Here's my take on how flood should be a faction.

Games Halo Wars Series
#1

Lets start off on their economy. How do the flood get their money. They don’t, well not in the way we usually think.

  • Producing Flood Stalks supply the flood with nutrients used to create and sustain more flood. Nutrients will be the “supplies”. Remember the flood stalks from campaign? They are told to provide the flood with nutirents to create and sustain flood, which is where my idea comes from.

How will base building work for the flood?

  • A **Proto Gravemind will fill the role of the a base, like a fortress for the unsc, and a citadel for the covenant. The flood can build anywhere they want, but they build within their area of influence, which is spread by creating flood stalks.**To familiarize ourselfs to this concept, lets say your main base is a Flood Proto Gravemind ( remember those, from campaign ). You have a sphere of base influence from your Gravemind. Build stalks to expand it, and to gain money. You can only build within this influence.

  • **How does unit population and tech level work?**The flood Gravemind you start out with gives you a base of 20 population, and 1 tech level. All upgrades are done there. Creating additional Graveminds, grant an additional 10 population. Flood eggs each increase the population by 2, and take 30 seconds to build. The max population is 80. (Remember the flood eggs from the campaign?). Their expalined to house flood, which coincides to population.

To increase tech level by 1 each, you need to create a Proto Gravemind ; their basically reactors in this sense also. They take 90 seconds to build, and require a reasonable amount of base influence for a spot to build. They are also alot weaker compared to the Gravemind you started out with.

And if you dont know what flood stalks are, their in the campaign, and are specificied as structures that supply more nutrients to create and maintain more flood, which is where i got this idea from. Heck, maybe make nutrients the “supply” for the flood.

This idea also complements and reflects the flood for growing in numbers the more ground they control. For example, this includes the flood infecting the spirit of fire on a mission called cleanse. The flood started small, then grew larger as they expanded on the ship. In this case, the flood grow larger as they expand on the map.

And as for the mission where you kill the gravemind , the Gravemind acted as a Main Base for creating Building sites, such as flood colonies, and acted as a multi - purpise stuctrure, being able to upgrade units. This is evident as thrasher - forms are seen later in the mission - as if it required a tech tree.

  • What units do they have? Well oddly enough, the flood will use a mixture of unsc and covenant units, including even vehicles. This is because the flood gain variants of species to infect and reproduce as the bulk of their army. Because of this, i have two ideas

The flood must kill / infect a unit in order to reproduce whatever unit it infected.

If , for example, as the flood, you killed a squad of marines, then infected them, you gained the ability to train infected marines.

The flood must make Flood eggs. Each egg , depending on the description, allows you to train a type of unit from each faction.

Remember the flood eggs from the campaign. Now for example, lets say you want to start producing infected elites. To do this, you must make a flood egg for Elites. After its done, your now able to make infected elites. The more eggs you have, the more amount of units you can generally make. Egg cost will depend on the unit you want to make. A egg for grunts would require less nutrients than an egg for elites, for example.

The flood also cannot create vehicles from other factions. They will have to commandeer them , like spartans, but rather they infect crew, and also infantry in general. For example, the flood infectiom form could “hijack” units, including vehicles, and infect the crew, giving you control of the vehicle, respectively. Infected infantry can do this also, but less effectively.

Leader Powers / Units?

None.

Starting scout?

None.

General style / Strength and Weakness?

Very weak units. A infected marine for example is equal to 2 marines in terms of hitpoints, but cheap and fast to produce, so they would be half the cost.Uses overwhelming forces , and infects enemy force to shift the battle in their favor.

Alright. Im done. Believe it or not.

Any thoughts?

#2

Sounds suspiciously like you got the idea from Starcraft 2’s Zerg since they practically do something very similar.

#3

> 2533274907512096;1:
> Lets start off on their economy. How do the flood get their money. They don’t, well not in the way we usually think.
>
>
>
> - Producing Flood Stalks supply the flood with nutrients used to create and sustain more flood. Nutrients will be the “supplies”.
> Remember the flood stalks from campaign? They are told to provide the flood with nutirents to create and sustain flood, which is where my idea comes from.
>
> How will base building work for the flood?
>
>
> - A Proto Gravemind will fill the role of the a base, like a fortress for the unsc, and a citadel for the covenant. The flood can build anywhere they want, but they build within their area of influence, which is spread by creating flood stalks.
> To familiarize ourselfs to this concept, lets say your main base is a Flood Proto Gravemind ( remember those, from campaign ). You have a sphere of base influence from your Gravemind. Build stalks to expand it, and to gain money. You can only build within this influence.
>
>
>
> - How does unit population and tech level work?
> The flood Gravemind you start out with gives you a base of 20 population, and 1 tech level. All upgrades are done there. Creating additional Graveminds, grant an additional 10 population. Flood eggs each increase the population by 2, and take 30 seconds to build. The max population is 80. (Remember the flood eggs from the campaign?). Their expalined to house flood, which coincides to population.
>
> To increase tech level by 1 each, you need to create a Proto Gravemind ; their basically reactors in this sense also. They take 90 seconds to build, and require a reasonable amount of base influence for a spot to build. They are also alot weaker compared to the Gravemind you started out with.
>
> And if you dont know what flood stalks are, their in the campaign, and are specificied as structures that supply more nutrients to create and maintain more flood, which is where i got this idea from. Heck, maybe make nutrients the “supply” for the flood.
>
> This idea also complements and reflects the flood for growing in numbers the more ground they control. For example, this includes the flood infecting the spirit of fire on a mission called cleanse. The flood started small, then grew larger as they expanded on the ship. In this case, the flood grow larger as they expand on the map.
>
> And as for the mission where you kill the gravemind , the Gravemind acted as a Main Base for creating Building sites, such as flood colonies, and acted as a multi - purpise stuctrure, being able to upgrade units. This is evident as thrasher - forms are seen later in the mission - as if it required a tech tree.
>
>
>
> - What units do they have?
> Well oddly enough, the flood will use a mixture of unsc and covenant units, including even vehicles. This is because the flood gain variants of species to infect and reproduce as the bulk of their army. Because of this, i have two ideas
>
> The flood must kill / infect a unit in order to reproduce whatever unit it infected.
>
> If , for example, as the flood, you killed a squad of marines, then infected them, you gained the ability to train infected marines.
>
> The flood must make Flood eggs. Each egg , depending on the description, allows you to train a type of unit from each faction.
>
> Remember the flood eggs from the campaign. Now for example, lets say you want to start producing infected elites. To do this, you must make a flood egg for Elites. After its done, your now able to make infected elites. The more eggs you have, the more amount of units you can generally make. Egg cost will depend on the unit you want to make. A egg for grunts would require less nutrients than an egg for elites, for example.
>
> The flood also cannot create vehicles from other factions. They will have to commandeer them , like spartans, but rather they infect crew, and also infantry in general. For example, the flood infectiom form could “hijack” units, including vehicles, and infect the crew, giving you control of the vehicle, respectively. Infected infantry can do this also, but less effectively.
>
> Leader Powers / Units?
>
> None.
>
> Starting scout?
>
> None.
>
> General style / Strength and Weakness?
>
> Very weak units. A infected marine for example is equal to 2 marines in terms of hitpoints, but cheap and fast to produce, so they would be half the cost.Uses overwhelming forces , and infects enemy force to shift the battle in their favor.
>
> Alright. Im done. Believe it or not.
>
> Any thoughts?

Incredibly well thought out I like the whole idea of this and would like a message from you and I’ll add ideas if you like?

#4

> 2533274829873463;2:
> Sounds suspiciously like you got the idea from Starcraft 2’s Zerg since they practically do something very similar.

I’ve heard of Starcraft but I never played it or saw gameplay of it.

#5

> 2533274907512096;4:
> > 2533274829873463;2:
> > Sounds suspiciously like you got the idea from Starcraft 2’s Zerg since they practically do something very similar.
>
>
> I’ve heard of Starcraft but I never played it or saw gameplay of it.

It is certainly similar in some major ways, but I wouldn’t call it a copycat. Perhaps, inspired.

Interesting ideas, but I’m not quite on-board with it yet. Can’t quite put my finger on it.

#6

Infecting enemy infantry should be a feature not a limitation.

it is already canon that the flood have various ‘pure forms’ that do not require infection to produce. Some examples are the juggernaut, stalker, and spiker forms you encounter in Halo 3.

When playing as the flood you should be producing various pure forms that fight either conventionally or by producing flood spores.

think of the flood spores not as units but as bullets or rockets. Pure forms would ‘shoot’ spores (in various ways) that would seek out enemies and attempt to infect them. The spores can be targeted and killed preventing damage and infection as an offset for the powerful infection effect. This makes them like a form of chaff, both absorbing enemy fire (protecting your pure forms) and potentially infecting enemy infantry.

Infected units should have a timer once infected an if they are not killed before the timer ends become a bomber form triggering another timer at which point they dissolve into more flood spores.

flood spores can still attack vehicles but deal very little damage an apply a slowing effect instead.

The flood pure form units should be weak relative their UNSC and Covenant counter parts and rely on masses of spores for protection.

To fight the flood you want to try to absorb spores with your vehicles and target their spore producing forms with heavy fire power.

#7

> 2533274809541057;5:
> > 2533274907512096;4:
> > > 2533274829873463;2:
> > > Sounds suspiciously like you got the idea from Starcraft 2’s Zerg since they practically do something very similar.
> >
> >
> > I’ve heard of Starcraft but I never played it or saw gameplay of it.
>
>
> It is certainly similar in some major ways, but I wouldn’t call it a copycat. Perhaps, inspired.
>
> Interesting ideas, but I’m not quite on-board with it yet. Can’t quite put my finger on it.

I understand. I don’t necessarily want flood to be playable in PvP, but if it had to, I’d assume it’d go along down this path.

#8

> 2535444910269452;3:
> > 2533274907512096;1:
> > Lets start off on their economy. How do the flood get their money. They don’t, well not in the way we usually think.
> >
> >
> >
> > - Producing Flood Stalks supply the flood with nutrients used to create and sustain more flood. Nutrients will be the “supplies”.
> > Remember the flood stalks from campaign? They are told to provide the flood with nutirents to create and sustain flood, which is where my idea comes from.
> >
> > How will base building work for the flood?
> >
> >
> > - A Proto Gravemind will fill the role of the a base, like a fortress for the unsc, and a citadel for the covenant. The flood can build anywhere they want, but they build within their area of influence, which is spread by creating flood stalks.
> > To familiarize ourselfs to this concept, lets say your main base is a Flood Proto Gravemind ( remember those, from campaign ). You have a sphere of base influence from your Gravemind. Build stalks to expand it, and to gain money. You can only build within this influence.
> >
> >
> >
> > - How does unit population and tech level work?
> > The flood Gravemind you start out with gives you a base of 20 population, and 1 tech level. All upgrades are done there. Creating additional Graveminds, grant an additional 10 population. Flood eggs each increase the population by 2, and take 30 seconds to build. The max population is 80. (Remember the flood eggs from the campaign?). Their expalined to house flood, which coincides to population.
> >
> > To increase tech level by 1 each, you need to create a Proto Gravemind ; their basically reactors in this sense also. They take 90 seconds to build, and require a reasonable amount of base influence for a spot to build. They are also alot weaker compared to the Gravemind you started out with.
> >
> > And if you dont know what flood stalks are, their in the campaign, and are specificied as structures that supply more nutrients to create and maintain more flood, which is where i got this idea from. Heck, maybe make nutrients the “supply” for the flood.
> >
> > This idea also complements and reflects the flood for growing in numbers the more ground they control. For example, this includes the flood infecting the spirit of fire on a mission called cleanse. The flood started small, then grew larger as they expanded on the ship. In this case, the flood grow larger as they expand on the map.
> >
> > And as for the mission where you kill the gravemind , the Gravemind acted as a Main Base for creating Building sites, such as flood colonies, and acted as a multi - purpise stuctrure, being able to upgrade units. This is evident as thrasher - forms are seen later in the mission - as if it required a tech tree.
> >
> >
> >
> > - What units do they have?
> > Well oddly enough, the flood will use a mixture of unsc and covenant units, including even vehicles. This is because the flood gain variants of species to infect and reproduce as the bulk of their army. Because of this, i have two ideas
> >
> > The flood must kill / infect a unit in order to reproduce whatever unit it infected.
> >
> > If , for example, as the flood, you killed a squad of marines, then infected them, you gained the ability to train infected marines.
> >
> > The flood must make Flood eggs. Each egg , depending on the description, allows you to train a type of unit from each faction.
> >
> > Remember the flood eggs from the campaign. Now for example, lets say you want to start producing infected elites. To do this, you must make a flood egg for Elites. After its done, your now able to make infected elites. The more eggs you have, the more amount of units you can generally make. Egg cost will depend on the unit you want to make. A egg for grunts would require less nutrients than an egg for elites, for example.
> >
> > The flood also cannot create vehicles from other factions. They will have to commandeer them , like spartans, but rather they infect crew, and also infantry in general. For example, the flood infectiom form could “hijack” units, including vehicles, and infect the crew, giving you control of the vehicle, respectively. Infected infantry can do this also, but less effectively.
> >
> > Leader Powers / Units?
> >
> > None.
> >
> > Starting scout?
> >
> > None.
> >
> > General style / Strength and Weakness?
> >
> > Very weak units. A infected marine for example is equal to 2 marines in terms of hitpoints, but cheap and fast to produce, so they would be half the cost.Uses overwhelming forces , and infects enemy force to shift the battle in their favor.
> >
> > Alright. Im done. Believe it or not.
> >
> > Any thoughts?
>
>
> Incredibly well thought out I like the whole idea of this and would like a message from you and I’ll add ideas if you like?

Feel free to add!

#9

I like the balancing aspect that the flood units generally are weak but once they infect e.g. marines those infected will be stronger than normal marines. So it would be a nice gamble to try attack and take over enemy units with high chances of loosing your entire force but a very high reward if it works out. Could be a race for more experienced RTS players though…

#10

> 2533274896616265;6:
> Infecting enemy infantry should be a feature not a limitation.
>
> it is already canon that the flood have various ‘pure forms’ that do not require infection to produce. Some examples are the juggernaut, stalker, and spiker forms you encounter in Halo 3.
>
> When playing as the flood you should be producing various pure forms that fight either conventionally or by producing flood spores.

Thank you for mentioning the pure forms. If no one would have mentioned it, i definitely would have haha. I read through the whole post by the creator of this thread. It sounds interesting. Though you did forget to mention the pure forms which is the Flood’s elite units you can say. It does sound similar to Zerg like how Flood must spread their stuff to be able to expand further just like creep from SC. It is not necessarily a bad thing especially since they both have some similarites, though very little. I am curious how CA will/have made Flood playable. Perhaps we will see at E3. I kinda doubt it though because they might just want to have people play the two main races/factions. UNSC vs Covenant but let’s hope that isn’t the case. It would hype things even more if they showed Flood being playable i think.

You mentioned how Flood would be able to produce supply and I can totally see something like that. I am a bit self centered saying that Flood will be playable without proof. I just can’t see them not touching Flood at all.