It's time to talk unit ideas

Seismic Sensors (Spiders?)
These could be walking spider units that have minor significance defensively, but allow their owner to sense when nukes or larger explosion go off on the same planet/moon/asteroid even though it is outside the player's "radar" vision. Possibly, this would be represented by a white line like topography with increasing density of impact inside the most circles (perhaps seen though the other surface of the planet).

Burrowing Bomb-FactoryThis unit is able to burrow underground and mine metal deposits unobserved from underneath. However, an upgrade to this structure/unit allows it to produce and store explosives in an underground cavity. Perhaps the structure also allows for production of mining units to carve out space for the storage of explosives. Ultimately, this unit can be used to undermine an area (perhaps an enemy's base) and fill it with explosives. Generally, these activities are unnoticeable unless the tunnel is spotted or the mining is seismically detected.

Solar Swarmer (Solar Mirrors)Units that launch and orbit stars and gather energy. They then transmit energy from one Solar Swarmer to the next--the energy like chainsaws juggled between two people. This energy suspended between the Solar units can be redirected at planetary targets ... perhaps to destroy them. Also, a damaged Solar Swarmer cannot redirect energy and so the beam travels out into space (or wherever).

Seismic Disruptor
This large unit bolts itself down to the ground on which it stands and then begins to scan for the constructive frequency OF THAT BODY. After a period of time (possibly dependent on the size of the body), the unit will begin to emit that frequency and it will take probably the a time equal to a measure of the surface of the body squared. Obviously, this can be expedited by having more units emitting the same frequency on the same planet. The outcome? The surface of the planet tears itself apart so that there is rubble and uneven ground. This makes travel for non-wheeled, non-tracked units much slower (no effect to flying, naval, orbital units) and causes some damage to structures ... perhaps a maximum of 30%.

Not sure if this one has been mentioned yet.

Advanced Amphibious Tank, (Built in the Advanced Vehicle Factory)
Anti Air, Anti Tank, Anti Naval (Not submarines or units under water).

Something I've seen mentioned quite a couple of times is a way to effectively reduce/negate laser damage, and I was wondering if adding something like an anti-laser chaff dispenser (as a building, rather than a mobile unit) would work.

Effectively, set it up and when it detects a laser strike it pops a load of chaff into the air with the aim of either intercepting the shot or reducing the overall damage it could do.

Would something like this be worth it?

Have sniperbots been suggested yet?

I'm off classes til Thursday so I've had a good deal of time. made my way through the 25 pages and picked 12 ideas that were inspiring. I started drawing a few things and hope to share when I'm done
railgun tank,
orbital dropship,
flak tank,
transports (air, sea, land),
space telescope,
orbital factory,
melee bot?,
sniper emplacement?,
space elevator,
orbital defense satellite

Iterating on my previous post (link) I'll try to come up with a few more concrete ideas. I'd like to focus on T2 specializations. Again, a few of these ideas might have come up already. Keep your eyes peeled for updates in case I think of some more stuff.

Area Denial

• The Mirage bomber targets terrain instead of enemy units. Without dealing damage, its bombs paint flow-field cost at the affected area. This will cause enemy units to avoid said area if not explicitly ordered otherwise by the opponent (thus causing either a detour or a distraction).
• Fumbler mines will affect the targeting systems of units caught in its blast. For a short amount of time affected units will shoot anything in sight, most likely friendly units they came with.

Reconnaissance

• The Skunk is a quick hover tank that, instead of damaging enemy units, tags them using a tracking beam. Tagged units remain visible outside radar coverage and LoS for some time after being tagged.
• The Phantom is a surveillance bot that can turn intangible (invisible and invulnerable to enemy units) at a certain energy cost. The transition takes several seconds to complete. When in this mode the bot can move around at will but will be effectively blind. It will cause radar dots to pop up when it come in direct contact with an enemy unit or building. It can revert back to its normal state immediately, regaining its LoS while being otherwise defenseless.
• The Flare satellite is a comparatively cheap orbital scout unit. In intervals it will use a certain amount of energy to light up the area beneath it, granting a visual snap-shot.

Transportation

• The Mole is a slow tank that can move through most obstacles by burrowing. When above ground it can place a teleport beacon through which it can move units to its current position. Teleporting costs a certain amount of energy that increases with distance.
• The Bullfrog is an amphibious transport unit that can carry a certain amount of units on its back (depending on unit mass). The units it carries can fire with an accuracy penalty while being transported. The Bullfrog travels under water when not carrying units and on the surface otherwise.

Economy

• The Leech is a small cloaked spider bot. When stationary it drains a percentage of resources from nearby economy buildings.
• Tumor rockets are unguided indirect fire missiles. Any units destroyed by them leave much more resilient wrecks that can be reclaimed only at much lower efficiency than normal wrecks.

Miscellaneous

• The Locust is a small flying drone that consumes metal on direct contact and uses it to multiply. They consume rocks, wrecks, enemy buildings and units alike. Single units are exceptionally weak but a large enough swarm can devour an undefended base in a decent amount of time. They die off quickly if not constantly supplied with new resources to consume.
• The Flea is an EMP jump bot. A few of them can disable a group of enemy units or stall resource production in an area. They have the singular ability to intercept nuclear missiles if placed in their flight path, causing them to detonate while still in the air. The nuclear explosion will cause only a fraction of the damage but will set off a massive EMP in the target area instead.

Having gone through a bunch of random stuff perhaps we could do the number 1 on this list for orbital troop transport. http://www.cracked.com/article_16631_5-retarded-space-travel-ideas-that-might-actually-work_p2.html

Bring back the Annihilator defensive structure from TA. So fun watching it fire and "annihilate" enemies.

i think i came up with another one. i don't know what i would call it, but it would be a sort of "Orbital Bomber". but not with the same functionality akin to orbital fighters, oh no. this would be a Bomber that can go between orbits, and travel thru the orbital layer BUT IT MUST ENTER THE AIR LAYER TO ATTACK. but, i think it should also not attack in the same way as a standard bomber would, instead dive bombing from the orbital layer, striking at the ground from the air layer, then sweeping back up, relying on momentum to bring itself back up to the orbital layer, paper-airplane style. being a pseudo orbital unit, it would need to be beefier than your average T2 bomber. most definitely. also, slow enough to be sniped by ion cannons, but beefy enough to withstand light AA fire (Heavy Tank of the sky, bascialy) but weak enough to where multiple passes/extended assault would mean its demise. it would be the perfect tool to initiate orbital invasions, a unit that actually INVADES the other planet's air space.

Interplanetary Probe
Dirt cheap, no weapons, no stealth.
This allows the player to find out if there is an enemy force on a planet.
This will elevate the "intel" gathering meta game.


I made a suggested way that Notifications could be handled.
By allowing the player to send out probes, you remove a micro of handling units on multiple planets.

- Probe death gets added to the notifications.
- Player can then jump directly to location of probe death.
- Player can replay probe's final moments on ChronoCam


Think Empire Strikes Back and Hoth.

But, why not just send a satellite instead?

Salvage Squids
Fast, dexterous bots that farm metal from existing units (yours or enemies', it doesn't matter). These agile machines rip, pry, and torch off metal bits from their targets and then return to base for a very small metal resource increase. They are very nimble and have a decent rate of avoiding direct fire weapons outright (40%?); however, they are susceptible to splash damage and area of effect weapons. Ideally, hordes of these bots would run amongst direct-fire enemies and shred them to bits and then carry home some metal for their owner. Probably they are not useful for frontal assaults, but make an excellent ambush or secondary wave unit against otherwise embroiled foes. Think "squidies" from The Matrix. Allowing for Salvage Squids to burrow and wait just below the surface to ambush others might be a worthwhile upgrade for this unit. Possibly these units can repair each other slowly due to their hands-on nature and, thus, be even more troubling when not finished outright (thus making them better for hit-and-run tactics).

A possible complication of their design could be that after enough successful attacks the unit is depicted holding a chunk of metal in one of its numerous limbs. The speed, attack strength, and dodge could decrement as up to 4 chunks of metal are harvested. In this fashion, the unit would be most likely to cause significant damage initially, but then become less effective as their progress continues (unless that metal is used to heal other Salvagers. I generally find a limitation of RTS games to be the static nature of units' functionality ... as long as you've got 1 HP, you're ready to go and are no worse for it. This would necessitate dynamic tactics!

MY PROBE IS BETTER

I think it has but it's a good idea and worth a a few mentions. I would like to see it but maybe it should be even more late game than other T2 tanks in terms of resources needed.

Or maybe it was just an amphibious tank that was mentioned before. Good idea mind you and I would prefer if it was a T2 thing.

jetpacking bots

Could we have feedback over what units ideas have captured Uber's imaginations? Lets face it we've got a lot of ideas and could do with ideas of what is and what isn't possible for the engine?

Minelayers. Could be used for boxing in opponents or for area denial. I'd like to think that the mines can be destroyed by anything that has sight on them but aren't able to be seen on radar.

A possible addition to this could be that the mines move towards targets in range and work in water as well.

Would really love to see how it could play out in matches.

Yes.

Like to see some focus on level 1 units (like the old TA) where a quick attack can be effective. After playing this game (I'm an original TA player when Cavedog first released in 97) I noticed that one of the most attractive and "unique" elements of TA was the fact I could take one single PeeWee and cause a great deal of misery for my opponent. This IMO was a critical part of the original game that forced players to at least consider an early attack. Right now, it appears PA is feeling like a tech race - similar to Supreme. While you're still in development, please consider what made TA so unique. Thanks