There are many topics around asteroids and other celestial bodies, but I am 100% sure this one hasn't been talked about before. I did the search As seen in the kickstarter vid there will be a lot of colonizable asteroids (e.g. asteroid belts) in a solar system and mining will be also possible. But how can you deny your opponent(s) from getting those countless ressource spots (considering dropping a single engineer on asteroids shouldn't be too expensive). What makes this even worse is the fog of war, so if you don't control ALL the asteroids or have vision with some kind of orbital spy satellite, you would have to expect enemies hidden on any little asteroid in the whole solar system. I'm afraid there is only one possible outcome to this scenario... The game focus will be completely shifted towards the asteroids, so you can deny your enemy from getting dozens of unprotected ressource spots. The only possible solutions that came into my mind were: 1. No mining on asteroids at all. -> not likely and reduces the value of obtaining asteroids at all 2. Some kind of asteroid-far-distance-killer that makes it too expensive to build defense on more than a few important asteroids. -> also not likely and to big balancing problems 3. Very few asteroids at all, so multitasking for asteroids would be minimal -> not likely again, because you'll need at least a few to destroy a only one small planet 4. Two kinds of asteroids (with/without ressource spots). And those with ressources would be only a few. -> my personal favorite, because it encourages fights around those better asteroids with the possbility to build a stealth KEW far from those obvious battlefields If you can spot any mistakes in my thougts or have other opinions concerning this subject, feel free to comment.
It seems a pretty wild assertion that the meta game strategy for an unreleased game is to eco-whore resource asteroids.
As I understand it, asteroids are still under discussion, with nothing concrete yet regarding celestial body mechanics and interaction. Core focus at this point is getting single-body gameplay working, and other planets / moons / asteroids are yet to be implemented. Neutrino has mentioned a couple of times he's still working out the pros and cons of the various orbital mechanics options (simple, hybrid, fully realistic) before coming to a decision on what he wants to implement in the engine. It's entirely possible we may get a "go mine teeny asteroids" abstraction for engineers shot into the belt, that just gives a flat rate per engineer with no further interaction required. There will quite definitely be big asteroids that you can build engines on and smash into planets, but anything else is speculation at this point. If Uber don't know how they are going to make it work yet, we're better off discussing our preferences for how it could work and let them decide on the best options Me, I'd love to see "proper" orbital mechanics (or a good approximation thereof) so that multiple planets orbit the sun, and moon(s) orbit the planets, and asteroids (even if it's just a chosen few big ones) orbit in a belt, all being in different positions relative to each other over time. Even if the abstraction speeds time up drastically so you get 10 minute orbits, I'd still like to be able to fire off asteroids from the other side of the sun, so that my opponent can't see it coming until there's less than 50% flight time left. Or so that once every 10 minutes 2 opposing planets come into conjunction, allowing quick transit for strike teams or IPBMs, and an opposite period where there's a star in the way making transit long and costly. That's my preferred solution, however I'm perfectly happy to live with circular orbits or even stationary bodies (as in a "realtime" orbit, so over the course of a few hours game nothing has perceptibly moved in relation to anything else). Whatever gives the best awesome:engine load ratio is fine by me
Like I said, it's very unlikely because how expensive should building massive thrusters and unit cannons be, if landing itself is already that costly. I am totally aware that nothing of the interplanetary mechanics has been decided yet. But I believe you don't get my message at all. I DON'T want the game to be about "eco-whoring" asteroids, therefore I created this thread to see other peoples opinions and suggestions to avoid this problem. And in the most fortunate case to offer solutions for the developer team.
I see no reason why asteroids shouldn't be able to have metal extractor points on them. I think of a planet with several asteroids around it as being like a SupCom map with a large island in the middle and several smaller islands around it. In this case the asteroids (small islands) could be start locations. Players would then need to manage defending their starting base, attacking other other player's starting bases, and trying to establish control of the planet. If the start locations are on the planet then the asteroids can be small bases for eco and build capacity which, due to their small size, would be perfect targets for raids by orbital units or units fired from a unit cannon. They would also be useful as fire bases and staging areas for a player from another planet trying to conquer the planet with the asteroids around it.
Just make expanding to astroids expensive... That way its more cost effective to fight over the starter planet, while you may still wish to expand once in a while since you likely dont wanna "have all the eggs in one basket". The result being that you wont expand to every astroid you can see (unless your planning to lose). Another intressting idea is having certain astroids give more resources then others (like the orange crystal fields in sc II), that way you and your opponent will fight over those astroids instead of taking the lesser value ones. Theres plenty of ways to avoid your concerns, your just thinking up the worst possible situation for no reason (like the rest of us from time to time).
I just hope there will be metal makers, if the planet you're on has so few resources that you have to find asteroids.
Just putting this out there. What if... You could build your own asteroid and send it into space and having it like a blackmail card as such you could either send it up into space and destroy the enemy with a divesting blow, or you could hold the enemy at ransom and use it as a planet killer if they don't comply ?
Blackmail is a human factor and hence only works when there are enough players that diplomacy shifts throughout the game. Or when there's some incentive to pay ransoms of some kind, which there isn't in a game about unrestricted total war.
Ohh realy? 3 player match, one player has the astroid, says "the one that pays me the most is safe, the other one gets it" xD. Well, thats assuming we can even transfer resources to enemies.
here's how that would go: both players attack the guy with the asteroid if not out of mutual interest, out of mutual spite
Nha. Even if they both went for the astroid guy its likely that at least one of them would make a under the table deal to betray the other guy. Backstabing ftw.
Putting engineers on other orbital bodies is very likely a later game feature. Therefore, later game features are always more expensive. Asteroids would also give the player a chance to expand their base, something that a player must always be trying to do throughout the game. Just as in Supcom tech 3 engineers cost a lot to make, same here, orbital travel with engineers will be expensive. It must be remembered that the planet isn't all there is to the map, the map will now be an entire solar system. The balancing of mining asteroids will probably come down to some having mass points and some not. Just as not every inch of ground on a map has mass points, not every asteroid will have one. I love the idea of planetary nukes having a range within the solar system. Launching one at a passing planet somehow feels so choice! It shows strategic and tactical brilliance and adds an extra spice to the game's mechanics. Same with the unit cannon, seen in the teaser it shot at the planet. Same should go for nukes.
