Suggestion - Limit health/attack bonuses in metaunits

from AshesoftheSingularity Forums

Right now some individual units give bonuses to dreadnoughts in metaunits - zeus gives more health etc. I think this is a good idea but there has to be a limit to the bonus, or it's going to be make large meta units unbalanced and take away any positioning/flanking strategy from the game.

I saw this happen in a game few days back - a large enemy group with a Hyperion dreadnought was coming up to one of my nodes. I had three smaller groups nearby, with bunch of T2s and one Hyperion dreadnought - none of my groups were as large enough as the enemy group, but together they were large enough that I thought they could either hold off the enemy or at least inflict serious enough damage that I could then clean up with a reserve group. My three groups were also well positioned to surround and hit the enemy group from three directions. What happened though was that since the large enemy group had multiple zeus and medics, the Hyperion had a massive boost to both health and energy. That enemy group basically slaughtered my three groups - it wasn't even close.

Now I understand that the game wants to encourage us to make meta units to take advantage of those bonuses. But if there is no limit to bonuses, then there is an incentive to make as large a meta unit as possible. This also removes the strategy element of making smaller meta units to use in flanking maneuvers. I think a solution is to have either a 1) limit to the bonus health/energy/attack to dreadnoughts from units or 2) introduce some form of diminishing returns. I totally agree with meta unit bonuses, but right now their lack of any limits is narrowing the strategies we can use and encouraging only large meta units.  

20,833 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

I'm fairly certain that the Zeus already has diminishing returns on the bonus.

Reply #2 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Do you have to create the metaunits to get these bonuses and if so how is that done?  I mean just sending a dreadnaught with a pack of zeus' is not enough to buff the dreadnaught  health right?

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

@MnMShow - Yes, metaunits have to be created to get those bonuses. Simply sending some Zeus next to a dreadnought will not apply any bonuses.

Reply #4 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

@ TheRealWarpStorm - If there are already diminishing returns for hp boost from the Zeus, the severity of the diminishing returns should be increased. And same for other buffs too, from the Nemesis for example.

I think the main objective of metaunits design should be simplified control of large groups of units and the resulting emphasis on macro strategy. The buffs should be a minor incentive for creating metaunits and should be toned down.