Four Engineer Heroes (feel free to comment)

Ok, so I am working on my AoS-ish map. Since I am a bit tired after work today I decided to relax a bit on this forum and describe four "concept" heroes that I may well implement.


My initial motivation came when in another thread, someone pointed out that almost all maps only have hero killers. Yeah sure, there are some exceptions, but basically, many AoS maps are aaalll about having the hero that can pwn other heroes fastest. That is boring. How fun would regular War3 be if all heroes, no, all units, were like the Mountain King or Death Knight?

So, I promptly came up with two entirely new kind of heroes. I'll save one for later, and focus on the engineers today.

Oh, and finally before I start, let me point out that I am writing this down mostly for my own benefit - it always helps on the idea-stage to write things down clearly and present it in a decent way. Then I can see for myself a day or two after if the ideas still sound good.


Goblin Gadgeteer

A quaint hero that uses the mighty intellect of goblins to the fullest, creating curious contraptions of great potential. Whether it is because of excellent engineering or dangerous malfunction can sometimes be hard to tell.

Shredder Suit
Allows the Goblin Gadgeteer to construct a feared mecha in which he can dominate the battle-field...for as long as it is functioning properly that is. Can be repaired or rebuilt should it be completely destroyed, and a number of permanent upgrades can be applied to the suit in exchange for gold. Each level makes new upgrades available.

Level 1 - Hitpoint upgrades available.
Level 2 - Damage upgrades available.
Level 3 - Speed upgrades for movement and attack available.
Level 4 - Armor upgrades available.
Level 5 - Rocket Launcher attachment available.


It works like this: When the Goblin knows this skill but does not have a Shredder Suit unit on the map, the button will be a "build shredder" button. It may become a submenu where one is "build for free" (which takes long time) or one that is "quick assemble" where the Goblin can pay a sum to have it rebuilt almost immediately.

When the Goblin DO have a Shredder suit, the button will be a spellbook-menu of the five mentioned upgrades, depending on the level of the ability. Each time an upgrade is applied, the cost of applying it again will increase. So adding 100hp may cost 200 gold, adding 100hp again may cost 400 gold and so on.

The Goblin must load himself into the suit to operate and move it around. It will use the Goblin Shredder model, obviously.

The final rocketlauncher upgrade will (as the fifth level of all abilities) cost a LOT of to learn and a LOT to apply, and will attach a seriously powerful area of effect long ranged homing rocketlauncher. If the player can somehow afford multiple upgrades, it will shoot multiple rockets each volley. The player can set the target for the rockets to either a unit or a point on the ground using a dummy ability.

Goblin Zeppelin
The main motivation force behind the Gadgeteer's Zeppelin is to one day be able to drop bombs onto the heads of small people far below. In it's initial state however, it is an accomplishment to keep it off the ground. Can be repaired or rebuilt if damaged. Great to get you or an ally out of... or into trouble.

Level 1 - Speed upgrades available.
Level 2 - Stealth upgrades available.
Level 3 - Hitpoint upgrades available.
Level 4 - Defense upgrades available.
Level 5 - Cluster bomb upgrades available.


Uses the same system as the Shredder where the Goblin can apply upgrades that cost more for each multiple use. Hitpoint upgrades from level 3 will be sorely needed, because on level 1 and 2, the thing will explode if you look at it sideways.

Stealth upgrades will give it a short invisibility. Think windwalkish, although hopefully with a cool effect. Duration increases, cooldown decreases with each upgrade.

Defense upgrades includes a shield that absorbs damage and regenerates. (Yep, manashield put to good use). Mana capacity and regeneration increases.

Cluster Bombs, being the ultimate will be rather powerful. The Goblin will have to fill the ship up with bombs using a skill that costs mana. The number of bombs will show up in the ships single inventory-slot. Then, when flying around, the bombs can be activated, and will drop in multitudes every second until deactivated or it runs out of bombs.

Important to note, allies, and in fact, several people can use the zeppelin at once. This makes it a tool for very reckless and crazy tactics, even if the Goblin has no intention of leveling it all up to the ultimate. Even a zeppelin with no upgrades except perhaps a bit extra speed can be useful in many situations.

Auto-tower
The Goblin Auto-tower is one of the few goblin contraptions envied even by the competent dwarves. Little do they know that the secret to it's operation, the endless stream of arrows that come out all day and all night, is nothing special at all. Just cheap Goblin labour.

Level 1-5 - Build a tower with X hitpoints that does Y damage.


After the previous two exhaustive abilities, this one is much more straightforward. Leveling up this skill merely improves the stats of the tower. Still, an excellent tool - sometimes used to earn creep-kill money in a lane, later to create a solid push towards the enemy, and other times again to create dangerous ambush locations. Will cost either Mana to build or both Mana and Gold, depending on what seems most sensible.

Goblin Factory (ultimate)
The origins of this unwholesome combination of mechanics and magic remains unknown. All the Goblin Gadgeteer will ever say about it is "goes boom... stay away", and this is coming from the same Goblin that wants to drop bombs out of a Zeppelin. Creates a Goblin Factory at target location which spawns bouncing metal goblins that explode violently in the vicinity.

Level 1-5 - Increases rate of spawned goblins.


Oh boy oh boy oh BOY. Explosions! The goblins that pop out will bounce in high bouncy arcs and explode after a couple of recoils. It the player sets a waypoint for the goblin factory, the goblins will spawn in that direction with their first couple of bounces, after which it will bounce one or two random bounces before going boom.

And the explosions will be seriously big and nasty. This is one ultimate that's going to LOOK like an ultimate.




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Well, that's it. I initially planned to write all four engineers at once, but just this one took forever. I am sure some of the text is not exactly tooltip suitable, but I wrote them anyway to give some flavour to the hero.

If anyone has any comments or general ideas, feel free to share. Remember, this is still in the concept stage, so all kind of input can lead to betterment.

I'll add the last three, the Dwarven Ironworker, the Contrapting Cultist and the Elven Engineer later on, along with some general thoughts about the Engineer's roles in the map.

Here is engineer 2 of 4. Again, mostly for my own benefit.

Dwarven Ironworker

A dedicated constructioneer with a penchant for things that are difficult to break apart. His skill with metal is abused to the point where his creations become almost indestructible.

Steamtank
The Ironworker will never let an occation to proudly display the capabilities of his Steamtank, primarily being the ability to not break apart very easily. Can carry the Ironworker around safely... and slowly.

Level 1 - Armor upgrades available.
Level 2 - Hitpoint upgrades available.
Level 3 - Movement upgrades available.
Level 4 - Grenade upgrades available.
Level 5 - Chainsaw upgrade available.


It works like the Goblin Shredder suit: The Ironworker can repair the steamtank if it gets damaged, or rebuild it if it is destroyed. Upgrades cost more for each multiple use, so it is a good idea to level up the Steamtank skill to get more kinds of upgrades.

It does not attack at all on level 1-3 and is meant primarily as a safety vessel, but at level 4 a decent grenade launcher attack can be added.

The "ultimate" leve of the ability includes a mounted chainsaw that deals intense damage to anyone unfortunate to be located directly in the front of the vehicle.

Although it will be able to withstand amazing damage, it's slow movement speed may be a problem when escaping from offenses deep into the enemy base.

Forging
With the motto "build to last", the Ironworker improves the armor of his Steamwagon, Fortified Tower and worn Body Armor.

Level 1-5 - Gives a percentage bonus to armor for Steamwagon, Fortified Tower and Body Armor worn.


This dwarven speciality is the backbone of his other skills, making the Steamtank and the Fortified Tower much more durable. As a bonus, it also improves the armor given by the item worn in the body armor slot, giving the dwarf some protection even after he has to evacuate his tank.

Fortified Tower
Nothing pleases a dwarf quite as much as throwing some rocks together to form a fortification in homage to the mountains. Creates a durable tower that can act as both a troop-killer and a safe-house for the Ironworker and his Allies.

Level 1-5 - Each level improves hitpoints, armor and damage.


This tower serves a very different purpose than the Gadgeteer's Auto-tower. First of all, it doesn't attack unless a hero enters it. And secondly, unlike the fragile Auto-tower, it can actually survive quite a beating.

On the "ultimate" level 5, it get's a better projectile and does area of effect damage.

Boobytrapped Steamtank(ultimate)
The idea may have been born from the intense anger dwarves feel when something they have claimed to be indestructible is destroyed anyway. It is as brilliant as it is simple: By using simpler driving mechanisms, any creep can be "presuaded" to drive the tank, which happens to be packed with explosives, to it's fiery doom.

Level 1-5 - Each level improves area of effect and damage.


This skill creates a tank that looks exactly like the regular tank and has the exact same statistics. However, it will not be able to attack. When destroyed, whether by the enemies destroying it or intentionally destroyed by your own team, it blows up dealing terrible terrible damage sending all nearby units flying through the air.

I can just imagine a team attacking their boobytrapped steamtank to 5% hp and send it off into the enemy base. "Nooo, stupid creeps, don't hit it!!!!" says a hero (yeah, I might actually put floating text above a hero to utter those words just for the hell of it). I don't think the creeps will listen though :)