spaceships as maps

In that case that's part of the challenge, to think of a strategy without astroids. I think that's good, a little diversity won't hurt. And you'll probably still have a moon or some other planet near you. If not you'll just have to fight a land battle. I'd say hooray!

That does sound like a fun challenge, also I picture making a base in orbit would be incredibly costly and most likely an unrealistic project.

Orbital platforms in my mind would be treated as asteroid class objects. Even with engines and turrets and artillery built on them they are not a true spaceship. Unless you consider Asteroids to be spaceships too since Uber has stated that Asteroids can be moved without having to smash them into something.

The difference between Asteroids and Orbital Platforms is that Orbital Platforms were made by the player, while Asteroids were pre-generated.

Just because it has engines and moves, does not mean it is a spaceship. Certainly I do not expect this to be spammable. It is meant for big games like the Galactic War.

Oh and i guess we can consider Asteroids to be pirate ships too based upon your post.

galactic war has no impact on an individual solar systems game content or mechanics, so turning asteroids into spaceships shouldn't depend on GW. It's a meta game.

You were describing bombarding other asteroids, boarding bridges and so on. Based on those features, that sounds like what pirates do in my mind (Also, there are space pirates in fiction). Some people may like this, I personally feel this sounds like a modified version of navel combat, which is not what I'm looking for out of the space aspect of the game. If I am wrong, please correct my misconception.

What you describe as orbital platform sounds interesting, but it also sounds a bit like what metal planets may be (although slightly smaller scale maybe).

Based upon some of the things that have been stated for the Galactic War, we are looking at persistent armies and bases, something the Orbital platforms would be key in especially in systems where most of the planets are broken up by asteroids already, as we are talking something that will need to exist for possibly days at a time. I fully expect that in the Galactic War there will be some special mechanics, units, and structures not normally available in short play.

Well, about the Boarding Bridges, it is mainly a thought along the line that the enemy is highly likely to be more fortified against air then they are ground. The best way to defend an asteroid base, or an orbital platform, or a world even, is to never let them get on it in the first place. The Boarding Bridge would be an automatic system that creates a land bridge, causing Orbital Platforms to become locked in position and act more like connected continents floating in the "ocean" that is space.

Sure the approach to each other is a lot like naval combat, but once they latch onto each other, they act more like one big contested landmass that cannot split apart until someone controls the entire thing. Like smashing 2 asteroids together at a speed that does not result in mutual destruction, but causes their overall mass and size to grow.

Metal Planets however I could see as being a source of Orbital Platforms in a normal game, and it would make sense. Especially if someone starts in a portion of the star system with no asteroids, but a metal planet instead. They bring the Metal Planet online and start deploying and developing its Orbital Platforms. Since Metal Planets are supposed to be giant abandoned space stations.

Buildable metal planets could be interesting. But even if it doesn't work gameplay-wise for PA itself, it should be made possible for mods.

Maybe they already have something like this planned for the orbital unit pack.. Who knows? I personally prefer only orbital units and/or buildings.

Do you mind providing some references to your comments on GW? They sound like a different kind of beast than I had thought I heard, and I'd like to make sure I understand what I've payed for.

The Planetary Annihilation Kickstarter countdown stream during the Q/A segment, you can find it here in the videos section.

Though since everything is still early development things will probably change.




As an aside, I will be honest here: I wish we had spaceships for the Orbital layer. Cause then we could have ships designed to provide artillery fire against the Land layer to help break up defenses, even if they are just treated as aircraft that fly a layer above the Air layer. It certainly for me would be more epic and awesome to have a fleet of space ships duking it out over the world as drop pods fire down planetside ahead of the dropships being shot down by AA emplacements as Ground to Orbit anti-ship weapons charge up and begin firing.


But since they do not want space ships in, I am just going to push for Orbital Platforms being an option for those times you really just do not have an Asteroid to spare, and need to move something over to an enemy planet so you can start chucking units at them via unit cannons and transports.

You can get ground strikes from orbit without spaceships, you just make it a satellite, basically you use exactly the current Rods from God concept. It's all in the fuzy line of where do orbital units end and spaceships begin. For me that is when it has enough engines to break orbit, but meh whatevs, I'm not the devs. *In the context of this game*

I do not find Satellites awesome, nor cool, they are ok. In a smaller scale game like CnC they are awesome with the beam of death firing down like the finger of god.

So they can have awesome, but because of... stuff... they aren't for PA? I think that air in space is not actually going to be awesome because it's just more of the same and doesn't add anything new.

So does anyone remember the metal maps on TA? An endless source of mass for the player. you could plonk your mass extractor down anywhere and get maximum return from it. Missed that in sup com and IMO a great idea for the new game.

Also, dormant relics that are super weapons? It's an interesting concept and I am not sure what I would like to see. If you find one does that mean you have a "death star" you can use to destroy your enemies' planets? It is called Planetary Annihilation after all. Further more, could you use it to destroy incoming asteroids?

With regard to "orbital" units and platforms. They are just that; orbital. The idea that one could travel through space on an orbital platform is a confused and incorrect notion.

My feeling is that the orbital units will be the same ones we use for air on standard planets. By which I mean that when you build air units they will be effective air to ground, air to air and at an orbital level.

The times when orbital platforms will come in to play will be on gas giants or perhaps at a stretch on the orbital layer around a water planet? At any rate I think it is an area that needs careful consideration. We don't want a player to be able to win a battle simply by hammering a defending commander with orbital platform artillery. Effectively you could wipe out a defending commander without even coming face to face. For me that is not what this game is about. If a defending commander cannot retaliate against an orbital platform of anti air and artillery then it's a massive flaw in the game.

Also, as far as orbital platforms are concerned I am undecided if I think that player made or procedurally generated platforms are the way to go. It's important because gas giants are also likely to be large sources or resource for the player and so potentially a larger build area = greater resourcing capability.

Needless to say that orbital platforms have a large scope in potential, but I can see that by creating "layered" planets using orbital platforms the game could become unbalanced, particularly if a player has chosen to specialise in land based units on that particular planet. Promoting specialisation being something else Uber have been talking about.

I really don't see the point in space combat as part of this game and certainly if you are proposing to make an orbital platform as some kind of battle barge then I really am opposed to that. The idea of waging war between asteroids only appeals to me slightly more.

I see the asteroids as quantified resource that when you are finished mining them you can send them to smash into enemy planets as WMDs. You would ideally cover your asteroid in mass mines and solar arrays (as solar energy is much more effective in space and would therefore gain a bonus). Something that should also be considered on orbital arrays perhaps?

For all intents and purposes creating a spaceship map would simply be a variation of a land based map and is therefore pretty pointless. IMO it would detract from the game and take it away from the game archetype. If you want to fight for the relic then land on it and duke it out on the surface using the thing itself as a resource to crush your enemy and take control of it for your own means.