Re-factoring faction themes
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In current FAF:
- UEF has beefiest factories, mex, and pgens. UEF is the "turtle" faction and their special tech is Jamming.
- Cybran is the "micro" faction with most fragile base structures. They prioritize high blast radius over raw damage and accuracy. Their special tech is Cloak and Stealth.
- Aeon is the "glass cannon" faction. They prioritize range and damage over hp. Their special tech is chrono dampener and shields.
- Seraphim is the minimalist alien faction. They prioritize regeneration and multi-function units. Their special tech is regen.
Current FAF balance is confusing in some ways. Why does Cybran have buildings that regen even though regen is Seraphim's special tech? There are other confusing incongruities as well. (Although I'm glad that the Wailer jamming issue was fixed awhile ago, so the Wailer now has stealth instead.)
FAF balance should be as such:
- Given a default factory/mex/pgen health
- UEF should add "tanky" attribute: All structures have +20% health. Perhaps increase it to +50% for Tech 3 factory HQs
- Cybran structures should add "radar" attribute: All mex should have a small radar radius (40 or 50) for free. Perhaps increase it to 100 or 200 radius for Tech 3 factory HQs. Mex should also have innate stealth, like the Spy plane.
- Aeon structures should have "vision" attribute: All mex and pgens have +50% vision radius. Perhaps increase if to 300% for T3 factory HQs.
- Seraphim structures should own the "regen" attribute: All structures have small innate regen (but Cybran does not), with increased regen for T3 factory HQs.
These sorts of faction themes would be very interesting and improve balance.
It's worth noting that I took these themes to an extreme when I made my "Faction Diversity" mod ~10 years ago. I made many changes such as: Aeon did not have radar at all. Their T1 radar provided a wide vision radius, as did their Omni and their Spy plane. All Aeon units had vision, none had radar. Cybran units all had reduced vision, but most units had radar. Even the mantis had tiny vision but relied on radar. Seraphim units had regen, and UEF had extra HP + jamming.
Just some thoughts.
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cybran have regen because there had to be something good they had for their paper armor, uef were given monopoly on jamming for whatever reason too and cybran wailer stealth instead of it, and pretty sure its aeon that is the micro faction, not cybran, cybran is more like what you described sera (multipurpose units) except with speed and stealth instead of regen and hp
and factions dont need to be different in everything, some base things are needed to exist in all factions or gameplay is not going to exist, or else I suggest instead all cybran units and buildings be given capture ability because cybrans are the galactic haxors obviously
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My point is Seraphim buildings should have regen, Cybran should have stealth/radar. Probably Cybran structures shouldnt have lower health than average, they should just have the same health as Aeon/Seraphim (and UEF should have more)
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monopoly on jamming read: 3 units with jamming with 2 having no utility due to it
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Obligatory something give another UEF jamming /memes
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@FtXCommando Frigate, Broadsword, and Sparky have jamming. IMO, T1/T2/T3 radars for UEF should also have jamming.
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Hm or the shield
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Just believe a jamming upgrade on the acu
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- Creates almost entirely irrelevant faction design assumptions out of thin air
- "Why does the game not conform to this?"
Nothing says "Aeon is the glass cannon faction" more like the Obsidian tank.
GPG clearly never cared about making a faction rely on one doctrine and neither should you. There is a reason for that and it is because it isn't fun or cool to need to do the same thing every game.
These sorts of faction themes would be very interesting and improve balance.
Why is it interesting? How does it improve balance? All they do is help conform the game to your arbitrary assumption of how the factions should play. FAF doesn't even agree on if those assumptions are accurate (they're not) let alone agree that changing things to suit them are inherently good (they're not)
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Biass take it for what it is but this is what the instruction manual in OG Supreme Commander claimed to be units themes
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Marketing material is not faction design
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Cybran were supposed to be about stealth, mobility, viciousness, and adaptability/multipurpose. It's why so many Cybran units have torpedoes or the t1/t3 anti-air can shoot the ground. Their original name was "Recyclers," where recycling is just another word for reclaiming. Zero sentimentality, just totally practical, often inspired by bugs whereas UEF is obviously inspired by modern US military.
Aeon were supposed to be severe, extreme single-minded zealots, fitting in with their "religious fanatic" background. Hence why their units often do exactly 1 thing really really well but are missing basic stuff, like frigates and destroyers not having anti-air. Oblivion turrets fire slowly but are devastating. Aeon doesn't worry about overkill.
These lofty ideas don't always show up in a pure way in the game. For example, the Monkeylord has lots of abilities (stealth, speed, torpedoes, anti-air) so it is a good example of an adaptable, bug-like unit. But also it's the cheapest big laser platform out of any faction. So you could consider it to be a "single-minded" single-purpose weapon consistent with the aeon theme.
Similarly, the Megalith has lots of HP compared to the Fatboy. And Bricks are extremely tanky. If we wanted to elevate faction themes over gameplay balance we could "fix" those things but then the game probably becomes unfun. I do think the game designers did a great job of giving personality to each faction.
The Czar really doesn't make sense as an aircraft carrier. If you could have a Czar that is 10k mass cheaper without the carrier abilities (build, store, and repair t1-t3 aircraft) you would almost ALWAYS take the stripped-down version. That's why the Czar should have the factory abilities removed. It's fine if it is a flying air staging but it shouldn't be able to make air units.
