Commander abilities suggestion
DragonLord_BR
Join Date: 2008-02-06 Member: 63593Members
Join Date: 2008-02-06 Member: 63593Members
Im not sure if it has already been considered but when i heard about not having any commander damage abilities in podcast #16 i thought that i shouldnt really be something too sudden and unfair
in fact i would have imagined it like an airstrike, someone on the team points a laser target at an enemy and asks for artillery and the commander aims and fires it, or even just click in the icon for it or something
would be especially nice if there were some special commander "powers" like in C&C Generals or Battle for Middle Earth that were acquired with points gathered by playing well, that would make the whole commander experience and the overall strategy of the game customizable, like the strategies in chess...
certainly the airstrike shouldnt work to destroy hives, that could be explained by some kind of jamming porperty on the hive or something
anyway just my 2 cents
lol would be nice if the skulks stealth could become a plane-shift kinda thing for a while, giving limited invulnerability to it and allowing to survive an airstrike with some skill
as a balancing factor airtrike should have a reasonable cooldown and should cost resources and have to be requested and prepared by the commander ahead of time.
in fact i would have imagined it like an airstrike, someone on the team points a laser target at an enemy and asks for artillery and the commander aims and fires it, or even just click in the icon for it or something
would be especially nice if there were some special commander "powers" like in C&C Generals or Battle for Middle Earth that were acquired with points gathered by playing well, that would make the whole commander experience and the overall strategy of the game customizable, like the strategies in chess...
certainly the airstrike shouldnt work to destroy hives, that could be explained by some kind of jamming porperty on the hive or something
anyway just my 2 cents
lol would be nice if the skulks stealth could become a plane-shift kinda thing for a while, giving limited invulnerability to it and allowing to survive an airstrike with some skill
as a balancing factor airtrike should have a reasonable cooldown and should cost resources and have to be requested and prepared by the commander ahead of time.
Comments
If the commander had something like that, it would also have to deal only moderate damage. After all, pointing and clicking and wiping out a large host of aliens or structures isn't good.
Instead, why not have abilities that do things like restore armor and health over a short time, a damage-boost for a few moments, or something of that nature? Airstrikes are fun, but mass destruction from them can ruin a game.
Take Battlefield 2. Just because mortar fire is bombarding the area doesn't mean that everyone there is dead...
Scanner Sweep is like one of the best Commander abilities out there. It's simple, it's effective, and used correctly it's an amazing thing.
I also tend to dislike direct damage from a Commander. That's what your grunts are for. And those buildings you keep dropping. Stuff like calling in electric storms and stuff can get weak since you could just fire them off somewhere and hope you hit. Granted, that's not particularly effective, but spamming it in a known spawn point could get annoying and stupid. At the very least you'd have to get a grunt request to execute something.
Some cool AoE things or buffs might be nice. Like instead of medpack, an AoE over time heal that costs more for more players in the target zone. Or how about a temporary universal armor buff for the Marines (or AoE)?
Other than that, keep it simple and such that it gives a slight advantage. No game changers, like people mentioned, Battle for Middle Earth had some of the most borken buffs ever. Just nice slight advantages.
After all, sometimes the Commander is doing too much as it is. Don't overload them with more stuff to do.
To go a little more deep into it, the programmers could actually creaty a little "mission type" element into the game. For example: The marines need to receive a random door code from a console. As soon as they got the code, they send it automatially to the comm and he gains the ability to reactivate that specific door. This would be a much more teamwork like (between marine and commander) way to open new areas for the marines than just use a welder on a specific point somewhere for some seconds.
of course the marines will not be able to receive the code until all the alien "glibber" stuff is removed from that console and its power supply. (maybe needs to get back control of even another "reactor" room)
and, if you really want the comm to do some dmg on his own, let him programm siege cannons by himself to fire at something in its LOS.
or... put in some sort of bomb-defuser-vehicle into the game, which has some special abilities to support marines, maybe carry some weapons and ammo for your marines to give them a better support, or a scanner ability if you do not have motion tracking.
Also this could be a flying support robot, looking like the one in the series "Viper" - if you know what i mean. This one could spy out an area for a longer time than a scanner sweep and maybe even without alien recognization.
Prioritize things. Make research as simple as having an offline list in a text file, and hitting a "start next research in queue" button. Have map makers supply invisible AI points for AI commanders to slap down turrets according to a script. Not as effective as a real comm, but something.
Auto-dropped medpacks/ammo, on a timer if not directly done by a comm. Heck, if there's a comparable alien comm, you could have scripted no-commander maps where it all happens according to a schedule and effectiveness of the players.
And it would automate half the micromanagement things as well, making it easier for noob comms to get the hang of things.