View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0001405AI War 1 / ClassicSuggestion - Balance TweaksJan 7, 2011 1:53 pm
Reportermr_lolz Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Status minor fix for laterResolutionopen 
Summary0001405: Suggestion: Review blade & minor electric immunities
DescriptionNow that the new armour class system makes damage bonuses transparent, it would be nice if immunities could be reviewed; there is nothing intuitive about vampires and teleport raiders- surely two of the units MOST suited to attacking structures- are unable to even target them.

Allowing the likes of cutlasses & vampires to target most structures and units again, albeit with unfavourable attack bonuses, would do wonders to making these units more player-use friendly, and would remove that situation where the players command station & cryo pods are surrounded by 1000+ idle cutlasses because for some reason they cant attack. wouldnt a stiff penalty vs structures be better?

TagsNo tags attached.
Internal Weight

Activities

Chris_McElligottPark

Nov 16, 2010 11:20 am

administrator   ~0003716

This is an interesting discussion, and needs some thought. I'll make a forum post so folks can discuss more. Here are the thinking points:

BLADE IMMUNITY
Right now, anything with health higher than a certain amount (a few hundred thousand, I think) is immune to blades. For three reasons:

1. Cutlasses damage themselves as they attack, so when big structures are near they tended to all die pointlessly. Now that they no longer have damage penalties against structures as much, that's less of an issue, but still something. Perhaps if they didn't target anything they have a penalty against, or had no penalties (I can't remember if they presently do or not).

2. Zenith Viral Shredders are hugely problematic. When they find something high-health, they can just latch on and make infinite copies of themselves faster than the enemies can destroy them. The blade immunity on high-health ships prevents this runaway breeding. I'm not sure what to do with that one.

3. Vampire Claws are just as problematic. When they have something high-health, they latch on and suck the life out of it so fast that enemies can't kill them.

MINOR ELECTRIC IMMUNITY
This was put in place to prevent insta-gate-raiding (and other similar raiding) with teleporting ships, which you'll notice all use the minor electric ammo type. With most structures (but not gates) having so much more health now, this is less of an issue anyway, and probably it could be relaxed some.

But having the teleporting ships all be ship-to-ship specialists does seem to make sense in a lot of fashions, so I'm not sure a change is warranted.

Chris_McElligottPark

Nov 16, 2010 11:21 am

administrator   ~0003717

The forum post: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,7647.0.html

Draco18s

Nov 16, 2010 11:22 am

developer   ~0003718

I'm going to have to enthusiastically shout "NO! OH GOD NO." to this. Melee units already ignore force fields, allowing them to target the structures under them would be far more of a boon to the AI than to the player.

Chris_McElligottPark

Nov 16, 2010 11:23 am

administrator   ~0003720

That is a very good point, too.

mr_lolz

Nov 16, 2010 12:05 pm

reporter   ~0003724

@ draco:

what is the point of being able to move through FF if they are unable to harm any of the critical structures underneath?

Chris_McElligottPark

Nov 16, 2010 12:08 pm

administrator   ~0003726

The point of being able to move through force fields is that otherwise the ships get stuck on the force fields and can't attack effectively near them. But, additionally, this allows you to "sweep" out the mobile ships under there.

KDR_11k

Nov 16, 2010 1:01 pm

reporter   ~0003728

Last edited: Nov 16, 2010 1:02 pm

I just think of it as blades not being able to cut armor this heavy. Missile immunities might need more of a reexamination.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Nov 16, 2010 11:12 am mr_lolz New Issue
Nov 16, 2010 11:20 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0003716
Nov 16, 2010 11:20 am Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark
Nov 16, 2010 11:20 am Chris_McElligottPark Status new => confirmed
Nov 16, 2010 11:21 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0003717
Nov 16, 2010 11:22 am Draco18s Note Added: 0003718
Nov 16, 2010 11:23 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0003720
Nov 16, 2010 12:05 pm mr_lolz Note Added: 0003724
Nov 16, 2010 12:08 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0003726
Nov 16, 2010 1:01 pm KDR_11k Note Added: 0003728
Nov 16, 2010 1:02 pm KDR_11k Note Edited: 0003728
Jan 7, 2011 1:53 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status confirmed => minor fix for later