T3 Air Balanceteam only

[Master_Vallex]

we should think about shorten our textwalls i just see :/

[pip]

For the last month and more, the changes tested were mostly Zock and Brainfart ideas. I am trying my own approach in this version. I used feedback from the community and took some inspiration from Diamond mod.

T3 bombers:
There has not been much positive feedback about the castrated t3 bombers that can be countered too easily by t2 and t1 aa. More importantly, it seems capital for them to have a very long range to ensure they will drop (with 70 range, I saw a replay where 3 attempts to drop with 10 t3 bombers each time ended up in no drop at all ), which means they cannot be countered at 80 or 90 range by flaks before they drop, unless your flaks are very far from your base.

These are the reasons why I want to give them back significant health (hp reduction only 10%, so that 3 SAM salvo destroy a bomber) and their previous altitude to evade t1 AA, and to nerf their damage by 20% instead (same as in Diamond), in order to limit their sniping ability . This comes with a similar price nerf (-20% mass cost, -10% energy cost). T3 bombers will be more expandable, less good for sniping (though if you want the same damage output as before, send a t2 bomber behind a t3 one, it will cost the same price), but still able to make several passes over areas that are not heavily defended by anti-air.
As for army fighting, since t3 units have 20% less health, it's all good, strat bombers are even better than before in that role because they cost less.

Static SAMs:
In order to ease the possibility to counter strat bombers before they drop, I want to test slightly more range on SAM so that forward SAMs can have a chance to kill strat bombers before they drop. 3 salvos kill a Strat bomber.
Their price is doubled and more in line with a t3 structure. It's roughly the same cost as a t3 bomber, and you need a significant investment in tech and resources to be able to counter Strat bombers (not just a last minute row of t1 aa).

Mobile SAMs:
I think they are the key to actually improve t3 air gameplay.
I originally intended to release them in a separate mod, but since the mod vault is not working now, I am including them in the balance testing mod so that people can see how they impact late gameplay. They cost the same as previous static SAM, have less range, and few HP. Forward mobile SAM should be able to counter t3 bombers before they drop, if you have enough. They will also thin out ASF packs and reduce the need to spam them, though they are significantly more expensive than ASF and nowhere near as fast.
Their HP is low, so they can be killed easily by land units, and even by air units like strat bombers (or even t2 bombers) if packed together, or by spread out t3 gunships (flaks are better to deal with t3 gunships).

I hope that with them as a new feature, more people will be interested to test out the balance mod, especially in big team games.

N.B: the Seraphim has a versatile t3 mobile unit, the lightning tank, that can also shoot moderately at land targets. It makes up for the lack of t3 gunship, with good faction diversity.

ASF:
I want to keep ASF low fuel idea for now, even though it's not too popular, with just a small adjustment (same fuel as interceptor). If it still annoys players too much, the idea will likely be dropped altogether.

T3 gunships are kept the same, they seem to be in the right spot.

Please, test a lot, and let us know what you think of this new version in the dedicated thread.

[pip]

T3 mobile sams are removed due to technical difficulties and too short time before testing phase ends.