Cybran reflection

[HighMax]

Hi,

This is my reflection after 600 games of FA, I started playing Cybran then went on to Seraphim then UEF then Aeon, and now I play any faction, the problem is that I don't see many reasons to go back to Cybran, there is little they can do that the others can't or that they do better, and unlike the other factions, everything they have unique, is at the price of something else, example, their main characteristic and only distinctive feature, the stealth, wich becomes much less useful once omnis are up, they have it at the cost of mobile shields, wich are always useful. They also have some unique and incredibly useless units, the fireballs or something like that, wich are so useless I almost forgot, and the soothsayer wich reveals ... your base ...

- Most of their units have less health than their counter parts in the other factions (For the same price).

- They have bombers wich are much weaker than their counter parts in the other factions.

- No Hover units.

- Their shields need to be enhanced 4 times (like I have nothing else to do), and that takes a lot of time, or else they remain very weak.

- No naval missile launcher (Except Plan B wich is way too costy to build in large number and for this sole purpose) simply countered with one single cheap anti tactical missile.

- No game ender or support experimental (Like Mavor, Paragon, Yolona Oss), this added to the fact that their T3 artillery are the weakest and with the least range (for the same price or almost), it really doesn't make things better.

- The only faction that can't outrange land defenses with navy, yes, since they have no naval missile launcher, and no naval unit with more than 128 range.

- The Barracuda is weaker than its aeon counter part, because of weak anti torp, for the same price, once again this is a sacrifice for stealth, a stealth that is nearly useless on such unit, first becauses there is alrdy the mermaid and the T3 sonar that gives stealth and secondly because it doesn't have the range to take any direct advantage from that stealth, since the vision of any unit is supererior to its range.

- Now let's see what they have unique :

- Mobile stealth, as we said, great, but looses much utility because of Omnis.

- Fireballs, we already talked about it. nearly useless.

- Soothsayer, same as above.

- Wagners, the only tech 2 amphibious unit.

- The Scathis, wich replaces game ender exp, the only land exp that is not amphibious, nearly useless in large water maps, it's mobile but has short range so you need to move it and in that moment it becomes vulnerable, easy to destroy, especially since the cybran doesnt have mobile shields, this unit would be more suited for seraphim who have heavy mobile shields.

- HARMS, can be useful as a defense in some situations or some maps, nearly useless in large water maps, they are immobile meaning they can be destroyed with two tactical missiles or a tempest ground attacking them.

- Hoplite, can be useful with its superior range, but much less powerful than its UEF counter part, the Mongoose.

- Jester, T1 gunship.

As you can see they have some few things but nothing great, I would give more credit to the few good tools the ACU has, like torpedoes, microwave beam and stealth.

I am not going to say Cybran are weak, but I believe they have too many disadvantages and not enough advantages to cover up them up.
So I believe they need some help, and since an entire new faction could have been made, I don't think it's grotestque to suggest new units for the Cybran, and these are my suggestions :

- A new indirect fire game ender or support experimental. (Like Mavor, Yolona Oss, Paragon)

*Example a counter-intel building, wich deactivates enemy omnis (or all radar) for a short period of time, requires a lot of energy to activate. However this would be more suited as a T3 building, instead of the southsayer.

- New unit : T3 Naval : Artillery ship, a ship who's sole purpose is shore bombardment from long range but helpess vs other navy, counterpart for missile ship, since missiles always have more range, this unit would have more range than battleships, but less range than the Torrent, like 170~180.

- Buff Barracuda's Torpedoes defense.

- Add an option for shields to directly enhance at maxium with one click, it's a nightmare to have to click and wait 4 times on each shield to enhance it.

These are major changes/adds that I believe are the most needed, but others could be thought of.

[ZaphodX]

A couple of things are wrong here - t2 shields got nerfed, HARMS is changed and can't be ground-fired anymore. However you make some good points. Not sure if this thread will fly with the timescale of balance discussions though.

[rockoe10]

Remember that Cybran are meant for a shorter game and fast elimination of your opponent (i.e. Mantis, T1 Gunships, T2 mobile stealth behind base and TML, rush Monkey Lord, etc).

Most larger maps are not meant to be played with the play style of the Cybran, especially with custom rules.

Just my 2/100 of a dollar.

[Softly]

Cybran are too strong at the moment in my opinion, after 1000 games.

[HighMax]

Remember that Cybran are meant for a shorter game and fast elimination of your opponent (i.e. Mantis, T1 Gunships, T2 mobile stealth behind base and TML, rush Monkey Lord, etc).

Most larger maps are not meant to be played with the play style of the Cybran, especially with custom rules.

Just my 2/100 of a dollar.

That's how I feel about Cybran too, if it's the makers of the game who wanted it to be like this then I have nothing to say, but that's stupid, I personally consider that all factions must have equal chances in any map depending on the player's skill not on what the faction has to offer.

[Ze_PilOt]

Faction diversity ?
It's a little poor right now, let's not level all factions the same way.

I'm playing Aeon, I've tried cybran in the ladder for 2 days, they play very differently, and it's good.

[stalewee]

I think cybran navy needs an anti-air buff, but otherwise they are fine.

[JeanLu]

Hi guys,

playing cybran for a while now, I still think the advantage of fast elimination is pretty small compared to the disadvantage of long games especially on big maps.
For instance, facing a fatboy when you are a cybran is very tricky.
Just my humble opinion.

[Softly]

Cybran have the best t1 bots, the best t2 bots with micro, competitive if not the best t3 bots, and thats just land!

If you have trouble with a fatty try a soul ripper. Those are awesome now... unless they have stockpiled lots of t3 air. If you only have a similar land force, and have totally lost air then t2 arty or just some tml launchers should do the trick.

[Arkansas]

I don't think the Cybran are remotely weak. They have great land units (Bricks, Deceivers, Hoplites, buildspam mantis) and some of the best air units (stealth guided missile asf and Corsair). They also have the guided torpedo bomber which is really nice. Oh they also have the telemazer and a stealthy strat bomber which are awesome lategame.