Hello guys! As we all know, upgrades are already a part of Galactic War but they were never really meant to be a part of multiplayer. That is fine and a valid design decision, but a way that they could potentially be implemented to multiplayer came to my mind and I would like to share it with you before I forget. Would be a nice pace of change from the hate on/defend Uber seesaw, eh? Let's go: My idea is to add certain objects (spaceship wreckage, a derelict ancient ship for naval planets, a destroyed and half buried commander, hulks in orbit that can be scanned by Hermes) to the mapmaker, allowing players to place them to maps. These objects would then be scanned by the Commander and the commander only (allowing mapmakers to place them in hard spots to get to if they choose so such as a lava island and make players work for it), and the process would take time. Once the scanning is complete, they would recover lost technology, and gain some buff from a list of predetermined and multiplayer-balanced ones. The mapmaker would be allowed to predetermine the buff or make it random. This is well in tune with the lore idea of collecting lost technology, while also adding another dimension to the game. I would highly recommend these buffs to be for the Commander only and to make the wrecks reusable so that these become hotspots on maps, and contested areas. Maybe you could even recover technology multiple times with the scanning taking time, meaning you would actively try to defend or take the spot to make your commander even stronger. The upgrades I have in my mind range from basic health/speed/damage/range buffs to altering the functionality of the Uber Cannon, allowing the commander to build advanced structures and maybe even allowing additional weapons. Thanks for reading, and Uber please fix that mapmaking issue where you can't determine which player gets to which landing spots, thanks.
Doubt so. It would make your commander tougher and more supportive depending on what upgrades pop up, but all that does is to make sure you can use him later in the game more actively without breaking early game balance. Your forces manage just fine without the commander to lead them on the field, this would simply be another way to pull yourself further. I'm not asking to turn the commander into a Titan.
Maybe it might be good to have the hulks floating in orbit, that way you couldn't get them too early in the game.
I feel every layer should have the option of them, and I guess Hermes could scan them for the Commander. The orbital ones that is.
It is interesting, because as you stated it's only the com that can 'reclaim' them. It would be a risky strat, having to transport your com into on man's land. Balancing the buff would be the most tricky thing (balance wise).
I like the idea, sounds fun. To be nice and WYSIWYG, instead of "damage bonus", be something more interesting and obvious like making the tanks shoot lasers and have higher RoF... ... One day I'm gonna release that GW mod lol.
Weapon standardisation could be nice. Having weapon types all conform to the same kind of physics and property's so that even between units, they are all expected to be the same kinda thing.
We goin' off topic here, but yeah that's one of my main " complaints" about PA right now. A tank shell should have a specific sound, projectile speed, damage, splash radius etc., so if abunit fires that projectile you know what it should do without having to be able to see the unit firing it, and so that new people can learn DPS and stuff of more units in a more initiative fasion. Didn't explain very well there but everyone will know what I mean. In Boom Bot Wars every Boom cost 45 metal and did same damage etc. (even the ones coming from the Holkins) for those reasons. Made sense.
Hulks as an idea in general sounds pretty neat. In terms of upgrades though, I liked some of the upgrades in SupCom2 (I think I was one of the only few). Like one which added the ability for an ACU to eject its core, so you could escape and rebuild your commander, or the one that added small ground/AA guns to extractors and generators so they couldn't be picked off as easily. If these were implemented, I think having them only open to the first person to discover it would be a mistake. They'd need to be accessible to everyone to keep it balanced. Having hulks that you could reactivate like a very small scale Annilaser would be neat though. Maybe giving access to a long range orbital artillery structure, or a unique unit factory like in Star Wars: Empire At War maps. It'd give places to fight over too.
I'm not sure what you mean with a very small scale Annihilaser but unique unit factories definitely sound like the logical evolution of this scanning mechanic. I do lean towards the latter approach of making the hulks permament, always accessible by anyone, and constantly giving things out. So if you let your opponent sit on it, you're in trouble, giving you a very good reason to try to take that spot. Balancing that kind of thing is then up to map design.
I just mean in the sense that you have to build something on it to activate whatever it is that hulk does.
