Area Commands

[moonbearonmeth]

Why the f*** have we been necroing dead shit all week?

[Farmsletje]

Unit micro currently is a nicely balanced APM sink. A player that has time to micro has to get that time by being more efficient and elegant with the other commands and planning this is a good thing. A game should reward efficient/elegant use of APM.

But viewed in ISOLATION it is not interesting gameplay. Some might even call it "stupid". So if unit micro gets replaced by automated unit micro, a different APM sink (with better gameplay) should be introduced so that the feel of the game stays the same and the game still rewards efficient use of APM. So the discussion should be which gameplay mechanic (old or new) could fill the APM sink better than unit micro can now.

[R_Charger]

Had a little practice with this (with the minor changes to the lua as previously suggested) and it does work pretty well but not perfectly,which leaves room for apm to priortise juicy reclaim. The biggest change would be the ability to launch massive carpet bombing attacks and artillery bombardments of static armies. You can do this already with split attack but it takes longer and half the time I end up accidently putting a move order into the split attack queue and having to cancel it. Area commands are a great improvement on this. The area assist is also very neat. I for one think the fastest players would find others ways to use their apm such as splitting armies into smaller groups, flanking etc.

Is the performance hit of this mod too high also? Could we not use the hosted mod feature of FAF to try out possible faf improvements like this? This might help generate more replays so developers could assess whether it would break the game balance (e.g by making mass bombers too strong).

[NapSpan]

Had a little practice with this (with the minor changes to the lua as previously suggested) and it does work pretty well but not perfectly,which leaves room for apm to priortise juicy reclaim. The biggest change would be the ability to launch massive carpet bombing attacks and artillery bombardments of static armies. You can do this already with split attack but it takes longer and half the time I end up accidently putting a move order into the split attack queue and having to cancel it. Area commands are a great improvement on this. The area assist is also very neat. I for one think the fastest players would find others ways to use their apm such as splitting armies into smaller groups, flanking etc.

Is the performance hit of this mod too high also? Could we not use the hosted mod feature of FAF to try out possible faf improvements like this? This might help generate more replays so developers could assess whether it would break the game balance (e.g by making mass bombers too strong).

Pls explain how, several years playing this game, I tried to do that but in the end I just make control groups and do the carpet bombing "manually" after putting bombers in formation.

[R_Charger]

Sorry was that a question? It was difficult to tell. Were you asking me to explain why you do something? I think that's what you should do. My point was that it's much quicker and easier to set up split attacks but maybe I'm missing something in which case maybe you could explain.

[NapSpan]

Yep, I read it again and it was bad redacted. I was asking if the split attack really works. I tried to do it but never noticed any change, to my eye looked like a standard attack each unit going on its own.

[R_Charger]

Normal split attack in FAF works.

For this mod to work you need to make the simple changes in lua as discussed by Viba and Philip on page 7.

Its a Sim mod unfortunately as the people that make decisions think this change will reduce the skill of the game, whereas I reckon it would make split attacks, and mobile shield assists of control_
-grouped units easier. This would make army maneuver and composition much more important. Some units such as those with high alpha like obsidians or tech 3 tanks might also benefit from easier /quicker queuing of split attacks which could make them much more effective if managed this way.

[Platinumizer]

As if units with high alpha are not effective yet ...

[R_Charger]

That's not what I said. I was making the point improving area attack would likely make them more effective against other armies. I wasnt saying area attacks was a solution to a current deficiency with the units per se.

You know discussing stuff. The deficiency is that the current split attack is not as good as this mod. I really can't see why there is so much resistance to this. I've read the whole thread and agree with the thrust of the arguments exotic and admiral are making. I don't see how area commands dum down anything really, quite the opposite in fact. Having to individually assign assist orders, use a sub standard split attack, or use attack move or patrol to manage reclaim seems dum to me. Having assist/repair areas would be cool too. Now if we could define hot keys for units with less than x health we could send them back for repairs etc

[Platinumizer]

What seems dumb to you shouldn't be basis to why gameplay should be changed entirely, as its your subjective view. And making an aspect of the game automated makes the game easier thus less complex and interesting for many a people. Why would someone new to faf learn how to micro his units, if he can just use the area command?