I thought PA was supposed to follow the starcraft school of "Every unit is useful even in lategame" rather than the AOE/SupCom school of "Tech up or die." T2 units are supposed to be more specialized units instead of bigger versions of T1 units. Now this is true of naval units. Although the Leviathan is an insane long ranged *** kicker, it needs bottleblues and narwhals to protect it from subs and bombers. There are no T2 frigates or destroyers because that would invalidate T1 naval units. However, this does not apply to ground or air. T1 fighters are invalidated by T2 fighters, T1 tanks are invalidated by T2 tanks. Once you get the economy big enough, you can just shut down your T1 factories and spam nothing but levelers to win the game. Leveler-blobs are pretty much how every game ends if it goes on long enough. (That or T2 bombers sniping the commander, which I don't mind as much honestly) There needs to be a way to keep T1 units relevant as anything other than "cheaper units you build until your economy can afford the real thing"
I wonder if this will even be a problem once the metal extractors are bound to metal spots only. I doubt you could get up such an economy so quickly that T2 tanks take over the majority of your army. With less mass available, you can't support as many T2 factories, or the units to support the build speed. Thus T1 units will be faster to produce and will dominate by simply having the bigger number. Because bigger numbers means that the angles of attack you can simultaneously go for is much larger.
True but it will still be an issue on metal planets. I'd rather just have T2 units be more creative than bigger versions of T1 units.
I agree. Levelers should be equivalent to TA's levelers, bigger AoE but a butt-ton slower. I'm sure this stuff will come in once different projectiles are made, so it's easier to judge how many Levelers are firing vs. how many Ants are firing. As for other units, I agree, there needs to be more diversity. T2 Bots should have more range or be faster, not just do more damage. T2 Fighter should have... A flak cannon or something. T1 Bomber vs. T2 Bomber should have some difference in speed, AoE, or burst damage.
I agree that T1 should not be invalidated, but I would like the large scale army production to not drop to low once metal spots are working. I enjoy late game with 10+ factories going (6-7 T1 with 3-4 T2). It makes for a decent unit blob and constant production, but not so much that well maneuvered armies and well placed defense can't stop them.
I agree. One of my biggest frustrations with SC/SCFA was with how the T1 units were just chaff. Even in Total Annihilation you'd still need T1 units, as there weren't any anti-air T2 KBots, and Flash Tanks were *always* awesome.
Specializations to a fault. Yes, it can shoot over mountains....but it can't move at the same time...and is made of glass.
An idea I proposed for T1 vs T2 fighters, was T1 fighters using machineguns, and T2 fighters using missiles. T1 fighters were more agile and had a high DPS. Any air unit they can catch is dead, end of story. T2 fighters would be fast, have awesome range, and be able to one-hit any air unit, but be less maneuverable and have an irritating cool-down time between shots. T2 fighters would be the best defense against bombers, but swarms of T1 fighters could overrun them and cut them to pieces. Just the idea of the best counter for a T2 unit being it's T1 equivlent, or a T2 unit depending on T1 units for defense is the best idea. I actually hope there are no ground based T2 air-defense, or T2 anti-sub units.
Why? The kickstarter description of metal planets is basically giant dormant battle-space-stations that you reactivate. Thats clearly not the same as TA's version "A map with infinitive mass everywhere".
Dunno I find T1 units still quite useful even in T2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... xg#t=1865s :mrgreen:
Actually IIRC it was lava planets that would be metal rich. Although it could still be both. Anyways, my point is exponential economies will still be possible.
But we're also going to have things that are going to make T2 small potatoes. Orbital units, space ships, asteroid based planet crackers, etc. So, all the extra economy is going to be needed. Think about how much metal it would take to get a metal planet operation. Also, I like having lots of T1 units around for now. They provide a decent dps, and they add in more targets, so your more expensive T2 units will survive longer. Also, I think that 5 out of the last 6 patches have all included "balance improvements", so they are definitely working on it.
Because metal planets are a structure. Think the Death Star. If you start to extract parts of it, it will eventually collapse. Could be that they give you the option of making it an operational station, salvaging technology from it, or harvesting it for metal. Actually, that would all be cool. Salvage the tech and then scrap it for parts so the enemy doesn't get their hands on it. Would probably have to make it operational to move it deep into your territory first, though.
It is also a video game, but it would totally make sense within the realm of this game to have it be either or and player decided. Either invest your eco from the planet it bringing it online or begin harvesting it to boost your unit production elsewhere.
Yeah, but the initial update about it on kickstarter (I had to look it up to make sure) indicates that it can either be salvaged for technology or be brought online to rain destruction on your enemies. But I have the feeling that they'll let us use it for tech, resources, or as a really big gun.
