Instead of a single monster thread with everything from spiderbots to railguns, I think the correct way to think about units is in terms of roles, not features. Features are created and assigned to units because they are useful for the unit to fulfill its role, not for their own sake. I don't have a name for a unit. I have a name for a gameplay role, which might be one or more units that share certain characteristics, and would behave similarly in terms of gameplay. I don't see the need to describe roles like 'raider' or 'skirmisher' as Zero-K's class guide does an excellent job describing the more well-known roles. The Rifle Role In short, the Rifle role is a fragile, direct fire long-range unit, which exchanges flexibility and staying power for a single high damage shot at range. The Rifle fires a very fast-moving direct-fire projectile that is highly accurate due to its projectile speed. It deals a large amount of damage for its cost (gibs cheap raiders), and has a relatively slow rate of fire. It has very good range for its cost, handily outranging raiders, close combat units, and assault units, but with less range than turrets and skirmishers (and a lot less than artillery). An alternate, but functionally similar design, would be to have a Rifle unit fire a small number of discrete shots quickly in sequence, before needing a lengthy reload, with the full clip of shots dealing a large amount of damage total, but with the possibility of splitting its damage among two, three, or perhaps even four targets. This will make the unit more effective in larger groups, and against large groups of smaller targets due to reduced overkill from volley fire. The Rifle unit does not shoot air units, and it does not shoot through friendly units, terrain, wreckages, walls, or other objects. This means that in an entirely open field, it has exceptional range efficiency. But attacking a defensive line, in a large battle with many friendlies in the line of fire, or in a protracted battle with many wrecks on the field, its effective range drops drastically. Flanking, or taking the high ground can allow it to obtain a shot around obstacles, or find a direct-line shot over obstacles. Other games have had a "sniper" role at a much higher price point, including the TA Shooter and the Zero-K Sharpshooter. In essence, begin with a Sharpshooter, but reduce the range to below that of cheap defensive turrets, reduce the damage so it only gibs raiders and cheap generalists, and cut the cost to where it can be mass-produced. Intended Gameplay The Rifle is meant to instantly pop some of the weakest units in the game with a single shot (or clip, if several shots). This makes it a very strong counter to fast, low-HP raiders (think Zero-K Glaive) early in the game, or in low density. Defensively, the Rifle makes more sense against small numbers of raiders. However, against groups, the rifle units can be overrun and routed, and will need support from a riot unit (think Zero-K Warrior). Although the Rifle gibs raiders at range, it cannot flee from raiders, and it will get crushed up close by those raiders (unlike riot units). Because the Rifle unit's projectile is very fast (and therefore accurate) and it deals high damage with a long cooldown, it is most effective at the edge of its range. Slower projectiles (i.e. rocket skirmishers like the Rocko) become more effective at closer ranges due to less travel time, and thus higher accuracy. The Rifle role is interesting because it is a relatively immobile unit that is nonetheless strong in an open field. The Rifle is strongest in a defensive posture when an individual or small group enters the edge of its range. And it is weakest when an enemy unit has closed to range, or when attacking an entrenched position due to its fragility, slow speed, and range shorter than common static defense. The Rifle is structurally similar to a skirmisher. However, conventional skirmishers rely on mobility and range in conjunction with relatively low DPS. A Rifle unit instead relies on massed fire as a group alpha strike, but because they cannot shoot through each other they do not ball up well. A large group really must stand in a firing line in order to maximize their effectiveness, which leaves their flanks exposed. In addition, it is important to note that while skirmishers counter assault units, Rifle units do not. Skirmishers have high move speed and range, whereas Rifle units have high damage and range, but slow movement speed. This means that although Rifle units will get the first shot against an attacking group of assault units, they are unlikely to get many kills due to the high HP of assault units, and are likely to be overrun by a sufficiently powerful direct attack. Skirmishers, on the other hand, will happily kite such assault units forever. Possible Issues The trickiest part of this role to balance correctly will be the rifle vs skirmisher battle. The rifle unit will need to have less range than common skirmishers, but could potentially be effective against them by gibbing squishy skirmishers with a fast, high-accuracy projectile. As a secondary problem, skirmishers might require significant micromanagement to kite rifle units by staying outside of range using their superior range and mobility, but needing some time to actually kill them. Failure to retreat and kite should cause skirmishers to lose quickly, potentially an overly punishing micromanagement situation. To address this problem I think PA might consider an "auto-skirm" behavior for units like skirmishers, similar to the Zero-K built-in widget. This allows skirmishers to automatically retreat while firing, and would greatly ease the player's management of having many groups of skirmishers in different places. Rifle units could use the same AI, but due to their slower movement speed it would be much less effective. Production & Builds I envision a Rifle role unit being produced from the basic Bot Factory, but the factory doesn't really matter. I think a very low-cost price point, about 50-75 mex ticks, would work well, as it allows the unit to be acquired early on, in quantity, and justifies the unit having less range than defensive turrets. The primary build sequence for the Rifle unit is to transition off early game raiders. A Bot player who opens raiders early game needs to be able to counter enemy raiders. Riot units are one possible counter, but they lack the movement speed and range to actually catch raiders. Rifle units have excellent range and can pick off one or two raiders with impunity, but are also vulnerable to being killed by raiders (unlike riot units). Once the player gets enough Rifle units, a transition to main combat units, assault units, riot/artillery units, or other standard mixes become advantageous. Potentially a similar role might be from the advanced bot factory which is highly inefficient, but has more range and firepower, which functions as a sniper. Expensive, uncommon, not normally feasible to acquire in quantity (unlike rifles). The Sniper role is support to a regular army only, and cannot constitute a main army by itself. Rifles, however, can. Conclusion The basic concept is of a lightweight, minimalist sniper-like unit that functions as a main combat unit. A relatively inexpensive ground-to-ground fighter that is seriously affected by terrain, wrecks, and blocking by friendly and enemy units, strongly encouraging firing lines, maneuver, and flanking. Other people can come up with gimmicks like railguns and how many legs it has. The point is how it interacts with other units and structures, both friendly and enemy.
That was a very long-winded post for a sniperbot. I'm fine with 'em so long as they have a properly useful role, unlike in SupCom where all they really did was get outranged by Artillery and kill the occasional Commander.
And here we have the problem with the current HP system: You want a unit which is fragile and destroys low-HP units in one shot. Currently this describes half of the combat units in the game. It's not going to be easy to make a unit which is fragile with good alpha when Levellers one-shot every mobile unit except other Levellers (which die in two shots) and Shellers, Holkins and Catapults one-shot every mobile unit in the game. Stompers one-shot every mobile unit in the game and their splash can one-shot every mobile unit in the game except Levellers (which take two shots). Hornets and Advanced Laser Towers one-shot every mobile unit in the game except Levellers (which take two shots, starting to see a pattern here?). Pelters one-shot every mobile unit except Slammers and Levellers (both are two-shot kills). Slammers and Laser Towers one-shot every mobile T1 unit. Balancing a unit with low hp in the current paradigm is extremely hard because currently we've basically got three types of units, those with 0-100 hp which are one-shotted by pretty much everything, those with 100-400 hp which are one-shotted by anything with a T2 gun, and Levellers. Due to the low muzzle velocity of the Slammer and the Dox, they also act like high-alpha units when considering overkill. They kill most units they face in about a second, and it takes about a second for their shells to hit at maximum range, so they end up with a good 50% of their DPS in flight at already doomed targets (in small engagements, obviously in large engagements there will probably be another unit behind the first one who will take the shells to the face).
I see little point in drawing any kind of improper generalization about all future PA units when we basically have a grand total of four land combat units, in addition to dedicated anti-air and artillery. The existing units are not necessarily representative of all units just because they are currently the only units we have. In fact, I suspect there is a deliberate design to implement very commonly mass-produced units earlier in development, and logically those units will be fragile. I suspect the next units to be implemented will be the cheapest units in the game, and perhaps a few support units at somewhat heavier weight classes. Raiders are among the most commonly used units in all TA variants (appearing in virtually EVERY match), even though they aren't necessarily mass-produced all game, they are critical early on. I suspect super lightweight raiders are imminent, as well as a rather generic type of more durable assault unit, and perhaps even something generalist that can shoot ground and air as well, weaker and a bit sturdier than the existing lightweight close combat DPS units. Complaints about the 'current HP system' seem groundless to me. When we have more unit diversity it may become appropriate to make such assertions, but Dox vs Dox battles have too few constants to make generalizations about any "HP system" overall. And, just to clarify, the primary purpose of the rifle role is to be mass-produced as a main combat unit. It behaves as a volley-fire unit in groups, not a sniper. It is neither stealthy nor incredibly powerful, just a direct fire alpha strike for a minimal price point. As a result it is an efficient source of conventional DPS in groups.
So to sum it up, its a walking laser tower with a bit less range and a long reload time. I see this role better suited to something like the Rocko. Reduce the projectile speed, reduce the damage, and increase the range. Then you have a Rocko. I am happy with a Rocko. I see no reason to make a unit in between Snipers and Rockos. It removes the advantages of both.
You forgot cost, HP, movement speed, and reload time. But yeah, other than those seven things it is pretty similar to a skirmisher like the Rocko. But, not really like a laser tower in any way.
But as I've said elsewhere, the units we have currently are "core" or "Baseline" units, sure you can make tougher units but you can't go in the other direction and make things more fragile because the "baseline" is already as low as it gets. Mike
Knight has my response covered, but: Looks like you forgot the Skitter existed. I doubt any predictions of new units being "the cheapest units in the game" are going to come true since that would involve something even cheaper than the currently useless Skitter.
Very well, excluding the Jeffy analogue. The cheapest *combat* units. The core units aren't necessarily the most fragile. Although I will concede that the Skitter is actually the cheapest and most fragile unit that will exist in the game- the Jeffy/Skitter is not what I was thinking of. But it, too, falls within the same category as raider/scout that the rifle treats quite differently from riot and skirmisher units.
