Niche unit. Jetpack Bots?

Like I had said before they don't permanetely fly, I'm sorry I thought it was implied when I was saying "when flying" and things like that no sarcasm involved.

That's a bunch of extra micro which is the exact opposite of PA's goal.

Not to be disrespectful but it's one extra button.. It's not that hard..

Extra buttons are bad.

There's ways of having hopping bots without the need for an extra button.

When I'm managing three battles on three different planets and expanding on a fourth planet, extra buttons are the last thing I want.

Death to buttons!

Okay Fact #1 Mr purkis. i believe Squishy stated on one of his earlier posts to hot key that specific type of maneuver which takes the micro down to practically nothing.

Fact #2 gentleman (this is to everybody) i believe the the type of unit that a jet pack bot would mimic is the assault marines in Dawn of War where they had a range they could jump and a Hot Key! for the jump maneuver and could jump over anything within that range and land anywhere within that range as long as the terrain allows landing of units. they could also go behind and right on top of units and whatnot.

fact #3 There are supposed to be buttons and hot keys for everything. PA is a combination of Micro and Macro a combination of both that caters to both type of players. so that them high Macro people can't completely dominate the Micro Players every time.

What if it worked like this: The normal move command makes it walk somewhere. But there is just one other button that is "fly" command of something similar to that; this would basically just be a movement command except a jetpack move command and it would instantly land when it reached the destination?

Ooh I actually think I've figured out a good solution! It could have a certain rang, basically some guide circle lines. when you use a movement command within the smaller circle they'd run to that destination while if you use a move command outside of the inner circle they'd fly! No buttons!

The problem with adding a hotkey or button for this unit isn't immediately obvious. It isn't about the one unit - it's about setting a precedent of giving units special abilities. Once we have one unit like that, we open the flood gate to every other crazy special ability idea. PA is about minimizing micro wherever possible. Just because we have a lot of micro right now doesn't mean the game will be like that at release. Squad AI powered by neural networks is an example of a huge reduction in micro that we still haven't seen yet.

Go play starcraft

Seriously though, Uber has said that the only triggered abilities will be on the commanders.
Under the argument: "it is JUST one button" you could easily keep that going. (slippery slope FTW)
Let's just keep it simple. No buttons for unit abilities.

Read my last post I think I've found a solution to the button problem.

Easily abused by good micro. I would just queue up orders in a huge chain all shorter than the threshold distance.

The jetpack could have a possible slight cooldown so you can't just jump and jump and jump endlessly?

Proof of concept

I think you got the walk and fly range reversed.

The jump should just be a short range thing to get over a crack or mountain.

The plan is looking more workable mechanically, but I am still concerned about role overlap with either hovercraft or gunships. It is also probably a lot of programming for a unit that isn't really necessary, but that part is up to uber.

Brb got to go use my jetpack to fly over a mountain.

Well not from what I originally had planned.. I was suggesting a bot that would be able to very rapidly fly to your units and assist them by flanking the enemy or just there to help push while you wait for the main force to come. Don't worry about a role overlap these units would not be flying very much at all and their dps when flying to shoot ground units is very low however when on the ground it's much higher, flying also makes them very very vulnerable to AA, these bots would fly to a point, touchdown behind the enemy and fire. They have a lower range when on the ground but much higher for rate, they have very low health and are slightly slower then a bot when walking but can dish out more damage. The shorter range should be of no concern if you land them within the enemy forces as well as around them, they could envelope the enemy while your tanks and normal bots are making the push to wipe the army out.

@squishypon3 Yes, your previous solution is a valid one. I would support that!

three words. all. terrain. bots.

It jumping over cracks or cliffs is ok but mountains or whole mountain formations would be a bit much depends on the size of the terrainpieces though

No matter how much I love spider bots I just don't really think they're feasible in PA.. they don't fit with the scope and scale of the game. The planets are simply to large and to little terrain variations for them to be a practical unit considering their horrendously slow speed...