View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0001862AI War 1 / ClassicSuggestion - Balance TweaksDec 15, 2010 8:14 pm
Reportershugyosha Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Status resolvedResolutionfixed 
Product Version4.045 
Fixed in Version4.051 
Summary0001862: AI Gravity Guardian
DescriptionI think the new Gravity Guardian is far too powerful. Especially on Mk. IV and AI Home planets your units will get eaten alive while trying to hunt it down and the Guardian can even move away or towards your forces when your fleet is not trapped. The speed reduction is so severe that any kind of strategy with your fleet is impossible. The guardian actually hinders me from playing the game on the planet it is on if it is positioned far away from the wormholes. They also make Raid engines in their vicinity trigger over and over before you can get to them on top of all the long range fire you have to take.

I managed to destroy one with the cloaked Spire ship that one-shots it but as this ship also crawls slowly and also triggers raid engines it isn't really a good option. The costs and time you need to invest to kill a Gravity Guardian seems to be out of proportion in comparison to other guardians.
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal Weight

Activities

Vinraith

Dec 6, 2010 1:46 pm

reporter   ~0005380

I don't think they're too powerful (they are, after all, really just AI grav turrets and that's only fair) but I do think that right now too many of them are spawning. In my current game easily a third of the worlds have one of these things, and considering their radius of effect that's starting to get really annoying. They present a nice, unexpected challenge in small numbers and seeded in inconvenient places, but the last thing they should be is commonplace. I'd rather see more tractor guardians, and that's saying something!

shugyosha

Dec 6, 2010 1:53 pm

reporter   ~0005385

Last edited: Dec 6, 2010 1:54 pm

The problem is their "multiplier-effect" to other things on the planet.

AI Home world, planet cloak, Ion cannons, AI Eye, Raid Engine Post + all the other stuff you can find on a Home planet is Ok, I can handle it. Throw in a Grav Guardian and the planet becomes at least twice as frustrating to grind through all because of just one unit.

Vinraith

Dec 7, 2010 12:37 am

reporter   ~0005512

Yes, they're supposed to be game changers for the system they're in, I think. That's fine with me, as long as they're fairly rare.

shugyosha

Dec 7, 2010 3:16 pm

reporter   ~0005537

I have to renew my suspicion. I managed to gang up on a Gravity Guardian with Spire Penetrators, it is the only feasible way I see to deal with those Guardians when placed on high level planets. Lots of reloads included.

They needed just under 10 minutes to reach their positions while the core raid engine kept me busy with over 2300 ships.

Reduction to speed 2 is just ridiculous.

PineappleSam

Dec 7, 2010 3:43 pm

reporter   ~0005540

If you have accesses to penetrators then a mk.I will take out a mk.V guardian. Other than that though I've no idea how you would manage to take down a high level planet with a gravity guardian without incurring ridiculous losses.

Their ability is rather cool, but they're rather difficult to deal with... is there space for some ships to have an immunity to speed alterations?

http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,7823.0.html for pictures and a save of one in action.

Vinraith

Dec 7, 2010 3:48 pm

reporter   ~0005541

Any attack craft with cloaking, or anything escorted by a cloaker starship, works well for dealing with them. Just kill the tachyon guardian at the entrance to the system and then crawl invisibly across the system til you're in range of them.

shugyosha

Dec 7, 2010 3:55 pm

reporter   ~0005543

The problem is however, there seems to be only this way to deal with them which completely circumvents their intended effect and it consumes [i]a lot[/i] of time. If they were less powerful you could actually fight through them, this way they are another unfun "must-kill" grind.

As you said yourself you rather see tractor guardians. They are nasty but you can fight through them. Gravity Guardian practically kills all your engines at once.

Kemeno

Dec 9, 2010 12:05 am

reporter   ~0005747

For the MKIV variety, at 33k range, they basically reduce your speed across an entire system. Plus, the speed reduction to 4 is just too much.

I would suggest reducing the range dramatically and putting the floor for the speed reduction at 8.

Even if you use cloaking craft (and if you do on a higher mark planet, blowing a gravity guardian is probably a one-way trip), it's still going to take you several minutes to get in range of the thing with the speed reductions as they are.

Chris_McElligottPark

Dec 15, 2010 8:14 pm

administrator   ~0006273

Good points -- thanks!

* The way that gravity guardians scale up their range is now much lower. Before it was 8k * mk. Now it's 6k + ( 2k * mk).

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Dec 6, 2010 1:41 pm shugyosha New Issue
Dec 6, 2010 1:46 pm Vinraith Note Added: 0005380
Dec 6, 2010 1:53 pm shugyosha Note Added: 0005385
Dec 6, 2010 1:54 pm shugyosha Note Edited: 0005385
Dec 7, 2010 12:37 am Vinraith Note Added: 0005512
Dec 7, 2010 3:16 pm shugyosha Note Added: 0005537
Dec 7, 2010 3:43 pm PineappleSam Note Added: 0005540
Dec 7, 2010 3:48 pm Vinraith Note Added: 0005541
Dec 7, 2010 3:55 pm shugyosha Note Added: 0005543
Dec 9, 2010 12:05 am Kemeno Note Added: 0005747
Dec 15, 2010 8:14 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0006273
Dec 15, 2010 8:14 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status new => resolved
Dec 15, 2010 8:14 pm Chris_McElligottPark Fixed in Version => 4.051
Dec 15, 2010 8:14 pm Chris_McElligottPark Resolution open => fixed
Dec 15, 2010 8:14 pm Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark