The 2.23 weasel was around 50% increase in hp and damage which made it very very different.
Modit says the primary change was a 20 HP buff, 125 to 145. Also slightly faster, 4.94 to 5.434. DPS is the same, though the energy cost was reduced a fair bit (864 to 564), which probably made it much more spammable much earlier.
Not earth-shattering changes here.
(Note: there are two versions of AA 2.23 on modit, and one has a weaker weasel- i took the version with the more powerful weeasel, i assume that is the proper version).
2.23 Changelog wrote: Weasel HP increased 50%, weapon damage increased 25%, maximum
speed reduced 10%, turnrate reduced 100
Jeffy/Weasel acceleration/brake doubled
Then add on that you can make 5 of those for the cost of one instigator. Every minor change made the unit ALOT better.
The weasels extra hp meant they could take an extra LLT hit before dying, which meant their range was no longer such a big issue, because, along with their speed, they could get into range of an llt and start firing before it was destroyed - which wasn't possible in earlier versions.
An extra 2dps on a flea is more game breaking than an extra 100dps on a goliath
Exactly, the major weasel problem was that you could build them in large numbers very cheaply, very quickly, and even their relatively minor buffs became multiplied to make them ridiculous.
That's not to say my unbalancing of them wasn't a horrendous mistake that should've been noticed during testing or else fixed immediately... I was completely irresponsible there.
An extra 2dps on a flea is more game breaking than an extra 100dps on a goliath
Mmm.. let's change "extra 2 dps on a flea" to "extra 20 dps" on a flea. Then it'd be sorta truish. They're still so weak nobody would ever use them except for mex raiding.
I'll only say this once, let's see if anyone remembers in time for 2.24:
I don't think I've ever seen a flea used ever for soemthing useful. I've seen people piss around and build 20 factories building nothing but fleas to send against a line of LLTs for a laugh, but never seen them actaully used properly.
Drone_Fragger wrote:I don't think I've ever seen a flea used ever for soemthing useful. I've seen people piss around and build 20 factories building nothing but fleas to send against a line of LLTs for a laugh, but never seen them actaully used properly.
pretty much every time [SmuG]Steven played altored he would start kbots make like 5 fleas and rape some newb's entire econ.
Drone_Fragger wrote:I don't think I've ever seen a flea used ever for soemthing useful. I've seen people piss around and build 20 factories building nothing but fleas to send against a line of LLTs for a laugh, but never seen them actaully used properly.
pretty much every time [SmuG]Steven played altored he would start kbots make like 5 fleas and rape some newb's entire econ.
Don't know about the current version, but they used to be so weak that I could have a con-bot reclaim the flea faster than the flea could take out a mex. Did they get buffed?
Seconded. If you think Fleas are useless, you've never seen Steven using them. I can't even reclaim his little bastards; i always be sure my base has full LLT coverage when im playing him.
Pxtl wrote:
Don't know about the current version, but they used to be so weak that I could have a con-bot reclaim the flea faster than the flea could take out a mex. Did they get buffed?
unless the flea was being microed to run away from the con?
Pxtl wrote:
Don't know about the current version, but they used to be so weak that I could have a con-bot reclaim the flea faster than the flea could take out a mex. Did they get buffed?
unless the flea was being microed to run away from the con?
Well, it was an obvious mistake on the part of my adversary - but what happened literally was a con-bot builds a mex, starts walking away, and a flea appears and starts zapping the mex. The con-bot walks over, opens, reclaims the flea, and goes back on his way before the flea can even finish destroying the mex. This surprised me given how mexes are apparently made of tinfoil and balsa-wood and usually fall apart at the first touch.
I haven't been flea-rushed since, but that may be possibly because proper use of a flea is rare.
Are we ever going to see another release of AA, or are we doomed to play BA where nothing ever gets changed to make things interesting once in a while?
I'm working on a lot of really neat stuff. Things that I've wanted to do for a long time, but haven't wanted to break the OTA mold (mould?) too much.
The "Original Absolute Annihilation" thing is also going to be broken a bit as well... Right now, or at least to the best of my memory, the general idea is, Arm is rushy, core is killy. Go for arm on a small map or if you like their handful of special units. Otherwise, core's probably better. That's really a sad state of affairs and it's something that's been holding back OTA-based mods from really taking advantage of the new possibilities in Spring. I'm making this change in ways that I think will make the sides more interesting than just being largely carbon copies of each other.
I'll be able to start discussing specifics soon, I hope. What I'm talking about are significantly different units for each faction, made in ways which reflect that side's established personality and abilities. Some units are being cut, others are being added, others are being brought back from having been cut previously, and many others are being adjusted.
I'm trying to make all these changes in ways which will be sensible and organic, with no units that will make you wonder, "Why the heck would that unit be able to do THAT?"
I'm not sure if what I'm doing it like BA or not. I've only played BA once, and it was about a year ago, for about three minutes. What I can say is, based on what I remember reading in some early changelogs, I think my modifications to the basic AA formula will be more consistent with what's been done previously.
I don't want to release a new version with major difference, then another new version with more major differences a week later. People have shown they really dislike having to re-learn significant portions of the game repeatedly in a short space of time. That said, I keep on coming up with more ideas while I'm at my job daydreaming.
I've identified a number of areas that AA, and RTS games in general, could be greatly improved upon. Many areas should be more user-friendly and enjoyable, with less boring stuff that nobody really enjoys, just tolerates.
My goal for the next version is to make major improvements to many areas of the game. I hope to post a changelog soon, but the last two AA versions ("disaster A" "disaster B") were basically undocumented as I was in such a rush working on them, and this time I'm changing so much it's difficult to document it all.
Getting back into a testing routine (testing is incredibly boring and repetitive, even if you're good at it, which I no longer am) has been a real barrier to my development. I've also only been able to work on AA on weekends, and even then I'm restricted to a small amount of time because of my other responsibilities.
For this reason, I'm considering a closed beta of some kind to help things along. If anyone's interested, please PM me with your msn address. Even if you're never asked to help with testing, I still appreciate the offer of assistance. Thanks
Also, I'd like to hear what people would like to see in AA. What have I missed in my absence that AA shouldn't be without?
The only thing I know about is unit icons - I drifted away, I think, just prior to the unit icons version being released. I intend to implement a unit icon system of some kind, but I haven't decided on the complexity.
Mmm.. let's change "extra 2 dps on a flea" to "extra 20 dps" on a flea. Then it'd be sorta truish. They're still so weak nobody would ever use them except for mex raiding.
