suggestion - Changing how the orbital works.

Just my two cents after watching some of the latest build videos.

So, my understanding (and from the Kickstarter video), is that the commander is eventually going to be loaded into an astraus (sp?), which is then going to load into a rocket and shot toward a planet like some bad reminder on how conception works.

At current the orbital launcher feels more like some space cannon factory , especially with the new explosion animation. So why not just turn it into an orbital rail gun...factory? (Not to be confused with the bloody unit cannon thing that tosses units around to different planets) and have a seperate rocket thingie to launch the commander/ground units into space? Obviously this won't solve the big orbital problems, but it seems like it would be a nice touch.

Just a suggestion for when the game is a little less in the 'beta is beta and gamma is gamma, don't bug us with your tripe. Anyways, please go about your business.

P.s. never write one of these posts on a phone. Nothing but sorrow awaits you.

A-freaking-men to that.
Anyway, I sort of agree with this.
To be clear, by rail gun, you mean a sort of interplanetary artillery, correct?
If so, then yeah it needs to be put in, but I don't think it should replace the orbital factory.

So you will be able to have ground unit in orbit? To drop on people? If that is what your saying sound like a good idea but maybe a bit over powered if not well balanced.

I'm confused on what you're asking.

Are you wanting an interplanetary artillery? Or a way to launch new units into space?

LOL'd
Oh god now i cant get that connection out of my head D:

Because interplanetary artillery is a very bad idea. Interplanetary travel must be guided. There's multiple reasons for this. From a gameplay standpoint, I would much rather launch a missile than a dumb projectile, because missiles can orbit around and hit the backside of the planet. Dumb projectiles cannot. Also, it would be an absolute nightmare from a development standpoint and a UI standpoint to implement a dumb firing projectile that goes from one planet to another that somehow calculates the rotation and orbit of the planets so it hits the targeted spot and having the UI that shows what spots are available. So we'd only be able to hit certain sides of the planet at a certain time. It'd just be an absolute nightmare.

And new way to launch units into space? Well. First off we need a first way: the unit cannon. And it sounds like he's describing just a unit cannon that looks different.

Since I last checked dump projectiles are subject to gravity and can orbit just fine. I think you can hit everywhere with non-accelrating projectiles.

The math involved wouldn't be that bad. All spots are always available althought the trip time would vary quite a lot. Nothing especially difficult.

They are subject to gravity – but that doesn't mean they can orbit intelligently. Even if we had the most powerful artillery known to man, doesn't mean we can make it intelligently around to the backside of the moon to hit something there. It's a dumb projectile. It isn't guided.

And if you think the math and animation would be so easy, go apply for a job. They're hiring.

Being subject to gravity you can easily hit beyond the horizon and hitting to the shadow side of a planet isn't any harder a shot. You don't need the projectile to be intelligent / guided. What you get from the guidedness is that you can hit on the bottom of some canyons. For flat ground there is no advantage

Thank you for your faith in me. However it is not fair to shoot down others ideas down just because you don't want to spend the imagination to see how it could work. Especially when there is tone of accusation on not having thought about the suggestion hard enough.

Isn't the unit cannon going to be firing dumb projectiles?
At least, that's what it looks like on the kickstarter trailer.

I'm sure interplanetary artillery can be done, but why spend the time making it into a unit and doing all that extra coding when you should just be able to load bomb bots into a unit cannon and watch them drop onto a base and explode on impact? Or vanguards dropped from a unit cannon, which is a scary thought!

It is not possible to fire a dumb projectile from one planet to another.

We cannot put an artillery piece on Earth and shoot at the moon, or Mars for that matter. Just because a projectile can orbit, doesn't mean it can hit. In order for the original Saturn V to make it from earth to the moon, or to the moon, and back, several burns and course corrections were made.

It is simply not something that a dumb projectile can do.

No. The units from the Unit Cannon will have rockets on them to guide their course. That's what's needed after all for interplanetary travel – multiple stages of course correction.

I see no reason why in theory you can't have interplanetary artillery.

Its about game balance, not actual science.

Yes but Brian is arguing about actual science.

I know.....I didn't read it before I posted because I am a big old dummy.