Friendly Fire on Splash Damage

So somehow it makes more sense that they will unload ordinance into their own buildings but those buildings are magically immune?

As I see it, right now we are in a state of units doing stupid things, and additionally we are now piling on physics that don't make any sense.

This.
One would fully expect a bullet/explosion/nuke to damage anything it hits.
It makes sense.

That's not what I'm advocating for. Read what I wrote and don't put words into my mouth guys.

I'm saying the units need to have AI so they don't fire on their own buildings.

So pelters/bombers/etc will intelligently determine if they'll do more damage to their opponents or to their friendlies. If the shot would damage friendlies, don't fire. That's how the real world operates after all.

Sure. I think I understand what you mean.

But how do you combine then Friendly fire on Splash damage, and what you are promoting?

I bring in and example.

Right now if enemy troops enter your base, and your attention is elsewhere, your Artillery (if in range) automatically engages those units, and does not affect yours nearby. If Friendly fire will be implemented and you have no other tools to fight back than the Artillery, what should it do? Or, if you need the Artillery 'cos your units are insufficient to stand the intrusion, what your *smart* robots should do?

I'm asking because I don't see an easy solution to that. I like simplicity, so in my vision Artillery does Splash damage. And auto target the enemy when in range. If the player does not take this in account, then he pays a price. Simple as that.

But perhaps you have a better proposal. So, say it

As long as they have the mecanich that allow then to calculate if it´s possible for then to kill more than they will lose shooting

I'm not convinced. It would introduce unexpected behaviors from your units. And it would burden the CPU even more than now.

I do like simplicity. Having units taking that kind of decisions complicates things very much.

Simple really.

If enemy troops enter into my base the artillery won't fire since they will do more damage to my base than to my opponent.

Only structures with precision fire, like laser defense towers or catapults, will fire on units that are inside my base.

Artillery would only fire on units that are outside of the base in a way that doesn't destroy my own base. Because if artillery will fire on my own buildings then they can only safely be built away from my base.

It's just incredibly stupid that these highly advanced robots would fire on my own buildings doing more damage than good.

And this ^ is exactly what I'm promoting.

Area of effect shots must do more damage to the opponent than damage to myself.

You say simplicity, I say stupidity.

My Holkins should not fire upon my own buildings destroying several power plants because one enemy Dox is standing next to my power plants.

That's damaging myself more than my opponent. Advanced robots, or anything with any semblance of intelligence, doesn't do itself more harm to itself than to the thing that is attacking it.

I want all my projectiles simulated. If an unlucky scout flies over my catapult just as it fires, so be it. Maybe I'm just a purist, but I loved this depth and realism in TA, it felt intuitive and intelligent and I'd love it back in PA.

Whether some kind of automatic decision maker should be present to prevent your big berthas holkins destroying half your base should probably be decided through testing with and without and seeing what feels right/is popular.

Yeah. This happens in current PA (i've killed fighters with bombers, and air craft with catapults and 58772 Stompers. But there is a disconnect how it doesn't happen for friendly fire.

So you like the kind of game where your units do not fire at will, and you have to actually instruct them to attack/retreat from enemies?

Can we stop using this "super advanced robots" argument? If they were so extremely advanced, two commanders would just be standing there at the start of the match calculating if they would win depending on the terrain and instantly self destruct if they wouldn't.

Are explosions planned to be neutral? If so, then all explosions, including AOE will do damage. As far as I know, currently, only the nuke is truly neutral when it explodes, but I might not notice smaller explosions doing neutral damage.

The real world isn't composed of cold, unfeeling robots that can be easily replaced.

I think in the vast majority of circumstances, it's better to shoot at the enemy and damage friendlies because the alternative is to let them run around and cause endless damage. Maybe there could be some "IF" in that if the target is non-combat (such as a structure), then you don't want to damage friendlies more than it, but even then, I think I'd just as soon unload on someone's energy plant even if it means dealing more damage to my own units. The whole point is that I want his energy plant to explode; not that I want my units to bow to each other and say, "OH no, good sir! I wouldn't dare fire whilst you are in range of the explosion! Let us agree to stand here in peace and ignore our Commander's orders. Surely he did not meant us to wound ourselves!"

It's up to the player to organize their defenses in such a way that artillery is rarely needing to fire into their own base. If enemy units are running amok, though, you might need it to because damaging your own base is better than letting 80 enemy Dox continue to run through it unopposed.

I know thats why i agree we are not talking about micro the artilhery we are talking about macroing because seriously in an interplanetary game would you seriously check all the bases to see if the artilhery had blown up a gigantic hole because the enemy sent one bot to scout you

This will not micro the artilhery it will macro it making it simple, then you would need to instruct every single artilhery piece to stop shooting because they are blowing the crap out of your base

Except when your Holkins destroy an entire line of Advanced Power plants to kill a few Dox then it doesn't matter if they're automated robots. They just did much more damage to their own economy than those doxes.

Naturally the structures would fire if they were told to manually fire.

Very much agree with this.

It'll also add to the strategy and diversity required. No longer would we be able to build nothing but Pelters. We'll need to build a mix of defensive towers.

Note that in TA your units weren't solid to your own weapons fire. You could place an LLT in a field of solar power without damaging them. It was only AoE damage that caused friendly fire.

This isn't so in Spring. You can hit your own units there.

Is that so? I'm quite surprised that I've misremembered as I played far FAR more TA than spring, but then again it's been a long time. Could just be my memory fading...

I think this game could use a bit more Friendly fire in its weaponry. Everything seems to safe to fire, no matter how close the rounds are to the friendlies on the ground.

To be fair, the real world doesn't have calculating super efficient robots with perfectly refined technology.
What you're suggesting is that these robots would kill 5 of their own doxen in order to stop 1 of the enemy's. Or destroying a piece of your own attacking army to destroy a single power plant.
In reality, if these things really are calculating war machines, that wouldn't make practical sense, the army would lose more doxen or whatever to friendly fire then they would destroying the plant on their own, why would an artillery fire on its own army if the army already has it covered?
That's... insane.
That's like saying in a real scenario "Oh hey, that tank is going to be able to destroy that small amount of enemy soldiers, BETTER CALL AN AIR-STRIKE ON ITS LOCATION JUST TO BE SURE!"

If 1 enemy bot scouting can get so far into your base that your advanced T2 artillery can destroy your own base, you pretty much deserved it because apparently you had no other defense what-so-ever.

Yes it's a game of interplanetary macro.
No you cannot totally ignore your base so completely that enemy scouts are just wandering through unchecked.

But I also don't think that a line of Holkins should be able to fire into your base and destroy all enemies while leaving friendly units mysteriously untouched. That's a little TOO hands-off. If you want to defend your base with massive explosives, you should be taking a big risk. Currently you aren't.

It's silly and unrealistic. Our robots are dumb but why are they immune to their own weapons?