Phase Gates
Birdofprey
Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184611Members
Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184611Members
Hello and thanks to all who read/reply to this suggestion.
I have been playing the game for about a week now and I absolutely love it. I definitely would like to take more time to formulate and discuss ideas with the community, and this is my first attempt.
I have been playing marines almost exclusively and have some suggestions for phase gates. Firstly, there has been a couple games where the commander placed the phase gates in such a manner that when I ran through it I would immediately phase back to the original or to a third phase gate which would in turn phase me back to the original. The worst case of this had me phasing back through the original to the second, through the second to the third, back to the original... over and over and over. It did this for about two minutes.
I am not entirely sure how to fix this, but I'm sure the game developers and programmers would.
Secondly, I would like to propose a change in how the phase gate is set up. Much like the Nidas Canal in Starcraft, the Marines commander would place the first phase gate to be built. Upon completion, he is given an active cast from the phase gate menu (when you click on the phase gate, you have an action in one of the boxes in the lower right). This active cast would be called "Phase Gate Portal" or whatever you would like. This would be the portal which connects this phase gate and this phase gate only. This would mean if you wanted a phase gate to another area of the map, you would have to build a second phase gate and then make the connecting phase gate.
If the original phase gate is destroyed, the portal it connected to would immediately be destroyed and all resources would be lost. If the other gate was destroyed, you could rebuild it from the original in the same manner you created it in the first place.
Reasons for this change:
1. Commanders would have more control over their phase gate infrastructure
2. Marines would be able to quickly phase exactly where they need to go as opposed to having to portal once to get to the second phase gate then turn around and portal again to reach the third phase gate.
Things to consider when implementing:
1. However you see fit to balance the resources regarding initial building and then second placement
a. Could increase the original cost of the phase gate and allow relatively free placement and replacement of the second portal
b. Could keep the original cost of the phase gate and allow placement of the second phase gate at about half the original cost
c. Etc.
2. Might lower the HP of the second portal to compensate for any resource changes
I believe this is all for now. I will reply with any additional ideas as I get them.
-Birdofprey
I have been playing the game for about a week now and I absolutely love it. I definitely would like to take more time to formulate and discuss ideas with the community, and this is my first attempt.
I have been playing marines almost exclusively and have some suggestions for phase gates. Firstly, there has been a couple games where the commander placed the phase gates in such a manner that when I ran through it I would immediately phase back to the original or to a third phase gate which would in turn phase me back to the original. The worst case of this had me phasing back through the original to the second, through the second to the third, back to the original... over and over and over. It did this for about two minutes.
I am not entirely sure how to fix this, but I'm sure the game developers and programmers would.
Secondly, I would like to propose a change in how the phase gate is set up. Much like the Nidas Canal in Starcraft, the Marines commander would place the first phase gate to be built. Upon completion, he is given an active cast from the phase gate menu (when you click on the phase gate, you have an action in one of the boxes in the lower right). This active cast would be called "Phase Gate Portal" or whatever you would like. This would be the portal which connects this phase gate and this phase gate only. This would mean if you wanted a phase gate to another area of the map, you would have to build a second phase gate and then make the connecting phase gate.
If the original phase gate is destroyed, the portal it connected to would immediately be destroyed and all resources would be lost. If the other gate was destroyed, you could rebuild it from the original in the same manner you created it in the first place.
Reasons for this change:
1. Commanders would have more control over their phase gate infrastructure
2. Marines would be able to quickly phase exactly where they need to go as opposed to having to portal once to get to the second phase gate then turn around and portal again to reach the third phase gate.
Things to consider when implementing:
1. However you see fit to balance the resources regarding initial building and then second placement
a. Could increase the original cost of the phase gate and allow relatively free placement and replacement of the second portal
b. Could keep the original cost of the phase gate and allow placement of the second phase gate at about half the original cost
c. Etc.
2. Might lower the HP of the second portal to compensate for any resource changes
I believe this is all for now. I will reply with any additional ideas as I get them.
-Birdofprey
Comments
Your change I see no point to, seems completely needless, actually seems worse than the way that it is now.
First - to your problem with phasing again. When going through, pause for a moment to see where you are. I guarantee that you won't be ever phased again. The problem arises only when you keep running forward and due to orientation of the gates, you phase facing the other gate. Run into phase gate, and when you see the effect, stop moving for a moment, check your facing, then start moving again.
Now to your proposal - I understand you want to improve the game, but I don't think your change will be implemented, and here is why. It's more complicated than the original design, and complexity brings more confusion to this already very fast and complex game. Now you know one thing for sure - when you keep phasing, you will eventually get to every phase gate. There are lines to check on the map. Second reason is that your phase gates would be much stronger. The fact that you have to phase through ALL gates is a balancing element - the more gates you spam, the less useful and slower they become. Experienced teams recycle redundant gates. With your design, marines could spam the gates from every room to every room, and it would lead to insane webs of gates.
However, gorge tunnels for aliens work the way you described One gorge must build both ends, and they are then connected. One point gets destroyed, the tunnel collapses. However, the travel is not immediate, you must still run through the tunnel. So, it might be a great opportunity for you to explore the alien side of the game and discover that your version of the gates has already been sort of implemented!
I understand that this might potentially make marines too overpowered. Thanks for the feedback!
The trade-off with gorge tunnels is that it's not instantaneous travel.
Marines aren't meant to expand into a hub-and-spoke kind of network, they do much better the less there is to worry about...
I think a good trade off would be to allow commander-defined connections. Phase gates are built and function exactly like they currently do, but at any time the commander can change the destination of each phase. That means you could end up with separate pairs of phase gates, separated networks etc. Doing anything fancy with it would have a time and t-res investment attached.
For instance, Mineshaft. Build your entry portal at Operations, and your exit Portal at Central Drilling. Now you can pump out as many Marines as you like to hold that area. But your main base is vulnerable to attack until you build your return path if everyone goes through.
Although I can see the problem with the idea. In late game, every Marine push is countered by a Gorge going and biling an important area of your map, trying to force a beacon. Having quick access for one or two JP/Shotgun Marines to be on "defend duty" is critical.