Crabs as infantry in FPS have the ability to burrow and camouflage themselves, but this can't currently be ordered from the Strategy side. Making it possible to order crabs to burrow in place would allow for more dynamic gameplay and enable better ambushes.
#Crab burrowing command
flat marten
tidal mica
would be broken if they remain invulnerable imo, you could just send crabs everywhere and get free intel, atm you would at least have to find a player who either AFKs or wants to stay at the same place for the entire match, I remember that Warcraft 3 also had a burrow mechanic for crypt fiends (also buggers) where they got 50% damage reduction with increased health regen while burrowed
flat marten
Invulnerability and complete undetectability would be insane
glossy bloom
Invulnerability and complete undetectability would be insane
Some DR is probably better, but detectibility needs limitations too. Rn they are instantly spotted by all units and it needs to be more limited with common options for FPS players. Crab player also needs to not be instantly countered by buggy player with better options than a game of whack a crab. Maybe FPS crabs should be able to move while burrowed while RTS ones cant.
tidal mica
Another take:
-No longer show burrowed crabs on the map, it completely voids the ability.
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Make burrowed crabs invisible for AI, it just pins you down with a leadstorm.
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Replace crabs invulnerability while beein burrowed with damage resistance/health regen or both.
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Replace the stones that indicate burrowed crabs with the upper front part of their carapace including the antennae. (could be knit into the lore with hunting behavior n stuff)
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Enable both FPS and RTS players to move burrowed crabs with a penalty to movement speed (disable sprinting for burrowed crabs ig)
Mentioned upper front part of their carapace + the indicating stones:
I think that allowing burrowed crabs to be moved would make them more viable, currently they just get gunned down at sight by pretty much anything. To balance it out AI could be allowed to shoot moving crabs in burrowed state while they could reveal more of their body (eyes + tip above the jaw, no fleshy bits)
velvet flame
meager chasm
Maybe it seemed to me, but when a crab was fired from something heavier than a machine gun, it was knocked out of the sand. Personally, when I was a crab, I dug AI out of the ground in this way. A tank came, fired, and now I'm on the surface.
I will not say, maybe it was an accident, but I have been thrown out of the sand in situations with heavy equipment.
tidal mica
you can sometimes hit crabs with explosions due to the inconsistency I doubt that its intentional tho
tacit inlet