When Catalysts are Destroyed During Firing Sequence, Metal Planets Should Explode!

it could aswell be the last resort of the player using it being on the wall with his back
and that window of time/opportunity is the recharge ... 10 minutes are a lot of time to quickly react and try a counterattack imo ...

And if the player with his back to the wall spent their eco into tanks instead they might not be in that situation. The laser is a game ender, which is fine, but it needs more of a drawback then a cooldown which just delays the inevitable

I don't like the idea of arbitrarily setting a cooldown. I think the charge time should be longer though, however, because it seems like it takes less than 20 seconds to fire the weapon. The laser is meant to be an end of the game weapon, other than a planet smash.

I think that having that small window for another player to make one last attempt to save themselves while also making it risky to use the laser is a good thing. When you smash a planet, you destroy part of the map that you control and the benefits it provides to destroy another part of the map that your opponent controls. It gives you a risk/reward choice. The laser is unlimited use, which is fine, but there is literally no risk to using it.

A catalyst's destruction creating an uncontrolled reaction destroying the planet? That is a pretty big risk especially since metal planets seem to have huge metal deposits most of the time.

Come on, you know deep down you want to make the Death Sta. . . metal planet go nova!

I'll see if I can find the image in a replay tomorrow, but if you planet bomb a laser as it is firing, the laser system is destroyed, and energy leaks out of multiple sides of the planet.

Edit: Here's the image. Two beams are coming out of it, and 2 of the 5 catalysts were destroyed. There's a couple blinking lights on the other end of the planets as well.

Infinitely better idea:



Only opens up during firing sequence.

Love this idea!!

That's just the regular charge animation which hasn't stopped. It includes a strong light source which is moving on the inside of the planet.

The timing for this would eb incredibly hard.

Usually the metal planet is far out in the system, so even nukes would take thier time. It is propably easier to just keep nuking the sites preemtively (you know where they have to build them!) and looking for a commander snipe then trying to hit that spot.

Since the laser can kill moving planets this is a risky gamble.
Note that the laser how it is now can already be beaten by Haley. Just ram it into the norhtpole, no more catalyst spots, no mare laser.
Giant Space Rock beat Planetary Super Laser
https://forums.uberent.com/threads/haley-beats-ani-laser.63856/

No Risk????

This is a game ender. Once you start building the first catalyst it will pop up on everyones orbital radar.
Starting to build even one of them will result in you becomming the primary target for anyone else. The fight against the laser start when you start building it (like a haley), not when you fire it (like the nuke)

If they are too stupid to just stop fighting each other and going all out against you to prevent you finishing it, then they deserve to die by the laser. If they aren't willing to haley thier last hold into the laser just to prevent you from getting the win by laser, they give you the win.
I would propably build a decent amount of anti-nuke & umbrellas near the northpole (plus maybe nukes or control of at least one haleyable obejct) before I tried building 1 catalist against humans.
Also consdiering controlling enough haleyabel stuff to destroy everything else that is haleyable, or at least nukes to supress them.

And then there was to whole risk of going there in teh first place. That meant rushing into orbital, choosing a very far of planet, lenghtly econ and defense build (maybe without even having a start planet base left). All time in wich the primary planet guys could ahve build up a huge economy to out-nuke any defense. You are completely retracting from the orbital and planetary game just for the defense setup.

The haley, unlike the laser, has a risk/reward. The planet it hits wont always be destroyed, unlike the laser. It can be stopped en-route and gives enough response time to move coms, unlike the laser, and if it hits all the eco you had on that planet goes away, unlike the laser. Yet the catalysts and the haley engines have extremely similar costs. And if you're sitting on even one completely ecod out planet, you can get either up before anyone has time to do anything about it.

And then you win.

Also the risk of rushing orbital is negligible it is basically the same as a com rush if you think about it, and whoever else goes for it will be at the same tech as you.

Risky is the entire point.

Are we even talking about the same? If you only start to fight he laser when it fires it is obviously too late. You have already lost by then.

When do you fight haleys? When they are completed, or when the first pops up on your orbital radar?
And the catalyst also pops up on orbital radar (plus units in orbit aroudn the metal planet is a dead giveaway that there is somebody).

So why do you wait till the enemy has the 5 Haley cost elements completed before you attack? Of course you loose then.
You make a temporary cease-fire once the first catalyst starts building and start nuking and haleying the guy to oblivion.

You left an enemy alone despite him being not dead (there is a overview at the top of the screen you know).
You did not got an orbital radar up (300 metal, neglible energy; you would have seen his units move to the planet. Or at least catalyst build warning).
You did not bother to get even one haleyable object in a multi-planet game.
You apparently did not even bother to send a sensor sat into the orbit of any planet to detect any landing on any planet (important to hunt commanders).
You are not stopping your petty squabbles immediately once the laser is starting building.

When you are that blindly ignore every logical and feasible step to detect and stop the laser before it is ready, you are asking to get wiped out he be the laser. And you have nobody to blame for your defeat but yourself.

The laser is part of the game. Part of the reality of the planetary annihilation world, as much as commanders and Bolo's.
Learn to adapt at least your scouting to it, or you will get wiped. And you can't blame it on the laser or anything.

Independence day style, at that extact firing point if damaged boom!

I don't know. Are we talking about the same thing?
I'm not arguing against scouting, preventative measures, and fighting for map control,
Yes background dealings in FFA happen... thats part of the reason the game mode is so fun.

What is a problem, however, is that compared to the Haley, the Laser is much better at doing what it does, has far fewer risks and no drawbacks on top of having multiple uses.

There is no problem with it being in the game. I don't want to see the Laser nerfed to the point it is unusable, I just want it to have more depth than a giant GG button

Only if there's an optional Wook---er
HAIRY sidekick

A cooldown of some minutes, not many, maybe 3 or 5 would be good enough.

Well in many of the games I have played during the PTEs before the launch, many games had a large "King of the Hill" type metal planet with a very large amount of metal deposits and the starting planets with moderate-low metal. Once you take control of the planet, which happens quickly with all that metal, you pretty much won the game and no amount of take on the leader can stop it since you can build catalysts, buildings, units, etc quicker than they can destroy them (unless they are halleyed to death with a planet).

The laser right now is an unlimited use, no drawback, machine gun death star with absolutely no drawback to using it at all. All I want is for them to increase the firing time and allow a last ditch effort to destroy the planet! Be it SXX, nukes, all out invasion, com bomb, whatever. Halleys require you to sacrifice something. The laser requires nothing, just building the catalysts (for the cost of 5 halleys with NO drawbacks!)

And on a planet like that, you destroy one catalyst that can be quickly rebuilt, leading to the Death Star laser weapon IWIN status in less than a minute.

I have played games where there are no halleyable objects present. The laser, once built, has no drawbacks/negatives/downsides like Halleys do. Halleys do less damage than the laser, take the same amount of metal, and are going to be targeted just as much as the laser. They are stoppable once started, they can collide with other planets other than the intended one accidentally, they don't (in most cases) completely eliminate the other planet while eliminating yours (halleyed object).

The laser has perfect precision it (as far as I know) doesn't miss and even if you do manage to stop the laser from firing with the 15-20 sec countdown or whatever it has, They can just restart it over and over again (unlike the halley, which could put the object in a new orbit in a collision path into another unintended planet) without penalty AND can shoot down your halley object/planet (especially if it is a 5 halley planet, the laser can be built in the same time and destroy the halley object after it launches towards it).

My suggestion at least forces there to be some great risk to firing the laser (with a longer countdown to firing). You don't prepare for eventualities and you blow up like the death star! Right now you have an unlimited gatling gun super halley with no penalties.

The problem with a cooldown is that it doesnt change the problem with the weapon, as it stands it would just delay the game

For me, a reasonable cooldown before shooting first time give a time to intercept the threat. The cooldown after shot could give a chance to recover (if possible). Nothing beyond this. It's a game ender, according to Brad, and it's fine like this, but instant shots seem too powerful.

In my experience, if a player manages to build all five catalysts and mantain it until it can shoot, he deserves to win.