Planetary defense centers and other ramblings of a Sinsomaniac

from Sins Forums

Hi all, I've been having a blast with Sins since launch day, and while trying to force myself to sleep for an early workday, found myself half-dreaming about possible features for a future patch, expansion, sequel, or mod.  I'm not making any claims as to balance, so numbers can vary, but these are just food for thought, do with it as you will.  Here they are, in no particularly organized fashion. (If this should be in some preexisting thread, apologies, I didn't spot one with a casual search.)

 

1.  Planetary defense centers:  for those who think defense needs a boost, or think planets should have some ability to "fight back," how about an additional upgrade option for planets (I'll leave the cost for others to ponder).  Planets might have a tiered upgrade which would allow them to fire on ships in proximity with race appropriate weapons: Advent beams, Vasari missiles, TEC kinetic weps.  Each tier might give for example the equivalent of 2 turrets.  Make your capital upgradeable say 4 times, regular planets 3 times, and asteroids 2 times.  Perhaps have the firepower decrease proportionatley with damage to the planet.  Consider reducing TEC planet damage if firing through their planetary shield as it affects incoming fire.  Up for grabs if it should take up tactical slots, etc.

 

2.  New turret types:

  A. Grav amplifier---slows enemy movement in its effect radius (5%, 10%?, stackable effect?)

  B. Armor booster--- raises friendly armor in radius by certain percentage

  C. Tractor beam---Immobilizes a single target while antimatter supply lasts

  D. Antimatter suppressor---slows enemy antimatter regen rates in radius

  E.  Electronic warfare sat---confuses sensor readings of enemy (various possiblilities...could switch icons or actual images in its radius).

  F. Shield sat---gives modest shield hitpoints to everything in radius

 

3. New ships: 

  A. Planetary defense boats:  Non-jump capable ships, one for each class, use slightly reduced pop cap and resources

 

4. New mechanics:  consider Pirate "bias bounties."  Instead of automagically going after the highest bounty, perhaps the bounties could be used to "weight" a random selection.  I'm not prepared to go into higher math, but one example might be  if bounties on 3 players were 1000, 1000, and 2000, the pirates might have  a 25%, 25%, 50% chance of hitting those respective players on that launch.

 

5.  Fleet cap/huge map tax stuff......yeah right, I'm not touching this with  10 parsec pole.

 

So there we have it, maybe this might inspire something, or at the least let my Sins mania die down enough to let me get some good sleep tonight.

 

Stay Groovy

19,191 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Anyone.....anyone.....Bueller?
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Actually, I think these are some really good ideas. I particularly like the "bias bounties" idea. The implementation of such a system would make the pirates more independent and less a go-for for the various factions.

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
4. New mechanics: consider Pirate "bias bounties." Instead of automagically going after the highest bounty, perhaps the bounties could be used to "weight" a random selection. I'm not prepared to go into higher math, but one example might be if bounties on 3 players were 1000, 1000, and 2000, the pirates might have a 25%, 25%, 50% chance of hitting those respective players on that launch.


I'm sorry, but terrible idea. Part of the reason pirates are in there is to give economic players a weapon. When they can double or triple the bounty on someone else and still get hit themselves, that just makes for bad gameplay. I'd have to say that I think you're just tired of losing bounty struggles, to which I'd reply, if you know you're going to lose, don't force them to raise the bounty so you get off easier.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Part of the reason pirates are in there is to give economic players a weapon. When they can double or triple the bounty on someone else and still get hit themselves, that just makes for bad gameplay. I'd have to say that I think you're just tired of losing bounty struggles, to which I'd reply, if you know you're going to lose, don't force them to raise the bounty so you get off easier.


Actually, since I'm mostly a single player kind of guy, winning bounty struggles against the AI hasn't been an issue for me. I just have found the predictability factor something that might use a bit of spicing up. I see your point about the econ focussing player, but this would still give them an advantage, just maybe not as predicatable. I tend to take a rounded approach in games (expansion/battles/research/econ), so yeah, this might punish the econ players a bit much, but for me, I'd like a bit more uncertainty. To each his own I suppose.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Actually, I think these are some really good ideas. I particularly like the “bias bounties” idea. The implementation of such a system would make the pirates more independent and less a go-for for the various factions.

I really don’t care much for the bias bounties idea, myself. There’s already more randomness in some sections of the system than I’d really like, I don’t think adding to that randomness and decreasing my feeling of control by changing Pirate Bounties in this way really adds to game-play. There’s already an element of randomness in the bidding process because the “time for final bids” is random. It’s a far better game-play element to feel like “damn, I got sniped at the last bid!” than “oh, the computer’s picking on me again.”

In the default situation, you can actually make meaningful choices to respond. (“I’ll bid it higher next time!” or “I’ll snipe him by watching more closely!”) In your proposed situation, really, nothing you do has a direct, observable result and you don’t necessarily know why things happened as they did, so in trying to do — whatever it is you’re trying to do — you actually end up reducing opportunities for meaningful decisionmaking, which is what games are about in the first place.

Short version: Bad idea. Don’t do it.


Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
i dont really care for any of those ideas. Planets CAN fight back... you just have to know how to build them up...

Good luck to someone who tries to break through my 23 turrets and a repair station. And thats on astroid... planets are even more well defended. fighter bases take way too much tactical slots and are just not worth it... they give you flexibility, but at a terrible price. Rarely I will use them, but normally there are better choices.

These kind of stacking defenses not only make no sense, they will make planets invulnerable.

And planetary defense boats? for gods sake just increase your fleet logistics capacity and build a defense fleet.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
Fighter bases make sense with carrier defense groups. Nothing like a mob of fighters pounding someones leveled up cap ship to scare them off... Not saying that turrets aren't a great option either. Just don't count them out.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
Yeah, I have to say, I've switched to turrets and I'm not going back to hangers. They do less damage and are easier to kill. The added range just isn't worth it- with the tac points I save, I can space out my turrets enough to cover 80% of that range anyway.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
I must be the only one not having any issues with defending my planets and thinking that defense is perfectly balanced. But then again, I'm the only one I ever see investing in defense. Having an AI or opposing person jump into one of my systems, get swarmed by 8-10 fighters/bombers, having to deal with defensive turrets and phase disruptors and repair stations, AND having a carrier or other capital ship with small fleet sitting on defense only a planet or two away is normally too much for any opponent to handle. This is a proven strategy I've had that works in many RTS games (not Blizzard games though). I shore up everything under my control, then offensively go after opponents.

Try changing your tactics and you may face improvement. If you know the advantages and disadvantages of units well, then you can handle just about any incoming force unless it's truly massive. AI's and people tend to immediately turn around when attacking me unless they have a really huge fleet. Those phase disruptors really make a mess out of an enemy's attack plans should they have to retreat...which normally doesn't work.