@veteranashe So a range limit in favour of two different range and dps modes? Basically the seraphim sniper bot, but cooler and stuff.
Removing the global aspect of the satellite would solve a lot of the "feels bad" moments. It could also be used to justify other cool changes to offset the restriction. E.g. constant beam instead of burst fire since it has limited range, perhaps even anti-air targeting too
Posts made by Arran
If a sim-mod could be made to implement both of those ideas (upgrade requirement and cost increase), it would be fun to try it out with my friends and see what we think. Even if it's not for everyone, some people may prefer that gameplay style to the default one.
Fun idea to think about. I see why you posted this
What if, when replacing an upgrade, you didn't immediately lose the old upgrade, only losing it when the new upgrade is complete. This would make switching and having to cancel the upgrade less punishing.
@snoog The fuel idea is possibly the most novel and creative fix suggestion for the satellite I've ever seen. It is interesting to think about and has potential.
I still think removing the intel of the satellite is better, since it directly reduces the versatility of the satellite without impacting its direct effectiveness, but that's probably my bias to my own idea talking.
I concur that balance at the moment is amazing. Almost all aspects of faf are steadily being improved upon in a healthy direction.
Snipers are like easy mode T3 mobile Arty. Obviously they will do well. Personally I would love to see snipers get a range buff and a massive move speed nerf, and probably a slight dps nerf too. Make them feel more like snipers you know, rather than just long range paper T3 percivals?
As for navy... Its strong. But isn't that the point? Since most maps, the choice to go navy is often a binary yes/no, it can easily feel like navy is too strong. However that's the mappers fault, not the balance team. With winding streams, navy sucks, not enough mobility. With high shore cliffs, navy also sucks at touching land for quite a while. Conversely, on open oceans where water is 90% of the map, navy is the strongest. It really depends on the map/mapper, rather than the unit stats when it comes to navy vs land comparisons.
The Satellite is too strong because it is too versatile. It can assault bases, pick of outlying mexus and shift targets faster than arty, all while being an amazing scout tool. This has made it one of the saltiest aspects of FAF for years. It literally does everything. It is like a T3 arty, but better in almost every way. It is equally cost effective in damage, it is perfectly accurate, has infinite range, has all intel types in a large radius and is not targetable.
In order to bring balance to the Satellite, I think handicapping the intel it provides would be best. By removing all intel (vision, radar and omni) from the satellite, it would restrict the satellite to a defensive tool when unsupported, and still keep its offensive potential intact, when supported by proper scouting.
This will allow a sort of soft counterplay. Rather than trying to commit to an all or nothing assault to destroy the command centre, or heavily investing into shielding every structure under the sun, denying scouting could be a form of defence. If the satellite can't see without assistance, it would only be able to target previously scouted structures, or units in radar/vision range.
I will now postulate how I think this change will impact gameplay. When using the satellite defensively, you would still have intel on what is attacking you, from the vision of your structures and units. Thus there should be negligible impact to the satellite when used defensively. When the satellite is used offensively, it will probably still be equally effective at attacking bases and outlying mexus, at least the first time. After the damage has been done, the rebuilding player will have a greater opportunity to rebuild (even under the satellite) if they can deny scouting. However, if there is persistent scouting the satellite will still perform well. Needless to say, I can't possibly predict all outcomes from such a major change, so I hope people comment their thoughts about if this would help reduce saltiness while keeping the satellite fun to use.
Hopefully this change allows for greater skill expression in both the use and defence of satellite play. I implore the balance team to think carefully and seriously about this suggestion, while considering the impact this change would have in a wide variety of situations.
P.s. The inspiration for this change was inspired by the removal of omni from the GC, which was a hard counter to Cybran cloak COMs. Similarly to how that change didn't negatively affect the GC while promoting healthier gameplay, I hope this change to the Satellite will have a similar effect.
@Noble_Ice
Side note to loya billy redirect. It should never have been able to make the redirected missile immune to tmd. That's what cause the ability to be removed.
@ftxcommando
A good suggestion, but people are adverse to change. For instance, logically I agree with you, whilst emotionally I recoil at your suggestion. So while your change makes sense and probably would be healthy for the game, might I suggest a palliative measure should your good suggestion fall through?
This alternative remedy revolves around the loyalist. Currently it has some minor EMP on one of its weapons (the low damage one I think). What if that weapon also dealt additional damage (like the absolver) to shields? Give it a minor range increase as well. It's a fast unit, and combined with deceivers, it may be able to storm sniper blobs undetected, rapidly drain the mobile shields and kill the snipers. This might also help players get more use out of the loyalist. It still feels like an inferior titan, and a crutch to get to bricks.
The loyalist isn't great against t2 blobs either because of their mobile shield supports. It just simply lacks the hp to trade to drain the shields. Adding some extra anti-shield damage to the loyalist will also help it mop up the dregs of the t2 stage.
I'd also suggest having a map icon for incoming teleports inside vision. PLEASE INCLUDE THIS CHANGE INTO THE GAME!
My thoughts.
Good to have energy costs become more relevant. All the air changes seem good, but the gunship changes will inevitably need some fine tuning after seeing play for a few months.
Teleporter range reduction will reduce the possible fun strategies available in the late game. Since cybran mazer was already nerfed, this change seems like overkill. I'd rather have teleporter take longer to activate. This would still allow the "bad yet fun" tp strategies of proxy base building, while heavily hindering the viability of tele-mazer since the defending player can see the incoming threat for longer.
Can we also see a reduction to titan shield strength? Those shields pop on so fast, it's like their shield HP is doubled.
Also think the t3 maa changes will be healthy too since t3 static aa was recently nerfed.
Overall, most of the changes of this year have been on point and good! Well done balance team.
UEF bubble shield refresh rate doubled. Regen rate increased by 50%. Called small buff.
@ftxcommando
It is a shame that I try and post constructive advice and you shitpost in response. I sincerely hope you meant it as a joke and that your humour needs work.
Let us take the time to work on it right now, Mr. UEF boy
For instance,
@ftxcommando said in Aeon Gun ACU:
you are not providing an answer to why exactly Aeon needs a strictly superior gun
You are not providing an answer to why exactly UEF needs strictly superior HP.
Same format, equally pointed and just as unamusing and asinine.
A more humorous iteration would be,
You are not providing an answer to why UEF need the thickest of bois. It is because everyone knows UEF boys are the thickest!
Some tips for those struggling with land ranged units.
- Use air. E.g. bombers or transport drop. Personal favourite is com drop.
- Flank. Leave nowhere for ranged units to kite back towards.
- Deny intel. No intel = no range. Most players (including pros) only make minimal intel. One T1 bomber or LAB is always worth sacrificing to kill radar.
- Attack in multiple places simultaneously. Ranged units are often slow. Exploit this.
- Flow like water. If you can't break a position, ignore it and focus your efforts into the path of least resistance.
- Tech up to widen your tactical options.
- Eco UP. Fortify a little (e.g. walls) to buy time and develop your eco for a later game overwhelm strategy. More stuff beats less stuff.
- Pick your battles. If you've tried something and it didn't work, trying again often won't get you a better result.
- Stop playing on 1 to 2 lane maps or turtle maps.
If none of these are viable for you, get good by acknowledging your mistakes and improving.
Perhaps those asking for gun nerf should play on maps larger than 5km?
It takes about 1 second for a commander at full speed to walk that distance. Less if both are moving towards each other.
Very strong upgrade. All it takes is 1 second where your attention is diverted and it no longer matters.
@comradestryker said in Aeon Gun ACU:
If anything, it's the UEF that should have the range over all other ACUs - and I'm not trying to be biased here.
The point of UEF is to have Alpha damage and Range with their units, no?
For example, the Percy, and the Summit.
Why shouldn't the UEF ACU be any different? It already deals 200 damage per shot.
It probably wouldn't be that difficult to dodge either, considering it would only have half of the firerate as all other ACUs do.
Sniper UEF ACU woudn't be anywhere near as powerfull as an Aeon Sniper ACU.
Well... minus the nano, but it's a crappy version of the nano, anyway.
It wouldn't take much to overwhelm.
Cracked. UEF sniper com with nano. Perfectly balanced; what could go wrong?
@rezy-noob said in Aeon Gun ACU:
don't really see a problem with their guncom besides having a beyond broken chrono, shield is nice to be offensive and works great if you want to be volatile on the ground, kiting isn't too bad and it comes with a huge tax in a form of apm, mid and late game also comes down to gc being ignored for no reason whatsoever for 1 year by now.
can't see aeon guncom broken late game as well and i'd call it pretty garbage considering that:
1)uef has BaD bIlly NuKe that will surely not whipe a 10k investment randomly
2)sera has a small 50k hp buff and pretty good double gun to play vs land and some exps
3)cyb is just garbage but still gets access to cloak+lazer that can be brutal
aeon has +4 range, cool. (no chrono involved or banned from lobbies)
anything smaller than 3v3 can probably be facing the unstoppable aeon gun com but it's more of a powerspike that you should be at least trying to counter, it's also a combination of aeon having probably the most cost-efficient land in the meta that is also contributing to indirect guncom buff since it gives you access to cheap mobile shields
All true and everyone saying otherwise just can't handle it.
The seraphim destroyer feels weaker somehow without being changed. Not sure how that happened.
Snipers have been nerfed time and time again, yet nothing ever changes because they are an essential matchup unit against T3.5 units (Brick/Percival). Yet snowballing (the claimed problem) isn't the issue. Accuracy while moving is.
Revert the change of firing randomness while moving from 0.5 to 0.8 so sniper death balls can no longer kite as effectively and reduce sniper costs by 80 mass to revert the latest patch change (but keep the energy cost increase to keep preventing rushes).
Air Scouts having jamming has reduced the effectiveness of air denial against UEF air while leaving other factions in a comparatively weaker position. So many jamming signatures can really become a potent phantom HP pool for flying above SAMS.
Agreed (with above post). Additionally having visually striking differences between a support and HQ factory help gameplay. Making the differences too minor (or non-existent) has already been showcased with ACU's and SACU's.
The mat black on the redesigned support factory pillars which support the fins over the build area looks wrong. At least add the lighting effects of white dots from the original model to break up the ugly texture.