For Backers Only: Megabot Experiment

The thread about super units got us thinking about what scale and scope a super unit might have in Planetary Annihilation. This is what we came up with. This is purely a thought/visual experiment. We have no plans to at this time to take this any further, but wanted to get your take on it, with something more concrete to visualize. Consider this the design stage before a company decides to take an idea any further. And we're asking you all for your input on what you think about this.

Wow, the scale seems right. But my first thought on seeing it was NEEDS BIGGER!

I think the size is reasonable. It dwarfs the ACU but is on par with the unit cannon (which I view as a super unit).

Personally, I think it needs to be a *bit* bigger. But you can always have smaller Super units and bigger ones.

Its a bit of a big size jump and kinda seems out of place

Don't get me wrong, I very much want there to be super-heavy units.... but a simple direct fire unit? This has been done to death. TA has the krogoth, Starcraft II has that protoss robot thing, and even most of the experimentals in supcom/FA are simple direct fire units.

You super robot looks really cool, and you can even use it, but balance is as an artillery/AA super bot that is vulnerable only to strategic weapons and tanks that can get up close. That would be a refreshing change of pace and really, really cool.

I have misgivings about the "design"(but I'm assuming it's pretty much super-duper placeholder) but like the scale compared to everything else.

Mike

it was what i was thinking but maby it could be bigger

GO GO POWER RANGERS

It's just a whitebox example from a design perspective.

its gray!!!!??????

The new design of the heavy tank looks interesting.

I am totally fine with a krogoth-style direct fire unit like this.

/like

Yes, it's probably about the scale. Even if they won't include the Megabot in the initial release, they'd still have to prepare the engine and plan ahead for possible future inclusion of units that size.

Bigger? This kid is already big enough..
For my personal point of view, Uber should left experimentals (or something like that) for and expansion pack or whatever. Now it is time to focus on the core concept of the game, make sure things are properly working, release it and then improve.

My first thought was that "It looks like a King Kriptor if it got put in TA." My second thought was that "It isn't big enough." My third thought was "Can I strap rockets to it and throw it at bases? WHILE IT SHOOTS AT THE BASES?!?" But to focus on my second thought, if we're going super unit, it should be super-de-duper unit. You guys are working on a game with a scale only rivaled by Sins of a Solar Empire, and maybe Master of Orion, which are strictly spess games. Why not make the pimp of all land units as pimpy as he can be?

Actually, on the note of Scale, I would like to say that you guys are close, but (again, this is just my opinion, and is very blunt) the unit scales are too similar. I mean, look at TA's T2 Tanks vs. T1 Tanks. The size difference is to the point where you could, as a commander, glance at the things and think "Oh cool, my battalion of T2 <insert unit name here> are tearing that base up! Go T2!"

I mean, I know it's just greybox, but the bots and tanks look *really* similar in size for their difference in tech level. And I'm looking at the factories when I say this; the T2 factory looks, what, 1.66x bigger than the T1? Shouldn't the units be 1.66x bigger than their T1 counterparts, possibly more so? In addition, all of the T1 facs look like they could synthesize a Commander, so maybe the factories are a bit big? Or the units+commander a bit small?

I'm all for the whole 'shape determines function' thing, but a lot of people forget that the easiest way to tell the effectiveness of a unit is how bloody big it is.

But enough of my blather! I still have a massive hard-on for this game, and super-units should be a DLC or something if they are too much work.

I thought it looked fine, until I saw the battleship in the background... That thing is huge. I'm not sure if super dude needs to be bigger or the ship smaller or anything at all. I think my eyes are playing tricks on me with all the boats behind the battleship in image #2 and there is no issue.

This is the wrong place for it, but the super unit makes me feel the factories are a bit large for the units they build...

I'm concerned that the super unit looks like maybe it could walk off the large factory near it.

I think the size is perfect!

Yep, that was basically the size limitation. Otherwise we'd have to build a gantry for it or have mobile units build it.

Bam, Right on the money! xD

Mike