Some decisions on the Batter:
The Batter will not be a ranged skill, and instead will function like the Lix Batter, only affecting lems in the immediate vicinity.
The "bat" will be another projectile type, like spear or grenade; we already have a way for lemmings to detect the presence of airborne projectiles, and this works nicely; makes sense to re-use this same logic for the Batter. The obvious difference is that the bat will not be thrown, but instead will take effect during a particular frame of the Batter's animation.
During the Batter's "hit" frame (when the bat is at full extension in the animation), any lems that are in contact with the Bat's collision area will become Ballers - the exact physics of these lems has yet to be decided upon, but current instincts are that it should be a much less complex response than the Lix Batter*.
*Having thought about this again recently, and having re-read
Proxima's list of reasons for supporting this skill, I think the Baller's movement should closely resemble (if not exactly
be) that of a
Jumper; a sprite-swap might be all that's needed, and then we can simply re-use Jumper physics - this would keep the skill action relatively predictable and would cover all of the benefits mentioned by Proxima, as well as drastically reducing the potential workload.