T1 to T2 Metal Extractor without reclaiming?

What about a combination of approaches, click the mex to upgrade, nearest idle fabber trundles over to upgrade it. Less micro that way.

Agree with all the people who say that a fabber should be able to build a T2 over a T1 just for the queue feature inherent in that choice.

That way you're not having to check back to see when the upgrades are done, and can essentially upgrade while being attacked, and you can concentrate on the enemy.

My personal preference is to have the Mex be upgradable from the building itself.

If you want to make it so the engineer has to do it, please let us have an option to set an engineer on auto upgrade pilot to go around to all T1 and update.

Having to manually get engineers and tell them to go up to each one takes too much time and is annoying micro it actually takes the fun away having to reclaim+buildt2 for each one.

One idea would to have a T2 metal spot, sort of like a geothermal vent but for metal instead of energy. I definitely think something needs to be done so we aren't running around in the middle of the game upgrading or reclaiming our mexes when we could be commanding our forces.

Nah, just be better.

there are also sooooooo many metal points. after 10 minutes of game I find it hard to produce enough for it to be a problem (until I get the requisite amount of construction aircraft, anyway).

The t2 fabber being able to upgrade is the best option I reckon. But if this is the case would the t1 mex still produce (+7) as you build? I think it should be turned off while upgrading.

+1 for requiring a fabber to perform the upgrade. Mexes can't fabricate themselves, that would be madness

I just hope they confine the mex's to mass points soon, the game is pretty silly atm.

unless they make the mex generate more on deposits, and less depending on biome.

Bingo!

+1

Yes.
That's how it was done in TA, and it worked. Also allowed for easy implementation of metal planets.

I'd go with a build-over option that has the fabber auto-reclaim and build where the old T1 mex was. No need to screw around with mechanics, just reduce the micro.

Having multiple tiers of MEX highlights the fact that T1 MEX will become obsolete and MEX do not follow the General Purpose -- Specialization design.

I'd prefer if T2 was somehow special or different as opposed to a SupCom style upgrade. For example if T2 MEX converted all excess power into additional mass, sort of like a mass fabricator but with diminishing returns this would be a specialization and if you're power stressed you may not want any T2 MEX (additional T2 MEX would decrease the rate at which returns diminish). Such a mechanic could be achieved without reclaim-rebuild as well, for example it could be a starcraft style addon or SupCom style upgrade or separate building as discussed.

The above is loosely based on Zero-K's Overdrive

Another thought I had is that currently energy consumption on MEX isn't adding depth and merely punishing players who don't properly manage their economy. In the competitive scenes of TA and SupCom players generally don't leave themselves vulnerable to power snipes and if they are they quickly reduce their consumption such that their mass production doesn't suffer. Right now power consumption on MEX and subsequent stalling is acting as a noob trap. If for example only T2 MEX required power to operate this would be a meaningful distinction between the 2 Tiers of MEX - only T2 mass income would ever stall.

I also liked TA Spring's (Balanced Annihilation specifically) approach. Select a fabber, right click on a mex, Fabber reclaims the mex and builds a moho. Might as well just skip the middleman in PA and have the Fabber build a Moho on top of the old mex.

Edit: Veta, the primary reason people expect a straight upgrade is because TA AND SupCom had it, so it MUST be the best way because both the new and old Chris Taylor liked it. But I agree, there are many different ways to do these things. Personally I still like straight upgrades because you get what you're paying for, an energy-mass overdrive converter is just beating around the bush. For example, an Oil Rig doesn't really increase its output by increasing its energy use; that would blow out the motors/engines/whathaveyou that drive it. It must either upgrade parts, or a new one must be made at a new location.

I'd prefer the Spring:BA approach: fabbers can "upgrade mex" by automatically reclaiming them and building a new T2 afterward.
That's how it works in "real life": building don't "upgrade themselves" (you need someone to "upgrade" them), and generally, if a building is obsolete, you take it down before building a new one. Also expect the production to completely halt during the whole process.

Upgrading is always beneficial in the long run, but this approach requires better planning than just clicking on the upgrade button, and adds a bit of "spice" to it.

I've got a better solution:

T1 Metal Extractors automatically upgrade themselves to T2 after 'x'-amount of time. (something like 10 or 15 minutes) You can build a T2 right away using a fabber, or you can just build a T1 and wait. (this way NO additional input is EVER needed)

Having to upgrade; reclaim or otherwise (click a button), is a tedious task, that shouldn't have to be done at all. Anything that isn't 'adding' to the game, more specifically, a strategic action, should be avoided if possible.

vehicles also don't drive themselves :lol:

This is essentially the MEX veterancy system in SupCom 2. To be fair it's not a bad system.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/...e-fast-approaching-future-of-driverless-cars/

Also if I queue up fabbers to build extractors and when they get to the mass point the enemy has already built there it would be good if it auto captured it. Likewise if I tell the fabber to go upgrade a T1 to a T2 mass ex and when it gets there its been captured it auto recaptures it and does the upgrade.

http://www.paleofuture.com/storage/thum ... 1879323262

that ones from the 50s

I can see the argument for bot, so why not have both and make one more efficient?

Let's say that the MEX upgrades itself, and, assuming the economy is still positive, takes ten minutes.

Or, you can have a fabber do it in two minutes.

That said, I like the idea of a centralised control of such upgrades, and of Fabbers auto-reacting to capture scenarios. These would be important points too!