After a few test runs I found that I rather enjoy the new salvage ball. It can be quite fun. Rather hard on SBS, TDL, Nienzul Carriers, and the like, due to shear number of drones being spawned and dying. However, it feels appropriate. You get to spam a ton of drones against the AI, and then the AI gets the salvage and uses it against you.
However, one thing I really hated was the rather big nerf this feels to zombie makers, IE, Nienzul Shadowships, Nienzul Fortress, and of course, the Botnet Golem. If I eat a wave, or get my Botnet and Shadow Battleship into enemy territory and clear out an AI world, I shouldn't have to deal with the free salvage the AI gets for killing zombies that will inevitably enter AI space and die. Typically they go in small groups, dying without ever doing much, unless the zombifier was already on an AI world in the first place.
The idea of units outside of my control giving the AI free salvage doesn't feel right. It's one thing with drones, because I control the unit spawning the drones. I can hold back such units for only defending my worlds, knowing that in either neutral or AI territory they will feed the AI salvage. Or I can use them in AI space, and have to deal with the salvage they feed the AI. Given how powerful such units are, and the rather low cost of drones, this is more than acceptable. But even if the zombifying unit is in my space, the zombies that get made will eventually end up in either neutral or AI space. And there is no way I can keep that from happening. The entire point of zombies is that they are uncontrollable, hyper aggressive units. And if I use a zombiefyer in AI or neutral space, I don't get any salvage, while the AI will get salvage from killing the zombies.
Personally, I feel that zombie units shouldn't give salvage to either player. Yes this is more of a buff to players than the AI, as it is players that will control such units more often than the AI. But while a Botnet backed by a Nienzul Shadow Battleship and MSDs can almost eat entire CPAs by themselves, the AI is going to get most of those resources back due to them getting salvage for any player unit dying in either their space or neutral space. And the only way I get any salvage, is if I allow that same CPA to make to my worlds in the first place. I beat back their big rush, kept my worlds safe, and now the AI gets back a percentage of the very same rush it tried to kill me with, just because I used zombie making tactics? Why even use a Botnet golem anymore? I already have to deal with periodic exos just to have the right to try and get ONE, its completely irreplaceable, and even with 100 million HP, it's rather fragile.
