I think the commander should get some support abilities that they can use in RTS mode. These abilities would cost a large amount of resources and require research, but can turn the tide of a battle in favor of the team doing so. Here's a bit of a rough outline, just pitching some ideas: Commander Sensor Sweep (2000) - Performs an instant sweep of a designated area. Shows the activities of all enemy units and building. Lasts 20 sec. Commander EMP (5000) - Calls down an EMP on a small area, overheating all vehicles in range. Commander Carpet Bombing (10000) - Designates an area near friendly units for a heavy Carpet Bombing. Similar to the Artillery Squad Power, but on a much larger scale.
Basically, what all your ideas will do is make the winning team win period. Also, the carpet bombing is nearly impossible to obtain except like what, in 5% of all cases?
Really you need things which become less useful the closer to victory you are, or which have a very specific use. Like regular squad arty, if comms could fire that at places that'd be much better than carpet bombing, because squad arty can take out specific targets which can help when used right but isn't a doomsday weapon. They need to be equally accessible to both teams as well, one good suggestion I heard was that comms get squad points for people working together or completing objectives, or just a fraction of their team's rank points to spend on squad-power like abilities. That'd be pretty even across both teams, more even than res might be anyway.
How about this: When a losing team loses its barracks, they can spawn from comm for a limited amount of time?
I'd use the EMP blast to grief my team. You're out 5000 resources AND all your vehicles are getting hijacked.
I like giving the comm abilities, but tieing them to resources is stupid. Both teams should have sort of equal chance to use them... Too many abilities or too powerful ones would be bad too. Maybe it would be nice to have them in some very certain situations to help you (for example: you can make one building autobuild very fast, but only once. If you use that skill too early or in the wrong situation you might loose, but if you do it in the right moment you can turn around everything: Imagine crossroads. One team has the upper hand and the other one has almost no chance of winning because they only have their 2 refs; a scouts sneaks though, com drops a rax and uses the build skill - now if people killspawn and take down the enemy base/comm, the loosing team could do an epic comeback.)
if implemented at all, I'd like the teamwork point system. and with those points, you could do special things like using a squad arty or even turning a few points into a few resources. and if we were really crazy enough, we could have a special research using teamwork points that improve infantry!
You have to think about why you want to add comm abilities. For the most part, I think, people want to add them because they'd be fun, right? This is actually a perfectly reasonable reason to want to add them, since Empires honestly does suffer from the fact that nobody wants to comm -- this ends up making the game less fun for everyone, because it means you're more likely to end up with newb comms or uninterested comes and things like that. But this won't help with that. If the comm has to spend res to use these abilities, they're not really something they can just say 'whee' and have fun with -- using them badly can easily cost your team the game by spending res that was needed for tanks. And, honestly, the comm should never have to choose between having fun with their shiny toys and taking away the shiny tanks that their team needs. So, instead, I think that comm powers should be fueled by a straightforward meter that rapidly regenerates over time. These powers should not be particularly overwhelming or significant; otherwise, you will just have another place where the comm can screw up. Make them small, fun things, not big game-deciding things... their purpose is to make people want to be the comm, not really to have a big impact on gameplay beyond that. They should be as weak as they can be while still being fun for the comm to play around with.
I don't like that system, for several reasons. The higher-tier powers are unbalanced, for one (although I assume many are jokes). I also don't like tying it to your team using squads, or to your team earning points. Why? What's the point? Having the comm screaming at their team to form squads isn't helpful, really. Rewarding a team that is already earning points by giving their comm superpowers is pointless. Why do people keep wanting to add more and more benefits to points? Like with the squad power suggestion, points serve only two purposes: They encourage people to help their team, and they add a bit of fun in the form of advancement that keeps people playing. But beyond that, their benefits should be kept to the absolute minimum possible -- there is no reason why points should play any significant game balance role at all; we don't want them to have any impact on game balance or on who wins, because that's not their intention. They should be as weak as they can be while still being fun and encouraging desired behaviors. Certainly no new benefits for points should be added. Besides, awarding it based on points inherently amplifies any existing imbalances. Larger teams will earn more points, so when the teams are stacked you will get comm power stacked. Why would you want that? More importantly, though, I strongly dislike the idea of allowing the comm meter or comm points or whatever fuels their power to accumulate 'endlessly'. That is a very, very bad idea. It encourages comms to save up for ZOMG GAME-ALTERING effects, which is not what we want at all. Comm powers exist for one purpose and one purpose only -- for fun. For them to be fun, the comm has to be able to use them a lot without worrying that they're crippling themselves in the long term by wasting points they will need later. Comms do not need decisions like that. Comm points should not be another way comms can fail by wasting their powers in the 'wrong' place. Comm powers should be something that comms are encouraged to use often, but with an impact that is barely noticeable to infantry. Therefore, the comm powers should be powered by meter that rapidly 'maxes out' -- when it's maxed out, the comm has no reason not to use their powers. It should be something comms can use more or less freely. Comms should not be able to accumulate their powers for one big game-deciding burst, because that is not the purpose of comm powers. They're not supposed to decide the game. (I feel, incidentally, that squad powers should work the same way for the same reason -- have a limited meter that fills up over time, with little or no connection to points; and make it so the meter soon maxes out. Squad leaders should use powers at regular intervals, which will encourage people to stay with the squad and work with the squad to benefit from them... but they shouldn't be able to save up a ton of points and then decide the game with a bunch of squad arty or squad revives or whatever, because deciding the game isn't the purpose of squad powers.)
There's always a problem with any kind of usuable items in any game 3 examples: 1: There is no limit somthing.The things can be acquired at a rate depending on the Success of the person. Main Pro: The amount they have is dependant on how hard they work. The amount they are able to use grows over time. The harder they work the more they have, the more likely they are to use them. Main Con:They need to work hard to get larger amounts. People may stockpile them in order to not waste their work. 2:The limit to something is 10. This amount replenishes at a rate depending on a semi random occurrence(%chance of a specific action). Main pro: With a hard cap people may use them in order to make room for more. The random chance allows for not entirely skill based acquisition. Main Coneople may waste points over the limit saving what they have for a more applicable time. Semi random means the amount acquired is not static. 3:The limit to something is 1. This amount is gained at a static rate. Main pro:With a limit of one there can be no stockpiling. The amount acquired is always known. People are likely to use the powers right away Main con:With no stockpiling people may either use the power at not tactically advantageous time just so they don't waste the time. The acquisition is fixed so there is no variation as to when the skills can be used. 3 systems of Storage (no cap, high cap, low cap) and 3 systems of acquisition (Success, %on an action, Fixed). The one I put up was no cap, %on an action(the success of your team, because you cannot control the squad success). Yours is low cap, fixed rate. There's problems with all the systems, from stockpileing, only one tier of powers, using them just so you don't waste another and no variation as to when powers are used.
How about you give commander abilities a "reload" time? no accumulating of points or anything at all.
Unless they're very situationally dependent, then it would be preferable to save them. Though, the abilities that aren't situationally dependent are usually the most fun.
Not really. If you're winning, then you use them whenever you can to complete the victory. If you are not winning, then you still use them whenever you can in order to make a comeback. If both sides are balanced, then they're going to keep using them periodically either way to gain the advantage over the other.
That's the point. They should not have a big strategic value, because the comm should not be deciding games with their comm powers -- that would not be very fun to everyone else in the game. The only valid purpose for comm powers is to give the comm something fun to play around with, something that lets them influence things very lightly while maybe letting their team feel like "woo, the comm is helping" so a comm who uses them a lot can be liked by their team (yes, it sounds silly, but it's a worthwhile goal.) Additionally, since comms are likely to use comm powers to help people who are doing things that they've asked to get done, it should encourage people to listen to their comms a bit more. But they shouldn't have a big impact, and there shouldn't be a big strategic choice associated with them. (With that said, just recharging still does have some strategic choice -- you have to decide where you want to use them. But there absolutely should not be the kind of major game-deciding choice that you could get by accumulating points for the whole game and deciding when to spend them all at once, or by spending res that could've gone into tanks. Comm powers and squad powers should not be deciding games. Their only real purpose is to encourage people to join/use squads and to want to be / listen to the comm respectively; their impact should be as absolutely low as they can be while still accomplishing that.)
I think they should be limited by money, and resource. Like, nuclear weapons in most RTS require a nuclear silo. Or like the superweapons in the Red Alert games do. Place building, it starts generating your "nuke". When it's ready, you can fire it. Ground-to-ground missiles, stationary arty. All that jazz could be made. It would require money, and people building it. It also siphons away cash as it "reloads". This suggestion on the other hand negates what Aquillon said, about the simple strategic choices. Suddenly the comm is deciding if he should build nukes or tanks.
