This seems like a good opportunity to discuss this global.
I think most nid players would agree the global is pretty lackluster. It's not really that bad, but like most nid globals it's pretty situational and doesn't provide a whole lot. However, unlike other globals it has some pretty steep drawbacks.
Pros
- Reinforce nearby squads (maybe? Possibly an old feature)
- Provides disruption
- Get fully upgraded termagant and hormagaunt squads delivered anywhere with line of sight
- One squad is basically free with the cost
Cons
- T3 Global that delivers T1 squads, even with upgrades they're pretty useless at that point of the game except for back capping
- The high model squads provide easy xp/red farm for your opponent
- It's really not that cheap. Think of it this way, would you pay just 175 red for one upgraded Horma or Term squad drop in T3? It depends on the situation, but most situations say no
- Disruption affects friendly units so not ideal to drop on a melee fight
- Long windup so not difficult to dodge
- Takes resources from capillary towers, T3 super units, and Tyrannoformation
- Upkeep of the dropped squads severely hurts your eco
With the way the global works, it seems best to use either in a 50/50 fight that you might win anyway without using it, or as desperation to prevent a cap/make a cap to wrap up a game. It's very rare that the ability would be beneficial to replenish your roster by T3 because lvl 1 terms and hormas just can't really go toe-to-toe with anything at that point and the req/red is better spent on stronger units. Terms crippling poison at least provides some utility, but hormas can't accomplish a whole lot imo. This is my perspective on it though, I could be mistaken since I'm hardly a high-skill nid player. I do have some ideas on reworks for it. I'm thinking of the global's use strictly in 1v1 and not considering its impact on team games.
Easiest
Keep it the same, but move it to T2
In T2, upgraded hormas and terms might be able to make an impact and lvl to a point in the match that they have greater utility. And it at least provides utility for replenishing your roster and save resources. The red cost still makes it difficult to reach early in a match unless the nid player has been playing very well/conservatively with spending it so seems like it would likely not come into play by mid-T2 at the earliest (this is considering its current cost of 300/0/200). But honestly, if the nid player is playing well then it's unlikely they'd opt for this and just go T3.
Highest Value
Increase the cost to 450/0/200 (could be different costs) and add an unupgraded Warrior brood to the drop
Adding a Warrior brood to the drop suddenly adds a lot of value for the nid player. You get a unit that is valuable in any MU, and give synapse to the hormas/termies so they're far less of a pushover than they normally would be. Combine that with the dmg/disruption of the Warriors and it's a much better proposition. It's especially valuable if you skipped on Warriors early in the match in favor of Ravs or some other build. Having the warriors unupgraded also gives the nid player options for how to equip them to fit the MU. But this seems like it'd be hard to balance with the cost/value.
Most Interesting/Thematic
Keep it the same, keep it in T3, possibly increase the cooldown to 300s. Reduce the pop/upkeep of the dropped squads to 0 (or very low, as mechanics in the game allow)
I think this would be a very interesting rework and very thematic of something called "Without Number". The squads dropped are still low impact but it matters a lot less because their impact on pop/upkeep is low/non-existent for the nid player. They can actually use them exactly as the hive mind would, as fodder towards some other goal (in this case, to buy time for other super units to come out). A 5-min cooldown is quite long in T3, in most 1v1 games it could probably come up twice or three times in very long games. The CD could be increased further or maybe the squads made unable to level, but this option still seems the hardest to balance so may not be the best idea for a rework. But I think it's the most thematic change, and would add a lot (maybe too much) value to the global.
-----
Interested to hear opinions of this global from more veteran nid players.