Sibling Rivalry
The best storyline of RAGL season 3 is going to unfold this weekend, and I’m going to stream it. It’s Brother vs Brother, and all the pride is on the line as everyone’s favorite forum trolls, Happy and Juicebox, face each other on the Path of the Hidden Master in a best of five series. The two siblings tore their ways through their recruit divisions and will face off Sunday at 15:00 UTC.
Here’s hoping for a great series with plenty of smack-talk along the way.
Sniper Showcase
I was fortunate enough to have a 5a cast worthy game with the sniper drop. It really helped to see potential of the unit through someone else’s eyes. I was originally worried that the sniper would just be used as a poor man’s artillery but it’s clear now that it fits nicely into a unique hit and run role with a mobile force. My next plan for the playtest is to nerf the fire rate of the sniper to direct it more towards the mobile harassment role.
Minions Championship
I played Orb this Monday for the RAGL Minons title. For those that didn’t watch, here’s a link to Soscared’s VOD.
I’ll share some spoiler thoughts on the event:
I’ve never been in a competitive event with a prize on the line and an audience watching, so this was quite the experience for me. The match was back and forth and intense to play in. The fact that the series went the full five games didn’t help in that regard. I got a good chuckle from the #prayforSmitty that was popping up in the chat replay.
Orb straight up whipped me with his V2-yak tech rush. Hats off to him for preparing and executing a great gameplan. I knew the build had me befuddled (it probably still does), and it would be suicide to try to theorycraft against it in just 10 minutes so I did the next best thing...
Never thought I would say this, but THANK GOD PATCHES WAS IN THE MAP POOL. I knew a tech rush would be gimped on a low eco map, and I still almost lost to the V2s regardless. Fortunately I was able to keep the V2 count low enough for long enough, and my refinery spam and harvester snipes eventually won the day.
It was a great experience to play this series, and looking forward I hope the competitive scene has more series that go the distance.
Smitty's Workshop
USA! USA! (Sunday 4 p.m. UTC on Raish and Lorry's streams)
I really like the sniper, which seemed like a natural addition as it is a standard unit in later C&C games. However there was a lot of opposition to bringing it back:
https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/pull/9747
https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/pull/11295
https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/pull/9747
https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/pull/11295
Seems sad when a section of developers choose to squish feedback. Open RA seemed to be about recreating the feel of the old Westwood games, but not a purist vanilla experience. Why is there no hind or Chinook for Soviets or Dogs for Allies- if the original game feel was the intent from the start, those changes were in a different direction.Matt wrote: ↑I really like the sniper, which seemed like a natural addition as it is a standard unit in later C&C games. However there was a lot of opposition to bringing it back:
https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/pull/9747
https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/pull/11295
France just doesn't work atm. Most games I have against a France player or in a team game with France bear this out with France either weighing the team down or participating without unique effect. I also really liked this idea because the British $250 spy is spammable and corrected this way. $250 spies costs less than a Rocket and are devastating.
It's not Canadian to just criticize... so heres an alternative idea. Since we're limited to RA units, and since Demo trucks were an Allied unit originally. Why not give France demo trucks, MGG to England, and Volkov to Ukraine (and take away random vector on Paradrops). His C4 is kinda demolitions theme anyways.
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MustaphaTR
- Posts: 203
- Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2014 6:38 am
- Location: Kastamonu, Turkey
Yes that's right, they weren't actually a unique allied unit- but if solutions are restricted to RA units, there's not a lot of options.MustaphaTR wrote: ↑ I'm pretty sure they were available to both sides after building a Nuke Silo.
It's not a bad idea imho. France is hugely viable with the firepower of a nuke truck and hiding it the demo until the last possible second is deception at its finest.
The official playtest is looking like it’ll be out Saturday, and if everything stays on schedule I’d like to host a playtest stream Saturday evening around 6 p.m. UTC. We’re expecting some huge changes to gameplay so it’s important to get people playtesting early and often with this one.
Because folks will need to download a new client to play this, I’m hoping to line up some volunteers beforehand so we’re not short on players. I’ll also see if I can’t pry a few players off of PUBG for a few hours. No guarantees there.
Because folks will need to download a new client to play this, I’m hoping to line up some volunteers beforehand so we’re not short on players. I’ll also see if I can’t pry a few players off of PUBG for a few hours. No guarantees there.
"Do not trust the balance tzars (Smitty, Orb). They are making the changes either for the wrong reasons, for no reason at all, or just because they can and it makes them feel good." - Alex Jones
If you meant 11 am PST, then yes.Blackened wrote: ↑11 pm PST? Are you my hero?
"Do not trust the balance tzars (Smitty, Orb). They are making the changes either for the wrong reasons, for no reason at all, or just because they can and it makes them feel good." - Alex Jones
Now that we're moving on to official playtesting, I'll share my take on what I saw in my SMT playtest and which of those changes I recommend be escalated to a future official playtest.
Recommended for official playtest:
- Grenadier explosion changed to small explosion from big explosion. Chance on death to explode changed from 50% to 100%: This change has been sought out by various people who don't like that grenadiers explode with the force of an artillery shell. We wanted to test this to see if grenadier play would become overpowered. The small explosion is a noticeable buff, even with a 100% chance, but good defensive play should still dispatch a grenadier threat with no problem.
- MCV price from 2000 to 2500: This makes successfully destroying construction yards, especially multiple construction yards, more rewarding.
- Medic HP reduced from 80 to 50: The goal here was to stop seeing medics used as meatshields, and this change seems to accomplish that.
- Iron Curtain invulnerability duration lowered from 20 seconds to 16. The Iron Curtain is overperforming, and is capable of winning an even game with a single use in a pitched battle. Twenty seconds is a bit too long to be running for your life from invulnerable APC's, especially when the next IC is up just 100 seconds after the last one wears off.
Not recommended because of negative feedback:
- MCV speed decreased by 10: This change looked to be universally accepted for awhile; appearing in more playtests than mine. But eventually some players came to see this change as unnecessarily slowing down the development of the game.
- AA gun and SAM site range changed to 8c0: This changed aimed to nerf the AA gun more than it buffed the SAM Site as a general rule for how to balance defensive structures. However, Allies are proving too weak in the Anti-Air department to see a significant nerf to their best defense. (And yes, I am factoring in the Longbow.) SAM sites up to 9 or 10 cell range is probably the way to go here.
Not recommended because of inconclusive results:
- Ranger has an additional infantry slot: This one received positive feedback but we really never got to see a good example of creative play with it. I may try to keep it the next go around or look for some other way to make rangers more appealing in later game scenarios.
- Mammoth turret traverse speed increased from 2 to 3: This one was also well received but I'm still the only player who uses these things. (At least in the SMT games I know of.) I remain of the opinion that mammoths are still damn good in certain situations.
- MIG reload time halved: We need at least one person to actually build and use migs to even test this, and this change didn't convince anyone to try.
Needs additional work:
- MCV base provider range down to 14 from 16: This was a positive change, but certain maps that intend for secondary ore refs to be placed from the main base will need to be adjusted. (i.e. Sidestep, Desert Rats) For this to go through we'd need unanimous support and a will to get those maps identified and changed.
- MGG and Phase transport swapped between England and France. British spy replaced by sniper drop: This was featured in a Five Aces cast and got plenty of feedback, most of it positive. Moving forward, I'm going to reduce the fire rate of snipers to direct them to more of a harass role. Also if I recall correctly there's a trait in the works that will allow for costed support powers. Even nerfed snipers will probably get too many complaints if they are free.
Looking forward:
A couple of things I'm looking at are: a) Removing the ability to crush from MCVs, to reduce their escapability, and b) Increasing the minimum range of Artillery and V2s by two cells. The best way to take out siege units in all the RTS games I know of is to get up close and personal. Problem is, all too often Arty and V2s will be able to one-shot the units try to kill them. Flak trucks and light tanks are the units most suited for destroying siege units, but arty will one-shot a flak truck and V2s will one shot both. The goal then is to keep the units moving while firing, but because of how movement mechanics work in this game keeping units alive vs Arty and V2s is easier said than done, even for top players.
And finally, GPS needs a nerf. This is probably the most glaring balance issue that hasn't been addressed yet, and problem is it isn't an easy one to fix. My personal preference would be to remove infantry and air units from gps vision, as well as keep units under fog of war from being auto targeted by the player with GPS. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that can be done through a .yaml edit. If GPS is properly scaled back the timer can be removed as was requested in a thread a while ago. I'd replace that with a globally heard 'Satellite Launched' warning.
Recommended for official playtest:
- Grenadier explosion changed to small explosion from big explosion. Chance on death to explode changed from 50% to 100%: This change has been sought out by various people who don't like that grenadiers explode with the force of an artillery shell. We wanted to test this to see if grenadier play would become overpowered. The small explosion is a noticeable buff, even with a 100% chance, but good defensive play should still dispatch a grenadier threat with no problem.
- MCV price from 2000 to 2500: This makes successfully destroying construction yards, especially multiple construction yards, more rewarding.
- Medic HP reduced from 80 to 50: The goal here was to stop seeing medics used as meatshields, and this change seems to accomplish that.
- Iron Curtain invulnerability duration lowered from 20 seconds to 16. The Iron Curtain is overperforming, and is capable of winning an even game with a single use in a pitched battle. Twenty seconds is a bit too long to be running for your life from invulnerable APC's, especially when the next IC is up just 100 seconds after the last one wears off.
Not recommended because of negative feedback:
- MCV speed decreased by 10: This change looked to be universally accepted for awhile; appearing in more playtests than mine. But eventually some players came to see this change as unnecessarily slowing down the development of the game.
- AA gun and SAM site range changed to 8c0: This changed aimed to nerf the AA gun more than it buffed the SAM Site as a general rule for how to balance defensive structures. However, Allies are proving too weak in the Anti-Air department to see a significant nerf to their best defense. (And yes, I am factoring in the Longbow.) SAM sites up to 9 or 10 cell range is probably the way to go here.
Not recommended because of inconclusive results:
- Ranger has an additional infantry slot: This one received positive feedback but we really never got to see a good example of creative play with it. I may try to keep it the next go around or look for some other way to make rangers more appealing in later game scenarios.
- Mammoth turret traverse speed increased from 2 to 3: This one was also well received but I'm still the only player who uses these things. (At least in the SMT games I know of.) I remain of the opinion that mammoths are still damn good in certain situations.
- MIG reload time halved: We need at least one person to actually build and use migs to even test this, and this change didn't convince anyone to try.
Needs additional work:
- MCV base provider range down to 14 from 16: This was a positive change, but certain maps that intend for secondary ore refs to be placed from the main base will need to be adjusted. (i.e. Sidestep, Desert Rats) For this to go through we'd need unanimous support and a will to get those maps identified and changed.
- MGG and Phase transport swapped between England and France. British spy replaced by sniper drop: This was featured in a Five Aces cast and got plenty of feedback, most of it positive. Moving forward, I'm going to reduce the fire rate of snipers to direct them to more of a harass role. Also if I recall correctly there's a trait in the works that will allow for costed support powers. Even nerfed snipers will probably get too many complaints if they are free.
Looking forward:
A couple of things I'm looking at are: a) Removing the ability to crush from MCVs, to reduce their escapability, and b) Increasing the minimum range of Artillery and V2s by two cells. The best way to take out siege units in all the RTS games I know of is to get up close and personal. Problem is, all too often Arty and V2s will be able to one-shot the units try to kill them. Flak trucks and light tanks are the units most suited for destroying siege units, but arty will one-shot a flak truck and V2s will one shot both. The goal then is to keep the units moving while firing, but because of how movement mechanics work in this game keeping units alive vs Arty and V2s is easier said than done, even for top players.
And finally, GPS needs a nerf. This is probably the most glaring balance issue that hasn't been addressed yet, and problem is it isn't an easy one to fix. My personal preference would be to remove infantry and air units from gps vision, as well as keep units under fog of war from being auto targeted by the player with GPS. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that can be done through a .yaml edit. If GPS is properly scaled back the timer can be removed as was requested in a thread a while ago. I'd replace that with a globally heard 'Satellite Launched' warning.
"Do not trust the balance tzars (Smitty, Orb). They are making the changes either for the wrong reasons, for no reason at all, or just because they can and it makes them feel good." - Alex Jones