I want to tip first that I skipped from page 2 to page 6 because there started to be agressive discussion. And in the end, the discussion seemed to be related only littlebit about that what topic say.
These are my and my friends opinions. So take them as such. Wishes and others are lots of more. Maybe so much that new game should be done.
I like to play CA sometimes, usually with friends and sometimes against AI as CO-OP. But what I wait to see more in CA, is more complex micromagement what you can do, but you can make them automatic for simple / easy players. But then they would not gain the advantage what micromanagers can get.
What I mean might be someway limited by Spring itself.
1) Make strategies to be the keypoint of the CA. That means you need to gain a leverage when you flank or when you attack behind. Those who just want to click few times to get builded automatically army from one factory and send it to attack should play other games than RTS.
2) Unbalance the units. Make every unit someway special. Not Jack of all trades -units. Like assault ships what has gigantic radar, fair AA, good long range ballistic and anti-submarine features, they just ruins the game.
It is true that spring does not allow good formations to get builded. Maybe because units has no control to speed, other than min <> max and acceleration and brake forces. Fast unit can not move same speed as slower unit without going around it. In real life, even fighterjets can fly at same speed as avarage car and stay in the air. They can fly same speed as bombers. Their advantage is the speed, but not just the max speed, but that they can fly faster than bombers if needed. But they need to protected them by flying next to them.
3) Make the defence buildings MUCH easier to get destroyed. It is true that you can limit the amount of units what gets builded. (I come back to this topic) but it is someway rare that basic units gets limited in public games.
When you can spam the defence full of all kind defence buildings what all protects attack from ground, water, air and even from missiles and long range attacks. The game comes boring. You need to add more powerfull weapons to game what like one what drags meteors from orbit or one what shoots laser. You do not have anything AGAINST those if you get them protected behind already well done defence line where one is turtled.
Original TA (with expansions) did add some experimental units like krogoth for Core. But it was still possible to destroy and pretty easily as well in the end.
So what is the point? Make the defence buildings as secondary, a assistance defence. And force players to have the defence build by the units. Where every unit would have their great weakness.
4) This is not about CA typically but the lobby itself. But it would need to be supported byr CA as well.
If there is set limitations of units and their amounts in lobby. Show that in the build menu. When we build units, there is bottom right corner a number +n about how many is going to get build. Add to top right corner a number how many such buildings can be build, like 4/4. Or tell it someway on tooltip or info next the build menu when you hover them.
5) Limit the unit speeds. I just yesterday installed the original TA (and all patches and addons). And I only noticed that all units moved so slowly. Their turrets got turned so slowly that level 2 tank could not aim to level 1 tank if it was over 30 degree from it's aim and in its range. It depended its own armor and firepower. The speed of ammos were as well slow. It was so fun when you attached to the unit when it gained the experience and you did not want to get it destroyed.
Same thing is not in any of Spring mods. They are all too fast and simple. The slow speed made Ta so great. Even today it is just so great. Forget the reality that MBT gets destroyed with single 3rd generation AT missile easily. It is not fun when you have amount of heavy tanks and they get destroyed with few shots long before they even get to range of fire. This can be avoided if defence buildings are not so tough, just assisting the defence, not being the defence. (and those who want to suggest something about BA or XTA, they can go somewhere else, these are just suggestions based opinion, not orders)
If units would be slower, their turret turns would be slower, I would give them bigger range. Where the damage could be less if shooting to long range. Like level 1 artillery could shoot about 800-1000 by range, but optimal would be 300-600. Slow ballistic with fair accuracy. And slow shooting, like on case of light artillary, about 10 RPM.
6) The newest CA has the buildings to link energy and metal. Factories and generators etc. That is something what I had in my mind about year ago. And it is very nice that such thing has invented by CA devs as well. There is just few things what I miss.
a) Make them smaller. Make them easy to get destroyed. Make them to be the weakpoint of the base if tried to get everywhere too fast.
b) Make them to be build and get connected by player itself. So player can arrage the connections how they should connect.
c) Make them to need a line of sight (someway they now need). But make them taller and thinner. Like phonelines. Height as the heavy laser tower but thin like light laser tower, mayby even thinner.
d) make them use connections what would have a electricity on them. Like what Tesla tried to get, a wireless electricity.
e) Expand their functions. Just like you need to power the mines and have enough electricity for long range / large amount of mines. Make all the factories use such as well. So if you want to have factory powered enough, you need to connect multiple energy sources to it. More like the SupCom has. Every building and generator has the range what it connects to each other.
That could need some remodeling for factories, storates, generators to have a antenna top of them where the joint would be done. And you could always scout by those to find if someone is made connection to distance base and not separate it.
7) Have somekind units to move the metal between mines and the storates. Make the storates as the thing where the electricity and iron is got to factories. Not need to be like on Red Alert 2. More like the aircraft carrier has its own fighters. Very small independednt units what would be possible get more from airplane plant. And make every mine to need such what moves to storage.
BIG opinion what I really would like see. Is the units difference in sizes. I really would like to see that level 1 units are much smaller than now. And when comparing Level 1 tank and Level 2 tank, you could get 2:1 ration on that.
That was one thing what I liked in the SupCom, level 1 units are so small when compared to higher level units. You could easily see why the higher leve unit was so much harder to build and could take so much hits.
9) Make the commander bigger. It should be one of the strongest and biggest units. Slowest as well. But it really should be such that when it comes to front of you and you have just level 1 units 10-20, you are in deep !"#¤!". But it should still be someway easy to get commander down.
10) As already said, CA is RTS game. We need radar jammers, movable shields, AA etc. But no army is nothing without transportation. The Core Confidental addon for original TA brought hovercrafts. They were very nasty because you needed to build defence to places where no one else could earlier come. Hovercrafts almost ruined the whole game. Littlebit same thing is amphious units what should have great weakness for such power feature to move under water to other places without transportation.
What CA could try more, is the use of transport VTOLS. Flying units have a gas, same thing for ground units. You would need to refuel them someway. Mayby small nanoturret stations like the 4x airpads for airplanes. But like bigger units what is heavily armored, slow and made just to fuel other units.
That would make the strategies even more important. It would be important to do the airdrop for tanks than drive them from factory to fight.
11) (Almost last suggestion). About defence buildings. 1944 game allows (by morphing) units to have limited shooting arch. Make same by default for such. If you have short range weapons like light laser or EMP turret. They can shoot every directory. But bigger tha range, narrowed the arch. Big berthas should have just something 20 degree arch. So you need to think where you actually place it. Plasma batteries etc can be avoided when flanked. So you need to have units supporting even them to make counter flanking. Like the medium plasma battery would have about 90 degree arch. You just need to plan them builded so they give good cross fire. limited arch + slow turn rate + slower RPM would make strategies more intresting and that would make the winner, who has best strategies. Not that who just has biggest resource management or more units.
12) Make airfighting a own element. This case check the reality. That one who owns the air, has great leverage over gound and sea fight.
Make three levels of flighting. Ranging from 100 (level 1) to 600 (level 3)
Level 1 AA can shoot only to level 1 units. (Chaingun, light missiles, lasers)
Level 2 AA can shoot only level 2 units (Flak, lasers, medium missiles)
Level 3 AA can shoot only level 3 units. (Heavy missiles only)
Level 1 flight level units are builders, ground attack units (Gunships, mine bombers, EMP bombers) scouts (fast) and builders.
Level 2 flight level units are all fighers (from 300 to 400 range so they fly different height still), carbet and basic bombers and sonar.
Level 3 flight level units are radar, spy, heavy strategy bombers and nuclear bombers.
tip: Air Superioty fighters fly at level 2, but those attack against normal fighters and bombers on level 2 but can fly to level 3 to fight against heavy strategy bombers.
13) Make the AA flak shooting more vertical than horisontal.
14) Main defence on air are the fighters, not the ground/water units. Make the long range missiles (like mercury) to shoot very long range, but missile to fly slow and make it turn slowly so it has possibility to miss the target if target turns 90 degree when missile is midflight. And missiles should have very small smoketrail after them. Not big, more like the defender has.
15) make most visual effects littlebit smaller. But some others could be much bigger. Like the nuclear expolsion should be about 2-3 times bigger and the effect area as well (and make the anti-nuke range smaller and possibile to get it saturated with nuke, or make it slow to load and nukes very expensive and slow to build. And give somekind nice warning for players that someone has nuke so they can be afraid about it...)
16) Maybe the biggest wish what I have heard from friends, is big development tree. Like Unit level 4 or even level 5. Tech tree would be awesome. Maybe someway do it by morphing the existing units and it would lock down the other morphing options.