On Transports: Unit Type Distribution

mobility of larger troopnumbers .. i am sry but i am not intrested in having to produce double the number of units just to carry half of them especialy if its just bots ... same and far worse with orbital transports ... i hate enforced play like that

I don't really think it will be possible to properly balance the game without the unit cannon and/or drop pods.

Granted, the following is a lot of speculation – but it's just my opinion.

Due to the many difficulties arisen from building a structure on the planet (teleporter), and then sending units to the other planet, invasions against another planet are difficult if not impossible. The only other alternative is a scorched earth method with planet smashing, nukes, and laser sats.

In my opinion, that is not a balanced game.

That'll mean multi planet gameplay almost always ends in a commander snipe or planet smash, which doesn't leave room for a lot of diversity.

Also, since the game is supposed to be about macro gameplay with massive armies and lots of explosions, the direction of nuke/laser snipes or planet smashing being the only viable end to a match seems to be counteractive to the whole purpose of the game – which is ground based warfare with large armies.

So not only do I think that it isn't possible to balance PA without the unit cannon and/or drop pods, I think that balancing the game without that mechanic completely redefines the main scope and purpose that is PA. It'd make PA all about commander snipes and planet smashes.

I don't like the sound of that direction.

Although to be fair, there is a huge monkey wrench that is going to be thrown into the mix that makes all of this speculation very difficult – planet smashing not destroying an entire planet. When we get large planets and astroid belts with small astroids and the small astroids are smashed on a regular basis and don't destroy an entire planet... well. That's going to turn PA into an entirely new game. One that I'm really excited about.

And there's also the added factor of systems with few or no smashable objects. Maybe that's never supposed to be the case... we'll just have to see how the astroid belt works out and overall game performance with lots of orbital bodies. I know my computer grinds to a halt when there's multiple orbital bodies (I CANNOT wait for my new computer! April!) – and my system isn't that dated. But if due to performance or whatever reason astroid belts aren't that feasible or some other factor resulting in systems having few or no smashable bodies, then drop pods are a must since the unit cannon (reportedly) cannot be fired from larger planets – which I support that mechanic.

At any rate.

tldr – I don't think multi planet combat can be balanced without the unit cannon and/or drop pods. However, that stance is speculative based on a number of changing variables.

I hope that cleared things up @neutrino.

Hey, why don't you say something on the actual topic? For example if you see my point and the potential issue? StormingKiwi put the problem in other words that are maybe more straight forward, in case my posts were not clear enough. It would be very helpful to know if you are aware of the potential problem this thread is about. If you say you got my point it's all fine for me, and the thread would have achieved its goal. If you think it won't be an issue, please explain why you think so, if you can take the time. If you don't see my point yet, here I restate the issue once more:


Having transports that transport only one unit „fixes“ the issue of unit composition per transport. BUT it does not fix the potential issue, that (as it is in SupCom) transport do not pick up an even composition of units, in case the count of units to be transported exceeds the number of available unit slots (respectively transports with only 1 slot), but rather transport enr unit type after the other until all of that type are covered, to then proceed to the next unit type and so on.

Wait what? This didn't happen in SupCom. Did it? I don't remember that.

If you clicked the link you would see the screenshot that proves it...

Hello! This is my first post here, but I wanted to weigh in on the question of multi-unit transports and orbital multi-unit transports.

For planetary assaults, dropships seem like a must. Similar to how SupCom had the aerial transports you could use to ferry land units between islands or across chasms, successfully invading fortified planets with a large land army would involve an equivalent technique. At the time though, it seems to be possible only by establishing enough of a beachhead to build a teleporter and then walk your main forces through it.

I'd be curious to see the argument against multi-unit dropships, as right now (beyond the technical limitations such as server performance) I don't think I understand why they would not be considered necessary.

Anyway, I still love the game and it has gotten exponentially better as time has gone on. I'm looking forward to many more hours with it.

Does anybody here actually care for staying on topic?! Oh well, I guess this thread has been hijacked and is now about multi unit transports yes or no...

I would still like to get a resposne to my actual concern, if possible.

Wow, that sounds like a challenge throwdown to me. I think you are taking a position that's almost impossible to defend by saying that.

Consider the gauntlet thrown!



I would love it if you threw my words in my face.

I'm sorry thelambaster, I didn't realize I was going so far off-topic.

You are right about the distribution of unit types in multi-unit transports. That is a concern. How should it be handled procedurally? Maybe by having transports prioritize front-line units first, like tanks, combat bots, etc., then longer range units, then non-combat, if they're ferrying a large group -- then further distributing them more evenly among individual transports? Or something else?

rap battle go

Seriously though, would balancing existing units be enough to make interplanetary attacks be, well... better? It might be, I couldn't say for sure, but it seems like it would be very difficult without a new mechanic.
Maybe if astraeuses were as spammable as air transports or something of the sort, but with the crazy income people can get late-game, I'm not really sure.

Well, in case of an area load up command I would do this:

1# count number of transports involved in the order:
count transports -> T_cnt

2# counter number of units per type (say direct fire, indirect fire, AA, fabber) involved in the order:
count df -> DF_cnt
count if -> IF_cnt
count aa -> AA_cnt
counz fab -> Fab_cnt

3# divide unit type counts by count of transports:
DF_cnt / T_cnt -> DF_per_T_cnt
IF_cnt / T_cnt -> IF_per_T_cnt
AA_cnt / T_cnt -> AA_per_T_cnt
Fab_cnt / T_cnt -> Fab_per_T_cnt

4# load up unit types evenly:
load T1 - Ti with [DF_per_T_cnt] direct fire units, [IF_per_T_cnt] indirect fire units, [AA_per_T_cnt] AA units, [Fab_per_T_cnt] fabbers


Don't know if this is too naive...


Edit: Added teh brackets to make it more easily readable.

I think it's just too difficult to say anything meaningful about it right now. Neutrino's taking a more careful approach of first finishing most of the (currently) intended game, as the Unit Cannon will require quite a bit of work before it works while it might not have the desired effect.

Maybe aitho01, StormingKiwi and me should just have a privat conversation about the actual topic as everybody else keeps talking about unit cannons and the likes. Including neutrino, even after I requested him if possible please say something on the actual subject of the thread.