Reducing Time-To-Action Length in BA

[JohannesH]

Really, though, would it ruin the game to triple the comm's energy/metalmake? 25 and 1.5 really are kind of a pittance.

It would mean you have to rethink all openings, for no good reason. Maybe not ruin it but huge change

[triton]

Before heading down this road, the best advice is to play CA. Not because CA is a fantastic game (it is) but simply because CA has several components intended to battle this feature. Obviously, if you don't like CA, don't play CA. It's just worth making note of the things that have alreaedy been implemented and how they work (and where they don't).

Fuck that man, you always speak about CA and say how CA is better than BA. In all BA changes discussions you come here and say : CA is better, play CA etc..

If it would be possible to say that and be polite I'd say : FUCK YOU man.

[Licho]

Thats because CA dealt with this specific problem. (After several iterations and experiments).

So yeah, if you are annoyed by this, try playing CA, because it's gameplay is by design focused more on combat action.

[HectorMeyer]

Game start is boring.

No. It's full of adrenaline and tension.

the "standard" start strategy involves building:
[...]

I never started like that. Maybe you should include this option for Warcraft 2. in BA you have so many options right from the beginning, there is no such thing as a standard start.

This game is about fighting, not about constructing buildings (someone feel free to quote this with Lolwut).

Lolwut indeed.

Whenever I make one of these big, game-changing idea posts I'm usually too nervous to check for a while.

lol i know what you mean :D

[Pxtl]

Before heading down this road, the best advice is to play CA. Not because CA is a fantastic game (it is) but simply because CA has several components intended to battle this feature. Obviously, if you don't like CA, don't play CA. It's just worth making note of the things that have alreaedy been implemented and how they work (and where they don't).

Fuck that man, you always speak about CA and say how CA is better than BA. In all BA changes discussions you come here and say : CA is better, play CA etc..

If it would be possible to say that and be polite I'd say : FUCK YOU man.

Well, when people keep moaning about BA and saying "X is a problem", and start coming up with solutions, my first thought is that "hey, CA added feature Y specifically to combat problem X". Now, I know CA isn't for everybody (well, actually, I don't - I think CA is way better) but either way, my point is simple:

If you want to develop a workaround for problem X, it's worth trying a mod that has feature Y that was created specifically to combat X. Obviously there are drawbacks to every solution, so the fact that one already exists and is there waiting for you to play with it means it would be a good idea to try it. CA has Boost and Facplop to speed up the start. Boost, in particular, has some drawbacks though... so it's worth trying it to see how the merits and flaws.

[Jazcash]

Somewhat relevant:
Check out the widget Initial Queue (by me) which let's you queue all your mexes/solars/labs/whatever before the game starts, and they'll be queued instantly when the game starts, helps speed things up/you don't have to check spring every 5 seconds to see if it's started.

Wow, I never knew about this. Very epic indeed. Any chance of making it work with keybinds?

[1v0ry_k1ng]

3 minutes on downtime is too much? kids today..

[Pxtl]

3 minutes on downtime is too much? kids today..

Considering the amount of time it takes to get a friggin' game together, another 3 minutes isn't actually that big a deal, actually. Still, cut the workertime cost on L1 facs?

[JohannesH]

Still, cut the workertime cost on L1 facs?

I'd like to hear your understanding of how this would affect gameplay - what kind of openings would become prevalent, what would be the starts that'd disappear cause they'd turn shit, would it make different starts more or less hard-counters to eachother, and why this would be a positive change. On different maps and different gametypes.

[Pxtl]

Basically, that first flea or jeffy appears sooner - less time spent watching your comm build a lab.

but i put fun above stability and balance - there would almost certainly be unintended drawbacks.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

Basically, that first flea or jeffy appears sooner - less time spent watching your comm build a lab.

but i put fun above stability and balance - there would almost certainly be unintended drawbacks.

cut your losses bro, suggesting significant gameplay changes within this subforum is the fastest way of burning your credibility since the mullet

[zerver]

Simple way to get instant action without changing anything is to start with locked 5.0 game speed, and the speed then slowly drops and reaches 1.0 after 2 minutes or so.

Drawbacks:
* Noobs who don't understand the concept of build queue will have a really hard time
* Scouts can be deadly, jeffy kills your whole base in the blink of an eye

[Satirik]

By this point you've used all your resources. The irony of this is that right as you are actually ready to build units, you are not able to as you have just metal-stalled.

because of autohosts people don't even know they can host, change the map themselves, change the options (ba has lot of options) ... like ... Start metal ?

we used to play with 10k start metal or 10 max units etc and now that we have even more options ... we don't host because of bots

[SirMaverick]

The greatest use of the first two minutes in a team game is that it gives a chance to discuss what each player is planning, because noone is in the heat so much that they wont read chat.

Most planning in team games is done before GameStart. (Doing this later is a disadvantage.)

In FFA or 1v1 its for planning, and getting into the zone.
I very much enjoy the first 2 minutes of careful base planning and looking around for expansions and stuff.

I agree with the planning, but I don't see why you need 2 minutes for that. E.g. your first lab takes 22 or more seconds to build. Even that is much time for planning and doesn't include build first eco + com walk.

[NOiZE]

LOL guys....

[zerver]

Each player gets a pre-loaded nuke silo at start, that should reduce TTA considerably.

[luckywaldo7]

Each player already starts with a walking nuke.

[Gota]

ADHD kids need action now!

[CarRepairer]

Each player starts with I-WIN button and winner is the one that can press it fastest.

[Sucky_Lord]

Each player starts with I-WIN button and winner is the one that can press it fastest.

Develop this to be available with Niobium's Initial Queue widget, so whoever lives closest to the server wins.