Original discussion: http://www.blizzforums.com/showthread.php?t=24532

Many of us are worried that the Planetary Fortress will not be used in ladder and pro games, due to the extremely high benefits of building an Orbital Command. We think that if we add a few features to the PF we can make it much more viable and on par with the OC. Some of our ideas include:

• increasing the number of SCVs it can hold from 5 to 10 or even 15
  
• allowing the cannons to shoot at air as well as ground
  
• adding a fog of war detection range about one thrid of that of the Sensor Tower (but hiding it from the enemy)
  
• allowing the call-down of drop-pods loaded with 6 marines for a mineral and energy cost

Any comments and/or points of discussion from posters and developers would be appreciated. :)

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Q u o t e:
Original discussion: http://www.blizzforums.com/showthread.php?t=24532

Many of us are worried that the Planetary Fortress will not be used in ladder and pro games, due to the extremely high benefits of building an Orbital Command. We think that if we add a few features to the PF we can make it much more viable and on par with the OC. Some of our ideas include:

• increasing the number of SCVs it can hold from 5 to 10 or even 15
  
• allowing the cannons to shoot at air as well as ground
  
• adding a fog of war detection range about one thrid of that of the Sensor Tower (but hiding it from the enemy)
  
• allowing the call-down of drop-pods loaded with 6 marines for a mineral and energy cost

Any comments and/or points of discussion from posters and developers would be appreciated. :)

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Currently in testing, the PF (Planetary Fortress) is already quite beefy - It's ground attack has been buffed to 40 damage and has a 6 range. When upgrading to a PF, your command center also gets +2 building armor, making this building a very formidable obstacle, especially with 20 SCVs repairing at the same time. There have been many games I've seen the PF hold off raiding forces and sometimes even attacking forces by itself and SCVs. While I wouldn't think it'd be wise to convert your first Command Center to a PF, converting strategic expansions could be helpful, such as those at high yields or may be farther away from the rest of your bases.

On a side note cause I'm sure somebody is wondering this as well - the PF upgrade costs 150 minerals and 150 gas whereas the Orbital Command upgrade costs just 150 minerals. The PF prerequisite building is the Engineering Bay and the Orbital Command prerequisite building is the Barracks.

EDIT: The PF does splash damage as well.

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Q u o t e:


supersweet! thanks for the info!

a quick additional question... does the fortress have an area-of-attack damage, or does it attack a single target at a time?

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Splash damage, like a Siege Tank :)

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Q u o t e:


That would be unbelievably overpowered... it's way too powerful to be mobile.

Does the splash damage friendly units, Karune...?

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The Planetary Fortress's splash damage will not hurt friendly units but the splash damage of Siege Tanks still will.

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Q u o t e:


Karune if you were trying to be really nasty and bottle up your opponent would you put a planetary fortress right outside their base entrance?

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Yup, they make for some pretty humorous games, though keep in mind each one of these are a 550 minerals and 150 gas investment. It takes quite a bit of time to build + upgrade, but if you could pull it off early game (assuming your opponent does not scout) it will surely keep them bottled up until tier 2 or 3 where more mobility comes online. To mount an attack on a Planetary Fortress takes quite a good number of units. Usually it would be better to bypass it if you can.

This is of course more of a gimmick than a strategy that will have high success repetitively :)