Melee unit handling
First post, so let me start off by saying I'm having a lot of fun with this game. For me, both RTS and MOBA have been kind of worn out, but this combination of the two has been really refreshing. So, the base game seems really strong to me. Anyway, I'd like to talk about the melee/ranged dynamic right now.
It seems to me like there's a clear skill gap between using melee units and ranged units. A lot of the melee units, especially the "fatter" T1s (like Hyros's crabs) seem to maneuver really clunkily, and often have a lot of trouble getting to the front line. Most melee units have some form of "charge" move, and I think it might be really helpful if these charge moves generally allowed them to move through friendly units more easily. Of course, this might be less of a problem with intelligent allies who can move out of the way, rather than AI. On the plus side, I do like the dynamic of melee armies trying to maneuver their opponents into open spaces while ranged tries to keep in choke points. It's a nice give and take, especially given how almost every army has at least a few mobility enhancing/restricting spells. However, at the moment it seems to me like it's just a lot easier to manage armies with more ranged units.
I have other thoughts on other aspects of the game, but I think it'd be more helpful for the devs if topics stayed topical, so does anyone else have thoughts about using melee units in particular?
Comments
I agree that melee units seem at a natural disadvantage here. With the DPS-health ratios being what they are it seems far more advantageous to have ranged attacks than melee, to have more damage rather than less. Collision detection/hit boxes being so generously large also hurts melee units getting into range of anything, and even when they do they've probably half died.
My biggest issue was when I was on a team with two melee units at the same time. Functionally in a battle, only one could do damage at a time. I do think that moving forward if the pathing was improved, melee units would get a huge indirect buff.
Melee units have definitely been a tricky beast to tackle. They are ESPECIALLY troublesome w/ AI allies due to pathing concerns. If they are used properly, they tend to be extremely powerful.
In terms of current actionables, we are keeping an ULTRA close eye on pathing this entire playtest. We want some "clunkiness" to the unit movement (helps w/ surrounding enemies, spreads out armies more, leads to more interesting shapes and battles) but we don't want it to be frustrating enough to prevent you from playing a squad well.
Lemme know how PvP goes with melee squads. We'll be doing a massive survey on how people enjoy the squads and we'll see how the melee squads fall. We're comfortable with them living in the space of "though most people don't play them, the people who DO play them absolutely love them."
OH also, in regards to "moving through allied units," we will be exploring this in limited circumstances if we need to. We HAVE done some of the "moving through allies" stuff, and it quickly leads to very odd looking, extremely difficult to read battles (as units are stacking and unstacking). So, we're leaning towards pathing and unit design as solutions