Here are some suggestions how I'd like the current area commands to be improved and some new ones added: Area building uses currently a too simplistic algorithm for the order in which mexes are built. For example if you send fabbers one at a time to build mexes over the whole planet, then most of the fabbers follow the same route and stop shortly at mexes that another fabber is already building or have already been built. The fabbers should detect already before heading to a mex point that they can't build a mex there. Instead, the fabbers should head to another direction where there are unbuilt mex points, or assist those partially built mexes that are nearby. A test for the desired behaviour would be: at the beginning of the game build one bot factory producing fabbers, and for each new fabber give an area build command to build mexes over the whole planet. The fabbers should start heading to different directions, so that the closest mexes in each direction will be built first. Also the fabbers should never head for a mex spot that another fabber is already heading towards or is being built or has been built. Area assist command for assisting factories, nukes, orbital launchers and other assistable buildings. Currently fabbers can assist only one factory and if the factory stops producing (e.g. when a nuke is ready to launch or all anti-nukes have been built) they will wait idle next to it even though there might be another factory nearby that needs assisting. Also currently it requires lots of microing if you want to spread the fabbers over the factories evenly. Thus I want an area assist command that works similar to the area repair command (currently it's possible to use area repair to assist e.g. bot factories, but not nukes). Area assist should also work as a factory waypoint, so that you can have a bot factory producing fabbers which will automatically go assist a group of factories/nukes/etc. Area attack for nukes. This would be useful in late game, especially for interplanetary nukes because of their long travel time. It's hard to snipe a commander with nukes on a moon if the commander keeps walking around, but if you can nuke the whole surface of the moon then that wouldn't be a problem. Area attacking with nukes should work so that you select all your nukes and click-and-drag an area to attack with them, after which the game will spread the nukes evenly over the target area so that each part of the area gets about the same amount of splash damage from nukes. The splash damage should stay inside the selected area, to make it easier to estimate that which building will be hit and to avoid collateral damage. Here is a video demonstrating the need for the area assist and area nuke commands:
That sounds ineffective to me. It is better to build one mex at a time, having only 1 engineer per mex is definitely bad. Sure there is a point where it starts to be more effective to create 2 groups of engineers that run of in different directions, but perfect spreading 1 engineer per mex does not make sense imho. I'd wager make them create groups of 3 or 4. I think what you want works out with a patrol command. So once we have area patrol it might work out like that, too.
As I am sure you are aware, area commands aren't finished and will receive tweaking in the future. I like your suggestions and I am fairly sure they are heading in the same direction as Uber. Although I am not sure that nukes need a dedicated area attack. I would have thought that the standard area attack should be good enough for that.
I see what you mean with the intelligent area command. I like it. If you want two doing the same thing just make one assist or give them the orders at the same time. His point is ( I think.. ) if I've given two bots an area command over an area they start building. What can't I then select a new fab give it an area command that overlaps partially or entirely with the first two. Then third fab should head to nearest mex spot and start building. If they overlap on some plots then whoever gets there first should build it. Thus isn't really an area command issue but more a build orders in general. I think it would be great if I could take an idle fab and inject him into an already queued up set of buildings. Simply click the fab on the ghost building and they get to it. Carpet nuke sounds cool but for the level of destruction that would dish out,a little micro for that action sounds like a fair trade....... or perhaps an extremely expensive building that coordinates carpet nuke...... return of the targeting facility??? It has been discussed amongst a few of us for artillery sake.
Area commands for artillery would be nice as well. With a couple dozen pelters you could create a barrage.
i meant the targeting facility......... and definetely no arty barrage, they are waaaaaaaay OP right now as is
