Gameplay Thoughts - Big Action Lulls When All Units/Hero Dies
Greetings Atlas team!
Whenever all of my units die, I feel like I have nothing to do. I can't collect gems because I have no hero. Can't build expansions. Can't move, can't help my team, can't really do anything.
I understand it's a rather critical game mechanic, and I like the countdown timer and the fact that they automatically respawn etc. I like the hero unit, and his/her critical element in protecting in fights and with our other units.
But one of the best parts about Starcraft is that when I totally screw the pooch in a fight, I can go back and catch up with my Macro (I am mid Silver ranking, so not good). I can get my base back in order and build units and do research etc. My units are still mining. I am getting back to work.
I guess I feel like in MOBAs, there is nothing to do when I am dead, but there is so much more action during the actual "game" portion.
I can see how the above is contradictory, but this is my feedback. When my hero dies, my army feels weak and impotent, so I want to go back to base and not push the point. When my army dies (but hero doesn't), I can't protect anything.
Love the game, will keep trying to get better! GLHF!
Comments
You bring an interesting point Badamrak, as a Master level SC2 player, when armies trade as long as your macro is good, you still have another army waiting/building so it's ready by the time the opponent can push into you. With Atlas, however you also have teammates and towers as a safety net in a sense so if you do lose your entire army you don't immediately lose.
Even at high macro levels, this still leaves us with the lull if your main force dies. Part of the issue may lie in the way the supply cap works. In Atlas if the armies are maxed, you can't queue up units like you can in other games, although everything does train at once so it helps alleviate a bit of that. However, there is still the training time of the new Mercs, which you can use to supplement ally forces while you wait for your Squad troops and hero to respawn. I too feel that lull like you do when armies are wiped, and it makes the game feel like there are "waves" of action. I think the intention may have been to be much like how creeps spawn in a MOBA, however due to the RTS nature you're left twiddling your thumbs while the squad respawns instead of the effect of one wave dying as the next one comes in.
I think there may be a few ways to help address this. My first suggestion would be to use either gems or scrap to allow the player to boost production, much like how chrono-boost works in SC2. This way it rewards players that have multiple expansions, but also gives players with less macro to still have something to do when the army is dead as well as a way to spend excess resources. At the same time, it reduces the time of the "lull" that players would feel while the new units train.
This could also be used for respawning squads as well, or my personal favorite would be to make it an either or choice, between boosting Merc production, or the respawn of the squad. I think it would be really cool if this choice would be made before the match starts, so you could adjust play style and overall strategy going into the match.
I like that boost/respawn idea. Especially since a lot of times you end up with a bank of scrap that you can't use if your gem count is low.
I also like the respawn mechanic but like you said it leads to waves of attacks and I feel like there could be a point where the game just devolves into a very simple tug of war battle. One team attacks, dies, the other team attacks, dies and so on kind of like WWI trench warfare in a way instead of constant interesting back and forth.
I think the boost and respawn ideas could definitely help get rid of that lull feeling and keep action happening more often.
For this feedback, I'd ask how things feel once you are in a PvP environment. Right now, I'm a bit leery of comments about the "feeling of excitement and boredom" in Atlas when you've only played vs Bots. To be honest, the bots are WAY boring so I wanna make sure that doesn't color other experiences in the game.
My HOPE would be that when you play against other people, things just feel more exciting overall. Then, death becomes a tense moment instead of a boring one. LET ME KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!