Re: Game Balance and Matchmaking - We want your feedback!

Definitely as everyone else has been commenting, the GDI Sandstorm needs an adjustment either in less DPS against infantry or as one other individual mentioned if the Sandstorm is to be this glass cannon vehicle it needs to have a lot less HP to make you have to rely on its maneuverability for survival. At the moment the GDI Sandstorm rips to shreds rocket soldiers and zone troopers which I feel should be its hard counters as anti vehicle infantry.

@Cloudfromff7If you are having trouble against Nod Cyborgs, I have noticed that the Nod Militia Soldiers, Nod Flame Troopers, Nod Confessor Cabals, Nod Flame Tank (soft counter the flame tank with will survive but with very little HP) and possibly the Nod Chemical Troopers (don't own this unit so I can't be sure) should handle them no problem as you can think of them as basically a tougher version of a Nod Laser Soldier. Definitely do not let any sort of other vehicle or aircraft near them that isn't the Flame Tank, they will rip to shreds the Nod Venom and Raider Buggy.

Although I appreciate your response, you failed to read my message. I mentioned GDI units vs cyborg. They are all practically useless unless there is some unlock i'm missing, however even though i'm top 5 on the leaderboard I still dont have anywhere near the units to deal with cyborg; which draws me to my original conclusion at this point all i can do is wait for crates and hope that I get new units inside them.

@Cloudfromff7Ah my mistake, I am still not leveled up enough that I have gotten into GDI vs Nod matches yet, that sounds quite exciting. But from observing the GDI arsenal of anti infantry I do notice it is a bit lacking but from what I could see you could definitely use the GDI Rifleman as they should take care of the Nod Cyborgs with them being a better version of Laser Troopers.  To a lesser extend as a soft counter again I am speculating that perhaps the GDI Wolverine should be able to severely damage the Nod Cyborg as it does a number the GDI Zone Trooper which is roughly the equivalent to the Nod Cyborg.

Now to unlocks I personally don't have and perhaps you may not have as well there is of course the GDI Sniper Teams (If it is anything like the Tiberium Wars Sniper Teams they should shred those Nod Cyborgs), GDI Disruptor Tanks (Says they are anti infantry on the Strong vs data, GDI version of the Nod Flame Tank?), and the GDI Mammoth Tank (Says it can crush infantry, like the Tiberium Wars 3 version says "Roll Over Them")

But I do definitely see that it can be frustrating to have your progress dictated by the RNG nature of the convoy crates and whatever the Card Shop decides to sell to you. I was stuck in a similar situation yesterday trying to level up my Nod Rank and was losing terribly without the Nod Cyborg to mass vehicle spam but was fortunate to receive an Epic Crate in the convoy and be granted the Nod Cyborg. To be in the top 5 of the Leaderboard you clearly are a very skilled commander and it is a shame you are being held back by what appears to be luck of the draw in terms of acquiring new units. (Side note may I perhaps ask you who exactly you are on the Top 5?)

First off i am no expert here just giving my thoughts. 

1. Is it just me or is the gdi turret last way to long, I mean you can set that bad boy up and it will never die until you have sandstorm it seems. I also hate how on certain maps it acts as a force field. It cuts off one path and you can try to break it down buts it its like hitting you head against a wall when you can just go around it. 
2. Next thing to bring up is how to get unit cards. Why cant everything just be unlocked right away and the player decides what to level up? I would rather see a player decide what play style they want than have RNG tell them what units they can have. 
3. My next is to describe a few issues i am having mainly killing sandstorm and titans. They both seem invincible right now. You literally sac units just to get damage done it doesn't matter if it is technically a counter or not. Also the orca seems a little strong the mobility it has to unmatch to anything rn. This unit can basically be stutter stepped and it never dies, and when it does it already killed so much you have enough to remake it. 

This last point is a little selfish. I really dont like the level up system on units or the unlocking in general. I come from a lot of SC2/SC background and the worst thing is not being able to play the way you want or having units locked until you get a RNG loot box to actually use them. I would rather see everything unlocked with pre-determined dps/health/movement/etc. In regards to commander abilites they all seem to last to long imo. Maybe is just the way I play and am bad idk. This game has potential but if you keep the unit leveling and RNG unlocking it wont do well in the RTS community. 

PS: how do you get a second harvester, is it off of commander level? 

My in game name is whitemetroid, i've been bouncing between top 5 mainly due to testing out new commanders and such. I appreciate the detailed response, I will look into trying to acquire some of those counters. For now, i've decided that based on who is playing while you're searching, it's really just up to each person to micro manage their armies not only per match but in between matches; IE switching out commanders/units based on what they are facing to try and give themselves an advantage if they get matched against the same commanders in a row. I think what it comes down to, is not only do you have to manage your armies and dictate the best possible combinations of units and when to purchase them in game, sometimes you have to blind greed and go double harvesters...sometimes you have to spend your diamonds and funds in between games in an effort to further upgrade your army compositions.

While I agree Vampy, unfortunately this is a mobile model...meaning unless they charge you a flat rate of payment to play the game monthly, or have you purchase the game entirely, pretty much it's going to rely on microtransactions to get updates etc etc. That being said, some of these commanders are god awful, Dr Liang for one...80 cost to get a drone up that heals your units except for the fact that it heals far less and far slower than just buying a turret and placing it as a blocker. At least even the turret also acts as a hexagon space so you can't just walk under it, unlike the drone. The commanders for sure need some tweaking.

-also one more thing to add. The way rating is calculated in this game is also quite deterring, you have no reason to play after a certain rating if you're looking for competition unless the commanders on your same level are searching. If there was like a campaign mode, that'd be great and I would definitely put some money into this side game.

I agree. I do not like the rng aspect of gaining units. It is not true to the RTS genre by not allowing you to access all the units and thier respective counters. I would rather pay up front for access to the entire game. I also do not like the leveling scheme for units. It reminds me of clash royale where not only do you need to keep track of unit counters, but also card levels. I know this is the game economy they have chosen, but I don't have to like it.

Level 5 gdi plyr. Any matchup against nod is autoloss. 

I will say the recent small patch has in fact helped for the GDI side in that the GDI Sandstorm spam can be countered more effectively by GDI Zone Troopers and Nod Cyborgs without them getting absolutely wrecked by the barrage of missiles.  They currently now after the patch are much more manageable and cost the same as another of their counters being the GDI Titan.

Balance issue I am experiencing now is that after facing the Nod Rockworm it definitely needs to be toned down a bit, it is supposed to be roughly the Nod equivalent of the GDI Titan but it does not not share the same cost as the Rockworm costs 120 to the Titan's 130 cost. The main frustration that comes from this unit is that there is no way to intercept it on its route and swarming it with anti vehicle infantry as GDI or Nod tends to not end well as it punishes you anticipating its location by doing AOE damage to all units when it emerges, after which just a swat or two is needed and it has killed the squads send to deal with it. Also even if ambushed successfully it can rapidly reburrow to reposition itself from a mistake which to me makes no sense as without a way to damage it while moving this would make air the best way to deal with it as they don't take damage when it pops up and it can't attack them. However the problem is while Nod gets their Banshee early the GDI Orca and Kodiak are epic class units with the later being an epic unit meaning that GDI outside of Zone Troopers, Missile Squads/Jump jet Troopers cannot efficiently deal with the Rockworm if they lack the GDI Orca or Kodiak.

Now that also brings me to my next point in that I also feel the GDI Orca is also in need of some sort of nerf, as currently you can rush helipad and GDI Orca fly it to the enemy harvesters fire a volley, retreat to reload then come back for an easy harvester kill that can you repeat and usually decides the match since you just wrecked the enemy player's economy with one unit. It is also hard to destroy unless you are specifically running the GDI Talon to counter it as it is a Fastest speed unit. It also wrecks the GDI Pitbull a little too hard being one of GDI's anti vehicle/anti air units, along with the GDI Wolverine another Anti Air ground unit.  Possible nerfs could be to either its damage per missile or its reloading time in between volleys.

Final balance change that should get some sort of address in the future is that GDI currently has horrible time dealing with any of late game infantry units such as the GDI Zone Troopers, the Nod Confessor Cabal and Cyborg combo as they lack any sort of dedicated anti infantry unit like the Nod Flame Troopers and Chemical Troopers, while GDI does have anti infantry tech lab units in the Wolverine it tends to lose against the above combo as the Confessors boost the Cyborg's attack speed allowing them to shred the Wolverine. The GDI answer to this of course would be the Disruptor Tank unlock but that comes at level 10, mean while Nod starts out with the answer against this combo with the Flame Tank or at level 6 they get their Flame Troopers which can toast the Cyborg meanwhile GDI's only answer to this combo would be to throw Wolverines and Rifleman at this combo unit they manage to break through.

There is of course the GDI Sniper Teams which I being Level 8 have yet to unlock but I do recall JadeXyan mentioning that they are nothing more but gloried Rifleman Squads with slightly better Health and 2+ tile range with worse damage than said Rifleman at 5x the cost! This to me makes absolutely no sense considering Nod's Flame Troopers are 4x times the cost of the Nod Militants but with superior Health and DPS against infantry which they get earlier then GDI's Sniper Teams which are not only bad stat wise but come much later in the unlock for GDI. The solution to this is to either reduce the unlock requirement for this unit to that of Nod's Flame Troopers which is Level 6 or buff their stats to that of the Flame Troopers along with a slightly reduced cost to make them even a consideration to be used over Rifleman Squads.

I take back my previous comments about snipers, I had last used them before the patch, but the patch lowered flametrooper hp which has made snipers much better against them early game and lategame they become strong enough once you get two on the field working together,  which is now actually possible against late tier infantry due to the cost increases, they just aren't good at supporting other anti-infantry units so much as bolstering one another.

My hopes for them going forward are that they receive a cost reduction to 40 tiberium to make them on par with flametroopers since they are still an extremely specialized unit that is utterly worthless against anything that isn't infantry, or, lacking said reduction, a slight damage boost so building just one feels worth it, and secondly the player level to attain them should be lowered. Otherwise with this last patch and how my games are going so far with them in the dumbest GDI loadout I've ever run that is somehow winning every match I come across I think they might just have been incidentally improved enough by the patch to be okay now.

Played a few against tiberium infantry. Must say they pack a punch and the gas stays for a substantial time which is good for map control. They seem strong. Maybe not overbearing but I know I would sure love to have them to mix up with flame troopers and scarabs, especially when fighting same opponents in a row. Maybe the gas cloud could dissipate at slightly faster rate but as I said not sure on that.

Well the other day I posted about the orca from GDI attacking harvesters and you mentioned using scarabs to me which I have now unlocked and must say. They do make a good counter indeed and overall scarab is one of my favorite units to use as of now. Really good at exactly what is intended to do. Feels good to use as protection for initial harvester. As well as maintaining hex control. Very weak at frontal assault. Lives up to it's description quite well.

On a different note. Some of my nod vs nod battles are complete bike spam fests. A popular nod tactic is 1 or 2 bikes straight away and assault the harvester for a quick eco boost. However both nods often just will not build an early harvester in the early game in anticipation of this. Thus more bikes are appropriate as they are cheap and counter...other bikes. If my opponent breaksaway from the harass of constant bike stream I am able to overwhelm them and same vice versa. It i stop at that point I will be overwhelmed. IDK just a situation I have noticed a few times now I wanted to bring up.

@KilledByStephenI have definitely played against a few Nod vs Nod matches that involved Attack Bike spam rush to try and get the harvester. With how common the tactic is the counter to it is to go Hand of Nod into two Laser Soldiers and if possible try to surround your harvester where no Attack Bikes can reach it with your soldiers or in a manner that only one Attack Bike can reach while your Laser Soldier can still fire back. I have noticed that if you counter this initial rush with double Laser Soldier that usually the match swings in your favor as the enemy has juvust invested about 70-100 Tiberium based on if they build 1 or 2 Attack Bikes and likely delayed their own harvester while it will take them time to try and open up their Hand of Nod to counter your two soldiers. The same strategy works well against the GDI Orca rush or funny enough if you rush attack bikes you can counter the early GDI Orca.

The Nod Scarab I am conflicted about because while I do see that you can easily sacrifice two rifleman into and come out on top since the Scarab costs 40 and two Militant or Rifleman Squads only costs 20. I don't like how the unit gets two suicide attacks on virtually any unit in the game to me I think the Nod Scarab should fire both scarabs at once not get to potentially destroy two high cost late game units for 40 tiberium, but I think this may be a minor issue as I do not see many Nod Scarabs lately around 850 rating for both Nod and GDI matches. Their popularity seems to have dropped for some unknown reason, a few days ago they were very popular to be used or perhaps higher up they will see more play as they are a tactical type unit.

yeah nobody really runs scarabs in upper player levels because snipers exist and certain types of rushes are just too fast and widespread for scarabs to be useful, but I do still like them and they are a good low-mid level unit, I wouldn't be surprised if they found a niche somewhere after we have some more people with the majority of the unlocks to develop the meta or if we get some patches that change things up a bit. I also agree they should both fire at once so you don't get 2 for 1s off them though.

Also to steal a page out of our current #2 player's playbook you could do what they just did to beat me a few times and take that #2 spot, don't rush bikes, rush infantry. Its cheaper, a bit harder to deal with as it seizes the board and attacks harvesters, and you get a lot more infantry for your budget. Fairly willing to bet someone rushing attack bikes just dies to this.

Not really a balance or match making idea but I think showing how many more people have donated and are receiving from donations is a great way to keep active donating clans helping each other reach goals.  I'm in a clan now thats full and at times I request  and at times I never get my request fufilled. I think by adding a feature by the Person's name in clan that says donated cards/ received would help us all

War Factory units cost get blown to bits so hard by Tech Lab units that it doesn't really make sense to get them right now.

It feels like the only reason to get them right now is if you rush.

The scarbs are too powerful for too cheap. If you don't have them you're just as good as done. This game is becoming no fun due to this. Also the flying ship for gdi is powerful too. If you have one you pretty much win.

Fix this please. Or else no one will continue to play it.

The only thing I've noticed that even counters the cyborgs decently are Wolverines.

I feel somewhere in between 2nd tier and 3rd tier there is an overpower imbalance sometimes.

www.randyramsinghol.webs.com

ya i had a GDI player do that with an ion cannon 

that reminds me you need to put ranges on the commander ability.  example: the ion cannon doesnt need to be able to hit your base just like the chem rocket thats a bit much bc you can deploy a obli or a gun turret too close so why can you hit the base with those?  

@punishertrd the sad thing is that they didn't even listen to all the comments and opinions that everyone had. @EA_Alexander made this thread to help make gameplay fair but only made like 4 changes that dont really do sh!t to make the game more balanced