For Backers Only: Megabot Experiment

I say sir what a giant robot you have there.. What will I ever do with it?

I'm late to the discussion. But I don't like the idea of a super mega bot.

Experimentals were fun in SupCom when playing against the AI but I don't see the enjoyment/draw for having a single game ending unit/building. Then it's a rush to build that one thing to win the game.

I think they should be an end game unit in multi-star system warfare that can be built a limited number of times. Or is only allowed in a special type of game mode like alliance were your alliance has to put all of its resources into making it.

I support large units because of Awesome. However, they should support armies, not replace them.

Well said, Sir.

If you spend all your resources building a mega unit then be prepared to be rolled over as the other player(s) focus on building units they can actually get out in under 10 minutes.

however, if you get wrecked by a mega unit someone rushed to get, that's your fault for not scouting it and preventing / negating its construction.

I am well aware of those strategies. I harp on them all the time in my casts when it comes to stepping up to advanced and building nukes. however, I still don't want super mega game ending units in the game. I don't think they're fun nor are they very viable for competitive gameplay.

I do want bigger units. But at the same time I'd rather them be like "Tier 3" rather than "Well I just won the game a-move victory".

There's just something suitably epic to seeing this massive walker lumbering across the field, especially since we could literally see this thing from space with the celestial view.

But I also agree that it shouldn't be a game ender. So it's difficult to sort of rectify these things and still make people happy.

Naw, it is easy to do. Make their role be non-combatant. There are roles that are logically filled by big units. One of them is transportation, another is absorbing damage... there are many options. The biggest thing, IMO, would be to keep a significantly lower damage:cost ratio and you won't run into any major problems. The thought of watching some of these units come around the horizon would be the definition of epic and it would be a darn shame if large units were left out because some people with the loudest voices yell "IMBA" enough.

If we make it so that the effectiveness of large mega-bot type units is severely hindered without smaller units to support them, then it would call for balanced armies rather than just teching up to the big units and only building those. I still like the idea of the MTT from starwars episode 1. It's way larger than smaller units, but it's role is completely dependent on the units themselves. That is the type of big units I am hoping for; not a galactic colossus type.

What about something along the lines of a mobile artillery platform?

Inaccurate as hell but packs some serious firepower, and if left alone can, over time, do the job of artillery emplacements. It's just mobile.

You see one coming and you're still thinking "oh ****", but at the same time you can't march it into someone's base and expect it to live.

He, I just thought the same.
Like the Titans in the WH40k universe: Hellish loud, devastating but at the same time so cumbersome that they are unable to reliably engage anything smaller than a tank (sure they can wipe out infantry with a single attack but that's so damn wasteful...).

So for PA I'd say give the arms some kind of artillery (like a pair of mobile Pelters) and maybe a slow firing rocket launcher on the shoulders for some AA. Many hitpoints (about double a Commander?) so they stand a chance to move into position and unleash their arm cannons but at the same time slower than mobile artillery (half the speed?).
Result would be a devastating unit when it comes in range but at the same time it won't stand too much of a chance when smaller units get close and swarm it (it'll be needled to death...).

I'd leave off the AA. We don't want these things to be walking armies. =p

They need to be specialized so one supports an army, not replaces it.

Bingo.

I'm a bit late to the party, but I'd like say that I'm not a big fan of the giant super-mech. How about a giand super-tank instead? It just seems more awesome to me.

I like this idea. Not only having just a big stompy megabot, also a megatank would be awesome as well! Reminds me of the SupCom EUF FatBoy

That reminds me, I wanted to make examples.

So let's take the Fatboy. It's essentially a mobile artillery platform that looks like a tank. Shoots further than it can see, needs a supporting army to be optimally functional. What I would do with something fatboy-like is remove the close-in smaller cannons, make the artillery cannons more functional(To make you both have scouting forces ahead to give it vision to fire, and then another force nearby to protect it since it can't protect itself), and then plop it ingame.

In the example of a King Kryptor or the Illuminate(orwhatever) colossus-thing, I would remove the anti-air and most of it's health. Basically turn it into a very large assault bot. Does a ton of damage but if you send it in by itself it'll get overwhelmed and destroyed very quickly, and it gives you a reason to support it with ground forces and air cover.

Then... the experimental gunship, I would make have less health and then no anti-air at all, making it essentially a flying artillery/assault piece, that you would want to support with ground and anti-air forces to keep it safe.

Yes, they're powerful, but they're not going to win you the game alone. They need support to function and survive and do their jobs.

I wouldn't mind a huge *** carrier ship that hovers, instead of the UEF submarine carrier that hides underwater, turn it into a massive hovercraft!

an EMP tank I think could change the battlefield in a cool tactical way.

how about having tanks for different types of weaponry, like plasma tanks, fire tanks, rocket tanks, self-destruct tanks that detonate a nukelar payload when they run into enemy tanks (if you can get one close enough), mine tank and all variations of that. Thinking different types of bombers that do different things as well, but that sorta depends on what kind of other different unit types they plan to add in the finished game. Be nice to know just how many "other" units they plan on adding before they're done.

About 100, apparently.

Yea, uber-units are "awesome" - never the less they're a game-breaker. Experimentals were a major reason why SupCom multiplayer was f**** up.

I like the current approach - a single, Krogoth-alike mega bot. One that's horribly expensive to build, and still can be destroyed by enemy given the numbers (preferably: commander should have a D-gun that would kill it in 2 shots).
But at the same time it's strong enough to break through well-sieged position, or create a landing zone for cross-planetary assaults (which would be it's major role in PA)

IMHO things like Mobile Artillery Platform would be a game-breakers.
First of all - we already have more than enough of artillery units. Both: mobile and towers.
Secondly - it'd kill any attempts of cross-planetary assaults with regular troops, as you can simply bombard enemy Krogoth to death from distance invalidating any attempts he might made to land on your planet. Third: It'd turn game into nothing else than "whoever builds this **** first wins" - Krogoth in Total Annihilation got few weak spots - one of them being limited range, so given right circumstances or poor skill of whoever controlled it - you could take it down from distance. So even if enemy did build it first - you could still get rid of it with T2 units - and you had more than enough of them, because Krogoth was horribly ineffective comparing to regular units when it came to resources for armor&firepower ratio.
Third - MAPs can simply stay at range and outgun or outrange next to anything in the game - I can't imagine how possibly it'd bring anything good in the game balance. Only counter would be air units, but... the air units are already next to most powerful thing in the game so I can't see why we need to encourage people building even more of them. And than there's a fact that you can make your MAP indestructible by simply filling your base with AA turrets (which will be even easier when we get line-building).
And finally it'd be next to useless in doing what we need to be done most - breaking through defenses of planets filled with turrets. For balance reasons it'd have less armor than Krogoth, which means turrets would kill it faster, even more so as Krogoth shots are next to instant, while MAPs usually fire arcing projectiles. Yes, it got range to handle towers at distance, but it's more than likely anyone building fortress-planet would own at least one MAP himself, invalidating pretty much every advantage your MAP has.

Yes, there are many factors to account here, and we know very little about them, but - morale is that the game will be more fun to play without any spam of megabots. There will be more space for strategy and more space for creativity than with experimentals being anything else than a single unit. And sing Krogoth-alike type of unit solves everything that MAPs or any other experimentals proposed try to solve while not creating "race for EXes" kind of gameplay which kills most of the fun in competitive gaming.

Kinda feel like you didn't even read my suggestion in favor of just ranting. =p