Some balance issues...

[Rust_Lord]

Cheat you say? Nah! Yes I agree; ive no idea how they could afford the ships they bought in that battle when i cut off their income. They did exactly the same to me to previous mission and I was earning about 1 measly credit per second. Takes a while to buy even one Tartan at that rate! It was cool to see the computer hunt down my mines especially when their defences were diverted. However as another example I had three acclamators and two tartans hit the ZC lvl 2 station and over time bought on another seven more (so thats also a helluva alot of squardrons too) yet two Int 4 frigates and two crusader corvettes with a couple of StarVipers Sdqns were still able to destroy my level 2 station quicker than I could destroy theirs in what was basically a race to death. I would be interested to see how they go online. It would help if my account worked.

[darthcarth]

Heh yeah in skirmish i cut off every mine off and they still could match me ship for ships with all the mines in my possesion now that has got to be haxing.

[Valter]

I agree Rust-Lord, the Consortium is very overpowered in space. The Consortium ships need to be nerfed just slightly (especially those vengeance frigates). The ground forces are fine though, very balanced in my opinion.

 

Maybe someone should start a 'patch request' topic...

[Darth Khasei]

LOL! Nerf away. I really just think since they are new and people have not figured out how to fight them. In space the ZC has a major disadvantage, the number of hard points on its ships are so few, that a well coordinated HP attack neuters them effectively. Especially if you have Tie-Defenders or B-Wings.

 

For instance the Vengeance has only 4 weapon HP and and an Engine HP and NO SHIELDS!

 

Keep on playing

[mattwild]

Dear God. I've just had the longest game I've ever played against the AI. About 70 capital ships involved, I lost 14 Star Destroyers and 4 Thrawns, they lost 20 Mon Cal cruisers, numerous Ackbars, at least 30 Consortium capital ships. It was totally manic.

 

Just turn down the freaking Consortium, one hit from their space station can kill a TIE Defender!

[Rust_Lord]

Cheers Valter, good to know im not alone and not simply crap at the game In all seriousness I tested the Rebs against the Consortium last night on medium (same map) and, granted im not as good with them as Imps, they fared even worse than the Imps. As Darth Carth testified, I also captured every mine and sent Ywings to take out their supply depot yet the ZC was still able to keep up production and by the end of the game had more ships than I had.

 

Khasei I agree with you about the ZC lack of hardpoints; I have raised this before, however it seems imposible to get to a tech lvl past 3 playing against them without being defeated and as I said the computer will use crusaders to intercept your protons before they hit. The Vengeance frigates are extremely resilient and if you compare them with other ships of their class, Neb Bs also only have 5 hardpoints and VSDs 6, and VSDs actually have the LEAST number of weapons between the three. If their Ion cannons did something against the unshielded Vengeance, like slow it down or its fire rate or accuracy then good but it seems useless. But on the other side of the coin the Vengeance has mass drivers which IGNORE shields.

 

The games I have played against the ZC dont go much past 10 minutes. Ive tried crippling them economically, amassing as large a force as I can at low/mid tech level and going all out. The only thing I havent tried doing is trying to hold all the mines and trying to tech up to the heaviest ships, but this will not work because they are able to produce ships at a seemingly equal rate and as previosuly stated, their ships are more deadly than their comparable Imperial/Rebel craft.

 

I played the small campaign last night and after attacking the ZC planets I think you need about 2:1 advantage to the size of their fleet. Is it me or are their space stations tremendously tough?

 

I dont mind if the ZC have advantages in some areas over the other two factions however, I have played each faction on medium against each other faction and when you use either the Imps or the Rebs against the other it is still fairly easy. Against the ZC however, there is too greater a difference.

 

I like the changes thread Valter; consider it done.

[Rust_Lord]

Dear God. I've just had the longest game I've ever played against the AI. About 70 capital ships involved, I lost 14 Star Destroyers and 4 Thrawns, they lost 20 Mon Cal cruisers, numerous Ackbars, at least 30 Consortium capital ships. It was totally manic.

 

Just turn down the freaking Consortium, one hit from their space station can kill a TIE Defender!

 

Sounds like fun. Havent done a three way yet. Sounds like your TIE Defender met the mass driver cannon. My condolences.

[darthcarth]

Yeah hopefully a rescale/balance mod comes out or even just a balance mod so we can have equal sdes once again.

[DCorris]

I have to agree with some peoples, the ZC is defiantly overpowered in certain areas.

 

One thing I don't quite get, on GC, I swear (but cant perfectly remember, bad memory) they have two Capital ships, Keldabe and Agesor class, and both can be built on any planet wile the rebellions Mon Cal and Empires ISD's can only be built on certain planets.

Is this not just a bit unfair considering one of theirs has a pretty mighty special weapon?

 

(do correct me if I've gotten anything wrong)

 

And I wont even start about how annoyingly powerful the ZC stations can be, lol.

[mattwild]

Sounds like fun. Havent done a three way yet. Sounds like your TIE Defender met the mass driver cannon. My condolences.

 

Actually it was one of those irritating blue pulse cannon things. Consortium, just tone 'em down please.

[Darth Khasei]

Hmm, this is getting a little tired already. I recommend playing as the ZC to see the best way to defeat them. Some of the guys in other threads have already figured out how to take advantage of the ZC weaknesses.

 

However, if you try to play them like you played EAW you'll lose and should. YOu need to remove corruption unless they have corrupted the Militia. You need to make sure they don't get a Black Market on your planets, this will effectively deny them the ability to tech up etc..You need to use sabotage often to cripple the Palace structure on their planets etc..

 

In terms of battle, let's take the TB4 vs the Pulse Cannon or the Canderus tank. The TB4 owns both and is 1/3 the cost of the Pulse cannon and 1/4 the cost of the Canderus tank. MONEY is a big difference maker. The rebel troop squads are under $100.00 and you get more troops. The Merc's are $325 and $450 and you only get 3-4 per squad.

 

Granted they have some things that appear to give them a TREMENDOUS advantage, but its only a small advantage when you counter them correctly. You really need to start checking the other threads where ppl are discussing "effective" ways to counter the ZC or mod in the nerfed changes you would like. All this whinning is soooooo tired

[mattwild]

The TB-4 doesn't equate to the Pulse Cannon though, it technically matches up with the AT-AT (possibly 2B Tank) as the most powerful ground assault unit for each faction.

 

Also, care to tell us what these 'counters' are? You keep mentioning them, but not telling.

[Rust_Lord]

Actually I think the T4-b would equate to the Cand. Ass. Tank thingy. Im not saying it would compete evenly but they are the factions respctive heavy tanks. The Pulse cannon is an oddity. Its like a tank destroyer. It seems to have more firepower than the Cand. but it alot weaker, which is pretty fair.

 

Khasei I havent had as tough a time fighting the ZC in GC as I expected after reading some posts here but they are definately overpowered in space. This is more obvious in skirmish than GC where you can remove corruption but they are very different games. I still find that the hardest thing about GC is assaulting ZC worlds in space.

[mattwild]

Yeah, I'm fine too in Galactic Conquest, even get brave enough to leave corruption on worlds for money saving sometimes, it's just skirmishes which really irritate me. I think they might be overpowered because they have to buy their considerable special abilities in GC, whereas they get them for free in skirmish. Have to say the Consortium is pretty bad on the ground though, although they completely rock in space.

[Darth Khasei]

Also, care to tell us what these 'counters' are? You keep mentioning them, but not telling.

 

Hmm, you mean like destory the enemy Palace every chance you get? Or like making sure you don't ever let them get a black market on any of your planets so they "can't" tech up?

 

BTW, you may have a point about "Space Skirmish" because the disadvantages the ZC suffers in GC don't apply to skirmish. I need more space seat time to be sure about space. The starfigthers rock but the caps all have some downfalls you can take advantage of for sure.

[Darth Khasei]

Sorry dbl post.

[Darth_Extas]

In Skirmish I have found no problem, in fact I do like the AI. It is a good idea of always have heroes on hand. As the ZC I have been defeated by both the Rebellion and the Empire (and I am a good rts player). So I see it fairly balanced although, in Origin of Corruption I think the ZC has too many planets to start out with.

[darthcarth]

In skirmish thier is a big problem its called fighter spaming since fighters are now more powerfull all factions spam the basic fighter at your base until they get to tech level 3 and get friagtes, all this time u are trying to defend oyur base, and not lose but they some how still manage to out number you.

[mrsparkle]

In skirmish thier is a big problem its called fighter spaming since fighters are now more powerfull all factions spam the basic fighter at your base until they get to tech level 3 and get friagtes, all this time u are trying to defend oyur base, and not lose but they some how still manage to out number you.

 

Exactly. It's all I've been seeing. Their fighters are way too powerful.

[Darth Khasei]

Space skirmish fighter spamming could be addressed somewhat by making the black market items upgrades for purchase instead of free.

 

Having said that, one to one the Viper is better than other fighters, but that one element can't win a GC, which is where the game has "perfect" balance IMHO.

 

The best you might get is a choice to make the BM items for purchase in skirmish, but all the calls for nerfing the ZC units, will fall on deaf ears as the GC would suffer too much.

[mrsparkle]

How about removing BM items from skirmish?

[DCorris]

I was looking through the Petroglyph forums, and the topic there about ZC capital ships.

http://www.petroglyphgames.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=855

 

Which does prove they can be built on any planet, giving them a pretty big advantage over Emp and Reb sides, though I have a feeling it was a mistake considering the reply from Delphi-PG, lol

[Darth Khasei]

How about removing BM items from skirmish?

 

What you really mean is how about removing "ALL" special abilities from "ALL" sides right? Because all BM items are is the same kind of special abilities each side has (ie.empire power to weapons or rebels power to shields etc.) I don't think you are suggesting only removing these things from one side, the ZC, or are you?

[mrsparkle]

No I'm not suggesting remove all abilites just from the ZC. I think a few abilities do need axeing in skirmish though. Buzz droids for instance.

[Darth Khasei]

No I'm not suggesting remove all abilites just from the ZC. I think a few abilities do need axeing in skirmish though. Buzz droids for instance.

 

So what about lure for A-Wings and S-foils for X-Wings and power to weapons for Tie defenders and no cloaking for Tie Phantoms........

 

Honestly, though I could care less what they do to balance space multiplayer because I don't play that way. Plus I "ALWAYS" mod my computer games to my prefs anyway, so it matters not. I was just sick of hearing a trend to tone down the ZC they should be the weakest etc..... No worries mate.