What good is the SXX Laser if it is balanced from Commander Snipe of Doom?

A lot of people have been complaining about the OP SXX commander-snipe strategy of death, where the SXX appears directly above the commander to 1-shot it.

Now think about what happens if the SXX gets balanced such that this is no longer possible.

Their HP is so low, that a single Avenger can take them down with ease. They also die from a few shots from Umbrellas. Their shots also drain a considerable amount of energy per shot. Their shots have a very long cooldown and compared to ground units, they can take a long time to destroy any substantial parts of a base. They cost 25000 metals, or half of a nuke.

Right now, the only reason why I use them is for commander snipe, or for very end-games, when building 20 of them isn't an issue because I have spare resources (while having 1000 Tier 2s which are far more effective).

To balance the SXX laser platform, I suggest the following:

1) Nerf the commander snipe strategy.

2) However, increase their HP to that of an Advanced Satellite, or more, to justify their cost.

3) Remove their energy cost per shot.

4) Increase their area-of-effect splash damage.

OR

5) If their HP cannot be increased, at least reduce its cost more sizably, considering how easily countered they are, by Avengers and Umbrellas. To 40% cost perhaps.

Queue 'Independence Day' alien super laser

Nerfing the commander snipe strategy you have to make it either a lot slower than it already is and/or cutting the damage. I haven't used the sats in awhile but last time I did it took half a dozen shots to take out a commander.

Increasing HP makes them harder to destroy thus making the commander snipe nerf less effective.

Removing the energy cost per shot will only make them more spamable without having the energy infrastructure in place to actually USE it.

Wasn't the point to make the sat LESS powerful? Increasing AoE will make it dish out a lot more damage per shot.

Less cost means you can build more for less and a lot faster.


Now, if you want the laser sat to be less effective then I suggest looking at umbrellas. Either making the umbrella cheaper, more powerful or having a greater range and/or all of the previous. This means you can build more umbrellas (Aren't they pretty cheap already?) and thus have a better defence for your commander.

Couldn't you easily balance the commander snipe by adding a cooldown to SXX laser after arriving at a planet? Would leave you enough time to cover the com with umbrellas or avengers.

Actually the main counter to SXX lasers is very simple right now as it stands ... 3 ways:

1) Ask your commander to move between 2 spots endlessly to fool the SXX lasers. Don't set to patrol, as doing so will make your commander assist-build stuff.

2) Put your commander on an air transport and set to patrol. However, you have to watch out for anti-air. Works well if you rule a planet.

3) Ask your commander to patrol between 2 spots of a portal exit and entrance.

These 2 are the only counters for now. What does not work:

1) Spamming Umbrellas.

2) Spamming Avengers.

These 2 do not work, as the SXX mostly fire instantly upon exit.

The main complaint comes from newer players who are unaware of these strategies.

edit: Nevermind, i completely misunderstood you. It's to hot for my brain to work...^^'

Nuke is 80+K metal afaik.

Actually, here's an idea. Attack-moving with the SXX could make it fire a continuous beam while moving, constantly draining energy but dealing high damage to anything it touches. Great for destroying those lines of factories or powergens.