Upcoming Planetary Annihilation Update allows for a line move mod

will it add 5 more facs and double the units per fac? otherwise it'll still be boring. Great concept and it looks gorgeous, just poorly done

@Natch There are three major gameplay mods being worked on right now.

I'm working on Galactic Annihilation, which essentially adds more units, adds experimentals, and makes the balance closer to TA with wreckage and stuff. https://forums.uberent.com/threads/wip-galactic-annihilation.68872/

ModX was long an addition mod that just added more units to the tiers and added a tier 3 along with tier 4 megabots, but the next update is adding psuedofactions. Basically there are double the number of facs, but each commander only has access to half of them and which commander you choose determines which set of facs you gain access to. 'Twill be interesting.
https://forums.uberent.com/threads/wip-server-modx.60372/
https://forums.uberent.com/threads/wip-server-modx.60372/page-9#post-1092890

Both the next ModX update and Galactic Annihilation are slated to be out by the end of the month.

The third upcoming mod is a run of the mill faction addition mod, Broken Alliances: Imperial Legion. It doesn't change the gameplay of the vanilla faction, which I find to be extremely flawed, so I don't see too much potential in it but it does bring a little variety to the table so there is that.
https://forums.uberent.com/threads/wip-server-imperial-legion-faction.69165/

As you can see by the WIP-ness of everything, it'll undoubtedly be coming out later rather than sooner.

That's fine. Although I don't think that PA sucks, it is much less than it could be, especially without the various UI mods that are available for it. If I was restricted to the unmodded game I definitely wouldn't spend any time in it when I can play Zero-K or create a decent (Progressive Annihilation style) BA fork.

I was not aware that their widget/gadget API was being improved. Perhaps modders will eventually cobble together a good UI. I am not hopeful though because their mods forum looks a bit deserted and mostly focused on adding/overhauling/rebalancing units.

You have all seen and used my UI wishlist. PA could need a bit extra though because of the visualization difficulty imposed by a spherical planet.

My API wishlist is approximately this: https://springrts.com/wiki/Lua_Scripting

how many people play PA now? I heard it had quite a big drop in players

I mean player count is really the only reason I would consider playing it since the game play is essentially just a step down from spring

Then it seems transports would become a central part in multi-planetary games.

But they have the same problem just like other orbital units: the way they travel between planets is similar to whole map teleport with some delay time in a ordinary RTS game, all the potential interactions in midway don't exist for this kind of movetype, so beside intel and guesswork there isn't much depth in it.

I'd rather replace this "whole map teleport" with neutral teleport gates. With teleports gates, moving between two positions on separated planets would require some travel on planets.

quote: I am not concerned about the quality of PA on multiple planets because I think an interesting game could be made around the spherical map idea. Multiple planets and satellites have the potential to improve the game but are not necessary.

Interesting, I think other way around.
Spherical map I see not so much potential: Ok, so one 'attack from all directions.'
But traditional RTS allow many directions too, if the maps are good. (And start positions are far away from map border)

On other hand multiple moving planets in 2D would be supercool.
Have your normal 08/15 islands map

..but the islands are moving!

Distances change, islands collide and combine into one or break apart..
When islands are in contact units can walk across or jumpers can jump on near islands..then the islands drift apart again.
Islands could be moved by shooting at them or with "Newtons."
I think manipulating the movement of the islands in 2D would be much easier than in 3D to while not losing any complexity. Or maybe the island is a large unit itself that players can command.
The islands could look like normal islands (that just happen to float around) or styled in different ways: As planets/asteroids (like some spring maps try), or as giant turtles with small tanks driving on their shells or moving machine parts like turning gears...

This is inspiring a daydream of an exciting future:

quote: "Planetary Annihilation: Zero-K" A total conversion modification for Planetary Annihilation.

I have seen hovers in some mod for PA me thinks. I do not remember which one though. Jumpbots and spiders have no point in existing because there are no obstacles they have easier time to traverse. Even vehicles and bots already have this problem in vanilla PA (they are just too samey).