Cybran has radar stealth, give UEF T3 scouts jamming, give the Seraphim scouts a temporary vision bubble where they crash, give Aeon scout a larger Omni radius.

Politics is a poison to anything it touches.

Idea. Change the Aeon absolver to have a similar fire rate to the Serenity, instead of 1 shot every 2 seconds make it more like 1 shot every 10 seconds and increase the damage it does to shields accordingly so it has the same DPS.

Theoretical Cybran absolver (Dissolver?), have the 1 shot every 2 seconds of the original Aeon absolver as the high fire rate keeps in line with Cybran trends. No hover, possibly amphibious like a Wagner or Engineer.

Theories of how this could play out?

Seraphim sniper bots mixed in with navy and shields.

I always thought of the UEF as good defenders, Seraphim as good attackers, Cybran as the stealth team, and the Aeon as the specialists. I know it's not 100% true across the board, but I'd say generally speaking it is.

@maudlin27 The AI Logic button is messing with the Nomads somehow, though I'm not sure it's a priority. It makes all of the commander ability buttons appear, but none of them work anymore, even if you have the upgrade.

Without over-explaining, I'd rather the Mercy do less damage and have more HP.

I'll give Asylums to a Cybran player all day to increase their horror potential, Or if someone wants Ravagers I'll likely just give an Engineer because I might not want to put the mass in for that. I don't mind engineer swaps personally, because there's still logistics and additional cost involved in doing it. Air transports, movement time, what if the transport is shot down or the engineer dies, then once the engineer is transferred over its up to that person to fund any project they want.

@maudlin27 I like the torpedo damage/Sub HP idea the most. I can think of some faction-specific pros and cons, but a sweeping benefit would be torpedo turrets for all factions would be more interesting.

I think that fuel is a mechanic that the game should put more light on. Not only does the speed of the aircraft come into play when responding to a threat, but its ability to sustain a pattern for long periods could shift balance and play. It may be worth it to bomb enemy air fields if fuel had a bigger impact.

Aeon T2 shields are great as they are. They're small but they have great HP and they're cheap to run only made better my adjacency bonuses.

I wouldn't say identical, but a lite version of them at least. The traits of a commander that are the most used or prized, or something similar to it. The Seraphim commander can be upgraded to be an absolute monster, a support commander with overcharge is more than a fair compromise in that regard. Light Microwave laser on a Cybran SACU? Does anyone even use the AoE stun gun on the cybran SACU that late in the game?

I can see how balancing or changing SACUs could be next to impossible. If they're too much like an actual commander, then people may not use the commander for some roles and instead use a support commander. If an Aeon SACU had a stun AoE, or if the Seraphim SACU had its own HP regeneration field, you may retire the commander to the back field and not risk the commander in combat. Sure, a SACU would be a late-game addition to any army, but a powerful and more disposable addition. Thinking about this, how would you balance SACUs so they they support an army and not replace the army itself? I can see why there hasn't been any big changed to SACUs, it's a tightrope walk that could break the current balance of basically everything. Likely not saying anything new.

The T1 and T2 submarines have this, but not the T3 Seraphim sub, the Yathsou. Shouldn't it? Or is this a vanilla FA/compatibility thing?

Putting in suggestions because suggestion.

@maudlin27 The AI Logic button is messing with the Nomads somehow, though I'm not sure it's a priority. It makes all of the commander ability buttons appear, but none of them work anymore, even if you have the upgrade.

@deletethis Yes! This is perfect, it answers most of what I wanted to know. Though, it could be added to. Some names of units seems to be old god names from the Cthulhu mythos, but a little different. Examples being Othuum, Arwassa, Ythogtha, Vulthoom.

Had anyone looked at the unit names for the Seraphim units and "translated" it? I've thought about it now and then, and I see patterns. I can't be the first person to think about it.

For example, Selen is scout, Yth- has something to do with missiles (Tac or strat), Ia- tends to be things that shoot at aircraft. -Ioz seems to be some form of "Denial" and is shared by Strat defence, T3AA, and torpedo bomber.

This makes me wonder, what values about a unit could an aura change? We can see that it can change Max HP and HP regeneration, but can it do other base values like movement speed? Fire recycle time? Muzzle velocity? I imagine any kind of aura skill would be limited to the values it's able to change.

If auras in general are out, there are other options. With the Aeon, the heavy shield pack could help tank damage similar to a GC so that harbingers could do work. Seraphim is fine with Light Overcharge, if personal shields are out then maybe Nano1 and Nano2 like the commander?, UEF is good with the heavy shield dome, Cybran getting a light microwave laser would be interesting as a body slot, leaving them with less HP but high damage output.

I like how SACUs generally function now, but their cost and other balances need to be rebalanced.

Also, when I go to spawn in Cybran SACU, before it is placed it has a jetpack. What's up with that?

UEF changes seem fine, would have to see it play out. The Aeon SACU Chrono idea is going to be like walking a tightrope, it could be overpowered or bad. The Cybran changes are kinda odd, damage aura? The Seraphim could be very interesting, if the regen aura gives more total HP as well, it could be amazing for army escorts but the loss of shield makes them less competent lone actors.

I like the idea of using SACUs as single actors or small strike teams, but is the purpose of the changes to make SACUs become support units to be mixed into armies, or escorts for experimentals? If so, I'd say remove sensors on the UEF SACU and replace it with mobile tac defense. A stealth field generator for Cybran. I'd love to see/know what the values are on the Aeon sensors and Seraphim regen aura.