What do you think of the scale of Ubers Mega-bot.

I'm fairly certain a popular quote from the Kickstarter campaign is "We're not shooting for realism, we're shooting for awesome."

That was taken out of context, read this thread to learn more.

Mike

So with nearly 150 votes we are hanging around 2/3 for ok with the scale 1/6 too big and 1/6 too small. So it seems the loudest people in the thread do not represent the superior number of players.

You've gauged popularity, nothing more.

Well thought out, rational ideas and thoughts from knight, bulletmagnet, raevn and bobucles are in the minority against the popular vote?
Not actually news to me.

"We're not shooting for realism, we're shooting for awesome" is an interesting microcosm of this phenomenon. This "popular" quote has blown out of all proportion (some might say out of "scale") to its original intent.

good poll to c the numbers on it

I just noticed the pretty heavy discussion after my first post. I just felt like posting a small reply.

At this point I think I would prefer no super units (implemented as they were in SC). However looking at what Uber asked us to look at I think the scale is good. As far as I can say based on the role I would expect it to take.

Edit: I do think if is hard to nearly impossible to say something really meaningful about the size and or scale based on the info available.

Nano you make many valid points about the design. however I feel you are basing them on unconfirmed info at this point. Uber only asked us to give an opinion on the size of the unit. the model is a whitebox so any feelings on the logic of the weaponry and comparison to the battle ship (which is also not final) are premature it seems to me.

I have intentionally tried to avoid entering any super unit discussion. I am awaiting additional information from Uber on the subject before I start worrying about it. When more info is available I will be happy to think and discuss on it more.

If we're lucky we'll hear no more about it until the Full release of the game and they put up a new stretch goal for the expansion. If we're unlucky the stretch goal will happen some time in Alpha.

Either way I'll be very happy to vote with my wallet against Super Unit (ala SupCom) inclusion by avoiding the donate button like the plague

Honestly I think that's my final word on the matter.

SupCom Super Units in Planetary Annihilation?
I wont fund 'em.

Right, popularity is not a good basis for argument, but neither is noise.

The point about legs being a weak point honestly applies just as much to bots of any scale. The large size of the bot is honestly as much about readability as it is about "awesome".

While I agree that it would not make sense for the bot to have that many weapons if it were powered internally, it would actually make a lot of sense if the bot firing all of them drains your available energy rapidly- in effect it would "stream" the necessary power to fire its weapons because it's impractical for it to carry a generator for all those cannons/missiles/lasers. (It's hard to tell which they're supposed to be when the model is untextured) If we can do this for construction it's merely a matter of scaling the technology up to apply energy-at-a-distance to power those guns.

While you're absolutely right that such a bot represents a large risk and most likely an inefficiency, it also allows you to concentrate a lot of firepower in one place without using an interceptable missile, so it's highly likely that in a war machine that has been perfected over millenia, there'd be room for a couple of such weapons as a means to avoid dropping asteroids on your enemy's bases. (although I don't understand why you'd want to avoid that )

The real issue I have with the mega-bot is that, if you can make it, then you could make a ship or tank with the same exact technology, and end up with a significantly superior unit.

Tank: One arm gun, in a shoulder joint style turret, in a chassis a fifth as tall, with better ground pressure, leading to more hit points since more weight can be carried, and what should be better speed, and smaller silhouette. Fill the chassis with multiple vertical launch missile cells.

Ship: Replace the battleship's three turrets with three arm guns, lengthen the hull, or reduce the deck house, include VLS missile cells, and maybe a fourth turret for ballistic artillery. Additionally, since a ship floats on water, it can carry far more weight than a land unit, so its hit points can be far higher.

On the other hand, giant robots are cool.

MWAHAHAH! You've already donated! You can't turn back now! MWAHAHAHAAAA!

Sup com style super units will never be in PA (modding excepted). I'm pretty sure the devs have explicitly stated that. If there is a super unit it will never make armies redundant as that would conflict with much of the games mantra.

AS a probably futile attempt to get this thread back on topic, i'd say that the current height of the Mega-Bot is good, it makes it really stand out, maybe just a little shorter so it can't just look over buildings. However, i do think it should have a slightly 'fatter' style to it, so it's lateral dimensions would be more alike to a square.

Essentially, it'd look way more like 'just MORE' of whatever main purpose it serves if it was very blocky and cube-like in relation to its edge dimensions. I hope you understand what i mean and don't think this is actually about the model's parts.

Instead of a stupid over-sized super unit there should be a

ALL-TERRAIGN SPIDER BOT FACTORY!

Because the time the could have been spent on a stupid gimmick they should have a series of utility bots that have, oh i don't know MOAR LEGS, similar size to normal units, and capable of climbing hills easy. (gimmicks: the stupid uber units. utility bots that are epic, small and awesome: spider bots!)





Edit: moar details

Neutrino has already stated it'd be a separate stretch goal. My Kickstarter funds are not going towards "Super Units" and neither is anyone else's at this point.

The long rant about logic. Don't think of it as a world please. Think of it as a game. Otherwise, go tell the dumbasses at Infinity Ward to buff my mother****ing AA12 shotgun, it has the LONGEST range of any shotgun and the LOWEST range in the game.

It is a video game. I wouldn't mind a megabot that can reliably be used as a burst of firepower like to crack a turtle but was just as reliably taken down the second firepower was focused on it pretty much even if it hid in it's own base, or a megabot that traded complete functionality of some of it's features like having guns at all for another utility like stealth or continuous unit repair aura.

I question that whole logic rant anyway. "Strikes" two and three are pretty much the same, and both say that the size to power ratio is wrong, and both can be answered by the difference in cost. Lathe still requires a higher ratio of resources to build a better end product, the difference being the generic "motor" and "armaments" in the battleship compared to the high-resource-costing "motor" and "armaments" on the megabot.

The megabot obviously took more resources as it is more densely compressed technology and more complicated technology, obviously it would have downsides to the battleship like travel speed... obviously it needs to have a use to even be in the world and/or game but it obviously would have a flaw by design... as you don't light a campfire with nuclear weapons or wage war with matches.

Why does the Battleship mount an Armament to Chassis ratio of 10:90 while the Mega-Bot has it 50:50?

Why, in a setting that we have been told has taken all known technology and refined it to a razors edge, does the Battleship not incorporate that same Armament to Chassis ratio?

Why is the Mega-Bot "more compressed"? Why not make the Battleship "more Compressed"?
If you're using the "best" technology for everything then why is the Battleship so weak in terms of Armament to Chassis ratio?

What is the limiting factor for the Battleship? Why NOT put the ratio of armament from the Mega-Bot on a larger unit like the Battleship?

Is the Battleship less powerful than it could be? If so, Why? Why could the Battleship mount a bigger engine, more lathe-bays and bigger weapons than the Mega-Bot...

...and yet doesn't?

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I'm allowed to think of my games in terms of their "In Universe" logic if I want to. It increases my enjoyment of a game when it has some semblance of logic to it.

It's a sea weapon.

And?
Are you trying to argue the recoil angle?

It takes more to support a vessel on the ocean than on land.

I disagree. Water makes it far easier to be bigger, not harder.