Forged Alliance Forever

Re: There are no bugs, only features.

2014-02-11T21:21:51+02:00

I watched that video you linked ZLO, I liked it, especially at the end when he basically says we're here for the show and not the win.

That's totally true in my case, I play vs the AI and spend a lot of time tracking units and spacing around the camera. I especially love watching the spider bot shred trash mobs

I like turning experimental into mean-ass point defense and watching it just chew up suicidal ground forces. (I would love an immobile version of the spider bot that trades legs for shields and range.)

Statistics: Posted by Innomen — 11 Feb 2014, 21:21

Re: There are no bugs, only features.

2014-02-11T20:58:00+02:00

In case of FA it is game about balance and efficiency
you balance your power/mass, build power/resources, attack/defence, atry/tanks, build units/build eco (or build air instead), balance your attansion around your army or base and look what enemy does, also need to think when and how you will tech switch if you can't rely on micro you build your game plan around that fact

but most of thouse thing happening naturely in game and you may not need to think much =\

It just impresses me when 2 players "dance" around each other and go trought tech tree trying to counter each other and just playing "by the book"
but also some times game goes really unpredictable way, to cause that kind of stuff some times just enought to move ACU in not regular way, and it is very funny to see how top players desigions and how they try to solve situation and went ahead, or they can just go all in suddenly...

some times on roanoke you drop your engies on enemy side island and taking it, but acu comes and takes island back, and you just go "whatever/i do not care" t2 navy rush/all in and kill him...
maybe it is not best example, but it is just funny to see outcome of desigions, and how you may change all your plan instantly cause you scout your opponent doing weird stuff, and you have to react properly...
like did you ever ctrl+k your own extractors to get mass? ^_^
also your desigions may depend on enemy skill level, like you know you can still loose but some tactics your opponent may not counter, however thouse tactics can fail easily against skilled player
i think about all that stuff, i often think about wich way i should place my 1rst factory, so it will be more efficient

your build patterns maybe be perfectly efficient but your engyes may stuck at each uther all the time and may loose alot of time cause your build order does not optimised in case of patfinding, like if you place fac closer to hydro to make engy and make hydro fast, but some times fac blocks way for acu alot xD
thouse are just my thoughts, but i agree that this game is not much about strategy, but at least more than other RTS imo...

Edit: since engy mod you can choose alot bettwen single assisted factory or many slave factories with adjustency

Edit 2: this video is review of Supereme Commander and Supreme Commander :FA made by russian PC gaming magazine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaVjZf1lwMU i almost cry when listen to them, and add english subtitles by myself long time ago (my english was not best back then) they talk about balance in supreme commander

Statistics: Posted by ZLO_RD — 11 Feb 2014, 20:58

Re: There are no bugs, only features.

2014-02-11T21:01:14+02:00

Each of those units/actions have arbitrary limits that negate their being functionally equivalent to their real-life counter parts. TML for example is nothing like a modern cruise missile. FAF TML can't even track a moving boat at a range of mere tens of kilometers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk_% ... l_Tomahawk

These things have an 810 mile range.

To put that in perspective:

http://www.freemaptools.com/radius-arou ... &fc=00FF00

Now how big is the largest FAF map again?

And the tunneling isn't for attack it's for defense. Those mass extractors are digging holes. It would be wise to put sensitive stuff in them.

But none of that is relevant. Like I said, it's just arbitrary game rules, and I get that now.

Statistics: Posted by Innomen — 11 Feb 2014, 20:56

Re: There are no bugs, only features.

2014-02-11T20:28:16+02:00

Where are the cruise missiles and suicide bombers?

You mean TML and Fire Beetles?

Why can't AA fire at ground targets?

Well, Cybran T1 mobile and Cybran Cruisers can.

Why can't I crash aircraft into anything?

Ctrl+K when the time is right, it deals crash damage.

Where are my tunneling machines?

You do realize that making tunnels IRL takes months if not years right?

Statistics: Posted by Sulo — 11 Feb 2014, 20:28

There are no bugs, only features.

2014-02-11T19:26:49+02:00

"There you go again, thinking logically."

~My Dad

He says that to me all the time when I deploy my logic in nonsensical situations.

I've been doing that my whole life, and RTS feature requests are among the oldest manifestations of this higher order error.

RTS isn't actually about strategy. Especially at these levels of technology. High skill, obviously, hence the sometimes boot-camp level of training endured, but strategy? No, not really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbpCLqryN-Q

Does that mean this game sucks? No. The opposite really. I love this game, but I need to stop thinking strategically when I play it. I need to stop comparing it to actual war or reality to any degree. I need to stop thinking like a general and weapons designer and start thinking like a gamer.

This game isn't about strategy. It's about hiding paper rock scissors (maybe checkers, at best, definitely not chess/go) behind a twitch mechanic and calling it cerebral when in point of fact it's physical.

This particular type of RTS fills a similar niche as disaster and apocalypse movies. To compliment the competitive player's intelligence with diminished cause. To give them an arena to haze and be bullies in that they can be proud of instead of feel guilty for. To reward time investment and physical training as if it's an intellectual activity and a birth talent as opposed to a honed thoughtless "in the zone" skill that boils down to who has spent more time and who best absorbs received learning. That sounds overly harsh but it isn't really because it's just a game. It's no more harmful to be the douchbag I just described here the it is to be a mass murderer in GTA. It's a game. If being a royal prick here is fun for you, awesome. That's what a game is about really, freedom. Including the freedom to be annoying and arrogant

To win, you copy what the top players do, while ignoring what they say. (That's the path to victory in most contexts actually.)

It's really just a race game when you get down to it. But it's still damn fun even so. I've just given up hoping it turns into something more. There will probably be no more suggestions from me. I'm just going to chalk up absurdities to intentional arbitrary game rules because it's ultimately pointless to ask for pawns being given the right to attack like kings, even if it does make more logical sense.

Asking an RTS game to be more realistic about military delegation of duty for example, especially in the deep future, is begging it to stop even having land war and start looking like sins of solar empire or gal civ.

These ground fights are absurd from a spacefaring strategic/physical law standpoint. Nothing on the ground could withstand high velocity tungsten rods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment

And don't even get me started on missing existing technology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prompt_Global_Strike

Where are the cruise missiles and suicide bombers? Why can't AA fire at ground targets? Why can't I crash aircraft into anything? Why can't aircraft collide? Where are my von neumann war machines and grey goo? Why even bother with factories? Where are my tunneling machines? They are absent because they have to be. The horsey doesn't move that way

War at this level of technology wouldn't exist for long. But this isn't war, it's fun

"World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." ~Albert Einstein

Statistics: Posted by Innomen — 11 Feb 2014, 19:26