Metal: thoughts and suggestions

SupCom had this on at least one map, Seton's Clutch, which had the middle area host to a large number of high-yield wreckages. I don't remember how the community reacted to this concept, however I think one issue is that their existence really dictates how the game should be played at least early game. That map was very much curated for this, however I'd be concerned how PA's procedural generation of planets would play havoc with the fairness of high-yield wreckages.

Wrecks don't have to give any more metal/second than extractors but more fabbers could be commit to them rather than construction for a short term gain but in the long term mex would be better... It's just a question of balance and how that balance is achieved. I like games with more strategic and tactical options rather than a single road to victory and right now mex/energy is pretty 1 dimensional in terms of how it's acquired.

Good point. I do hope that natural reclaimables such as rocks and other rubbish are much more visible in PA compared to supcom. Sometimes there was a sea of rubble where I never felt confident I was reclaiming or setting patrol routes for maximum coverage simply because they blended in with the environment too well.

Perhaps a metallic sheen could make them stand out. Thankfully I think PA's art style would better support such visibility.

Reason why t2 should give less, t1 should give more, and/ or metal slots need balanced so t1 and t2 are both survivable economies.

Damn i quoted the guy saying t2 mex is now necessary, phone screwed it up.

I feel a sig quote coming on...

I still am not having the problems you guys are with metal... I personally enjoy the system we have now it allows for more T1 gameplay and also promotes fighting others over metal spots.... yet still i find people who barely expand so to teach them a lesson they die to my huge army of tanks and bots expanding has allowed me to build ^^ also keep in mind at some point we will beable to spawn on other planets instead of all on one so the metal to player ratio will grow when that happens... also we still don't know what metal planets will be like when completed but i look forward to fighting over its key locations for control of whatever it does

Adding onto my previous suggestion in regards to metal plants, you could just set your fabbers to reclaim the ground and/or build mex anywhere like in TA.

This is another reason why a rare strategic resource like uranium could be cool as it would still create strategically valuable locations on metal worlds.

Don't forget about power, there's definitely some opportunity for high-yield power sources to provide points of interest. Geothermal being the most obvious since it's feasibly less common than wind/tide/solar.

Uranium deposits could provide the ability for nuclear power as well as nuclear weapons. I'm a little skeptical of introducing another resource however.

If anything, I would imagine Uber have already passed the point of adding another resource, but maybe that sort of thing is technically simple.

Yeah, it could over complicate things potentially.... But what the hell I'm going to keep throwing ideas down!

Uranium could work on a credit system. Basically it's an item you can collect and move to where you want and build what you want at its location, a nuke or a fission reactor etc. kind of like a capture the flag mechanic.

I prefer this idea if it's not too weird and unwieldy. Technically, if we have capturing added in which I'm not sure is certain, then a nuclear capable fabber would be a very simple unit to develop.

My biggest problem with metal right now is the amount I can't use. So much metal either spawns too close to mountain or ravines.

Maybe metal is almost balanced... I'd never know because I can't use a third to half of it, generally.