New Veterancy fine tuning

[pip]

I really like the concept of the new veterancy system, and its goal. But overall, I believe it needs fine tuning to overcome some balance issues that may appear for specific units. I have in mind the ACU, which has been discussed in the thread about OC, that allows him to gain very fast veterancy by killing t2 or t3 units, but also units that already have high HP and that can get really high HP buffs through veterancy faster than before.

For some units, that were underpowered, it may be a boon (Czar), but for some others, like the Soul Ripper, which has been largely buffed costwise, I believe that the way veterancy works now may make them too strong because the total HP of the unit will jump very easily to extreme heights.

I think that the system needs small refinements, and there are two ways for that:
1) either change the xp value of tier kills to something more moderate, like t1 = 1 xp / t2 = 3 xp / t3 = 9 xp.
2) either adapt the veterancy requirements the same way it was done for the land experimentals for all units that may be too strong.
Both solutions are not exclusive. If solution one is chosen for instance, the custom veterancy levels that were changed for spider bot and GC should probably be tweaked a bit.

Units that I think are worth investigating:
- ACU, because of OC and gun upgrade.
- Soul Ripper (especially now that it is more affordable but still has its really high starting HP)
- Brick, Harbinger, Othuum and Percivals but also Ilshavoh because with just 2 t2 units killed, it's one veterancy level (and they have high HP for their tier). I fear that the way veterancy works now reproduces at a smaller level the discrepancy between t2 and t3 that there was between t4 and t1 : too easy for t3 to kill t2 and to gain veterancy, so you absolutely need to stop producing t2 and upgrade to t3.
- Battleships (especially UEF Summit because it can kill t2 units very easily at a very long range)

[Ze_PilOt]

If it works overall, it's easier to tweak the veterancy levels of some units in particular.
We can also make overcharged kills count for one no matter the tech level of the unit.

Notice that you can't gain 2 veterancies level at the same time. If level 1 is 5 kills, and level 2 is 9 kills, killing a T3 will only give you one veterancy level.

[Ze_PilOt]

By the way, if you want me to investigate it seriously, the real place is the other balance forum, not here. And with some replays if possible so I can gather datas from them.

[pip]

By the way, if you want me to investigate it seriously, the real place is the other balance forum, not here. And with some replays if possible so I can gather datas from them.

Ok, I'll do that!

[Ze_PilOt]

The OC counting for only 1 XP no matter what will probably be in 3616.

[pip]

The OC counting for only 1 XP no matter what will probably be in 3616.

That's a good idea indeed to preserve balance, even though there could be an exception: when the ACU OC an experimental, but it may be difficult to code.

[FunkOff]

The OC counting for only 1 XP no matter what will probably be in 3616.

Why this? This is like making an army system... and making the came unnecessarily convoluted.

[FunkOff]

Also, T1 should be worth 1 (50 mass), t2 worth 4 (200 mass) and T3 worth 16 (800 mass)

[Ze_PilOt]

Solving the problem by making it worst ? Interesting..

[X-Peri-MENTAL]

The OC counting for only 1 XP no matter what will probably be in 3616.

It might be worth thinking about/discussing that a bit more before making that change

I thought it was a nice play that a player could aggressively use his ACU early on to get kills towards his next veterancy level, a single OC shot against four grouped T1 tanks giving him 4 XPs I think is fair. If a player wants to send T2 units tightly packed against an ACU with OC then I think the opponent deserves the full XPs of each unit. Players should spread out their units when attacking an ACU with OC capability, if not for giving XPs but for increased survivability of their units.