Air Snipes are broken

Discussion in 'Balance Discussions' started by Nothinglessness, September 17, 2014.

  1. Nothinglessness

    Nothinglessness Member

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    I have had it with these easy air snipes. 5 out of the 15 games I've played, I've lost due to air snipes. Its too easy! Example: One game I was playing, both guys where attacking me, and I managed to kill both of them and had like 3 advanced air factories making peregrines, my base had like 150+ of them patrolling around. Was producing mass armies to finish him off, but he just sends 50 peregrines, scouts me, then orders all his bombers to focus fire on my commander. Boom. Dead. I had tons of air defense, but since the bombers can all stack into one big blob and attack, I couldn't do **** to stop it. I think that making it so that bombers can't stack attack would help with these cheap and easy air snipes.
  2. epicblaster117

    epicblaster117 Active Member

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    Try a balance mod such as RCBM and Statera they tend to balance air and snipes a lot better.
  3. Nothinglessness

    Nothinglessness Member

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    I don't want to have to mod the game just so its harder for someone to insta kill me
    TopAce6, Auraenn and mjshorty like this.
  4. epicblaster117

    epicblaster117 Active Member

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    Then have fun with the broken balance. Thats what mods are for are they not?
  5. Nothinglessness

    Nothinglessness Member

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    I'm on balance discussion, not modding discussions...
  6. mered4

    mered4 Post Master General

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    either start offering solutions or get out. Being a part of the problem isn't helping anyone.

    How to not be air sniped:
    Scout, realize he's going heavy air.
    Realize he's building HUMMINGBIRDS, not PEREGRINES (they were removed some time ago).
    Build lots of AA to counter his A2G. Build flak around your commander. Something other than sending massive armies that get obliterated. Want to be ironic? Use Boom bots. He can't stop those with air.

    And yes, you should try out the mods when you get more literate with how the game works.
  7. Nothinglessness

    Nothinglessness Member

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    I had seen that on that game he had a mass of air flying around his base, but he also had a big enough army that it would take longer to combat it. I had built 3 advanced air factories and spewed out hummingbirds. Even if I had a ton of AA around my commander, it wouldn't of been enough to stop the **** ton of clumped up bombers from sniping my commander.
  8. mjshorty

    mjshorty Well-Known Member

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    if you see your opponent mostly going air (like ratio of factories is 5 air to 1 vehicle/bot/(*smirk*...)...naval) then you need to get a couple of air factories that pump out fighters, then saturate your base with AA, AA can take you only so far, but air can just swarm much harder, so keep a reserve of fighters
  9. Nothinglessness

    Nothinglessness Member

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    Ok, well from what you guys are telling me that I just need to spam air to counter air. Got it.
  10. Nothinglessness

    Nothinglessness Member

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    https://forums.uberent.com/threads/hummingbirds-need-to-be-fixed.62675/
    This is what I'm talking about mostly.
  11. mjshorty

    mjshorty Well-Known Member

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    well no, you dont need to spam air, you just need a bit of air to support your AA, and you can build those vehicle AA units to help in offense, because your opponent will be investing in bombers, all you need is the fighters
  12. Scallat

    Scallat New Member

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    No. Categorically no. It's the job of the people making the game to make sure that it is balanced.
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  13. Clopse

    Clopse Post Master General

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    Wonder how many hummingbirds you could have build instead of building t2 air factories....

    If you seen he was massing air for a snipe and you had time to build 3 then you had enough time imo.
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  14. zgrssd

    zgrssd Active Member

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    If you see the enemy is amassign air forces, don't wait till they are over your base. Engange them on the approach if possible.
    Were those fighters in the air when his bomber arrived? Fighters belong on a area or queued patrol order over the base. On the ground they are useless and won't get up there in time.

    The only T2 factories that have any T2 agaisnt air are Naval and Bot. Both of wich are not that better then the T1 versions.
    T1 interceptor is the weapon agaisnt air units. Except enemy interceptors - those are best countered by land, defense and naval (a hard counter is that wich can shoot while not being able to be shoot at).

    Building T2 factories when the enemy is Air heavy is like going for bot's when you want to do orbital invasion.
    If he could hold you off long enough with his standing army to build up his air forces, chances are he just was the slightly better player or had better eco.
  15. iron71

    iron71 Member

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    Bombers need to not stack (more specifically all air). This will spread out their bomb loads and prevent the bombs from landing all in the same spot, which makes snipes really easy for bombers. This combined with the strategies from the people above should help prevent air snipes :p
    Last edited: September 18, 2014
  16. igncom1

    igncom1 Post Master General

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    Bombers aren't good at snipes, aa sees to that.
  17. masterevar

    masterevar Active Member

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    Build flak cannons, when the bombers stack the AoE from the flak will do amazing damage, that is why there is flak.
  18. silenceoftheclams

    silenceoftheclams Active Member

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    Yes, flak cannons are a hard counter to T1 bomber snipes. But even better is getting a big group of fighters and just killing the bombers over your enemy's base. Most people who go for mass bombers usually do so by scaling back production somewhere else, often fighters.

    But speaking as a player who likes to try and take the initiative in games, I've found that air snipes are only a moderately effective tactic. They are easy to counter with good scouting/intel and appropriate countermeasures; even walking your com away from the blast can reduce the damage you take from a snipe attempt. The only games I've won through air snipes have mostly been against opponents who I've been outproducing anyway (so my ability to produce 60-80 T1 bombers uncontested is really just a part of my superior economic position) or against opponents who have just not been scouting me.

    On the other hand, air snipes are stronger in an FFA because you have so many players whose moves demand your attention. A player from half the map away can decide that it's your turn to die to a mass of T1 bombers pretty much at random, and if his neighbours aren't putting pressure on him - he was always gonna be able to do something, wasn't he?

    TLDR: it's a good way of finishing off players who are on the defensive. But it's not imba: you're unlikely to see it in a high-level 1v1.
  19. Auraenn

    Auraenn Active Member

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    I really think they should add something similar to hunker from SC2. It'd definitely eliminate these sorts of issues.
    Flak cannons are also the direct counter to this as well.
  20. speedem0n

    speedem0n New Member

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    Suggesting that bombers shouldn't stack is not offering a solution? You obviously didn't read the entire post before you decided to mount that ridiculously high horse and reply.

    Pointing out a perceived imbalance (whether you agree or not is irrelevant) is being part of the problem? I'd say the bigger problem is the blatant fanboyism trying to squash anything negative about PA on the forums due the absolute arse reaming it's taking on the review sites, but that's just my opinion.

    Backhanded insults to OP's intelligence aside, why should one be forced to install and maintain 3rd party software to fix fundamental balance issues in what is supposed to be a polished and released title?
    vyolin and Auraenn like this.

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