End game comm modules

[Arch-Shaman]

Add some comm modules at lv20 or so that vastly increase power based on specialization module.

Support comm:

• [ ] Drone package: Spawns superheavy drones that copy the comm's weapons (Dgun abilities are set to autofire). Drones now gain a stat modifier based on the comm's modules.
• [ ] Support package: Gains a resurrection field. Comm will resurrect nearest wreck at its current bp (maybe for free?)

Recon comm:

Artillery comm:

• [ ] Missile spam module?

Ghost Comm:

Riot:

• [ ] Strider power: ???

[luminaStuffphoton]

Riot could probably gain just massive amounts of stats. Artillery could gain it's current nuclear weapons with prehaps extra damage/range Fire while cloaked is an interesting but likely cancer idea for ghost.

[shadoxxhd]

Artillery com could maybe decide between big range/damage improvement vs smaller range improvement but much better fire rate.

Strider Riot could maybe get a 3rd/4th weapon??

Ghost com could get large reduction in decloak radius (ie. you have to be almost touching to decloak), and/or maybe immunity vs the decloak field buildings?

Recon com could be true to its name: a big boost to sensor/sight range (>> advanced radar), but maybe highlighting the com to enemies (they see where the radar/lidar comes from)? Or make it expensive enough to truly be an intelligence superweapon...

[luminaStuffphoton]

I've got some random dumb ideas for comms that might be somewhat decent. Might post the rest some time later

...

Super Modules Modules which are extremely powerful and transform the commander. They are shown in black with a rainbow border

• The Nuclear Option (Bombard) Same as the current heavy weapon conversion but only converts the second weapon to the heavy version. All heavy versions are now dguns
• Saturation Fire / Siege Machine (name undecided, Bombard) Gives bombard commander spin-up fire at the cost of reducing speed proportional to spin-up
• Shock and Awe (Recon) Recon now has jump impact damage (which is affected by damage and splash area buffs). x1.5 Dgun damage
• Orbital Command (Recon) Recon's second weapon (whether it be a regular weapon or a dgun) is now converted into an orbital dgun where recon calls down orbital bombardment upon the area
• Apex Overseer (Engineer) All basic and advanced modules no longer effect the commander and now effect drones
• ??? (Ideally 2+ per chassis)

[shadoxxhd]

Is "apex overseer" inspired by Nova Drift? :) I don't know if it will make a good module though - removing all buffs from the commander would turn it into a squishy, slow drone incubator, which doesn't seem very fun (extremely easy to lose tons of metal in a second). And the drone package option above already has the best parts of that.

Another idea for bombard would be making it at least decent in fighting off individual units. The normal bombard can decimate armies, but a single assault can potentially be problematic. Adding seeking missiles/laser/drones would make it less dependent on constant support by other units.

The spin up idea seems interesting, but could also be unfun. Would need to be tested in-game.

Making heavy weapons dguns (or, even better, allowing to toggle the weapons between dgun and autofire individually) seems to be extremely useful.

I definitely like shock and awe and orbital command (perhaps not the name of the former), though both might be hard to balance (that being said, it can't be worse than the vacuum gun was...). And I'd still like an Intel superweapon... (that doesn't need to be com based though)

[luminaStuffphoton]

You missed the part where I iterally copied nova drift's ataraxia and Siege Machine :3 Drone engi could probably instead give a weaker version of it's main weapon on the drones, or make the regular upgrades apply to both if the spinup is too powerful we can restrict it to only targeting ground and reset the spinup whenver the target changes Bombard already has the flare laser as a hitscan weapon, and the missiles are not horrendous at close range. maybe giving bombard a fencer gun would be good (it would also make bombard less horrible in the early game)

[shadoxxhd]

You changed the name for siege weaponry, so I figured I'd let that count as transformative use :D And atraxia is all about getting bonuses for not spending upgrades - I don't think that applies here. Your "stat buff" idea is more like a better Mastery...

I'd rather give drone engi the option to build main weapon drones (maybe up to 3 of each main weapon?), and leave the smaller drones as is, except maybe a stat boost (/tech upgrade). Would need additional widget/gadget support so cloak aura drone lord with sniper drones can actually have them fire, without the other drones drawing AA attention... Making drones individually controllable inside the control range would also be a significant perk for such a supermodule...

Flare Laser isn't really a reliable defense though. What do you do when you encounter a couple glaives/fleas? Or if a scythe decloaks next to your singu? Fire your nuke? :P

The thing about spin up is, it's really good when the enemy is already on the defensive, but relatively bad otherwise (impaired mobility, low fire rate). Offense is already generally much more effective than defense, and what would effectively be a Tremor Mk9000 would make any defensive strategies completely obsolete.

On the topic of support package: I think it should cost energy (maybe a bit reduced cost?), but resurrect all nearby wrecks while turned on (at some percentage of com build speed). And maybe even work while cloaked (the enemy can see the circle of rebuilding, but that way at least fire at radar lances won't snipe the resurrector). It might ruin your energy economy for some bad units (paying 80% rez cost for many units you didn't want), but could also revive a decimated base, or even a wrecked army, in minutes. Module could be named something necromancy related...

[shadoxxhd]

Another thought: currently, the commander factory greatly limits how strong coms can be without dominating the game. Changing victory condition to assassination (com dies, you die) would allow much more power, without making commanders a more complicated/fiddely but stronger strider replacement. Or, as an intermediate option, disabling/limiting mass produced coms... All 3 options (status quo, worse/banned com fac, com death looses) could be interesting, with appropriate commander power balance...