Sooo with the latest internal beta Fortifications now cost from 100 to...0?
Thats great now aint it?
Well sorta, Now that they are for free the way we use and look at things have changed.
Usually I went with this layout, and I forgot to mention in that image that;
Tank traps do not give garrison bonuse
Now with the changes the Tank trap barricade doesnt have a reason other then to fuck around with pathfinding and honestly thats not a valid reason to exist.
Thats like saying we should allow something in the game because the particles add more lag into the game.
It now doesnt have much of a place to stand on its own.
Now comes to the issue connected to this; The medic outpost upgrade as you dont have a reason to build tank traps and heal exposed/outside Infantry then why would you build this?
Well that comes to two reasons and maybe three
1-Your pushing/Defending so you Need the healing for making the most for your troops and upgrade it to the medic outpost.
2-You need it to keep the longevity of your heavy snipers as they trade shots agaisnt buggys firing on the move.(It isnt alot of damage but without this they'll die eventually)
3-You didnt go for prepared defences upgrade (Which right now is really meta and you see it very often)
My ideas to fix both issues;
1-Allow Infantry in tank traps to be stealthed when not firing which would allow you to provide an ambush on any sneaky beaky fellas that didnt expect to encounter you.
(Im looking at you stealth commanche raids)
2-Allowing the medic outpost to call in a pegasus chopper.This would Allow the player to recyle the investment if the outpost is overrun and allow ECA reinforce their heavy sniper postions by quickly replenishing the funds for it.
Then theres another issue I want to bring up and its not as big of an issue but still ODD
Theres currently an open top upgrade for fortifications that allow pineers and grenediers to garrison them, making them immune to toxin weapons and snipers and the such.
With the latest changes Grenediers have been shifted from being "Just a panzerfaust but good cause you can use them vs paladins" to an anti building unit/Anti infantry
Given the secondary weapon it has and the fact that its main weapon switched to Auora bomb which does damage agaisnt buildings and infantry more.
Now it used to make sense for this fortification to house one guy thats biggest weakness was to getting sniped with ease.Now hes got a shield of sorts to protect himself.
Why would you want AU bomb damage on the front line? Are you pushing with theese fortifications with grenediers somehow?
Its not as big of an issue but if possible, the grendier to have a more fitting damage type perhaps? Im not an ECA Player
So I'd like to hear from you, the playerbase about this issue and what you think would be the right way to go.
Tester and devs can comment to (Otherwise the main two ECA's Skitt/Mizo would be blocked out )
1) Tank Traps are... not dedicated garrisons? They were given ability to be garrisoned just as a rule of cool and secondary utility, their main purpose wasn't affected at all with the fortification cost decrease? Never meant to compete with forts in that role?
Tank traps are not garrisons but rather just, a wall with the added benefit of you fitting your men inside. I still find them hard to use, not because they are useless but because my dozers are often too busy building other key stuff to keep me alive rather than slowing down enemies. I might build the habit of tanktrap spam soon enough when I get back into PvP again.
Fortifications are pretty useless past tier 1 due to anti garrison units, unless you pick prepared defenses. Medics outpost is important to keep your heavy infantry alive, they do make a huge difference.
Grenadiers are still good, even in the defensive part. Sure their damage output got reduced, but now they deal damage to all sorts of targets, even their counters which is great.
Wish tanj traps were slightly wider but I digress.
I find it more amazing how Tank Traps went from "not free and even require one of the GP unlocks" to "can hold infantry and is for free". But yeah, "roadblock" is their entire reason for existance.
I'm also with Mizo in that they could be slightly wider (maybe fit 4 infantry then instead).
If i could describe tank traps in one word it would be tedious.
Not bad, not good, and if i was to evaluate their performance both as a road block and as a pseudo bunker i would say that they failed miserably at both aspects. But thats not the standout feeling you have when using them. If you can be bothered using them, they are just tedious.
Why is this?
Well for starters if we look at their main job as a road block they dont really do a good job at blocking the road.
ignoring the basic fact that it is CONSIDERABLY easier to put mines in a chokepoint or zone, and the fact that the mines actually do damage to kill the units that go over them, and the mines are stealthed, the road block function itself is exceptionally hard to set up and use effectively.
Whilst melee units are indeed a thing that exist, they arent a primary focus of the game, so the ability to "wall them off" in the traditional sense is not a valuable asset. Most anti-base defence units (with the vague exception of the terrorist) are designed to either clear the garrison through ranged means or simply out range base defence all together. Unless the ECA player builds the tank traps way ahead of their defence line (which leaves the dozer exposed, more on that later) there isn't really much point to getting them to begin with.
This is ultimately why the garrison ability was added. You can say
Well I haven't played ROTR in a long time, so I'm probably not qualified to post here, but I don't really see the problem with tank traps being "useless".
You don't have to use everything, if ya'll think forts are now way better than tank traps in every conceivable way, then just use those instead.
The only time I used tank traps was when they could still be repaired (not sure if this was changed, like I said haven't played for a while), to me they were more like shields for your defences than road blocks, since the AI would waste their shots on them instead of your actual defences, kinda like permanent smoke grenades.
If it were up to me, I would optimize them for that role instead, either making them an upgrade that adds a second health bar to defences using firebase logic, or make give them an ability like the anvil tank that make defences around them untargetable until they're destroyed.
I'd also make it so that they leave a husk when they die, similar to how oil derricks now function in ROTR, with an upgrade that lets players spend money to rebuild it in the same place, negating the need to send your dozer out every time to rebuild them (I'd probably add this system to demo traps as well).
writes that down as possible update to his addon
The thing that I always liked about ECA Tank Trap Barricades is how they are indeed not technically garrisons. I will explain...
Because of how a Tank Trap Barricade is not a garrison in the technical sense, it makes garrison-clearing units not as effective. At least, not in the usual manner. For units such as Buratinos that have rather significant AOE, it doesn't really matter. But, against China Dragon Tanks, it is pretty handy; rather than instantly clearing out all of the infantry, the Dragon Tank's flamethrower is stymied by the Barricade's wall, forcing a player to individually micro down the infantry units that are behind it in order to kill 'em dead. Although the infantry units are still pretty easy to kill, it at least buys time for the ECA player to be able to react and fall back to another Barricade without losing as many units, if any.
I know that what I've described is such a minuscule aspect, but I've always appreciated it and utilized it against opponents of the China variety.
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On the lines of the whole pathfinding/roadblock thing, the Barricades, in my opinion, are really helpful; one just has to know how to use them properly and to their advantage. Now, I'm certainly not claiming to be an expert, nor am I calling anyone ignorant, but I've been able to use roadblock-fu pretty effectively in past PvP games quite a few times. If your ECA army is comprised of mostly vehicles and tanks, then yeah; creating choke-point hell is not the best idea. But, if your army composition is more focused on infantry and aircraft, then roadblock-fu can become pretty deadly.
Moreover, it's pretty effective to have Pioneers bombarding the enemy's ground force from afar when they are trapped behind... well... traps. And, being that they are infantry, the Pioneers are able to maneuver through the roadblocks no problem.
Also, if the Barricades are arranged in the right way, small groups of units that decide to mosey beyond the front line will get stuck on each other when attempting to turn around for the retreat, which creates the perfect window for Tiger hit-and-run.
Honestly, though, Tank Traps are best used in conjunction with mines; they can be used to direct armies into minefields, or simply buy more time for Minelayers to be able to do their thing a bit further behind the front line. They can be effective in this way because of how they are seen as worthless; opposing players will also see empty Tank Traps as a waste of time, thus, taking the bait and ignoring them, marching straight into a pool of mines.
In my experience, roadblock-fu works best when only applied to one or two fronts, being sure to keep at least one path clear of pathfinding hazards (in order to avoid the scenario of being locked inside of your own base). Against aggressive players that try to muscle their way through the roadblock, having that one roadblock-free path is perfect for catching the opposing army out of position and executing ground-based counter attacks. Against more careful players that just look for another way in, well, you have the advantage of knowing where they're not, which also makes it easier to catch the army out of position.
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All this being said, I completely agree with the notion that the Barricade should be longer.
I also agree with the idea that Medic Outposts should be able to call in medivacs.
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I think that's all I had to say
Thank you.
same as Zeke i always used traps as shield for defenses. now with being repairable again traps are back in line for me. never really used them for garrisoning.
considering every proposition, i liked the passable variant with kinda termite drone logic so Road Blocks become real Blocks, though i can't imaging how to make it if not only constant subdual damage use. basically even current barricades could go well quite in theme with purpose as a shield, just make them wider(with passable effect for friendly units) and make sure that nothing apart from artillery could fire through them - so enemy just has to spend time to destroy barricades or search for another route.
idea of med-evac for med-forts sounds interesting, and with proper long recharge seems to be not so OP. besides most players tend not to use medics much for recovery, so i don't think that would really harm their usefulness.
rebuildable demo-traps from Zeke, hmm, i'd play with that.!) some pro players probably would make grate use of it, but for such low skills like me i think it will just finally raise a desire to use demo-traps at all = at present if i want to make "gla minefield" i send 2-3 demo-trucks - faster, less micro, more chance for unit to not die unlike worker.
Personally I very rarely use Tank Traps in skirmish games and I love playing as the ECA, I just find it irrelevant considering the other options you have and mines/demo traps are much better against the enemy. However, as others suggested if it was longer and perhaps upgrade-able (e.g. damage bonus/more health) then I would use it more often. I like the idea of the medic fortification being able to call in a medivac, that would really help out if a medic is too far away to help out.
On a side note, I'm surprised fortifications don't have a sniper nest upgrade for the Heavy Sniper considering there is now an open-topped upgrade for the Pioneers and Grenadiers.
i think tank traps are decoration.
i think tank traps are traps for tanks
Maybe the tank traps might be a bit more bigger, but I do not think it needs much more than this, after all its function is simply block a path.
The tank traps will never be so useful because it's a passive defense by nature, I do not see much of a problem here, it's completely optional.
Holy crap zeke, that idea shits all over mine, thats brilliant.
Make them garrisonable by heavy snipers. It will save them from undeploying automatically everytime a dozer pass by them.
^^ that ones new to me, never seen them do that.
Would it be possible to place buildings on top of enemy husk?
If not, i see an easy exploit with supply dock denial. Even if you lose the expansion, you could surround it with barricades randomly, which even when killed will prevent supply center construction. Stuff like that.
with all said i'd say current traps should lose garrison abilities, become wider, and high resistances, so enemy have to really spend time to destroy it, so fulfilling its original role to block enemy from fast march. at the same time i'd give it real small healing rate(like for BBear) and not so fast build time(to prevent easy expansion block).
open-topped fortifications should allow garrisoning snipers. as for other forts, i was always surprised why ammo-fort is not garrisonable and why engi-/med-fort is there if anyways you needs Pandurs nearby to repair buildings?! so with adding med-evac to med-fort i'd make it not garrisonable and evac itself with long cooldown.
i haven't read all the comments but i'm just going to throw it out that that infantry positioned within/behind tank traps DO benefit from garrison bonuses.
and quote of the day goes to
I wonder if theres any otherthing else to add to this discussion...
People are suggesting tank traps take a more dedicated "Pathfinding ruiner" role for it even if that seems a tad counter intuitive in my book.
Also is it just me or dont eca players have problems at the first stages of the whole "buggy vs At Sniper" matchup starts.Buggies given they are snowballing from T1 can easily burst down a few of theese guys.So a pegasus ability on medic fortis would help recyle the funds.
You sneak Logica... I like it
That idea is actually really cool and I can see something like that being very useful at buying time when all your base def has gone to shit. Still, I like zekes idea more just because of the simplicity of it
@Zeke please add and upload for those interested to try.
Well, he would need to make it to begin with, and given hes working on a few other mods right now so I don't see this being made.
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