Basic Vs Advanced Radar

I tried doing a search, but I could not find this suggestion (I was certain that it has been suggested before...) so forgive me if it has.

Instead of advanced radar just being a completely better option, why not have it work differently. Like, have it be a sweeping radar that is a rotating line (maybe 1 rotation every 10 seconds?) at its current range. This way, it has the range advantage over the basic, but it is only periodic.

I believe the advantage is supposed to be power consumption.

300 for basic, 3000 for advanced, 7500 for radar satellite, 13000 for advanced radar satellite.

I don't really get the power consumption model for PA though, for things like this. In TA, when you hit 0 energy you could see your radar flicker (IIRC). In PA, it seems like all radar functions just fine regardless of energy and I guess it really just slows down other things.

Radar functioning is tied to economic factors. Right now, it simply shuts off if you fall below a 10% economic deficit. We need to double check this though, because it may have broken. And I would like to see it so that between 1% and 10% you start to see more things like partial function - flickering on and off, but.. that's a polish type feature that might take a bit to get to.

Any plans to actually make the two tiers function differently? Or is the 'Advanced' radar planned to be just an upgrade?

Not everything has to be a direct divergence from its predecessor. Radar is a good example, because the cheap starter is great for outposts while the large one is better suited to bases.

But if you insist on such a thing, it may make sense for the T1 to lack the range for space detection. T2 gets the extra layer, while orbital has a huge advantage of being able to move and being fairly difficult to eliminate.

Why would I insist on T2 and T3 radar?

You know I hate that stuff.

A unit being widly cheaper is a massively underrated advantage.. massively underrated.

I don't consider adv radar to be an upgrade to radar. There are tradeoffs.

Whereas I do see a adv mex to be a direct upgrade to a basic mex. I can't think of why you'd want to keep making basic mex in the late game -- you make a mex, you make it advanced.

But basic radar I build into my forward defenses regularly so that they still have local coverage in the event that my main radar gets blown up. It won't spot for Holkins but it'll spot for Pelters and missile turrets.

I wouldn't just build adv radar in these places because the power drain would be pretty extreme.

Come to think of it, I don't put nearly enough effort into just plain blowing up enemy radar. Killing the radar is probably easier than killing the thing I'm trying to stop, like his pelters/holkins. And if this makes him plop down 10 adv radars, hey, enjoy that 30k energy drain!

Oh well, I'll just have to change it myself.

Because that's what it is. It's a radar, which incurs a higher cost for its greater ability and increased tech requirement. What else could it be called?

You could put a T1 radar on a gunship and it'd still be a T2 radar, as it is clearly superior and more expensive than the cheap one.

I mean, there's only so many different things a radar can do. Put everything on the table and there still isn't much to pick from.

Hmm. Well, if you say so then I guess it must be true.


Radar can do a lot of different things. Little distinct coloured dots are just the tip of the iceberg for what I've got planned.

Suggestion:

Decrease radar range by the amount of energy deficit. e.g. You need 10,000 energy, you have 5,000 energy, all radars operate with 50% radius.

Not to state the obvious, but that isn't a way to make basic and advanced radar function differently to one another.

nanolathe what do you have in mind?

I can think of the ability to not just show "there is something", but also to maybe have a certain range withing it actually shows what type of unit that something is?

But apart from that? hmm

So the OP isn't an example of a possibility?

Well yeah it's one more. But tbh I don't like it. It would basically force a player to plan when to look at the radar line to see the spot that is interesting. Worst case you have to sit there and watch for 10s. That's probably rather annoying.

To me the idea in the OP doesn't have anything fundamentally different in terms of the end result, just in how that result is obtained, to me it brings more complexity than depth to the game.

Mike

Those are both great points. What about this: Adv. radar emanates so much radio energy, that it acts as a beacon to the enemy and shows up as a radar blip to anyone on the planet. IDK, I think there are plenty of liabilities that can be added onto the advanced buildings/units...

The Adv Radar doesn't need liabilities... it needs a different feature set.

I'm working on a write-up. Give me some time.

Radar can be be totally omni directional with no moving parts. It's a cooler design that uses a bunch of spaced anttenae. They are timed to create specific interference patterns, with a summed output that acts like a directional beam.

Edit: No wait, stationary antennae aren't cool. But it still works.