Timotron:I am involving the community a little bit earlier in the process this time around and sharing the first pass balance changes that we are testing internally at the moment.
Your feedback and discussion are welcome as long as everyone stays polite and gracious to each other. This thread will be heavily moderated so that we get the best feedback, so if your post gets removed, please try to rephrase it in a more constructive manner.
Caveat: The balance items are still somewhat in flux and as such I am not posting the exact numbers we are testing but rather the general balance ideas we are testing. note: We will share final numbers when the title update is closer to completion when we write the final title update notes.
Balance changes::
1. Gauss warthog gauss cannon damage bonus against units with heavy armor (Scorpions, Wraiths, Scarabs, Locusts) reduced so that tanks will stay as a viable option to counter warthogs.
by how much determins if this will do anything to main problem, couple problems that will still make warthog op is that, tech gaps will still give gauss 30% - % nerf. but means that grenadier would be best choice so spamming them will be still probamitic.
2. Warthog build time slightly increased to restrict how fast players can mass and replace warthogs during the game.
the restriction can still be cut down by low rps, if you raise the rps then it would controll the rate for you. (note if you change build time down dont forget to nerf to compensate.)
3. Anders bonus to tech build rate reduced to further balance the leader.
again anders wasn't the problem it is the low cost of warthog. it made here half cost where she can grab both and upgrade faster. very easy to get around with two production one to upgrade and other to build units.
4. Base turrets attack and health boosted slightly to increase turret viability in early and late game.
is needed also to fix the blind spots 1 turret should be able to protect the whole base.
5. Elephant health increased to improve survivability and viability as a unit.
6. Grenade/ Plasma grenade / RPG damage against medium armor (warthogs, ghosts, choppers, wolverines and cobras) increased to both better balance marines/ grunts against warthogs and to improve marines overall against players who try to turtle with wolverines and cobras.
good but what about hornets and on top of that, what about passive abilitys that negate rockest which would make marines useless still,
7. Recycle basic cost return fixed to be 50% for constructed buildings. (While a technically a bug, this directly impacts many slightly exploitive strategies)
this is needed cnc did this for thier recsource plants since it was cheaper to build one and sell it get an harverster.
also you might need to check odst that upgrade cost to much to get in tech 3 with out major sacerfice or if thats the way is so it will be grabbed at tech 4 without giving it tech 5 so you wouldn't have to buff flamethrowers are jackals becuase they would be fighting against 60% buffs instead of 30%.