Loading...
  OR  Zero-K Name:    Password:   

Would this idea improve maps that mix land and water?

22 posts, 606 views
Post comment
Filter:    Player:  
Page of 2 (22 records)
sort
3 years ago
A ship-carrying flying unit that would cost around 250-400. It would move and turn slowly because I still want ships to be limited in terms of movement. Its speed should be reduced further when the load is very heavy. However, the unit being carried would be able to fire.

The new unit would have no weapons and I think it should be encased in heavy armor because avoiding damage would be challenging. One could have the gunship factory build it, but it doesn't have anything that could be picked up.
+2 / -0
3 years ago
I see a new surfboard, hm.... I like it.
+0 / -0

3 years ago
I need to know more. What would you carry, and why?
+0 / -0
GBrankDregs, it would enable getting ships to fight on land by letting them shoot and fly at the same time. I suppose it shouldn't be capable of moving anything else.
+0 / -0
3 years ago
What would be the exact reason to build this unit.... if you could just use lobster instead?
+0 / -0
3 years ago
Encouraging land ships is a bad idea, you'll be teaching noobs even worse habits than they have. Even old players keep trying to get land ships/subs and it's always a disaster unless they get carried.
+0 / -0
DErankManu12

The amphibious bot factory isn't always available. Its high HP would probably be useful and it could fly at a high altitude too. I think there would be much less micromanagement after one has picked every ship up.

However, I admit the level of similarity is slightly uncomfortable.
+0 / -0
3 years ago
Behold! The Envoycopter!
+2 / -0


3 years ago
This sounds like a solid take for an even less elegant solution than ivory's mantra of "give ships legs!".
+0 / -0
A ship that is flying in this manner would ideally take after the Nebula a bit, NZrankesainane.

EErankAdminAnarchid, I don't think so, but figuring out a visual design wouldn't be a walk in the park.

The ship shouldn't hang beneath in my opinion as I think that would look a little funny.
+0 / -0
3 years ago
please bring flying lobster back
+0 / -0
3 years ago
If this unit was bad it would solve nothing, if it was good it would lead to the era of flying capital ships, either way I don't think this idea can work.

Also yes you can use lobsters to throw ships on land if you really want that for some reason.
+1 / -0
3 years ago
What do you even need a flying ship for? if you need transport there's lobster and GS, if you need firepower there's 9 other land facs to choose from. if you need ZKness there's terraform. hell, build starligh and build a canel with it!
+1 / -0
3 years ago
I don't think the carriers should be worth building often. They should possibly help when you have a large quantity of ships already and one has to beat off the enemy on a big island for example. Maybe putting them into the Strider Hub would be a decent idea. One could also increase the cost a bit and the Reef could require 2-3 carriers. However, I suppose the Strider Hub is too cheap in this context.

BRrankManored & AUrankStuff
I suppose some flexibility is fun. I'm not sure if this particular idea can work though. Terraforming is sometimes too expensive. I'm not totally convinced that using the Lobster to move ships on land is usually good play.
+0 / -0
3 years ago
I agree that ships feel like they need some kind of balance change, especially against amphibs. But I don't think that giving ships their own 'lobster' is going to make the interaction more enjoyable for non-troll players.
+0 / -0
3 years ago
Last thing we need is a fukin flying kruzor with range extended by lifting it into air...
+0 / -0
3 years ago
Its not usually good play, but I suspect flying ships would also not usually be good play.

If you have long-range ships such as envoys or shogun lying around uselessly in a sea that has won its battle long ago, and they somehow don't have enough range to contribute to the current land fight, throwing them on land can be a good idea since you already have them anyways. However, our maps are not that big and the sea maps usually have fairly dominating seas, so this situation seems unlikely.

For the same reason, if the ship carrier was a niche unit, it would probably see very little use. If it was good enough to make ships effective on land, it would trivialize the shipness of ships, so we might as well have walking ships.
+0 / -0
The best way to improve mixed maps is to add a 0m water destroying unit that burns all the water away to make way for land factories.

Sea in general just isn't fun to play.
+0 / -0
3 years ago
That is a good point, and its a pattern observed not just in Zero-K but RTS in general.

I sometimes ponder what Zero-K would look like if we mostly removed sea play and let sea just be an obstacle, maybe with terraforming costs underwater greatly increased so that creating/removing your own sea is expensive.

To make the battles to airlift/bomb things over sea more interesting, a third air factory would be added, which would have aircraft even bigger and slower than gunships. Maybe blimp-style or capital-ship style.

...which I guess loops back to the idea on this thread, but having dedicated flying ships makes more sense than having sea ships that can become flying ships with help from a different unit, I feel.
+0 / -0
3 years ago
There are maps that either don't have water, or have lava/acid in its stead. So this is already the options you two asked for, no water at all, or 'water' as an obstacle.

And I don't want to remove sea units. A rebalance could do the trick, though of course what is appropriate is not so easy.

Perhaps we should look at the Siren and compare it to the Ogre. Both units basically have the same role, but Ogre is far more useful than Siren, with more than twice the DPS. It also has half the HP, but the damage potential seems to far outweight the lack of HP.
+0 / -0
Page of 2 (22 records)