T1 Astraeus/Radar and T2 Orbital Combat?

Hmm.

Well. I am personally in favor of less interaction between orbital fabbers and ground - a tele is quite enough. If we start complicating things, it starts to become too much, and unbalanced. I think we will have to keep it this way until the Unit Cannon is released.

Why does nobody want (Orbital) Air Teleports again?

Unit Cannons don't help you mount an invasion from a large planet to a distant smaller one. They can only fire from low-gravity asteroids.

The Astraeus is doomed to be useless for anything except Com-Evacs if Orbital Fabbers can build on the ground...

I have an innate issue with a unit that can travel around a planet in seconds, demolishing everything in sight, that can ALSO move between planets instantly.

No. If you want an air force, you build it locally. Gaining air dominance shouldn't mean the end of the other player instantly. It doesn't in real life - it just means your defeat is inevitable.

The astraeus needs to be cheaper. If it was cheaper, all these issues would be solved. Until we get the new orbital launcher animations in place, we are kind of stuck.

Like the halleyable moons we commonly place in orbit around other planets?

Oh. Yes.

Actual implementation can be quite tricky. This seems to be a viable solution.

I mainly want the Astraeus or it's variant to be a cheap one way trip so you can't build one Astraeus and planet hop with ease.

I'm of the opinion that upon release, orbital fabbers shouldn't be able to build things on the surface, or at least not from orbit. Maybe an advanced orbital fabber could, but definitely not the basic one. Perhaps we could allow an orbital teleporter? An expensive (maybe T2) teleporter that drops units from orbit when the pass through the teleporter. (units on surface go into surface teleporter, drop out of orbital teleporter onto planet. Perhaps make it a station so that they drop using drop pods?)

i have already suggest this in another thread

Me too. But that's an Air Balance issue. If Air is balanced and can do a finite amount of damage by being forced into formations when it attacks, it'd be fine for it to move between worlds.

I agree it shouldn't mean the end of the other player instantly. I've made threads about Air Balance:

1. Air Orbital and Nukes Vs. Land, Naval and Big Guns
2. Balancing Air - Continued!
   
3. Air Stacking and Environmental Effects Questions Acknowledged

You shouldn't have to build an Airforce locally. That's like saying you should have to build an Army locally. The answer is to get Air to a more balanced state. This is happening.

The Astraeus doesn't just need to be cheaper. It needs to be standalone, as it just being cheap has affected the rest of Orbital Factory units by making them cheap. It's the only Orbital we need early-game, so it makes sense to have it as a T1 standalone, with Other Orbital available later as a high tech means of zapping stuff from space or reconnaissance.

Furthermore, it just being cheaper wouldn't change the fact that it's redundant when you can use Orbital Fabbers to make Ground Teleports.

Lastly, if there aren't any Halleyable moons then the game should still be able to function. For instance, if I've already smashed all the moons and I need some way of sending a big invasion.

Doodly, considering there will be the possibility for multiple planet spawns this would make it an extremely niche unit compared to now.

I was thinking two Orbital Teleporters would link and then Air Transports could be used to land an army. This is an interesting proposition - linking a Ground to an Orbital Teleport. Not sure how I'd feel about instantly materialising drop-pods though xD
We had Jetpack bots in one thread but I think people thought they might increase micro.

Compared to now, where it's already an extremely niche unit? I was suggesting expanding its role and making it available earlier, not restricting it >.<

I dunno.

I get why people are sceptical. We don't have any units not produced at factories at the moment. Maybe a T1 Orbital Scaffold/Factory for the Astraeus and basic Orbital Radar would be better.

because they would be to powerfull and make almost anything that doest involve orbital or air obsolete ... therefore changing the layers that you should be more focused on ...

Quite telling about the state of air and orbital I dare say. So assuming that air and orbital will at some point in time be resembling a state of balance I like that idea.