An idea for a new game mode: Cmdr. Kill Switch or Cmdr. Hopscotch

As the battle rages on a galactic scale. The commanders playing hopscotch?......

So the idea is this each player begins with one commander and a limited number of lieutenant-commanders (sub-commander). Upon destruction of the commander one of lieutenant-commanders is randomly upgraded becoming the commander. The player we'll also be able to make decoy commanders and lieutenant commanders units. Could also set time limits, etc.

have a awesome annihilation.

So like team games as they are now, but with the ability to build decoy commanders?

Kind of like team games but with the one player. When the commander gets destroyed a new commander is created from one of the lieutenant commanders the player has. I was thinking either be playing AI or a player maybe a combination of both. the point would be to eliminate all the potential commanders so there's none left. hopefully that helps.

This honestly just sounds like one player having a bunch of commanders similar to the current teamplay, but without the teamplay itself.

All it really does is give the opponent multiple commanders he has to kill before you lose. Delaying the inevitable? ..or giving you enough time through sacrificial units to pull ahead? If it transfers from the current commander to any other, it won't be any different from just having a bunch of legitimate commanders. (Other than their abilities)

I'd personally prefer decoy commanders like how TA had it's base idea. Maybe if you had one REAL commander and a bunch of decoys, you could confuse the enemy with units that look and act exactly like the real thing. At this point, it would create a scenario of instead of just killing off every commander as you suggested, but legitimately finding the real one.

Now, if you took that idea there and added the ability to SWITCH your real commander into a fake one, therefore making that one the real deal, they would still try to figure out which one it is, but once they do, they can't let on or you'll simply switch it and they'll have to start the Sherlock game all over again. At least in this respect, they would still have to kill all of the commanders in your original suggestion, with an interesting twist.

Personally I don't feel much for this idea.

It just feels like the same gamemode as we already have except we start with more commanders. What advantages over current gameplay does it have, because as far as I can tell it just reduces the importance of protecting a commander as you essentially just get more chances.

It would just force this behaviour where you'd have to plow through a lot of buildings and base defenses not only to find the commander, but also repeat this several times. Decoy commanders sound a lot more interesting, because you do not give the commander more than one life, you just play mindbattles with your enemy about where your commander is. Of course these decoys could be exposed by somekind of specialised unit so that it doesn't become a game of purely guessing, but by correctly gathering the proper intel on the enemy.

There was no way to detect decoy commanders in Total Annihilation. They had the exact same look and feel, and the same laser if I remember correctly. What they didn't have was the unbelievable D-gun. They also didn't go full-on nuclear and take everything out with it when taken down. I believe they had less life too, but don't quote me on that one. I know they didn't have as much energy and metal creation, if any, as the real commander, and don't think they were able to build anything themselves either. The last one is a bit too easy of a ploy, but you could see the lathe wasn't as powerful as the real thing's either.

All of the above ways could be used to find out if the commander is the real deal, but having a simple unit for that seems kind of like removing the point of having decoys in the first place.

Current assassination mode to me seems a bit boring. So I threw it in idea that I thought was interesting hoping people would discussed the idea. Not just rejected it but debate and improve upon it.

that you would find assassination boring is too bad, this is what the TA familly has been all about from the begining. And now there's this even better mode called "team armies" introducing the concept of several "lives" or "chances".

Kind phrased that wrong. What I meant to say was it's an opportunity to do something different.