Right know about 95% of the commanders skip medium tanks. The reason is obvious: MKII has almost the same firepower and you will research them anyway. And heavy tanks can do everything what the medium tank can - but much better. There are very rare situation where you decide to go for medium tanks. Most reason for them are noob commanders or you have already lost most refineries and because of this you have no resources for heavy tanks. Two suggestions to make medium tanks more usefull: 1. Remove MG slot from heavy tank Then medium tanks will be a tactical choice if you want to use one of the MGs. 2. Remove MKII See argumentation above. Pro: More tactical variations. Con: None.
It doesn't help that the NF med is a barn and the BE med drives like a car with octagonal iceblocks for wheels.
You get this intel from where? MkII mediums are a terrible idea, how would they differ from heavies. MkII lights and AFVs suck too.
They'd be less effective. Yar? And maybe you wouldn't need to blow 2000 resources on the research, since you already blew 500 resources on them 3 minutes ago and another 1500 just now for Adv. Chassis. (Or whatever the bloody research path would be for MMKIIs.)
What the fuck is the point in making a second research option that's less powerful than heavies. The idea is to make med tanks useful. Light tanks are still useful lategame, mostly because NF have shit tanks, APCs are always useful with spawns (bring it back...) jeeps are useful always, but only if you need cheap transport, heavies are the biggest baddest tanks on the block. Meds have nothing going for them, especially now the basic tanks can be improved basically for free.
drag, about a month ago. They won't have 3 slots for anything, they might just get an extra 2 slot MG (which would be awesome imo). There may even be heavy MKIIs. Also, the premise of this suggestion is a little ridiculous. You're saying that tanks that can be 40-50% cheaper, requires less time and a lot less monies to research and are tier 2 tanks are NOT as good as the tier 3 heavies, in which the research for them alone costs 2,000 res? Whoa, no shit, Mr. Sherlock! Pro: More tactical variations. That is the most laughable of them all. Hey, guys, let's have more tactical variants by REMOVING MORE WEAPON POSSIBILITIES AND CHASSIS TYPES! Oh yes, that will be excellent. It's like, you want to use ER with DU? WHAT?! ARE YOU MAD?! We have VARIATION now, which means you can only use the same thing OVER AND OVER because this is VARIATION. Sorry for utterly flaming your suggestion SIP, but it deserves it.
So Medium MKII will have at least one 3 slot canon or missle and 2x2 slot MG. With this the medium tank will be overpowered. Just think about Rail Gun and 2 x DU. This will kill every tank in short range. Or nukes with 2 x .50cal. Will kill every infantry in no time. And then tell me why nobody researches mediums? You don't get the point. Having a default tank (you always get MKII) and one useless tank (medium) adds no tactical variations. Variation would be if you can decive to use only canon and missles (heavy tank) or use less canon and missles but a 2 slot MG (medium tank). So you will have a different research path for medium and heavy tank weapons.
Saving cash means nothing. If I can field 8 tanks for the price of one it means nothing if that enemy single tank can kill all 8 easily.
I agree with you - Meds should be more useful, so they can be more aptly used as a budget, mediocre armour, mediocre weapon tank. Currently, their weapons are fine, UML + HE make for some excellent and easily spammed meds, HE + DU/HEMG works well for a team that works togehter and focusses fire well (HEMG heatlocks you like a bitch if there are enough hitting). Armour is a problem imo, meds can often get 3 or 3.5 avg. per side, whilst heavies can do 5 or 5.5 avg. per side, I'd like to see meds having more capibility to use armour by an increased wieght limit, perhaps even increase the limit to 5 per side (although this could only be used practically with a single weapon and/or a lightweight armour). Take the base cost of the med right down also, they should be equal to or less than the cost of an equivilant MKII - punish people for relying on MKIIs. Increase the base cost of heavies slightly. Meds will therefor range between 450-700 res, and heavies between 950-1300. The difference here means that a losing team, or just those on a low res map, will use meds and not be completely cocked over by heavies because they can't stand up to the firepower - the cost and spammability means that losing teams can fall back on their last resource as well, tickets. By doing this, you a) Don't remove ONE OF THE MOST CRUICIAL ASPECTS OF EMPIRES which is deep customisation throughout. I can not stress enough how important and 100% completely vital this factor is. It goes through infantry perks and weapons to commander research and tanks, and it is one of the best advertisements there is for empires. I will always be against anything that takes this away, because it is so utterly vital. And b) you keep more research tactics, which is nice.
Yeah, on heavies you should make the choice of either: 6 plates all around. or... As many weapons as you please. The problem is they can do both, but weapon spam also generates too much heat. How about meds be capable of 4 plates and 2 or 3 good weapons, while heavies be capable of 6 plates OR 4-5 good weapons (with an improved heavy engine) That way meds are good in general, but a heavy can trump them in one field.
make mediums a prerequisite for heavies upgchassis-mkII-advanced chassis-medium-heavy this stretches out the time at which mkII's and mediums are useful, maybe do it like this to make it even more time mkII-upgchassis-mediums-advanced chassis-heavy in most games the comm has a weapon (missile or cannon) before mkII's (or immediately after mkII's are done) this way the benefits of a better chassis is more dependent on what you can arm it with, and how good you are in a tank, and the jump between researches is more logical. edit: i dont think ive seen/used a medium in months, and they are a fun tank, i'd like to see them made useful again
Heavies are, IMO, one of the most entertaining things in empires, it has a brilliant arcade/realism twist to it that just makes it simple yet difficult. Mediums are OK, but I think the customisation really limits them. In terms of the game though, it can be a perfectly fine tactical descision, or at least it should be. The fact that mediums are too shit too be used though is by no means the fault of heavies, and you shouldn't go fucking them over because that ain't broke - if it ain't broke for fucks sake don't fix it. Ther medium is broke, so fix that. Make MKIIs that can challenge heavies in a different way - I seriously don't get why/how you can be against this - or simply buff the mediums.
There's nothing difficult about heavies. (Except all the clicking to change the loadout.) Oh, and the NF heavy handles like a boat, despite being easier to kill.
It is difficult to defeat another heavy in a heavy. You have to turn plates and use the terrain to your advantage and dodge shells and not stall and kill the enemy. All pretty simple tasks, but put them all together and it's challenging and engaging.
Me and Deif are doing a lot of scripting atm, and our plans are to remove the MKIIs, and make heavy only and med only weapons, that suit different roles, so you get Heavys, Mediums, Arty and APCs on the field at the same time. We haven't thought of a way to get AFVs/LTs on the field at the same time, and jeeps...are jeeps.
