Add how Astreas needs to go into orbital launcher to fly in space?

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by drrex, February 22, 2014.

  1. drrex

    drrex New Member

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    It would be really cool if Astreas Needed to go into a rocket to fly somewhere. Also, Maybe add a unit launcher for the game, too? I know i would love this stuff if you added it!
  2. omniao

    omniao Active Member

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    Are you talking about the trailer?
    They're going to add that stuff sometime, but some of it is tedious work. I wouldn't count on it for the next update.
    Wait, maybe?
    Actually, I don't understand a bit about uber's process right now...
    I can't tell if they're trying to balance the stuff or complete the units list. Maybe both.
  3. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

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    I see you're new here, and you should do a search before posting in accordance with forum rules.

    People have talked about animation and balance stuff concerning the Astraeus. Currently it does get in a rocket when it is initially launched.

    The Unit Cannon is a confirmed feature and is being actively developed.

    The game still has a lot of work to go and many units, buildings, and other stuff will be added.
  4. z32

    z32 New Member

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    I don't really like the way that the astreus is implemented currently. I'd rather have the dedicated interplanetary unit ferry be something found later in the tech tree in exchange for carrying a more significant payload and being more durable. The current astreus isn't good for much except rushing a comm or engineer offworld early on. I tend to build one when I want to expand to anew planet, and then just kind of leave it floating there after its done its job until I need to move something from Planet B. The silly thing takes long enough to move between worlds that if I wanted to move something off of planet A again, i'd rather just build a new astreus than move my old one back. Later on, it gets so scary moving anything at all because the darn thing is so fragile. You can't really gather intel on a new planet without going there, but if you go there without intel your poor little dropship is probably going to get blasted

    What if the transport constructed from the Orbital Launcher was simply a 1-way trip rocket pod? Construct it, load up the unit you intend to transport and launch to your destination. That way you can leave a dedicated heavy-duty interplanetary transport to the orbital fabber
  5. ORFJackal

    ORFJackal Active Member

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    When moving to another planet that is not orbiting the current planet, then it's better to build an orbital fabber and use that to build a teleporter on the other planet, than to use astraeus, because astraeus travels only at half speed compared to the other orbital units. In my last 6p FFA match I was able to land on a planet much sooner than another player, even though he sent his commander on astraeus there first, because the orbital fabber travels faster (and through the teleporter I can send in a group of units to take over that planet faster).

    When moving to orbiting planets it may be better to use astraeus, at least in the early game, because it's cheaper (you save 3000 metal by not building 2 teleporters) and the total travel time is so short. But even then the benefit of using the teleporter is that you can quickly send in troops to get control over the planet.
  6. drrex

    drrex New Member

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    I see that they might add this. The Trailer was so boss, but im pretty sure their implementing half of the trailer. Cool, that the Unit Cannon is being created, but what about some really cool things? Like, That New Alliance gamemode i can see just sitting there, unable to be clicked. Im just waiting for it and i honestly want to use it. My friends and brother can mess things up badly, so Alliances will be fun to use. Another cool thing would be to add Ai difficulty. It would be nice for a bunch of things for them to add, but my heads empty...
  7. bmb

    bmb Well-Known Member

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    It really would be nice if sending things out of orbit was a special effort. It's very silly right now.
  8. dc443

    dc443 Member

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    Ya, I would really like to see some sort of cost on escaping gravity wells. It's not a concept that necessarily seems to add unreasonable complexity, and it would then actually parallel the primary real world challenge as well.
  9. bobucles

    bobucles Post Master General

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    The most effective way to lock down a gravity well is to demand some kind of infrastructure to escape. While you absolutely need a base to create that first orbital unit, there's no other trait denying it the ability to fly around all over the place.

    One option is to make every single orbital transport a 1-way deal. That way only the source planet can send transports anywhere. Got any better ideas?
    vyolin and KNight like this.
  10. bmb

    bmb Well-Known Member

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    Yeah that is pretty much what I was thinking. You just point the orbital factory at where you want your stuff and then it goes there, and then it can't really go anywhere else.
  11. chronosoul

    chronosoul Well-Known Member

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    I had the same idea drrex. You should take a look at a thread I made on the same idea for the astreaus.
  12. Slamz

    Slamz Well-Known Member

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    It would probably make just as much sense and be a lot easier if the Astraeus was simply built by the orbital fabricator rather than the launcher. It clearly does not need to be launched in its present state, so just eliminate that by building it in space. It would make it take a little longer for people to get off planet but I can't think of a downside to that. It's still pretty fast to get off planet if that's what you really want.
  13. bmb

    bmb Well-Known Member

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    I do think the astraus should probably have a separate launcher. So that you build a rocket, that rocket can then take any unit anywhere, but only once. It's a bit micro intensive so it shouldn't be able hold up mass production of space fighters. A separate structure would help that nicely.
  14. mered4

    mered4 Post Master General

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    Yes. Yes I do.

    How about a space factory that builds an interplanetary rocket? Not an orbital fabber - an actual factory. Maybe it could pump out the SXX too. It wouldn't be ridiculously expensive, mind you - but it would mean there is an even larger gap between planets. It would make the orbit-to-orbit transfer mechanic EXTREMELY efficient.
  15. KNight

    KNight Post Master General

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    Inter-planetary Mechanics are still very lacking IMO, especially in regards to the Astraeus, something I talked about /proposed a solution for here.

    Mike
    zweistein000 likes this.
  16. mered4

    mered4 Post Master General

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    I think the main issue I have with orbital is that it slows the pace of PA down to a crawl. I want the same pace from beginning to end.

    "Do not strike too fast - you will miss your target. Do not move too slow - you will lose your target. Move at just the right speed, and you will gain the victory."
  17. zweistein000

    zweistein000 Post Master General

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    Or orbital dropping vanguards on enemy comm ;)
  18. Devak

    Devak Post Master General

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    I personally think the Orbital Launcher should make a Transport Rocket. The rocket can load 1 unit, which is then transported to a planet as a 1-way trip. A bit like the transport boxes the Unit Cannon fires in the gameplay visualisation trailer.
  19. frostybytes

    frostybytes New Member

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    +1 on more conventional ground-to-orbit rocketry.

    Methinks the Astraeus is just a placeholder anyways, and I rather expect deliveries between orbit and ground to become more or less one-way later on.

    Aye I rather like the idea of the orbital layer being a threshold you need to wrest some control over to proceed to other planets. Currently it only becomes a battlespace after the other planets have been colonized.

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