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    Do engineers auto-find stealth & cloak (Selen) too easily?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Balance Discussion
    14 Posts 9 Posters 1.1k Views
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    • ZeldafanboyZ
      Zeldafanboy
      last edited by

      I didn’t know this, thanks for the info, now I can own Selens even harder. They’re a pretty bad unit that doesn’t do either job as well, and a scout+ LAB combo is virtually just as quick and cheap to produce

      put the xbox units in the game pls u_u

      W 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • MazorNoobM
        MazorNoob
        last edited by

        Same thing happens to stealth bases. Reclaiming engineer will go out of their way to reclaim buildings they never saw.

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        • E
          Exselsior
          last edited by

          Interesting I actually kinda forgot about this since I haven’t seen it in such a long time. I’m pretty sure this is a game engine thing but am curious if there’s a way to fix

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          • JipJ
            Jip
            last edited by

            It's an engine bug. The engineer that is looking for something to reclaim does not take into account the intel status

            A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned

            Sylph_S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • veteranasheV
              veteranashe
              last edited by

              A new bug to fix lol

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              • E
                Exselsior
                last edited by

                It's not new and since it's an engine bug I doubt it's getting fixed

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                • Sylph_S
                  Sylph_ @Jip
                  last edited by Sylph_

                  @jip
                  Would it be worth experimenting with making the 'cloak' buff, the one that gives selens reduced vision and radar range in XSL0101_script.lua , also modify its energy cost to something huge, like 20,000?

                  That way, the engineers would still 'go looking' for cloaked selens, but upon finding them, the engineer would just 'point them out' with the reclaim beam, rather than immediately exterminating them?

                  I'd think this change would be nicer than removing the 'hunting' functionality entirely, while still requiring a little more human involvement both in finding and destroying cloaked selens, and also in the counterplay (rescue the selen fast! 😄 )?

                  (My other suggestion would be to give the cloaked selen whatever commanders have that makes them impossible to reclaim, but I'm unsure what that is, and stopping engineers from seeking out selens at all might be 'too strong'. (Does anyone actually feel that Selens that needed omni or a physical bump would be 'too strong'?)

                  (ps. quote: "The engineer that is looking for something to reclaim does not take into account the intel status" - Well, they don't seek out units (including uncloaked selens) that aren't stealthed... So they kinda do take intel status into account! Not the way they should though, of course!)

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                  • FtXCommandoF
                    FtXCommando
                    last edited by

                    selen functionally impossible to reclaim: you have now autowon half your games by putting 4 on random enemy mexes

                    needing a physical bump is too strong because it means engies have zero capacity to fight back against them, when there are still plenty of times an engie can reclaim a lab attacking it

                    Sylph_S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • Sylph_S
                      Sylph_ @FtXCommando
                      last edited by Sylph_

                      @ftxcommando I suggested ONLY getting the energy boost while cloaked.

                      FWIW 'fight back' isn't the case here - if the selen tries to fight, it is uncloaked, and thus gets reclaimed almost immediately.

                      But if an energy cost of 'something huge' is bad, perhaps a middle ground? The value of the energy cost boost could be calibrated so that the engineer can reclaim a cloaked selen in whatever time is best for balance. I'm not convinced that "almost immediately" is best for balance, given that it makes selens complete junk compared to other scouts and LABs, without even requiring any player interaction to kill them... But I defer to your judgement, you know better than I!

                      UNcloaked selens, ie those fighting and such, would still be reclaimed almost immediately, as per current balance. Their energy cost (aka reclaim damage/second) would be unchanged.

                      The change I suggested ONLY effects cloaked selens getting reclaimed, and is a way to make it take longer.

                      Basically, what I imagined is that cloaked selens being reclaimed are 'pinned down', and need rescuing by friendly units before they get ground-fired by enemy offensive units. If you feel it's better than the reclaim beam actually kills them, then that's cool too - I just feel it should be a little longer than 'almost instantly' as it currently is.

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                      • R
                        RedX
                        last edited by

                        New exploit: Get a selen to 1hp and let it cloak up then reclaim it for 20,000x the energy value 😛

                        Sylph_S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • Sylph_S
                          Sylph_ @RedX
                          last edited by Sylph_

                          @redx 🙂 Don't worry - you don't get any energy while reclaiming wrecks - only mass.
                          You only get energy from reclaiming un-finished buildings.

                          (I believe that the buff is lost when the unit dies, too. Not that it matters here.)

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                          • W
                            Warning_PotatoPC @Zeldafanboy
                            last edited by

                            @zeldafanboy Selens can be stronger against other labs because of extra range.

                            Sylph_S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • Sylph_S
                              Sylph_ @Warning_PotatoPC
                              last edited by

                              @warning_potatopc Yes, I always feel that It's akin to aurora vs striker/mantis/thaam, except much 'closer to the wire'. I find that interaction very fun.
                              (Still, I don't understand these people that build 30 selens and hit the field with them!)

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