xta vs aa(ba)
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xta vs aa(ba)
Lots of people say XTA sucks compared to AA/BA.. im curious as to exactly why.. post thoughts here ^_^
I say you both suck.
I think the reason is that XTA features more slow paced gameplay in comparision to AA/BA. The average spring kid probably needs something to quickly vent some steam off so AA/BA is the choice of mod.
Anyway XTA is balanced differently, there aren't so many clones (different looks, same crap). I'd clearly prefer XTA over AA because of that. It simply isn't AA, which means less clones, not as much useless units and no eye for an eye balance. I don't spend time on either one anyway so sue me for my half assed opinion
I think the reason is that XTA features more slow paced gameplay in comparision to AA/BA. The average spring kid probably needs something to quickly vent some steam off so AA/BA is the choice of mod.
Anyway XTA is balanced differently, there aren't so many clones (different looks, same crap). I'd clearly prefer XTA over AA because of that. It simply isn't AA, which means less clones, not as much useless units and no eye for an eye balance. I don't spend time on either one anyway so sue me for my half assed opinion
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Machiosabre
- Posts: 1474
- Joined: 25 Dec 2005, 22:56
I sorta like xta, it just has a lot of those weird things like those lvl1 gunships that kill coms in about 4 seconds and anni's that range halfway across a 16x16 map that just...is it really necessary?
plus aa/ba have a couple of unit classes that just don't exist in xta, so you can do more different stuff.
flame on bobby!
plus aa/ba have a couple of unit classes that just don't exist in xta, so you can do more different stuff.
flame on bobby!
personally i very much prefer aa/ba; i have not played xta very often but i just didnt like the balance. additionally i prefer the aa economy, i think transitions between tech levels are smoother solar -> adv solar -> nuke -> adv nuke while in xta the gap between lev1 and 2 even widened compared to ota
there is a small fusion and a large fusion in xta right? (fusion is not to be mixed with nuclear power 
). But no adv solar indeed.
I find AA/BA faster was well. It also somewhat more larger scaled. The most reason I play BA is, as feared, becouse I play it the most. It's a cyclus, like why most people use windows. (lots of things are made becouse many people use windows, and that is why many people use windows etc).
Though XTA has a place in my heart becouse there are units from me in it :)
). But no adv solar indeed.I find AA/BA faster was well. It also somewhat more larger scaled. The most reason I play BA is, as feared, becouse I play it the most. It's a cyclus, like why most people use windows. (lots of things are made becouse many people use windows, and that is why many people use windows etc).
Though XTA has a place in my heart becouse there are units from me in it :)
In XTA the games tend to start at Tech 2 from my experience - cheap T2 compared to BA and the payoff from moho's is bigger. T2 units in XTA are also way stronger and more effective - i.e. 4 pyros vs a HLT instead of 25 rockos (not sure the exact figures because XTA balance i dont look at that closely but thats the general way of things).
Tech 1 quickly becomes basically useless in XTA because of the bigger jump from T1 to T2 units.
I also prefer the build/assist units in BA - you have the fark and the freaker, and of course NANO TOWERS which add more variety where in XTA you have to depend on things like rez bots to get enough build power (and they only come with adv kbots - wheres the rez bot for vehicles??)
Generally the worker time on BA con/assist units is in my opinion more balanced than in XTA and gives more options, where in XTA you have l1 cons with high build time, low worker time and then necros which have a huge worker time (and nothing to fill the void in between).
XTA from my experience is also very easy to porc with and you can easily get to like +350 metal in the first 30 minutes if you porc hard, where in BA its not so extreme unless you tech to adv fusion (requiring T2 vecs where in XTA you can make a fusion (giving basically same energy) with any T2 con.
Furthermore, with XTA there are some units/structures i find to be strangely placed - like those T1 seaplane gunships which practically rape anything you set them at. Early game it is always a fight to rush HLT then Punisher the fastest since they are both pretty effective - HLT has so much range and health that its extremely hard to kill with T1 ground units once you have it built.
Lastly, BA is quicker pace and I've spent the majority of my time on spring playing AA/BA so its what i'm used to and what I naturally enjoy. Going back to XTA and its slow pace seems somewhat sluggish after playing BA so much.
But...I've been playing XTA more than ever these days and enjoying the games I've had, but BA is still my preferred mod, I just like the change and challenge of XTA. Challenge in the context that XTA offers a variation that I'm not so used to, where AA/BA I can sit and play a teamgame almost with my eyes closed because i've done it so many times that everything I do i've done hundreds of times before.
Tech 1 quickly becomes basically useless in XTA because of the bigger jump from T1 to T2 units.
I also prefer the build/assist units in BA - you have the fark and the freaker, and of course NANO TOWERS which add more variety where in XTA you have to depend on things like rez bots to get enough build power (and they only come with adv kbots - wheres the rez bot for vehicles??)
Generally the worker time on BA con/assist units is in my opinion more balanced than in XTA and gives more options, where in XTA you have l1 cons with high build time, low worker time and then necros which have a huge worker time (and nothing to fill the void in between).
XTA from my experience is also very easy to porc with and you can easily get to like +350 metal in the first 30 minutes if you porc hard, where in BA its not so extreme unless you tech to adv fusion (requiring T2 vecs where in XTA you can make a fusion (giving basically same energy) with any T2 con.
Furthermore, with XTA there are some units/structures i find to be strangely placed - like those T1 seaplane gunships which practically rape anything you set them at. Early game it is always a fight to rush HLT then Punisher the fastest since they are both pretty effective - HLT has so much range and health that its extremely hard to kill with T1 ground units once you have it built.
Lastly, BA is quicker pace and I've spent the majority of my time on spring playing AA/BA so its what i'm used to and what I naturally enjoy. Going back to XTA and its slow pace seems somewhat sluggish after playing BA so much.
But...I've been playing XTA more than ever these days and enjoying the games I've had, but BA is still my preferred mod, I just like the change and challenge of XTA. Challenge in the context that XTA offers a variation that I'm not so used to, where AA/BA I can sit and play a teamgame almost with my eyes closed because i've done it so many times that everything I do i've done hundreds of times before.
I like em both, although I do prefer ba, its faster, units look better and tech 1 never becomes redundant, in xta as soon as an hlt or two go up you pretty much have to tech immediately if you want to have any chance of winning as the defences are just too uber.
And don't even get me started on the stupidly over powered anni, insane range and insane hitpoints combined with insane dps = no fun. Also the fark worker times in xta just drive me nuts :)
Despite that I still like to play it occasionally, the sumo is actually useful in xta unlike its super slooow cousin in aa/ba, that and its slower than ba so you can relax abit more when you play it, are about the only things I prefer in xta, if I saw an open game of ba in the lobby next to an open xta one, Id go ba/aa everytime tbh.
And don't even get me started on the stupidly over powered anni, insane range and insane hitpoints combined with insane dps = no fun. Also the fark worker times in xta just drive me nuts :)
Despite that I still like to play it occasionally, the sumo is actually useful in xta unlike its super slooow cousin in aa/ba, that and its slower than ba so you can relax abit more when you play it, are about the only things I prefer in xta, if I saw an open game of ba in the lobby next to an open xta one, Id go ba/aa everytime tbh.
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Drone_Fragger
- Posts: 1341
- Joined: 04 Dec 2005, 15:49
i played some xta games with top pplz last days. XTA is fun, but BA is better because:
XTA drawbacks:
-kbots start seems to be better on all maps - rocko/slasher spam
- defences are very strong, its soo hard to kill lets say toaster (lvl2) - in ba its easy to kill lonely guardian -> porcy games somehow
- its allmost must to go lvl2 with kbots as core (light fus) or l2 with veh as arm (mobile light fus). So its not a choice, its a must.
- lv1 gunships pwn all
- no nano turrets or fast helpers but necro and fark
- no big robots of tech3
XTA drawbacks:
-kbots start seems to be better on all maps - rocko/slasher spam
- defences are very strong, its soo hard to kill lets say toaster (lvl2) - in ba its easy to kill lonely guardian -> porcy games somehow
- its allmost must to go lvl2 with kbots as core (light fus) or l2 with veh as arm (mobile light fus). So its not a choice, its a must.
- lv1 gunships pwn all
- no nano turrets or fast helpers but necro and fark
- no big robots of tech3
A few more things I don't like:
1) Fusions and Minifusions. It's especially bad with ARM where you have to go Adv Vehicles otherwise you're screwed.
2) Loads of counterintuitive/imbalanced stuff. The amount of seemingly obvious imbalanced stuff that 1vory_k1ng has been posting about is pretty huge. Why is something you build from a T1 Aircraft Plant called Seaplane? Why are none of the T2 factories buildable by T2 builders? What is the Gimp doing with 8000hp? There's quite a bit more stuff that I can't think of off the top of my head.
3) Defences are either not too great or they're really expensive but really hard to kill.
4) T2 is far better than T1 in everything.
I am not too great at XTA and stuff so whatever. The answer to why you get people in #main saying "LOL XTA IS CRAP" is mostly because they're stupid, not because they have any real reason.
1) Fusions and Minifusions. It's especially bad with ARM where you have to go Adv Vehicles otherwise you're screwed.
2) Loads of counterintuitive/imbalanced stuff. The amount of seemingly obvious imbalanced stuff that 1vory_k1ng has been posting about is pretty huge. Why is something you build from a T1 Aircraft Plant called Seaplane? Why are none of the T2 factories buildable by T2 builders? What is the Gimp doing with 8000hp? There's quite a bit more stuff that I can't think of off the top of my head.
3) Defences are either not too great or they're really expensive but really hard to kill.
4) T2 is far better than T1 in everything.
I am not too great at XTA and stuff so whatever. The answer to why you get people in #main saying "LOL XTA IS CRAP" is mostly because they're stupid, not because they have any real reason.
Demo makes some great points. XTA has always seemed much more porc-ish to me. It seems that in BA level one units have a much easier time destroying level one defenses compared to XTA. (Don't believe me? Load up XTA and run 7 thuds against a line of three LLTs (and yes I know: the BA llts are cheaper so you can spam more: but their range is less and they are overall less effective): Now do the same thing with BA. Notice how quick the XTA thuds got decimated by three simple LLTs. (and this doesn't even factor in the awesome porc-busting level one artillery in BA)) Since level one defenses can hold back a level one attack for a long time: the game ends up becoming a race to tech two. Also the gap between how powerful level one units vs. level two units is WAY larger in XTA. In XTA level 2 will devastate level 1 units. In BA the gap is much closer: making level one units much more viable for the whole game: and also eliminating the rush to tech two aspect of XTA.
I am, to some degree, working on the effects for XTA, and I still prefer BA.
There are a number of reasons behind this. First, I find the play in XTA to be incredibly slow and indeed somewhat porc oriented. While I started out, as many do, with XTA, I haven't played more than a few dozen games in the new version because I simply don't enjoy it. In a mod where expansion is not a viable option, where an anti-air unit is better in nine of ten situations against normal land units... what point is there in playing? The balance has incredible issues, many of which still haven't been broached, and while recently the mod made great progressive leaps, it doesn't match up to the others I play.
Before you even ask, let me remind you that I play virtually all mods. My chief play is centered in BA, Gundam RTS, E&E, 1944 and some small projects. These are not the statements of an uninformed player, these are the statements of a very diverse and interested member of the community.
There are a number of reasons behind this. First, I find the play in XTA to be incredibly slow and indeed somewhat porc oriented. While I started out, as many do, with XTA, I haven't played more than a few dozen games in the new version because I simply don't enjoy it. In a mod where expansion is not a viable option, where an anti-air unit is better in nine of ten situations against normal land units... what point is there in playing? The balance has incredible issues, many of which still haven't been broached, and while recently the mod made great progressive leaps, it doesn't match up to the others I play.
Before you even ask, let me remind you that I play virtually all mods. My chief play is centered in BA, Gundam RTS, E&E, 1944 and some small projects. These are not the statements of an uninformed player, these are the statements of a very diverse and interested member of the community.
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1v0ry_k1ng
- Posts: 4656
- Joined: 10 Mar 2006, 10:24
yah xta atm is easily porced. next version should be much less porcy;
if I get my way, all the defences will cost E to run (a constant cost).
like 20 for a LLT, 75 for a HLT...
defences>all units yes, but porcing will become very energy intensive.
as to l1 gunship, the problem lies more with the l2 gunship not being superior.
I like XTA better because its the one I play most. every BA game ive played was kinda fun but I didnt like the way every game consisted of everyone spamming out DT walls and LLTs. XTA played with the pro's tends to be very fluid.. BA seems to always be a slow grind for territory because of the sheer numbers of defences everywhere.
if I get my way, all the defences will cost E to run (a constant cost).
like 20 for a LLT, 75 for a HLT...
defences>all units yes, but porcing will become very energy intensive.
as to l1 gunship, the problem lies more with the l2 gunship not being superior.
I like XTA better because its the one I play most. every BA game ive played was kinda fun but I didnt like the way every game consisted of everyone spamming out DT walls and LLTs. XTA played with the pro's tends to be very fluid.. BA seems to always be a slow grind for territory because of the sheer numbers of defences everywhere.
