and Light units by 3 (or other numbers, but Light gets hit worse than the others). Fortified, Divine and Unarmored units are unaffected.

 

[Trill]

There's a nerubian necropolis in Necropolis and Derivatives

 

[SgtWinter]

The Brood Host abilities are really good ideas. I've implemented them, but with my own take on it.

Brood Host Abilities:
* Consume Dead (Eat's a corpse to get mana, based on Raise Dead)
* Blinding Fog (The Dark Swarm idea, but it channels a cloud that causes all units inside to miss attacks.)
* Fleshmite Swarm (Spawns a swarm of Fleshmites to munch on enemy organic units, has no collision so it can go through structures and walls.)
* Infestation (Disables a target enemy structure for a short duration.)

I'm thinking about replacing the Vizier's Evolution ability. I've noticed that the Nerubian units already have a lot of Active abilities, and they're kind of micro-intensive now. Do you guys have any alternatives to Evolution?

Also. The T2 production structure now trains: Horrors, Brood Hosts, and Glacial Reavers (Turned it into a tanky siege unit like the Mountain Giant).

I've made the Obsidian Disruptor (Flying Ziggurat) the new T3 unit. It's produced from a structure normally, since I didn't like the idea of it being built by a Worker.

Like the name suggests; it's meant for disrupting units. It has a weak multiple target attack, and a Poison Mist that slows nearby enemy units instead of damaging them. Can be upgraded with Dark Summoning to be able to teleport units to it.

Originally, I wanted to give it an anti-air attack, but I feel like the Nerubians already have too much anti-air. Web and the Stinger's Cling ability really makes them nasty to go up against with an air composition (Then again, mass air is complete crap so I don't mind it that much)

The techtree is nearly complete. I'm just lacking upgrades, and Heroes. (Mostly Heroes.) So Hero ideas are much appreciated.

The Obsidian Disruptor built on a Foundation

 

[cleavinghammer]

I dunno, I like the Evolution idea, but it really should be applicable to all units.

Maybe instead of active abilities it could give one of X abilities (depending on the unit type) and recasting Evolution on a unit gives it a different one?

For example, casters get Mana Shield or Spell Block or Spirit Link, melee units get Pulverize or Defend or Demolish, etc.

Dirsupter should have an area stun or knockback to live up to its name.

Shelob-Niggurath
Mother of Ten Thousand Spiders
INT ranged
The most productive of all Nerubians, the Mothers are called to war against the Scourge, their abdomens enchanted so as to replace any losses almost instantly.

Fertilize (Active): Targets a Nerubian. Devours the target, regaining health and mana (based on the target's own) and gaining a long-lasting buff to all abilities (damage, cooldown, range and manacost), and spawning a temporary Spiderling every X seconds until the effect ends.

Birth Cocoons (Active): Spawns 3 Cocoons at the target location. Cocoons continuously spawn Spiderlings until their life run out. Spiderlings cost no food and are permanent, but become Neutral Hostile after a while.

Spawn Nerubian: Summons a permanent Nerubian (of any type, if food and building requirements are met, with a short global cooldown and longer individual cooldowns).

Gift of Life (Active): Targets a unit. Target unit regenerates HP and has increased damage, and creates a random Nerubian when it dies.


Fth-hssssss-rêêêêk the Unpronounceable
Faceless Battle Thrall
STR melee
A Faceless One imprisoned and tormented by the Nerubians into compliance, now unleashed against their enemies.

Hatred Unchained (Active): Grants increased damage, armor and HP regen to the Thrall, but makes him Neutral Hostile for a short duration.

Whispers of the Old Gods (Passive): Causes negative mana regen in enemies in a wide radius around the Thrall.

Madness (Active): Targets a unit. Target unit becomes Berserk, Neutral Hostile (with increased damage and armor) or Neutral Passive for X seconds.

Call of C'thun (Active): Targets an area. Casts Earthquake at the target point for a short time before summoning a random number of Neutral Hostile Faceless Ones (of any type, with a total level of 15) at the target point.

 

[Even]

Well, I arrived late cause I have been monitoring this thread but can't get a hold of my password...

So, um, nerubians... I'd love if one of those units can play a swarmy role (like mass summon multiple small nerubians at once)... And maybe have one of them spellcasters able to cast shadow/void offensive spells, if the race is not micro-intensive enough, or maybe a Void-based passive? Nerubians were servants of the Old Gods after all. Perhaps adding Mind Flay as the Vizier's first spell, and upping the now 1st and 2nd spell as 2nd and 3rd spell, with further enhancements, might be a good idea

Also unutilised are the lore ideas of some tol'vir (obsidian destroyers) once being servants of the nerubian, and the jormungar, giant worms used by the nerubians to burrow holes. Perhaps some sort of jormundgand can be a burrowing transport similar to a nydus worm, with mobility to fight too?

As for heroes, lore choices would be the nerubian queen, the nerubian spiderlord (some sort of non-undead crypt lord), and perhaps a vizier hero

Will think more details into these later on

 

[cleavinghammer]

We do have sand worm models...

GiantSandWorm

An anti-building stealth unit?

 

[SgtWinter]

Damn, I'm late. Thanks for the Hero ideas, cleavers' (Your brand new nickname, muhaha) I like the idea of a Nerubian Queen that spawns additional Nerubian units but seeing that my Nerubians already have the capabilities to mass units even without that Hero, I don't think it'll work out.

I like the idea of using the Faceless Ones as servants, but not so much about the idea of them being Neutral Hostile. (Especially when you're trying to creep) So I've implemented a Nerubian Hero that has ties to the Faceless instead.

Also, welcome Even! Your ideas are gladly appreciated! The Nerubians already play a swarmy role as their Tier 1 units can be mass-produced from a single structure. The Nerubian Widow is also capable of spawning Spiderlings on a unit, the Colony can create Hatchlings when attacked, certain buildings spawn Spiderlings upon death, and there is a purchaseable item that spawns a pair of Spiderlings. As you may notice, there's a whole load of ways to simply overwhelm your opponents. (Unless they happen to have decent AoE, in that case, you're toast.)

I was planning on adding a spellcaster with offensive abilities (Supposed to be the Vizier, but I needed a unit with Dispel, Detection capabilities and a holder for the Evolution custom ability) Maybe I can add an extra spellcaster or add that ability to the Spellweaver (Nerubian anti-mage unit)

Hero Ideas

Ancient One - Intelligence Hero - Effective at summoning units and supporting allies.
Abilities: Summon Faceless Servant, Shadow Pulse (Causes enemy units in an area to be slowed and miss their attacks), Darkness Aura (Regeneration Aura), and Forgotten One (Creates a mini-earthquake, then summons a Forgotten One. Yes, inspired by your Call of C''thun idea)

Guardian - Strength Hero - Effective at taking heavy punishment and sustaining himself.
**Not final. May change abilities. If you guys have any other ideas then please comment.
Abilities: Overwhelm (Deals area damage and heals the Guardian), Intimidate (Reduces the armor of nearby enemies), Hardened Carapace (Reduces damage taken, passive) and Adaptation (Spell Immunity when below 30% health)

Chancellor - Intelligence Hero - Ranged assault hero with control over ice and arcane magics. Can cast powerful damaging abilities.
**Again, not final. These abilities don't really work out for him and are temporary, but it's the only things I can think of.)
Abilities: Frost Bolt, Frost Surge (Mini-starfall), Usurp Magic (Devour Magic), and Finger of Death (but deals less damage to Heroes)

Wraith or Slayer - Agility Hero - Melee agility hero, effective at taking down enemy spellcasters and enemy heroes.
*I have no clue about what to give him. Originally supposed to do stuff like drain mana, but I figured that was too overpowered.
Abilities: Mind Rot, ???, ???, and ???.

Now as for that Giant Worm. I like the idea, but the Obsidian Disruptor does the transport thing much better with Dark Summoning. Perhaps I can implement it as some sort of ability? Maybe have it usable by the main building. (Summons an uncontrollable worm that attacks nearby enemy units) I already have the Glacial Reaver as the Tier 3 Siege unit, unfortunately.

Anyways, here's a download for the Nerubian Race. Feedback and criticism is greatly appreciated! Pick Undead to play as the Nerubians, by the way.

Some of the things ain't working yet.
**Evolution only increases attack damage for now until I can figure out a creative use for it.
**The Spellweaver isn't available.
**There's only 3 Heroes for now with temporary abilities. Slayer is unavailable.
**Probably unbalanced
**Reliquary doesn't have a birth animation for some reason
**Lacks a few upgrades
**No tower (Originally, Colonies could be upgraded to a tower, but I removed that feature)

 

[cleavinghammer]

Worm: Maybe make it smaller and used as an invisible scout (detects invisibles via tremorsense), and instead of sieging (low damage, melee range Siege) it can sabotage buildings with an ability, or cause minor Earthquakes at its location.

So the Guardian has 3 passives?

Usurp Magic would be a better name for a spell that takes all positive buffs from the target and gives it to the caster.

Wraith:

Wraith Form (Active, drains mana): Becomes Ethereal, gives Evasion and increases movement speed, but prevents spellcasting.
* Alternately, becomes invisible even when attacking, but drains mana to do so.

Spellbane (Passive): Blocks an enemy spell every X seconds. Gains bonus damage that dissipates with the next attack.

Manaburst (Active): Targets a unit. Deals minor damage and removes X mana from the target, deals X/[total number of units] damage to every unit in a small radius around the target. Can be used on allied units surrounded by enemies.

 

[Pyrogasm]

I like the idea of a Nerubian Queen that spawns additional Nerubian units but seeing that my Nerubians already have the capabilities to mass units even without that Hero, I don't think it'll work out.

I think a fun way to make this not-micro-intensive would be if the queen unit itself didn't have any attacks but instead had a small swarm (3-5?) of small, locusted 'drones' following it that attacked enemies on behalf of the queen. Every x% damage the queen takes, one drone is killed; if she heals above that % it spawns another automatically. You would have to build some AI code, but giving the queen a toggle between 'protect the queen' and 'attack enemies' modes that either made them stand guard and retaliate or seek out things in a small area (or objects you target) would be pretty simple actually.

 

[cleavinghammer]

So the more damage it takes, the less effective it is?

 

[Pyrogasm]

Well there has to be some downside for having up to N simultaneous attacks that deal Y damage instead of 1 attack that does N*Y damage, right? You could make them move slower, attack slower, have worse AI, instead. It also makes the queen a powerful fighter if you can protect it but crippling if it is targeted.

As a counter to enemies focusing fire on a queen why not make her drones deal bonus damage to enemies that have recently damaged that specific queen? Take damage > lose drones = lose attack power > remaining drones temporarily get stronger = more attack power

 

[cleavinghammer]

Dunno, maybe have each drone give a certain amount of evasion/spell block, and the amount goes down/cooldown increases every time it triggers, killing a drone?


Didn't have time to play all the map, but the spiderlings should not be sacrificed for every single building (only production ones).

 

[SgtWinter]

I don't really know what to say about the Queen slash Drone ideas. Neat idea but I feel like coding that would be way too much of a hassle.

Also, about the workers. You really think that Workers shouldn't be sacrificed? They cost 50 gold and can be mass-produced from the main structure. I think it's reasonable.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Wisps aren't sacrificed for every building, it makes lining up multiple buildings less of a hassle. Also, why do Spiderlings only gather 8 wood at a time?

Cocoons should have a rally point so units can be made to follow another (and workers gather).
Main building should use a mercenary system so you know how many cocoons are available. And maybe a Spawn Larva analog.
Colonies very much need a regular attack, the broodlings should be triggered by melee attacks.
Chancellor's Learn Frost Bolt icon is a green square.
Summon Faceless One still mentions the Archmage.
Why is the Guardian slow?
Needs a better healing spell.

 

[SgtWinter]

Workers only get 8 lumber because I usually find that I've been stockpiling way too much lumber with this race for some reason. You're supposed to be making more workers to replace the sacrificed units. It's cheap and not really a problem once you get used to it. It's necessary to have backup workers with this race, and you can either dispose of them for gold or get them on woodchopping duty until they're needed again. Also, you can make Workers from the Spawning Pit if your main structure is busy upgrading.

Cocoons indeed should have a rallypoint. I've recently finished adding that. I've also updated the main hall to show the number of Cocoons it currently has. You can also cancel currently morphing Cocoons with ESC now.

I've decided to make the Colonies Hatchling passive an active ability. Once you reach Tier 2, you're able to use the ability to send 2 Hatchlings towards a target point. Each Hatchling lasts 10 seconds and are painfully slow, so it's usually better to just use them as defenses. It also solves the problem where the race lacks a defensive structure. Making Hatchlings cost mana too, and the Colonies regen mana a lot slower.

Yes, I noticed the Chancellor's Frost Bolt icon and the Summon Faceless One's tooltip. I've fixed those already. I'll fix the Guardian's movement speed too. Most of the Heroes have temporary abilities and I'll probably be replacing them with more unique ones. (Although the Ancient One's abilities seem kind of fine to me.)

I might remove the damage effect on the Widow's Transfusion to make it much more effective, except with a longer cooldown. I might do an AoE heal but I always thought instant AoE heals were a little bit too effective. Maybe use something like the Obsidian Statue's AoE heal for that? I dunno. I'll try working on it more.

Any other suggestions to improve the race? I'll post another version soon.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Slower lumber makes the early game harder though. Maybe have lumber be affected by upkeep instead.

Unit upgrades should be done at the hatchery and not the reliquary.

Given the lack of healing, Burrow should provide regeneration.

Needs a better melee unit than the Reaver.

 

[SgtWinter]

Slower lumber makes the early game harder though. Maybe have lumber be affected by upkeep instead.

Unit upgrades should be done at the hatchery and not the reliquary.

Given the lack of healing, Burrow should provide regeneration.

Needs a better melee unit than the Reaver.

Lumber being affected by upkeep is based on the Gameplay Constants. Doing so will change all the other races. Are you having problems with lumber? Six workers on wood is all you really need. As in matter of fact, they get wood a bit faster than the normal races since they only have to hit the tree 8 times instead of the usual 10. Plus they move faster than the normal workers and can reach their mill much faster.

The Spawning Pit's production system glitches when putting the upgrades there. I'll relocate the upgrades back to that when I fix it someday.

I guess increasing the hp regen of Burrow would actually be useful. Gives a reason to use it other than as a pseudo-Sentry Ward.

A better melee unit than the Reaver? I don't think the race needs another melee unit when I could probably just improve the standards units I already have. I prefer to avoid situations where unit A is statistically better than unit B like how a Knight is just overall better than an upgraded Footman. Although I'd be happy to hear any alternatives you have.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Way I see it, the Nerubians don't have a fast melee unit like the others (Knight, Abomination, Raider, Huntress) and the Reaver is more a Siege Engine that can attack units.


Selecting a Random Hero before playing gives a random undead hero.

 

[SgtWinter]

Abominations are fast? Wait what?

I could probably increase the movement speed of the Glacial Reaver. If you're talking about a high mobile melee unit then I don't think it's necessary. The upgrade that causes Arachnids to move faster and give them poison damage can turn them into a pretty speedy attacker. The Glacial Reaver is definitely supposed to be more of a siege engine unit but also viable against normal units.

The Random Hero thing? Geez, didn't know there were some people who use those. That's really minor, but I should probably replace Undead heroes as well on startup I guess.

Anything else?

 

[cleavinghammer]

They were at one point, but I always use them with Unholy Aura so I didn't notice the change.

As for siege engines, I think their main mechanic was that they were hard to kill in exchange for relatively low building damage while the rest of the attackers were engaging the army (ever see a battering ram rush in an Empire Earth game?), so a siege attack isn't that great against units if it doesn't deal high damage and splash.

I'll see if I can think up some more if I ever manage to actually win against the AI.

 

[SgtWinter]

Is winning against the AI hard with this race? I've personally won multiple matches on Insane. I assume it's because I know the cheesy tactics the Nerubians can employ since I made them. Perhaps I'll buff the Nerubians. The only question is HOW exactly I can do that without making them too strong.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Philosophers have been asking the same question for ages.

It might be the unfamilarity, but I think the relative lack of creeps on the map is a factor: by the time the they're all used up, the AI is already substantially higher on the techtree.

 

[SgtWinter]

I suppose I can change the map, but importing the race again will be a huge hassle. I'll try to though.

Can you send a replay of your gameplay? I want to see how another person plays this race. I've also updated the race a bit. Added the Wraith hero too, but it's lacking a second skill so I used Ensnare as a placeholder.

 

[Pyrogasm]

There is an "import/export all object data" function in the world editor (and you can copy an entire folder of triggers at once); might make that easier.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Managed to win (by waiting for their first attack in my base so my reinforcements would come faster, and after that attacking them before they could build up)... except I didn't, there seems to be a bug where killing all enemy units and buildings doesn't trigger victory.
Multiple chancellors can be trained.
Viziers had Forced Evolution before Master Training.
There should be 5 Spiderlings at the start of the game.
Researched Web, but none of my Webspinners could use it (trained before and after the research).

 

[MogulKahn]

Hi, SgtWinter. I am really pleasantly surprised with your Nerubian race. I really like what I am seeing here, and also, great job to the guys who gave you all of the ideas. I have played your race, and here are my thoughts/suggestions:

* Buildings
- I would change name of the tier 1 main building from Haven to Hive or something like that. I mean, while it works, I think there are plenty other names that are more fitting for the Nerubian race.
-Also Altar of Wrath. That name would be fitting for some brute race, like, let's say Fel Orcs, while for the Nerubians I would rather go with Altar of Cunning or Altar of Brood, or something more "insectoid".

*Units
- First, I want to suggest you to remove "Regenerative Skin" upgrade completely and instead replace it with a "Burrow" as a "race ability". It is more fitting thematically and Jungle Trolls already have increased regeneration as their "race ability".
- Arachnid - For this unit I have the most amount of changes, so hear me out. First, I would completely change it's model, from that scorpion to this Crypt Mother. I am sure that we all know that Arachnids are not part of the Nerubian race (I am not sure if they are even canon any more, to be honest) and Nerubians are using in WoW some spider-like units, and I think this one fits perfectly there. I would change it's name into Skitterer. Don't forget about my suggestion about "Burrow" being available to all ground Nerubian units (except Glacial Reaver, because he has a stronger and more fitting one already). AND, in the end, I would actually make it so that from one egg you are getting TWO Skitterers. Of course, you need to reduce their stats. With this, you are getting that swarm feeling and playstyle which is perfect for the Nerubians. Also, I would reduce collision size of that model, so majority of them can attack at the same time one enemy. "Poison Sting" would stay, while I would give "Resilient Carapace" to Horror instead.
- Webspinner - I would swap "Web" (no need to copy Crypt Fiend here, and it doesn't even work at the moment) with a new ability called "Web Spin". Upgradeable passive ability that gives Webspinner with every attack 20% chance to reduce armor by 2.5 and attack damage by 10% for 30 sec.
- Stinger - "Cling" is mentioning Weaver instead of Stinger.
- Horror - I would just change icon of the "Acidic Corrosion" into this one BTNPlagueNova, because current icon is being used by Chimera.
- Glacial Reaver - You need to increase cost of this unit. He has stats similar to the Mountain Giant, while costing 200 gold less. Also, I would change name of it. It is not really needed, but when I read Glacial Reaver, I thought about some kind of ice construct. It is a bit of misleading. My suggestions are Spiderlord or Underlord. Also, because his "Burrow" is different, I would rename it into "Harden Carapace" and use this icon instead BTNBurrow.
- Obsidian Disruptor - While I do like idea of this unit, fr theme standpoint it is unfitting. While Scourge did adopted architecture of the Nerubians, they were never that advanced to have flying buildings. Just imagine bunch of spiders controlling flying ziggurat. I would change it's model into CryptGuard. Make it big. Keep "Disruptor Attack". Rename it into "Acid Shower" and use this icon BTNAcidShower. Keep "Poison Mist". And I would replace "Dark Summoning" with "Swarm" passive upgrade. When killed, split into two Venomspitters using this model Nerubian Flyer. They have really low, fast hitting attack (like 5-10) and a passive ability called "Acid Blood" where they deal 200 damage to all nearby flying units when killed. I would use this icon BTNAcidRain. I would rename this unit into Devourer.

Also, you needed an idea for 1 more unit. I got 2 new units.

- Ambusher - Agile Nerubian adept at disrupting enemy lines. Has Parasitic Bomb. Can learn Abduct and Burrow.
"Parasitic Bomb" - Afflicts a target enemy unit with a deadly parasite that deals 5 damage per second for 30 seconds. If the afflicted unit dies while under the effect of Parasitic Bomb, a Spiderling will spawn from its corpse.
"Abduct" - Pulls a target unit to the location of the Ambusher.
MODEL: Nerubian Arbalest
ICON for Parasitic Bomb would be Naga Siren's Parasite, while for Abduct, I would use this: BTNGlutton'sGreed.

- Ravager - Defensive Nerubian adept at defending and harassing enemies. Has Tunnel and Seismic Spines. Can learn Chitinous Plating.
"Tunnel" - Permanent invisibility.
"Seismic Spines - Slams the ground, shooting spiked tendrils out in a straight line, dealing damage and hurling enemy ground units into the air in their wake. (Pretty much Impale, but without mana cost, lesser stun time and damage).
"Chitinous Plating" - Return 100% of the damage taken to melee attacker.
MODEL: HeroCryptLord (Underground, spiked form).
ICONS: Tunnel - BTNRift; Seismic Spines - BTNImpale; Chitinous Plating - BTNCR_Spiked_Armor

This unit has no attack, and I would suggest to have minimum movement speed. 100, if I am not mistaken? It would be built from main building, and would require tier 3 to be built. Only reason for this unit is base defense. Because, right now, Hatchlings and Reliquary are not enough. You just use Ravagers to stun the enemies so Hatchling can finish them off. It has nice synergy and strategy included.

*Items
You need 2 more items in your item shop. Also, Orb of Frost needs to be nerfed. Every other orb deals 5 damage and slow should be a bit reduced.
Nerubian Ward (1 charge) - Place a Nerubian Ward that gives 10% movement and attack speed to all nearby allied units. Lasts for 30 sec.
Has 200 health and 10-10 Frost Attack. Model: webward
Nerubian Armor (1 charge) - Gain 10 armor for 60 sec. Icon: BTNNerubianSmasher

*Heroes
I would completely re-do all of your heroes. Here are my suggestions:

Guardian -> Guardian of the Deeps (In your face, tanky hero. Best in the middle of the fray. You charge in with your Q, wreck havoc, use Overwhelm to stay alive, Crushers are helping you with your every spellcast, and Adaptation is there to improve your tankines while at low health).
Q - Burrowstrike - Burrow into the ground and tunnel forward, damaging and stunning enemy units above as Guardian of the Deeps resurfaces. (Sand King's Q from DOTA 2).
W - Overwhelm (Now it also damages friendly units).
E - Host - Using an ability spawns a Crusher to attack nearby enemies. (He has no timer) MODEL: LobstrokkGreen.blp
R - Adaptation

MODEL: Nerubian Guard I would use this model, because it is of a higher quality then the current one, and it fits Nerubians more.
ICONS:
Q - BTNImpale
E - BTNBeatle
R - Monstrous Armor


Wraith -> Hive Assassin (Hero specialized into burning down single target. While in fight, you go into Vendetta, approach their squishy hero, hit him, cast Cocoon to keep him in place, and then burst him down with your Killing Frenzy, and Spellbane is there to protect your from stuns).
Q - Killing Frenzy - Gain X% bonus attack speed, burn X mana with every attack, but take X% more damage over duration. Lasts for 10 sec.
W - Cocoon - Wrap target enemy into a cocoon, dealing X damage and rooting it for X sec. (Ensnare with damage added to it. Just use Web instead of a net.)
E - Spellbane
R - Vendetta - Go invisible, gain X% bonus movement speed and deal X backstab damage. (Wind Walk with huge damage from invisibility)

MODEL: Blood Beetle I would also use this model, instead of the current one. That derpy face...
ICONS:
Q - BTNSilithidDevourer
W - BTNWeb2Spiderless
R - BTNcrBurowSTRIKE


Ancient One -> Broodlord (Summoning hero. Infector is your main source of damage. With just two, on squishy targets, you can destroy whole armies. Shadow Pulse is there to keep them alive, aura reduces their armor, while your ulty is just good team fight ultimate).
Q - Summon Infector - Summon an Infector with "Parasitic Claws" (from level 2) to fight your enemies for 30 sec. Parasitic Claws - If target dies in 2 seconds after being hit by an Infector summon Spiderling for 10 sec. MODEL: Nerubian Infector
W - Shadow Pulse
E - Terror Aura - Reduce armor of all nearby enemy units by X.
R - Hivemind - Summon a huge egg that spawns 2 Spiderlings every few seconds. Lasts for 60 sec. MODEL: EggSack1

MODEL: Crypt Warlock
ICONS:
Q - BTNNerubPunch
E - BTNCRcleric
R - BTNNerubEgg
Parasitic Claws - BTNNerubSlash


Chancellor -> Prophet (Your typical caster. A bit more on supportive side. Q should have pretty low cooldown on level 3. His ulty is broken on nearly dead Glacial Reaver).
Q - Finger of Death - Deal X damage to target enemy unit, reduce armor by X and silence it for X seconds.
W - Frost Surge
E - Meditation - Passively increase mana regeneration by X.
R - Chosen One - Heal target non-hero friendly unit to full health.

MODEL: Nerubian Elder
ICONS:
Q - Finger of Death
W - Just swap it with one you have on the Frost Bolt right now
E - BTNPD3WizMeditation
R - BTNDeathHand


Good luck with your project! Keep it up!

 

[SgtWinter]

Kay, I'm back. Thanks for reporting those bugs, cleavers. I've fixed them but I've yet to upload a new map.

MogulKahn, where were you when I needed you earlier!?

Those suggestions really solved most of my problems, and the hero ideas are actually extremely good! Also, glad you suggested item ideas. For some reason, I could never figure out what to do with the items. The Arachnids probably won't change though, as I wanted them to be durable and usable from start to finish. Though I''ll probably change their model and name. Skitterer sounds nice enough, though it sounds more like it'll tickle someone to death than anything. Agreeing on the collision size though, will change that.

Will update and post a new version someday with some of those changes. My wifi is currently down so I don't really have a chance to update the map just yet.

No spellcaster suggestions though? I'm sort of satisfied with the Widow, but the Vizier's last ability seems to be lacking (since it was originally going to give a unit an ability instead of straight up damage.) so any ideas for the Vizier would be welcome.

Again, thanks for suggestions!

The whole race was supposed to have Burrow, but most Nerubian units don't have the burrow animation like the Widow for example.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Regarding Burrow: The Reaver's should have him do something else, better armor is no substitute for not being attacked in the first place.
For those units that don't have the animation, maybe substitute one (e.g., the Widow barfs up a pile of webs as she burrows and unburrows to hide the fact that she pops from one state to another).

I think the original version of Evolve is a good idea (if only for the creativity) for the Vizier.

Also, maybe have the Widow's Hatchery heal the unit but apply to enemies as well, and the spiderlings are stronger when hatched from stronger enemies (e.g. xenomorphs).

 

[MogulKahn]

Also, I kind of liked spells of your casters. And yes, I agree with cleavinghammer about "Evolve" idea. It is the most unique. Also, Burrow idea from cleaving is good, in my opinion.

About that Reaver's Burrow comment, I must disagree. It is good, because you are getting fortified armor, you are a lot more tanky, while that aura is crippling enemy forces. Only, maybe add like 30% melee damage return.

 

[Tuwnew]

I was just reading and all...

You suggested a Nerubian Ward to increase movement speed. But why not the opposite?
It's a WEB ward (the model at last). So you know, Web are made to capture and stuck minors insects. It would be more fitting to make a Slow Aura instead of a Endurance Aura. No?

 

[SgtWinter]

Alright, I've completely overhauled the heroes and I think they're a lot better now (Aside from the Ancient One because I quite enjoy him as is). However, I've hit a couple of roadblocks.

1.) Revamping Evolution. The original problem with Evolution was that it was difficult to come up with abilities that made an impact for each individual Nerubian unit as most of the abilities that come to mind work better as upgrades. Any help for this?
2.) Burrowing for most units. Like I said, most units don't have a Burrow animation, and regardless of how many special effects you put in a trigger, you'll still notice the Nerubian unit popping in and out of existence. Help with this would be appreciated.
3.) Brood Host revamp. They're useful, Fleshmite Swarm helps with DPS and Blinding Fog forces the enemy to reposition, but I feel like they're lacking in some areas. I'm thinking about changing them up to have a different use. Perhaps give them the Colony's Spew Hatchling ability to make them more of a backline supporter? Or perhaps I should give them more abilities? Fleshmite Swarm and Blinding Fog is kinda underwhelming right now.

Aside from that, the race is looking good right now.

 

[cleavinghammer]

^^ The Widow has that as an ability.

For Evolution, it'll depend on what abilities the unit has (which might be subject to change).

Brood Host could also create eggs that work as Pocket Factories, spawning Spiderlings and Arachnids with Evolution.

 

[MogulKahn]

1. Evolutions - Well, I have no problem with them being an extra upgrade. It is really unique way of providing upgrade to your units, and it perfectly fits Nerubian theme.
Skitterer - Gives them ability to move while burrowed
Webspinner - When killed spawn lesser Webspinner with reduced stats.
Stinger - Gives them 2 times bouncing attacks.
Horror - Give them ability to transport up to 10 units.
Brood Host - Allows it to "Consume" friendly units for extra mana. ICON: BTNVenomousBite
Reaver - Learns "Acid Blood" (Causes it to drop a pool of acid upon death, dealing damage to all nearby enemies.) ICON: BTNToxicSkin
Devourer - Give them ability to "Summon Broodlings". Summon 2 Broodlings that can't attack, but they got "Explode". Dealing X damage to all nearby enemy units. MODEL: Crypt Mother ICON: BTNSpiders

2. I don't know. Only other possible solution is to find a guy who is willing to animate all of these models. But it won't happen, so I have really no idea. Personally, I am not bothered with a lack of animation. It would be better if they had one, but it is what it is, custom models are majority of the time missing something.

3. I really like that "Spew Hatchling" idea. It is similar to Swarm Hosts from Starcraft II. But, then you need to give them bigger mana pool or easier way of providing them with corpses.

 

[cleavinghammer]

I dunno about the Reaver, on-death abilities are generally given to low-HP units.

Maybe have it gain an ability while buried, like a siege-range attack.

 

[SgtWinter]

The gods has kindly and graciously given me a gift! Nerubian Widow has a burrow animation now thanks to Hermit!

I love this community. Full of great and helpful people!

I'm planning on re-implementing Evolution! Just not as a unique caster ability. Each unit will have an instant Forced Evolution ability upon reaching T3 tech (or I can make it a research-able upgrade). It basically morphs the unit back into an egg with a timer. They lose half of their current health but gain an ability (mostly passive) and some bonus stat boosts. It costs 50 gold and 50 lumber to use Evolution (or 100 / 100 for some units)

Here's a list of Evolutions:
Hunters (Arachnid) > Tunneling Claws (Passive) - Allows the Hunter to move while burrowed.
Webspinner > Webspinner Hatchlings (Passive) - Allows Webspinners to spawn Lesser Webspinners upon death.
Stinger > Corroding Armor (Passive) - Stinger attacks reduces the armor of enemy units.
Horror > Melting Acid (Passive) - Causes it to drop a pool of acid upon death.
Ambusher (New unit) > Cloak (Active) - Turns invisible but drains mana - OR - Cloak (Passive) - Turns invisible when standing still regardless of time of day.
Spiderlord (Glacial Reaver) > Wrath (Passive) - Attacks deal splash damage but attack speed is significantly slower.

Devourer doesn't get Evolution. I could probably replace the Vizier's third ability with something more supportive. Extra damage isn't really their thing, perhaps an ability that gives a target armor? I haven't really thought ahead yet.

I'm also working on fixing my Spawning system so I can put upgrades onto the Tier 1 Halls and Spawning Pit. (Since putting upgrades on buildings that can spawn units from cocoons apparently breaks it) Having everything on the Reliquary kinda sucks.

 

[MogulKahn]

Sounds great. Can't wait to check it out. I was O.K. with having everything in Reliquary, it reminded me on Royal Laboratory from CotF campaign.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Posting to subscribe. Love custom races & Nerubians.

 

[Raydin]

Here are some ideas for hero abilitites

Emanating web - like ensnare but use web as a buff, it will allow you to both bring down air units and stop ground units to make them easier to destroy. You can also change around the entangling roots ability to deal damage to the target, but I don't believe you can target air units with this

Summon spiderlings - summon 1 to 3 spiderlings to help the hero

Envenomed fangs - deals damage over time to the attacked unit, use envenomed spears to create this ability

Spider Lord - produces a cacoon that after a short period becomes a giant spider, like a summoned but the spider is not hatched if the caving is destroyed

 

[SgtWinter]

Oh wow people are still commenting on this thread? Thought it was dead by now.

Unfortunately I've been really busy as of late so I don't really have time to work on this custom race often. Although, personally I think the current version is 95% finished already (albeit with a few issues).

My PC broke down so I lost my latest Nerubian update with the Evolution thing, and remaking the evolution triggers are a pain in the butt so I honestly don't know what I should do now. I have an old backup without the Evolutions and I might go back and finish it next week, but for now I don't think I'll be re-implementing Evolution (sadly).