Scout Me In

[Dominus_Noctis]

posted on February 10th, 2012, 11:08 pm

Last edited by Dominus_Noctis on February 11th, 2012, 1:08 am, edited 4 times in total.

Line of sight is one of the more important concepts in any good real time strategy game. In order to know what build order your opponent is using, where he or she is setting up construction for expansions, resource harvesting, or forward bases it is necessary to stay vigilant throughout the match.

Click here to read this article!

posted on February 10th, 2012, 11:19 pm

Grey mode. Awesome. I remember this was proposed some time ago and i loved the idea then and i love it now.

posted on February 10th, 2012, 11:28 pm

Looking good, obviously spamming wont be effective anymore, mixed fleets will be more tactical sound,  which is very good.  :thumbsup: The new scouts for not cloacking races will be more balanced and quicker to produce (and I hope cheaper) than the currents ones.

posted on February 10th, 2012, 11:28 pm

Sounds epic, i'm gonna love having better scouting. especially grey mode. and the new resource scanner is gonna be really useful for the newer players, or even when playing a new/rare map.

just a question, is the effect on civil units screenie supposed to be about military units? maybe the wrong file was selected.

also, STOP hammer time

posted on February 10th, 2012, 11:43 pm

This is amazing.  I've been wondering how you would solve the problem of fast, short-ranged ships dominating large maps and this is it.  Raiding is a much riskier proposition, yet it is still doable if you're paying attention to the board.  The important thing is that you can't raid carelessly.

Also long-range ships will have a much better position early game, with an advantage that goes away late-game so it doesn't overpower them.  A single long-range escort will work as a makeshift scout.

posted on February 10th, 2012, 11:47 pm

Seems pretty good.

One thing I hate when playing romulans though is the serkas. They always fire outside of my sensor range, and the first way to know they are there is with the sound and the green blob on the screen. But at first you don't know where you are being hit from.

In a way, I am so annoyed by this, but on the other hand I love the feeling of not knowing where that long range ship is... but it makes perfect sense, because I've got mostly mid range ships. So I'm getting shelled from far off, but I have to look around to see where that AI Serka is shooting from.

Now I am guessing this will happen even more, as more long units should be doing this besides the serkas. Of course, I won't have the same effect on the AI, but it will make the AI a bit tougher in cases like these so, thats a plus.

Cheaper scouts are interesting. Usually it's just an utter miner spam for the first five min of a game with an extra constructor in there maybe, but this offers a reason to build scouts for advanced scouting and for a fleet addition. Something new to practice at.

posted on February 10th, 2012, 11:48 pm

@tryptic: and this adds even more use for sabres. they are cheap, ubiquitous and they give you some sensor coverage, and still don't get shot when monsoons are around to tank. you can include sabres from any point in the game, unless you eraudi rushed, but then you'll probably get something else long ranged, probably e2.

posted on February 11th, 2012, 12:06 am

Love the idea! Looking forward to playing around with it.

posted on February 11th, 2012, 12:11 am

Wow. A few questions/comments:

How fast will a scout travel in grey mode? Will it be in the range of most destroyers, as hinted towards?

Will a scout using grey mode still broadcast its location on the minimap?

Will cloaking scouts also benefit from a decreased build time?

Decreasing sensor range to match weapons range strikes me as overkill. Is there a reason why it isn't something equally effective yet less extreme, like sensor range + 100?

[Anonymous]

posted on February 11th, 2012, 12:56 am

Last edited by Anonymous on February 11th, 2012, 12:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

Reducing the scout construction time might make the "scout rush" possible again.  Remember that from the stock A2?  Or does the starbase being required to build the unit make that a bit out of the question?

EDIT:
By the way, I think that what's the sensor range going to be on artillery and strategic vessels?  Long range?

posted on February 11th, 2012, 1:34 am

A Grey Mode scout is about equivalent to your fastest destroyers currently, so it is a good addition to any type of fleet

Just what it says on the tin: all scouts get reduced built times, and yup, Grey Mode scouts are still visible on the minimap.

Sight range was dropped to match weapon range to promote mixing and scouting (and to underline the role of your scouts), as well as (technical issue) to prevent ships from continuing to try and target ships outside of their weapon range but within their sensor range. 

posted on February 11th, 2012, 1:36 am

Reducing the scout construction time might make the "scout rush" possible again.  Remember that from the stock A2?  Or does the starbase being required to build the unit make that a bit out of the question?

EDIT:
By the way, I think that what's the sensor range going to be on artillery and strategic vessels?  Long range?

Scouts will still do crappy damage. The Klingons might be able to threaten a miner or two, but they'd be better served by a K't'inga rush.

And yes, long range seems to be the maximum non-scout sensor range.

posted on February 11th, 2012, 1:56 am

Cheaper scouts with faster build times also allows for one of my favorite stunts.  Build a few early scouts, set their protective stuff on, and throw them into 'search' mode.  (The initial scout, on the other hand, gets used more intelligently.)

That way, your opponent never knows when a scout will just swoop by, even when you're busy handling something somewhere else.

posted on February 11th, 2012, 3:52 am

Bawlsy good stuff... Im getting a bit greedy for this patch now.....

posted on February 11th, 2012, 9:07 am

The Venture really needs to say "Run silent run deep." when you activate grey mode.
Pwease?