Protoss War Council rebalance checklist

[MatthewMarinets]

Creating a checklist for the war council rebalance sheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hObgY0_T7O94AOJ6wVCElEex-sE6JKQmIMsQO2oshpA/edit

Some upgrades are already implemented as default tech in the AP_Triggers_giveProtossDefaultTech() action, I'll try and capture them here. @MadiMadsen would be nice if you could confirm what you implemented already, I see Zealot, Centurion, Sentinel, Void Ray, Phoenix, etc. I also notice some Supplicant and Slayer upgrades that seem unrelated. I am also unsure what the recommended testing configuration is, I'm hoping to shift things over to a client option soon.

• Zealot (Whirlwind)
• Centurion (RE)
• Sentinel (RE)
• Supplicant
• Dragoon (Phalanx Suit)
• Stalker (Phase Reactor)
• Adept (Disruptive Transfer)
• Instigator (RE)
• Slayer (Phase Blink)
• Avenger (Kryhas Cloak)
• Dark Templar (Shadow Fury (2 levels))
• Blood Hunter (Brutal Efficiency)
• Sentry (Double Shield Recharge)
• Energizer (Mobile Chrono Beam)
• Havoc (Enduring Sight)
• High Templar (Plasma Surge)
• Signifier (Feedback)
• Dark Archon (Indomitable Will)
• Ascendant (Ability Efficiency)
• Immortal (Improved Barrier)
• Annihilator (Aerial Tracking)
• Vanguard (Fusion Mortars, Rapidfire Cannon)
• Stalwart (Duality Charge)
• Reaver (Khalai Replicators)
• Colossus (Fire Lance)
• Wrathwalker (Aerial Tracking)
• Phoenix (Double Graviton Beam)
• Corsair (Network Disruption)
• Mirage (Graviton Beam)
• Skirmisher (Peer Contempt)
• Arbiter (Abilty Efficiency)
• Void Ray (Prismatic Range)
• Destroyer (Reforged Bloodshard Core)
• Warp Prism (Warp Refraction)
• Dawnbringer (Solarite Lens)
• Carrier (Repair Drones)
• Skylord (Hyperjump)
• Trireme
• Tempest (Disintegration)
• Mothership
• Scout (Gamma Projection)
• Oracle
• Disruptor (Restructured Thrusters)
• Observer (Scopophobia Inducers)

[MadiMadsen]

Basically I managed to do the entire zealot line so far, supplicant was the last one I completed.
I used the unit test map and basically tested the unit until I had the proper rebalanced version and then I gave it a research trigger and turned it on and to make sure the upgrade worked properly.
And for organization sake I put all these upgrades to be on by default in archipelago triggers together I did not worked on anything above the comment so I cannot validate that those are fully functional.

[MadiMadsen]

small correction: it looks like the changes i made to supplicant were undone
one of zik's recent commitments undid the upgrades given to supplicants by default for the purposes of this rebalance.

[MatthewMarinets]

Noting some feedback and ideas that I won't be able to implement during the first half of holiday time:

Resource efficiency

• Resource Efficiency upgrades are very invisible; consider adding icons to the unit command cards
• Several people have said Centurion resource efficiency feels way too punishing
  • Consider reducing the nerf to 25 gas
  • Consider replacing the nerf with one to charge (stun isn't very touchable as that's what distinguished centurions from other zealots)
• "I don't think I've ever bought a full price instigator LOL" / "instinctually I look at the price of the instigator and write it off unless I don't have another option (which hasn't happened yet!)" --Venat, 2024-12-19
  • Maybe change the nerf to a movespeed nerf? Could encourage more blink usage
• Sentinel RE feels good; no need to rework beyond maybe a command-card icon

Scout

• The scout will get a buff-style war council upgrade (ie don't nerf the baseline)
• Scouts are powerful units with very good anti-air and disappointing ground, but at a bad price-point. They do well vs armoured air and when massed up
• There is a possibility of remapping an already-implemented scout upgrade to be the war council upgrade
  • Candidates are RE, movespeed, or anti-ground damage
  • With discussion on RE above, that doesn't seem the best route forward
• phaneros: could lean into Scout identity as the most bulky basic flyer and give them a +health/shields upgrade

[Magnemania]

I believe that removing the gas cost from Centurions entirely is a terrible misunderstanding of why the Sentinel WC upgrade works.

Zealots serve three purposes, and they've served these purposes since SC1:

1. They have no gas cost, allowing them to be used as a mineral dump.
2. They have high durability for their cost, making them effective at dying in place of more valuable units.
3. They are Protoss's best answer to light units until T3

I think players forget that third one; I did, until I tried playing through the Prophecy and early LotV missions with pure Stalker. Even in situations where the player doesn't have leftover minerals, Zealots are so much more effective against Zerglings, Hydralisks, Marines, Marauders, and enemy Zealots than Stalkers are. The only units with similar or better effectiveness against Light have a high gas cost and high tech requirements. They also tend to counter units designed to counter Armored, like Marauders and Immortals.

WC Sentinels are balanced with vanilla Zealots because they cost 60% more and do 0% more damage. If the player is against a large amount of units that aren't Armored (or specialize in killing armored units) and they don't have the gas or unlocks to support Colossi, Zealots are a superior choice over Sentinels. If light units are solved by other methods, Sentinels are a better tank.

Removing Shadow Charge from the Centurion does not make them significantly worse at any of the three strengths of Zealots. The still have no gas cost, they still have high durability, and they only do slightly less DPS against light units at the start of the battle. In exchange for having virtually no drawbacks, they get one of the strongest CC tools in the game? That's ludicrous.

We can reduce the gas cost to 25, maybe, but I can't envision any non-gas nerf to the Centurion that would make the player consider Zealots over them. Even if Darkcoil were removed (and it shouldn't be) they're still a direct upgrade over vanilla Zealots due to Shadow Charge being a straight upgrade over Charge.

---

Reducing Instigator movespeed could be interesting, though!