0003606: Blackhole Generator (MOO1-style) - Arcen Idea Tracker (Bugs and Features)

ID	Project	Category		Date Submitted	Last Update

0003606	AI War 1 / Classic	Suggestion - New Unit Ideas - AI-Specific Units		Jun 29, 2011 2:43 pm	Aug 6, 2012 9:33 pm

Reporter	Hearteater	Assigned To
Status	new	Resolution	open
Product Version	5.011

Summary	0003606: Blackhole Generator (MOO1-style)
Description	(I know there already is a Black Hole Machine in the game. Let's pretend that got renamed to Warp Interdicter because this suggestion has nothing to do with that unit. It gets its name from the original Master of Orion starship weapon) The Blackhole Generator would be a system weapon similar to the Ion Cannon (except not capturable) that deals increasing damage based on the number of units it hits with its long-range AOE attack. With a rough area of effect around the size of a normal 500 unit fleet-blob and a reload time of 30 seconds, it would deal about 0.25% of an average Mark III's health if it hit just the one ship. But its damage is multiplied by the number of ships struck, so hitting 400 Mark III ships would basically destroy them all in a single shot (not thinking actual %-of-health damage, just using percents to represent the rough damage numbers I'm imagining). This would give the AI another anti-blob tool with different properties than an AI Eye. It would need enough natural defenses to avoid making it a Raid Starship target that just gets assassinated quickly before the real attack begins. But otherwise it would encourage players to spread out their fleets, bait with an intial wave to give them 30 seconds to follow-up and spread out before the second shot lands, and just generally make things "interesting" for the player taking the planet. Additional thoughts: * It might be best to not have the Generator fire on a group smaller than 5 or 10 ships. * Some kind of counter-transport feature is probably needed to avoid 5 transports dropping a 1000 ships onto the weapon and insta-killing it while it is reloading. * Some kind of Engine Damage might be interesting instead of just raw damage.
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Kahuna Aug 6, 2012 4:59 pm reporter ~0027424 Last edited: Aug 6, 2012 5:02 pm	"so hitting 400 Mark III ships would basically destroy them all in a single shot" That would be overpowered. But something like this could be good. That would be like an AoE version of MarkV Ion Cannon. Maybe every shot could create a gravitational field that would slow the player's ships like a MarkI gravitational turret. It would also deal damage over time to all ships that stay in the gravitational field. So the Blackhole Generator would shoot "gravitational turrets" that would also deal damage. Localized attrition kinda like Electric Shuttles. Or it could deal a good amount of AoE damage on impact and then leave the gravitational field. Good? Bad?

Hearteater Aug 6, 2012 9:33 pm reporter ~0027426	The number could be tuned to anything. 800 ships required to one-shot. 4000 ships required to one-shot. The delay between shots can also be upped from 30 seconds to something else. But 30 seconds felt about right to bait the first shot with a small group of 20ish cheap units, and then rush it down with your full force. Maybe you kill it in time, but if it gets another shot off, you'll be in trouble. BTW, hull type of Turret, just to make Raid Starships non-optimal for removing it.

Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
Jun 29, 2011 2:43 pm	Hearteater	New Issue
Aug 6, 2012 3:54 pm	Hearteater	Relationship added	related to 0009132
Aug 6, 2012 4:59 pm	Kahuna	Note Added: 0027424
Aug 6, 2012 5:02 pm	Kahuna	Note Edited: 0027424
Aug 6, 2012 9:33 pm	Hearteater	Note Added: 0027426