Teleporter Cost (tldr: the Teleporter is way too cheap)

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by brianpurkiss, August 16, 2014.

  1. mot9001

    mot9001 Well-Known Member

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    I agree but yea its hard to determine if its OP if there is no alternative imo. For the moment, i don't like the fact that you can place an infinite amount of orbital units on 1 spot and it will make all orbital invasions lame because OP and near-uncountarable if performed right. The defending player can never win in an equal fight because of this unless he has a nuke ready.
  2. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

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    Yeah. Orbital units shouldn't stack.

    Either that or give us Orbital flack.
  3. CounterFact

    CounterFact Active Member

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    I thought that too at first, but I see the astreus more as a transport unit to relatively safe zones where a droppod is more direct action/battle oriented. I wouldn't call it balance, but something down that line. And it would still be decently priced, I just see the astreus as a cheap thing rather than the droppod more expensive.
  4. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

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    I'm confused and legitimately want to understand your reasoning.

    Why should the multi trip unit be cheaper than the single use unit?
    igncom1 likes this.
  5. CounterFact

    CounterFact Active Member

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    I assumed that the slow descend rate of an astreus would result in far more losses on a planet with enemy presence. And I don't see droppods as a primary form of interplanetary travel, more as an assault transport. And if an astreus were to cost more than a droppod, why use an astreus at all? Traveltime sucks, it would just be easier to build a new droppod.
  6. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Personally I don't really see the problem with gates. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they aren't super powerful for their cost, but on the other hand *on their own* they're pointless- a gate to another locations is only as useful as the stuff you have to send through.

    The examples we have against them are of the point that "you have a huge army waiting your side" and thus it's devastating. Thing is though you had to have the *resources* and *time* to build that army before the gate was so 'op'.

    The key purpose of the gate in my mind is to minimize the barrier to movement between planets, therefore opening up the wider battlefield. Putting the gate further up the tech tree or imposing arbitrary costs just prevents a lot of planet vs planet type play which I think would make the orbital game far worse than it is now.

    One thing I would love to try (mod territory) would be to have 'neutral gates' that aren't target-able and are available to all pre placed on the battlefield. You would have to explore through them to find out where they go, and you wouldn't be able to build your own. This could be fun, admittedly controlling the gates would put a player in a very powerful position, but classic rts maps always have 'choke point's and this is essentially what the gate represents (and if you only control one side you wouldn't know whats coming through).
    cptconundrum likes this.
  7. CounterFact

    CounterFact Active Member

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    I've mentioned it in one of my earlier posts in this thread, but the idea has been brewing further in the back of my head and the more I think of it, the better it sounds.

    The units should form an orderly line and move through 1 by 1 at a rate of 1 per sec? Not sure about the rate, but it sounds like a good idea to me, as you'll need to hold your ground for a while if you want to get your entire army through. Combined with some droppods securing the initial teleporter zone this would make for an epic invasion.
  8. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    this.

    you'd be much better equipped with one of these solutions then simply reducing the cost.


    though heck I personally regard the gate to be SO overpowered that I'd apply ALL of the solutions PLUS the cost increase AND unitcannon/drop-pods.
  9. KNight

    KNight Post Master General

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    Before we knew we'd have to make due with ONLY the Teleporter and the Astreaus one of the ideas floated around by the community was that the Teleporter would cost nothing to have running, but instead have a per unit cost, so it because less of an all or nothing and encouraged mixing and matching interplanetary transport options and put more emphasis on force allocation instead of having one deathball and using teleporters to move it around the instant a thread appeared somewhere.

    Mike
    CounterFact likes this.
  10. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

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    You don't even need a huge army if done right.

    If you build a teleporter in the middle of the enemy base (which is actually fairly feasible) or just at the unguarded backside of the base, even a small army can be devastating.
  11. websterx01

    websterx01 Post Master General

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    I'd be surprised, it's been in the game for how long without a meta using teleporters in this manner? If it didn't happen early on, it's not too likely now, especially since dox are so stinking fast and T1 bombers are decent (excluding dox countering them--temporary problem).

    I think many of us have had it happen, but I haven't seen it in 1v1's (though I'm sure that it has been) and it isn't all that common, even on medium-large planets in most cases. Every now and then it'll happen, but it's mostly an orbital game-play structure. Often, by the time it takes to get the fabber there, and build it, I could've just sent the army and gotten very similar results, and if your army is effective, it's silly to send a fabber to keep the flow going unless the planet is HUGE.

    Personally, I think that, by themselves, the teleporter is fine--the problem lies in how it's built: by 50 orbital fabbers. Orbital is screwy and you're picking up on it. The ability to send units anywhere is a bit powerful, but it sure beats waiting for slow orbital games; it beats astreaus drops; it's a much more comfortable way to play compared to many of the alternatives.
    cptconundrum likes this.
  12. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    https://forums.uberent.com/threads/iterate-on-the-gate-teleporter.62599/ : D
    websterx01 likes this.

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