original game, no expac races, campaign mode, normal diff

Gratuitous Forum Suggestions
1

ive started over several times on normal diff and i have two comments so far.

1st… is the AI for Keep Moving.

i think i am losing ships to this command, it seems to hurt more then it helps.
i like the 950 range plasma gun with a targetting computer, i dont remember what they are called .[the targetting computers]

but it would be cool if you could like … get them to move in an arc, tangent to the enemy. staying in good weapons ranges…

is there a way to set up the AI to , kite some? not a perfect kite that would be overpowered. but … i was expecting the keep moving command to be smarter, and it just does not seem to be.
i had a cruiser that moved at .13… decent speed for a cruiser, and i was like, why do i bother? they dont move into range, AND THEN move into a tangent vector.
they just keep moving and help the enemy close range for its beam weapons, kinda … lame.

maybe i dont know how to setup the AI right? or maybe the keep moving command is bogus? i dont know? but its not working like i would HOPE.
to me it would be, move into range, then move into a tangent vector. but that isnt what its doing, or move into an arc, like a circle of death [mechwarrior term]. ???

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my second thing to comment on , is the upkeep cost in the campaign.
i reached a point where i was at about 800 upkeep and about 1600 income.

i couldnt expand. i didnt have the resources to have a defense fleet and an attack fleet, …
it would be nice if we knew the upkeep cost of a ship before we built it. might make it easier to strategize that upkeep cost?

i mean i lost my homeworld like… 3 or 4 times, and then took it back[3 or 4 times]. and i tried starting over again.

i would like to see a reduced upkeep cost, or at least an indicator of what a ships upkeep is before i build it.
i mean repairs are cheap, but upkeep was killing me.
was too difficult to have a reserve, either a reserve fleet, or reserve resources.

cheasiest thing i saw was someone with 4 alligators took out like my whole fleet.

i um… i had keep moving on… and my ships with 950 range weapons ended up charging the alligators, and the alligators didnt even move …
and they wiped the floor with my minotaurs.

to me thats part of the space battle is the maneuvering and … [i mean space is frictionless right?]

anyways i was dissappointed when my fleet just ‘kept moving’ right at the alligators… and the alligators shredded them. i didnt even scratch one of them. i had them outnumbered i dont remember the details. i work nights and its my night off and i am up WAY past my bedtime.

i had the engagement range set for 943 i think. adn the fleet just Kept On Moving right into beam range and was vaporized…

to me normal would be what a competent player would play at and i gotta tell you. normal takes quite a bit more then mere competence.

i like the game tho.
i guess i will try the campain on ez mode.

[my first post. i do like this game its been a while since i got to scratch the moo 2 ship design itch]
thanks for letting me feedback,
-BLOODSHOT

2

i don’t think its the keep moving’s fault if they’re charging head-on vs the enemy fleet

maybe ur ranging is off?

check ur “attack cruisers” order maybe?

3

This would be great. Anybody who has played Battletech, Mechwarrior, GW’s Battlefleet Gothic, or any number of other Mech/Spaceship based combat games knows that moving across your enemy is the best way to keep your weapons hitting him. It’s also much harder for him to hit a target moving across him than towards him.

4

With regards to your first & third issues, my Maintain Minimum Range order suggestion would nicely enable the behavior you desire - all you’d have to do is tell your ships to move away from any cruisers inside, say 600 range.

With regard to the second, an exponential upkeep model seems like the right solution - since campaign progression involves lots more worlds and moderately larger enemy fleets at about the same number of choke points, it makes sense to reduce upkeep at small sizes and increase it at large ones - it also increases the incentive at later stages to keep your fleets no larger than they need to be (think this should have its own topic?)

What do you think of these ideas?