It's all a matter of perspective

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by Quitch, July 31, 2014.

  1. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    I caught myself thinking about enemy commanders differently from my commander when I was considering whether the commander was too weak.

    See, when enemy forces are heading for my commander I no longer send him out to clean house. There was a time I'd have done that, but now it feels like the Ubercannon isn't strong enough, and you have to get too close to use it, and if he has infernos then it's doubly stupid, so instead I find myself thinking RUN AWAY.

    Yet when my forces encounter an enemy commander I don't think this at all. I find myself taking evasive maneuvers because unless I brought my doom stack he's clearly going to wipe out my entire force. Oh ****, RUN AWAY.

    Perhaps I'm just a big scaredy cat :) It just seems my threshold for what my commander can beat differs in my mind from the number of units I perceive an enemy commander can beat.

    I was wondering if anyone else had found themselves in situations where they change how they view a unit depending on which end of it they find themselves?
  2. wpmarshall

    wpmarshall Planetary Moderator

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    Personally I think one of the issues is not only the range of the uber cannon but also its unpredictability - You target the middle of a blob, it overshoots or does some flips, spins and flies off to the side - I just do not trust it.
  3. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    For me the problem isn't so much as to what he can beat, as much as the fact that once he's sustained damage *he stays damaged* and is *really expensive* to repair him. The result is if you use him to defend an invasion you make yourself very vulnerable.

    The other issue is, as you say the Uber cannon isn't very long range, so it's difficult to get in close. TA had lots of large (shot blocking) obstacles that made getting into d-gun range easier (this is a case where mountain biome is a good thing). It also had the commander cloak which was just brilliant for getting up close and personal with the old d-gun :p

    In PA the commander can be very useful for pushing back early attacks, and he can even be used for an aggressive push ala TA provided you surround him with strong stuff, but it *is* a risky move so has to be used with caution.
  4. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    Stop. STOP. This isn't a balance thread, go to the balance forum for that, please.
  5. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Whoa, I was just thinking around why you might have that feeling... Note I haven't said anything suggesting anything is broken or suggested any changes...?
  6. Engineer1234

    Engineer1234 Well-Known Member

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    Yeah I get that too it's called hypocrisy right ? :p I get that a lot with artillery.
    Enemy artillery fires into my base " damn it's long range ! "
    My artillery can't reach the enemy " damn it's short range ! "
    Using shellers on the enemy " yeah :D "
    Enemy using shellers on me " NOES ! "
    Same goes for vanguards, and really anything that is sufficiently powerful.
    ef32 and cdrkf like this.
  7. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    Yeah, I had a FFA that felt that way. My Vanguards walked single-file and got targeted by everything, where as it felt like his were uber scary death monsters, invisible to my units.
  8. elodea

    elodea Post Master General

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    This is how i feel about enemy bombers...

    I think this kind of thinking means we are getting old and conservative
  9. ef32

    ef32 Well-Known Member

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    You can summarize this as:
    Enemy wins because of: luck, abuse of game mechanics, cheap tactics or because he has no life.
    You win because you are strategy master.
    MrTBSC, vyolin, Fr33Lancer and 4 others like this.
  10. cptconundrum

    cptconundrum Post Master General

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    Wrong. Quitch doesn't win. :p
  11. Geers

    Geers Post Master General

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    When I see an enemy commander my though process is:

    "THERE HE IS! GET HIM! SEND
    [​IMG] ".
  12. thefluffybunny

    thefluffybunny Active Member

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    not a unit per se, but a tactic, pelter creep. being the victim of it just infuriates me as its just dull to play against, beat me fine, but at least do it with style. but then I find myself using it occasionally when someone turtles up, and each time I die a little inside.
  13. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    I'll have you know I always win, I just keep playing games until victory is secured though blind luck and I can retire for the evening :)
    drewsuser likes this.
  14. mayhemster

    mayhemster Well-Known Member

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    I definately feel this way about orbital. i'm like zomg he's built 2 anchors over my base what am i supposed to do? My anchors never seem to do anything!
  15. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    I should add bombers to my list. Irritating to deal with, yet seemingly useless in my hands.
    websterx01 and drewsuser like this.
  16. mot9001

    mot9001 Well-Known Member

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    For me was the opposite. I was always very eager to run my commander into anything and while i was doing good damage, it is usually a big mistake and will cost you the game.
  17. ShottyMonsta

    ShottyMonsta Member

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    Sick sig mate
  18. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

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    I usually try to use myself as measurement for what my opponent can do or cannot do.
    If I have X tanks at minute Y I assume that's probably good and attack if in doubt.
    Obviously scouting is pretty important, but if I have to guess I guess based on what I can achieve myself.
  19. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    you know that is representative of nothing.

    bottom line is, if you have upwards of 10 vehicles or 20 bots, you should be going in and you won't come out disappointed, because the com can't outrun any of them.
  20. drewsuser

    drewsuser Active Member

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    When I have triple my opponents forces, and he sends 3 vanguards in and wins, yet when I send a bunch of vanguards, his t1 tanks kill them off in a flash...

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