bertha ships + 1
sea in general needs tobe revamped. again.
IMHO read Steven's Excellent Treatise
http://smuggoat.net/?page_id=35
and just find the parts on sea. They'll tell you how sea should be played.
Absolute Annihilation 2.4 (June 16/07)
Moderator: Moderators
When you have an objective on sea, land and air should be able to help you reach that goal. [Done - air units are mobile, land defenses are long-ranged (bertha)] If you have an air objective, land and sea should help you find that goal. [Done - land and sea both have flak cannons and missile guns]64. Nothing is more important in a game then unity in your objectives. When you are fighting an opponent then, you have one army helping each other complete its objectives.
Now if you have a land target, air and sea should help you reach that goal.
uhoh, we have a problem. Ships cannot reach into land! (Bring back berthaships, is what im driving at here)
Sea battles should feel fundamentally different than land battles, as air battles feel different currently than sea and land battles. The tactics required for sea victory should be much different than tactics required for land victory. [Want a hint? Subs.]115. The qualities for good command over land units and sea units are different. The qualities desired for the tactics in land battles are usually those which people already have or don├óÔé¼Ôäót have, while the qualities needed for good control in sea battles come with experience.
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1v0ry_k1ng
- Posts: 4656
- Joined: 10 Mar 2006, 10:24
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1v0ry_k1ng
- Posts: 4656
- Joined: 10 Mar 2006, 10:24
This weekend I broke into modding again... I didn't think I'd lose it so badly, but I guess it's been almost a year now. I only really got into it today, and did mostly abstract, conceptual stuff. Ground unit/structure work has been mostly completed, I'll get into fine tuning over the next week or so. After that, I'll move on to fixing the air situation, with fighters being totally broken right now.
Next is the naval revamp. I've completely given up on trying to maintain cavedog-style balance here. It was poorly conceived and, I think, probably added close to the end of the development. No need for me to explain that they're carbon copies even to a greater degree than land units.
This next version will be mostly familiar to any AA veteran, but there will also be a few major changes in the interest of diversity. Specifically, the areas of resource production and level 1 stuff. Two L1 units have been removed, and I'm considering a third. In T2, 4 units have been removed. About 6 structures have also been removed. In some cases things were removed and their special attributes given to other units in the interest of having less fluff.
The two sides are now fairly different from each other.
Next is the naval revamp. I've completely given up on trying to maintain cavedog-style balance here. It was poorly conceived and, I think, probably added close to the end of the development. No need for me to explain that they're carbon copies even to a greater degree than land units.
This next version will be mostly familiar to any AA veteran, but there will also be a few major changes in the interest of diversity. Specifically, the areas of resource production and level 1 stuff. Two L1 units have been removed, and I'm considering a third. In T2, 4 units have been removed. About 6 structures have also been removed. In some cases things were removed and their special attributes given to other units in the interest of having less fluff.
The two sides are now fairly different from each other.
I hope nobody minds, the changelog is going to be VERY generic. I can't give exact values, mostly just "this got buffed" "this got nerfed" "this got cut" "this now does this"...
I'm pretty satisfied with L1 (unit and structure) ground balance now. Each side has actual strengths and weaknesses. I've also done a lot of work on L2 structures, really interesting stuff.
There's a fair bit of stuff done in the name of making the early game less of a bore. Less SimBase. I had kind of an epiphany: if people are GOING TO build these things, why should I make it take 5 minutes just to get the basics off the ground? They're going to build them, it makes no difference if it takes 30 seconds or 5 - except that if it only takes 5 seconds, they can actually get onto the interesting part of the game sooner.
I'm pretty satisfied with L1 (unit and structure) ground balance now. Each side has actual strengths and weaknesses. I've also done a lot of work on L2 structures, really interesting stuff.
There's a fair bit of stuff done in the name of making the early game less of a bore. Less SimBase. I had kind of an epiphany: if people are GOING TO build these things, why should I make it take 5 minutes just to get the basics off the ground? They're going to build them, it makes no difference if it takes 30 seconds or 5 - except that if it only takes 5 seconds, they can actually get onto the interesting part of the game sooner.
Perhaps the problems of communtiy pressure and feeling the need to follow the group could be avoided with a 'voice of caydr' guy who handles this so you never directly respond to those sorts of requests, and the unnecessary stuff is filtered out. The 'voice of caydr' would put forward the changes and you'd make release posts and show off, think of a better title than 'voice of caydr' ^_^
Im an old Uberhacker (TA) player, and recently done a lot of AI v AI test with AA 2.23
A few comments:
Missile hovers (nixer / cormh) is a favorit for AI's. In my view it's a little unballanced. I know there are simple ways to counter missile hovers, but still feel its too cheap or powerfull.
The halebard (nsaclash) has a problem defending it self - its passiv - even when attacked, set to fire at will and roam. I do not know if this is a problem in the Spring engine, or the mod. But I have NOT observed a similar problem with other units. (maby somthing about its detection / visual range?)
The krow flying fortress. vs arms nuke and emp bombers.
- The Krow is just souch a great menance and threath to arm. similar arm bombers seem week compared. Especialy when krows are combined with repaire platform,
Finally Seaplanes. Well balanced, but only built by navy units, so they are seldome used, which is a pitty. Consider letting hovers build seaplanes platform.
A few comments:
Missile hovers (nixer / cormh) is a favorit for AI's. In my view it's a little unballanced. I know there are simple ways to counter missile hovers, but still feel its too cheap or powerfull.
The halebard (nsaclash) has a problem defending it self - its passiv - even when attacked, set to fire at will and roam. I do not know if this is a problem in the Spring engine, or the mod. But I have NOT observed a similar problem with other units. (maby somthing about its detection / visual range?)
The krow flying fortress. vs arms nuke and emp bombers.
- The Krow is just souch a great menance and threath to arm. similar arm bombers seem week compared. Especialy when krows are combined with repaire platform,
Finally Seaplanes. Well balanced, but only built by navy units, so they are seldome used, which is a pitty. Consider letting hovers build seaplanes platform.
Thanks for the comments lale, you make a good point about seaplanes (something I know really needs some looking at) and I'll check the Halberd out to see what's wrong.
Krow is meant to be the ultimate gunship, slow and difficult to stop, very much like core's ideology. But they are very vulnerable to flak and especially fighters. If you aren't prepared for one, it'll really hurt you, but I think there needs to be that constant "what if" feeling in a strategy game. It encourages you to keep an eye on your opponent and think about a lot of things. "His attacks have stopped. What's he up to?"... that sort of thing.
As for arm's EMP/Nuke bombers, I think they're fairly balanced, or at least they are in concept. I haven't looked at their ingame performance recently, so I'll add it to my list. The idea with them is precision over mass destruction. A single EMP bomb on an anti-nuke is deadlier than a Krow, if you can exploit the opportunity. Similarly for the nuke bombers, they aren't good at wreaking havoc the same way krows are, but they are insurance against any single ground or sea attack. I don't have the statistics right at my disposal, but I think they do approximately 12,500 damage per hit to superweapons such as Krogoths, and high damage to all other units as well. Hit a doomsday machine, shield generator, commander, factory, etc. Their super high speed and cruising altitude also means that they are likely to survive at least one pass, so they can be re-used and survive even a large group of fighters.
Off to bed, I'll get to work on AA again in the morning.
Krow is meant to be the ultimate gunship, slow and difficult to stop, very much like core's ideology. But they are very vulnerable to flak and especially fighters. If you aren't prepared for one, it'll really hurt you, but I think there needs to be that constant "what if" feeling in a strategy game. It encourages you to keep an eye on your opponent and think about a lot of things. "His attacks have stopped. What's he up to?"... that sort of thing.
As for arm's EMP/Nuke bombers, I think they're fairly balanced, or at least they are in concept. I haven't looked at their ingame performance recently, so I'll add it to my list. The idea with them is precision over mass destruction. A single EMP bomb on an anti-nuke is deadlier than a Krow, if you can exploit the opportunity. Similarly for the nuke bombers, they aren't good at wreaking havoc the same way krows are, but they are insurance against any single ground or sea attack. I don't have the statistics right at my disposal, but I think they do approximately 12,500 damage per hit to superweapons such as Krogoths, and high damage to all other units as well. Hit a doomsday machine, shield generator, commander, factory, etc. Their super high speed and cruising altitude also means that they are likely to survive at least one pass, so they can be re-used and survive even a large group of fighters.
Off to bed, I'll get to work on AA again in the morning.
I've been in bed recovering from minor surgery for the better part of the last couple weeks, sorry I haven't been around. I've still got a bit of my vacation left. I'll be going back to work this Thursday or earlier if I'm up to it, working Thursday and Friday, then getting the weekend off again. Before that period's up, I'll try to get a new version finished.
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Shadowsage
- Posts: 73
- Joined: 01 Dec 2005, 05:50