Attention Aeon Commanders!
This memorandum summarizes the newest addition to our quantum compatible unit database:
The Shaman mk 1

The shaman is a bot that amplifies the power of shields in it's radius. Utilizing mass vapor recombination, regeneration of shields in proximity is increased 1.5x, and advanced pulse ignition removes the delay in regeneration. Though they are expensive, they are a true force multiplier.

Shaman are right at home in any advanced unit composition, enhancing sortie durability.

With widespread deployment of our superior shield technology, the Shaman can also extend the operational life of more primitive forces already fielded, immediately boosting combat effectiveness with a single deployment.

GLORY TO THE PRINCESS
LONG MAY SHE REIGN
~END OF MEMO~

Unit is available on the vault in the mod "KtQ Unit Shaman"
I had wanted to do more, but it was just not in the cards... or allotted time. Apparently there wasn't a shield regen buff built in, so that took a lot of my umph. I had also wanted to give it a chrono-damper suicide option (that costs power), since we so rarely see that ability.

Suggestion:
Reduce all air unit HP and anti air damage by a significant, uniform factor. A third or a tenth or something.

Why:
To make them more vulnerable to ground units while landed, without effecting other components of air.

In a recent game a swarm of ASF were landed and overrun with mantis. They didn't take off for some time and despite this not a single ASF was destroyed. T3 v T1 units should be quite a disparity, but I feel that getting caught with your air down should be punished significantly, and is a reasonable vulnerability. At a quick glance I don't see how this would effect much else.

What are your thoughts?

A mantis can kill an ASF in a bit over a minute.

I love navy, and have always thought it was a bit underdeveloped in this game. I have been studying naval history for game development reasons for another project, but as for games I don't see a lot out there similar enough to FAF to really get a good metric for what people find fun. I really like the macro aspect of SC, that's what brought me to it, and others above have mentioned not just random micro but micro that's actually fun and has a use. One quote I like for game dev is "A game is a series of meaningful decisions" from Sid Meier. So how do we add options to the t3 navy that let the player make meaningful decisions, and if they have the APM, boost their fleet effectiveness?

We could add toggle-able abilities. I'm unsure what would be viable, but toggling your big ships from direct fire to plunging fire, or a tight vs wide spread, seems like it would be useful. Something like an overcharge could be done too. A hard hitting shot that costs energy or mass, with a cooldown, etc. And the right click 'auto use' feature. Perhaps it can do HP damage to the ship per use or something?

I think every ship should start with HP regen. Ships have damage control and I think for big ships this could be expanded upon. A fast repair mode, (or an ACU style upgrade that only repairs HP damage), that disables the ships guns and movement, and makes it extra vulnerable to torpedoes (IE, adding late game raiding targets for subs). Could be interesting. I think this would pair well with expanding on battleship veterancy. Adding other benefits through the ranks to incentivize keeping your capital ships alive, and tending to them.

If I can find time I will try to mod this in to test it.

@Deribus @FtXCommando
I am aware of the rule, and It was a joke in regards to that rule. I am indeed a chronic 800. However I would still 1v1 him. I would also not throw the game. From what I understand that would not be a problem, if we genuinely battled.

I have always loved sacrifice. It fits into the lore ya know? Its interesting. And up until I read this thread I thought it was 100% efficient and that was it's only saving grace.

The pathfinding thing is the death of it, and I think range would help it. But there is still the component that its your build power and getting rid of it is pretty much always a setback not worth it. I think there are a few ways it could be improved or changed.

~ Boosting efficiency. Easy
~ Adding effects. AOE Heal, AOE auto reclaim
~ Changing effects. Remove build, have it do something else entirely that kills the unit. A last stand thingy? AOE Convert of enemy units of same tier. Regen field in build radius and health drain to death for unit. Satic shield of certain value (uncontrollable unit like ion storm, but a shield).
~ Putting on more units. Would labs be combat viable if they had a 100% sacrifice? Multiplied by veterancy
~ Unit simply detonates, every one the power of an ACU explosion. Can chain react. This is the Way.

Also, since we are talking useless economic bonuses, lets make a "recycling center" for the cybran. Like a land staging center you just hit a button and the unit goes to the nearest suicide booth and is turned back into mass at a high rate. GENIUS.

@bigbadgaz How do you know they are smurfing? Like, what's the due process here?

I prefer full share. It just makes sense to me, everything self destructing when you leave seems kinda weird. Yeah in team games it makes sniping a bit less important but sniping all the coms is still the goal. It's more like they have a number of lives, and can be given APM disadvantages as they lose them. Though I usually try to stick around if I die in a team game and mark important structures on the map (nuke, anti, com).

I do feel like it is how FtX said, sniping one guy with a bit of coordination seems to too easily turn into just a roll of the enemy team.

@jip said in Nomads?:

It is hard enough to balance four factions, let alone five.

Well one of these is going to have to go then...
Eyeballs Sera

@blackjaguar the invisible without movement thing is a neat idea. Perhaps the code for the Selen could be reused. Maybe t1 could have sonar stealth while still, and T2 a cloak too? Could be cool.

I can do a bit of art and texturing. Mostly procedural stuff with blender. If anyone wants textures I might be able to help, so pm me here or discord.

@thomashiatt It has been great since the shield was added. Ive even seen it in games! It just doesn't feel as decisive as other experimentals.

I have always seen Aeon as the SUPERIOR MASTER RACE, but also one that focuses each unit on being the best at one thing. Like their frigate, it only attacks ground. Or the shard, which only attacks air. I like that they are kinda specialized and do one thing. I feel the GC fits this philosophy perfectly well. No aeon unit should be perfect without support, they are essentially the combined arms faction. You always need to mix things together to make sure every weakness is covered. The GC is no different, it needs a swarm of units supporting it. Like shields (which I'm not sure if they block any fire) or harbingers to reclaim it's kills, and repair it in-between assaults.

I would say the CZAR and Mercy need help. But I'm not sure how? Perhaps making the CZAR an "air game ender" Every 10 seconds it pops out an old Corona fighters with AOE flak guns, slaved to the CZAR like drones. Slowly snowballing into air superiority, but vulnerable to ground AA.

Mercy is just not great. I mean, most bombers are suicide bombers anyway. If I ever need to use them I spread them out so they don't all approach the target from the same angle (and thus get wiped by one flak shell). I also support them with t1 air scouts to draw flak fire.

Anyway, I love Aeon and am always up for changes and fun stuff

My dude, it's a game from 2007 with some updates. I run it on this antique flawlessly.
https://www.newegg.com/amd-fx-8000-series-fx-8350-black-edition/p/N82E16819113284

@E33144211332424 and @Eternal
Props to you kings for actually offering solutions.

Would it be possible to enforce some limit on target priorities? Like t1 can have 2 priorities, then some "ALLUNITS" catchall, t2 4, t3 6, exp 8? And enforce it so ATP mods don't interfere?

Or would batching or target sharing be possible? Like one unit of a type can just 'give' its target to a nearby unit of the same type? Or I guess a unit searching for a target asks nearby allies of the same type for their target, checks if it's in range/valid, and then if not proceeds with a whole target check?

Possible counters:
1- retreat.
Alright that's all the S tier stuff, let's see what else we got.
2- Pull back from com v com action. From there you need to evaluate where he is weak and exploit that. You could keep sending stuff at the com, hoping he over extends, or otherwise occupy his APM, then hit his power generation and storage. He might be overcharging, so you could help him into a power stall. Also, pulling back, building t2 pd in range and holding fire until the last moment is nice too. Combine with bombers because of the aforementioned power issue.

Would it be possible to put voting in the game? I cannot remember specifically, but there were a few games with problems after the ranking cutoff where I had wished some way to have the players present agree to unrank the game.

I would like to disagree with this petition. I think their compliment of weapons makes them good in their role, and the TML of their cruisers fulfills the role of shore bombardment nicely.

ITT something that is actually a detriment to the Sera shields is their size. Easier to get hits on with various things, more spillover from other shields. It's a small one, and I doubt it's often pivotal, but I exploit it as often as I can remember to build shield disruptors

I'm pretty sure it's intentional by the original devs. That the ability to only be at T2 but upgrade to t3 is a bonus for the other factions. Intentional like it's comically small radius.