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Sins Forums
Just a pet peeve really
If this game is really 3D, why aren't ships able to fly above a planet? or a structure?
I notice the fabricators/constructors are able to fly above a planet when they go about their business, but normal ships aren't able to
It'd be nice if that could be changed somehow.
actually, that is an option that must be bound to a hotkey; using it allows you to assign an arbitrary position around/above/below a planet/structure/other ships with the move command button.
It's really intended as a 2D game which is the way it should be. 3D would just make it too complicated.
I disagree; Z-axis (up-down) is enablable (<- real word?), you just have to bind the key yourself. There's also the fact that structures are placed arbitrarily up or down in reference to a gravitational object's equatorial plane; occasionally planets, star systems, and other things are up/down in reference to each other.
Homeworld, which I have never played, was apparently COMPLETELY 3D. And it was also an excellent game. My personal opinion is that Sins should have the option to place defenses up/down along the Z-axis of movement, and that. Also, if its completely 2D, then strikecraft DON'T WORK. Besides, if it's a 2D move plane, then generally the graphics become 2D, or have very poor 3D aspects. I think that, since Sins is set in SPACE, it should have 3D. The problem is really the unit AI's pathfinding in that respect, and the placement of orbital structures.
Actually they do sometimes fly above the structures and planet, but is only work probably if your ships are attack other ships in the area and to a even crazier extent if you are moving ships from one well to another (I have seen either go up and down to rediculus height and depths and then come back up) but if you were to move the ships as a group, they would move back to the equator as a fleet.
which brings up my pet pevee, when ships move, they move as a fleet (move and then go back to formation), not in a general direction.
Sometimes, if you order a fleet to move across a star's gravity well, some may elect to fly over or under the star.
st armada 2 allowed a 3d enviroment it is caused all kinds of havoc. defenses were ineffective unless manually placed, fleets flying on different planes would pass each other in space. it was cool to try to sneak past planets using extream z axis planes but it ended up just being annoying because the interface couldnt handle it.
take the ui of sword of the stars. there is a game that has zero use for 3d and the forced the space to appear in a 3d realm. it makes seeing the planets and paths to planets nearly impossible. my guess is that as long as we have 2d video output then we will not have an excellent 3d RTS game.
i cannot speak for homeworld but in generally my other experiences in addition to the examples above have not been happy.
if there is an option in sins then cool. i think the original game in beta was utilizing z axis all the time and it because too frustrating to manage the fleet and structures with the ui. but dont quote me on that either 
i personally like the amount of z axis sins uses. the ai uses the space to help it navigate, but stations and battles mostly happen on the same plane.
Homeworld worked extraordinarily well, I had very few complaints. Making Sins fully 3D would require a complete overhaul of the game engine and a lot of aspects of the game. But I think if they make a second Sins, they should try and tackle it.
I agree with Deciever. But I like the "partially-3D" I suppose you could call it setup Sins has already. However, setting up fully 3-D defenses and planning 3-D assaults would be an interesting (and realistic) challenge.
That would change the game into "Who can click faster".
Just like those simple rts games like Starcraft where you just spam a Unit you prefer and See who can spam quicker.
no, because then you have battle formations; ships would likely move/fight dynamically by default.
yup. i would agree. it's not fully 3D. just partial. i would love to see it in complete 3D though.
it is possible... i was just playing a multi star map and an enemy fleet came into my stars grav well (which was fortified with 4 starbases)
anyway, they jumped smack bang into the cross-firing arc of two fully upgraded SB's... who werent firing...
i couldnt figure it out... i told both of them to fire manually... and their missiles fires but not their Lasers or Beams... and i couldnt figure out why...
then i zoomed in and realised the enemy fleet was WAY above the usual equator combat line... thing... hence why the SB's werent firing. The SC were giving the enemy fleet a hard time, but they generally missed my first line of defense... i was like... BUMMER!
anyway, so yeah, Z-axis does exist... but making the game fully 3-D would require a MAJOR overhaul of some basic gameplay elements, which im not so sure would be a plus.
all i want in that respect is that certain ships fly around and 'duck and weave' around like they are actually trying to NOT get hit while in combat. i know there is a mod, but having it as standard would be nice... other than that i dont think 3D is necessary, as it would just clutter things up
Sins is more of a grand strategy than a pure tactics game like Homeworld/Homeworld 2. Those were fine games, but they also would have been fine without most maps forcing Z-axis movement. But those were also pure tactics games, you didn't have to manage anything other than your few ships. Can you imagine how chaotic Sins would get if you had to manage the large 400 ship fights in full 3d? You couldn't break away for a few seconds to check on anything else. It would really be a micromanagement nightmare, and not what the game is meant to be about.
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