Maybe it's already been suggested, but here goes: So, my current style of game play is basically spam T1 early and then spread out in all directions as fast as I can, sending out groups of fabers to build Self defending mex bases with mex's and missile turrets. Eventually I start spamming air and sending out patrol groups to defend these early outposts. The problem is that even low level harass will usually strip away a lot of my outlying mex points, even if they survive I often can't spare the attention to send out fabers to repair any damage and they die to follow ups. This isn't really that concerning, anyone who's had any real experience with TA and or SuapCom will probably expect this and plan for it, it's especially reminiscent of TA, but the scale of Planetary annihilation is starting to break down my ability to maintain my expansion. The game is literally out scaling my brain, or at least my ability to multi-task, kudos for that, I didn't think any dev would have the balls to make something with this high a skill ceiling. Still we do have a problem, as the game scales up, I don't think it'll be possible for almost anyone to maintain the necessary attention in all directions to keep up with their own expansion. So, what we need is a way to automate the maintenance of our bases so that we don't have to keep monitoring repairing and replacing hundreds and hundreds of buildings. My solution is pretty simple, give fabers a patrol function, that would cause them to reclaim any wrecks they find and repair any friendly unit or building they come across. Then just like you can setup a big circling ball of air/orbital defenders, you can setup roving groups of fabers to maintain all your defenses and econ buildings without having to keep track of it unless a concerted attack comes along that requires your attention.
Would they rebuild destroyed buildings on top of the wreckage? That would be useful. Why stop at repairing and rebuilding though? You could place new buildings without selecting a specific fabber and then any spare fabbers nearby can go and build/assist them, saving you the hassle of selecting fabbers amongst hordes of units.
I posted my thoughts on how teh Patrol, Assist and Repair commands could/should work over here; https://forums.uberent.com/threads/patrolling-build-units-should-only-repair-damaged-units.52071/ See what you think of that. Mike
You know, in Supreme Commander there was supposed to be a Template feature - that you could create, say, a firebase or perhaps a metal-extractor-plus-defenses, or some other pre-defined formation of buildings, and just quick spam that to form a defensive line or secure some metal spots. Perhaps you could even design your templates to be prepared for later expansion! At the start of the game you slam down some basic defended-mex templates that plop a few missile turrets down... Then, later, when your economy is up and running, you can go back and give orders to build those positions up to your v2.0 template's standards: Add some laser turrets, more missiles, some fortification blocks, blah blah... And instead of having to zoom in and place every single building yourself, you just slam down some templates and get back to orchestrating Operation: Death Moon...
I don't know if this would be as effective in PA as it may have been in SupCom for one reason, random maps...
I don't see how it's be worse in PA really, even with the standard '4 Mexes' at every spawn most if not all maps they were a little different, so you could have a one size fits all template, but there are still plenty of ways it could be used, more so due to the Adjacency system so doing things like Metal Storage around Extractors was a great way to save time, but even some simpler things can be used, for example in PA you might want 2 Missile Turrets for ever 3 Factories, well you can make a template for 3 Factories and 2 Missile Turrets and use that then you just need more factories and don't want to muck about with placing everything individually. If anything it'll be way handier in PA because you'll likely have much larger bases(moar factories) and be building just more bases across even a single planet and across any planets you control so being able to go to a planet you've just landed on and in 2-4 times as few clicks plot down 12 factories and move on will be a very powerful tool to have. Mike
I agree, templates might even be more useful in PA. When you're managing multiple planets' worth of buildings, it might be easier to just say "ok here's a template for an 8x8 cube of energy plants. Get to work" rather than "let's see how fast I can click to designate construction of more energy". I could also see it being used to make small forward bases. Make a turret, make a wall, then make AA, finish with radar, and a pelter. Send small groups of engineers to establish these on new fronts.
I honestly thought that a faber on patrol would do exactly that (as I was remembering them working in some obscure game long before this) but to my dismay found that they just patrol and wait to shoot enemies. Which is kinda difficult for a fabricator but well, it's beta. So yeah, I really hope that a faber on patrol will start reclaiming wrecks (and if it's just to keep a clear LoS on advancing enemies for the shootey units) and repair damaged units/structures.
