I've been playing the HD version of SC2 for the last couple of weeks and am familiar with the ships again. So I thought I'd write this to show how no separate balance is needed for alternate scenarios like base defense or hockey and to give everyone a better understanding of what hockey is like and how it works. This will be a long post, but should give everyone a decent idea about what hockey would be like.
So... What if SC2 had space hockey?
First, we need the rules for SC2 hockey. They are pretty simple. SC2 hockey ("Frungy") is not played "on a pinball machine table", it's just an open hockey rink. There is a goal at each end, with a "no fly zone" in front of the goal to prevent goal tending. The players can carry, pass, intercept, and shoot the puck. A ship carrying the puck loses it's primary (i.e. button #1) weapon which instead passes/shoots the puck. The edge of the map is a barrier (i.e. wall) that ships and the puck bounce off of. And, finally, the puck is unaffected by certain special abilities (ones that transform, teleport, or cloak the ship) so if the Arilou warps it drops the puck, if the Mrrmmm changes form it drops the puck, if the Ilwrath cloaks it drops the puck. But other special abilities do not cause the puck to drop so the Thraddash can use its rocket boosters and keep the puck, or the Pkunk can recharge energy without losing the puck. SC2 hockey uses the supermelee point system meaning that players will have a number of "lives" based on their ship selections. And, finally, each half is 8 minutes long and each player has his ship lineup reset at half-time.
So, now lets assume that I am a fairly well-known SC2 hockey player which gives me the ability to attempt to assemble a team of aces who want to win the next organized league and I've decided to try and put together my own team of all-stars and try to win the league championship. First I'll evaluate the ships of SC2 as hockey players, then I'll put together our (hopefully) championship team.
The Starting Players - These are the "starters". The best hockey players among the ships of SC2 and the only ships likely to be used by serious contenders in league games.
Spathi - This is the "point guard" of SC2 hockey. A very fast and agile retrograder with high health who loses almost nothing when carrying the ball. Hard to hit, hard to catch, and with a very effective rear firing weapon, no other ship is better at carrying the ball an advancing it to the goal. It's only drawback is it's 18 point cost, which means a Spathi player will have fewer lives and be easy to knock out of the game to get a man up.
Thraddash - The goal scorer. Fast and agile retrograder... with rocket boosters. This ship, like the Spathi, loses little while carrying the ball. It's rocket boosters allow it to make moves in front of the goal to get an open shot. No other ship can compete with the Thraddash when it comes to scoring goals.
Pkunk - Very fast and agile, the Pkunk is hard to hit and can stay with the ball. The Pkunk can play hockey, but is only an average player. Not a good ball carrier, it loses it's only weapon while carrying the ball. The Pkunk, however, is strategically invaluable and pretty much all players will have at least 3 Pkunk ships in their lineup for the "free lives" they provide. The Pkunk is used strategically as insurance against being "bashed" out of the game.
Supox - The enforcer, the defender. Among this group of ships, the Supox weapon is very powerful and has a long range. The ship is fast and agile enough to stay on the ball. These ships essentially represent the defense, and are the players most focused on bashing enemy players out of the game. Not good ball carrier, it loses the weapon that makes it so useful while carrying the ball. A Supox player is always looking to pass the ball to a teammate as soon as possible.
Sophixti - Fast and agile enough to stay on the ball, this ship is unique and the people who are good at using it are also rare and unique players. This ship is inferior to the other starters in every way... except for his special ability to detonate and potentially take out half of the enemy team at once. This threat forces the enemy team to play differently, and in a less effective way, when it is present near the ball. The threat of detonation is far more valuable than the actual act itself, and a good Sophixti player who understands this and actually enjoys playing this way is hard to find. Like a speed-demon 2nd baseman in baseball... this is rare player that not every team can have. A good Sophixti player escorts the ball carrier, keeping the threat of detonation present near the ball, and every once in a while creates a big play by taking out multiple defenders at once. Limited lives make this a very hard ship to use well.
The Bench Warmers - These ships have abilities that are either fun or useful in hockey, but not that "athletic ability" (speed, maneuverability, health) to stay with the ball. A ship that can't keep up with the ball may as well not be in the game, so speed is the key attribute of hockey players. It would be fairly common to encounter any of these ships in fun pick-up games, but not in league games.
Arilou - The best player of the bench warmers. The Arilou is an all-around good ship for hockey would mostly act as an enforcer. A decent ball carrier, a decent scorer, not a good point guard. It doesn't make the starting lineup because if it were a starter it would be an enforcer... and the Supox is just a lot better at that mission. It is, however, by far the best of the bench warmers seriously outclassing the rest of this group as a hockey player. You might actually see a few of these in league games, but in my opinion it would be a mistake to use this over the Supox in "serious" league play.
Androsynth - The bubbles effectively make it a retograder, which is good for hockey, but they can't be used while carrying the ball. It's special fireball/rocket boost ability is also very useful in hockey, but the change of form means he drops the ball. The Androsynth is a decent hockey player, but a little too slow and un-maneuverable in it's normal form to make the starting lineup. The Spathi is a better point guard and the Thraddash is a better goal scorer, so it doesn't get used in serious league games.
Orz - He can rotate his gun backwards and retrograde... but not while carrying the ball. The marines are very useful, and also a retrograde weapon. The Orz is a decent player, but a little slow and just not quite good enough to make the starting lineup. It is still a very capable hockey player, just not a star player.
Yehat - Actually one of the better bench warmers in spite of it's average speed. It is too slow to be used in serious league play, but it's powerful guns and very useful shield make it a very fun ship to bring into a hockey rink. The Yehat would probably be fairly popular in non-league pick-up games. Half-enforcer, half ball-carrier, and even a little bit of scoring ability... it is very versatile, but the problem is it can't use that versatility when faced with an entire team of fast "starting lineup" players. He'll just spend the entire game chasing them and trying to catch up.
Mrrmmm - Also a decent hockey player, but very hard to use. You must switch forms constantly, using your speed form to get on the ball and your agile/attack form to get into the fight once you are there. It's guns are nice, but it has little athletic ability and no abilities that are particularly useful in hockey. In the hands of Commander Data this might be a "starting linup" enforcer... but us mere humans are unlikely to be able to use it well enough to do that.
Khor-Ah - The best goalie in Frungy. Very fun. But not useful as a starting lineup player. Playing goalie puts your team a man down most of the time, you'd be more useful to your team playing the ball. It's very expensive, like a flashing light over your head that says "I don't have many lives, bash me out of the game". If a serious team of aces like my theoretical team in this post encountered a Khor-Ah goalie in a league game he'd be dead and in his Pkunks in under 30 seconds... but it's a very fun ship to use in just for fun "pick-up" games. It's a ship, like the Yehat, that I might use in those types of games.
Chrrmmm - Another goalie, but not as good at it as the Khor-Ah. All the same drawbacks apply, only this ship is less capable of the mission.
Ur Quan - Same as Chrrmmm.
Steve's Heroes - SFB designer Steve V Cole has many well-known sayings relating to game design. One of them is "You have to leave the player the choice of making a mistake." So these are "Steve's Heroes"... it's a mistake to use them in hockey, but you can if you want too.
Mycon - The only role this ship has to play in SC2 hockey is goalie. It's a really bad goalie compared to the other heavy ships. All three of the bench warmers are a lot better at it than the Mycon. If they didn't exist this would be the best goalie, but they do and they are significantly better at the job. It would just be a mistake to use this ship, but feel free to fall into Steve's trap if you want too
Utwig- Same as the Mycon, but even worse at the job.
Chenjesu - Same as the Mycon, and at this point Steve is actually laughing at you.
ZoqFot - While a good athlete, very fast and maneuverable, it brings nothing else to hockey. The tongue weapon has no use here, and is all he has while carrying the ball. His gun is fairly weak. Even though he is a good athlete, there is just no reason to use it. Another Pkunk and the potential free lives would be a much better choice in every situation.
Umgah - Assume its secondary ability affects the closest enemy target within range. While not entirely useless, it's ability to pull an enemy out of the action is a nice hockey ability, it's slow and not maneuverable and it's weapon isn't particularly useful in hockey. While generally a mistake, I would understand seeing one being used in a pick up game. I would assume they wanted to have fun with that ship pulling ability.
Earthling - Slow, can't turn, no hockey-useful ability... pretty much useless in hockey.
Screen-Wrap/Centered View Design - These two ships relied on the screen wrap/centered view design of SC2 and cannot function on a normal map with non-magical borders.
Ilwrath - It's location was known based on the fact that SC2's view was centered on a point between the two ships. The new SC, with 3v3 dueling available in supermelee, must focus the view on the player's ship to support more than 1v1 combat. The Ilwrath's cloak cannot function within this system, it becomes a "god cloak" and you have no hint of where it might be and no way of detecting it.
Druuge - This ship was designed to use the screen wrap. On a large open map it doesn't work, simply rocketing itself away from the enemy never to return. It can't be evaluated as a hockey player because it can't function without screen wrapping. It would be useless in all modes on an open map with fixed borders.
My Team - Those are the ships (most of them, anyway), now let's build a championship contending league team. I would say the "standard power lineup" for league play is simple. 3 Thraddash and 3 Supox. This is a "pure power build" just using the best raw players at their basic positions with even ability on offense and defense. It's good, but as you'll see by building my team a little differently than just going with the very best raw ability players my team will be much more dynamic and difficult for opponents to deal with. Here's my lineup...
Spathi - I will lead my team from this "point guard" ship. It is critical that a player using this ship in league games understand why it is on the ice at all, if not used well you'd be better off with another Thraddash instead. I am in the Spathi for 2 primary reasons. The first is to bring the ball up to the goal then pick the best Thraddash player to pass it too. The second is a gambit that is a part of my teams design. The Spathi is expensive and an opposing team might decide to try and bash me out of the game. We want them to make that decision, we want them to try and knock me out. It's a mistake. My ships would be 3 or 4 Spathi and all the rest Pkunk. They think I am easy to bash out, but all those Pkunks mean I probably have more lives than they do. The best they can do is get me down to my Pkunks. But if they are trying to bash me out, I am drawing them away from the ball and making it easy for the rest of my team to score. The longer they are willing to chase me, the longer the rest of my team is playing at least 1 man up (assuming 2 are chasing me, 3 is even better). You bash out very expensive heavy slow ships that can't run away from you. If I go full evasive in a Spathi with all that life on top of how hard it is to hit me, it will take them most of the half just to run me out of Spathi. Then I have all those Pkunk to ensure I am still in the game at the end of the half anyway. So I am either playing point guard if they aren't focusing on me, or distracting multiple enemy players while the rest of my team scores goals if they make the mistake of trying to bash out "the expensive Spathi".
2 Thraddash - These guys are our goal scorers. They are specialists, I got the best ones I could find to play these positions but they didn't need to be the best Thraddash players in the league... just very good. A real super star would be nice, but I already need find one of those at another position and I'm not going to be able to find the best guy in the world at his ship/position for every player on my team. My superstar is going to be playing a different position
1 Thraddash/Supox - This is a special player on my team. He needs to be good in both ships, and good at making the right strategic decision of which ship to come back in each time he dies. The "pure Thraddash" guys are my offensive stars, and they use only Thraddash with 3 or 4 Pkunk for "bashing insurance" (better to have them in the game as Pkunk at the end of the half than not be in at all). This guy has a mix of Thraddash and Supox, with the same 2 or 3 Pkunk as everyone on my team uses. He chooses when to use which type of ship, and his decision determines whether my team is offense or defense heavy and when. It is important that this guy is smart and is able to think strategically about the game as he is playing it. He is a unique player.
1 Supox - This is our enforcer. My team is built as an offensive powerhouse. Rather than have a Supox-based defense our offensive players are expected to support this guy on defense. Our ships are less effective at defense, but can still play defense which largely involves just keeping yourself between enemy players and the goal to intercept any shot attempts. But, of course, the more powerful attack a ship has the better it is at actually driving them away from the goal... our team somewhat lacks in that area. We are more offense heavy than defense heavy. It would be nice to find a real ace Supox player since I will only have 1 of them.
1 Sofixti - This is my superstar. The hardest player to find, I would really want one of the top Sofixti league players on my team. In fact, I would probably talk one of these rare players away from his current team before even bothering to find the rest, because it might take a while to get one of these very rare specialists to join me. The threat of detonation resulting in a big play changes the way the enemy thinks in taking you one. His mere presence is his greatest ability. This guy is a rare breed. Most of the game he just escorts the ball, providing the threat of detonation and essentially a free goal for our team... but he rarely ever actually detonates. He only does it when he thinks he can take out 3 enemy ships, and that is a rare occurrence. Not many players enjoy just escorting the ball for most of the game and just being there to provide a threat he rarely actually uses, these guys are hard to find and not every team can have a player like this. But I would find one.
So this is "Frungy"! Star Control II space hockey. Hopefully this will help, what I assume is most of you, who have never played any form of space hockey before to better understand what it is and how it works. And, now you can see how any group of 1v1 balanced ships can be thrown at a scenario like this and just wind up working out. This is largely because players get to choose the ship they think is best for the mission they seek to fulfill, which has a self-balancing effect within this genre. I needed to make some special rules for a few of the ships, but if you notice they all involve the ball... not the ships. The ships of SCII don't need any changes at all, and make for an awesomely dynamic group of hockey players. just a few rules about the ball solved any balance problems they might have had.
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