Orbital bombardments/lasers

So the forum is going crazy with idea's (some go really far) but I got something less hard

If we get orbital satellite or something will we have also have orbital units that fire lasers down to the surface like in halo with glassing? so eventually the terrain will burn and deform (engine will support that) and slowly turning it inhospitable.



Like this? ^

Of course it would take time but if you do it long enough maybe then you will see change

What do you guys think?

I would assume that's already covered under "terraforming," which hasn't been confirmed.

I guess these kind of things would be included with the second stretch goal at least. (I hope )

but they would also help with planetary invasions (woot my topic XD)
viewtopic.php?f=61&t=34565

so yeah I would like something like this, even without the terraforming bit.

SupCom had one orbital bombardment weapon. Sadly it ended up being kind of lame

Hopefully Uber can figure out a better system for PA.

The terrain must be really damaged to no support robots on it..
Anyway this would be fun indeed.

Well , just build in some ASAT Missileweapons and you can easly shoot down the enemy Sattelites before they PewPew to the ground.

That was the issue with SupCom FA. No ASAT Weapons to shoot down there lame Low-Orbit Plasmacannon.

The Novax (the laser satellite in FA that people are talking about) had free movement over the entire map, and had a massive sight range with it. It was a good scout, as it couldn't be stopped. But since it could go everywhere and couldn't be stopped, it needed to have a piss-weak weapon or it'll be rapishly overpowering.

Basically;

• free-roaming + un-targetable + big gun = overpowered.
  free-roaming + un-targetable + small gun = toothless scout.
  free-roaming + targetable + big gun = counterable, but effective when caught unprepared.
  free-roaming + targetable + small gun = useless scout.
  leashed + un-targetable + big gun = effective defensive weapon.
  leashed + un-targetable + small gun = useless defensive weapon.
  leashed + targetable + big gun = counterable, effective defensive weapon.
  leashed + targetable + small gun = useless.

My thoughts are: give it a big gun, but either make it stuck to an area, or have it so it can be shot down. I expect this will apply to all satellite units in game.

That said, any unit like this needs to be niche/end-game. I don't think an entire layer of space combat belongs in PA.

I think CTRL-K'ing a CZAR was a formidable orbital bombardment weapon!

Oh wait, you meant the Novax?

Haha, true, but I'd usually just let it attack, and if the enemy aa happened to take it down I'd just smile

Since it looks like we might have interplanetary ballistic missiles, and the video showed robot hurling guns which should logically hurl nukes too, maybe we'll have interplanetary lasers. Maybe even interstellar lasers, which take several years to reach the system! After all, if the game is aiming for 40 hours matches, with unlimited scalability, why not a ten your match?

Indirectly this has sort of been confirmed.

First, in the demo video we see an interplanetary "cannon" that launches troops at the enemy.

Secondly, Mavin has clearly stated that some analogue to the Bertha cannon will exist in PA. Do you honestly think they're not going to let that sucker fire at other planets?

Relax, I'm sure there will be something.

We're going to be trying a lot of things in this area. The idea is that gravity well advantage should definitely play into the game. So it's easier to fire a weapon from a small airless moon onto a planet than it is to fire back. It's called the high ground

Awesome

I like the direction you're going with that.

I'm impressed, someone has been reading their scifi, or just the sci.

Your high ground is a hill, my high ground is the moon!

regardless there does seem to be some potential balance issues with that inability to fire back or effectively defend, but i suppose those things are all going to be sorted out during production.

Don't see how it's any worse than regular super-long range artillery. Send an air raid/army to take it out if it's causing you problems.

Buy there in lies the problem! It's difficult to raid and fight back because you have to first fight gravity. He doesn't have to fit it; he's already at the top of the hill.

I'm hoping that planetary atmospheres affect defenses from orbital and space-based bombardment? e.g., thinner atmosphere means that pretty much any weapon mounted in orbit or on a moon can 'reach' the surface of the planet (accuracy is another matter..) -- whereas a thick atmosphere protects you from all but the most hardy, designed-for-this projectiles...?

Athmosphere? Please don't. The impact on optimized projectiles or beams is rather low, but the impact on larger objects like units would be terrific, they would burn.

It like the gravity well, but it also like the idea of real satellites, mainly for intel (stealth satellite?) but also for defensive tasks (shoot anything which tries to leave or enter the athmossphere, including antinukes :twisted:, combine multiple to form an effective defense grid against invaders) or single charge EMP nukes which you fire into orbit, get them into place and launch them when you are ready to attack. Number of those should be limmited though, high energy upkeep for everything except intel seems fair and make them targetable. That works actually quite well. Upkeep on the launcher and free restocks on satellites. And double the upkeep while a new satellite is under construction...