These game aspects were more prevalent in previous "annihilation" games (Total Annihilation, Spring Engine). I feel that their inclusion into this game would add more depth, and could be implemented in a way that does not take too much away from the macro focus of Planetary Annihilation. Here are some definitions: Radar: Reveals some information about the position of enemy units. This works basically the same way in PA as it did in previous games. What PA does not include for the most part is non-orbital mobile radar. There were radar trucks, radar/sonar planes, some ships had radar, and so on. In previous games radar revealed everything but the underwater layer. In PA there are actually two types of radar: Orbital and Deep Space and Terrestrial. Sonar: Like radar, but for the water's surface and subsurface layers. There was a radar/sonar plane and several ships and subs were equipped with sonar in TA. Jammers: Jammers created a circular area which was hidden from that kind of sensor. There were both radar and sonar jammers in TA. There were mobile versions in addition to buildings. Cloak: A few units in TA had the ability to cloak. Most notably, the Commander could cloak (as well as a few spy bots). It wasn't something that offensive units had like in Starcraft. Also, cloak was independent from stealth, meaning a cloaked unit could still appear on radar and be targeted by enemy units, if it did not also have stealth (or a nearby jammer). Stealth: Stealth simply means that the unit does not appear on radar. The unit can be detected visually as normal. Underwater Layer: Something PA completely lacks at the moment. In total annihilation, underwater metal spots were exploited by underwater metal extractors on the sea floor, instead of floating at the surface as they do in PA. Also there was a whole line of subs and amphibious units. Under water units could not be detected by radar. They could only be detected by sonar, or visually. I believe that the implementation of some of these features into Planetary Annihilation is possible (probably not before 1.0 though). For all of these different information types, there is a macro-based counter (although cloaking could be a problem). Some very interesting interactions can occur as a result of these things being added. Some examples include more depth in naval gameplay (not just floating tanks) and the "raiding unit" Dox could be given stealth to more easily operate in the early game to move within enemy territory.
About the underwater layer/subs. They used to be in but they were not under water and so that kind of broke them, we will get them back eventually. Sonar also used to be in i believe, but it was basically radar at that time.
I'd also like to mention that in PA, radar for the land and air layers can also be independent. It would probably be a bit confusing to make use of that, but it's a possibility.
Not entirely, but it was advertised on the amazon description for the game I believe, and complete naval was a stretch goal wasn't it? Subs are a apart of a complete naval.
Yeah, some of this is in there, but it feels a lot less fleshed out than it could be. For some reason Uber is making a push for 1.0 with several large missing features. I believe this is a mistake. For instance there is a great game called Natural Selection 2, which at release had several missing features and was poorly optimized. Since then, all of that has been fixed, and the game is great, but because it was lacking at "1.0" those reviews will stick forever. I really wouldn't mind going another 6 months to a year to make "1.0" as good as it could be. Forcing it can only harm the game. There must be some reason for this, probably money issues.
Neutrino explains why in the 4th post of this thread https://forums.uberent.com/threads/release-a-sacred-graal.62180/
