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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0001185AI War 1 / ClassicSuggestion - New Unit Ideas - Turrets and DefensesJun 20, 2014 5:40 pm
ReporterLancefighter Assigned To 
Status consideringResolutionopen 
Summary0001185: Candy tech: Commandstation Exo-forcefield
DescriptionIm thinking a forcefeild that burns a small amount of resource (maybe 5/5?) that provides your command station with a 50m health forcefield or so.

The harvestor exo-shields big brother, that people might actually use more ;)
TagsNo tags attached.
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Relationships

has duplicate 0009534 new Exo-shield for command stations 
related to 0002655 consideringChris_McElligottPark External Invincibility Device 
related to 0015446 new Exo shields for irreplaceable structures 

Activities

zebramatt

Nov 8, 2010 7:29 pm

reporter   ~0003020

Cool.

TechSY730

Nov 8, 2010 7:42 pm

reporter   ~0003024

Last edited: Nov 8, 2010 7:42 pm

Hmm. Although 50m health sounds reasonable for the mid-late game, it would basically mean that in the early game your command station would be pretty much untouchable; with only small waves of Mk. I ships, there is no way the AI would have any chance of destroying it.
Two ways to deal with this, both with issues:
a) Reduce the HP. This may make is suitable for the low-mid game, but make it useless in the late game
b) Have it be very expensive (on the order of tens of thousands of crystal and/or metal). This makes it only practical to build in the mid-late game, but it sort of fails to be a "candy tech" at that point.
I think this idea has potential though, just tricky balancing issues. Also, would the AI be able to use it as well?

Lancefighter

Nov 8, 2010 7:49 pm

reporter   ~0003025

my thoughts is that this is the player version of the ai's commandstation shield - they get invulnerable command stations..

also, I feel its also the forcefield counterpart for the player, as the AI gets incredible HP forcefields..

also, 12m hp over each of your harvestors is hard to kill early game as well. Doesnt make it any less a candy tech :p

TechSY730

Nov 8, 2010 7:52 pm

reporter   ~0003026

Oh, forgot about the existing exo-forcefields :D
Yea, I guess its not that big of a balance issue.

KDR_11k

Nov 9, 2010 10:21 am

reporter   ~0003069

Make it like a regular Mk 1 or 2 forcefield except only buildable on the command station, the advantage of the tech would be no ship cap.

Chris_McElligottPark

Nov 23, 2010 8:40 pm

administrator   ~0004348

Out of scope for now, but possible for later. Possibly good for the community dlc poll suggestions.

TechSY730

Feb 2, 2011 5:51 pm

reporter   ~0009962

Added another suggestion because it addresses similar issues and it is intended to counter similar things.

TechSY730

Feb 2, 2011 6:25 pm

reporter   ~0009971

Sorry for the double post, but in light of the fact that exo-forcefields now get immunity to forcefield immunity, I think the cost needs to be bumped up from the original suggestion. And I do mean all costs, upkeep costs (or resource production nerfs, like the harvester version has), knowledge costs, build costs, time, etc.

Ozymandiaz

Feb 3, 2011 3:59 am

reporter   ~0009987

I think this is beyone candy-tech scope at least :). Hefty knowledge/cost for such protection imo ;)

HTL2001

Apr 11, 2011 8:30 pm

reporter   ~0011854

What about adding this as a trader item instead, so its not something you can reliably move forward with your front line?

martyn_van_buren

Apr 19, 2011 4:32 am

reporter   ~0011963

Last edited: Apr 19, 2011 4:32 am

I've never used exo-forcefields, so I want to check if they have a radius or only apply to the harvester/command station (hypothetically)? I have a habit of placing my command stations right next to homeward-facing wormholes in my home cluster, so I can protect both with the same forcefield; obviously, if I could use that to put 50m health forcefields around all the entries to my home world, that would be kind of abusive. In fact, it also concerns me that these might make overly powerful decoys to occupy AI fleets while I prepare my defenses on the next world, as I find the AI tends to prefer wiping out the command station before moving on to the next world --- tho that could just be because I'm still on the lower difficulties. Anyway, if those problems were addressed, I'd like to see them for establishing durable colonies in dangerous areas; I'd vote for them with a substantial knowledge cost.

Red Spot

Apr 19, 2011 5:14 am

reporter   ~0011964

For me it wouldnt be about being able to defend those "durable colonies in dangerous areas" but for a removal of micro.
Now I tend to put mk1 FFs around my empire, unlock mk2(and 3) FFs as well as mk3 engies and just zap the engies around speed-building higher mark FFs when and where I need them.
This at certain times has quite an impact on Crystals used as well as the fact you always keep having to do this, scrap FF, do it again. For a bit of knowledge/ongoing expenses I could remove this minor bit of unneeded micro.

I would be happy if this would be a more costly(/cap-free) additional set of mk1-FFs.

Orelius

Apr 21, 2011 12:00 pm

reporter   ~0011986

I'd say that this makes sense, and would be a very good idea. Making the home command station effectively invincible for the early game isn't really that bad, because if the enemy ships are able to make it through your other forcefields, your colonies and cyrogenic pods will almost certainly get destroyed, punishing you with a quite large early game AIP increase.

Perhaps there could be different marks of it, as well, each of them significantly stronger than the normal forcefields of the same mark. Perhaps the mark level of the forcefield could be limited to the mark level of the command station upon which it is placed?

Zephilinox

Jul 13, 2011 4:20 am

reporter   ~0012711

Doesn't seem like a bad idea, the exo-forcefield should require the harvester exo-forcefield to be unlocked, and should cost upwards of 5000 knowledge at least, I like the idea of having different mk's for the exo-forcefield which can only be placed on similar or higher mk level command stations, the only thing is the exo-forcefield should only be big enough to cover the command station, and nothing else.

Lancefighter

Jul 13, 2011 4:29 am

reporter   ~0012713

well since exo harvestor ffs were changed into a flat hp buff of some sort, and not actually a forcefield, that mechanic would go to commandcenter exos as well

Zephilinox

Jul 13, 2011 4:47 am

reporter   ~0012714

Ah, sorry, I only used harvester exo-forcefields in the demo version of the game, which isn't up to date, so I wasn't aware.

TechSY730

Sep 8, 2012 12:19 pm

reporter   ~0028266

Last edited: Sep 8, 2012 12:20 pm

Derp, here it is, silly me...

Thanks Lancefighter. :)
How the frip did I miss that?

Lancefighter

Sep 8, 2012 12:21 pm

reporter   ~0028268

Dunno. Youve even commented here years ago..

Faulty Logic

Sep 8, 2012 6:33 pm

reporter   ~0028274

Opposed because it can make your homeworld ignorable. The constant threat of enemy raiders slipping through the lines is a big part of the game, and having this would remove it. I think the buff to the home forcefield and the home station itself are enough, perhaps more than enough.

Lancefighter

Sep 8, 2012 7:10 pm

reporter   ~0028275

I wouldnt really say ignorable - Its more that if I dont notice a handful of raid starships slipping past my 500 turrets, black hole machine, spire city defended doorstop, I dont lose the game INSTANTLY.

Zane Wolfe

Sep 9, 2012 3:22 am

reporter   ~0028278

Actually given what Exo-Forcefields do now, ie make the harvesters cloaked, I find that they are not even worth the knowledge to get. Where as before I could use them to make front line bases more durable, since many types of AI ships will take the time to kill harvesters before diving at my command centers, now they are, imo very useless. Since the new exo-shields make them cloaked, and are cloaked themseves, the AI now ignores them, and goes after everything else, most especially my command center.

Now, on to the idea of shield for the command center, I am 100% behind this. Make it an unlockable with multiple mark lvls, and you have something worth the K it should cost. Make it something that only covers the command center itself, and can't be bypassed by forcefield immunity. Also make sure that it can NOT be repaired, but does slowly regen. Possibly make the final mark an exception, where it acts like a medium area shield of the same HP as the previous mark, but able to be bypassed by things with forcefield immunity. However, it wouldn't reduce the firepower of things underneath it. Thus the final level becomes a choice, keep it just for the command center, or spend the K to get a powerful, immobile forcefield that doesn't reduce the firepower of things near it. Perfect for front line bases. But the K costs would need to be 25%-50% greater than normal FFs.

HTL2001

Sep 9, 2012 11:04 am

reporter   ~0028280

I think making this unavailable on a home CC might be a good idea.

anthony2323

May 4, 2013 6:16 pm

reporter   ~0031785

I think the shield should only be available to the home command station and start at 10mil health but you could build special "Upgrades" for it that are extremely expensive and consume 50000 energy but add 2mil to the force fields health so its basically limited to the number of planets (energy collectors) and resource nodes (converters) you own (needs balancing) so it isn't OP at the start of the game.

crawlers

Jun 20, 2014 5:40 pm

reporter   ~0038549

I agree with making it have multiple mks, but I think that it should work similar to regular forcefield mks, with each mk having a limit, but perhaps cloaking would be too much.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Nov 8, 2010 1:52 pm Lancefighter New Issue
Nov 8, 2010 7:29 pm zebramatt Note Added: 0003020
Nov 8, 2010 7:42 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0003024
Nov 8, 2010 7:42 pm TechSY730 Note Edited: 0003024
Nov 8, 2010 7:49 pm Lancefighter Note Added: 0003025
Nov 8, 2010 7:52 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0003026
Nov 9, 2010 10:21 am KDR_11k Note Added: 0003069
Nov 23, 2010 8:40 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status new => confirmed
Nov 23, 2010 8:40 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0004348
Nov 23, 2010 8:41 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status confirmed => considering
Feb 2, 2011 5:49 pm TechSY730 Relationship added related to 0002655
Feb 2, 2011 5:51 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0009962
Feb 2, 2011 6:25 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0009971
Feb 3, 2011 3:59 am Ozymandiaz Note Added: 0009987
Apr 11, 2011 8:30 pm HTL2001 Note Added: 0011854
Apr 19, 2011 4:32 am martyn_van_buren Note Added: 0011963
Apr 19, 2011 4:32 am martyn_van_buren Note Edited: 0011963
Apr 19, 2011 5:14 am Red Spot Note Added: 0011964
Apr 21, 2011 12:00 pm Orelius Note Added: 0011986
Jul 13, 2011 4:20 am Zephilinox Note Added: 0012711
Jul 13, 2011 4:29 am Lancefighter Note Added: 0012713
Jul 13, 2011 4:47 am Zephilinox Note Added: 0012714
Sep 8, 2012 12:17 pm Lancefighter Relationship added has duplicate 0009534
Sep 8, 2012 12:19 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0028266
Sep 8, 2012 12:20 pm TechSY730 Note Edited: 0028266
Sep 8, 2012 12:21 pm Lancefighter Note Added: 0028268
Sep 8, 2012 6:33 pm Faulty Logic Note Added: 0028274
Sep 8, 2012 7:10 pm Lancefighter Note Added: 0028275
Sep 9, 2012 3:22 am Zane Wolfe Note Added: 0028278
Sep 9, 2012 11:04 am HTL2001 Note Added: 0028280
May 4, 2013 6:16 pm anthony2323 Note Added: 0031785
Jun 20, 2014 1:58 am TechSY730 Relationship added related to 0015446
Jun 20, 2014 5:40 pm crawlers Note Added: 0038549