Don't ever build UEF shoulder drones on setons

[Badsearcher]

So there I was on Setons building a t3 pgen and energy storage around it and I was under a shield. So I figured all was good, right? But I had shoulder drones and the enemy air commander just so happened to fly his ASF blob (consisting of about 50-60 planes) right over me, no big deal, right? WRONG!

Because I had those two stupid little practically useless shoulder drones, his whole blob shot through my shields in a matter of seconds, and because asf has minor splash damage, not only did they destroy the drones but they chain reactioned my energy storage and pgen, and killed me. Totally didn't see that coming. And this isn't the place to suggest fixes but I think it's absolutely ridiculous that AA can target drones and fire through shields (asf aren't balanced with their ability to damage shields in mind).

At least I can't complain that this game doesn't have its surprises.

[ColonelSheppard]

uh ho
replay + time pls

[Icy]

UEF construction drones are technically air units. Anti air weapons can engage them as if they were any other aircraft. When a swarm of ASF do this, the first hit kills the drone, and every other shot behind it keeps going to melt whatever is behind the drone because the game is a simulation.(ASF actually do not have splash damage)

It's always been pretty common to see people use ASF blobs to tear up UEF shielding when there are drones underneath. Usually this happens because someone has a kennel farm. The ASF come knock out the shielding and something else follows up. The same principle also applies to any other low flying aircraft, or any aircraft landed under a shield. I've even seen ASF kill fatboys and sink cybran cruisers when something was hovering close it to land on the air staging.

What you described sounds no different than a nuke hitting a plane or a cybran pd killing a tac missile. Just another crazy moment in supcom.

[eXcalibur]

this is exactly the reason why i love this game!

first you think: "what the f*** happened?"
then: "this game is total bullshit!"
later you think:"this would have happened the same way in the real world. wow, i have never thought about that!"

just learn from it:
when you play against uef and the other guy builds shoulder drones, send your asf...
when the other guy has a t4 nuke, send your asf...

[Wakke]

This is kind of an unwanted side effect, imo. Makes 0 sense that planes can only attack a shield if there are flying units under it. How to fix it though?

[Tango_X]

I don't believe this until I see the replay.

[ColonelSheppard]

better belive it http://youtu.be/jfKucA2UnjE?t=2m48s

[Badsearcher]

later you think:"this would have happened the same way in the real world. wow, i have never thought about that!"

The problem is that this is a game, the units are balanced with a certain likelihood of outcomes in mind. Are ASF balanced to be improvised base attack units? No, they are not, the game is supposed to be balanced in which, if you want to kill a fixed asset inside of a shield, you're supposed to pay for that ability in some other way, like strat bombers.

In reality, there's nothing stopping any airplane from shooting something on the ground but that under that logic you could justify making the asf a full on ground attack unit, now I bet you're not comfortable with that idea.

I think a 95% nerf of asf weapon damage to shields (and shields only) would help preserve the ability of AA to target drones while not making drones a liability in advanced bases. Just keep in mind that the only alternative is to make drones useless on large asf maps or to have the occasional unwary person (which judging by the disbelievers here, are quite a few in number) get knocked off.

Thank you for proving what happened Sheppard.

[Badsearcher]

And yes, if UEF can't build drones out of fear of getting ASF sniped then this does give Cybran and their hives a huge advantage.

[ColonelSheppard]

I think a 95% nerf of asf weapon damage to shields (and shields only) would help preserve the ability of AA to target drones

bad idea, you can hide gunships under shields and continental would be new raping unit