SSX snipe intended?

Broken =/= imbalanced bro

Yeah its counterable, but not in the way it should be

I'm sure if nuke defenses didn't actually shoot down nukes but you could automatically destroy an incoming nuke by sacrificing 5 dox in a pentagon formation that it would be "balanced" and easily avoidable, but it would still be BROKEN because the thing that's supposed to counter the other thing isn't countering that thing but the totally unrelated thing that DOES counter that thing is very easy to do, unintuitive and costs pretty much nothing

I would love SSX to be able to hit moving commanders, but only if the orbital defenses you have set up are able to do something about it as well instead of some workaround due to the SSX being actually pretty terrible at everything other than its little instant fire on stationary targets trick

Buff the laser, get rid of the fire on teleport either by giving a loading time to the first shot or by making all orbital units targetable during orbital entry and exit

Did

Those values do not add up. A SXX needs 5 shoots to kill a full health commander. For single shot it would have to be belopw 20% HP to begin with.
It is common to use 5 SXX for a insta snipe, but that is quite an investment. It was a throwaway investment when Commander explosion affected the Orbital layer like a nuke.
However you should not forget that you do get a warning about SXX being deployed (shows up on orbital radar and voiceover/notification).

SXX are designated commander killers is intended. I have seen hard AI use this against me. It was even smart enough to target the 95% finished umbrella before finishing off my commander.

I would not say it is intended. Just something that should not be fixed right now. Invasions defense is too strong, going for a snipe is often the only option late game.

I believe the current situation is best. If you want to protect your commander against SSX, keep him moving with a patrol order.

Anything you do to nerf the SSX in this is going to make the "uninvadable world" problem that much worse. Right now the only thing that makes some worlds invadable is that you can put SSX in orbit in such a way that they immediately kill something (like an anti-nuke). It's a pretty expensive last resort but at least it's available as an option.


The REAL fix is we need TA style commander cloaking. Late game, your commander should simply turn his cloak on and leave it on for the rest of the match (or until your energy production gets decimated).

Just skimmed this thread and personally, this is the main issue I see. If there is a swarm of avengers around your SXX and your Umbrella(s) is(are) picking them off instead of the SXX, well, that's a problem. I think that should be changed. The SXX is a huge investment in terms of metal and energy so if you're scouting well, you should see if they've gone orbital and got that edge, so prepare for it.

As for everything else, there's a saying in boxing/MMA/etc - 'keep your guard up', e.g., keep your hands up so you can protect your head, cos if your hands start to drop you might well get knocked out by an unexpected strike and won't be able to block/defend in time. Your commander is your head. Protect it, don't forget about it, move it when it is scouted, keep him safe, build anti-nukes, etc. Pay attention. It is too easy to forget about your commander, I know I've done it a few times; left him exposed from one particular direction for instance.

I haven't played much with the SXX or orbital in general, but I think it's your fault if your comm gets sniped by SXX. But if you built Umbrellas all around your comm etc and they targeted avengers instead of the SXX, that's a bit crappy!

SXX (and other orbitals) now got a forced 3 second cooldown after entering orbit in PTE. Not as nice looking as a real orbital insertion maneuver, but non the less effective against instant SXX snipes, given sufficient amounts of Avengers or Anchors parked above high value targets.

Pretty sure you could still snipe, jus double the number of SSX. All the same good decision, if a lil bit lazy.

Of course you can still snipe if you outnumber the defenses. But the point is that defenses are now working in the first place, and you can defend against them at all.

I'm not disagreeing.

The cooldown is the solution.
A "orbital insertion maneuver" would only be a visualisation for the cooldown.

One of the core rules of programming: Make it work before you make it look nice or be top efficiency.

Edit:
Also it does answer this thread. SXX snipes are not intended. Otherwise they would not have gone to such lenghst to make them harder.

Not really. Orbital insertion (landing with at an offset and being inserted into orbit at forced top speed) has different implications than a forced cooldown. First would also imply to move over a comparably large, possibly defended area when entering orbit, while still allowing for the immediate execution of queued commands (a well as course corrections!) for agile units.

While forced cooldown turns you into a sitting duck for a defined period, but retains the pinpoint like accuracy, teleportation like entry sequence and the lack of control over the entry phase the transfers had suffered from before.

Plus it also still has the issue of forming indistinguishable deathballs upon arrival, so even that you now have 3 seconds to shoot targets down, you are still having trouble to aim for the valuable target inside that dense packed ball.

Forced cooldown might have been the apparently simplest solution, but it wasn't the one suited to solve all the issues.

A proper insertion maneuver would facilitate interceptions without giving a cooldown using a separate layer, but this is acceptable.

SSX snipes are intended they just needed balancing.

Well it is a orbital sniper.