So, I was playing a multiplayer game and someone launcher an asteroid at my planet. Of course, I moved all of my units away from the impact site, assuming that it would only leave a crater (as the asteroid was only 1/10 the size of the planet). However, I was rather surprised when the entire planet was destroyed by just a small rock. Was the crater mechanic removed or changed in any way, or do planets just blow up now when they have been hit by a Halley?
Yep, crater mechanic is gone, asteroids destroy planets regardless of size difference. It's a little stupid, honestly.
Well, that sucks. Hopefully they find a way to add it back in, because it was certainly a really cool mechanic. Maybe it was a technical problem that forced them to remove it. If so, I hope they find a way to work around it.
They said it was a design decision, because they wanted the games to become more and more of a slugmatch in super-lategame. I wouldn't mind local destruction coming back, tho.
The asteroids we get in game have a radius of 150. Such an asteroid is presumably more like Ceres, perhaps even larger. If that kind of thing hits you, your planet becomes space soup, instantly. So it's not silly in that regard so it should be considered a design decision. It is a valid one, but I disagree with it as it kind of makes nukes even less useful and it is a bit overpowered in the sense that compared to a traditional planetary smash there is no sacrifice of local metal income or territory while producing the same effect, but I guess it is as optional as a feature can get. We should get to decide how many halleys it takes to push an asteroid and maybe its radius as well, but there is probably a good reason the belt has a fixed position. I still like the belt quite a bit so I include it on most maps I make but I set the timer to an unreasonable amount so an actual gameplay altering asteroid never spawns.
Sure, it would destroy the planet, but blow it up into a bunch of pieces? I doubt that. It'd probably just turn the entire surface into fire and lava, but I guess that never came across Ube-- Oh...
you need to pay to move it, with that structure that cost tons of metal, not exactly what i call free..
If it overcomes the gravitational binding energy of the target planet, yes. Ceres has an equatorial radius of 950 km, compare that to earth's 6371 km. Now compare the asteroid's radius of 150 units to the average planet's 400-600. The moon has an equatorial radius of 1731 km, roughly 1/4th of Earth similar to the asteroid's relation to the planets, so what strikes you isn't a simple asteroid but an entire moon masquerading as an asteroid. Edit: Now that I think of it, it probably wouldn't be blown to bits, but you wouldn't recognize the planet after the event with huge chunks probably flying off to space with most of it melting. Trust me, 40k metal is dirt cheap for the power it brings to the table. Nukes cost tons of metal too and they aren't nearly as destructive even when not prevented, and asteroids are harder to counter. I'd argue the risk on them is not much higher as there is no set in the stone counter like anti-nukes, and there's not muh reason you can't contest the asteroid if you have a proportionate amount of orbital units. It would still be worth it if it were a super nuke with a large radius and no automated counter in the form of anti nukes, and it would still probably end games pretty often. All that said, they certainly don't compare to actual planets/moons which often take multiple halleys and have metal deposits that you need; so by throwing away a planet you control (if you don't control it, then it is a tactical move but that is obviously far riskier and costlier to defend), you're throwing away building space and income, while there is no such risk with asteroids.
yeah i agree that nuke are severely underpowered, it was underwhelming from the beginning when i first see some one of them, in comparison with those from SupCom but this mean that nuke need a buff and not the opposite
See my thread about it here: https://forums.uberent.com/threads/...de-if-a-small-moon-is-halleyed-into-it.69533/ I'm glad to see that most people seem to agree that this was a really bad change, even if the new effect looks sweet. It takes a lot of depth away from the game. There's no reason to even consider any other endgame options now than just grabbing the smallest asteroid or planet and Halleying it for an instant kill on any enemy planet.
