Mobile Factories

Factories that sit in orbit are perhaps different enough from their static, land based counterparts to make them work alongside them? Paying extra for units seems acceptable if they're deployed from space, and the factories would have a role in invasions.

Like some sort of asteroid with a factory on it?

They can coexist. Firstly, there seems to me to be a big enough niche for a factory that sat in the orbital layer of a planet. It would be more flexible, but more vulnerable, than an asteroid base. And how exactly do you invade an asteroid? Find a smaller asteroid? An orbital layer factor offers a lower level of escalation, and also presents new strategic opportunities to supplement grander gestures, such as a movable asteroid. Secondly, why not both? Having several ways of achieving the same goal is generally good provided they are differentiated enough. Having an asteroid base feeding a unit cannon as the only way of deploying from orbit seems an arbitrary limit.

I'd just like to point out, setting aside the orbital factor, the slight and very minor different between sup com (where I first and last saw mobile factories) and the original Totala, and PA. Sup com has one kind of engineer, a little vehicular thing. Totala and PA each have 3 primary types of construction units, a tank, a bot, and an aircraft.

In which case, it's much easier to stop building your 10 simultaneous bombers or gunships for a few seconds, build 10 advanced fabricator aircraft, then build a forward artillery base with some missile defense and twin lasers, meanwhile you've returned to building gunships/fighters and you've been pommeling the other side of your targets base with tanks and bots.

So, how do you compare the time and cost it takes to do that, compared to the time it'd take for you to build any kind of mobile factory and have it move all the way to somewhere safe and sneaky, deploy and build a small army, and then attack?

Question: if you are able to deploy mobile factories safely near enemy base you couldn't easier build teleporter and quickly pour your army through it ?

Even if the idea is cool, I do not see the point in placing mobile factories where you could put a Teleporter for a fraction of the cost.

Unless we are speaking about positioning a production facility where a Teleporter can't be placed. Like in orbit, or for unit that can't be teleported, like air and navy.

So perhaps it would have more impact on the game-play having Dropships, Air Carriers, and water/underwater multi purpose units.

Just my 2 cents.

I think the only time mobile factories could be interesting is if they never deployed, and they could build whilst moving.

Why not go one step further and just build mobile platforms that you can build any building on. Sorry mate my t2 energy buggered off in three directions and my t2 vehicle factory is circling around your base spitting out levelers. Good luck finding my nuke platform.