Orbital vs. Fog of War

What are the ideas surrounding surveillance satellites and fog of war? I guess what I'm saying is, that these types of satellites would benefit from their high cost to build if they not only had a radar capability but also revealed a very large area from the fog of war (at least 2-3x the area the scout can reveal).

I guess would there also be an equivalent of a satellite that also jammed the enemies radar range, or shrouded your base in an anti-radar area? I know you guys have a lot of stuff planned for this shell, just trying to positively add some thoughts.

Thanks!

I think that is quite unrealistic though don't you. I mean they are up in the atmosphere, they can't tell exactly what is what, only that stuff is down there I see where you are coming from though but as it stands the orbital radar is very good

Maybe they could reveal flying units but I think full reveal is a bit much.
I think Radar jammers are an idea they are tossing around.

Huzzah for Orbital units being just overpowered versions of ground units!

Oh, wait no. The opposite of that; Boooooooo.

Why increase and tack on to the 'ability' of the satellite to fit the absurdly overpriced cost?
Just lower the fraking cost.

This. Going orbital is just silly with the cost it takes.

well I'll definitely want to play you guys then when each player starts on a completely different planet. Huzzah - build your army while I race to an asteroid.

Really? To quote "Enemy of the State," "It means the NSA can read the f***ing time on your wristwatch [from a satellite]."

Also, Google Maps.

Having a smaller vision radius directly below the orbital radar would be a nice touch offering a trade off for valuable intel against an increased risk of being picked off by an orbital fighter.

Good luck. All orbital units are planned to be visible as they travel across space.
I'll see your 'asteroid rush' coming from a million miles away... literally.

By all means, send your builders to claim an asteroid. I'll send my Army to take it from you soon enough.

You can't stop my KEW as they come in >

Source?

I'm fairly certain that Jon has plans for you to be able to intercept a KEW with an army and attack it, blowing up the engines and rendering it inert.

The kickstarter vid.
Hopefully it resembles the kickstarter, where it still hits even if it blown up. Even at reduced damage. I'd hate to see the rock I'd sent flying millions of miles around the sun blew up entering orbit to no effect.


Edit : Also the object presumable has momentum, meaning disabling engines won't stop it moving, although might have interesting consequences on trajectory.

The kickstarter vid is not a reliable source of information when talking about what's best for gameplay. KEWs need to be counterable by invasion, redirection or interception.

I agree that just a Nuke or two isn't enough and shouldn't stop a KEW strike. Taking out the engines en-route is most definitely an option however, considering the time scale and multiple stages of a KEW strike.

Well I think that you will have forewarning on their arrival,
Also in the kickstarter, they show it being locked on, planned etc.

Potentially I can see it being redirected with thrusters on the side causing it to crash into the sun. Which would be a counter play, but would be also cool to see.

I don't particularly want some cheese strat to destroy them that has no counterplay options itself

How is an invasion lacking in counterplay?
If you didn't defend your engines then they deserve to be attacked and destroyed.

And in the one of the recent livestreams we've actually seen the mechanics at work. The asteroid must first come in close to the sun to build up speed, and be flung towards the target via a slingshot out of the sun's gravity.

First you must capture an asteroid, then you must build engines on it, then you must move it close to the sun, then you must sling shot it towards the target. There are multiple points of failure there, and vulnerabilities that are exploitable by invading the asteroid with an army and taking out his engines.

Do you mean like taking over the KEW?
For me the theme of a KEW is you build on the asteroid, then attach thrusters, abandon the asteroid when you send it away, meaning that (in my mind anyway) to then land people onto the asteroid after its launch and simply take it over doesn't seem right.


However if the life on the rock was to continue I think cost for an invasion force would have to be high, so it was only used when the target was quite valuable to the target player.

Then you're just making the KEW a large nuke with even LESS counterplay.

Abandoning the asteroid means that it deserves to be countered by an invasion. If you don't want it to be countered you'll need to sacrifice units to defend it while it's getting into position. THAT is interesting counter play.

Just having it as a scaled up Nuke that you can't stop once it's 'launched' is utter crap.

Mmm, I guess so, with this invasion though, it would take quite a lot of effort to divert its course dramatically so early action would be needed?

Early in what sense? Give a time frame here.

So in the kickstarter you see them lock a path that goes once around the sun and then into the planet, so like two-thirds of that should be act-able time, in which if you take control it is divertable, in the remaining third, half of that is directable, meaning if you take control you can choose where it hits, and the last 6th of the path is time where you can only change it minorly?

And how long is that timeframe in minutes?