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BreakfastBurrito_007

Balancing Advisors
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Posts posted by BreakfastBurrito_007

  1. 24 minutes ago, chrstgtr said:

    We should not believe the popularity of MP has suddenly decreased when the only change has been a new alpha. In my opinion, this indicates that there is a problem with the current alpha. 

     

    I think many of the old players that had the patience to stick through the peak ddos era (through July-December) last year, finally gave up upon seeing what the gameplay of a24 was like. My hope is that some of those players will be impressed enough by alpha 25 to come back. A24 games are by and large predictable among other things, and some excitement and skill depth can attract more players to 1v1s and TGs on multiplayer.

  2. On 16/07/2021 at 3:12 AM, vinme said:

    Came back recently and from what i can tell the game isn’t as popular as it used to be, at least at 1300+ level.

    I have played fairly consistently over the past year and I observed a few big things that lead to loss of many long term players as well as less retention of new players.

    • DDOS epidemic which used to impact nearly every game (not as bad now)
    • issues with alpha 24 that made it less exciting and lowered the skill ceiling such as unit movement, building strength/ turtling, extremely long games, OP archers and eles and metal costs/availability. Many players (including myself) have less fun on an average a24 game than on an a23 game.
  3. 2 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

    Simplify warships with an upgrade progression. Light -> Medium -> Heavy. Add a bolt shooter to Medium ships, add a Catapult to Heavy ships (Light ships shoot arrows).

    I like the upgrade system as it has been implemented and suggested before, but I feel that it would not make the gameplay better in this case. I like the ship classes and roles you gave, but I think these are fine being trained straight from the dock rather than all starting at "light". The main problem that I can find off the bat is the need to upgrade those ships and wait for the upgrade while you are under attack from other ships.

     

  4. @Yekaterina I think one of the benefits that the charging feature could supply would be adding depth and skill to the battle micromanagement. Do you think the charging feature (if its problems get worked out) will make ranged units obsolete, or could they become a powerful units that usually need some protection from melee attacks?

    If it eventually works well, then it could certainly make melee units mega-op given the damage/speed/attack rate/ health that they currently have. Because the melee/ranged balance has been done all this time without the inclusion of a charge mechanic for melee units, that means the addition of such a feature will require a revisit of the ranged/ melee balance. I am not sure how things will go of course, but if ranged units die become obsolete from dying too fast, then I would advocate for adding some damage across the board for ranged units. My thinking is that this will make them valuable enough to make, yet vulnerable enough to melee charges to not make up the bulk of an army.

    This is probably already being considered, but perhaps heavier armored units should gain less speed from walk speed to charge speed, like pikemen. Perhaps this is also a mechanic that could help make a gameplay distinction between lancer cavalry and spear cavalry.

    • Like 1
  5. @azayrahmad 

    I see the point your video makes, thanks for sharing it. It is true that pikes+ skirmishers are a powerful combination. However, I am unsure what gave those pikemen such high speed? was it a charge mechanic?

    Also it is worth noting that in each situation, all of the damage of the red army groups was focused on the pikes, allowing the high dps of the skirms to come into effect. Most players would recognize this problem and attempt to kill the skirmishers first, and then exploit the limited mobility of the pikes to kill them. 

    For example, in Battle #1 the archers should have been told to attack the skirmishers, and then move on to the pikemen. Because the archers did not do this, the skirms were able to kill the spears, and then the pikes were able to move on to the archers.

    @LetswaveaBook testing showed rank 1 swords to be able to beat rank 2 pikes, it is a good indicator of how inferior pikes are in direct engagements with other melee units, including spears.

    What do you guys think about the +40% hp to pikes hero for ptol?

    I think it is quite powerful and I would be in favor of reducing the range of effect to make organization with the pikes more important and less easy.

  6. Keep in mind that pikemen are very good against archers and are very helpful in masses. In a25 it is expected that archers will be less OP and people will use slingers and skirmishers more often. Skirmishers are better than archers versus pikes, so my guess is that pikes will not seem as indestructible in a25. Perhaps adjusting the +40% ptol hero bonus is a good idea, but otherwise I don't think general pikes are mega-op. 

  7. 57 minutes ago, alre said:

    Actually, horse archers were famously capable of shooting at the back of their horses (partian shot). Instead, they had probably more problems while shooting at their weak arm side.

    Indeed, so for realism it would probably need to be like a 180 degree angle from the front to back on the right side, then we would probably need a range indicator. This would mean that cav archers seeking to circle an army and continuously launch arrows would need to do so clockwise, and thus have a more predictable path if the defender knows this information.

    This is all quite complicated for non-chariot units, so I think it is a good thing to try chariots first.

    As for the Parthian shot, I totally should have remembered this from the history books!

     

  8. 16 minutes ago, Yekaterina said:

    It is difficult. I need to consult with other programmers. 

     

    I am thinking about only giving this mechanic to chariots to distinguish them from regular cavalry. On chariots you should be able to throw stuff in any direction relatively easily. 

    That makes sense. This will probably make chariots more fun to use. It is probably also more balance-risk to enable this for non-chariot units.

    • Like 1
  9.  

    24 minutes ago, Dragonoar said:

    Also, that attack speed nerf seems unnecessary. Ultimately it's the first shot of a massed horse archers that matters.

    Keep in mind that as it exists now, the mechanic does not operate on a volley basis (neither does anything in 0ad). You can't even choose what target to attack with the mouse. As for the first shot being more important, do you mean in real life, in 0ad, or in most RTS games? As far as I know, the first shot only matters in 0ad if you hope to take out a high value target quickly.

    Ideally there would still be advantages to stationary shooting from horses and it should probably make more dps overall.

  10. 1 hour ago, Player of 0AD said:

    I'm against changes. Cavalry archers are not too weak.

    It might be more realistic if they can also shoot while moving... but its bad for the game, because that would be totally OP and annoying.

    It is true that horse archers are more powerful than regular archers, and adding this mechanic to them will make them more powerful. However, it is undeniable that there is potential added value for gameplay as well as realism. Which brings me to Dragonoar's point below.

    1 hour ago, Dragonoar said:

    What about giving them shorter range than the regular archer?

    Horse riding takes balance and it is my guess that it is harder to shoot at the same rate as when you are stationary. Also I think bigger bows are stronger (provided other construction qualities are constant), and would tend to shoot farther, so it makes sense in general that horse archers should have shorter range. This is not a balance problem since horse archers are faster than regular archers. I feel going for a 1.5x multiplier to attack repeat time and an accuracy nerf while moving should be enough to balance the "shooting while moving" aspect.

    @Player of 0AD I know that horse archers are pretty OP in a24 and likely a25, but doing this is a way to fix them in the long term. The goal is to make the unit more distinct in usage, and to add skill depth to the unit. We are fortunate that we can add some realism while helping gameplay.

    I initially wanted to consider this mechanic for skirmisher cavalry but I am not so sure now...

     

    • Like 2
  11. @Yekaterina This looks great. I am thinking this mechanic will go far to differentiate cavalry archers from regular archers in use. Maybe as archer cavalry rank up, they can shoot more accurately or at a higher fire rate while moving, as obviously it would take a lot of experience to improve with shooting while galloping.

    Four questions for everybody who wants to contribute an opinion:

    • Should moving while shooting be less accurate, less range, less damage, or less fire rate?
    • Should mounted archers improve this ability as they rank up?
    • Should cavalry/chariot javelineers be capable of this as well?, and should the mechanic have special rules for them?
    • Should chariot based units be better at shooting while moving? I would argue sure since chariot units are champions, and they are already expensive.

    I think it is important to make sure that there are advantages to shooting while moving and shooting while stationary, this way it is a more skillful gameplay decision on how to use ranged cavalry.

     

    • Confused 1
  12. @Yekaterina I don't know if you did a good enough job of scratching out the name of the player XD. This player's point about the power of the pop bonus being nearly the free equivalent of a wonder. 

    The player makes a good point about the status effect champions, but at least for iberians, their champion does not have as good a hero as Boudicca to empower them.

    If it becomes possible, I think it would be cool to allow ranged chariot units to shoot independently from their movement perhaps at a reduced accuracy, range and/or fire rate. if you click to attack a unit normally, it is a normal stationary attack, but if you are moving and the unit sees an enemy it will shoot at it without changing its velocity. 

     

  13. 11 hours ago, chrstgtr said:

    And by the time you have done that the game would already have been over for 10 minutes if you used a normal strategy. Show me one good player who ever used so much as made dogs to do anything but to troll in a23

    This is true, it was extremely rare to use anything more than the starting dog in a23. 

    I wonder if it is worth testing 10 dogs against 5 spears and 5 skirms? this is a more realistic composition.

    @alre I was thinking just a reduction in hp, but a smaller one. What is the reason behind reducing cost? to me, reducing the food cost would serve to allow dog rushes earlier, when there would usually be fewer men. I think making them cheaper would result in them being a bit spammier.

  14. 8 minutes ago, Yekaterina said:

    Increase model size?

    I think there is a balance between "too small to click" and "AoE4" and I think they are sized fine.

    It seems to me that they should be a good unit vs women but not something that should beat CS, so maybe hp being lowered is better than hack damage decreased. If hack damage is decreased, then I feel their rush potential takes a hit and becomes more spam based. If their hp is lowered, then they can't beat men very easily and can be countered by sentry towers, but can run around the base threatening/killing women and being chased by some CS. I feel this way, dogs remain a big threat, and a useful rush tool, but also are less OP, being roughly counterable by standard CS compositions and sentry towers.

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