Air: Combined Arms

The thing is, you basically have to do something specifically to make air units support, or air superiority becomes over-important and some kind of air unit dominates the game. In previous versions, it happened to be ASFs (due to how gound based AA was set up and plane speed, combined with cost efficiency and damage potential of ASFs if I understand correctly), but it could conceivably be gunships or bombers depending on specific design/balance details. Air should be important IMO, but more of an optional choice with advantages and tradeoffs.

One way is to filter air unit vision, but then you run into problems making air scouts and such (as the presence of any but the most ineffective scout will make it possible to use air as a solo force again).

Thus, my solution is to require spotting, which tethers offensive air directly to structures or land units (again, specifically what units or structures isn't defined) and their targeting effectiveness. This way air can exist as a support option and

In any case, it's probably going to be something I end up trying to make as a mod. Which is fine, but I thought I'd put it out there.

That's assuming air units can pierce the veil at all. There are already countless other units suitable for the job.

RPS systems, even with intel (radar, stealth, anti stealth, etc.) do not scale up very well into large battles. A single spotter can break the shroud, and a single spotter is always going to be cheap.

With this in mind, finding a good role of air scouts is a bit tricky. Cheap is okay, but tons of units can do cheap. A big vision bubble helps find stealth units with ease, and a big radar bubble helps keep most targets in sight. It's a bit redundant with radar systems, but it's a start. Super speed helps it pierce enemy defenses. Having its own stealth will make intel gathering even stronger. Having a cloak system (perhaps temporary?) will make base piercing even more effective. But that's all blah blah boring number stuff. Any unit can do that.

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Oh! Air scouts are basically a missile with tons of cameras, right? Why not use it as a missile? You can play with many different types of effects:
- Straight up damage. Boom. Kind of silly for a tin can, but better than nothing.
- The scout flies below the field of any shroud generators, being able to see what's underneath (and probably crashing/dying in the process). Meh. Not unique.
- The explosion may render a target/AoE permanently visible for some time. Moderately sexy, will probably find some niche.
- The explosion may create a shroud of its own, masking the way for your own invasion force. SUPER sexy, turns the scout into a true invasion vanguard.

Chances are, the scout is going to die anyway. You may as well get some use from it. Intel weapons are a great way to control both the enemy's information and your own.

I still don't think it's a big concern, as long as you make it so that aircraft can't target anything covered in shroud. Using them as scouts will be limited, as moving aircraft into an 'unknown' area is always going to be risky, especially if bombers are slow and easy to kill, and even more so if fighters/scouts can't actually attack the ground...

Either way, as long as you don't end up with one 'superior' air unit that can kick the backsides of both aircraft and ground craft alike, you're golden. Make aircraft paper-thin to the right defences/unit weapons, and/or slow enough that they can't just womble around killing everything that breathes... Heck, give them limited ammunition or something. But whatever you do, do NOT make them reliant on specific units/structures to be effective. That's something that no good army would ever do. If we want to throw reality into it, the RAF, for example, has a mission control that takes intel from all available sources and provides command from there. There isn't a direct correlation between SAS spotting squads deep behind enemy lines and aircraft flying above, unless specifically set up for that particular special mission...

I can just tell that tying your air force to land units or buildings or something is going to make it really frustrating to try to use. So much so that personally I reckon it'd ruin air combat completely...

Could have a physics based counter system.

Tanky aircraft beats high accuracy aircraft, high accuracy aircraft beats rapid fire aircraft, and rapid fire aircraft beats Tanky aircraft.

Follow the same onto static AA: Laser PD, Rocket Fort, Scatter shot flak.

As an idea to base the counters on the simulation more then more artificial counters in say RA3.

Problem then is, isn't air not that much different from land? If you give them a strong constraint like this then they can be a lot faster and more powerful in the useful case, which is more interesting IMO.

It would definitely be in the behaviors, where if it was annoying or clunky to use the mechanic then it would suck, but if it was transparent and easy to understand then I think it could add depth and be fine.

If you see a shroud, then something is obviously there. Just bomb it. :lol:

Shroud being the bits you've not explored yet... So bomb the entire map?

I like it! Bring forth the KEWs!

Less QQ, more KEWKEW, leading to more pewpew!