Custom Nukes

Eh. You build a weapon that intercepts 1000 shells, he builds one that shoots 2000. You build the sensor system, he floods the field with chaff. One thing that remains fairly true is that it is FAR easier to shoot something than it is to stop it. Not only do you have to intercept the shot, but you have to counteract the energy it has coming your way, making things even more difficult. That same effort can be used to put holes in the enemy unit and stop the source of damage for good. Normal turrets do that just fine.

Long range artillery is its own can of worms. The shells sort of HAVE to be large and powerful in order to make their journey across the map. A tiny projectile would be subject to natural interference, and may loose much of its lethal energy mid flight. The individual effort of firing each shell is vastly increased, since they have to cover a large distance and have some level of accuracy at their target. You have a projectile that is basically much more expensive, which means the value of intercepting any single shot is vastly increased.

It may be possible to intercept just about anything given enough effort. What changes is that the effort of attacking long range is always increasing, while the effort of defending long range stays pretty much the same. It doesn't matter where a shot comes from or how far it travels, because it is always going to deliver itself into the range of the defense systems.

Besides, it'll look pretty cool watching artillery shells and bombs blow up over your base. I think the RoC is going to win this one.

Not really. Your opponent's advantage comes from the fact that you made a single gigantic base, while he was free to grab every other resource on the map. He's pretty much won at this point, and blowing the base up is only a matter of time.

The ability to porc up is largely based on how much firepower a person can place at any single point. There are tons of ways to limit these options and make sure that units are primarily used over defenses.

About intercepting projectiles :
http://fragg.me/video/arena-active-protection-system

Pretty cool isn't it ?

Nothing is impossible in war, if given time, money and imagination...

Possibly. I'm psyched enough that I don't think it'll matter too much what units get implemented, I'll be busy working out how to use (and abuse) them regardless. I'd certainly (ab)use artillery defense if it is implemented; the main reason I'm not keen on it is I can see how powerful it could be in my own hands

I may not be a standard "turtle" then, because I also run out to grab resource and put (token) defenses there. I do spend far more effort on the base the commander is sat in though, that one gets defenses up the wazoo (my single, game losing target gets over protected, quelle surprise). I'm well aware of the advantage they get if I let them eco spam, so I try not to let opponents eco spam to deny them that advantage