PTR Changelog 2016-09-21
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@Steeler, I think that is the intent (of which I am supportive) to present an method through which a defense can be broken.
Right now, high level defense is already incredibly effective. Ramparts 1 tile from exit + boosted defenders = WIN.
Me and my colleagues tested out combining a conventional attack with nuke landings every 1k ticks. We had 3 nukes land in the same room which took out 1 spawn and the storage, but it was still not enough. With just 2 rows of 10m ramparts romus was able to defend the room despite the nukes. If he had larger ramparts around his storage then even those 3 nukes would have been useless.
There needs to be a way to break stalemates and force AIs to maintain a dynamic stance. Even with these changes, you still need 3+ nukes for a single room in order to make a meaningful impact.
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@Atavus, yes, 3+ for a meaningful attack, but at some point it becomes unstoppable, which is the opposite effect or the point is to be able to lose any room?
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I think the intention is indeed to make no room unbreakable. A choice I certainly approve off.
If you have just a single room surrounded by 10 enemy rooms, then though luck. But the normal scenario will be 10+ rooms on your side, 10+ room on the opponent side. So nukes will be flying both direction and whoever has the most effective military code wins.
Right now we are looking at static warfare ala WW1. Rooms (trenches) are for the most part unbreakable resulting in relatively static frontlines.
This change loosens things up. Why is that a problem?
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it's not really a problem for me, but means that in order to achieve my goals i should be more aggressive which will leave less players in the game. Also, it's not always the case where u and ur opponent have 10 rooms each and being able to destroy a room with no tactic but a simple mass nuke is not a real fair takeover given how much logic and programming is required to protect that room against all other means of attack
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Also, it’s not always the case where u and ur opponent have 10 rooms each and being able to destroy a room with no tactic but a simple mass nuke is not a real fair takeover given how much logic and programming is required to protect that room against all other means of attack
A simple nuke launch can be counteracted by simple ramparts/walls building on the landing area. It’s just a war of resources. If it is a mass nuke launch, then you’d need to build massively as well. This seems fair.
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@Artem, the new nukes have an area of 121 room positions.. if in that radius i have 40 buildings that's 40 * 5m + 5 = 205m worth of ramparts over 50k ticks which is a constant build up of the ramparts with 50 unboosted WORK and over 2m energy required. Seems unfair that someone can do that just for reaching rcl8 in his room
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@Artem, the new nukes have an area of 121 room positions.
It is 5x5 area, i.e. 25 positions.
Also, it is very unlikely to have 25 valuable structures on them. Most probably it’ll be two or three structures, or a single or double line of walls and ramparts, i.e. 5-10 tiles.
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Realistically you would only bother protecting your terminal and/or Storage. Maybe you would protect a spawn. Normally though, you would just move them somewhere else.
What you would do is you wait 10k ticks or so after the nukes are detected. Then you start moving relevant buildings around to safe positions. If your opponent launches an attack during that time, activate safe mode. If your oponent launches more nukes, you wait until 10k ticks to when they are supposed to land and start moving buildings around. If attacked, activate safe mode. And with that nuke structural damage successfully countered.
Of course, not saying it's easy. It still requires a fair bit of work, especially if you want this to be done automatically. And nukes are still useless in trying to punch through walls/ramparts of decent sizes. If your position is entrenched and you have 100m+ walls, the nukes are only useful in conjunction with a conventional strike.
My point is that the nuke change finally gives attackers some real options. No room is unassailable, which is good.
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ah, yes.. the previous PTR update said something of radius of 5 - didn't notice that it's radius of 2 here. That's OK
Disregard my concerns
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> My point is that the nuke change finally gives attackers some real options. No room is unassailable, which is good.
I agree to this. If someone is willing to spend a fortune then there should be a way, and of course there should be counter-measures to diminish the effects and make it even more costly. Sooner or later someone will throw 20+ nukes to a single room but that's excessive fortune and defender may even be better off rebuilding, not defending it.
More strategic options, more fun!
