Absolutely a fair point, but if their reclaim speed is super low then there exists an opportunity cost. Likewise a player with a small proportion of engies in a mix, or better yet dropping engies can do something very similar.
Regardless of that matter it still applies to the other two units.
TIL. Shows how much I use mantis for their BP lol.
Why do they not? Seems thematic in the raid bot formula.
Could just be lazy and make it an emanating ball of light as the animation.
@jip Yeah I had realized that as I went along writing it. Hence why I stopped filing it out completely.
I absolutely draw inspiration from black ops acus, but I see no reason not to cut a lot of this out. So please address points individually. BO ACU suffers from being 'word salad' where its not immediately clear what upgrades you would take for a clear style of gameplay. Almost all of the upgrades have several actual impacts that are not at all concentrated in one sector. They also allow for some severely op combinations and generally break the traditional ACU scaling FAF intends.
I suppose I should explain some of the reasoning behind some of it.
Why?
Gun cost increase?
Generally tends to dominate all other acu upgrades in the meta currently.
Later gun options for other factions?
Allows for some limited play into the experimental phase, something UEF and to a lesser degree aeon are not capable of. Seraphim can do so because of the immense hp, regen, and damage output it is capable of plus having T3 mobile shields. Cybran is incredibly squishy/risky but can somewhat have an impact with the use of cloaking as a defensive option staying out of omni range long enough.
Air combatant?
Aggressive T2 air is one of the strongest aspects, and there is generally no strong counter to ASF spam. Making the single most important unit capable of making itself a counter, as it does on land increases counter play options and extends ACU risk reward factor.
Naval Combatant
ACU is largely irrelevant in naval maps with the exception of drops or some limited support of Cybran com in low tier low quantity naval engagements on small maps. Largely defensive because of the speed and risk in current form. Making the single most important unit capable of making itself a counter, as it does on land increases counter play options and extends ACU risk reward factor.
Commander Engineering Arm
Allows for a tanky engineer that is very mass bp efficent, while allowing more utility in other options over being locked into tech itself. Tech being less relevant as the game progresses and non ACU buy in cost is less relevant.
Support
Having a support choice that is near combat oriented allows for the player to play a more unit centric offensive style that does not rely entirely on absorbing damage with acu and microing OC.
Electronic Package
Adds variety in options and generally makes sensors a potential worth while upgrade all game, unlike as is current. UEF drones are a meme in 99% of cases so something a bit stronger with more utility that comes later may be good.
Mobility
Currently ACUs are completely inflexible in their ability to impact larger maps without having complete air control. A more limited option to increase potential impact over direct potential is good game design.
Weapon
One I am less sure of. Essentially more focused on stand off or AOE options that reward the aggressive playstyle gun already does, while allowing more counter against getting blocked.
Tech
Eco tech makes a more passive commander use more viable early on, extending existing eco versus aggression concept. Fire base tech is to give the player efficient tech access to allow a creeping style game play
Tech and TML are on the same mount option on account of how blatantly over power com TML can be, reducing the potential build power rate and allowing more time for a counter against something mobile is a good thing.
Defense
Mostly to provide some variety and make cybran acu not dog shit.
Tactical Weapon
Again to give the other factions some form of impact in extreme standoff or high risk infiltration options.
I explained the T4 and SACU limitations in the original post.
A new command that gives units the normally attack move with a weapon, to attack move with reclaim like an engineer.
Relevant for ACU, Harbs, and Mantis. The latter two generally not having their BP used at all, and the ACU limited in use case after the early game.
Use case would be somewhat limited, but useful where engineers are not immediately available. Raiding, after large defensive actions, or where the player under built engineers.
Why?: Raises skill floor by requiring less micro by using an aspect that already exists. Provides diversity in unit use case.
Ongoing, will clean up and change later.
As we all know some commander upgrade combinations can be overpowered at times. The gun upgrade meta exists. There is also a general lack of variety in my opinion, Black Ops ACU mod addresses this but is unbalanced and has issues beyond overly scoped.
So I suggest the following rework to both simplify and expand on this with the while staying relatively true to the original system
One key change is that only the ACU or SACUs can build experimental with one of the T4 engineering upgrades. SACUs should also be limited per match. Another dynamic to play around, effectively an extension of assassination snipe aspect, but without fully crippling.
--
A, B, C, etc denotes upgrade line, keeping previous features. Faction denotes limitation
1[B] Aeon) T2 Aeons other main gun
(Aeon gets two upgrades equal halves of the existing speed and range, earlier first, but more expensive overall)
1[B] Seraph) T3 Seraphs other main gun
1[B] Cybran) T4 Microwave accelerator
T3 ish gun upgrades for UEF and Aeon
2[B] T2 Air Combatant
Allows overcharge against only air units and power draw affects range and splash instead of damage + 1 T2 stationary aa guns mounted
2[C] T3 Air Combatant
Adds 2 high fire rate high velocity weapons with ~2x sam range. Adds minor damage scaling to air OC. Provides a directional shield that can only really stop air attacks.
3[B] T 2.5 Naval Combatant
Increases torpedo damage and range. Adds long range torpedo defense. Can build mines. Increases speed only under water.
3[C] T 3.5 Naval Combatant
Increases torpedo damage and range. Increases torpedo defense range. Gets mid range submersed only launch SAM and mid range cruise missile. Allows building static T3 shield on water. Further increases speed only under water.
_
Engineering Arm T2/T3/T4
(Provides the build power upgrades tech used to at an increased rate. Slightly increases build range per tier. A new tier.)
Electronic Package Suite
All increase vision, radar, and omni range as you go.
Cybran T1.5 stealth T3 cloaking
UEF T1.5 Jamming T2.5 auto reclaim drones
Seraphim 1km T1.5 scry 5km T3 scry
Aeon?
Mobility
T2 Cybran Leg speed
T2 UEF Jump jet
T2 Aeon Short Teleport
T2 Seraphim Hover
T3 Teleport
Weapon
Seraphim T2 & T3 Splash Artillery
Cybran T2 & T3 Sniper
Aeon T2 & T3 Shotgun/Flamethrower
UEF T2 & T3 Power Shovel (Quick garrison able structures & Short range high dps weapon)
_
Firebase tech- Combat Engineering T2/3/4
(Provides more health and some regen, unlocks techs)
Eco tech- Civil Engineering T2/3/4
(Replaces RAS and adjusted to fit tier efficency, unlocks techs)
Defense
T2 & T3 Aeon/Seraphim Shield
T2 & T3 Cybran/UEF Nano
Cybran/UEF T2 TMD T3 Mobile SMD
T1.5/T2.5 Aeon/Seraphim Illusions/Fake 1 shot Units
Tactical Weapon
T2 Tactical Missile
T3 Seraphim T3 MIRV (Like Cybran mml but harder to shoot down and flys higher and further)
T3 UEF Billy Nuke
Aeon?
Cybran?
Sprinkle in some factional diversity into the generics I made up.
So in an effort to improve my awareness, I'm trying to play on split screen. However that tends to break or misplace a number of UI elements.
Penguin suggested using this mod in an offhand quick search of the vault. It works pretty great except 2 problems.
If anybody has any info as to how to fix, this I would be greatly appreciative.
@doompants said in BlackOpsFAF-Unleashed only for FAF v20:
@Jip earning that cowboy hat! Thanks my dude!
@Uveso Happy Birthday!! Our group plays weekly on Fridays, but if you want some help testing the mod before you up it to the vault, just PM me with a link and I'll test what I can solo or rope someone into it during the week
.Only things I see missing is the Cybran ACU transport fix and the crazy-high Czar crash damage.
Lemme know when you play and ill join. Hardly anybody wants to play just blackops or blackops acu
Likewise Seraphim beam turrets can bug out sometimes and miss a target an keep firing at it.