ACU snipes

No one said we didn't want any snipes. We don't want games instantly ended because you didn't have perfect/super good scouting and defenses.

I'm starting to agree with the people who say we should just forget about all this and figure that either putting the commander on a moon or in a lake or near a stealth gen is probably enough.

You only need perfect scouting and defense if you're facing a perfect opponent. Stop exaggerating the situation.

You only need basic scouting to get an idea of what the enemy is doing, which any player in their right mind would do unless they only played on maps which banned air, navy, arty and land units could only come from one direction but who does that?

Its never fun to lose, be it from being sniped or just playing worse then your enemy. However its realy fun to win, that includes managing to snipe enemy acu's (I cant even begin to describe the feeling when your loosing a game and you come up with a desperate plan to try to snipe the enemy ACU and succeed).

Theres no such thing as a competitive strategy game were you can play however you like and still win, so you will allways be forced to adapt your playstyle, thats reality.

When I was a noob, I didn't like ACU sniping as a gameplay feature.

...but after 10 or so games I started to love it. It adds a ridiculous amount of flavour to the gameplay.

The ability to snipe a player out of the game by destroying his/her ACU adds a very tense feeling to the game. It opens up a whole new dimension of defensive and offensive strategies involving the ACU. It allows for interesting evasion and stealth strategies, and exciting comebacks.

Also the whole idea of keeping commanders mobile and hidden in multi-planet systems with moons and asteroid fields, while trying to track down your opponents' comms, totally tickles the strategic side of my brain.

This game is going to kick ***.

I had that actually, was playing SupCom2 in a 3v3 or something and it came down to me and some other guy. He had more army, base, tech, everything. I slapped up an experimental transport to hold my army and launched it into his territory. I found his commander and killed it before he could react.

Was it fun? Absolutely. Did it deprive my enemy of his probably rightful victory, because I lolsniped him? Yes. Part of me still feels a little bad about that.

(yes, this is partially a product of said experimental transports, but the general principle stands)

Deserve to win?

If you can build an experimental, load your entire army into it, fly it into the enemy base and kill the commander, your opponent was probably afk to get coffee or something. He most certainly did not deserve to win if he let that happen while he had superior everything.

Yeah, but you still are the one who suggested it. That's why I suggested overly restricted skill of one getaway.

Also, please learn not to replace people opinions with your opinions about their opinions.

I was never about sniping at all. I'm against dumb sniping, and "dumb" sniping has solid definition - it's anything that do not require skill from offender and could not be avoided no matter how much skill or advantage defender has (hiding in lake is not skill, it's just mandatory because you can't avoid snipping any other way).

In SupCom/FA there was no dumb sniping, because of shields. Without shields there would be one - lol30bombers, rushing though your defenses. Cause of dumb turrets and ASF AI (as it was in SupCom/FA) it will lead to 10-15 bombers reaching your ACU. It's instant kill that do not require any skill from offender other than "build bombers and try not to lose air above you while they build up" (which is done by building T3 SAM's).

Proper anti-dumb-sniping technique should block only dumb snipping without requirement to hide your ACU. I think that single-shot (with cooldown) limited range getaway button is nice choice for this.

Not exactly:
viewtopic.php?f=61&t=41336
Still, there's no law against critiquing one's own ideas. Sometimes things might seem good, but upon further inspection aren't so hot.

Ohhhh boy. Containment breach on decks 5-12. Singularity opinion core compromised. Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Thread evacuation in process.

I am going to take a neutral stance and go with that some of these ideas could be fun additions.

But I have no problem with losing, if anything I kinda like it.

I just don't like losing from the perspective that no battle was had, that the battle was finished without an actual battle taking place, that the game wasn't fought for.

I personally found commanders becoming a massive liability in the mid-game because they could never defend themselves, actively or passively.

And while I am not the best player in the world, my friends I play with are worse, and killing them so eaisly is really quite boring and unfun, while this might speak for their ability to actually check their radar frequently that doesn't preclude the idea that commanders are very easy to kill, n SupCom and TA.

This is my opinion on the matter, and a different opinion of the people here is fine, some people here when they dropped the sarcasm even had an opinion I can really respect, And I do.

So say what you will towards balance, but at least don't throw away the idea when we have the chance to change the game types dynamic to something more fun then the original.

And have a nice day.

Sun Tzu disagrees.

For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

(Then again, Sun Tzu probably disagrees with most of how common RTS games work, but he still offers a lot of good advice on their design)

I may just remind you of "ACU rush" "strategy" from SupCom2. There is people who think that it has ruined the game, but there is also people who think that this was most fun technique ever. I may just also remind you that SupCom2 was commercial failure, cause it lose more fans that attracted. Just remember that when you considering options:
too easy sniping would be game killer, too hard sniping would be game killer as well.

Hiding in lake/on asteroid is nice prevention from being snipped, but that's exactly the way "let me place my ACU into some hidden place and forget about it existence". ACU should be usable in late game, but this use should be risky (not too much risky or nobody will use it) - this will game more dynamic and interesting.

:roll: Its a game, lots of local war sayings don't really apply. He he.

I have no intent of making sniping that much harder, simply more interesting and exciting.

And only really access able in the late game when you can afford it, a stage that most assassination games don't reach.

Don't discard Sun Tzu so easily. Personally I consider it a game well played if my opponent sees his whole empire collapse from under him in the blink of an eye.

And if he's not a sore loser, so will he, and he'll make sure not to fall for it again next time.

Plus, the game has been fought for. It was simply a shadow-war, where your opponent fought long and hard to keep you in the dark. The only downside to these shadow-wars on a gameplay level, is that you often don't see just how hard your opponent fought and how badly you were deceived. And that lots of people don't appreciate being deceived, even though it's an awesome part of the game as any other.

Perhaps a good way to show the losing side the deception he fell head-first into is needed to make these snipes more interesting.

What would you suggest?

Not sure yet. Nothing affordable as of yet, I fear.

The concept of the new XCOM's cinematic camera springs to mind. Would be very expensive and incredibly complex in a game like this, but some way to show and replay the key moments in a game would probably go a long way to showing where you went wrong.
And also be amazing as far as a learning tool goes.

But as I said; probably not within budget of the Uber team. In the end the best way to explain how someone fell for a trick, is to explain and show the trick. Would also make for excellent youtube material. Instant replay feature of a battle's most exciting moments.