Another way to spend tech points

The unlocks are not meant to give an edge. Someone with no unlocks can perfectly well use units to win a game.

If 1k points give 10% boost stackable, I want to trade in all my commander unlocks (and superweapon/mech unlocks too) and get glaives with the armour of Zeus... or brawlers with 1.5 HLT range. Or levelers with ravager's speed. (or, or, or...)
Totally broken and infeasible.

- Do. Not. Want. -


But then, I can rest assured that the devs would never ever do this.

Problem with such buffs that that 1% can turn out to be very op sometimes. Imagine units previously outranged by the hlt suddenly outranging the hlt. Thats a huge and op difference.

Upgrading commander is good, and not too cheap - because newb ppl get boring of getting something for too long time/ much effort. But this way u are doomed to invent new super-ultra modules or units to support tech tree. If u allow ppl to upgrade units they will first make good com its cheap and fun, and then, getting expirenced, think strategically and spend points for upgrading units. This is endless process, if something gets OP, then automatically ppl will upgrade the OP-killer unit. And it is no problem if the unit price will increase also.

I could just say there is no way this would ever happen but I'll give some reasons.

XP cost =/= Ingame cost
I gave up explaining this one. It's just so evidently wrong for an RTS with any semblance of competitiveness.

Balance is nowhere near Linear
As others have stated Range is particularly non-linear. Also the Hp and Burst Damage relationships and Speed have clear cutoffs as well. Add to that things like the Square Law and nothing is linear.

The raiders apparently have the tightest balance to the point that a 10% buff to one of them would make it beat all others. In addition there is the issue of what to buff. There are a few dozen unit attributes that could be considered for buffing so how do you decide what to do?

I am also almost as opposed to unit upgrade for ingame cost for the above reasons (and more below).

A paid buff for a particular unit forces the player to further invest in that unit. It basically encourages single unit spam.

You may say the question of what to buff is simple; only reduce cost. Cost buffs are mostly linear and do not mess up unit interactions. To circumvent the single unit spam problem a buff could simply give you a small cost reduction to all units. This would give you a technology dimension of investment in the future.

The final step is to realise that a cost decrease for all units is functionally identical to an income increase. At this point there is no reason to add the only tech feature without the flaws of non-linear balance and single unit spam because it serves exactly the same strategic role as the Overdrive system implemented years ago.

Another thing. All these discussions start with something that people seem to assume is an undisputed fact; that running out of things to unlock is a problem. What makes it a problem?

That's for RPGs where one of the main aims is character advancement.

Also the idea of having some really expensive unlocks is nice imo. Something that's xp cost is in the thousands. Would give something to grind towards, for those who like it.

I will ultra-rage against anything that destroys the potential competitive nature of the game.

Not the nooby RPG-competitive where you get arbitrary bonuses for grinding hours. The true competitive nature of actually getting better at the game.

The last cake of the tin is the ladder.

I would like it if the unlock system get's completely reworked in the opposite direction - less RPG-based.


I would appricate it if different hosts ( FFA, TEAM, ... ) have different unlocks.
Or at least would unlock some FFA-important units.


If someone builds a unit ingame, this unit should be unlocked for the whole team.

If one team makes the second or third unit of this type, it should be unlocked for everyone.

If newbes wait a moment to make their lab, they could get access to other stuff.

The most stupid thing is to lock the air lab.
We could lock the difficult spiders too - I hope you know what I want to say :P

We should auto-unlock some important things with level advancement.
Lab-specific units should be unlocked with XPs because of different favourised labs.

Com-Cassies should get a really high level requirement.

Disco-Rave-Party should be cheaper than Starlight, because you can blow up your whole base with Starlight.

Big Bertha should be much cheaper than Disco-Rave-Party, but in the same price range of Anni, and DDM.

In the most cases you don't need Bemoth. because you have Anni or Bertha - it should be really expensive.

Unlocks should close gaps where you have a unit behind that gap.
Other unlocks should be cheaper.

Just do what Valve did with TF2: Hats.

Or more specifically, non-gameplay enhances to the game.

What about an unlock that makes your com shoot fireworks or do a taunt when they kill another com?

Or what about an unlock that makes beam laser purple or rainbow or glittery?

Or hats.

People love to grind for silly little upgrades like this that differentiate the look of their com vs. everyone else.