Starcraft 2 Armory - Unofficial Starcraft 2 Fansite

Due to the overwhelming responses of TEARS OF THE MOON's UED thread, I've decided to post my idea for a fourth race too.

OVERVIEW
The VOX appear to be glowing spheres of encapsulated energy. They look very much like sparks from transformers. They feed off the nutrients from the soil and they reproduce when they have enough nutrients stored within them, that they simply split in to two like an amoeba. Now although their physical form does not allow them to manipulate their surroundings like most creatures due to the lack of fingers, appendages, etc they can suck up the ground they're hovering above and shape it into any form they see fit. Case in point, a vox can "harvest" the ground and slowly mold it to encase itself in a "body". Therefore, most vox are never seen in their true form, only their outer casing in the form of soldiers, warmachines and such. But residing inside this outer rock casing, is the actual vox entity.

MECHANICS
The central unit of the vox is the Exarch. At the beginning of the game, the player starts with 1 Exarch and 5 thralls (workers). Thralls mine minerals and gas like the other races and return it to the Pinnacle (command center). The pinnacle does not produce thralls. The Exarch does. One Exarch can be built per hydrosphere (supply depot). Hydrospheres store the liquids necessary to facilitate vox reproduction. Other units are built from the exarch. The exarch spawns a vox which simultaneously leeches minerals from the soil to form the unit or vehicle it desires. exarchs cannot move while spawning a unit. also, thralls can only build buildings in the vicinity of the exarch as the exarch will transmit orders to the thrall on how to construct said building. also each exarch costs 2 supply. when it comes to building units, the exarch has to practically spawn the said unit at the site of the building that allows for the production of said unit. Like, an Exarch would have to spawn a thrall from the pinnacle and there is a limit to how many exarches can spawn units at a particular building (actual number not decided yet). Only one Exarch can exist per hydrosphere and they cost 2 supply to spawn.

UNITS


THRALL
Movement: Ground
Damage: vs ground
Range: same like probe, drone
Basic worker.
Special - spark transfer: destroys the thrall's outer casing and reveals the actual vox spark. the thrall "spark" can then move towards any tech building and spawn as the unit that building allows.

EXARCH
Movement: Ground
Damage: none (exarches are loathe to engage in combat)
Range: none
Taskmaster. when vox buildings are being constructed, you can see the thrall receiving energy transference from a nearby exarch and then chanelling that energy into the ground to raise the building.
Special -
Renew - the only way the vox heal buildings and vehicles is through this spell. the exarch uses energy to heal buildings as the exarch is basically using its internal power source to reshape the damaged building by making said building leech minerals from the soil.
Leech - This ability causes a thrall thats mining to basically transfer the minerals being mined directly from the mineral patch to the exarch who then transfers it to the pinnacle. basically, this allows the thrall to continuously mine minerals or gas without having to return to the pinnacle. When this is being done, no other thrall can mine that mineral patch though they may still mine the vespene gas.
Earthbind - As voxions are masters of the elements, the exarch can summon a large hand like structure to burst from the earth and grab any ground or air unit and hold it in place on the ground. that unit cannot attack or move or use its abilities. (stalkers can blink out though). This does not work on the mothership though.
Infusion - Grants an additional 20% more HP to any unit permanently by infusing it with rock. can only be cast once per unit. costs 100 energy. also can be cast on buildings.

INFANTRY


SENTINEL
Movement: Ground
Damage: vs ground
Range: melee/ranged
basic infantry. looks like the transformers in the opening scene of transformers 2 except they are only 7 feet tall.
special - two suggestions, only one will be chosen:
1. they have long staffs which they can switch between melee mode and ranged mode. range mode allows them to attack air units as well by blasting bolts. melee offers increased attack rate and +2 damage but no range by swatting units with their staff.
2. rock form - rearrange their structure so that they have a HP and armor buff, but lose their ability to attack and move slower. this will allow them to take more damage from light fire as they close in to attack with their staffs. has no ranged attack in this configuration.

VANGUARD
Movement: Ground
Damage: vs ground/air (if the sentinels can only attack ground)
Range: 4-5
bigger, tougher versions of the sentinels.
special - enrooted turret. basically, form large rock-mound turrets. cannot move, high increase in armor. increases survivability in large scale fights or in base defending.

HELLBRINGER
Movement: Ground
Damage: vs ground
Range: 3
if the sentinels are akin to marines, the hellbringers would be the marauder. their weapon dematerializes their enemies and sucks their base metals, carapaces and heals the hellbringer. their weapon fires in a steady stream like the void ray.

MYSTIC
Movement: Ground
Damage: none (exarches are loathe to engage in combat)
Range: none
Caster. The pinnacle of elemental prowess. can cast abilities.
special
Reanimate - when voxions die, they leave husks for like 10 seconds that can be destroyed by the enemy. the husks can be reanimated by the mystic but requires channeling to continously keep them animated. the longer the mystic channels this ability, the more health the voxion ground unit gains. the unit can only be considered ressurected once its HP reaches green. (going off topic, the exarch can use leech ability on husks and regain lost resources).
Eruption - sets the ground in a radius on fire. any unit that walks inside takes damage.
Eye Scout - summons floating drones that can be used for scouting. has timed life but can be made permanent if the scout lands and burrows, making it cloaked but permanent as it leaches ground soil to sustain itself.

VEHICLES


PROWLER
Movement: Ground
Damage: vs ground/air
Range: 6
shaped like ravage (the panther) from transformers 2. prowlers can leap over cliffs from a distance of 2-3.
special - deploys two additional cannons to increase its firepower by 100% but due to this structural change, loses 50% of its armor. if there are no enemies around, this makes them deadly base killers as they can destroy buildings twice as fast without risk of being destroyed.

PULVERIZER
Movement: Ground
Damage: vs ground.
Range: 9-10
the siege unit. fires concentrated sound waves that explode in a hemisphere, dealing splash damage to all caught within. slow firing rate. better for attacking buildings. can be avoided by units if they move out of the direct hit zone but may take splash damage from the hemisphere blasts.


SANDFLEA
Movement: Ground
Damage: none
Range: none
sand fleas are tiny nano-bots that resemble beetles with like 15HP. sandfleas are not readily spotable by enemy units unless they have detectors. they can't attack directly but have several useful abilities.
special -
sandshroud: attaches itself to a friendly unit, rendering the unit invisible.
lightning shield: attach themselves to a unit and emit a lightning shield around said unit that damages all units that come too close.
targeting beam - attaches to a friendly unit and causes any enemy unit being fought to take 50% more damage.


TITAN
Movement: Ground
Damage: vs ground
Range: melee
massive unit. look like devastator from transformers 2. attacks with its massive fists.
special -
devouring rift - taken from devastator's attack in transformers. it enroots itself on the ground and sucks up anything into its massive maws. unit being sucked by this ability will continously lose life til they reach red and then are automatically sucked into the maw, crushed and consumed to replenish lost health. this suction has a range of 5 but a 2 second animation delay before the maw opens so its best to retreat when this position is being taken up or risk the chance of being sucked in. cannot suck in air or massive units. can only consume 4 dropship spaces per time (4 marines, 2 marauders, 1 siege tank), if sucked in while the titan has his "mouth full" the unit is simply knocked back on the ground suffering 20 damage.
shockwave - slams its fist onto the ground, slowing all units around it. cannot be done in devouring rift mode.

AERIAL UNITS


VOYAGER
Movement: Air
Damage: none
Range: none
transport.
special -
Rematerialize - a voyager can transfer a building from one spot right next to it by dematerializing and rematerialzing it. the entire building turns into swirling particles around the voyager and the voyager can then move to its destination and slowly rearrange the particles to form the building back. cannot transport units in this mode.


TALON
Movement: Air
Damage: vs air/ground
Range: 6
fires scorching bolts that deal damage over time per hit.
special - afterburners: enables the talon to move faster for a short 3 second burst and leaves a trail of flames behind, that will burn chasing air units.

STORMBRINGER
Movement: Air
Damage: vs air
Range: 5
disk like entity. fires lightning bolts at surrounding enemies. can hit up to three units simultaneously.
special - overload - loses life per sec, but increases rate of fire. if destroyed in this manner, releases all stored energy and damages all surrounding air units. has a 2 second casting delay to avoid this ability from being cast at 1 HP, just before its about to die.


TEMPEST
Movement: Air
Damage: weak vs ground
Range: 4
flying caster. detects invisible units.
special -
dust storm - much like the corsair's disruption ability. no unit can fire under this spell.
nova - causes a unit to take 100 damage over 5 seconds, and the charged energy from this spell explodes and deal splash damage to surrounding units. affected unit also suffers - 1 armor, per second.
umbral shield - causes all surrounding friendlies to take 50% damage while in radius. cannot move in this mode and costs 150 energy.


MONOLITH
Movement: air
Damage: vs air/ground
Range: 8
Massive flyer. looks like a flying citadel almost. built with 2 anti air and 2 anti ground weapons. has 8 other slots which can be filled up with anti air, anti-ground or armor+HP segments.
special:
1. when activated, it lands and all missiles, beams and ranged attacks and sucked into its frame and does damage only to the monolith, sparing all friendlies.
2. it can store a massive weapon inside which must be built like a nuke. once built, it emits a blue glow, so players can know the monolith is carrying this weapon. to use this "nuke" like weapon, the monolith must land. then it emits a poweful surge that deals 500 damage to all surrounding units/buildings. it would be wise to destroy this unit before it lands if the blue glow is spotted. the surge weapon takes time to build, so it cannot be spammed.

that's all for now. will add pictures soon.

Sounds interseting, are you planing to explain the buildings and their build mechanics a bit more in the future?
And if you can, try to sneak in some pics, so it isn't a intimidating wall of text.

I've seen bigger walls of text TOTM but anyway I'll start reading.

Nice concept!
If i remember right, the VOX were included in a fanfic;
It might be yours but i don't remember.
Anyway i think i might concept the 'Rasckal', my failed 'Project SCV' race for a new fanfic in the future.
Also you can find some pictures in art sites such as 'Deviantart', it is worth trying.
(http://www.deviantart.com)

It looks good. Thrall isnt a good name for a worker though. I need pics so I can imagine them.

What does this race introduce mechanics wise?

Did I help you with this?

I seem to remember something...

Looks good though

Reactions:

1. So these guys are aquatic, rising from the depths to smite the surface dwellers? (joking)

2. So exarchs are queens on crack, and without claws or weapons? Interesting tradeoff having them cost supply.

3. exarchs are the only builders? Their build queue is just unlocked by being in proximity to buildings?

4. These guys might have a little too much steamroller potential, with having up to 25 exarchs in a full 200 supply game. But I could be wrong since they cost supply.
4b. exarchs costing supply is a problem, since that throws off the standard starting unit number that all races follow.

5. LOVE stormbringer, HATE talon. Talon's range is too long for something that can damage chasing units.

6. Will you be showing costs, attack damage, attack speed, armor types, etc?

7. Need a better understanding of the tech tree to comment even further.

I love the idea. Keep up the great work.

Quote by Kraziliak

It looks good. Thrall isnt a good name for a worker though. I need pics so I can imagine them.

What does this race introduce mechanics wise?

Yea, you probably want to change that. For those people that play both Sc and Wc it's going to be very odd having a worker that has the same name as the Orcish warchief the lead his bretheren out of demonic bloodlust and into Duratar.

@Tears of the Moon: MECHANICS... Coming right up. Wanna word it properly before I post it. It'll be up within the next day or so.
Posted a few pics, will find the others soon.

@Dark Eagle: I think you might have seen me post a sketchy version of this on one of the other off topic forums.

@Kraziliak: Thrall isn't a good name? The only other thing I can think of is minion. Any ideas?

@Knee of Justice: You could have helped sinistha6 with it. I'm working with him on it.

@Clubby:
1. Actually they're from a desert world (thanks to knee of justice for this part). Water is rare, and the only source of nutrients for them. Their motivation is plain. A little lore before hand. They were generally peaceful to begin with but they were attacked before many times by aliens from their neck of the woods. After repelling them, they learned from their enemies and because they can shape rocks, steel and minerals together, as well as control the elements of air, earth and fire, they melded their this to form an "elemental" form of technology and they never want to be caught unprepared should they be attacked again. Hence, in the present, they seek out alien races to do battle with. Just to learn what those aliens can do and then adapt to combat them. The protoss with their ability to bend space and time, the zerg with their unmatched biology and the humans with their cunning will all provide the voxians with interesting learning experiences.

2. Exarches are the central units. More like hives + queens together sans crack (they don't fight). Exarches are summoned from the hydrospheres. One per hydrosphere. They are needed to construct buildings and troops. When it comes to buildings, a thrall must build a building within the exarch's radius, so the exarch can transmit the knowledge required by the thrall to build (they're very secretive about their weapons and schematics, not trusting the defenseless thralls to guard them). when it comes to producing units, the exarch simply walks over to a specific structure, say a barracks and then spawns a sentinel by cracking its back open, and splitting the vox creature inside into two. the said vox then is watched over as it drains elements from both the ground and the barracks while the exarch transmits its weapons training and tactics to the newly formed sentinel.

3. exarch are the only unit builders but the building that unlocks said unit must be available. exarches work in tandem with thralls to produce buildings. exarches like i said are summoned from hydrospheres. their build cue will be on the exarch itself, though it needs to be in close proximity of the intended building to produce the unit. otherwise, the unit will appear grayed out on the icon bar.

4. you need two supply to build one exarch. they can't attack. the only thing they can do in battle is to infuse units with HP, temporarily bind ground or air units and recycle dead husks. otherwise, they're easily killable.

5. i can reduce the talon's range. the afterburners has a long cooldown. and only leaves like 3-4 range of fire in the sky. doesn't do that much damage. its just to create some space between itself and would be pursuers in case it ever got outmatched. the flames can be outmanuevered and they can be chased down by taking little damage.

6. costs, attack damage, attack speed, armor types, are being worked out. tech tree... i can do that soon. probably by tuesday.

4.

Stupid question but does VOX stand for anything?

Quote by Destroyer

Stupid question but does VOX stand for anything?

nope. i wanted a simple name because i reckon being elemental creatures, they'd have a very simple name. truth be told i came up with the name by taking the word rocks, turning into rox and replacing R with V.

Alright, and also, while I appreciate the transformers look, you should probably try touching them up so that they look more...natural. Not necessarily non-metallic, but less like a walking dump truck or sports car.

Well all Voxian units look like a mix of gems, granite, obsidian, metals and stone. I envision them having a very polished, sleek look. also, they have intricate runes all over their surfaces.

Anyways, I've done the MECHANICS. Here they are:

1. Whereas the protoss have psi, zerg have control and terran have supply, the Vox have hydrons. As the only nourishment they require is water, and that they come from a barren world, water is very precious and necessary for them to reproduce which they do by splitting in half. The exarchs can be considered taskmasters and nobles and lord over their water supply and are the keepers of vox secrets. therefore, they are the only ones that are capable of spawning more vox. as i said, vox are elemental to a point, using air, fire and earth in battle but never water which they hold sacred above all else. as said before, vox units are spawned from the exarch itself next to the building that unlocks the necessary tech. one exarch can spawn one unit at a time. exarch can't move while spawning is in progress.

2. vox buildings have the ability to repair themselves. there will be a restoration icon. using vespene and minerals as well as the natural elements found in the soil, they can be made to do their own repairs at the rate of a scv. the exarch's renew ability only works for units, not buildings.

3. vox buildings can only be constructed within a certain radius of the exarch. thralls are required to arrange the minerals gathered while the exarch can be seen channeling their powers to raise the buildings out of the ground. so initially while being constructed, you can see the earth opening up, and a mountain like mound rise up, and slowly smoothing out to found the actual structure. one exarch and one thrall is needed to spawn one structure at a time. exarch can't move while spawning is in progress.

4. the vox transport, the voyager, can actually dismantle the entire vox building, forming a swirling sandstorm around it and transport it to another location. once it reaches its destination, it remains stationary, as reconstruction is in progress. this process is faster than building the structure from scratch.

5. vox ground units that die leave husks that remain for 10 seconds and can be reanimated by mystics, leeched for a percentage of their worth in resources by exarches or destroyed by enemies to prevent the two former processes from taking place.

Quote by Destroyer

Stupid question but does VOX stand for anything?

VOX is actually a quite known tv station in Germany and a old rpg game for the pc.

But anyways. I really like the pics you aded,it helps me to imagine the units alot more, not so much the transformers one , it really stands out. Can't wait to see how you would evolve the concept even more.