Do we really need mass points?

Think outside of the box here. Metal points should exist but they shouldn't matter to the overall game.

Imagine if two players start on different planets. This essentially becomes a race to who will either:
- visit each other's planet
- find a metal planet

So technically in this case the metal points don't matter at all.

But if players start on the same planet, then we can either see a very quick battle where a commander gets cornered and murdered or one of the commanders flees the planet, gets an asteroid and kills the guy's main planet, gains an advantage and in the end wins the game.
One player may focus on defense, starts building advanced buildings and resources very quickly and gets ready to fly off while the other focuses on offense and tries to kill the enemy asap. It's just a matter of who will be able to effectively execute their plan and if it will hit them in the back of their head.

I'm usually a universe freak and I love to think about planetary travel so talking about this makes me feel very horny.

Here's a thought, how about having different sized mass spots? The larger ones being able to fit more extractors.

targeting a fixed resource (if you can see them, and you cannot on low res right now) allows you to shoot for the point rather than a radar blip. This is critical in blitz campaigns. On an older system, just finding the mass points is hard enough now.

Power cables and links would be better, as the distributed base structure poses several problems and a lack of infrastructure to target / disrupt. Making base systems require cable, and upping the building hp, would make the game more capture than kill, which many players like - as well as enhance the value of small sabotage and disruption units, bombardment collateral damage, and realistic logistics and supply chain disruption with precise distance attacks (orbital to highway).

If you are going to "go big" you might as well study modern warfare and target transport infrastructure in addition to primary targets. Cities are hard to kill. Roads... roads are lucrative soft targets.

yes mass points got all interess to the game .
even some power points like FA power plant, but we really need mass points totaly agreed with that or interess off grab field its lost, and you stay in home just wait.
We want go out doors fight for the all planet points ,and iff you got some points mass that you must grab ,then you will have a tactical game.

What about mass fabricators? (Buildings that convert energy to mass.)

If you have mass fabricators then you may as well have all metal planets.

And remember, you can blow planets up, so if someone has full control over a planet, you can blow it up (once that gets put in).


Also, it is not just going to be one planet, its going to be an entire system of planets. How many mass point is that again? That is going to be a ton of mass.

You not get the point to this game, without mass points this seems really easy.
we want to fight in the planet, we go and grab all points not just fix in the same place.
This game its diferent from all others out there because many other things and that .
i play this since TA, fa was best rts i ever play and still play, and this game will be another awsome game to my history rts but we need the things that cause diference to this game.
Iff you got all money in you´r house you not need go out find it, but iff you need fight for the money that its out doors you need find a way grab them.

As has been said before, we need mass points, or there is nothing driving expansion and contesting areas during a match. I'm also against mass fabricators, no matter how difficult to get they are, since the game then becomes a race to get them, then ram an asteroid into the enemy's base first.

Mass points are ok but make them appear in random places.
Just like age of mythology does with the gold deposit.

Having them on the same location makes the maps boring.
Appearing in random places means you need to scout more.

Considering maps are Procedurally generated I don't get what you mean by this.

Mike

An option for lowering or raising values of the mass point outputs would be nice.

I personally am a fan of low output mass points, or fewer of them altogether, as it makes the game much more tactical imo, however, I know a lot of people feel the opposite and want to be swimming in mass as early as possible.

A way to adjust this would make everyone happy I think.

what is a mass point please ?

Its where you place Mass/Metal Extractors to generate Mass/Metal.

Mike

You really need to go play Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander.

Looks like he doesn't know that

I know this is a pretty big bump, but I'd like to add something to this.

I'm getting the feeling that Uber hasn't added mass points, because it would be harder to test the engine with mass points enabled. Consider the fact that Uber really wants to push the limits of the engine and see what it can do and how to improve on it. Having unlimited resources helps them because we can do more and abuse the hell out of it, thus making massive armies and really straining the engine, pushing it as far as it can go.

Of course we need mass points if we ever want this game to be competitive, but I don't think it's a goal while they're still developing the engine and getting an idea of what is possible.