View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | Date Submitted | Last Update | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0002423 | AI War 1 / Classic | Suggestion - New Unit Ideas - AI-Specific Units | Jan 13, 2011 2:36 pm | Jun 15, 2011 12:31 pm | |
| Reporter | KDR_11k | Assigned To | Chris_McElligottPark | ||
| Status | considering | Resolution | open | ||
| Summary | 0002423: Abyss Gate | ||||
| Description | The Abyss Gate is a huge ship that travels from system to system. If it gets near any enemy ships (not starship or larger military units) it will teleport them to a matching abyss exit. That exit is placed in a heavily defended system near the AI homeworld and in usual operation any ship thrown into there will be killed quickly by the defenders. However the gate cannot avoid teleporting anything in its radius so a human player could conceivably use the gate to send a massive army through and defeat the abyss system (hence the gate will not teleport starships, spirecraft, golems or other large military units). The gate is attracted by large fleets but will not venture too deeply into human territory. It is extremely durable and if it is badly damaged it will retreat to AI territory to recover. It's a pretty slow unit but could be very dangerous if it travels through a wormhole that's heavily defended with fleet ships on the other end. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
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Very clever! I like the sound of that one a lot. :) |
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I definitely vote this as a minor faction or AI plot. It seems more "minor faction" because it can do some harm to the AI (much like the devourer golem is indiscriminate, roaming enclaves can spawn in different stances, or the moodiness of the Dyson Sphere), rather than just being all pain for the player. |
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The main problem I see for this idea is that if the Abyss Planet wasn't fortified or on permanent alert, the players could likely run it over with far greater ease than intended. And a permanent alerted or heavilly fortified Mk. IV planet would become a massive headache to the end game. I do like the general idea though, so if people came up with a way to get rid of this problem, I'd be all for it. EDIT: Not to mention that everytime the Abyss Ship swallowed a player ship, it'd likely count as deepstriking, meaning even more ships spawning and more balancing needed. And probably a few other can of worms I can't think of at the moment. |
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Isn't there a minimum shipcount on the deepstriking thing? Also, I think the assumption is that the planet is already heavily fortified, without being on alert. Abusing this to overrun the planet would involve making a VERY risky gamble (again, the deepstriking thing if it's TOO far away), AND you need to find the mobile portion of the Gate. Also, let's be serious, you're not getting that fleet back, no matter if they even can wreck that planet on the far side. Let's say you do overrun the planet. Great, you've alerted all the planets around it, on the other side of the galaxy. That is going to be a PAIN to deal with when you actually get over there. I say throw the ship in, and then balance it through feedback. I really like how this would give an opportunity for crossing over half the galaxy to start a new outpost assuming you can pull off a VERY risky military maneuver. You're in a very tricky strategic position then as well, because you've got your entire fleet split up in two locations so far away from each other, and with (simple) transportation in only one direction. The one thing to watch for, I think, is scouts. It would be way too easy to pitch a cap of Mk2 scouts through the Gate periodically and scout a decent portion of the other side of the galaxy with few problems. Edit: The gate should avoid LARGE fleets, and prioritize mid-size fleets. Essentially it should flee from a force powerful enough to cause significant harm to the exit system, but it should take whatever opportunities it can to vacuum up as many ships as it can (within a safe bound). This will also make things interesting because it will allow players to bait the mobile Gate by leaving a decoy/bait force on one planet, and their main force on another, and then rushing the main force in to either attack or abuse the cross-galactic teleportation. Edit Edit: I am also okay with it sending Starships and larger through. Golems self-attrition, and CAN be taken down by a concerted Mk4 effort, and Spirecraft can't be repaired. As I said above, anything you send through is likely making a one-way trip, so it will be a major question of it being worth it to pitch a golem through (though a botnet golem would still probably wreck everything). |
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I'd vote this to be an AI Plot rather than a faction. This would allow it to be per AI. I'd also make various types of Abyss Gates: Chaotic Abyss Gate: Instead of automatic warping everything nearby, every 10 seconds each nearby enemy ship has a 35% chance to get warped to the Abyss Exit. This would make it really hard to raid the Abyss Exit system because your raiding fleet would come through piecemeal. Parasitic Abyss Gate: Any warped enemy ships have all damage they've taken counted as reclamation damage. So if your ship is 100% unhurt, nothing special. But if it is at 5000 hp out of 15000 when it comes through, it is still at 5000 hp, but now the 10000 damage it had taken counts as reclamation damage so it will get claimed by the AI when it dies. Spider Abyss Gate: Has a long range engine damaging attack, allowing it to quickly disable and catch enemy ships. Moves faster than normal Abyss Gates and actively avoids even small groups of enemies until their engines are destroyed. This should create the situation where the gate runs from a fleet blob, slowly turning them into a spread out string of Speed 1 units which it then reverse to collect, sending them piecemeal to their death. Shadow Abyss Gate: Cloaked, but slower than normal Abyss Gates. EMP Abyss Gate: All enemies warped to the Abyss Exit are paralyzed for 5 seconds. |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 13, 2011 2:36 pm | KDR_11k | New Issue | |
| Jan 13, 2011 2:41 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0008434 | |
| Jan 13, 2011 2:41 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Assigned To | => Chris_McElligottPark |
| Jan 13, 2011 2:41 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Status | new => considering |
| Jan 13, 2011 9:23 pm | Sunshine | Note Added: 0008441 | |
| Jan 13, 2011 9:27 pm | Toll | Note Added: 0008442 | |
| Jan 13, 2011 9:30 pm | Toll | Note Edited: 0008442 | |
| Jan 14, 2011 12:04 am | Sunshine | Note Added: 0008460 | |
| Jan 14, 2011 12:06 am | Sunshine | Note Edited: 0008460 | |
| Jan 14, 2011 12:09 am | Sunshine | Note Edited: 0008460 | |
| Jun 15, 2011 12:31 pm | Hearteater | Note Added: 0012453 |
