View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0000512AI War 1 / ClassicSuggestion - New Unit Ideas - CapturablesOct 15, 2010 12:04 pm
ReporterMoonshine Fox Assigned To 
Severityfeature 
Status consideringResolutionopen 
Summary0000512: Galactic Gate
DescriptionFluff wise, A Galactic Gate is a complex built around a wormhole of altogether larger power than the interplanetary ones we have ingame. A Galactic Gate wormhole leads to another galaxy. The purpose of the complex is both to keep the wormhole stable and to police traffic through the wormhole to ensure that transit is only one way; at the other end of this wormhole is valuable territory and the AI discerns no reason for two-way transit. The AI uses Galactic Gates to cheaply relocate ships that have already been warped into play between galaxies.


Ingame, a Galactic Gate functions as follows:

1) The Galactic Gate is fairly large and tough structure on an AI world. They are fairly rare and probably 1 per galaxy (maybe a special AI has more but that is later days...)
2) When held by the AI, small groups of ships regularly emerge from the Gate in a quantity proportional to AI Progress. These are much much smaller than waves, but fairly regular.
3) These ships that are produced, wherever they are in the galaxy, then attack the player in the same manner of gaurding ships that have been freed- harassing wormholes and retreating where they discover strong defence, only to attack somewhere else- effectively a constant source of raiders.
4) This can lead to significant amounts of wormwhole harassment at high AIP; at lower AIP it is just a source of constant minor raids and ships moving between AI planets.

5) If the Galactic Gate is destroyed, it explodes like a Nuke as the wormhole collapses (with cool FX). This brings with it an appropriate increase in AIP. The AI will attempt to destroy player held Galactic Gates, which makes capturing these somthing of an AIP & nuclear liablity, which will make defending them rather interesting.

6) If a player captures a planet containing a Galactic Gate, it is then reprogrammed to open in the location of a hidden human resistance base. Upon capture, small waves of CPU controlled Human Resistance ships will regularly emerge from the gate in the same manner as the AI ships, and proceed to raid the AI worlds and assist the player(s).
7) However, this is balanced against an increase of wave size of attacks on that planet (x2 or x3 depending how productive the Gate is implemented as)

Strategically, this could be very interesting. As an asset, early game especially, it would be a very good aqquisition as it would support players with additional micromanaged ships that dont cost any energy or resources. It would provide a significant amount of ships over course of a long game, making earlier aqqusitions all the more benefical. In single player, it would make the Human player feel less alone to have allied controlled vessels, even if they are an extremely minor power. Stopping a significant amount of the AI raids would be a satisfying acheivement that would most likely justify taking the planet.

However, in the early game the increased wave size would be quite a concern and would make Galactic Gates potentially a liability if in a position where shutting down all the adjacent warpgates is impossible.
Later game it would be an even greater liability in the sense that waves get big enough to threaten high HP units. if destroyed by the enemy, it nukes the planet and signficantly increases AIP. this would detroy said enemy wave and allow the human player to recover swiftly, but the increase in AIP from losing the gate AND the command center of the planet from the nuke would be a significant penalty.

thoughts?


Originally by: superking
http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,4583.0.html
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal Weight

Activities

There are no notes attached to this issue.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Oct 15, 2010 10:14 am Moonshine Fox New Issue
Oct 15, 2010 12:04 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status new => considering