Engymod improvements?

[DeimosEvotec]

This topic is for discussion of possible engymod improvements.

One problem some people mentioned in the past is that t2 and t3 slavefactories allow for very fast tech everywhere on the map.
One suggestion I have read from someone is to give HQs a new range indicator and only allow higher tech slavefactories inside that range but to me it felt not very fleshed out so I came up with a more advanced solution:
Give both the HQ and the slavefactories a range indicator and allow the slavefactories to relay the signal of the HQ.
So that salvefactories can be upgraded as long as they in range of the HQ or other slavefacs that have a connection to a HQ. The range could be along the lines of at1 radar or t2 artillery t2 radar, so it's large enough to cover quite some gaps but not too much. It adds strategic depth because you have the choice between building a HQ or have some slavefactories to relay from another HQ and then build a higher tech slavefactory. The first one is more expensive but can't be denied as easy because if one of the factories in between is destroyed you can't build higher techs in the slave-t2/t3 factory.

So, what do you think about this idea or do you have other ideas to improve engymod further?

[ZLO_RD]

Sounds really cool, hopefully there are colours left for new rings

[DeimosEvotec]

Maybe yellow like build range or something like this

[E8400-CV]

Just no

[zeroAPM]

It reminds me of the Allied tech mechanics in C&C RA3.

I.e. No, just no.

[Zoram]

I think it would add a unnecessary layer of complexity to the game. I don't think any UI improvement would make it manageable. Looking at color rings before placing a factory is just not practical. ( and for new players that would just be plain confusing )

[DeimosEvotec]

I have watched some more replays and tested a few more maps to get a better feel for the range and how it would affect gameplay and decided it would be better to bump the range up to something like t2 radar range. But you would be surprised how little it would affect gameplay most of the time, especially since you could just invest a little more resources and time and just build another HQ and don't care about the relay function of slavefactories.

[Aulex]

I have watched some more replays and tested a few more maps to get a better feel for the range and how it would affect gameplay and decided it would be better to bump the range up to something like t2 radar range. But you would be surprised how little it would affect gameplay most of the time, especially since you could just invest a little more resources and time and just build another HQ and don't care about the relay function of slavefactories.

Why not have them assosciate with tech level, a t2 fac has let's say the range of a t2 radar and a t3 fac has the range of t3 radar.

[Hawkei]

This is little more than a bad fix. Because it is introducing some overly complex criteria into the game. The whole concept of "Tech Teleporting" was precisely the reason why I was advocating against Engy Mod from the outset. Now that you have Engy Mod, you need to live with the consequences of what that now means for gameplay.

These gameplay mechanics were the intended change introduced with the mod. If you don't like them, you never should have introduced the mod to begin with.

During that time, there was another mod which I was working called Fac Mod and it didn't have these problems. But TBH everyone was behind Engy Mod and no one was really interested in other alternatives. So I stopped working on it.

[IceDreamer]

Just gonna put my opinion in that I think the whole tech teleporting thing has been good for overall gameplay. Games are, to my eye, more dynamic, more balanced and with better flow. Sneaky T2 slave factories create inventive gameplay opportunities.