I got a bit lost in the latest posts, since they are long, English is not my mother language and its really hot here .
Anyway. What I was annoyed of and, as I think, chris was annoyed of too, is the line of upgrading.
- At first, I get the crawler. It's good against melee, nothing wrong with it.
- Second, I get the mk2 mech (don't remember the name). It looses its special advantage against melee, but is overall stronger and therefor this is not critical. 8x1,4 = 11,2, that's ok compared to the general strength of 11 @ mk2.
- Third, I get the "mk3", and the problem arises with it:
1. It's far more expensive than mk2 PLUS
2. It's only slightly stronger (13 I think) than mk2, but has only one bonus strength, compared to three or four of the mk2's. PLUS
3. It looses the ability to intercept. PLUS
4. Most important: I can't build the mk2's anymore!!!!!!!
Now I feel fooled by the game. It simply feels illogical. Imagine you are the Ixian general in command and your forces are under frequent air attacks. Your troops defend quite well against them with your mk2 mechs. Suddenly your Lord arises before you and says: "Great news! Our factories now build the mk 3 mech. It costs more than twice as much, is weaker against all vehicles and all kind of aircraft (11*1,5=16,5 > 13), and may no longer intercept. Oh, and this means that we are no longer able to build the mk2 that saved our asses (or what Ixians have)." You'd draw your lasgun and blast your lord into his atomic pieces. Oh, never mind, the game doesn't offer this option.
So I reload and try to avoid that tech as long as possible. Weird. Not flavorful. Not funny. And no interesting decision. No Ixian would REPLACE the mk2 with the mk3, he would only ADD it.
That is why I changed it that mk2 upgrades to mk4 and thus can coexist with mk3.
A specialty like "+40 % against melee" is one thing. You can still fight against melee without it, and given you get enough other advantages in exchange for the loss it may - and frequently will - sound like a good deal. Scorpions get slower in the same manner, and nobody complains about it. But loosing a complete ability (here: interception) and having it reduced to zero is another thing, at least when upgrading (and build options) kicks in.
In this case its even worse since it's combined with "not enough" compensations on the other hand. The latter could be done by tweaking, but the former can't (at least not that simple).
This is why I find it legitime to propose and support reworking here. Maybe the reasons to design it in this way were good and senseful, but the solution is certainly not.
Anyway. What I was annoyed of and, as I think, chris was annoyed of too, is the line of upgrading.
- At first, I get the crawler. It's good against melee, nothing wrong with it.
- Second, I get the mk2 mech (don't remember the name). It looses its special advantage against melee, but is overall stronger and therefor this is not critical. 8x1,4 = 11,2, that's ok compared to the general strength of 11 @ mk2.
- Third, I get the "mk3", and the problem arises with it:
1. It's far more expensive than mk2 PLUS
2. It's only slightly stronger (13 I think) than mk2, but has only one bonus strength, compared to three or four of the mk2's. PLUS
3. It looses the ability to intercept. PLUS
4. Most important: I can't build the mk2's anymore!!!!!!!
Now I feel fooled by the game. It simply feels illogical. Imagine you are the Ixian general in command and your forces are under frequent air attacks. Your troops defend quite well against them with your mk2 mechs. Suddenly your Lord arises before you and says: "Great news! Our factories now build the mk 3 mech. It costs more than twice as much, is weaker against all vehicles and all kind of aircraft (11*1,5=16,5 > 13), and may no longer intercept. Oh, and this means that we are no longer able to build the mk2 that saved our asses (or what Ixians have)." You'd draw your lasgun and blast your lord into his atomic pieces. Oh, never mind, the game doesn't offer this option.
So I reload and try to avoid that tech as long as possible. Weird. Not flavorful. Not funny. And no interesting decision. No Ixian would REPLACE the mk2 with the mk3, he would only ADD it.
That is why I changed it that mk2 upgrades to mk4 and thus can coexist with mk3.
A specialty like "+40 % against melee" is one thing. You can still fight against melee without it, and given you get enough other advantages in exchange for the loss it may - and frequently will - sound like a good deal. Scorpions get slower in the same manner, and nobody complains about it. But loosing a complete ability (here: interception) and having it reduced to zero is another thing, at least when upgrading (and build options) kicks in.
In this case its even worse since it's combined with "not enough" compensations on the other hand. The latter could be done by tweaking, but the former can't (at least not that simple).
This is why I find it legitime to propose and support reworking here. Maybe the reasons to design it in this way were good and senseful, but the solution is certainly not.