About that Human Home Forcefield Generator...

[Hearteater]

Just want to preface this with: I don't think the home-FF needs any buffing of any kind.  It's a free FF that doesn't eat up cap so you are never encouraged to destroy it to put a FF on some other front-line system.  That being said...

I don't like any changes that affect force-field immunity.  There should be a way for that stuff to get through, otherwise the AI win conditions are even narrower than they already are which I don't think is good overall.  The best change I can think of is buff armor to 500k and reduce health to 10-15 million (from 20) for a 150-275% more damage absorption.  This does make it weaker against the few max AP units, and especially against the Zenith Polarizer (note that the Polarizer fires Dark Matter which there is a Counter Turret for).  Leaving the health alone would make it better across the board except against the Polarizer, which I think would still be a good buff that leaves room for an interesting edge case.

If it really needs new abilities, I'm hesitant to mention immunity to Plasma Siege splash because I actually like that the AI can threaten the player with that unit.  I may change my mind if waves ever get changed to allow 50 Plasma Siege Starships at once.  A built-in Gravity Turret, Built-in Counter Sniper and Built-in short range Tachyon beam are thoughts.  I actually strongly support reducing its radius.  I think that would actually make it live longer.  Maybe 70-90% of a Mark I would be ideal.

[chemical_art]

Remember, the issue was that the home FF was voted for a buff, not a creative nerf, nor a re imagination of it.

If any re imagination of it still results in a nerf, it will come up in the next poll if offered, unless said pollisters dread what the next "buff" will be, and, in the process, defeat the whole point of the poll.

[Hearteater]

If you interpret 150-275% more damage absorption as a nerf, I'm inclined to think either your having some issues with either math or reading.  I'm not sure which.

[chemical_art]

No, I'm referring to other things.

Nothing is agreed, so me saying proposed "buffs" are worst then the orginal means nothing.

(In other words, I'm not referring to anyone in particular (especially you), but I hear multiple "buffs" feel worst in my opinion then the orginal FF design, especially given it was #2 in a buff poll)

[Ricca]

While not solving the 'problem' of stuff like Eyebots or Raids, why not give it a more subtle buff? Give it the HP of a Mk1 or Mk2 FF Gen, and the armour of a Mk1 or Mk2 Hardened FF Gen.

Sure, it could leave you kinda vulnerable to Polarisers, but...

[unclean]

I voted for it because I really liked the idea of immunity to forcefield... immunity, since it would stop cheesier stuff like getting killed by vampires in the first minute. If it can't be done I say just move on to the next winner.

[Diazo]

Actually, I like the tachyon beam and counter-xxxx abilities getting added.

Raid starships are annoying but  you can see them coming, it's vampire claws that I loathe (and never see coming).

Give them tachyon out to 150% of the force field radius would be justified I think. Does not actually increase the damage threshold or anything but now you can see those stealthed ships, of which a lot of raiders are and gives your turrets time to get a single salvo off before they are upon you.

D.

[Hearteater]

Just an FYI, Vampire Claws cannot attack the Home Command Station.  It is immune to them.  So are the irreplaceable Cryo Pods and Settlements.  So all Vampire Claws can kill is replaceable stuff.  The biggest danger is they knock out your energy production.  Otherwise they aren't a huge issue early game.

Truthfully, Plasma Siege is probably the biggest "screw-you" a player can face in terms now, until Raid Starships start showing up.  Plasma range just makes it so hard to keep damage off irreplaceable structures.  Again, I like that threat, but I can see the Home FF providing protection from it (possibly absorbing all the splash damage itself).

@chemical: Thanks for clarifying.

[TechSY730]

I'd vote for plasma seige "damage spreading" immunity, unless that would interact poorly with forcefield stacking. In which case I would vote for my second choice, buff it to at least Mk. II FF stats.

[unclean]

Just an FYI, Vampire Claws cannot attack the Home Command Station.  It is immune to them.  So are the irreplaceable Cryo Pods and Settlements.  So all Vampire Claws can kill is replaceable stuff.  The biggest danger is they knock out your energy production.  Otherwise they aren't a huge issue early game.

Yeah nevermind, they must have just taken out a power generator, so the forcefield went down and other units killed the station. I'm remembering it all wrong.

[platinawolf]

Make it be the highest priority forcefield but let it zap health from other forcefields? Sure, it has the risk of making the FF really OP but still ^^* Being able to fuel both your army and your forcefields takes a lot of power so you'd have to keep stuff alive anyhow. And then you can add in immunity to immunity to forcefields and immunity to damagespreading without the human FF being made easy to kill? *Shrug* Just a thought, just a thought.

[TechSY730]

On a semi-related topic of home command station defense, can you PLEASE make Home command stations auto-repairible regardless of the large project auto-assist cutoff? It's so annoying to have to set my home planet's cutoff to 3334 (as 3333 is the rate the home command station repairs at), and to have to explain to new players why they should do something similar, or at least why their engineers aren't auto-repairing THEIR MOST IMPORTANT STRUCTURE IN THE GAME.

[Faulty Logic]

Why are the little +AIP structures there in the first place?
I suggest incorporating them into the Home Command Station, and buffing its health to something reasonable (about 10 million). Though this would leave the actual hff as is, I think it solves most of the problems which led to all the votes (certainly it solves the original annoying_restart_due_to_early_ff_immune_things problem, which prompted my original nomination).

[doctorfrog]

On a semi-related topic of home command station defense, can you PLEASE make Home command stations auto-repairible regardless of the large project auto-assist cutoff? It's so annoying to have to set my home planet's cutoff to 3334 (as 3333 is the rate the home command station repairs at), and to have to explain to new players why they should do something similar, or at least why their engineers aren't auto-repairing THEIR MOST IMPORTANT STRUCTURE IN THE GAME.

[Hearteater]

I believe the +AIP on the little structures is somewhat to create a situation where the AI can be partially successful in a raid.  Otherwise, the only partially successful effect they can get is to knock out the home FF, which is irreplaceable and we are looking to buff to ideally make even harder for the AI to knock out.