The Teleporter

I have an idea for the teleporter that I've talked about already.

Now that metabolical's 2nd playtest came out we have seen it in action, (here it is if you wish : )

I'd like to present my idea which they look like they're on the road to taking but it would require a bit more code :

My idea would have the teleporter be a neutral structure. For those unfamliar with the term neutral, this would mean that it is not one of your possetions strictly speaking. yes you built it, but it will not provide you with a vision radius, and you will not have the power to self-destruct it like you would any other unit. (to destroy it you would have to tell your units to destroy it)

what this would do is add in for the first time in PA a second strategic point (the first being your commander) to defend.

this means that you would have to go through lengths to defend it (and put the defensive structures to a new and better use than just turtling) and/or guard it with some units else your opponent use it for his own good.

this would allow for many interesting situations and suprising twists :

• you loose hand on the two doors that you constructed and the enemy starts using them.

• the enemy took one of the doors and attempts to send troops through but you're waiting on the other side and it's a massacre for either him or you (but most likely him as for him, upon arrival on the other side it's SUPRIIIIISE!

now an obvious thought that comes to mind is; "how would I get to use my gates without constantly being trolled? by your definition an adversary could just build a gate at the same time as me and we'd be fighting a tug of war with the gates and the units"

the whole of my idea is to use a system called "wiring". Each gate would have a small area, going from it's center. after two seconds of this area being occupied by units of a single faction or alliance the gate can be wired to it's sister. (yes this means that gates only have one "path" at a time and that you must do this first before using your first gates).

As a result when enemy units are pouring through a gate it cannot be rewired as the zone is occupied by units from either team at the same time. but if you secure the gate you can stop the intrusion (from a lost gate) by wiring this gate to a new gate or simply unwiring it.

as such, when you select a gate you shall have a GUI list of available gates under your control, complete with planet names and other small information that can help situate it (if there are two or more gates on the same planet) that you can wire your current gate to.

wiring a gate to one that is already wired to another will automatically unwire it from that other.

BUT

considering gates have two sides we could envision another adaptation of wiring where going in one side of a gate leads to one gate but going into another leads to another, as such, the aforementioned case wouldn't unwire your already wired gate but create a "snake" of gates, a path of gates. now I know you're thinking: "it's teleportation what's the use?!". well the use is having a door to each planet, something that's easily manageable for you when you need to go from one place to another by right clicking orders to units like you are used to versus the current GUI-selection approach.

of course nothing prevents you from re-wiring the gates to whatever's fastest and most convenient at any time.

(I'm working on some graphics but in the meantime debate! I've not created a poll as it causes strife.)
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TL;DR: be allowed to walk my units through enemy gates

It's actually an interesting idea.

I don't like this idea.

That's a valid opinion. I just said I find it interesting, not that I like it. But it's probably more like mod material.

There was a mod request similar to this. But it was to have a network of stargates already set up on all the planets, like stargate. So anyone can use them who finds them.

Interesting idea! Makes it more like galactic gates from TA. I'm just worried about how much complexity that would add for a lot of people, but I would personally love it.

This is a good idea. The qualifications for it being a good idea is that other players like the idea and would like to try it. And happily, not every player is required to like it for it to be good.

From the beginning Uber has planned for this game to be mod-friendly, because we know there will be more good ideas than we can implement. This is likely to be one of those ideas. Hopefully we can make our mod-friendly sandbox flexible enough to support a great many of these good ideas so they can be done in the community. It wouldn't surprise me if the most commonly played game mode turns out to be something other than one we release ourselves first.

Mods are mods.

They will be what they will be.

As a standard mode? Or even the standard mode?

No, I disagree, and that is ok.

Regardless, I think for the late game, full eco aspect of PA, where both teams have at least one planet fully developed and defended, the *i can route through an enemy gate* needs to be an option, at least as a distraction.

Until we get multi-unit transports, we need as many options as we can get.

I wouldn't be against hacking into an opponents gate network.

Makes then a double sided coin.

Awesome idea. I personally love any change that moves the teleporter closer to being a Stargate. The concept of fighting for control of gates adds so much more strategic depth to PA.

If I were to do it I would make it a little more clear.

• Any gate can connect to any other gate that isn't in use
• The gate is owned by the player with the closest building
• When active, gates are immune to damage
• An active connection can only be shut down via energy stall, or from where the connection originated

I think these rules are simple and easy to understand.

I am not quite sure I fully understand OP's suggestion, but I think its along the lines of mine.

To add to this:

• When (or if) EMPs are implemented, gates are immune to them
• The gate is not owned by anyone until activated, which requires a specific command or set of commands via the ui
• Gates can be shown on the celestial view. (past orbital)

I actually like this idea. Mostly the neutral gate part where it cannot be self destructed and that another player can use it as well. I think this adds a strategic element where the builder has to plan for it if they lose gate control.

For example, in the video where we saw the recent teleporter, if the incoming army was destroyed Yellow would of been able to go back through to counter attack. Perfect situation for a spare nuke. I foresee instances where the builder needs to nuke the linked gate on their own base to prevent a beachhead. That would be really neat. Just having it where it is not something that you build lightly near an enemy base as it could be turned against you.

Not sure how the gate linking would work though. As if the link could just be disconnected it would be the same as self destructing the end gate.

Has some possibilities I think.

To me, that comes under immune to damage.

I don't see the value to this. You would be able to connect to any gate that isn't active, that includes gates owned by the enemy.

As for specific command to activate the gate, I am a bit confused as to how you would do it any other way.

Yeah, it would be nice to if a gate is on a planet in the same place it shows number of thrusters needed to move a planet. However to me this should be on the list. The list of rules should be restricted to things that change/add to the mechanics.

I think there's a lot of merit to the idea of having gates that your opponent can take advantage of. It adds an element of risk to building what is otherwise an extremely powerful piece of kit late-game.

I'm not sure of the exact implementation described in the OP, but I very much like the principle of the thing.

Speaking personally, I don't like the idea of the structure itself being neutral, but I'd say having a long shut-down time (and having it be unable to self-desctruct while powered-up) might be a possible solution.

well unfortunately you're not quite there.

this could be an extension or another version of my idea. but in my idea:
- you can attack the gate at any time (gates are not immune) simply it must be done manually. the units will never engage the gate on their own. this requires clicking on the attack button in the ui or using the attack hotkey, then left clicking on the gate rather than the usual right-click.

-gates can be disconnected or connected to another while in use

-gates will power down on energy stall, whose energy they pump is dependent on who "owns" the gate at that time (C.F. the area timeout)

-a building does no grant ownership to a gate it must be a unit that grants the ownership by occupying the zone. as soon as an enemy unit is within the radius the gate is locked into it's current "path" until the zone timer can be capped again. (think : world of tanks or any game with a flag victory)

-active connections can be shut down from either end hence the imperative to get units through as soon as you capture a gate to maintain the connection an attempt an invasion before the enemy has time to destroy the gate.

ok. to you this is too far from Uber's vision to be other then a mod then?

I actually thought this could be the default release behavior of the gate. In the forums posts I made about it in the past this is how I formulated it too. You do not see this as viable? something is too crazy, unbalanced, or poses technical issues?

Dude, you need get with the stargate lore. Gates can only be shut down by the people who activated them. It makes sense, because otherwise noone would be able to attack other people's gates.

I should have been a little more clear. This is my revision of your suggestions. Stated in a clear and easy to understand way (I hope).

This is the bit I don't like. It shuts down attacks and it adds to micro. Its effectively "push this button to halt the attack".

This bit has more to do with our different ideas. It wouldn't work with my revision, but it would work with yours.

Unbalanced towards different players, driving the conflict of a whole planet to that 1 point, being able to destroy the ONLY way to get large armies from 1 planet to another, ...

How would you feel if you made lots of factories, ready to attack someone through the teleporter and then having an ally go "ÖOhhh I have to stop enemies from coming here!".

It's just not worth it. The way it is now is the way to do it. Maybe more expensive and under advanced.