Catalysts should burn up after one use

I kind of think the Annihilazer is OP. There needs to be a cool-down period or perhaps making the Catalysts be a one use structure that has to be rebuilt.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE them.. but once someone gets control it's totally game over even if you are spread out over 5 planets(It can keep aiming and firing every 10 seconds, roughly).. whereas the Hallies are a one shot type of object.. you can smash a planet into one other planet. I like that idea. Personally I'd love to see a counter set to 5 or 10 minutes for it to refire that everyone could see. That would inspire some awesome epic endings of everything being thrown at them to stop a second firing. Making the catalysts burn up after each firing would also serve to slow down their multi-use.

Actually, I like that idea. The catalysts are set up in haste by the commanders to quickly annihilate their enemy, and are therefore not completely compatible. I don't think it'll go in, but I think it's a good idea. Also, the wreckage should fly off into space

We view the Annihilaser as a game-ender, which is why the cooldown is basically non-existent.

Would it be possible for even a slight one so players can get their barrings? 15 seconds, 30, a minute perhaps? I really don't think it needs to be long, just something to give other players that little bit of chance to victory.

I'm not sure a cooldown would do anything in a real game. If somebody has successfully built five Catalysts then they've got to have the planet locked down with anti-nukes and orbital spam. If you couldn't stop them before the laser fires, I doubt even an extra half-hour will give you the opportunity to break through. The only possibility would be a Halley-moon, but again why wait if you can see they're on track for a death star?

Could it be an option for person making the game, or you could make it an option for people playing private games. Don't think it would be that hard to make it an option.

That's a bummer.

I am not a fan of game enders/insta-wins.

They lack strategic depth or variety. This game is supposed to be about massive armies.

Rush to build one thing and win. Boring IMO. Looks great in the trailer though.

The Catalyst could be a good addition to the game, if balanced properly.

Since it's intended to be an insta-win, there really needs to be a lobby option to turn this off. And lobby options to turn off other stuff (by popular demand) while we're at it.

I agree fully with this and feel strongly that any significant additional cool down or nerfing would only lead to games lasting far beyond the point of fun. The catalyst is easy to intercept and once built should signal the end of the match.

I wouldn't be averse to there being some side-effect of firing the laser, such as all the Catalysts being destroyed. That would be a bit more reasonable and could potentially work OK. But still you get the issue of the turtled-up, impenetrable metal planet: even if you have to rebuild all the Catalysts at ten times the price they are now, a hundred adv. air fabbers and a solar system's resources are going to have you firing it again pretty quickly.

EDIT: PA games are usually over before they're over. Except in very evenly-matched games, any spectator can usually see who the winner is going to be well before the killing blow. Stretching it out artificially wouldn't add anything IMO.

I really hope you guys take a more flexible view on this, it seems very different than the rest of the game. Every other weapon has counters except for Halleys which are balanced by their 1-shot and self-destructive nature. (and the original trailer even showed missiles that would partially counter them)
I feel like the end of the game should hinge on your strategic use of the weapons, not just whoever gets the magic laser wins.

If you can't destroy catalyst, with nuke, sxx, smash, tp invasion, then what could you do to win anyway ?

This. Very much this.

The beauty of massive armies lies in their variety and strategic depth. We have an infinite number of possibilities on the makeup of our army and how to use the army. That's one of my biggest draws to Planetary Annihilation.

There is no variety and little strategic depth to a magic insta-win structure.

This was my concern before the Annihilaser was announced, and is exactly the same today.

Thankfully we can make systems without metal planets. But unfortunately, I like the metal planet biome, just not the (current) Annihilaser.

Many things. Especially if it's a large system 10 way FFA. In games like that, nothing matters but the metal planet.

I could be solidly winning the entire match and have killed off several opponents and have the largest armies and economy, but it doesn't matter because someone turtled up on the metal planet.

5 structures, far away from each others, visible to everybody, with alerts at the start of construction, you call this instant ?

Then maybe there should be a way to simply eliminate turtles.
Yeah, some way to just heavily damage a turtle to completely and totally disorganize them... some sort large explosion, bigger and more damaging than a nuke that deals damage that can't be repaired. Something as strong as an asteroid, maybe.
If only this game had something like that, hmmmmmmmmmm...

Wrong. Hint : tell me when you will find all 5 spots secured by anti nuke + umbrellas

Which is exactly why I have been advocating so hard for asteroid belts. They are the answer to orbital gameplay, not the metal planet.

Tell me when you can manage a 10 way FFA, fighting off multiple enemies at once, and manage to mount a large scale invasion against an entrenched metal planet.

Also, people can, and will, secure all five spots. It's only five spots. Late game, when economies are very large, it's actually extremely easy to do. Umbrellas only cost 1,7500 metal, Avengers cost even less, and anti-nukes aren't overly expensive either. Even then, anti-nukes aren't a huge necessity since nukes are so extremely expensive and it takes 2 nukes to destroy a single Catalyst. It costs more to destroy a Catalyst with nukes than it does to build a Catalyst. So feel free to nuke the Catalyst, it can be rebuilt faster than it can be nuked again.

Even if they don't, or do, heavily entrench the Catalysts, it doesn't matter. There is still little to no strategic depth or variety to building 5 buildings and winning. There is little to no strategy to it. Build a building, defend it, and win.

I don't understand why people are so against this. I mean, if anyone manages to actually build all 5 in a match, then they could have pretty easily won through a variety of other means.

It's a simple, cool, and entertaining way to prevent matches where you KNOW one player has already won and you have to wait for then to kill off everybody else. In other cases, it provides a focal point for combat and prevents planetary turtles- you have to go and fight for the metal planet.

As for large FFAs, it's not like people aren't aware of the metal planet. King of the hill, anyone?

The use of the weapon may not have any "depth", but the acquisition and depth of it does. I think maybe a few tweaks, like reducing the health of the catalyst substantially, or making them blow up like a nuke if destroyed would be interesting, though. Maybe even an initial charge time once all 5 are built before the planet is active, but once it is ready to fire, GG man. GG.

That said, I think that starting alone on a metal planet could cause problems given the lack of reasonable planetary invasion methods, but that's another issue.

Instead of assuming how the annahilasor will be the ruin of strategy, let's just play a few matches, watch a few matches, and actually SEE if becomes the only thing that matters.

You should change it so that the commander has to enter a control seat in order to activate the Annihilaser. This would add a little extra strategical depth. It would add a little bit of extra risk to firing up the Annihilaser. Try and snipe the commander before he reaches the control seat. People would know where your commander is if it requires the commander to fire up the Annihilaser. And it you timed it right, you could send a planet smash at the Annihilaser, not only stopping the Annihilaser but killing the commander too.

I forgot to mention... it would also look pretty cool!

If you're so concerned about metal planets you could just - you know - not play in a system with metal planets.