Hey, I have an idea that might zpice up multiplayer in the future. With water planets, I assume you're going to start out with an aquatic commander that can exclusively build shipyards and water structures? If so... My idea is to give one (or more) of the players the option to start out in the ocean with an aquammander, OR, on the moon. This would be for terra-type planets, with some ocean coverage and/or a moon. Aqua spawned players can eventually build terrestrial factories along the shoreline, but will start out with a clear sea advantage. Moon spawned players will have the ability to build up, but on a smaller surface area (less metal and energy production). Sea players will be powerful in the early game (but limited in range), while moon based players will be powerful in the late game with space dominance. Powerful, but not invincible. Assignment would be random, maybe preferential to lower ranking players. The idea is to shake up the normal flow the game, making players play differently than they normally would, or adopt new strategies in the face of new challenges. Maybe even ally enemies temporarily to take on a greater threat.
Commanders are all likely to be amphibious. That's in no way confirmed, but I suspect it's likely given the precedents set in Total Annihilation and SupCom. There will be no "limitation" on what a Commander can build beyond being Tier "0.5". All Commanders will be able to build land, sea, air and orbital factories (or at least be able to tech towards them) Again, in no way a confirmed feature by Uber but it's likely given the precedents set in Total Annihilation and SupCom. --- Really it makes sense for these factors to remain the same across all Commanders as it would suck if you picked an "Aqua" Commander and the system generated didn't include a water planet... or any water at all. If you pick Commanders after System Gen I could see this as just a metagame-y and wholly reactionary Commander pick that wouldn't see play outside of water planets, thus having assets that only see play a small percentage of the time. This is also a bad thing. I think the whole idea of Choosing your Commander is that you gain a preferance towards picking him. You like the playstyle of a particular Commander and will even pick him in "unfavourable" circumstances due to just how well you know his abilities. $1000 backer Commanders kinda support that idea. Since you've have payed a grand to use a unique Commander that YOU essentially designed, I'd be surprised if those that did so would pick other Commanders very often. --- I am however all in favour of a "Random" button for both Commander Selection and Starting Location, for those that want it.
The current build list for the Delta Commander includes 2 aquatic units, the Shipyard and the Torpedo Defense (I don't think it has the sonar unit listed). The current Delta Commander is also amphibious (walking underwater rather than floating on top). So, given that precedent, I suspect that the build list for all commanders is likely to be identical, and all will be amphibious in one form or another (either submarine or floating). Like nanolathe said, this would also follow the precedent set by TA, where commanders only had 2 or 3 aquatic units in the build list and were amphibious. This is subject to change, of course (it is still in alpha), however I strongly suspect that the main differences between commanders are going to be in the visual / hitpoints / build speed / move speed stats, rather than in the units that can be built.
