Humble Suggestions to improve game experience

A few thoughts on the game PA Titans of a few features that I would really like to see enter the game at some stage officially which I feel would enhances and improve the game experience for players in skirmish against AI and in PVP

1) Option to allow Factions to continue after Commander Death.
Like a lot of similar games, the option to continue after the commander units death makes for a major change to game play and extends the game into a new area of play. Instead of now being an essentially RTS Assassination game the continued battle means that it increases the amount of major warfare that has to be undertaken. It makes for a longer game and also allows a player to enjoy battles without the "if the commander dies the fun is over" element.
For PA I also feel that since the commander is basically superseded after the early stages it should not mean that factions without a commander would be significantly disadvantaged against those that retain one - unless, of course, they lose it right in the middle of their army/base
I also feel that for AI skirmish this gets around the problem of the AI not being as smart with its commander; it means that the AI can continue to be a threat to the player and that the player has to shift tactics to defeat the AI.

2) Option to remove select units from build lists.
Primarily this is focused on world destroying/game ending buildings. The idea here is to retain enough that the game holds its epic edge and that there are still ways to punch through heavily defended worlds (indeed in Titans the new teleportation titan makes a big difference in helping attack worlds with otherwise heavy defences). Whilst at the same time it also means that the game doesn't just boil down to whoever gets to the asteroids first. Or who can hold a defence whilst cracking the world open etc...
Again this isn't about taking anything away from the game; its about providing the player the option to enable or disable things at their own discretion.

3) Option to upgrade or auto upgrading of commander unit.
The commander is rather underwhelming; which is a shame considering how many custom commanders there are. It simply holds no real use after the player has built the first tech level. I would thus argue that the commander needs to have more to do other than hide and aid building into the mid and late game - making its use more viable than just hiding it away.
This could be done in several ways:
a) Adding new buildings to its build list based upon what the player has already built. Ergo the player has to build new structures, like advanced building factories, from regular building units; whereupon that building having being built and the construction finished enables that building for the commander to build as well. Thus its tech tree expands through the game without additional player input. Now it can seed new sites with structures not just have to slave itself to another building unit (which honestly just makes more sense considering the commander is the all supreme unit - it shouldn't be "slaved" to "lesser" builders).

b) Offer the option to pay resources and time to upgrade the commander - rather like how Supreme Commander handled things the option here being to upgrade the commanders abilities - taking a resource hit and halting the commander from moving (risky in an assassination game); but with the pay-off yet again that it can then be of more use mid to late game.

c) Offer the option to improve base stats such as health, weapon power, recharge rate etc.....
Making it more viable and stronger; again this could use either methods a or b to use as points when the commanders stats improve in game.

d) Another option would be to have structures which are built which then give the commander a boost to its stats whilst those structures are built. This I've listed separately since it allows for the possibility of structures which give some extreme bonuses to the commander which could render it very hard to kill; this increasing the number of potential "assassination" targets that a player has within an enemy base. Now you might have to find a specific structure boosting the enemy commander otherwise its nigh unbeatable (of course this might have to come with a balance - eg its armour goes to insane levels but its attack drops - or its mobility is very heavily affected).



I feel that points 1 and 2 would be the most easy (in theory) to add as they are purely playing with the pre-game setup. It would be fantastic to have them as options to provide new gameplay from the game without having to change the fundamental structure of the game itself (of course I say that without knowing how hard-coded things are in the game so it could be that even these simple changes could be challenging to program).


There are, of course, a legion of ways that the game could be extended with new units; combiner units; upgrades; structures etc.... but I would leave that out of this thread. I purely wanted this to address a few small niggles that I feel would be easy to adjust and not require adding huge amounts of new assets to the game.


I hope others share my view and will be able to post their support in the view that if we get enough attention to it it might just happen

not a fan of upgrades .. which also will be more work to show players weither or not they are which will then clash with the original philosophy uber had wich is "what you see is what you get" which means any unit you have or build stays that way throughout the match ... so you know what you get and fight against ...
improving stats in a way that isn´t visible to you adds inconsistency and a factor of unknown ...

the one thing for example i hate about starcraft is that just because your opponent finished up an armor upgrade suddenly the assault you planned gets crushed ... so this is definetively something i don´t want ...
and i don´t think it will improve gameplay but unessesarily complicate it ...

as for the commander .. he is meant to be a lieability ... t2 units are meant to quickly take him out when they get close to him .. you don´t ever send him into war alone

i wouldn´t mind if he gets general buffs for more surviveability such as regen but i wouldn´t want upgrades because it becomes a too easy punish against players that don´t upgrade ..

You raise a good point, something that I must admit that I've not really felt in many RTS games, bare on which is the older game Atrox, a game brought out mostly as a "clone" of Starcraft which had a lot of unit upgrades (way beyond the 3 or so that Starcraft 1 and 2 have).

I can totally understand the desire behind the idea of "you get what you see" and avoiding upgrade madness. That said I do feel that once you're past the early stages the commander is just purely a liability. Something to be hidden away in a corner of the base and without much function. Whilst I'd not like to see him brought into the full forefront of battle; it would be nice to have some use of it.

Were it not for all the expanded commander skins they've released I'd have suggested some kind of visual upgrade or unit combiner (eg some titan that the commander "slots" into to activate - ergo a commander battle suit).

I do totally get the idea of not punishing players for not upgrading; I'd feel that at least unlocking new builds as they are built by other units wouldn't be unfair nor enabling too much power for the commander; but would at least mean that late game it has the same functionality and diversity of use as the T3 builders and sub-commander units. At least then the commander can pull its weight late-game and not just languish in hiding or aiding other builders alone.

I hate to remind others of this thread, but some of your suggestions have been discussed some time ago.
https://forums.uberent.com/threads/confirmed-features-list-2-0.44950/

It is a thread about two years ago, and I think it should be reviewed.
Something in the thread is already out of date now.
For example, stealth is still in [SUGGESTION] state in the list.
But in fact, the stealth unit is already implemented in game.
We get the T2 stealth submarine Kraken, and player won't see it by radar.
And of course, we get titan units now.
Thus, the experimentals is not [UNCONFIRMED] anymore. It is implemented!

I don't like the idea to let factions continue after commander death.
This requires the player to sweep planet by planet, the game duration is greatly increased.
The stalemate just makes the game even more boring.

But I really want something to improve the survival ability of commander in late game.
Currently, player can only keep the commander near the teleporter.
And commander must escape to other planet when enemy scout satellite may spot the commander.
Hiding and dodging are the only way to keep the commander survive.

There isn't a change that doesn't require work.

What you see is what you get used as an arguement against upgrades has always struck me as broadstroking without actually addressing any merits or disadvantages. All it's doing is attacking several of many possible hypothetical implementations.

Also, not only does sc2 actually communicate upgrades just fine, but the upgrade timings game hardly affects the frustration factor for casual players. It's a disingenuous arguement.

*Though I will admit it's kinda useless to discuss this anyway since uber clearly isn't in a position to make any of the big changes the OP has suggested.

while " wysiswyg' may not be an arguement to you instant upgrades for a full on army IS a problem it adds moments of arbitrary superiority and throws standart strateguc or tactical moves off ... its as if turning pawns into rooks ... basicly turning a bad unit into something more capable or better ..
adding sudden redundency until you catched up in upgrades ..

why do have units to get better?
why not just have units be simply good at what they are meant to do?

i rather take customizeability (that has both advantages AND disadvantages like turning hydras into lurkers f.e.) over any straight upgradefunction

WYSIWYG is in place to prevent unnecessary complexity in a game where you fight over entire planets. I have enough on my mind to be dealing with upgrades on a micro scale.

I'm starting to come around to the idea of a t2 comm upgrade, but I don't think it's ultimately necessary.

Certainly too much micro in a game like this would fail the game; its too big a scale of warfare to have you nit picking every unit. I think the commander would be viable as it is just one single unit and it is pretty much the focus of your empire.


Which is why boosting its capacity to survive I think is important; but also why I think continuing after its death should be possible too.

I certainly agree that not everyone would like that change; which is why I suggest it as an optional extra in MP/Skirmish against AI games. You tick the box and you can keep going or you don't tick it and it all ends in pure assassination. To my mind it helps in AI games as it gets around the fact that its pretty easy to snipe the AI's commander and sometimes it will suicide it on its own. It also really maximises the whole total warfare aspect of the game - you really do have to "meat grind" down each opponent.

That grind is something people hate, let me tell ya. I've watched people quit long orbital slugfests because it took too long....

Not because it wasn't a good fight or an interesting fight - simply because they hit the hour and a half mark and gave up.

Commander snipes are critical in the late game. It shortens the game considerably.

Aye very true, but in skirmish games against the AI where you can pause and save and come back (and where Uber has invest a LOT of resources into their fantastic chrono-cam save system) it makes sense that longer matches are a viable option. Certainly the multipler scene might not adapt to it well; but I'd see it as an option for those who do enjoy it and for whom it would be a great thing to have.

As an option it's a great idea. It's not often used (drawing from my experience in SupCom FAF) but it isn't being asked for lol.

1) Option to allow Factions to continue after Commander Death.
3) Option to upgrade or auto upgrading of commander unit.

Ok for them to be an option for single player (though I would't give a cent for those). In multiplayer it changes the balance. Upgrade your Commnader, make him a killing machine that if dies nothing happens, and you would have to rebalance the game completely.

I always think the commander should be a b-a-d-a-s-s MOFO and snipes should be harder, don't like the upgrade idea tough, just think he could do with a bit more health.

A game mode that continues after the comm dies could be fun, it's an option. Will i want to pay it like that every time? probably not, but its nice to know it's there. In age of mithology there was a mode that the game only ended when you killed all of the enemies villagers and barracks. I remember having a lot of fun with games in witch friends came back from the dead after i thought i had them destroyed.

Also think that if people want to play without superweapons, titans or even T2, why not give them the option?

The only reason I think upgrades or upgrade structures are viable is because if you make the commander too strong then early on he will dominate the game too heavily. Even currently an early game ground attack can be kept back by careful use of his main ability (and he's the only unit really with such an ability beyond the teleporting structures). So we already have some micro on him - and like most players, I bet most find that come the mid to late game you're not microing the commander at all with that ability - unless things go wrong.

Congrats on your list of suggestions straight out of SupCom2. I'm sure its the first time the devs have thought of these.

i want a way to teleport titan, it could help planet invasion

helios plus manhattans are a nightmare already ...
if there should be a way to get titans to other planets then via transport

I actually think the com is fine how it is and also think that a flat out "kill very unit to win" sounds like an absolute boring affair in multi planet situations, so much greif could be had. It would add a bit more longevity to AI Skirmishes which I do play quite often but I only play to mess about as Absurd AI and even the Queller AIs are really no threat at all.

Making the commander expendable would probably just mean people rushing coms to each other's bases at the beginning of the game to basically wipe it out as the com it a pretty powerful unit and does damage on death, in order to counter this people would put factories up everywhere and far apart to avoid the dreaded death of every unit.

You don't need to teleport the titan.
All you need to do is sending the orbital fabricators to directly build a new titan on enemy planet.
And of course, you need to prepare a good eco and a large orbital army to hold a small place on enemy planet.
Then you can spam titan.

If you don't want to capture the metal spot on the planet.
then you can just build a teleporter to send the advanced fabricators to build the anti nuke and Ragnarok.