Amoeba Absorber

[Forest_Archer]

These strange morphing creatures will split apart when in battle to make the opponent do a double take. They can fuse back together, making them basically invincable.

Health- 56

Armor- 0

Blocking- 0

Attack- Deals 15 damage to a chosen unit adjacent to it. This attack deals damage but also heals the AA with the total amount of health the attacked unit has divided by 5. Therefore, a knight with 35/50 health would be attacked with 15 damage and the AA would drain 10 health from that. The healing does not have anything to do with the amount of health the unit has left, but rather the total amount of possible health. This attack is unblockable and is unreducable.

Special Attack [Scatter Split]- When you click and hold the AA's space until it turns clear, the squares around it will turn an orangish-yellow color, like the regular attack. You can click on one space around it and it will turn red. Then you click on that red space and the AA splits its health with that square. This chosen square can not be occupied. Now both of the AA's will need to be killed to win. No more than 4 AA's can be in play at a time.

Special Attack [Re-group]- When you click and hold the AA's space and go through the motions as seen in Scatter Split, you can attack the AA adjacent to the one you are using the attack option of. The AA that you are commanding now, will form back into the one that you just attacked. The health will be combined.

Movement Range- 3 (teleportation)

Recovery Time- 1 (1 Attack, 0 Movement)

[Cross Punisher]

Kinda busy, but didn't feel like seeing a thread get 0 replies.

[JesusCraig]

No need cross, I was just about to reply to this one :P

Interesting concept, it would be effectively usable in a turtle, however the attack basis makes it too weak therein. 14 damage to a unit beside it means that most often it will be used on melee units. While it is capable of multiplying and regrouping away a fair amount of damage per heal, it will be incapable of doing any lasting damage to enemies so it will be near useless, even if it does result in a 21 point health discrepancy.

Also I'd suggest lowering the wait to 1, since it takes two turns to effectively use its ability and both those turns are "wasted", it doesn't make much sense to force two recovery turns as well.

[Hellblazer]

That's so cool. I can just picture a giant amoeba on the board.
Aside from that, the stats are well balanced. This really would make an interesting unit.
One thing, though. Since it can split up to 3 times, shouldn't it count as 2 units?

[Forest_Archer]

Craig- The recovery time should be 1? Okay, I agree. But how about the attack amount? How about it does 19 damage and heals 9? (Still unblockable and unreducable, so it is almost a muddy attack with a tweak.)

Blazer- Well that's the beauty of this unit. It doesn't take up any more slots than what is regular and yet it can morph into more.

[Snarr]

Way overpowered, this unit OWNS a knigth 1 on 1. unblockable attack with revoery 1? No unit can have that, on top of that healing itself, on top of that unreductable? That's insane. plus the special attack... 2 of those on board? you can simply multiply knights.

Holy shit! Teleportation too? Why not just call it god?

[Forest_Archer]

Hmm.. well then should I take the attack back down to 14 damage and 7 healing?

[Snarr]

Think this, if it beats a knight 1 on 1 its way overpowered, knight needs to be the strongest unit. That's on top of all its special benefits of teleportation and its special attack.

[bludhoundz]

The re-group is WAY overpowered. Imagine you have 1 28 hp nub in your enemies base, you attack with it, and then retreat it using the other one's ability. btw..if one has recovery, does the other one too?

[Snarr]

Concept is nice, but leaves a lot to be desired.

[Forest_Archer]

How about 12 damage and 6 healing? I think that's reasonable, because it can split and do the same amount of damage with each Amoeba.

[Forest_Archer]

Double post because I can't edit on this computer-

Bludz, yes, both amoebas have a recovery time of 1 after splitting.

[bobdagangsta]

whats up with you computer?

[Forest_Archer]

My computer's wacky, but let's not talk about it in this thread. PM me if you're concerned. I can edit on my other comp though.

[Mithrandir]

I like the concept, too bad it isn't original. Do a search for a vampire (I think), someone did this idea before. Otherwise I most assuredly wouldn't have thrown the idea in my scrap pile.

[Forest_Archer]

*sigh* :(

Well then..

Check out my Scarecrow unit. I think the effect and attack pattern is pretty original. The URL is in my sig.

[JesusCraig]

You sure mith? Maybe it was before my time but I only remember the draining attack being part of the vampire, not the split.

Forest, 18 is a good number, whoever said this could own a knight was wrong, a knight has numerable advantages over this unit, just not necessarily ones which help defeat this unit, such as the ability to block and to reduce damage using armor, this unit happens to be designed to weaken those advantages, but in a group setting those become far more important. Plus when split the units become more susceptible then a knight due to attacks which effect an area, plus they often will not get a chance to attack back, if the player doesn't split his amoeba healing is less effective then when used on a knight, the comparison is invalid.

[Forest_Archer]

Yeah, I looked at Walrus's Vampire. I'm assuming that his unit was the one that you were referring to..

Anyway, once I checked it out, I noticed that it had the same absorbing ability, but nowhere did I find the splitting concept.

[JesusCraig]

Just checked through 4 pages of vampire units to be able to tell you, there is no vampire with the splitting concept, good job forest.

[Mithrandir]

I didn't say it was a clone. But the concept of taking another unit's health has been done. Not that this unit has no originality, I especially like the special abilities.

[Executioner]

Not to be negative but how the hell would a giant amoeba be justified for the tao time period? i mean, unless im wrong we dont even have them now.....

Exe

[JesusCraig]

We don't have dragon's now either.

If it helps you could turn it into some sort of golem anyway, it would only require adding 4 health, and the concept would fit better. It could be like a lava golem or something. Generally I try to avoid semantical components like that, there is always a way around them.

Mith: To quote you on the topic (and lets see if I can quote correctly)
Keep that in mind. Most GENERAL concepts have been done before.

It may share a similarity, but units can be created which utilize an ability better in conjunction with their design.

[Mithrandir]

This is true JC, which is why the unit isn't a total mess like say, FA's Sandstorm Golem which is pretty much a clone.

I'm just saying it isn't as original as I read it being thought to be. I'd recommend it for the committee though, it'd stand a chance.

[Forest_Archer]

It was my Quicksand Golem, but anyway, yeah. I later found out that it was a clone.

Hah, great minds think alike.

Mith and JC- Do you guys think I could keep the splitting concept but make the attack different? How about do 15 damage + Health divided by 5, rounded up.

[JesusCraig]

Sorry, I just took it as being rather disheartening hearing you "throw it in your scrap pile" and I assumed forest did to, so I was trying to restore its credibility.

I thought the splitting concept combined with the healing concept was good, cause ideally it could create a mass of healable units that could charge in drain some life and regroup stronger then it is. Otherwise the split really is only effective when the cleric is alive, makes it awfully dependant.

Perhaps you could do that, and maybe combine a small health bonus for regrouping since the process does drain two turns.

[Forest_Archer]

That was my thinking too, JC. The healing would be a perfect aspect of this unit, but I guess I can't do it because it copied Walrus. Maybe, as I said earlier, the health divided by 5 can be added into the mix. The AA can do 15 damage and then health the attacked unit's health divided by 5. What do you guys think about that? And by the way, the damage would be rounded up.

The above paragraph's statements will enhance the splitting technique, but will not revolve around healing half of the damage dealt as Walrus's Vampire unit did.

[JesusCraig]

I like it, it also makes it more useful to lead off with this attacker, a concept not fundamentally established in TAO currently. Keep up the good work Forest.

[Forest_Archer]

Okay, I'll edit some things tomorrow, because my bro's on the other computer right now and my current computer can't edit.

[JesusCraig]

OH forest, that reminds me, I was doing some exploring and try this:

User CP
Edit options
Bottom of page, under miscellaneous
Click option that says simple text box, in the pull down menu.

[Forest_Archer]

Thanks, JC, the editting thing only worked for my signature, but that's okay. When I need to do some editting, I'll go on my other computer. For now, this unit is done. Is it still tremendously overpowered?

[legacy67]

I have 3 basic criticisms.

1. I have always ben against units that self-heal. This is no exception, especially since it can become multiple self healing units. Also, in a 0one on one with a knight. the knight does an effective damage of 12 after the healing attack of the AA, an the AA does an attack of 11.25 (so is thta 11 or 12 I can never remember) when counting armor. The k ight might win by one hit in the one on one, but I think that an early split garuntees a win for the AA, but I may be wrong as I am too lazy to do the math, but this doesn't change the fact that I am fundamentaly against self healing units.

2. This leads into the bigger defensive use of this unit, which is the ability to become 4 units that block LOS around the cleric. You can create an exceptionally storng defensive force around the cleric that is nearly impenetrable. 15 unblockale damage, self healing, the ability to split and replace fallen splits. This is basically a never ending supply of LOS placeholders.

3. I am not sure I see the point of this unit. It doesn't fullfil any unique offensive role. It has defensive value, but that value is much too strong. I just don't see the strategic purpose of this unit.

[dragonmasta009]

what good does it do when it splits though

[3pidemiC]

it reminds me of the oozium in Advance Wars DS

[Deck of Jesters]

dragon- You get several units with the same attack ability, however, their HP is severely limited (maximum of 28 per Amoeba). This means you can split it, then use it to bombard the opponent for semi-high damage, however, you will likely wind up dealing about 60 damage and then losing your Amoebas. Not really a bad thing, considering that is a Knight (and all but 2 HP if the opponent heals).

3pidemiC- That kind of statement is not only stupid, but unappreciated. I was going to flame you, but decided not to considering you obviously don't surf these forums much. If you are going to post, make it relevant to the arguments of good/bad/ugly.

Now, onto my opinion of the unit.

1. While I am not quite so fast to discourage a unit with healing abilities as legacy is, I do not believe this unit does a good job at it. With a 10 point heal just for attacking a Knight, it is repairing 20 HP every 3 rounds, then 4 rounds, then 3 rounds, etc. This is 40 HP every 7 turns, compared to the 12 every 3 for a Cleric (assuming heal only and no movement). The Cleric heals 4 HP (per unit) per round, and this heals 5.7 per round on 2 units (if you split, then pound with one, pound with the other, pound with one, etc.). This would not be so bad if the attack was not capable of completely slaughtering a Knight in the matter of a couple moves, however, with the high healing and Unblockable/Unreduceable damage combo, it is simply too much. That is, of course, not considering all the other factors in this unit.

2. This leads into the bigger defensive use of this unit, which is the ability to become 4 units that block LOS around the cleric. You can create an exceptionally storng defensive force around the cleric that is nearly impenetrable. 15 unblockale damage, self healing, the ability to split and replace fallen splits. This is basically a never ending supply of LOS placeholders.

2. I disagree with legacy here, as my understanding is that of it can only have a max of 28/28 (double 28 HP units) after the first split, 14/14/28 after the second, and then either 14/14/14/14 or 7/7/14/28 after the third. With the drastic reduction in HP per split, even a Pyromancer is capable of single-shotting a twice split Amoeba. The (relatively) high healing rate is only useful for a single split, by the time it drops to 14 HP per Amoeba, they lose all Offensive and most Defensive capabilities. Even with 28 HP, a Dragon Tyrant is capable of 1-hit kills. If an Amoeba splits twice, a Scout shot ensures a severely wounded unit.



At first, I was with (seemingly) most people in that the unit is overpowered. However, after studying it, I do not really see a scenario where this unit is any more powerful than say, a powered up Pyro. I would actually prefer the Pyro. My belief is that while the splitting concept is neat, if the unit drops to a 28 HP max, it becomes a rather useless suicide unit, if it maintains the 56 HP max, it is as legacy said, too much abuse potential. Yes, it could probably dominate in 1 vs. 1 situations, however, it is relatively useless in the early-mid game due to the low damage combined with a high mortality rate. I do not believe it is powerful enough to be a genuine threat on the battlefield, save in the endgame.