An Unorthodox Commander Idea

The idea has been stated to be geosync. Also, range? So not a problem.

Yes, yes, I know. I'm not talking about IRL, I'm talking about a solution to this problem. problem. Obviously, Monkeylords wouldn't be very good engineering with their extreme approach of using a high powered mazor and being powered by mouth-dropping amounts of gasoline, but it still got in game, didn't it?

There's game engineers too

The same arguments that apply to projectiles also apply to dropping buildings. If it's in GEO, it has infinite range as far as the planet is concerned.

The Monkeylord, while inefficient, didn't spend considerable energy on systems which had no purpose other than to make other systems less useful. This isn't like the Monkeylord, this is like installing a laser on the Mavor that automatically shoots down that Mavor's own shells (and nothing else) if they get more than 5km away because you don't want the Mavor to have a range of more than 5km, because you absolutely had to have an ACU that spawned on the map with a Mavor.

Actually, since rcix seems intent on turning bad ideas into good ones, let's see him turn "The UEF ACU's weapon is replaced with that of the Mavor" into a good idea. After all, criticising things is bad and you should just stick your fingers in your ears and sing loudly if anyone tries to point out flaws in things you've done.

Well, there's a difference between the very inefficient-looking but quite iconic Monkeylord and this. A laser powerful enough to be used as a main space drive for a Commander would cut said Monkeylord in half from orbit.
Just go with magitech antigrav. If it's magitech anyway, there's no problem with it clashing with some basic reality.

If the commander can't be ordered to move, that's a crippling limitation that no amount of overpowered land capability will compensate for. You see, standard commanders can run away from threats like experimentals and asteroids. This commander will, at most, last until its opponent gets an asteroid to fly through the right point in space.

Infinite range is next to impossible to properly balance without some verrry carefully crafted maps. Super long range artillery style weapon on a commander? Sure, there's potential there.

Also, remember, trying to make an idea look stupid by taking it to it's extreme is the best way to argue. Totally.

Frankly, you don't even have to try to make this idea look stupid. Points for thinking outside the box, but it's just not gonna work, for the many reasons people have already brought up.

Alright, I'll admit that firing a laser in the opposite direction is completely and utterly inneficient. After some time thinking, small thrusters to counter the comparatively miniscule thrust generated by the laser would definitely be a better idea. In total, laser firing at the ground with a limited range in terms of the planet, with thrusters to counter any "thrust" that is generated. Or, that magitech idea.

EDIT: you know what? Sticking with the OP and not attacking might be a little bit simpler.

The point is, ideas to make things make sense are typically easy. Ideas to balance the game? Much more difficult, and hence should require more attention.

For example, dealing with rushes. This seems to be one of the only issues, game wise, that would cause a problem. However, it might not at all if early orbital and interplanetary status can be achieved, as discussed in this thread. EDIT: after further reading in this thread, the problem of the commander running away can easily be addressed by forcing whatever interplanetary tech it requires to get interplanetary engines to be in line with the tech required for the land commander to do the same.

I shall never underestimate my flame war starting abilities.

hahaha

bwaha. I feel like I've been trolled. In which case, sir, you deserve a medal.

See, now you've got a commander with a laser (which will be able to hit anywhere on your half of the planet, as the size of planets is relatively small compared to the size of GEO), and a thruster which can be used to nudge your commander into a lower orbit, letting it drift over to the other side of the planet.

Actually it was considerably less extreme. Having a commander that's invulnerable for the first ten minutes of the game and is armed with an infinite range weapon is still only on the same level as this idea.

toast, if you think this is a flame war, you obviously haven't seen very much of the Internet. This is a civil discussion.

This wasn't true in FA. The Novax had a very limited range. Granted, the scale was...interesting, in terms of orbital, but still.

Perhaps the commander is unable to move until orbital tech has been acquired. That removes the ability to attack others before they have a reasonable amount of time to be able to counter it.

The Novax was explicitly sub-orbital, so it wasn't even LEO, which itself is a long way from GEO.

It is a good idea but it might be difficult to implement properly.