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But there are a few issues with your scenario:1. Defense of 4 is available, but only attack 6. I think it is extremely unlikely that the D4 technology would be achieved before A8 for most players. The most typical scenario for early air is A6 vs D3. I just don't believe players will prioritize polymorphic software, advanced subatomic theory, and silksteel alloys above other priorities to get D4. If they do, I will probably win just from secret project advantage, since these are three technologies with no secret projects associated with them.
3. Your attack force actually retreats instead of attacks.
4. But even if the attack force was trying to attack, since no SAM units were included, I could block the advance pretty easily with a couple of copters ZOC for several turns
5. The threat of copters causes you to make a homogeneous attack force, so that every unit can defend against the copters. (Otherwise, you risk the copters killing the dedicated AAA defensive unit in a stack, and then clobbering the rest of the stack.)
Instead, (assuming D3 is the highest available from point 1), you would have a balance of AAA 1/3 (3 rows) and SAM 6/1 (3 rows). This would easily defeat a needlejet defense, but would fall to a copter defense, since the SAM units would be nearly irrelevant to the copters (it just would not permit them the delaying tactic).
Of course, if you only had AAA 1/3 units, then when you got to the city, 1/3 defenders would be difficult to defeat. So copters pretty much force you into the 4/3 homogeneous attack force, instead of a more diverse force.
...As a fair test of this, I would like to see you two play this out as a MP game. Twice. Switching sides after the first time...
3. The attack force should have at least 1-2 SAM units. Decide what the stats of the SAM units would be, and sacrifice enough of the 4/3s. This keeps the attack force from being stalled indefinitely due to copter ZOC.
What is the clean minerals mechanic, and why do you consider it an exploit?
1. The defender would definitely have a sensor (or two). I won't insist that it be under the base, but it should be at least beside the base, so that is it not so easy for the attacker to reach and destroy.
2. The technology allows 6A/3D
2. The defender would have a couple of 1/3 units (2 rows) providing defense and police. Remove 1 copter (4 rows) to provide this two units, and keep balanced minerals.
4. Yitzi should decide the exact composition of the attacking units given the rules above. Assuming that someone can help Yitzi with getting the AI set up to attack properly, I will play the scenario a few times and report the results.
As for the other arguments, if you push D:AP up enough, then Chaos will be available, making the situation A8/D4, nearly identical to the A6/D3 that you seem to want to avoid, but which is the natural state of things in SMAC, i.e. the attack will typically be about double the defense at any given time.
Air Power is a stepping stone to two of the best SPs in the game.
I think it is interesting that you are going to great lengths to try to weaken air units in general, when the main reason air units are problematic is because of copters.
In my experiments, sensors do affect copters attacking ground units in range of the sensor. Do you have experience otherwise?
The point I was trying to illustrate is how powerful copters are on the defense, even with the movement reduced.
Most of the needlejet issues listed above can be addresed by moving SAM and AAA earlier in the tech tree, as I have already suggested.
I will be happy to play the scenarios I suggested. You add way too much complexity to what should be a simple test. I don't want to bother with that. Let's just try 6/3 and 6/4, with needlejets and copters as I proposed.
I am also not going to argue about the value of CBA even in a builder strategy; it is just too obvious. Cyborg factory is also very useful, even if it just helps survive mindworms.
I never sell my tree farms or centauri preserves. They are too useful. I just build lots of them, which is not an exploit.
I do not think satellites need a nerf. They are expensive, and the value is halved in cities without an areospace complex. I rarely see satellites built to maximum capacity; if they were overpowered, all players would quickly build as many as they could use, but they do not.
I do not play ICS, and I have never lost to ICS. If anyone who thinks that they can win with ICS on the vets map wants to try, let's set up a game.
So the worst things are actually needlejet-based, and the only really unbalanced copter-based thing is due to it not getting a move penalty.Oh, and I can confirm that you don't need SAM to attack copters; the image (with colors off because I have not yet loaded that fix) is attached.
Still, you can work around that if you give your chopper at least armour 2. Then a synthmetal chopper may be put on top of your units, designated defender and thus it will protect the entire stack against collateral damage (it just needs low weapon, otherwise it'll cost an arm and a leg). Of course you still have to worry about artillery damage, but still I can imagine quite a number of situations where you'd like to protect your stack like that against strong ground units.
And funny thing I just noticed - the rules seem to change if your stack with a chopper stands on an airbase. For one, you can designate your normal armour 1 choppers as defenders and they will work normally, i.e. protect the entire stack.
Of course, if he knows you're doing that he can work around it by attacking with a few impact rovers first to get rid of the choppers and then using his main force for collateral damage.
Do you mean "protect" as in "prevent collateral damage" or as in "non-SAM units can't even attack it"?