Aeon ACU chrono dampener cost reduction.

[Ze_PilOt]

the Aeon ACU chrono dampener
reduce the costs from (mass: 2500, energy: 125000, buildtime: 1250) to (mass: 1750, energy: 52500, buildtime: 875) (mass costs reduced to 70%, energy reduced so it matches the same mass/energy relation as a weapon upgrade)

[ColonelSheppard]

I totally agree that the Chrono Damper has to be buffed, only tests will show if the values are good

[brn4meplz]

Even with a cost reduction I'm not sure this upgrade will be taken.(maybe if you could get it in late T1 or early T2. The aeon back slot just has a lot more attractive options just slightly later in the game.

Even at the suggested cost here your still paying more then a UEF or Seraphim commander does for a TML backpack. And the chrono damper has a crappy range and poor ability.

Normally I'd say do 1 change a time and walk it into balance but this upgrade is woefully inadequate in almost all respects.

I'll have to use it more to make a further suggestion. But cost alone seems inadequate

[Myxir]

the main reason why this upgrade is never used is the high energy costs, shield and RAS are more attractive ofc, but also require better ressources

[Wakke]

I think the OP's suggestion would be a good start to give this upgrade more daylight.

[Batmansrueckkehr]

i think it needs a buff - i tested this years ago. as it is now it is pretty useless. more range would be nice.

[ZLO_RD]

Agree with chrono buff, but if it stun t1 t2 t3 (t4?) and even air units and SACU, it need alot of tests

[brn4meplz]

Experimentals can usually be stunned(GC vs loyalist) ACU/SCU are immune to stuns.

Honestly I think a cost reduction and making it to that the stun effect occurs at the point of impact on the commanders weapon is probably the way to go. No one wants their commander to nut hug dangerous units.

At least if the effect was tied into the gun you could shut/slow down targeted areas of units every few seconds.

I really do think this upgrade needs to be an earlier game option, because RAS and shield are already just to sexy for late game.

[FunkOff]

I think chrono dampener should be rebalanced as a tech 1 upgrade, similar to standard gun upgrade. Right now, the mid-tech upgrade is the shield and the turtle upgrade is RAS... there's no way to make chrono dampened good in mid or late game without making one of the other upgrades obsolete.

[brn4meplz]

Ok so this thing doesn;t function like standard EMP.

It doesn't affect Experimentals, It does effect SCU's.

It fires off every 5 seconds or something and disables for 2 seconds I think.

It fires off out to default cannon range(22).

There is no way to control the power consumption, it just fires off on it's own, so a single unit will trigger it. The only way to prevent it from discharging is to set the ACU to Hold fire, which means it won't fire it's cannon at targets either.

I'd propose:

1)a Toggle option. Either Off; no Chrono dampener discharge. Or On; initial Discharge and one every 5 seconds thereafter.
I think thats required at the very minimum.

2) Cost decrease to 1000M, 28000E Build time 1000

3)AoE reduction to 8(from 22) but the discharge location is Point of impact from Commanders gun. So that you're not sacrificing HP to engage T1-T2 units. Also, this would give synergy with the Range upgrade of the Aeon Commander and having all 3 early game upgrades(Range, Rate of Fire and Chrono) would make him quite offensive.

Thats where I'd start with changes. I'd play it through a few times on 5x5 maps and see how it went.