OK so I've played a bunch of games, and this is how I feel so far... (haven't read any other posts) I LIKE: The scale. Commanding MASSIVE armies with no supply cap! Fighting over multiple planets! Nukes! Planet smashing (although it's not yet balanced)! The streamlined eco is awesome, you never stop building! The Commanders are cool - but they need variation for their special attack/different abilities. I DISLIKE: How bland the units are - they have no personality! They have different functions but don't feel good to use. How fiddly it is to find units in orbit and to transport to other planets. How the planet's landscape is dull - it would be nice if there was something more to consider strategically than just capturing resource nodes (like using hills for strategic advantage etc). The planet smashing mechanic is overpowered and a boring way to end a really long game (which they tend to be). CONCLUSION: The game has heaps of potential, if it can balance the scale and planet hopping then this game could be amazing! But right now I think I'll wait until a big update before I play anymore... P.S When is the next update coming and why is it so hard to find out about it?
That's a fair appraisal. The devs are cagey about updates as people get annoyed if a build gets delayed. They've suggested we should see the next build towards the end of next week (once they're all back from pax) provided there are no major bugs. I've been following pa since the kickstarter and I can tell you the progress had been fantastic. I'm sure most of the kinks you've noticed will be sorted or improved over the next few builds. Welcome to the community!
alot of ur issues will be fixed near release, but I dont thing the unit design will be "fixed" to ur liking, If you dont like the "easy" planet smash, then make ur own system or increase the halley count on the smashable planets. And yeah this is PA, please fix the title
In response to the planet-smashing issue, Uber has stated that they don't want it to necessarily destroy everything on the surface, just quite a lot.
Fair points, I agree mainly that the majority of units are bland, and that terrain needs more variation. Hopefully we'll get much more in the way of cliffs, plateaus, ramps and suchlike down the line. I do think the game is lacking in iconic units, aside from the commanders themselves which have really nice design. Beyond that the units are a bit.. soulless I suppose. What I'm really hoping for is a pass on audio, the tanks and explosions currently don't sound particularly impressive which - as minor as it may be to a lot of people - really matters when making an impression on someone. Personally I think they need to introduce more weapon types to the basic units. Lasers, beams, glowing energy orb type projectiles.. different colours, some rapid fire units.. Something to make the battlefields feel more "alive". I know the design language they're using is mostly simple explosive projectile based weaponry but it gets a bit boring after a while. Since you mentioned TA I'd invite people to go and listen to a skirmish game of it on youtube.. the sound design is amazing, from the smallest laser to the largest artillery, they all sound pretty distinct and ultimately memorable with a really harsh, bassy industrial feel.. units sound like they have genuine weight and destructive potential. #BetterAudio2014
Welcome to the forum and game! Hope you have a fun time with PA. As far as I know planet smashing is being rebalanced - id signvup to pamatches.coms newsletter. It has alot of awesome content that will keep you up to date.
I totally agree. Although I think they can get away with avoiding lasers / orbs. What they need are units that are FUN to use, and as you say, the sound design could be a lot more interesting. I think the explosions need more variation - right now they all look the same. I'd also love to see more debris, more METAL on the battlefield, more destruction.
It's not that it's too easy to smash planets - it's that this one move ends games. Anyways, I'm sure they will balance this so it's less powerful.
At the moment the best balance is having planets orbit one another so that you can nuke each other from another planet to stop Halleys. Or have just one moon so that there is only one place an enemy will be building Halleys. Other than than, send out orbital satellites to keep an eye on enemy planets at all times, or at least a deep space radar to see what is going on in orbits. Uber know that orbital is still a bit shoddy, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them balance Halleys more in future. Also, eventually smaller moons won't fully destroy planets, the damage will be proportional to their size. However, bear in mind that Uber's intention (at least according to relatively recent interviews) was to have planet smashing being quite common, and have systems with lots of smashable planets in so that having a world destroyed isn't game ending. I heard talk of asteroid belts too, but don't know much more than that at the moment. Hope this helps, welcome to the community!
To be honest i think having the "Planet Smashing" and "Nukes" turns the game into a "Command and Conquer" styled game where it's nothing more than a rush for the super weapon to win..... Not saying i don't like these ideas,, BUT it's less about the "strategy" and more of a "race to the super weapon" than anything else.
Maybe, but I've heard Scathis and others at Uber saying they want to make ground armies a big part of the game, so fingers crossed it is being balanced as such. I am optimistic.
How do you make the units feel good to use? I'm not sure! I really like the idea of mass machines fighting each other - but how to make it more satisfying? Having unique SFX for the units would help. Maybe the animations? For example, the attacking bots that people use to harass, they are a unit that sticks out to me, they are fast on the ground so maybe the animations could make this more obvious/gratuitous? And also making the machines look and feel heavy, like when they move have them tear up the ground underneath them - rather than hovering around (which makes them feel light and detached from their environment). I think more detail in the animation would make them more satisfying to use!
I'm pretty sure he means the units don't have a personality, like the tf2 medic. equal tiers is basically about dividing up roles, instead of providing same roles stronger. Sadly, that shouldn't provide personality either, besides the fact if there is a giant robot or tank people will refer to it like its a first class entity. Which isn't good, having a unit you call "sir" in a game full of expendable piles of tanks. would take lots of modeling time, but if each unit had a theme hinted in its name and mildly modeled like it, it might add personality. Levelers are fine and all, gil-e could have tree shaped top and torso or something, ants could look mildly resembling a bit like a chariot, slammers can have a bulky arms possibly some sort of melee weapon shaped theme, shellers could have turtle shell?
