Having read through all of the trivial flamebait and occasional productive posts in this topic, one thing comes to mind.
The mod can be balanced, the individual games can NOT.
It seems to me that a lot of the controversy over balance in mods such as AA is purely based from individual games.
Take mavericks for example, by many claimed to be overpowered and laying waste to enemy units. This happens for several reasons, which for the main part i feel are down to the way the game plays out.
To put it in context, someone hits you with 5 mavs at 15 mins, they tromp through your base and destroy most things in their path, perhaps finally die to an exploding enemy commander.
Several reasons why the 5 mavs came at 15 mins and walked straight through enemy base/defence, heres just a few:
Didnt put enough pressure on opponent, thus letting him over expand, use far more resources building his tech 2 lab than he would otherwise have to spend, had the opposing player consistently attacked forcing him to rebuild and/or make more level 1 units to counter these moves.
Didnt raid effectively or efficiently, letting the enemy get such an advantage that he can build a tech 2 lab quickly whilst holding off any raids that do come through.
Has limited or no knowledge of how to make most of economy, how to progress economy, how to take as much metal from a given situation as possible (e.g. map is covered in rocks, but player doesnt reclaim any on his side, while enemy reclaims constantly)
I'll stop there with reasons before it becomes a truly mammoth post, because if i were to lay down as many reasons as i can think of it would probably cover several pages. Its all dependent on the scenario of the particular game, theres hundreds of different reasons, thats what makes TA so fun to play, its not as limited as other RTS, theres plenty of variables.
The simple point i'm trying to make is that you cant say mavs are super units simply because you as a player dont know how to deal with them and cant play AA well enough to stop your opponent gaining a massive advantage over you.
Mavs are counterable, perhaps not cost for cost if you consider tech 1 units against tech 2 mavs, simply put because tech 2 is SUPPOSED to give an advantage cost for cost over tech 1 enemy units, else what the hell is the point in teching up?
Flash tanks or instigators will destroy mavericks pretty damn fast if used correctly, so will level 1 fighters, so will mines, so will tech 1 defence in a good setup, there are plenty of viable combinations. Ill agree mavericks can be extremely frustrating if the enemy micros them effectively, especially considered their combat regen, but all of this DOES NOT RELATE directly to the balance of the mod.
Basically, stop the enemy getting mavericks before you even have tech 2, or stop him getting mavericks before you have enough units or defence to counter them when they do come, or stop him getting mavericks until you have some yourself, or some bulldogs or reapers, lightning tanks or brawlers, rapiers or popups. If you CANT do that, simply put he has been the better player in the game, he's gained an advantage which is expressed in 5 mavericks after 15 minutes when you have nothing to counter them.
The mod IS balanced because there are plenty of viable counter moves to stop mavericks dominating an entire enemy, so long as THE PLAYERS IN THE GAME HAVE A BALANCED GAME. In every game, there is a level of unbalance, either forced or by nature - in the forced case because the opponent has played a "better" more effective game.
Mavericks just happen to be the common unit choice if someone goes tech 2 kbots, thats because mavericks are considered the most effective, best cost-for-cost tech 2 kbot for general circumstances, it doesnt mean the mod is unbalanced just because most people make mavericks. Each lab has a couple of particularly useful units, and others which are moderate to rarely used.
It has infact turned into a mammoth post after all
But thats because there is so much depth and reasoning around a simple statement like "mavs are unbalanced" that have to be considered. Much of it relates to gameplay and strategy, as opposed to peoples EXCUSES for losing games consistently to mavericks (I feel the real reason is because those players dont know how or arn't good enough to deal with them)
And thats just 1 unit. If anything this post just outlines how difficult it is to define balance, to meet everyones personal opinions, it shows that Caydr (and other mod developers) will have a difficult task balancing their mods.
At best they can balance their MOD to an extent where games are not dominated by a single unit, where there are several counters to each unit.
They CAN NOT balance individual games, individual player battles, tactics or strategy. The fundamental thing i'm trying to say in this post (which has far exceeded in length from what i intended) is:
DONT CONFUSE MOD BALANCE FOR THE SHIFTING BALANCE OF PARTICULAR GAMES.
