Making the economy more Awesome, adopting the electric field

[SeraphimLeftNut]

Disclaimer: I have no idea if this is possible and at what CPU cost.

If someone could make this as a mod, it would be awesome, if you see obvious problems with this or know that this is not possible, also let me know, so I won't waste time.

As we witness the decay of Western Civilization, reflected in the backwards economy choices in Planetary Annihilation, I would like to put forth a proposal to advance the spirit of TA further.

Energy storage in Supcom FA has been a long standing issue, with trillions of units of energy wasted every month on FAF. Everyone wastes it, even the top players, although at a much lower rate then the average noob. Connecting power storage to OC has been a great game improvement on FAF, but the problem persists. Given the chaotic nature of power use, it is almost always necessary to overproduce in order to keep as many options available at any game time moment as possible. Creating structures that are able to hold a set amount of power, is an awkward solution to this problem. Consider the following alternative based on the electric field.

The point charge unit: A unit that can be made to take any charge from -10 to +10, moving to the set charge value at 0.02 units per second.(0.01 per tick)

Properties: Not reclaimable, Not givable, Not capturable, Very volatile scaling with charge, health similar to t2 pgen, appearance and size similar to regular power storage(or smaller).

Cost: 420 mass, 2100 power, built by T1 engineers

The unit is built with initial charge at zero. If it is the only point charge on the field, its charge can be taken to any value between -10 and 10 with no loss or gain of energy. If another point charge is present then a change in charge of either point charge is accompanied by an energy gain or loss calculated by the following equation:

(Energy produced or used by a given point charge) = - (Energy of the given point charge on the previous tick) + SUM over all other point charges [(charge on the given point charge, current tick)*(charge on the nth point charge, current tick)/SQRT(distance to nth charge)]*(-18657)

Square root of distance used instead of distance, to discourage farming an to allow more interaction with allies and enemy.

At distances less than the mantis weapon range the contribution to point charge energy is assumed constant, with no discontinuity at mantis weapon range distance.

All point charges on the field, whether enemy, allied or your own are equivalent with respect to the above equation.

Storing Energy:

Two point charges are constructed with the charges set to approach values of the same sign.(See attached image C)
Energy is consumed, with the increase in charge, at a progressively higher rate. With increased charge the units become more volatile(explosive) and changes based on amount of charge and sign to allow for intel acquisition by the enemy. (red/blue based on color with increased bloom with charge, etc.)

Massive storage and fast extraction: Point charges of the same sign are built in large numbers in close proximity.(useful for collecting energy for things like teleports) Large charge buildups can be exploited by the enemy to steal the power, unless properly protected by shielding charges.(smaller charges of opposite sign closer to enemy)

Generating Energy:

Two point charges are constructed with the charges set to approach values of opposite sign.(Image A,B) This is possible to do with allied or enemy point charges, but efficiency decreases with distance. The balance will be to make these less efficient than t2 pgens, but in large team games this should give a lot of different possibilities, perhaps giving an alternative to the usual power generation progression.

The rate of generation or storage of energy depends on the given charge, with larger charges having a bigger effect, as well as the distribution of charges, that can be given directional qualities with respect to enemy/ally positions to share/deny/steal energy through the field.

Farming:

Given that charge only has two signs, a third point charge will be less efficient at generating or storing energy given its interactions with the other two charges. Efficient Farming will take space and an ordered lattice. Tech 2 and tech 3 power should be balanced to be more efficient, except perhaps for highest charge levels.

Maybe possible generalizations:

Moving charges might be bad on the cpu, but would be pretty amazing.

Large point charges given to civilians, allowing the player who gets closer to get an advantage.

Charges dropped off as bombs, to neutralize charge buildup used for power storage.

Higher tech level point charges that allow the change of charge at a faster rate, giving the ability to manipulate enemy resources.

Oscillating charges, denying enemy ability to use charges for energy storage/ generation.

Energy directed weapons forcing charge increase in enemy point charges, prior to a conventional attack, to maximize collateral damage.

Ability to give charge character to any structure.

[pip]

My first impression is that it's a bit complicated
I read everything and could only understand the jokes at the beginning. The concept looks like a mini-game more complex than any mechanics in FA's eco (more complicated than the dreaded adjacency), so I'm not sure it'll be popular.

[SeraphimLeftNut]

My first impression is that it's a bit complicated
I read everything and could only understand the jokes at the beginning. The concept looks like a mini-game more complex than any mechanics in FA's eco (more complicated than the dreaded adjacency), so I'm not sure it'll be popular.

The idea is that creating certain arrangements of point charge units will give you more energy and creating others will require you to invest energy.
You can change these arrangements by building point charges at certain positions and then slowly changing the charge, this slow change in charge translates into either an energy income or drain. Creating a distribution of point charges that required an energy drain, will allow you to recover this invested energy later, with the rate of recovering depending on charge magnitudes. The interaction between charges diminishes with distance, but it is possible to interact with enemy point charges and to steal energy.

It is not likely to be popular, but I think it has the potential to create a lot of depth for the few players that try it and understand it.

[IceDreamer]

I'm confused. It;s all very clever, but what's the POINT? What would this do to make my game better/easier over simply building another PGEN?

[SeraphimLeftNut]

I'm confused. It;s all very clever, but what's the POINT? What would this do to make my game better/easier over simply building another PGEN?

The point:

Creation of a field using structures that exist on the map that is qualitatively different from the current battlefield. This field is accessable by all players. The players create it, use it to generate energy or to store excess energy.
Energy generation is suppressed by the condition that increasing OPPOSITE charges increases energy. Energy storage is amplified by increased energy consumption that results from charges of the same sign in close proximity.
Distance dependence of the effect allows partitioning between players, with long range effects by the enemy only becoming important when one player has a big advantage on the other, or was able to secure a proxy base, from which to lead warfare on this completely new level.

New gameplay:
1. Unlimited Energy Storage
2. Ability to recall a large amount of energy fast
3. Ability to share energy with specific allies automatically through proper placement of charges, instead of manual sharing, and not in the limit where you have excess power.
4. Ability to steal stored energy from enemies.
5. Unique targets for snipes that can have drastic consequences in terms of energy flow through the field.
6. Organizing charges to create structures that, shield, steal or share, based on the structures created by the enemy and the terrain. Note that this is not a separate minigame, since these charges can be destroyed by the regular units. Map control gets a new incentive, with extra room allowing for more generation and securing positions close to enemy bases allowing for the suppression and/or extraction of their energy.

I think it is definitely worth a try.

[Gyle]

Id like to see some of the principles of this in a mod.

Although it concerns me that you might not be abel to shut a player down by killing his high value t2 or t3 power plants. If they have colossal amounts stored they potentially wont be crippled by a timely tml/airstrike's or whatever. Its more power to the turtles if you know what I mean. Im not usually against more power to turtles but you have to be abel to crack the nuts.

[SeraphimLeftNut]

Id like to see some of the principles of this in a mod.

Although it concerns me that you might not be abel to shut a player down by killing his high value t2 or t3 power plants. If they have colossal amounts stored they potentially wont be crippled by a timely tml/airstrike's or whatever. Its more power to the turtles if you know what I mean. Im not usually against more power to turtles but you have to be abel to crack the nuts.

If they have a colossal amount stored you can take it away by destroying the very volatile point charges, that have built up a high charge. Just like the T2/T3 Pgens.

I am going to go away for a while to try to learn to create units in Supcom FA. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Attached: is clarification to the equation in the OP.

[pip]

Thank you it's so much more clear now...

[Ato0theJ]

I don't think this is something many would understand or use properly, however, I like the idea of fields- imagine if there were a pgen than made lets say, 80energy at only twice the cost of a regular pgen, the downside?
It would be 3 times as volatile and have a field causes every other identical (not regular) pgen to be 50% less effective, so if you made 2 in the same area, it would provide no benefit. This would allow someone with map control early on to capitalize on their map control by placing these all over the place. Usually turtles get the edge in energy production, but this would allow for the opposite.

[SeraphimLeftNut]

How to punish a turtle investing heavily into the field:

Snipe all the (+) enemy charges

Build your own (+)

Snipe the (-) of the enemy

Build the (-)

This sequences of events would cause you to gain energy through your point charge construction, effectively moving the stored energy from the enemy to your own base.