Balance changes, and another unit???
Yep, another new unit Model. This time it is the Kite that has gone under the Knife. As you can see, it’s quite similar to the original model (except this one was made with lego). It is the first of the hovercraft to be remodeled.
Balance changes? Again???
Some of you might be groaning a bit here, but allow me to explain why these changes are taking place (and why their scope is actually quite small).
For a long time now, the hover tech has essentially been a swiss army knife of units. That is to say, it had all the variety you needed and there really wasn’t much need to build the other tech trees.
This stagnated the game a bit, and made it far too predictable. In an attempt to fix this I have done a few things:
• Firestorm has been removed (No one used it anyway… Have plans to turn it into a popup turret)
• Bruiser has been removed
• Fatso has been removed
• Kite has been nerfed in speed 5 (5.5), but given 300 range (nearly double) and been changed to 45 damage vs light/armored, 90 damage vs buildings
• Crusher speed increased to 3.5 (2.8), damage increased to 125 (100), range reduced to 650 (750), HP reduced to 400 (600)
• Recluse all terrain raider has gotten a speed buff 5.5 (5)
• Anvil all terrain assault tank speed increased to 2.8 (2.5), HP increased to 4000, cost increased to 40, can only attack buildings
• Radar tower los range lowered to 500 (1500), radar range lowered to 1500 (3500), seismic sensor range lowered to (750)
• All raiders los, and seismic detection ranges have been set to match their max weapons range
What all these changes accomplish are quite a few things. Hovers will work best with kites, crushers and droplets working in groups. Kites become much more versatile in raiding, but less powerful in straight up fights and can no longer kite the other raiders as easily.
Crushers are no longer the “OPTank” as they are lovingly referred to, but they are great for taking down light and armored units and when paired with Kites and Droplets, become exponentially more powerful.
Fatso was removed because frankly, it sucked. Moreover, it’s role was filled by the lobster, which was more useful in pretty much all situations.
Up to this point, all terrain hasn’t really had any good ways of breaking a base other than sheer brute force. The changes to the anvil completely change that. With 4k HP the anvil can take a serious beating and is only bested by the destroyer units (particularly the Krabgroth). Their high price and supply usage ensure that they cannot reliably be used as meatshields.
The changes to los and sensor ranges have been sorely needed for quite some time now. Unfortuantely, radar has made the game so that you always know where everything is. Even worse, the radar supplied a gigantic los range, ensuring that you could practically see everything as well regardless of whether it was stealthed to radar or cloaked.
That is changing, and as a result, all terrain and amphibians will benefit greatly. With these changes, the hover tech has been brought down properly to the same level as the amphibious units and the all terrain units. Moreover, it has it’s own flavor and way of working.
Games should be significantly more strategic with these changes and I can’t wait to try them out on this Saturday’s gametime!
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