Author Topic: .103 Planet Mark Rework  (Read 2732 times)

Offline Zogheen

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.103 Planet Mark Rework
« on: March 02, 2017, 06:32:13 pm »
Am I the only one that's having issues with unmodded play after the rework? Now, there are only around five Mk1 planets in the galaxy, and every planet around my first world was Mk2, making them impossible to take with just the mk1 ships even if I sent my ark.
I wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one before posting on Mantis.

Offline keith.lamothe

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Re: .103 Planet Mark Rework
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2017, 06:37:33 pm »
Why is it impossible to take a MkII with your starting stuff? It may take a retreat or two, but I didn't find it difficult a moment ago. Actually took a MkIII not long after that.
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Offline lagomorph129

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Re: .103 Planet Mark Rework
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2017, 06:52:57 pm »
Before this change, I was running turret techs first because the Ark was so essential on attacks, I had a bit of trouble defending like the noob I am against nearly constant mkIV's and mkV's. But I was in fact able to take over even mkIV planets with hit and run (guardians>fleet>turrets) tactics. Even so, I only had at most 1 mkII ship type (usually bombers) at my disposal, and I would wait for full caps.

Offline treyra

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Re: .103 Planet Mark Rework
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2017, 06:55:15 pm »
Yeah its definitely doable. A bit of initial challenge adds interest.

What I've seen are walls of Mk IV planets with sensor arrays. (Around 5 all next to each other). That will be a challenge to get through, but as long as AI progress is low enough, I think it should be doable, if undesirable.

I've found the shields on the Ark let you set up a beach head and steam roller lower mark planets if you can support the metal to have a loop build running.

Offline BadgerBadger

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Re: .103 Planet Mark Rework
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2017, 07:05:17 pm »
The real thing is that half the planets aren't Mark IV anymore, which is great.

Offline lagomorph129

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Re: .103 Planet Mark Rework
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2017, 07:06:18 pm »
Just got home, but the forums were ripe with information, I'll be more than happy to have some ease starting up. :D

Offline Zogheen

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Re: .103 Planet Mark Rework
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2017, 07:15:54 pm »
After starting a new game I realized I was having a separate issue. You see after taking the first planet I went to the next planet over, and there were about 800 mkII ships (however many squads) on each mkII planet. I'm not sure why, I didn't increase AIP or spawn any waves. However, after restarting, now they only have 96 ships. So I guess yay, it's not actually that hard?

EDIT: After playing a bit, Yes, it is that hard (the extra ships were from the guardians, I forgot about that). While not impossible to take, it was much harder than necessary. This time I received enough science from my first planet to purchase one tech (that's never happened to me before). So, I decided to see just how long it would take to clear the planet without my ark. It took me over twenty minutes, and 10 full refleets before I cleared out all the ships except the immobile guardians.At that point, I sent my ark in to mop it up because I knew I would take it anyways.
I feel justified that it should not take that much to take your second system. I understand that previously there were too many MkIV, but previously you could also steamroll the first two or three near you before hitting a MkIV planet. I couldn't imagine the time it would take if you wanted to play a low AIP game with this balance, only taking planets of value.

EDIT2: I just tried using my ark, and it took three refleets plus whatever my ark produced while on the planet. While not nearly as bad, it still concerns me.
However, I've realized that I'm getting far to ahead in terms of balance, what with the fact that there are many things still to do, and as my immediate problem is solved.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2017, 08:55:12 pm by Zogheen »

Offline keith.lamothe

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Re: .103 Planet Mark Rework
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2017, 09:17:52 pm »
On balance, bear in mind that you don't have starships yet, among other things. I'm also thinking of having the AI defenses be less "dogpile the human at the first opportunity", but respond with fewer guardians at once unless you come in with a big force.
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Offline treyra

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Re: .103 Planet Mark Rework
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2017, 02:20:48 am »
So I just started up a new game tonight to try out the mark levels for myself, and while I agree it takes about 2-3 re fleets to take a Mk II planet right off the bat, I don't really have a problem with that. I never really felt like that there was any failure risk, since the ark's shields recharge in like 5-10 seconds once I pop through the worm hole, then I can go back to taking the planet. In all it took 5-10 minutes to capture the first planet (after the starting planet), 15 total for the first two. That seems pretty typical for AI war, and I imagine you could be faster if you wanted to.

So I think it comes down to a bit of personal preference. In classic you could certainly cruise through the neighboring planets without any worry, which made early expansion quick and easy. But on the other hand, the ark is a really powerful early game unit, so it seems to balance out the differences and might hammer in to new players the importance of keeping unit production up.

Offline bladeravinger

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Re: .103 Planet Mark Rework
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2017, 10:23:13 am »
Why is it impossible to take a MkII with your starting stuff? It may take a retreat or two, but I didn't find it difficult a moment ago. Actually took a MkIII not long after that.I just



shat on a couple of MkIV's with MkII ships, they dont chase yet like the AI would in classic, so Hard grind but easy win
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