I have been thinking, why not make so the Annihilaser needs to have ammo/charge before it can fire? Like nuke launchers have. My idea is that the ammo/charge is stored inside the metal planet, so when the game starts all metal planets is ready to fire 1 round as soon as the catalysts are built. But then it need to build more ammo, or recharge, depending on what fits best. The visual cue to see when the weapon can fire again is to have all the catalysts folded back into their building position, and they fold out one by one as the ammo/charge near it's completion. When all are folded out then it's ready to fire again. This would fix the issue of a metal planet be able to win the game in just minutes, but it would still be a very good weapon, if fabricators could speed up the process by assisting the catalysts, it would allow the player that is in the control of the metal planet to fire more rapid as long as his economy allows it. UPDATE 1: (Idea comes from this post) The idea about how the planet show the charge can get confusing to the player, since they might think their catalysts are out of power, instead maybe the blue light on the metal planet's trenches would go out once it's fired, and turns back on again from the bottom to the top as the charge nears it's completion. That way it's more evident that the charge is stored on the planet, instead inside the catalysts themselves. But then the catalysts needs some way to indicate that they are in process of recharging the planet. The only idea I can come up with on the spot is that they spray the green goo around the pole.
I like this idea. I don't like how the Annihilaser is an instawin, even on a 10 way FFA on a large system, and it's not that much more expensive than Halleys.
Yeah I was thinking of each catalyst being like a nuke launcher, where it builds another part after its completed and the part it's building can't be assisted and takes 2 minutes to make. Once all catalysts build the part you can fire, which destroys that part, so the catalysts have to spend another 2 minutes making that part again Building those parts takes metal and energy income so people can harass the catalyst owners Eco to give themselves more time Stops people on larger systems from rushing out catalysts faster than the travel time across the system since even if they somehow go from having no catalysts to all of them in 5 seconds, it will still take two minutes to charge up and another two between shots
My opinion on it is that I want the players to be able to use the Annihilaser as soon as the catalysts are built, that's why I think it's a good idea if the ammo is stored on the planet, then it can start with a shot, and I still would like the players that is a head in econ to fire more rapid so as the game progresses the Annihilaser will become a bigger and bigger threat. It also keeps the consistency of the fabricators to assist in building ammo (like the do with nukes).
At the moment there are other miscellaneous shaped potholes on the metal planets. We could have these indicate charge, perhaps. Maybe starting from bottom to top? As far as I'm aware catalysts are actually owned by the player, which is why they turn off when you run out of power, so they wouldn't quit working after a metal planet loses power.
I didn't mean they would quit working after they fire, just that there are some way for the other player too see how close it's to firing again. But I can see players getting confused about that. But I like your idea, it also makes it more evident that the charge is stored on the planet, instead inside the catalysts themselves. But It would be good to have some indication that the catalysts are in the process of recharging the Annihilaser.
Well, if the catalysts are destroyed during ongoing combat, it'd be offering a new strategic option; push for new catas right as the giant ball of death is almost done charging; or giving a timer to do this very thing; or telling players when to expect a big raid.
I think it should be a one shot and depleted weapon. (or the catalysts should explode and need to be rebuild) After all its capable of killing entire planets. A halley is also a one shot weapon and its not able to completely destroy big planets .
I can see the reasoning behind that, but I like that it's a game ender weapon, but it need more balance then it's currently have, and if my idea was implemented I don't think it would be difficult to remove the recharge button on the catalysts. Speaking of which, I don't know how difficult it would be to mod in my idea in the first place.
I think the idea is that if you let the enemy build the catalyst, you should die. It is the ultimate weapon, and if you can build it, you deserve to win.
