cheaper orbital : good or bad???

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by beer4blood, November 29, 2013.

  1. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    the deep space radar isn't an orbital unit... and it's definitely cheap compared to orbital.
  2. beer4blood

    beer4blood Active Member

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    @chronosoul indeed.......

    As you say though its not really they are God like its just the proper counter is buggy atm
  3. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    i don't think trying to shoot down something that kills your commander in five shots constitutes a counter.

    you'll try and fail
  4. igncom1

    igncom1 Post Master General

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  5. beer4blood

    beer4blood Active Member

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    you lost me......

    Also I was nitpicking because that's my apparent role here. I nitpick everything as the positive side of most discussions has plenty of followers. Everyone is quick to jump on the that's awesome train. I'm just an every angle guy, and since the pros are always thought of first I'm here to try and bring the darker side of suggestions to light.
  6. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    I was just agreeing with you and pointing out the orbital should be left as is, because otherwise it's just an instant game ender.

    There is nothing to be BALANCED about the orbital gun, you can't balance it, you just can't period.

    It's a late-game game ender. time to wrap our heads around that and admit that you will die if you've lost orbital superiority and have an orbital gun inbound.
  7. bobucles

    bobucles Post Master General

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    This is a very important requirement for good reason.
    It's too bad that the most important target in the game can't cloak or anything...
  8. beer4blood

    beer4blood Active Member

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    But when umbrellas and avenger gets their final touch up I imagine the laser up no longer be a threat..... like I said the counters are there they just don't work
  9. krakanu

    krakanu Well-Known Member

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    I find this to be a rather ignorant statement. Everything can be balanced. I even posted a thread over a month ago suggesting numerous changes that could be made to bring the laser more inline: https://forums.uberent.com/threads/how-to-fix-the-orbital-laser.51996/

    The umbrella and orbital fighters work just fine. The problem is that umbrellas are quite expensive and orbital fighters require already owning the orbital layer. Once somebody gets more orbital fighters than you, it is nearly impossible to break back into the orbital layer because they will just camp your orbital factory or snipe it with lasers.

    Also, both of these units are hard counters which I'm not too fond of. They exist for the singular purpose of countering only one thing (or type of unit). If you have them, you win, if you don't, you lose (in the context of an engagement, not an entire match). That's not very interesting gameplay in my opinion.

    If any kind of cheaper orbital is added, there need to be cheaper anti-orbital units as well (not saying reduce the cost of umbrellas/orbital fighters, new units should be added). Even if orbital is left mostly as is, there should be some kind of mobile ground, sea, or air unit that can attack orbital, even if its not as effective as other anti-orbital.
  10. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    no, both of you don't understand that no matter how well you "counter" the orbital gun, it serves no good if it still has time to chop down your commander's health and you loose.

    And I was pressing the argument the the orbital gun requires no balance, because it's not a mainstream unit, it's a game ender unit, at that point it doesn't matter anymore.
    Last edited: December 4, 2013
  11. krakanu

    krakanu Well-Known Member

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    Even game ender units should be balanced, and IMO, the game should try to stray away from commander sniping (which is almost the sole purpose of the orbital laser currently)*. It should be possible in some cases, but what fun is the game if you build all these units and bases just to end up killing the commander without even scratching all the other units? It makes the rest of the combat in the game rather pointless, and it becomes a race to get the game enders instead of being about ongoing conflict.

    *This is why in the thread I linked I suggested the laser be changed to a base siege unit instead of a commander sniper.
  12. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    it may seem poitnless, yet you can't win without it.

    And it may seem like the best way to finish the game every time, but it depends on the situation, often the tanks will get there before the orbital laser.

    Thousands upon thousands of people find this fun, the players on faf. so really your fear has no reason to be.
  13. KNight

    KNight Post Master General

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    Tatsujb, if you insist on claiming that orbital weapons are unbalanceable please actual providing some discussion on why it is without it essentially just being "it's unbalanceable because its isn't" please. Many of use have pro videos good discussion already and even some examples so maybe try working with those and providing some actual discussion on the topic.

    Also we've already been over how ignorant the viewpoint of "it's not going to happen in regular games so it doesn't matter" is.

    Mike
  14. Clopse

    Clopse Post Master General

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    Hopefully we get some ground units that have orbital vision and can attack the orbital layer. That will be a huge step in making the orbital battles managable.
  15. jodarklighter

    jodarklighter Active Member

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    How about a complete change to the way the Umbrella functions? Make it an anti-orbital directional shield, no effect on nukes, artillery, or bombers. Decrease the cost of the structure but give it an energy upkeep. It could also provide double duty as an orbital radar intel jammer, and maybe also shield an area from unit cannon drops. Anti-orbital duties could be handed off to the catapult, which seems like it would make a more effective anti-satellite platform anyway.
  16. beer4blood

    beer4blood Active Member

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    Ok but what of nukes???? And no the umbrellas are still bugged played the other day and watched as my laser danced right by an umbrella and removed those pesky artillery so my several squads of tanks could steam roll........

    And I must disagree tat.....I see the laser for its more than likely intended purpose and use it as so, like I said I hate cheese, to attack key structures and defenses. I only snipe comms with it when the perpetrator has left the planet. And yes me disliking cheese has cost me a few games by playing with my code of honor
  17. beer4blood

    beer4blood Active Member

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    Also I agree with Mike... saying it won't happen is bs. Never say never cause anything is possible. An entirely amazing 1v1 would encompass all parts of the game tech. Admittedly those games are bound to be rare only occurring between evenly matched players but still never say never
  18. krakanu

    krakanu Well-Known Member

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  19. beer4blood

    beer4blood Active Member

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    @krakanu The nuke is pretty balanced was my point aside from the fire at the edge of the anti nuke glitch.....
  20. krakanu

    krakanu Well-Known Member

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    I don't really agree with this, but this thread is about orbital so I'll leave it at that.

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