Exploring Storage Options

I like the idea of streamlining storage capacity in to production buildings and removing the need for a separate storage buildings.

i.e. Each PGen / MEX increases your storage

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How much storage is built in to each resource generator is critical.

I'd like to see it balanced so that relative to your resource generation, small spikes in demand would be smoothed out by the built in storage buffer, but getting overly ambitious in your building would still have severe consequences.
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But I'm keen to hear other opinions
(edit: Don't forget you can alter your vote in the poll if an argument persuades you).

+1 to integrated, I hated having to build storage farms just so my economy wouldn't die when I started a large building project.

If you want simpler economy then storage should just be increased when you make buildings like powerplants, mexes, factories or units like engineers or whatever.

If you want to "unlock" weapons(like Overcharge in FA) and abilities by building storages, you can have expensive energy storages. So in order to fire highcost weapons you would need storage and in order to fire rapidly or with several weapons at the same time storage would also be important.

Metal storage have typically not been important in most TA derivatives I have played. FA would be the exception but then you made storages for economy reasons and not actual storage reasons.
Since you can spend that metal incrementally on whatever project you have it is usually much better than saving it for later.

I can also imagine an energy system without storage at all. You would need some way to direct power where you want it though. So if you want all your energy to go to lasers when they fire you should be able to prioritize that easily. I wouldn't want a system like in Command and Conquer series where everything goes down when youre drainage are just a tiny bit above your power production.
I think a system like this would be the one where energy has much more importance both strategically and tactically.

The integrated option doesn't mean that couldn't still happen.
In fact I think it should happen to a degree.

It all depends on how much storage you get built in to each resource generator.

Too much or too little and storage could risk becoming irrelevant as a concept.
You'd either; have so much so as you almost never overflow and waste anything, or so little you now have to build more resource generators just for their storage (effectively the None option).

I'd like to see it balanced inline with my (updated) OP.

I like candy

I'll go with seperated, although I'd also be in favor of a "both" option. It should be somewhat of a decision whether you'll rely on storage or production.

I would say lightly integrated. It need to scale with the game. But I would not remove storage completly.
Storage should be a choice.

The "Hybrid" option is interesting.

You could balance it essentially like the "Integrated" option, so there is less need for dedicated "Separate" storage, but still provide the option of it.

Not sure if to add that in and reset the poll...

Yes, that was my thinking. Give enough storage from production to support basic gameplay, but allow strategies that require draining storage by providing the option if anyone wants it.

Im for separated. In SupCom Vanilla and FA energy storage was integrated in buildings and engineers. FAF, the community patch, changed that, so you have now to build storages to store more energy, and it was a good step. made it more interesting, to raid storages so that shields may fail faster and so on.

remember why you split paths with he who should not be mentioned. to much dumbing down reduces game play, strategy and tactics. forged alliance is a great game but is dependant on the best base building ever created and sorian 2.1.1( 2.1.2 does not really work)

I voted for intergrated, but also like seperated.

But if seporated I would like to have larger and more efficent storage facilitys then lots of smaller ones.

But having both could also be cool.

Integrated (+engineers) is important for keeping a minimum level of storage. Why? Because as the economy grows, metal and energy get used at increasingly high rates. If storage doesn't scale with production needs, then resource reserves would fill up and be consumed in mere seconds, or even less. That's just an annoyance, at least for metal. For energy, short lasting storage is a way of life.

Separated structures are for those rare people who like huge storage. There are no explicit advantages to building them in any particular game. Perhaps it is handy for loading up on field wreckage, or to keep extra energy for defenses? Either way, it is rare for players to build a structure used to help a poorly managed economy.

Perhaps large stores could be used as a form of rapid response to threats. Oh, you have a nuke? I'll just empty my stores for an instant anti-nuke. Oh, you have tanks? Allow me to insta-spawn a bunch of tank-killers.

I'm not sure if it'd be a valid tactic, but that's generally the worth of unconverted matter; the ability to create what you need on a shorter notice.

Likewise; as long as the matter is in storage, you can't tell what's going to be built with it. Building a large unit on a low budget means you give the enemy a lot of time to spot it. But if he spots only storages, he knows you're up to something, just not what. And you can bring it out in a short time once the stores are full.

(All of this assuming you have the build power, ofc)

But I don't think it will be used on a regular basis. Only for special tactics. Still; the more of those that are possible, the more interesting the game.

I think storage should be both integrated and separate( a hybrid system). If you look at TA, building things like kbot labs or vehicle factories increased metal and energy storage, and then some of the energy consuming defenses, such as LLTs also increased energy, because they needed it to function. However, there are also dedicated energy and metal storage buildings. Clearly someone thought that having a hybrid system was a good idea. When I play TA, I usually end up with a battery of Vulcans or Buzzsaws, which uses an incredible amount of energy, at a constant rate. The only way I can use them to the fullest is by having about 50 thousand energy storage capacity, and then the energy generating at that amount, because they actually use up that 1500/2000 energy per shot instantly. I could never use that with less than 2000 energy, because I would never have enough energy stored up. Now, I'm aware that that isn't entirely relevant, but when you consider the fact that all I need to do to store all that energy is build a handful of energy storages, then it becomes clear that there are uses, though not for everyone, for separate storage. To build up that much storage not using dedicated energy storages, would be ridiculously inefficient, and could possibly take up the greater part of 100 units.

TL;DR
Hybrid system is best, because separate storage has its uses, though they tend to be more specific, and integrated could greatly hamper the player in those specific instances.

Rush buying?

Why not always do it?

I don't agree that would should be able to do it for every thing, but for spesific things it could be cool.

How do you mean "always do it"? I don't really understand.

He's indirectly saying that rush-buying is such a abuse-ably powerful tool that it logically should be used for everything, not just reacting to unforeseen events.

But that doesn't make sense. Rush buying requires you to invest and not-spend in order to rush things later.

It's weaker than regular building because it requires you to invest resources in storage buildings and a disproportional amount of build power, as well as having to not-spend resources to fill your storage, and you compensate for that weakness by being able to react to things that happen much more quickly once the infrastructure is up.

It's a powerful strategy against an opponent trying to do something sneaky, tech-rushing some specific unit, or hiding a lot of units of one type. It will get you killed against an opponent who just spams units and A-moves your base.

I see plenty of reasons to not always do it, really.