Buffs to not so useful unlocks

[Kahuna]

Just a couple of ideas how to improve the game and open up new strategies.

Advanced Warp Sensor
Give Advanced Warp Sensors 2 new abilities that would hack/mess (not an actual HACK. would NOT cost HaP) with the AIs warp in stuff thingies.
The first one would delay the wave by a couple of minutes (2 or 3?) and the other one would make the wave spawn instantly.
The player could activate these abilities by adding them to the "build queue" and "building" them. It would cost some resources and put the Sensor on a cooldown. Max 1 Advanced Warp Sensor per planet. Knowledge cost for unlocking would be increased to 1250.

Zenith SpaceTime Manipulator
Make them give 50% of the speed buff to adjacent planets.

Harvester Exo-Shield
Change name to Exo-Shielding. In addition to shielding Harvesters it would also double the health of Engineers, Rebuilders, Cleanup Drones, Scout Drones, Mobile Builders, Colony Ships, Energy Collectors, Matter Converters, all constructors (no warp gates) and Command Stations.

Counter-Dark-Matter Turret
Change name to Energy Shield Generator and change it's category from "Turrets" to "Support Ships" (Or just add a new "thing"?)
Reduces the damage taken from Energy weapons by 20% (Energy Bomb, Energy Wave and Energy Burst). Costs 3000 Knowledge.

Economical Command Station
Mark I: Increase energy production to 25000 and resource production to 45/45
Mark II: Increase energy production to 50000 and resource production to 90/90
Mark III: Increase energy production to 75000 and resource production to 180/180

Logistical Command Station
Mark I: Max enemy ships speed 64 (planetary) and resource production to 28/28 (average of economical and military). Also repairs all nearby allies (5000 range)
Mark II: Max enemy ships speed 48 (planetary) and resource production to 64/64 (average of economical and military). Also repairs all nearby allies (10000 range)
Mark III: Max enemy ships speed 32 (planetary) and resource production to 128/128 (average of economical and military). Also repairs all nearby allies (15000 range)

Military Command Station
Make the Railgun disable Warheads.


EDIT:
Armored Ship Hangar
Holds up to 200 ships. Repairs the ships inside and protects them from Nuclear explosions and EMPs. 10 million health and 100000 armor.

Terraformer
Terraforms the planet (or whatever) to provide supply even if it has been destroyed. Can be built anywhere with a Mobile Builder.

[alocritani]

Economical Command Station
Make the Railgun disable Warheads.

I think you intend "Military"

Anyway, I really like all your ideas!

[Cyborg]

I like most of these. This should be a mantis item. I think that the warp sensor just needs to be improved so that it's 100% reliable on what wave/exo is coming from which wormhole. Overall, I find it only reliable for very specific wave events. I don't need it to do anything other than give me information to make decisions with.


I probably still wouldn't purchase that Counter dark matter turret/magnet. In general, I would like to see shield effects as being more beneficial towards burst than damage over time, given the fact that many strategies involve low HP where doing percentages like this would not be helpful. Consider if all of our shields were percentages instead of being static burst.


I am also not in favor of the terraforming, but I could probably be convinced. This looks like a workaround for nuclear missile effects, which I think should be permanent. At least right now.

[zoutzakje]

I like the ideas, i just kinda hope that the warp sensor idea won't get implemented. Considering the early game unlocks i make (mostly always the same right off the start), I wouldn't be able to afford the AWS knowledge wise. I only need 1 of them for my homeworld since i use logistics everywhere else, but still
I kinda feel like the AWS is good as it is though. Not everybody uses logistics everywhere like me, and just knowing where the wave will come from is really helpful to prepare for it. You don't always have the opportunity to neuter warp gates before waves arrive.

[Draco18s]

Neutering gates won't stop a wave once the timer's active.

I've tried.

[zoutzakje]

yeah that's what i meant. In my mind a wave arrives when the timer starts. That's when i have to check if defences are allright or if i need to send fleet support, etc. I almost never look at the battle itself so i don't really care about the actual arrival of the wave. I just keep an eye on my attack/threat bar while I work on other things. sorry for the confusion.

And yes, I tried that too once never again

[Kahuna]

I kinda feel like the AWS is good as it is though.

I think It's completely useless.

[Vinraith]

I don't think the AWS has any practical value in its current state. That said, I'm having a hard time imagining a situation where being able to adjust wave timing would the worth 1250 K to me (maybe if you were playing cross planet waves?). The general statement used to be that AWS's were a "newbie" unlock for people that didn't really know how to deal with waves yet, and that they had a corresponding dirt cheap knowledge cost. I'm not sure there's really a way to rescue them from that role.

[Bognor]

Heh, I always unlock AWS at the start of every game, and put one on every planet.  I just assumed that's what everyone did.  I guess it's my playstyle - I barely ever have a single whipping boy that takes every wave. 

[Vinraith]

Heh, I always unlock AWS at the start of every game, and put one on every planet.  I just assumed that's what everyone did.  I guess it's my playstyle - I barely ever have a single whipping boy that takes every wave.

Interesting. I'm genuinely curious: is knowing which particular wormhole they're coming through on a planet really all that useful? One of the problems with AWS's, to my thinking, is that many new players believe they need them to know which planet a wave is coming to. Just IDing which wormhole the wave comes through has never struck me as worth 250 knowledge.

[Draco18s]

Interesting. I'm genuinely curious: is knowing which particular wormhole they're coming through on a planet really all that useful? One of the problems with AWS's, to my thinking, is that many new players believe they need them to know which planet a wave is coming to. Just IDing which wormhole the wave comes through has never struck me as worth 250 knowledge.

Ditto.  I never use them.

[Kahuna]

It doesen't matter which wormhole the wave is coming from. You either stop the wave or you don't and AWS doesen't help you with that. Well.. I guess it could help you have a bad habit of build turrets close to wormholes.

[Bognor]

Heh, I always unlock AWS at the start of every game, and put one on every planet.  I just assumed that's what everyone did.  I guess it's my playstyle - I barely ever have a single whipping boy that takes every wave.

Interesting. I'm genuinely curious: is knowing which particular wormhole they're coming through on a planet really all that useful? One of the problems with AWS's, to my thinking, is that many new players believe they need them to know which planet a wave is coming to. Just IDing which wormhole the wave comes through has never struck me as worth 250 knowledge.

In my current game, which I admit is an extreme example, I started with three mutually adjacent homeworlds in the middle of a crosshatch galaxy.  That meant there were 12 hostile wormholes.  When the first waves were announced, the AWS let me see which wormholes to defend with Grav IIIs and Tractors, and which of my homeworlds to buff with additional Sniper and Missile Turrets.  I kept doing that for the first few incoming waves.  Eventually I built Tractors on every wormhole and a network of Grav IIIs around every homeworld, and deployed all my Sniper and Missile Turrets, but it was far too expensive to do that in time for the first wave.

Other advantages of knowing which wormhole a wave is coming from include:

• I can position Leech Starships to maximise reclamation
• I can position Mini-Forts, Modular Forts, and any long-range fleet ships to attack from outside enemy range
• If the wormhole is close to a command station or irreplacable, and/or the wave is particularly tough, I can pull back fleet for support, and/or build extra short-range turrets with appropriate hull bonuses near the wormhole (though Kahuna has me re-thinking that last one)

250 knowledge seems like a trivial cost to me.  It's 1/10th the cost of mark II fleetships.

[Draco18s]

which wormholes to defend

*Cough*

Well.. I guess it could help you have a bad habit of build turrets close to wormholes.

Not that I've tried the alternate strategy yet myself (haven't had a game in months, only saw the tactic a few weeks ago).

[Vinraith]

In my current game, which I admit is an extreme example, I started with three mutually adjacent homeworlds in the middle of a crosshatch galaxy.  That meant there were 12 hostile wormholes.  When the first waves were announced, the AWS let me see which wormholes to defend with Grav IIIs and Tractors, and which of my homeworlds to buff with additional Sniper and Missile Turrets.  I kept doing that for the first few incoming waves.  Eventually I built Tractors on every wormhole and a network of Grav IIIs around every homeworld, and deployed all my Sniper and Missile Turrets, but it was far too expensive to do that in time for the first wave.

Other advantages of knowing which wormhole a wave is coming from include:

• I can position Leech Starships to maximise reclamation
• I can position Mini-Forts, Modular Forts, and any long-range fleet ships to attack from outside enemy range
• If the wormhole is close to a command station or irreplacable, and/or the wave is particularly tough, I can pull back fleet for support, and/or build extra short-range turrets with appropriate hull bonuses near the wormhole (though Kahuna has me re-thinking that last one)

250 knowledge seems like a trivial cost to me.  It's 1/10th the cost of mark II fleetships.

Interesting, thanks for the details. It just goes to show that there are a lot of different ways to play the game, which makes it all the harder to figure whether something is useless in general or just useless for you. It might be interesting to consider possible upgrades for a hypothetical Mk 2 AWS, though, either along the lines suggested in the OP or otherwise.