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This problem of balancing air units v. AA v. ground units is a problem for every combined arm game because of the following:
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1 |
This problem of balancing air units v. AA v. ground units is a problem for every combined arm game because of the following:
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| 2 |
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2 |
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| 3 |
1.
Modern
air
power
is
simply
the
most
powerful
military
branch
for
its
cost.
It
can
deliver
precise
heavy
damage
at
very
long
range,
with
very
high
speed,
and
with
very
high
mobility,
at
a
relatively
very
low
cost.
Zero-K
artificially
deals
with
this
by
make
air
do
unrealistically
low
damage,
at
unrealistically
slow
speeds,
and
with
unrealistically
low
mobility
-
for
its
cost,
against
strong
AA.
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3 |
1.
Modern
air
power
is
simply
the
most
powerful
military
branch
for
its
cost.
It
can
deliver
precise
heavy
damage
at
very
long
range,
with
very
high
speed,
and
with
very
high
mobility,
at
a
relatively
very
low
cost.
Zero-K
artificially
deals
with
this
by
making
air
do
unrealistically
low
damage,
at
unrealistically
slow
speeds,
and
with
unrealistically
low
mobility
-
for
its
cost,
against
strong
AA.
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4 |
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| 5 |
2. In practical terms, a modern army that controls the air just wins outright. Rockets/Missiles are just an extension of this power.
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5 |
2. In practical terms, a modern army that controls the air just wins outright. Rockets/Missiles are just an extension of this power.
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6 |
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3. Developers have no choice but to artificially reduce air's power to "balance" it with ground units, because so many people want to play with ground units.
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7 |
3. Developers have no choice but to artificially reduce air's power to "balance" it with ground units, because so many people want to play with ground units.
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| 8 |
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8 |
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| 9 |
4. This is often done by artificially improving AA. However, this makes AA so powerful that it has to be artificially banned from use against other ground units to avoid AA, in turn, dominating the ground game. AA units in Zero-K like the Artemis realistically are just guided rockets with extreme range, damage, and accuracy - an air unit. However, it makes no sense that an anti-raider version would not also exist. It is much easier for a rocket to hit a unit that is mostly moving in only 2 dimensions instead of 3. It is an example of developers trying to artificially prevent air from dominating the game. Such a unit would quickly eliminate raiders from use. Unless a team first dominated the air, the tactic so loved of overwhelming a sector of the battlefield with an army or sneaking raiders by the front would never ever work. Of course, if a team dominated the air, then air would already have wiped out the enemy anyhow.
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9 |
4. This is often done by artificially improving AA. However, this makes AA so powerful that it has to be artificially banned from use against other ground units to avoid AA, in turn, dominating the ground game. AA units in Zero-K like the Artemis realistically are just guided rockets with extreme range, damage, and accuracy - an air unit. However, it makes no sense that an anti-raider version would not also exist. It is much easier for a rocket to hit a unit that is mostly moving in only 2 dimensions instead of 3. It is an example of developers trying to artificially prevent air from dominating the game. Such a unit would quickly eliminate raiders from use. Unless a team first dominated the air, the tactic so loved of overwhelming a sector of the battlefield with an army or sneaking raiders by the front would never ever work. Of course, if a team dominated the air, then air would already have wiped out the enemy anyhow.
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10 |
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| 11 |
5. Cloaking units is really just a form of sensor jamming and that is what modern armies do. Modern air war is fought between the jamming and anti-jamming/stealth forces before either side fires a shot. The side that loses the jamming war loses the air war and therefore loses the war. In games this is just boring and often frustrating. Zero-K allows ground forces to cloak themselves, but does not allow high-speed air forces to do the same because obviously this would simply allow air to eliminate Zero-K's powerful AA.
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11 |
5. Cloaking units is really just a form of sensor jamming and that is what modern armies do. Modern air war is fought between the jamming and anti-jamming/stealth forces before either side fires a shot. The side that loses the jamming war loses the air war and therefore loses the war. In games this is just boring and often frustrating. Zero-K allows ground forces to cloak themselves, but does not allow high-speed air forces to do the same because obviously this would simply allow air to eliminate Zero-K's powerful AA.
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12 |
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| 13 |
There really is no good solution. Once developers introduce air units into a game they naturally will tend to dominate because of number 1 & 2 above. Because of 3, conflict arises between air players and ground players. Since ground players always out-number air players, air play becomes an unrealistic mess with air players (like me) stilted and ground players making all kinds of convoluted irrational arguments about why air play must be restricted to "balance" it for realism.
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13 |
There really is no good solution. Once developers introduce air units into a game they naturally will tend to dominate because of number 1 & 2 above. Because of 3, conflict arises between air players and ground players. Since ground players always out-number air players, air play becomes an unrealistic mess with air players (like me) stilted and ground players making all kinds of convoluted irrational arguments about why air play must be restricted to "balance" it for realism.
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14 |
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The fact of the matter is that air power by its very nature cannot be "balanced" without making it hyper unrealistic. Eventually air players will develop a tactic that dominates a favored ground tactic and the developers will favor the ground players simply because there are more such players. This dynamic will lead to players like me leaving the game.
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15 |
The fact of the matter is that air power by its very nature cannot be "balanced" without making it hyper unrealistic. Eventually air players will develop a tactic that dominates a favored ground tactic and the developers will favor the ground players simply because there are more such players. This dynamic will lead to players like me leaving the game.
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Developers need to control expectations by stating up front that air play will never be allowed to reach its real potential, in their game, simply because it is not fun when ground play is realistically dominated by air play. It needs to be stated that if air play begins to dominate, then it will be nerfed so that it is always a sideshow niche part of the game, but that developers will endeavor to keep air play from being artificially restrained to the point where it is actually bad to build air at all.
|
17 |
Developers need to control expectations by stating up front that air play will never be allowed to reach its real potential, in their game, simply because it is not fun when ground play is realistically dominated by air play. It needs to be stated that if air play begins to dominate, then it will be nerfed so that it is always a sideshow niche part of the game, but that developers will endeavor to keep air play from being artificially restrained to the point where it is actually bad to build air at all.
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| 19 |
Unfortunately, Zero-K is at the point where the only cost-effective use for air play in lobpot is for owls, swift scouting, 1-2 thunders, and enough bombers to compel the other team to spend more on AA/swifts/raptors than the bombers' value - not even possible on some maps (plus there are other ways to compel a team to ineffectively spend its metal so building bombers for this purpose just feels bad). In 1v1 air is useless, unless it can be used by surprise.
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19 |
Unfortunately, Zero-K is at the point where the only cost-effective use for air play in lobpot is for owls, swift scouting, 1-2 thunders, and enough bombers to compel the other team to spend more on AA/swifts/raptors than the bombers' value - not even possible on some maps (plus there are other ways to compel a team to ineffectively spend its metal so building bombers for this purpose just feels bad). In 1v1 air is useless, unless it can be used by surprise.
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Edit: It is just the nature of air (i.e. a unit that moves in another dimension) that makes this hard - it has nothing to do how much or how little realism a game tries to incorporate.
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21 |
Edit: It is just the nature of air (i.e. a unit that moves in another dimension) that makes this hard - it has nothing to do how much or how little realism a game tries to incorporate.
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Air v. AA v. Ground balance