Poll: Worst Unit Of The (time interval) Award (VI)

[Wingflier]

I dunno, I'd favor dropping the penalty a bit but I don't see any need for repositioning --- the point of it is if you can't defend it, you don't take the planet, right?

Unless it's a planet you NEED to take, which happens all the time.

[Wanderer]

I dunno, I'd favor dropping the penalty a bit but I don't see any need for repositioning --- the point of it is if you can't defend it, you don't take the planet, right?

Unless it's a planet you NEED to take, which happens all the time.

True, but usually these don't appear unless you're fighting a particular AI type, which is it's 'special thing'.  I don't agree with how heavy handed the penalty is, but it's no worse (other than the AIP price) than having a Z-Gennie sitting on your planet that you can't let get taken out if you want to keep AIP down.  The benefits in M+C aren't equivalent to the Z-Gennie, of course.

[Hearteater]

My problem is the Entrenched Homeworlder is just plain un-fun to play against because the penalty is so huge currently.  Honestly, Scorched Earth is more fun to play against, and that's saying something.

[Wingflier]

I dunno, I'd favor dropping the penalty a bit but I don't see any need for repositioning --- the point of it is if you can't defend it, you don't take the planet, right?

Unless it's a planet you NEED to take, which happens all the time.

True, but usually these don't appear unless you're fighting a particular AI type, which is it's 'special thing'.  I don't agree with how heavy handed the penalty is, but it's no worse (other than the AIP price) than having a Z-Gennie sitting on your planet that you can't let get taken out if you want to keep AIP down.  The benefits in M+C aren't equivalent to the Z-Gennie, of course.

We're on the same page. I don't disagree with the concept, I disagree with the penalty. The Z Gen, which is frankly better, has 1/10th the penalty. If the ZPG had a 100 AIP penalty, nobody would build it.

[Ragnarok]

I cant vote ?

[zoutzakje]

I can't seem to vote anymore, but if I could I would also vote for zenith reserves. It just never seems worth it to open them. Even if my fleet is dying and a reserve is right next to my ships, I still won't open it. Not enough ships to justify the AIP cost. The only ships that can actually hold out are the bombards. The rest gets killed pretty quickly. Especially when opening a mk I reserve. I think I'll rather destroy an extra warpgate for wave control.

[Martyn van Buren]

What about viral shredders? I never care about anything else, but if you find one shredder you get a cap + of free ships.

EDIT: in a zenith reserve, I mean

[Hearteater]

This is why you can't vote:

Gonna go ahead and call this one, with the following winners:

Zenith Reserve (the ones that give ships)
Decloaker
Captive Human Settlement
Spire Armor Rotter

I was going to stick to 3, but the 4th will be pretty simple to just make it a more capable combat ship in general and treat the rotting as a minor bonus (not quite as minor as the chameleon's cloaking, but you get the idea).

Interesting on the Captive Human Settlement... maybe y'all didn't get the memo that it's basically a penalty structure   Or maybe we didn't get the memo (and horsehead) that y'all don't like penalty structures that are capturables...

[PokerChen]

On the Captive Human Colonies issue, I'm tempted to view it as more of a moral challenge... I would like more consequential decisions on interactions with other human beings in the game-world, like with Rebelling Colonies which we kind-of-have-to-save.

Now, I thought of a new idea for a harder AI -> a villainous change that could be implemented -> would be for these colonies to become hostage to the AI. In other words, the AI will actively attempt to destroy them if they are losing the planet (for a reduced AIP increase compared to the case where the player loses one after having captured it). This could, e.g., take the form of a count-down timer or a compulsory switch of ownership to neutral when the AI command station is damaged.

 A most super-villainous plot is for such a countdown to rigger for all remaining AI-held colonies when the player destroys a core guard post (non-Raid, non-CPA, as it is a nasty thing on its own).

 Might I suggest that 'captive/hostage' Human Colonies be transferred or copied into a plot or minor faction? This way, no one has to deal with these hurdles if they don't have to, and it will spice up all the other AI types - the old Entrenched Homeworlder AI essentially becoming Vanilla with "Captive Human Colonies" on 7/10?

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, I guess we'd need a graphic of a captive human settlement tied to railroad tracks

[PokerChen]

Yea, I guess we'd need a graphic of a captive human settlement tied to railroad tracks

"An astro-train has hit a human colony on Murdoch! (+20 AIP)"

Be careful what you wish for. ;P

[keith.lamothe]

FYI, the changes in response to this poll are now in the release notes for 5.043; I'll probably push that out tomorrow sometime depending on how much else I have time to put in.  But if there are any objections to the changes (particularly in the sense of "they're still really bad!"), now's the time

[rabican]

one of the ai types adds decloakers in every wave  (support corps if i recall right) , having 10-100 of these new ones spawn on waves might be hilarious

[keith.lamothe]

one of the ai types adds decloakers in every wave  (support corps if i recall right) , having 10-100 of these new ones spawn on waves might be hilarious

Yea, it's support-corps (adding decloakers and such to the other AI's waves, not sending waves of its own), but it would be paying for those at roughly the same strength cost as, say, spire stealth battleships due to the low ship-cap of decloakers.  Or have you seen 100s of them in a wave?

[rabican]

quick test . fist wave at 10/10 with support corps:

12 speed boosters (cap 78)
22 decoy drones (cap 9)
101 decloakers (cap 4)



been a while since i actually played vs support corps, but from what i recall this is pretty standard split for it, never thought of checking the cap for the units before.
Something bit amisss here.