Resource moons run out.

[CreepersNemisis]

posted on July 18th, 2013, 6:19 pm

Last edited by CreepersNemisis on July 18th, 2013, 9:14 pm, edited 3 times in total.

You remember Armada I. Back when moons ran out and you had to stop building your massive game ending fleet to risk your neck for some more dilithium.

Limited resources can introduce a whole new tactical element. (See edit 1) Currently, you can hole yourself in with the nice expansion right next to your base, and constantly machine out ships to constantly fuel your devastating attack fleets. But what if, suddenly, you ran out of dilithium?(See edit 2.) Well, now, you have to pull back your fleet and go on over to another moon which is conveniently located... At the center of the map. Hmm, this battle could prove challenging, especially now that your opponent is driven by the same dilemma...

Of course, maps would have to be balanced out so that you aren't forced to attack your opponent's base with three k'vorts, and such. This is more realistic, and keeps your forces mobile. Now it's a bit harder to spam your dominion bugs, or hole yourself in behind that solid wall of Klingon heavy turrets.

Are there any suggestions you have for improving or balancing this idea? Anything that you think seems wrong about it? Leave me a comment, and I'll try my best to take a look. =)

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EDIT 1:
Just to clarify, I was not intending to sound like these moons would replace all the current infinite moons. They would be added as a map element, for map makers to use. Used in conjunction, mapmakers could have more tools at their hand to craft the main conflict areas and produce other desirable effects.

EDIT 2:
A suggestion from Tyler was to make depleted moons not stop yielding resources completely, but only yield a percentage of what the moon's original yield was. Basically it would take longer for a miner to fill.

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Suggested Variations:
Tyler 1:
Tyler suggested giving finite moons a random chance of spawning into the map as infinite moons, as well as letting depleted moons yield percentages of resources instead of stopping completely.

One thing I, personally, would do to this suggestion is make a new type of moon, a "random moon" that does the described spawning behavior above, whereas the "finite moon" map object would always be finite.

posted on July 18th, 2013, 6:42 pm

welcome to the forum

Currently, you can hole yourself in with the nice expansion right next to your base, and constantly machine out ships to constantly fuel your devastating attack fleets.

give that a go against a skilled player and you'll get crushed. if a game lasts long enough for a second expansion, and only your opponent considers it, they have a huge advantage.

posted on July 18th, 2013, 7:00 pm

welcome to the forum

Currently, you can hole yourself in with the nice expansion right next to your base, and constantly machine out ships to constantly fuel your devastating attack fleets.

give that a go against a skilled player and you'll get crushed. if a game lasts long enough for a second expansion, and only your opponent considers it, they have a huge advantage.

I've seen it multiple times. It's called spamming, for instance the dominion bug spam. You keep fueling your bug fleet by pumping out bugs from your shipyards.

posted on July 18th, 2013, 7:09 pm

I've seen it multiple times. It's called spamming, for instance the dominion bug spam. You keep fueling your bug fleet by pumping out bugs from your shipyards.

you said: "Currently, you can hole yourself in with the nice expansion right next to your base, and constantly machine out ships to constantly fuel your devastating attack fleets. " that's not spamming. refusing to go past 2 moon pairs will hurt you if a game continues past the point where a third moon pair is viable.

spamming is building loads of the same ship, almost zero variety.

either way, spamming bugs is stopped by spamming support ships. that's a very strong counter.

posted on July 18th, 2013, 7:24 pm

I've seen it multiple times. It's called spamming, for instance the dominion bug spam. You keep fueling your bug fleet by pumping out bugs from your shipyards.

you said: "Currently, you can hole yourself in with the nice expansion right next to your base, and constantly machine out ships to constantly fuel your devastating attack fleets. " that's not spamming. refusing to go past 2 moon pairs will hurt you if a game continues past the point where a third moon pair is viable.

spamming is building loads of the same ship, almost zero variety.

either way, spamming bugs is stopped by spamming support ships. that's a very strong counter.

It's a hypothetical example. As many ways as you can think of where it would not be a good idea, there are that many maps and circumstances where it is a good idea. There might not be a third moon pair. There might be 3 dilithium moons and 3 trilithium moons all in your base. Please don't take it legally word for word, think of the concept behind it. "It's called <insert name here>" is a common expression of speech, and sometimes it isn't accurate. There will be times when not expanding past what you have is a good idea, and other times it will be a bad idea. The point is that depleting moons will add another tactical element.

posted on July 18th, 2013, 7:30 pm

There might not be a third moon pair. There might be 3 dilithium moons and 3 tritanium moons all in your base..

those sorts of maps are terrible. they would only work for ai bashes or single player.

i wouldn't object to non-infinite moons being added as a map object, to be placed at the whims of a map maker. but not replacing the current moon paradigm.

posted on July 18th, 2013, 7:36 pm

There might not be a third moon pair. There might be 3 dilithium moons and 3 tritanium moons all in your base..

those sorts of maps are terrible. they would only work for ai bashes or single player.

i wouldn't object to non-infinite moons being added as a map object, to be placed at the whims of a map maker. but not replacing the current moon paradigm.

Oh well of course, lol. I wasn't suggesting that. I should have been more clear, my bad. I'ma go fix that now.

posted on July 18th, 2013, 8:18 pm

I will always support having finate moons, though with them working like the planets of A2 and a rare chance of an infinate moon randomly spawning in their place.

posted on July 18th, 2013, 8:38 pm

I will always support having finate moons, though with them working like the planets of A2 and a rare chance of an infinate moon randomly spawning in their place.

What do you mean by "with them working like the planets of A2"? I added your idea to the OP and am looking for more detail. =) I do have a feeling that if a finite moon becomes a infinite moon in the wrong place, it could give a serious advantage to one team or another.

[Tyler]

posted on July 18th, 2013, 9:04 pm

Last edited by Tyler on July 18th, 2013, 9:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Planets had a resource limit just like moons, except the mining rate was reduced to a fraction of the original when it hits 0 instead of stopping completely

The random infinate moon could be trouble, though it should be fine if random ones are a seperate moon. Stick those ones in dangerous or hard to reach places.

posted on July 18th, 2013, 9:06 pm

Oh, that's a nice idea. Now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Thanks! =)

posted on August 2nd, 2013, 8:33 pm

i like the idea of finite moons that reduce to a trickle of resources after a time, forcing teams to move on and fight for different areas of the map. while having your starting pair infinite at the same time.

perhaps this could be a set of broken/destroyed moon debris (a visual cue to show its finite)