Ekko_Tek

[quote who="JcsPocket" reply="4" id="3639337"] I want a fun and balanced RTS which is not all about actions per minute and more about strategy [/quote] This is exactly what it is. It's a slower paced, macro focused RTS that's more about map control, mix of defenses and good unit composition as well as wise use of global abilities. [quote who="JcsPocket" reply="4" id="3639337"] But what I get from your post is that there are no unbalanced strategies that

[quote who="Neinhalt_Sieger" reply="42" id="3638066"] Sub players are just lazy they want to win with no air defense even if their air defense is very cheap on metal. [/quote] - Said no one ever [quote who="Neinhalt_Sieger" reply="42" id="3638066"] 8 out of 10 players in top 10 are sub players and das unding started to drop in rank when he started to play phc again. [/quote] Even if this were factually true, which it is not, it would still not

[quote who="Neinhalt_Sieger" reply="34" id="3637985"] Watch my game vs k'lay PHC vs PHC in his stream and you will see a text book defense vs fury opening. It did require fury + AA tower for that to happen as das unding suggested.In substrate case that is even simpler they need their dirt cheap skicleanser that have almost the same dps as apollo and a dominator in the air. Both units spawn from the assembly, mind you!![/quote]

[quote who="DasUnding" reply="31" id="3637965"] In my oppinion LoveIsAll did not use a good strategy in this game. [/quote] What was he supposed to do? He had blossom built asap. You still sniped his constructors preventing his advance and tech multiple times. All of this was within the first 3 minutes of the game. You sniped his Drone Hives as well. Dominators will lose to furies as well as they have 158 dps vs 440. Sky cleansers are fine but you're not going to capture

Neinhalt maybe you can give some micro tips to LoveIsAll here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgU-f9rEwCo Bonus points to DasUnding for the "analysis" at the end of the game: "I think he should have built some more AA and some aircraft."

[quote who="Neinhalt_Sieger" reply="25" id="3637874"] sub is ok, they can lose 3 engineers no problem early game. they still kill phc in open ground so I dont get why sub players are having problems. They have everything they need from assemblies and they cry injustice if they lose their precious engineers while they build the apocalypse from the assembly. avatar is a very big problem if fury cannot take him out so some thinking is required. avatar did the same what fury

[quote who="DasUnding" reply="20" id="3637670"] A huge problem in my oppinion is that sometimes the aircraft disappear and appear on a total different location that makes the handling very strange vor phc and sub. [/quote] Yes, this. I guess it is something inherent in the game engine and not just how my card/driver are rendering. They glitch out and vanish, then reappear a fraction of a second later in a slightly different location. [quote who="Ticktoc" reply="17" i

[quote who="DasUnding" reply="10" id="3637533"] I played against some guys and they can defend the fury harassment with the consequence of a killed engineer and a killed fury. [/quote] The issue isn't that it is uncounterable. It's that this opening is so strong and potentially game ending that it is the only possible opening. So every game is about early air harrassment and AA defense and who will lose more engineers/constructors. It creates a lot of tedious micro r

[quote who="Frogboy" reply="8" id="3637512"] Quoting Takenmdown, reply 6 well loveisall is completely right. after this patch i get completely wrecked by just 3 fighters from phc. they dont go down to blossom THAT easily and they kill ANY engineer you have. basically resetting your whole game. EVERY GAME.

Since Sentinels can't move, makes sense they'd have more health than Nemesis. The early air dominance as an opening strategy is tedious though. Fighters should not be so powerful against ground targets.

[quote who="Neinhalt_Sieger" reply="24" id="3636527"] There is nothing asymmetrical about phc and sub. [/quote] Once again showing you are not familiar with Substrate because you don't play them.

They are asymmetrical factions so comparing identical build orders is a little misleading. We know the difference in buildings. PHC can still get their T2 units out quicker. They do not need to build a quantum relay to do so. The point is, can PHC defend against early air without being set back too much?

[quote who="Neinhalt_Sieger" reply="18" id="3636421"] Here is a link I hope Draginol takes a look at this: edit: here is a link: https://goo.gl/s2ijgx had to use a link shortener because the forum would auto correct the link to smiley faces! [/quote] It's a good video and I followed his points up to the Armory and Flak AA timing for PHC (around 13:30). Why not build flak first and then Armory? He did the opposite and was concerned his worker wo

The video isn't working. I would say the Avenger is a bit underpriced at 212/39 and the Nemesis a bit overpriced at 500/50. Most of the others are fairly in line with each other except the Substrate's cost slightly less metal and sightly more radioactives. Apollo is quite cheap at 220/17. There's tons of other variables to be considered though - build times, health, damage output, etc. - that complicate this.

[quote who="godwindx" reply="14" id="3636378"] So either BUFF PHC Flak or Fury or NERF Punisher hard would fix it. [/quote] PHC Flak armor was doubled from 8 to 16 in this week's small update. I don't think it was enough of a change though. A single Punisher squad will still defeat it. I think its damage output needs looking at to put it on par with Substrate's.

[quote who="Takenmdown" reply="9" id="3636161"] 1 blossom does not kill 9 punishers in time to save your capital [/quote] This was exactly the problem. I watched the game and I'm still not sure this is a problem with bombers. Was this bombers being OP or was this just you out-ecoing him and his lack of preparedness? You were always 2 eco sectors/nodes ahead of him. You had 2 captured rad sectors to his 1 (he got the 2nd near the very end of the game) for most of the game

How does one "rush" 4 bomber squads without you figuring out what they're doing? If you see their score is much higher than yours but they're not expanding as fast as you are: build anti-air. Build a repair bay next to your base if you have to. I dunno, I'm only #24 or so atm but have still played 120+ games and have literally never seen this strat happen. Single bomber rush yes, but 4 bombers or destructors sniping your base while caught with your pants down? I feel like there&#3

Ki_Lay's also my favourite Ashes caster - great all round attitude to playing the game. [quote who="Neinhalt_Sieger" reply="1" id="3634931"] Ki Lay macro was on point[/quote] I only watched the first game, but no, no it wasn't. I'm sure he himself would admit he flat out got outplayed that game. He was at max rads most of the game but stuck at 110-120 logistics because he was too deep in the red on metal for most of the game and starting even before the fighti

Agreed, #1 and #2 have usually been staples at launch for most RTS games and do a lot to help sustain MP.

[quote]I assure you that what you see here is the abuse you get for playing with every top substrate player. [/quote] How do you explain that most of Das Undig's other videos on his channel are him playing PHC and beating every Substrate player he meets? I do agree though that Avatars are hugely underpriced. They should be 90 quanta imo. I also don't understand why Drone Hives were suddenly made available prior to building QG.

@Sim_Kill - OK, I see. You can check in the rankings to see what faction players use the most. Recently the Avatar has been the most OP aspect of Substrate and it received a couple nerfs in this recent patch. A lot of the higher ranked players liked to consistently (ab)use multiple avatars combined with a quick bomber and this can be really hard to counter. Certain smaller maps really favour PHC and rushing though imo. Aside from tweaking some unit stats like with the Avatar, I think you'

I completely agree with most of these criticisms (except that I do like some of the unit sounds/barks, not all, but some) but I still have clocked 200+ hours playing the game already simply because it makes for a fun MP experience. The gameplay itself (mainly 1v1 so far) is compelling and solid enough. I really do hope it draws in more people though and that they continue to flesh the game out, including aesthetic aspects.

These topics are always quite funny. Someone's random anecdotal mucking about in a few games and suddenly a flash of insight with sweeping generalizations on game balance!! Last I checked the current #1 player in 1v1 plays PHC pretty much exclusively. Each side has pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses - you're just touching on 1 of the substrate strengths here (point about factories). My suggestion would be to not base balance impressions on random custom game

+1 Lair of the Turtle

[quote who="Kazzerigian" reply="21" id="3630079"] Metal's tougher to come by, that's for sure. [/quote] How so? Should be exactly the same (and map dependent of course) - just the timing of metal income will feel a bit different. Have to get those extractors up sooner. The pace is really nice now I find.