[WIP][SERVER]Planetary Obliteration

Should I add commander differences?

http://www.strawpoll.me/13201598

EDIT: I've always wanted to do commander differences; I was originally going to implement some in GA two years ago but backed out in the end, partially because most players would only have access to Uber Cannon commanders with the exception of Theta. MikeyH has confirmed that all 16 new commanders in the PTE are free to all. This means that all players have access to Imperial and Quad commanders wielding Lasers and Missiles as well as Raptor Commanders wielding Lasers. Tank Commanders wielding Lasers and Raptor Commanders wielding Missiles are available in the armory (unfortunately, Tank Commanders wielding Missiles do not exist at all currently).

Essentially I now feel a bit more free to implement this thing.

There are five attributes that I can see to balance commanders: Cost, health, speed, production, and storage.

Rough Values

Imperial: Current commanders, except +10% production.
Quad: +10% HP, +35% Cost, -10% Production, +10% Speed
Raptor: -15% HP, +30% Speed, -10% Storage
Tank: -20% Speed, -20% Cost, +10% Storage, +15% HP

Cannons: Use the Legion Uber Blaster as alt fire (Crowd Control), balanced primary weapon.
Laser: Use the current Uber Cannon as alt fire (Anti-Heavy), highest damage primary weapon with shortest range.
Missile: Use new Missile Volley alt-fire (similar to Legion's Thor; long range and high damage but limited use against mobile target), lowest damage primary weapon, but homing and with longest range.

If I go ahead with this, I'll transfer a number of commanders over to Legion to try and give both sides fairly equal commander choices.

Will be transfered to Legion:
Tank Sadiga (Free) OR Tank Reaver (Free)
Raptor Stickman9000 ($5) OR Raptor Enderstryke71 ($5)
Raptor XOV (Free) OR Raptor Diremachine ($5)
Raptor Raizell (Free) OR Raptor Damubbster (Free) OR Raptor SPZ58624 (Free)
Quad Locust
Quad Zancrowe (Free) OR Quad Armalisk ($10)
Quad Commandonut (Free) OR Quad Potbelly79 ($5) OR Quad Tokamaktech ($8) OR Quad Berlinetta ($10) OR Quad Xinthar ($5) OR Quad Gambitdfa ($5) OR Quad ShadowDaemon ($5) OR Quad Spartandano ($5) OR Quad TheFlax ($5)

My goal is to provide both sides with the same possibilities at the start. In the cases where I include both free and paid options whichever faction doesn't get the free option will have to buy the other commander to get that ability set. For Missile Raptors, both factions would have to purchase a commander to access that combination. Neither faction will be able to get Missile Tank because there isn't one, unless I make Rockteeth be a Missile Tank (In which case MLA wouldn't get that combination and whichever faction got BanditKS would be the only faction to get laser Tank).

So both factions will from the onset have access to:
Cannon Imperial
Laser Imperial
Missile Imperial
Cannon Quad
Cannon Raptor
Cannon Tank

Only one faction will have each of these from the onset:
Laser Raptor
Laser Quad
Missile Quad
Laser Tank?
Missile Tank?

These will have to be purchased in order to be accessed:
Missile Raptor

One faction will have have to purchase this in order to be accessed:
Laser Tank?
Laser Quad
Missile Quad
Laser Raptor

This will be unavailable for one faction:
Laser Tank?
Missile Tank?

This will be completely unavailable for both factions:
Missile Tank?

Could I get some feedback here, or does no one care?

Planetary Obliteration Alpha 14.1
Wanted to fine-tune the commanders a lot more and get some more stuff in for this release, but the new update coming out means this needs to be out now. Alpha 14.1 includes a few tweaks to commanders from Alpha 14 and fixes a major oversight by me that resulted in extra files being packaged with the server mod.

Commanders
Commanders on your team cannot be reclaimed (Same as Stable)
Added new commanders
Diversified commander stats:
All Imperial commanders produce +6 metal, +1000 energy
All Quad Commanders cost +1750 metal, have +1500 HP, +1 move speed, produce -5 metal, -500 energy
All Raptor Commanders have -2250 HP, +3 move speed, store -250 metal, -7500 energy.
All Tank Commanders have -1000 metal cost, +2250 HP, -2 move speed, store +150 metal, +5000 energy.
Legion and MLA Commanders no longer have unique weapons, instead weapons are based on commander weapon arm (Cannon, Laser, Missile)
Laser weapons have 140 DPS, 85 range, debuff to commander turn rate to prevent them from being OP against aircraft. Secondary weapon is old Uber Cannon, a powerful anti-heavy weapon with 100 range and limited splash that can be fired as rapidly as your energy economy can support.
Cannon weapons have 90 DPS, 100 range, a minor amount of splash damage. Secondary weapon is Legion's old Uber Blaster, a spray of high splash projectiles less useful against armored targets but that massacres lighter units.
Missile weapons have 60 DPS, 130 range, and homing capability. Secondary weapon is the new Missile Volley, which saturates a small area with high damage missiles at a range of up to 150.
Legion commanders other than Wasushi had ambiguous weapons. Overwatch was given Cannon, Cyclops Missiles, and Rockteeth Lasers.
In an effort to give both factions access to a similar set of capabilities with and without armory unlocks, the following commanders have been transferred from MLA to Legion: Quad Locust, Tank Reaver, Quad Armalisk, Ratpor XOV, Raptor Raizell, Raptor Enderstryke71, Quad Potbelly79, Quad Xinthar, Quad Gambitdfa, Quad TheFlax
Both factions have access to the following options without purchases:
Imperial Laser, Imperial Cannon, Imperial Missile
Quad Cannon
Raptor Cannon
Tank Cannon
MLA has access to the following without purchases:
Quad Missile, Quad Laser
Legion has access to the following without purchases:
Raptor Laser, Tank Laser

Note that it is impossible for either faction to obtain a Missile Tank commander, and both factions need to purchase a commander to obtain a Missile Raptor commander.

Other Changes
Legion Tyr Orbital Laser TITAN: HP reduced from 16000 to 12000
Legion Seabass Torpedo Boat: Rate of fire reduced from .4 to .25, damage reduced from 300 to 250.
MLA Atlas Line-Breaking TITAN: Attack range raised from 80 to 90, splash radius increased from 100 to 115.
Adjusted Torpedo Launcher launched torpedo turn rate, again. Damn things.

Alpha 14.2
Fixed an issue where several units were non-transportable.
Increased Jackal DPS by 60%

Planetary Obliteration Alpha 14.5
The old Megabots from the first Galactic Annihilation version have returned! MLA inherits a light gunship titan with heavy damage and high speed but low health as well as the Riot Titan for taking out swarms, while Legion gains a Sniper titan for dealing with single targets and an assault titan for taking on fortifications.

Other Changes

MLA
Reduced Ares range from 400 to 350.
Increased Ares damage per shell from 900 to 1100.
Lowered Shatterer damage from 8000 to 7000.

Legion
Odin HP reduced drastically to be in line with Ares.
Odin range reduced from 400 to 350.
Thor HP increased from 30000 to 32000
Thor cannon damage reduced from 600 to 400
Thor cannon range reduced from 400 to 280
Thor laser range reduced from 250 to 180
Thor rocket range reduced from 170 to 120
Thor rocket damage increased from 50 to 120.
Comet cost increased from 2400 to 4000.
Comet RoF decreased from 2 to 0.75
Comet damage increased from 40 to 120.

Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue with imperial legion commanders having wrong stats.
Fixed an issue with legion titan death weapons not working
Fixed a graphical issue with Tank Reaver and Tank Sadiga

These new units sound impressive. I'll take a look asap
And YES, I think you should go for the commander differences. It adds depth and greater variety in possible play styles.

I absolutely believe commander differences would be great to add. I feel the game should have had them to begin with. It can only add to the depth of the meta, not take away. Though it may be harder to balance. With the new commander's inclusion, you should do it.


Oh and great job! Your attention to detail and dedication is astounding. And now that PA just got an update I feel like playing again too.

Thanks for leading me forward stuart98.
So what of that is possible?
My most anticipated feature is the last one formated bold.

https://forums.uberent.com/threads/enhancement-update-105067-is-now-live.72462/#post-1141293

Not possible

I was lazy when I released Alpha 14.6 and forgot to post notes for that.
General
Added AI support for the new TITANS.
Naval AI spams submarines if it hasn't seen sonar.
Fixed a few bugs involving projectile models.
Increased Uber Blaster splash radius.
Increased Uber Missile damage, reduced splash radius.
+Sing now applies to structures.

Legion
Increased Purger damage.
Increased lifetime of Berzerker ammo.
Tola weapon is now a beam.
Increased Imperator ground weapon damage from 1500 to 2500
Akula now fires 3 torpedos per volley rather than 2.

MLA
Angel can now fire at more ammo.

Alpha 15

General
Re-adding support for the server help chat bot. Once there's a few more items on it I'll add the bot as a pre-req.
Annihilaser rotation speed increased by 5x.
All units with a break speed of -1 have had that set to their acceleration to fix them charging in.

Legion
Restored the hexagonal selection indicator on Legion units.
Firebird is no longer interplanetary.
Meteor is now interplanetary.
Infiltrator - HP increased from 350 to 450.
Gladiator - Cost increased from 500 to 600.
Enthraller - Cost reduced from 600 to 450.
Advanced Fabrication Walker - Cost increased from 530 to 650; HP increased from 350 to 450; Fab power increased from 15 to 25.
Increased Fenrir light gun damage from 90 to 140.
Increased Rig HP from 600 to 1800.
Increased Starcannon area spread from 30 to 80.
Increased Viper HP from 150 to 165.
Black Knight - Renamed to Templar
A few other orbital renames in line with normal legion.
Talos - Damage decreased from 250 to 200, lowered missile turn rate.
Kaiju - Can now drop death charges on sea units.

MLA
Boom bots no longer do damage if killed while in a unit cannon pod or transport.
Cerberus - Cost reduced from 800 to 600.
Jig - Cost reduced from 7000 to 5000.
Avenger - Cost reduced from 300 to 250.

Today I had a game, Planetary Obliteration 4v4 on Bedlam map.

Before the game started, I gave the participants a short introduction to the Obliteration mod. And someone refused to join because his oppinion was, that this mod is unbalanced.

While playing the game, and after the game, people said:
- eco is totally fucked
- this mod is fun
- the mod has bugs, laser shoting at air bomber with only one shot, this is ridiculous.

Anyway, I liked the game and I know what people mean with eco is totally fucked, but maybe this is just because it just feels different. I dont know.

Eco is totally fucked - this is people not building enough pgens or not expanding. Since T2 metal is much less good (only 12 metal rather than 24) if they're T2 rushing that could be quite problematic for them. I could increase T1 pgen cost and production (unit density) but beyond that I don't think anything's on the table.
Laser shooting at air bomber with only one shot - This sounds like either a Gil-E or a Jaeger/Shatterer/Apocalypse Apparatus, all of which have long reload times. Build more bombers.

EDIT: Once I've got the mod help chat bot in a better state that should help quite a bit. If you have ideas as to what to include that'd be great.

I like the idea to prevent spamming. Does it make the game focusing more on base-building and defense?

No I wont build more bombers. I think they are expensive, and ground units feel like having better health.

Things which at least need to be included in the chatbot (suggestions, maybe not accurate):
- Economy might appear slow. Planetary Obliteration is not about mass units, but more about strategic gameplay.
- The lob unit produces and shots "boom" units. Not dox. Use it as normal cannon. (I also want to have the normal lob!!!)
- The L2 rocket thrower plane does not throw rockets like in vanilla game. (why???)

This is really fun, nice work.

Currently, there is one commander which makes my game crash when viewing at it. But I have not yet tried to found out which one it is... Will have a look later.

Didn't you say it was the XOV commander a couple of months ago? In any case, I'm unable to reproduce any commander crashes. Do they happen without the mod installed?

Yes, I said it was the XOV commander. And XOV still crashes.
Recently, I played a Planetary Obliteration game online, and it crashed. I think there was no XOV commander in this game. Unfortunately I cant verify this again, because as soon as I watch the replay, the game crashes again

I am going to check all commanders again. But maybe the problem is at the payed commanders?

Hm, I tried Legion fraction now. Really fun! Like it more than MLA. From a casual players point of view

I encountered a crash with the Legion conpoent of this mod. It happened after about 5 min of playing.

Log is attached

Thanks, I'll take a look.

This particular crash is repeatable regardless of system. From what i can tell, it seems to be a malformed sound event.