Miner laser heal
Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 12:50 pm
Simple suggestion - make the miner laser heal allies (and the battlecruiser) at 75% of the speed it damages enemies. Make it a teir2 miner upgrade (nanobot beam?), and don't allow move and heal. Secondary request: Add "repair battlecruiser" as an order that can be given to a miner by AI console.
This would have a few effects:
1. It creates more defenders advantage, which in my opinion is the thing most lacking from cruiser command - most other strategy games have some sort of advantage to the defending side (turrets, auras, mothership core photon overcharge, wc3 call to arms, whatever) to offset the fact that aggressors are usually much more surgical in their strikes and get the advantage the more the defenders are spread out. With this upgrade, a defending wraith could hover near a miner, and potentially ward off even 2 enemy wraiths, provided the defending wraith stayed near the miner (preventing pursuit of the fleeing aggressors).
2. It allows the miner to be used in a different role than just mining, it becomes more of a utility craft. It could allow strike teams to heal (slowly) without having to return all the way to the battlecruiser. Keep in mind when a miner is doing this, it isn't mining, so there is still a tradeoff that has to be made (and more decisions like this make the game a more interesting experience).
3. It allows people to emergency heal the battlecruiser by launching all miners and repairing the thing from the outside. This is still a slow process, but less frustrating than doing the same with minelayer. Minelayer expends energy much faster than it recharges it, plus minelayers cost money, and you need at least 2 or 3 of them (and players in each one) to be able to effectively pull this off.
Edit: 4. It also allows the miners to be useful when there is no need to mine late game.
IMO, I think adding a few more ways that each player can contribute to different situations regardless of if they are a combat role or not helps fix some of the repetitive aspects of CC. I feel most games usually play out pretty similarly, and if players were given more options of how they could spend their time within each role, it could make the games more dynamic and fun.
This would have a few effects:
1. It creates more defenders advantage, which in my opinion is the thing most lacking from cruiser command - most other strategy games have some sort of advantage to the defending side (turrets, auras, mothership core photon overcharge, wc3 call to arms, whatever) to offset the fact that aggressors are usually much more surgical in their strikes and get the advantage the more the defenders are spread out. With this upgrade, a defending wraith could hover near a miner, and potentially ward off even 2 enemy wraiths, provided the defending wraith stayed near the miner (preventing pursuit of the fleeing aggressors).
2. It allows the miner to be used in a different role than just mining, it becomes more of a utility craft. It could allow strike teams to heal (slowly) without having to return all the way to the battlecruiser. Keep in mind when a miner is doing this, it isn't mining, so there is still a tradeoff that has to be made (and more decisions like this make the game a more interesting experience).
3. It allows people to emergency heal the battlecruiser by launching all miners and repairing the thing from the outside. This is still a slow process, but less frustrating than doing the same with minelayer. Minelayer expends energy much faster than it recharges it, plus minelayers cost money, and you need at least 2 or 3 of them (and players in each one) to be able to effectively pull this off.
Edit: 4. It also allows the miners to be useful when there is no need to mine late game.
IMO, I think adding a few more ways that each player can contribute to different situations regardless of if they are a combat role or not helps fix some of the repetitive aspects of CC. I feel most games usually play out pretty similarly, and if players were given more options of how they could spend their time within each role, it could make the games more dynamic and fun.
