Different Races ?

I'm thinking of getting this game but I noticed from some pics that the robots from what supposed to be different armies look exactly the same.

Are there different races with differing looking units like in Supreme Commander ?

No.

This was done to provide better Unit Diversity.

Mike

Think of it like playing chess or a sport. Both sides have exactly the same equipment and team composition and are playing on a level playing field. As KNight said, the upside is that you get many more unit types to work with than most RTS games provide which gives a true feeling of strategic scale.

Unfortunately it's only 1 masterrace. From a competitve view it's great, because like japporo said you got the same stuff to work with.

And although I think multiple races would add more diversity to the game it's still a great game and without doubt modders will add extra factions for use in both single and multiplayer.

Thats a bit of false assumption or rather it looks like more diversity until you realize that once you start a game your diversity is limited by which faction you choose.

Not to mention the idea that More than one faction means more units doesn't really pan out in the real world.

Mike

Obviously when I say more factions I don't mean dividing the current units between 3 factions. I know it would require more manpower to balance, design etc. I'm just saying that IF they had the manpower, it would've been great to have more factions each with a unit roster filled like the one we have now.

I'm not to familiar with the lore.
But there are plenty of moments in actual history where 2 or more factions faced eachother with different weaponry.

Eh, I'm still of the opinion that a single broader faction still delivers more bang for your buck, you still get all teh play styles and you provide far more flexibility.

Mike

Well, multiple factions would add more character to the game. And to give a stupid example I came up with on the spot.
"Faction Blue would have the normal tank, where faction Red would have a laser tank. The laser tank would have a higher fire rate, making it suitable against bots, where the higher dps but low firerate of the normal tank would favour confrontations against other tanks."
It would feel a bit excessive to have both tanks in the same faction, as the Blue one might be better than the Red one, but Red might have better laser bots ... and so on.

But then again, I lack any experience in modding and game development. It's just the feel I get. It has been done in many other RTS and it worked well (for me at least).

I'd be more content with just visual differences personally.

Currently there are around 100 units (that includes buildings). Are you suggesting Uber should model another 100 units with a different art style/theme that keep to similar roles that are currently in the game? I don't know about you, but I would much rather see a couple of units added to each factory instead (that would also only come up to 20 units and about then 1/5 of the effort).

I should also point out that making high quality models takes up a lot more time/money then implementing a finished model into the game.

Edit: 100 and not 150

Well we do have different factions in GW.

So hopefully that'll be expended upon, as the GW AI's do use different strategy's.

Wait, really? 150? That means Uber made it OVER their goal of 100 units. (since most games, most probably including Uber consider buildings and such "units")

Definitely, hopefully over the years we'll get content packs/updates, that give the separate factions different aesthetics. Would this take time? Definitely! But that's why it'd be something to have down the line.

I don't know why I said 150. Currently its around 100.

Yes, I am suggesting that Uber should model another 150 units. It is really what I like to see, but being the realist I am, I know that's not going to happen. This thread got derailed a bit because I took the liberty to imagine how PA would look with multiple factions.

Ah alright, that sounds more realistic! Don't worry though, we all make silly mistakes at times.

Yeah, but the catch is that that while there might be as much variety, it's all split off from each other and locked up behind the "Factions".

SupCom is a great example. Look at the 'Tank' T1 units, you have the basic-est Striker for the UEF, the Repairing Mantis for Cybran and the Hover Aurora for Aeon, each fills the same role functional role within the faction but each has quirks. The Striker's quirk is it's lack of quirks, the Mantis is still a pretty good combat unit and it can also assist building/repair, the Aurora isn't very tough but it can hover and it's got the longest range of all the T1 Tanks.

Now the thing is that these could all be in the same faction without stepping on each other's toes, some more tweaking might be needed, the better emphasize on the quirks but the groundwork is all there. Yet they're still locked behind the factions and that creates problems, for example, on small maps with water separating the spawns, Aeon has a clear advantage because the Aurora amphibious, if you had a single faction with all the units, everyone has that option, even if they're not making use of it's amphibious ness they can make use of the fact it matches th range of a more aggressive player's Aurora's to "hold the line" while they move up the tech tree to a wider selection of Amphibious units available there.

But more so when it comes to being restricted in terms of factions, for me I like the Aeon early game because it is a different combat style with the Aurora's but I don't like the end game as much, where as the Cybran/UEF Early games are very similar but they have better End game potential. With Everything locked behind the different factions I can't play the game as I'd want to and instead have to make sacrifices. With a single, diverse faction I can play the game exactly how I want.

Of course, that's mostly personal preferences, what about what the game requires? Playing on a planet with lots of small lakes/ponds and rivers can require different units compared to playing in a desert with rolling dunes or a densely packed forest, each of those can easily have a handful of units that can do better in those circumstances due to inherent mechanics, a High-arc Mortar works much better across rolling dunes compared to along range Sniper weapon, or a really fast unit that can will be exposed at the top of dunes for less time or can the "valleys" of the dunes as cover and cover more ground in the same amount of time. As soon as you start splitting off certain varieties of units into different factions is easy to lose potential options and actually lose out on variety. Even if you trying to give each faction at least one option for each terrain circumstance you still run into the problem of not being able to play the game as you'd like.

Imagine if the Red Faction had the Valley traversing units for use in Dunes and Amphibious units that moved on the Seafloor while Blue Faction had the Mortar Unit and Hover Amphibious units. then Imagine if you liked the Seafloor Amphibious and Mortar Bots best, you're kinda stuck playing with something you don't like if the circumstances dictate that you need both Amphibious units and untis for fighting in dunes, or the game forces you to "play the Meta" and choose a faction purely based obn what types of terrain you'll be dealing with(assuming you even know).

And of course, on top of all that, what happens if the gameplay and the aesthetics for a particular faction don't like up for you? Appeal is a very subjective thing so it's there is no guarantee these will line up for you should a game have multiple, distinct factions.

In the end, I just don't see where the benefits of multiple factions outweigh the negatives, even in a "perfect world" where corners aren't cut when making multiple factions compared to a single one, at the end of the day give me all the options so I can play the game how I want.

Mike

no there's only one race.

I also want to be playing multiple races but I see making races and unit models not as Uber's responsibility but the modding community's

Clear advantages like the lack of tier 1 amphibious units wouldn't be something I'd want.

I agree also that having all the units of all factions to your disposal is something I dreamed of in other RTS. You can create your ultimate strategy, the playstyle you like best.

But still, multiple factions adds character to the game. And I say it again, I don't consider the time you need to put into design. Meaning that there might be exclusve units to particular factions, but every faction would have quite the broad selection, covering all the basics and variations on these basics. Agreed, there will be lots of units that differ only by minor stats and skin, but is that bad? Every RTS game I play I feel the unit roster lacks units. Is it doable to create what I just said? Not entirely sure, but these posts all started as my opinion/vision of how an RTS game like PA should look like.

It's bad in the sense that what you end up doing is wasting time doing 4x the work for far far less than 4x the outcome, where "character", a subjective thing that has little impact of the act of playing the game, took precedence over the gameplay itself. It's a complete waste for a small developer to do something like that, especially considering how expensive art assets can be.

Mike