State of the Game
TW3 is my first experience with Atlas. Having played PvP and bots up to lvl 10 I feel like I have a solid grasp on the game. In addition to my gameplay, I have also explored the Merc/Atlaspedia to better understand the numbers behind all of the units in the game. I have a lot of thoughts swirling, so I hope I can structure my feedback well enough for them to be understood.
Engagements in 3v3
These can get messy. Once pop gets to a certain point the clutter can be overwhelming. My perspective has been to accept that as a part of the game (which it is currently) and develop an opinion based on that fact. In doing this, I have decided that it is actually beneficial to the overall depth. It forces the player to make strategic choices as to how they want to aid in a given situation. If the core (T1) of one or both of your teammates are engaged with the enemy or moving to assault enemy forces in mass there almost definitely isn't room for your full army to have an impact. In this case one may do better to only send key units to the battle (high tier or support units) and maybe your hero as well. I noticed that all support Mercs have an extremely long range/low damage attack, so they will sit nicely behind the army. Alternatively, if your teammates have lost the core of their army to the enemy you may want to reinforce them mass and conserve your own expensive units. Build time, I feel, is a big factor in this tug of war. The complexity of how and when to split ones army feels good imo. I see great things in the future as skilled players adapt to this aspect of Atlas. It's truly a innovative take of team RTS I think.
Abilities
Sandstinger's Stinging Surge I felt was not intuitive enough. The unit is squishy and I usually want to use the ability for escape, but it doesn't function well in that situation; unless ones army is exclusively Sandstingers. The collision they have with other units usually negates my escape or advance in clutch situations. That being said, it seems like the ability is not intended to function that way for the most part. Sure, it does provide movement but it also resets the Sandstinger's attack coodown. With that in mind I imagine it should be used to "double tap" for burst damage and to chase a retreating enemy force.
Would making abilities ignore collision be too strong? I'm not sure. Also, this line of question could apply to other units like Scuttleguard and Terrapin Trooper. If Stinging Surge were to ignore collision would these other units then need to follow suit with their abilities as well in order to keep the balance? I think so. The debate I have now is whether or not this is a good direction for the game to go. Ignoring collision is essential a quality of life mechanic, so it would affect the overall difficult of the game.
Resources
I'm still of the opinion that Scrap is too plentiful. I've come to realize that my ability to spend it is quite lackluster, and so I am trying to give my opinions here with that in mind. My reasoning for this stance currently is the potential for comebacks. I feel like a skilled team who finds themselves ahead after the initial engagements can snowball due to far superior Scrap acquisition. With this in mind, I feel like moving the bulk of scrap income to the expansions would help mitigate this and provide more incentive to protect or harass said expansions.
Stock seems to be in a good place. I say this mainly because if one runs out of stock their opponent probably has as well or they deserve that crutch due to reasonable factors. Population I'm still not sure about. Part of me feels like the replenishment of pop after losing an army is too slow. At the same time, as long as one conserves high value units and avoids needless loses to camps it doesn't feel too bad. There seems to be plenty of room for allies to pick up the slack in the downtime.
Final as of TW3
Comments
@Hazard Yes that's it! I feel like that is the ideal way to engage. Also, if the enemies armies are in a lane corridor where a flank from allied T1 units isn't really possible due to terrain and/or a fortified expansion; one can use those units to scout and prevent an enemy flank or at least delay long enough to escape with the valuable units already engaged. I'm excited to see some high level play! I know it's too soon to be hyped, but I can't help it.
It's never too soon to be hyped. Rock on. Theory crafting the best.