desert fly, issues with it... Options

[woulvehound]

Let's talk about one of the coolest units in Shockwave (:

A few days ago i had a game with Revan.
We had a 1on1 with Deathstrike against Deathstrike...
later in the game when i had 30-40 scrapyards and "some" cash and i decided to end the game in a funny/ spammy way with desert flies, after Revan shot them down constantly in the beginning of the game.
when i was killing the base of him with a mass of desert flies ( i think about 30 or more ) i noticed that they killed each other by dropping phosphor bombs at one of his buildings. I lost a plenty of them this way ( maybe i had 5 or 10 left ). Would be cool if you could do something about that

Moreover i noticed that it is nearly impossible to select multiple desert flies in the heat of the moment and i had to look up the " select all air units " command the ZH manual mid-game...
Maybe you could let them fly tighter circles ( or maybe an airfield for them...? )

And last but not least i think they are quite underpowered ( plz dont slap me for that ). If you want to get them combat effective you neet a group of at least 5 or more desert flies and 6000$ is simply to much for their strength.

apart from that its one of my favourite units ever in shw

[Alias]

According to Hunter, the bomb suicide will not get fixed.

I just use 'W' for selecting them (that's the select air units key, as I'm sure you know now ), never had a problem with that.

I do agree that they do tend to be on the weak side, but they are a Tier 1 unit.

[IonCharge]

Can I ask: why do they explode?

[Guest_Valour_*]

"Maybe you could let them fly tighter circles ( or maybe an airfield for them...? tongue.gif ) "

I totally agree with this, their current flying circles are so big it's tricky selecting them in a hurry, let alone if you have more than one buzzing around

Would be great to see if the team would consider such a change...

[Shock]

An airfield would undermine their uniqueness as a unit and the unique properties of the minor GLA airforce, which is based on an airpad not an airfield.

It is also a micro - intensive unit. It will not work by simply ''select unit'' and ''bomb enemy''.

The game balance tries to discourage spamming, so this difficulty spawning from a very large number of desert flies isn't really a problem imo.

[NergiZed]

"W", a key to remember. I never knew that that selected all air units till now and now I'm a happy man. I think I'll go play a round right now and win via Fly Spam.

[The_Hunter]

Just a headsup about this i'v added a "select all desert Flies" button to both the airpad and bar on the side (from which you select generals powers) for 1.1

When you click this button it will auto select all desert flies

[NergiZed]

Just a headsup about this i'v added a "select all desert Flies" button to both the airpad and bar on the side (from which you select generals powers) for 1.1

When you click this button it will auto select all desert flies

[Destiny]

Hmm I'm curious, you could just select a Desert Fly and press 'E' twice so all Desert Flies on the map would be selected.

"W", a key to remember. I never knew that that selected all air units till now and now I'm a happy man. I think I'll go play a round right now and win via Fly Spam.

I did that in Strange Moments but they're just that horribly weak, no late-game armor upgrade for it. I built...hundreds, they all died in...seconds..

Do not deny their usefulness, they are very good at scouting AA, if there's an AA on the map they will find it... and die.

[Casojin]

Do not deny their usefulness, they are very good at scouting AA, if there's an AA on the map they will find it... and die.

And $1200 also gone if it dies.

[IonCharge]

Wow! Impressed on the "select all" button. Can I ask how it works?

[The_Hunter]

Wow! Impressed on the "select all" button. Can I ask how it works?

You click it and all desert flies you own are instantly selected

[Dangerman]

You click it and all desert flies you own are instantly selected

MIND BLOWN

[IonCharge]

You click it and all desert flies you own are instantly selected

Well I gathered that. Just was wondering how it was coded.

[The_Hunter]

Well I gathered that. Just was wondering how it was coded.

Aah that's what you mean.
here's the code for the button:

CODE

CommandButton Command_SelectAllGLAPlaneDesertFly
  Command           = SELECT_ALL_UNITS_OF_TYPE
  Object            = GLAPlaneDesertFly
  TextLabel         = CONTROLBAR:SelectAllDesertFlies
  ButtonImage       = SSSelectAllDesertFlies
  ButtonBorderType  = ACTION
  DescriptLabel     = CONTROLBAR:ToolTipSelectAllDesertFlies
End

[Guest_Valour_*]

"When you click this button it will auto select all desert flies smile.gif"

This is great news and really pleased to hear you've implemented - excellent!

I think the Desert Fly currently is well balanced, it's gun straffing runs are great at slowly chewing away at the enemy and it's bomb drop packs a nice punch when more firepower is needed. Their amour is a little week but these are scrap-made vehicles!

I still think it should be cheaper. I just don't seem to get intimidated by those things. All I need is a fly swatter, like a quad (cheap and salvaged ),to get rid of those pests. It just doesn't sit right with me that a scrap plane costs as much as a Raptor. I would compare it with the USA Little Bird.

From what I gathered from the posts, Desert Fly should be made cheaper or else it won't be worth it.

No one answered Twilight's question. Why do they explode? Was that intentional or is it a bug?

[Zeke]

According to Hunter, the bomb suicide will not get fixed.

[Guest_alabaster_*]

I like the Desert Fly as is. It has limited usefulness in that it is crap against anti-air. So, don't pit it against anti-air! If, however, there's a column of unprotected tanks heading your way, or a column of tanks with a couple of AA units that you can take out before bombing the hell out of them with Desert Flys then you've got a winning unit.

Play to their strengths and overcome their weaknesses.

[woulvehound]

I like the Desert Fly as is. It has limited usefulness in that it is crap against anti-air. So, don't pit it against anti-air! If, however, there's a column of unprotected tanks heading your way, or a column of tanks with a couple of AA units that you can take out before bombing the hell out of them with Desert Flys then you've got a winning unit.

Play to their strengths and overcome their weaknesses.

no need to tell us that you should not use aircraft against anti air units/ structures. I think most of us already know that.
the problem with the desert fly is, that it wont bomb the hell out of anything but of infantry, as long as you dont have at least 5 or more of them, which is would make 6000$ ( or more ) then.
It is not my point that it should be stronger because i want to kill gatling tanks with it you know . they are just not worth their price.

However the new " select all desert fies " button is welcome

Let me ask this question. Is it worth building the Desert Fly? If you do build the Desert Fly, what are the opportunity costs (what are you forgoing)? If you believe those alternatives you have forgone are better than building Desert Flies, then you are not spending wisely. There's microeconomics involved when pricing units and deciding what to spend on. For me, for just $300 more, Katyusha is the best alternative to the Desert Fly. If there's a column of unprotected tanks heading my way, Katyusha can mow them down whether they be tanks or AA vehicles while placing tanks and AA in front of Katyusha to protect them.

There's nothing wrong with the Desert Fly, their strengths and weaknesses are fine. Just their pricing is a little overpriced because I'll end up buying other better stuff. I doubt players will send an army without AA's; that would be foolish if their enemy was General Deathstrike. That means Desert Fly (considering how expensive and weak-armored they are) will never get the chance to battle. Imo they're used as a "finish them off" type of unit, at the point when the player is defenseless, most of which were done by ground units.

Yes, it is pretty humiliating to be finished off by Dessert Flies , but if you really want to milk it you can build explosive barrels around his buildings; finished by a peasant, now that's humiliating.

no need to tell us that you should not use aircraft against anti air units/ structures. I think most of us already know that.
the problem with the desert fly is, that it wont bomb the hell out of anything but of infantry, as long as you dont have at least 5 or more of them, which is would make 6000$ ( or more ) then.
It is not my point that it should be stronger because i want to kill gatling tanks with it you know . they are just not worth their price.

However the new " select all desert fies " button is welcome

Explain the Stealth Fighter then?

Btw, Desert Flies are so damn funny Seeing fifty of those things going to the enemy gives quite a kick hr?

This post has been edited by Thom: 30 Dec 2010, 16:23