[Suggestion] 3rd resource, command points.

Total Annihilation had no command points.
Supreme Commander had no command points.
--> Planetary Annihilation shouldn't have command points.

Command points are bad

I don't think that tradition is a good reason not to have something, if that were the case nothing would ever advance.

In saying this I definitely don't think command points are a good idea for the multitude reasons people have posted above. It would seem to go directly against the core concept of battles on a massive scale. Energy and mass might seem like a simplified set of resources (who knows it might not even be that) but managing those resources in a rate based economy added quite a bit of intracacy as against a pay as you go economy model and managing multiple planets (regardless of whether they are micro or universal economies) will give us quite a bit to manage along with the combat.

As for reasons to go to other planets: positioning/not getting boxed in, material resources and not putting all your eggs in one basket for when the eventual KEW comes knocking.

Agreed please no D:

well command points is just a couple of words. they could be redefined as something entirely new and cool. alot of people hate them, maybe they could use a make over.

What did you have in mind? I dont think it is fair to say that people are simply opposed to the name as most people have put out well thought out criticisms of the suggested concepts.

As it stands I dislike the idea of a population cap which is governed by the construction of a building. I can understand material resources, energy and the number of construction facilities limiting the rate at which you can put out units, but having a building which only serves to increase the amount of robots you can build I dont think fits a game of this kind.

The first point of it allowing the construction of powerful units puts it into one of two categories, as an analogue of a tech tree (build this building or you cant build a type of unit). Or experimental units which is a whole other debate. I'm not sure which you meant by Awesome powerful units but both tech tree and experimentals have been met with mostly negative feedback (I for one supported the idea of a recoverable factory on some planets with slightly more powerful units like the megalith II from supcom2 - but I'm just one opinion and that's a whole other debate).

Then you have the concept of having Command points serve as a spendable resource (somewhat like energy) for speciality weapons. For things like orbital bombardment id have thought the material resources spent to construct such a thing, and the energy to use it would be sufficient - especially in the face of adversity. And if you are meaning something other than the standard run of units and buildings then you are again entering into the experimental debate, just with experimental buildings. Something which is again a whole other argument.

That is just my analysis of the suggestion, but id be interested in hearing others, it wouldn't be the first time my mind has been changed through critical debate and analysis of an idea.

I agree with what you are saying, i don't really have any great ideas on how to implement it it as a 3rd resource. Just trying to open a dialog with people on the idea and throwing a few out there myself.

Actually one of the Supreme Commander games did have a 3rd resource type. The research points in Supreme Commander 2. And it didn't work very well.

It always felt disconnected from everything else I was harvesting in the game, and eventually I'd just end up getting more research points than there were things to research. Honestly I wouldn't have minded the SC2 research system if it took energy or something else instead. Then I'd feel like I was actually managing the limited resources at my disposal rather than just throwing these extraneous research points into the bonfire of upgrades.

So in SC1 if you wanted to upgrade your commander you had to start up a process that took massive amounts of mass and energy. You really had to sit there and decide "Do I want to give my commander the ultra arm laser if it means kneecapping my economy for five minutes?"

Also I am not very keen on the idea of command points supplying C&C style "magic effects from space". I like in Supreme Commander that if you wanted to nuke someone you had to build a nuke silo, build the nuke, launch it, and then the nuke had to move across the map and into their base without getting shot down.

If you want to have crazy powers that's fine, just tie it to a physical thing in the game world. So for example if you want teleporters then have two gate buildings that can be linked together. Or a gate structure and an experimental teleport receiver airship.

Make it something physical that can be built and shot at. Something that can have a strategy worked around it, and can be countered. Not an awesome-o-meter that fills up and then spawns magic out of nowhere.

I wholeheartedly agree zachb, awesome analysis.

I love this. We aren't playing call of duty here.

And really, any other kind of mechanic you try to introduce behind command points is really redundant.

Weather it's for making people fight for areas of the map, try to increase the size of their force or build super weapons. All of these things are already in the game and are realised with the mass resource points. The more mass you have the more build power you have. That's a good enough reason to fight for areas of the map. Even if it's just to deny your enemy the mass and not to use it yourself. Any other resource would simply be a needless 'tag on' to an already proven system and it would feel exactly like that.