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Commander balancing

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ROrankForever
10 years ago
(edited 10 years ago)
I already posted this on other topic but i need to make this standalone so we can have a better organization of ideas.

Regarding com morphing and commanders:

1.Newbies enjoy a lot a game with a special costum unit. Remove that and game gets a bit boring, just unit spam that kills other unit spam...( at least that's what i hate about rts games where game starts to be micro intensive instead of a brain game).

2.Complexity for the game will make the game more wanted, and making commanders more simple and more nerfed will make them useless.

3. What commanders need:
A special boost for each chassis like :

Recon com will have at level 0 same speed as it has now but: Jump+Radar+More scout range(chassis intrinsic module)- these values wont grow with the levels but will remain constant. Only speed will grow with the levels excluding the modules(chassis intrinsic bonuses).Also recon must have a chassis intrinsic module that scouts invisible units like flea does.

Battle com will get the autorepair at level 0(chassis intrinsic module)(of course a small value so it wont be op) and hop +small autorepair value with each level reached(chassis intrinsic bonuses), excluding the modules that you select.

Bombard com will get range module(chassis intrinsic module) at level 0( same as before so it wont be op) and range with each level excluding modules(chassis intrinsic bonuses), and i remention the modules specific only for bombard com: Scout drones and advance radar system

Support commander will get the 2X built/repair range as chassis intrinsic module that wont grow with level. Only builtpower and number of repair/assist drones will grow with level(1 drone per level) excluding the modules you select.(chassis intrinsic bonuses). Specific modules will be cloaking field and car repairer.

Strike commander will get the :
25% autorepair from battle com at level 0 and the other 25% autorepair+hp from battle commander at each level.(chassis intrinsic bonuses)
25% speed at level 0 from recon level 0, and the other 25% speed bonus from the recon com at each level(chassis intrinsic bonuses)
25% range at level 0 from bombard com level 0, and the other 25% range from each bombard com at each level(chassis intrinsic bonuses)
25% builtpower at level 0 from support com level 0, and the other 25% from support com at each specific level(chassis intrinsic bonuses)

Also make the modules:
-advance targeting system only available for Bombard commander only.

-high density plating(wont give speed nerf but will be more expensive) ,autorepair system, area shield only for Battle commanders

-high power servos, radar jammer only for Recon Commanders.(this will also solve the problem with the strike d gun com that has fast speed and it's strong against big units with the weapon)

-battle drones, companion drones, cloaking field only for Support Commander(make this cloaking field module act like the old cloaking field that hides buildings, so only a commander like this will be able to hide buildings).

And besides all this give all modules a X10, X9, X8, X7...X2 multiplier so if i want 5 autorepair systems at level 1 for battle com i will need 1250 metal and energy.If i want 10 autorepair systems i will need 2500 metal.

Must mention that commanders must have a micro role, fun role and complexity boost role for the game. Games must not be centralized on commander battle, and we need to balance commanders so players will only use commanders for like maximum 30-40% of the games and not more.
+0 / -1

ROrankForever
10 years ago
After EErankAdminAnarchid's indication regarding the modules specialized for each chassis we can make it like this: Just add a penalty if you use that module to other chassis so if your recon commander wants 1 autorepair it will gain only 50% of its potential if it has it installed.(just 1 example)
+0 / -1
FIrankFFC
10 years ago
-1
+0 / -2
ROrankForgottenGeneral
10 years ago
hmm I think we need to make commanders more important,not useless.
+0 / -0

EErank[ISP]Lauri
10 years ago
A mobile tanky platform that makes metal, produces energy, has a powerful nanolathe and can cheaply equip a useful weapon that can deter light units will never ever be useless.
+0 / -0

CArankPxtl
10 years ago
(edited 10 years ago)
ROrankForever - there are reasons they didn't put range-boosts on L0 Siege comm. They wanted to avoid the L1 comm outranging defenses with certain modules. I agree that L0 Siege comm needs a buff but I'd just give it a free Damage Booster.

An important consideration is that the L0 comm is the most powerful and important unit in at the very beginning of the game, so it makes sense that the L0 comms should be very similar to each other. While L0s having vast differences sounds exciting, it would completely change the opening game depending on which comm you chose, and that's bad. Keeping the heavy differentiation to the higher levels is a good thing, imho. I actually think the L0 recon is too different from the other comms.

In general, I'd focus on looking at both the L0 and L5 comms and comparing them. Recon is underwhelming at L5, compared to other L5 comms but its speed at L0 is so useful I take it anyways. Siege is the reverse - it's neat at high levels, but at L0 it's a Battle comm without the health.

My general idea (again, I'm a terrible player so huge grain of salt here)
For Recon: Nerf starting speed to 1.35 but give it back the per-level speed morph and a starting health of 1800 (keep the current 500-per-morph).
For Support: It's fine. Maybe give it a small energy-gen per level.
For Siege: Give it a damage-booster or two at L0 so it's not just a fragile Battle-comm.
For Strike comm: get rid of the boring regen and give it 7.5%(?) damage-boost per-level.
For Battle comm: its firepower buff per-level is a minimalist afterthought, leave that to Strike comms.

Boom, the comms are closer in power at L0 (Siege and Recon are brought closer to other L0 comms in power) and at L5 they're a bit more interesting.
+0 / -0


EErankAdminAnarchid
10 years ago
L0 recon is still lightyears ahead of competition by being able to jump.
+0 / -0

CArankPxtl
10 years ago
Point. Realistically, Jump should probably be a Recon-only module instead of a built-in L0 power, but I don't know how well the Jump gadget infrastructure could handle that.
+0 / -0


EErankAdminAnarchid
10 years ago
(edited 10 years ago)
quote:
Realistically, Jump should probably be a Recon-only module instead of a built-in L0 power

I wouldn't mind it being more common, really :) Of course, none of the other models have jetpacks.

quote:
but I don't know how well the Jump gadget infrastructure could handle that.

Well enough.
(it works on unitdefs, and each level of a custom commander is essentially a whole different unit type)
+0 / -0

ROrankForever
10 years ago
(edited 10 years ago)
Then we need a chassis intrinsic module for each of them: recon com has jump. What do you guys suggest for battle com, support com, strike com and bombard com?

I was thinking of chassis intrinsic modules like :
invulnerability for 1-2 seconds( battle com) reload time like jump com has
faster attack speed for 1-2 seconds (strike com) reload time 15 seconds (where is the more speed attack module?...weird that we dont have it)
more acurracy for 5 second but not able to move in that time (bombard com) reload time 15 seconds
3 storages inbuilt for support commander?

+0 / -0


EErankAdminAnarchid
10 years ago
I see no problem in making jump available for everyone, aside from model work...
+0 / -0

ROrankForever
10 years ago
hmmm, comment on these EErankAdminAnarchid

I was thinking of chassis intrinsic modules like :
invulnerability for 1-2 seconds( battle com) reload time like jump com has
faster attack speed for 1-2 seconds (strike com) reload time 15 seconds (where is the more speed attack module?...weird that we dont have it)
more acurracy for 5 second but not able to move in that time (bombard com) reload time 15 seconds
3 storages inbuilt for support commander?

Want to know your opinion. If invulerability is to op we can give it energy eating ability so it takes energy to mentain those 2 seconds.
+0 / -0
FIrankFFC
10 years ago
Flamethrower is only for battle com!
+0 / -0


EErankAdminAnarchid
10 years ago
Some of those are interesting (the storage one, for instance), but i think they won't float anytime soon.

Plus, as mentioned in the other thread, i think the things you can only put on one chassis type are kinda boring.

(which brings us to this question: why can only battlecoms use flamer)
+0 / -0

ROrankForever
10 years ago
EErankAdminAnarchid, because commanders will be to generalistic and kind of weird to see a battle com to be almost similar to a recon com or bombard com. Whats the point to make the 3d textures for them if they are not different. Why not make all commanders look the same :))
+0 / -0


EErankAdminAnarchid
10 years ago
Hey, good idea.

Actually, i'd go to commanders looking the same initially, and changing visibly with each module added, so equip machinegun -> model gets a machinegun!

Unfortunately, it's probably too late to implement that.
+1 / -0

ROrankForever
10 years ago
Ohh well gues this will become another fail thread where commanders and the modules wont still be balanced well.
+0 / -0


USrank[GBC]1v0ry_k1ng
10 years ago
it was a fail thread from post #1
+3 / -1


MYrankAdminHistidine
10 years ago
Be nice, USrank[GBC]1v0ry_k1ng.

(I need you to set a good example!)
+0 / -0

AUrankAdminSaktoth
10 years ago
No, he's right, this is a bunch of bad ideas. Having big differences in comms from level 1 is precisely the opposite of what we need for a balanced meta in 1v1, unless we want to go for a replication of e-cell support comm meta where there is only really one viable option.
+3 / -1