Planetary Annihilation: Total Annihilation IN SPACE

[eRe4s3r]

edit: if you mean "this is all the AI built and then they just died," then lol

Yeah, that

Also maybe you over-read the part where "commanding my units" to actually attack the AFK AI dipped my fps below 15

[Wingflier]

@Eraser where did you get all those awesome unit icons? The ones that come stock with the game are really bland.

[eRe4s3r]

@Eraser where did you get all those awesome unit icons? The ones that come stock with the game are really bland.

https://forums.uberent.com/threads/wip-the-realm-community-balance-mod.58942/

If you get PAMM (the PA mod manager) there is an optional UI mod called "Realm Community UI mod" which co-exists with that rebalance mod, but also works stand-alone.

This was literally the first thing that bothered me.

[Wingflier]

Any idea if the UI mod can be used in regular games? Or would there be compatibility issues?

[eRe4s3r]

Any idea if the UI mod can be used in regular games? Or would there be compatibility issues?

Actually I have no idea.. I don't even understand what the difference is with the mods in this game.. UI mod, Server Mod? You should probably ask in the forums at Uber

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Any idea if the UI mod can be used in regular games? Or would there be compatibility issues?

If, and this is a major IF, it works like World of Warcraft's modding, it will work in regular games. Mostly because the changes are on your client and nothing goes to the server.

[Wingflier]

How is the balance mod? I looked at their manifesto and I was pretty impressed at some of the design philosophies. Specifically making "space combat" more interesting and making defensive options more viable.

It's kind of sad because in Total Annihilation there were some defenses that were so powerful they could literally rip apart armies like of pudding, defensive strategies were actually viable in certain situations. In this game defenses are kind of a joke unfortunately, and while turtling has never been my favorite strategy, it's sad to see such an interesting mechanic become obsolete.

[Mánagarmr]

Complains about bugs -> Uses mods. I'm sorry but lol. You can't really complain about the game behaving strangely if you are already modding it. Modding almost always brings with it strange side effects, particularly on the side of the AI.


Personally I've seen none of the issues you mention aside from slight FPS slowdowns with massive unit numbers. So...just saying that Erasers experience is hardly the only one.

[Wingflier]

I also haven't had the experiences Eraser is having either. I've used the AI many times and they consistently use T2 and play pretty intelligently. That's been my experience with it. Perhaps the mods are doing something.

[Mánagarmr]

In addition, I hardly feel defenses are pointless. The "tier 3" defensive laser tower is BRUTAL at mopping up entire armies, provided it gets a chance to actually fire (that is, isn't getting swamped by a bajillion units or taken out at range). Walls and a good setup of defensive towers definitely are viable.

[Mánagarmr]

My only complaint is that most of the defense towers have WAY too short range to be viable really.

[eRe4s3r]

to be fair, mods can not affect the AI in such way for it get stuck in PA. At least not for now. But you both can't know that.

Obviously mods can cause issues.. I just wanted to show that there are problems with this "release" with pathfinding and the AI/performance If you play Skirmish. For some reason in GW the AI is downright brutal. But in the 1 skirmish I played I experienced the above problem.

And playing without that balance mod is not an option. As you say, the ranges are too short. Balance mod boosts ranges. It does not affect any AI related functions of the ai cmd (the way mods work in this you can't do that anyway, only when offline play is available can mods overwrite fundamental AI functions).

Part of the reason I mentioned PA pathfinding issues is because I saw how it works correctly in Sup Com 2 just a few minutes previously

[keith.lamothe]

Maybe the AI in that game had a spotty internet connection

[Mánagarmr]

Actually using balance mods is a really good way to completely make an AI go bonkers. I've had that happen lots in SupCom, for instance.

[eRe4s3r]

Actually using balance mods is a really good way to completely make an AI go bonkers. I've had that happen lots in SupCom, for instance.

Yeah in mostly any cases I'd agree, but with PA and the way it runs the entire game logic on it's server you would have to REALLY try to break the AI, and this mod didn't cause that. ;P It literally only affects stats.