Faction Diversity

[CrazedChariot]

All factions have slight weaknesses / strengths at points in the game.

Sera have issues with early raiding capabilities.
UEF tech 3 land sucks until you progress into t4 where percies become useful.
UEF don't have a real answer against subs (Their destroyer torpedo dmg is awful and the torp boat blows)
UEF TMD is horrendous against cybran TML (I'm not sure if its a bug or not, but it takes like 4 TMD to stop a single missle sometimes)
Sera T2 navy leaves alot to be desired in naval combat (Their cruiser is quite good tho)
All faction ACU Hp can affect early outcomes of battles (Cybran needs to be careful, UEF can trade shots etc etc)
UEF bomber is horrendous compared to other factions.

(this is just what i could think of, with a bias towards playing alot of UEF)

Instead of trying to balance every little issue that separates the factions, I'm interested in looking at trying to make them more unique. I think it would be great to add more faction specific units, similar to how the T2 Bots were added to vanilla. Another option is to make the ACU upgrades more unique. Those are changes that would really add to the game in my opinion.

[Karottenrambo]

I would like to see more faction diversity too, BUT more diversity means its way harder to balance and its already difficult in supcom, as the gameplay changes from map to map. So every change has to be well considered.

[TAG_ROCK]

Yeah CC, I am up for that too, more uniqueness FTW, even if it means more weaknesses and strengths.

We have already mentioned some in the past:

Give ONE faction the following:

Flying engineer
Mobile SMD
Tactical mobile nuke units
Fast assist reclaim unit
Land spy unit
MML with tracking shots
Very cheap defence towers which attack land and air
Cloaking mines each with different DPS
T2 shield buster

Just some ideas

[FunkOff]

I think adding new units is above and beyond the call of a balance/bugfix mod.

[TAG_ROCK]

Yeah i know

[CrazedChariot]

If I am not mistaken, you are looking to add an entire new faction, which I love btw.

I'd prefer to focus on new units / factions / substantial content and gameplay additions, than constantly arguing over little balance issues. The reality is, as soon as you balance one thing, it creates issues someplace else. You are not going to achieve perfect balance, unless all the factions are identical.

I would argue to spend your time on adding content instead.

[CrazedChariot]

Love the shield buster idea btw. I think a very specific counter to shields would be great for gameplay.

[Ze_PilOt]

Errr aeon got one and it's really usefull and greatly underestimated.

[TAG_ROCK]

Not at T2

[Unconsumeable]

Errr aeon got one and it's really usefull and greatly underestimated.

thats because its range is not big enough to be used with t3 arty, you need to groundfire to use it effectively because of that, and you need visual on the shields so you can tell which are down and which are up. they are an insane hassle to use correctly, they cant target usefully on their own, and they typically are in the front row of your "siege army" because of the low range. an uef t3 pd has the same range, if its covered by a few shields then you dont have good chances killing those from a distance.
its great the few times you manage to put them to good use, but mostly they just fire on the wrong stuff everytime you dont babysit them