harvester force field should buff?

[rubikscube]

I personally dislike anything that uses resources FOREVER, even though it's on a harvester, greatly protecting it and taking 2, EVERY SECOND OF YOUR XX HOUR GAME. I would gladly pay a finite number than pay a infinite

[corfe83]

I think the underlying theory here is: if the cost were finite, it'd be a much easier choice. But it's hard choices, not easy choices, that make for a great game.

[rubikscube]

which is why i never use them, we should have a thread about the least used ships

[Ozymandiaz]

which is why i never use them, we should have a thread about the least used ships

huh, I use em a lot on some games, more so where the AI has cloakers, or on planets that is far removed from my main cluster.

Would be nice to have them only use -1 of each resource, since -2 of each can be a bit steep at times .

[vonduus]

which is why i never use them, we should have a thread about the least used ships

I almost never use eco-fields for the same reasons, but every three or four games I happen to have a resource point somewhere that is too close to the astrotrains or to the general enemy approach path - in this situation they are real handy (combined with anti-matter turrets).

So yes, it is one of those units that I use the least, but when needed it comes in handy.

[MaxAstro]

Now that resource nodes are immune to dark matter, the one use I had found of the Exo-field is no longer needed.  And most games, I need every resource I can get such that losing 1/6th of my resources from any respectable number of nodes is not really an option.

I wouldn't mind a change along the lines of making the exo-field more knowledge and build cost heavy, but with no upkeep; alternatively an upkeep of only 1 might make them a bit more palatable, but I probably would still rarely buy them.

[snrub_guy]

I find they were very useful in my last match, because of the "spokes" map type. On planets with lots of entrances, I went the route of spider turrets and a fortress or two. This was very effective, but in larger attacks, a little slow to kill every thing. The Forcefields were especially useful in the early game when I was being raided a lot, but lacked the power to do much about it. They helped me get my economy off the ground. I say definitely keep them with an upkeep cost of 1 or 2. I think a one off cost would be too easy a choice to make.

[WearyWarrior]

Just to point it out, every since ship you use has some upkeep applied to it, since all ships draw energy and the generation of energy takes an upkeep. The more energy you use the more upkeep you incur. Its just less clear most of the time but say something costs 10k energy (a few things do). even at its most efficient, not counting zenith, you get 40k for 15+15 or 30 total recs. 1/4 of 30 is 7.5 recs. So each of your z bombs and forts and sentinels are costing you 7.5 recs per second anyway. Since this is a redundant mechanic why not just increase the energy cost of the harvester FF gen to 2.5k or 3k. People would worry less about the upkeep and the net effect would be similar.