Unit Upgrades!

Be prepared to read this beautiful post, have tissues nearby in case you cry.

In Galactic War tech is found by warping to a new system and exploring it. This tech can vary greatly from new unit expansions to small bonuses on fabrication times to health on units. There are also the horrible ally commanders you can find which ruin the gameplay completely. I like the tech integration into Galactic War. Because of what I have seen from the integration of tech in Galactic War and because of the fact that it's fairly essential in an RTS, I would like to see tech upgrades available in multiplayer games. They would not be as overpowered as tech upgrades in Galactic War like 25% better efficiency or build speed but would be more like 5%-10% increases that could be upgraded directly from the factory. In this time the factory would be unable to produce units (makes sense) and its time would be spent building a 'prototype' which would take N% longer to build than the normal unit but would have the upgrades. Once the prototype has been built the factory can produce the units with the upgrade at the normal rate again. An alternative to this would be having research structures OR having the commander research upgrades (during this time he would operate slower or not at all).

What're your thoughts? What threads are you going to link to me? Put these things below.

> INB4 a lot of hate because of upgrades.

But yeah... Eak! Research.

Another one of these threads? Fine I will take care of it. no upgrades in multiplayer. it goes against the principle of WYSIWYG.
I get that you are new, but you don't have to be a genius to use the search function.

Upgrades are a confirmed no because they go against the What you See is What you Get principle of PA.

When I'm playing a game against someone, a dox is a dox is a dox. There's no gravity modifier. No tech upgrades. No promotions.

I know exactly what it is and what it can do.

Having WYSIWYG prevents unnecessary complexity.

To reinterate, you see your dox, you see their dox, if nothing else is visible, you think your dox can beat their dox. You have 5 dox and they have 5 dox, you send your dox against them, and lose all 5 without killing a single one of theirs. You lose the whole proxy base because of that error.

In a MOBA, at least you see a "level" on the player. You have a tanky character, they have a tanky character, you are lvl4, he is lvl 7, he will destroy you in direct combat, best not to try and just peck at him or stay with your team-in-mass and build your level until your 7 and he is 8 and you can try to salvage the battle somehow.

In SupCom2, you just gave up after your first confrontation where equal numbers lost, because there was no way to tell, but after knowing afterwards, you knew their tanks were "more upgraded" and after losing most your army it was already over so might as well quit out, get that nonsense off your screen and medicate yourself with some "calming manitee" memes.

Generally, this makes GW even unbalanced. The key is, there is only 1 player, there is no way to hurt the AI's feelings, if there were I would have already done so /snootyconfidence, but either way that 1 player knows his upgrade so what he sees is what he gets and nobody is left confused.

So GW can be unbalanced because it is just for the lulz anyway. In multiplayer, random invisible forces buffing the crap out of their units, that be bad.

If you want a better implement of it, if there is a multiplayer GW or even singleplayer GW, it would be cool if certain planets granted a 1% buff to something, and before the game you got a pre-game display showing the buffed stats down the board that both players possess. At least then, you would know before it starts, what you are to expect from your opponent in-game, and it wouldn't change mid-game or be invisible.

SupCom 2 is easier when you can judge the relative increase in strength with the game's upgrades.

So it's not nearly as bad as you are making it out to be.

In a multiplayer setting. I think we're going to keep our options open with Galactic War.

Then I hope you have a setting to disable upgrades for those of us who want to stick to WYSIWYG.

I just think that tech could add depth to a game like it did in AoE and others. However if it's a confirmed no then Okay.

I am not opposed to the following:

1. A limited amount of "Trade-off"s or "Sidegrades" in Galactic War Multiplayer.
2. Mutator Mods in Multiplayer matches, such as "Commander can disguise as units," or "Only Doxen, Transports," or even "Shellers get +500% to all stats and can switch between indirect and direct fire."

I am, however, with what seems like much of the community, opposed to random upgrades. We can save that for the Warzone 2100 Mod.

Ninja'd by Brad.

Nothing's a confirmed no, brother. I like your idea. We'll just have to see what we can deliver in the mode, as we iterate on it.

*reads title*

BURN IT !!!! DOWN TO ITS ROOTS!!!!

...
and no, i entirely disaggree with upgrades beeing essential to RTS
you get tech trough BUILDING stuff ... NO research, NO upgrades , NO stupid Techcenter ...
Build the factories and get your options that way

i have absolutely NO interest in those starcraft like additions in multiplayer
lost tech is a nice concept for randomisation in singleplayer GW it is however not something i want to see in a multiplayergame as it would mess with balance a lot and would turn the game into a techrace again at worst ...

there is no real depth to it ... upgrades are almost like adjancecy bonuses ... like why would you not choose to upgrade something ... and if your enemy does you have to either way to keep up
i am all for unlocking new units and weapons to get more options to solve the puzzle of battle i am in but not mere boosts

INB4 confirmed.

There is going to be a galactic war multiplayer though ^^

A variant on the Starcraft II HoTS campaign might work.

Instead of making an already existing unit better, add more expensive factories. Rather than just being plain better in most situations (T2), they're sidegrades, and produce different units. The high price discourages people from getting more than one, unless they really want to. Even then, it's a choice between increasing your unit production of a certain type, or building a different factory that can create another line of units.

For example, the bot factory sidegrades and their units:

This forum really needs spoilers.

Bot Factory
Factory: Builds bots

• HP: 2000
• Build cost: 600 metal
• Builds:
  • T1 Dox (0:07)
  • T1 Grenadier (0:07)
  • T1 Fabrication Bot Combat (1:00)
  • T1 Boom (0:07)
  • T1 Fabrication Bot (0:16)
  • T1 Stinger (0:07)
• Built by:
  • Stuff (~0:15)

Bot Garrison
Factory: Builds specialized melee bots

• HP: 7500
• Build cost: 3600 metal
• Builds:
  • T1 Swordsbot (0:07) (A simple melee bot with a sword, fast speed, and decent damage. A rotating chassis allows it to swing even while moving)
  • T1 Shieldbot (0:14) (An unarmed bot with a large shield, capable of absorbing a large amount of frontal damage. It can be given orders to move its shield in a certain direction, and will automatically go in front of any other bots when moving)
  • T1 Brute (0:45) (A heavy bot wielding two hammers. Deals high damage, and can kill most units in a few hits)
• Built by:
  
  • T1 Fabrication Bot (6:00)
  • T2 Advanced Fabrication Bot (0:45)

Bot Arsenal
Factory: Builds specialized ranged bots

• HP: 7500
• Build cost: 3600 metal
• Builds:
  • T1 Riflebot (0:11) (A cheap bot, armed with a longer ranged rifle that deals above average damage and has a slow reload)
  • T1 Dwarfbot (0:07) (A small bot that's too short to be hit while moving, unless targeted by artillery, air, or units directly in front of it. It deals low damage and has a short range)
  • T1 Stalker (0:21) (A rather large bot armed with a bow that deals average damage and has an above average range. It can't closely pack together with other units, and is too tall to hide behind walls. However, it can shoot down air at a range much greater than that of a stinger, while also providing ground support)
  • T1 Cannoneer (1:35) (An absolutely massive bot that costs a ton of metal. It has a cannon in its chest that deals extremely high damage, has a high range, abysmal reload, and, if fired at an enemy unit, can kill units behind the targeted unit. Versus structures, the cannonballs explode, dealing massive damage. However, the cannon is inaccurate, and will often times kill some if not all allied units in front of it.)
• Built by:
  
  • T1 Fabrication Bot (6:00)
  • T2 Advanced Fabrication Bot (0:45)

The stats will always be lower than that of a T2 unit, to keep them equal to other T1 units. Their unique traits still give them a chance against T2, however, and act as an alternative to T2.

The T2 specialized factories produce essentially the same units, though they're changed very slightly (The brute gets one massive hammer instead of two that deals AoE, the cannoneer's chest cannon is replaced by two grapeshot cannons located in the shoulder blades, the riflebot gets a different type of weapon, etc.), and (obviously) have better stats. However, they're still not the best things in the game; nukes, halleys, SXX, and other superweapons can prove cheaper while providing more firepower if used correctly.


I'm just throwing this out there; even if it doesn't fit, there needs to be some more diversity in unit vs. unit scenarios somehow. Halley and nuke coordination is in-depth, but late-game fights compose of little but vanguards and combat fabbers, which ends up being incredibly boring when your units and the enemy's units are the same.

Instead of A vs. A, B vs. B, or A vs. B, something like AA vs. AB, BB vs. AA, or AB vs. BB would be far more interesting.

I dont see how upgrading units differs from getting access to higher tech units.

Instead of pressing a button and then being able to produce better units, you can just build a better factory and achieve the same.

I'd love to have unit upgrades. I'm not bothered about "WYSIWYG"

i rather have factories that add different options ... not just plain better version of earlier lesser ones ... something i dont feel is done with the current advanced factories imo ...

but i and many others are ... i backed this game for this reason among others

plus you DO see upgrades in supcom.

When defense turrets level up they get more barrels, when a com gets an upgrade you see it as a backpack, a left or right arm extension, or a shield, or an FX.

just no, i dont want upgrades in this game ... not even in multiplayer not even in meta ... just absolutly not at all
i am seriously tired of level ups and upgrades ... to me they are the most boring and unintuitive part that could be in an rts ... all i only care is having options ...