Issue with t3 air factory roll off time/next build delay
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It does seem as if something has gone wrong somewhere along the way with the air factory roll off time. Definitely in cybran, haven't tested other races.
If you look at https://replay.faforever.com/18548764 from the 18th Nov 2022 I build a t3 air fac, surround it with build assist to churn corsairs out asap. As best I can tell, there is a second between each corsair finishing and the next corsair starting to be built.
Compare to this replay from 25th Jan 2023 https://replay.faforever.com/19090642 I apply massive buildpower support to a cybran t3 air fact, set to make corsairs on repeat and I think it takes just under 3 seconds between each corsair finishing and the next corsair starting to be built.
I haven't tested T1/T2 air factory speed comparisons in the past compared to now.
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Rolloff should be as low as technically possible for all factories. For land and especially naval, collision means there is an upper limit, but since air units have no collision it should be instant. Lots of other games like BAR or Planetary Annihilation work this way, and they actually have a meta of surrounding a single factory with lots of build power. In FAF doing this is much less efficient than making an air grid, yet it's also mechanically chunkier.
put the xbox units in the game pls u_u
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I'll look into it.
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@zeldafanboy said in Issue with t3 air factory roll off time/next build delay:
Lots of other games like BAR or Planetary Annihilation work this way, and they actually have a meta of surrounding a single factory with lots of build power. In FAF doing this is much less efficient than making an air grid, yet it's also mechanically chunkier.
Prior to engymod, FA was played that way too, but I think it is much better for gameplay if heavy assistance is discouraged. Factories can only produce one thing, so if someone is using factories you know what they are going to do and can make long-term decisions using that information, it is also indicated on the map when these factories are upgraded. It is feasible to count how many factories someone has to get an idea of how much resources are devoted to making units, but once there are varying numbers of different tech engies assisting things it is pretty much impossible. If they have a lot of engineers instead of factories they can rush up an HQ, start spamming corsairs, throw up TMD/shields quickly, or something else unexpected. This is supposed to be a large scale macro-oriented game so you should be penalized for taking the highly flexible option that obscures strategy rather than committing to something. Engineers spam is also undesirable for performance and aesthetic reasons.
I do agree that factory roll-off time is not an acceptable way to nerf assistance and it should be as minimal as possible.
It is unfortunate that buildpower spam is the only way to construct experimentals, nukes, t3 arty, etc.. It might be interesting if those blueprints were exclusive to SCUs, SCUs couldn't build normal structures, and those structures and SCUs had greatly increased buildtime and buildpower.
I also think the engy/factory ratio is too low for t1 and t2 factories since it takes a very small number of engineers to stealthily double or triple your tank/inty production. You should be able to just match factory count with your opponent and safely expect to have a similar unit count.
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The roll-off time for engineers, built from an air factory, is going to have to be maintained, otherwise all of the issues that roll-off time solves are going to come right back again.
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Folks please maybe start a seperate thread for balance conversations, this thread is in the
game issuessection as I clearly showed that it used to be different - meaning something unintentional has occurred and needs investigated. Who knows, the cuase may reveal other knock on effects not spotted yet. -
Like it or not. Your problem is part of balancing discussion. @Serpentor
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@xiaomao
Not really, he is saying that the delay between unit construction has become even worse for seemingly no reason compared to a game a year ago. As far as I know there was no change in the patch notes regarding that, it seems like a bug.
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The roll off time is part of balance discussion like it or not. Read Thomases post and maybe it will dawn on you why it invites balance discussion.
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The intended roll off time is a balance discussion. This particular change was unintended - I'll try and revert it unless the balance team wants me to do something else. @Tagada ?
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Yes, revert them please
