Would they serve a gameplay purpose? Frankly I doubt it, and thus I'd rather Uber concentrate on Good gameplay. But the truth is we have no idea, technically the game isn't even funded yet. Mike
I like the idea of having cities that you can destroy.. It would be REALLY cool to watch the cities being destroyed while a battle takes place near this city. It was previously discussed here viewtopic.php?p=510669#p510669
I wouldn't mind finding dead cities, as if humanity had reached the stars, or an alien civilization had existed, but is gone, for no apparent reason. The implied reason could be the PA Von Neumann machines of various sorts killing everything off in cycles. Cities could complicate the movement of ground and air units, because the city avenues act as a filter, forcing units into a set of paths, while city buildings are high enough to effect some air craft in the same way. That way the city is capable as a defensive impediment. Additionally, cities could grant a resource extraction bonus; after all, cities are megatons of pre-separated high value elements. Lastly, leveling the city eliminates the defense bonus, but leaves the resource bonus, so the impetus is to destroy cities. After all, the game is about destruction, not preservation; so it hits a second thematic note. Another option could be relics. The relics would be any type of preexisting structure, or unit, put on a map before the match begins. These structures and units would be recoverable, thus something to be fought over. To add to it, it could be in a third or fourth art style.
Destroyable and/or salvageable cities could really help to make maps and tactics more interesting. I vote yes.
While I'd like to see some epic street warfare, I can see two problems with it; 1. Artillery and aircraft get a massive nerf because high-rise structures will be in the way, 2. Players won't be able to see battles, or units very well... again because high-rise structures will be in the way. The first problem isn't a big deal; consider cities to be a quasi-terrain type (like you would consider water to be a terrain type) and it just becomes a different theatre of war, one where air isn't viable. The second problem, is really a make-or-break issue. How do you cleverly make tall structures partially transparent so that you don't limit visibility, but don't also ruin immersion?
I think I would rather have them spend there time making more units I can play with then creating units solely for civilians. I'm not against civilian settlements but don't think that they should put work into essentially an unplayable faction that may not overly affect game anyways. Slightly of topic: though on the whole floating city idea, wouldn't it be cool if there was a satellite you could build that was solely a platform to build more structures on. Think about it, it would an an entirely new dimension to every structure in the game because every one of them could potentially be mobile not to mention it would allow the player to literally buy real estate on any planet. this could be especially interesting on water planets or gas giants
I don't see this as an issue. Players won't be micro-managing individual units down alleyways. The gameplay is sending one blob at another blob and if the ensuing conflict happens to fall within a ruined city then that just makes for some interesting dynamics. Plus, as you zoom out the view will most likely become more vertical. This isn't some huge feature and certainly nowhere near creating an entire new civilian faction (no clue where you got that idea from). It's about making the terrain a little more interesting than just what color it is. A lot of other things can fit in this category as well beyond cities. Giant impassible mountain ranges, canyons, volcanoes, glaciers. The list is endless. It just depends on how much Uber wants the terrain to play a role in the battle versus simply being a background texture. Frankly, that's a major reason why having multiple planets is so compelling. Each planet can have vastly different terrain which can impact base building and combat strategies. Imagine a planet like Coruscant from Star Wars where the entire planet was one giant city. Imagine a planet that had a hyper active core with many active volcanoes and tectonics plates that shifted landmasses around throughout the course of a game. Imagine a planet where huge portions of water would freeze and thaw seasonally restricting/enabling land/sea movement each in turn. So many possibilities. Or you could take the other route where one planet has green ground and another planet has brown ground and another planet has grey ground and (shock!) maybe even a planet with red ground.
Make it so you can see unit outlines through high terrain/buildings. A stealth feature, due to blocked line of sight is a really good idea. I don't see high buildings being a major issue against aircraft and artillery, merely a nuisance. If you don't care about preserving the city, then just let your units fire into the city, which will result in the munitions knocking any buildings down in their paths.
I'm assuming that each building in the city is the size of a player's base, and are indestructible. I wouldn't want pansy little towns to fight through. ;D Give. Me. Megacities!
It will be much more fun if the buildings are destroyable. I wanna watch these ancient cities BURN!! :twisted:
Indeed, I want to level these alien relics, no matter their sizes, with no respect for the past. Hopefully, large enough units would be able to just drive or fly through the buildings, causing collapses.
