Yeah.
A single weapon having a Range of 1 to anywhere above 1 isn't a bad thing on its own. They did it with the Bazooka Infantry's bazooka in GBW3. Which worked somewhat despite the rules there, the only problems was making the ATK power somewhat too high and giving it only one measly shot inbetween resupplying. It quite easily could have worked with the Combat Buggies around to blast the Mechs in the first place.
Of course, the idea is easily faulty. And the only unit in the Nintendo Wars series (prior to AWDoR of course) with a SINGLE weapon that has a Range of 1 to anywhere above 2 is the Submarine in Game Boy Wars 1/2/Turbo. Fighter S in GBW3 doesn't count, using two weapons, neither of which can Range 2 fire when trapped.
Why is it faulty? Because the unit no longer has to move as close to the enemy unit. Range 2 fire may allow the unit to attack without being directly next to the enemy unit, allowing a second (or multiple other) unit(s) to attack, but the unit ends its turn most likely right behind the front lines, meaning it becomes vulnerable if the front lines shatter. But Range 3 fire? The unit can easily end its turn behind TWO lines of units. Making it vulnerable to attack requires breaking those two lines of units and most players are never going to make that an easy job. And we know all the problems with boosting that to Range 4. *ahemgritahem*
So what about the 65% to Large Tanks? First, how do I know this? Math calculated from the video:
*7 HP Anti-Tank VS 5 HP Heavy Tank L2 on City
40% (the damage shown) * [10 / 7] * [100 / (100 - (2 * 5))] = [400% / 7] * [10 / 9] = [4000% / 63] ~= 63.5%
Guessing 65% check: 65% * [63 / 100] = 13% * [63 / 20] = 819% / 20 = 40.95% (round down as computers do for ints and therefore a video game would, and you get 40%)
Yep. We have a unit intended to bust armor wide open. Now, yes, this would prevent tank flooding. But tanks in and of themselves should NOT be crippled so easily. I mean, what is going to stop offense styles from becoming overpowered? Certainly not tanks if they get ripped apart easily and therefore defensive units are implausible. Defensive units are designed in mind of delaying enemy units and working up counter-strategies. They can be thrown into a combat recycling, sure, but their primary usage is to slow down defeat or even halt it in its tracks.
Oh, and by the way, just to show you the AT isn't having a small range of base damage ratings *coughbombercough*, here's its damage to the Tank showing it's 75%:
*7 HP AT VS 5 HP Tank on Plains
49% * [10 / 7] * [100 / (100 - (1 * 5))] = 70% * [20 / 19] = 1400% / 19 ~= 73.7%
Guessing 75% check: 75% * [7 / 10] * [19 / 20] = 75% * [133 / 200] = 3% * [133 / 8] = 399% / 8 = 49.875% (and again computers round down ints, I'm pretty sure the game would)
So it obviously deserves to be drained of ammo cost effectively to exploit its lack of a secondary......except there's really no way to do so. Mechs cost 2500G apeice and therefore you'll have spent over 10000G to get rid of its ammo, only for it to get repairs and supplies afterwards. Infantry are your only option for that......but there has to be plenty of rough terrain for that to be plausible. The AT still has 4 Movement Power. Which also nullifies the 50 Fuel weakness, because how long will it take to use up the 50 Fuel? 12-13 turns? That's too long for a supplier to not get to the battlefield, and resupply other units that have issues with supplies. How long does it take for the regular Tank to use up its 70 Fuel on its 6 Movement Power? About 11-12 turns. Which is even shorter, though slightly. Oh, and its Movement Type is Tires B. Note that I said B. Plains hindering it? Don't make me laugh. *laughs* Whoops. Too late.
So it's clear it deserves horrible defense power, right? Oh, but here's the awful icing on the moldy cake: it's got more defense than the Heavy Tank. I'm not joking, and I'm not even exaggerating. Take a look at its danger lines and compare to the Heavy Tank's. You don't see the Mega Tank on the Anti-Tank's screen at all, and the Bomber is on the yellow line for that instead of the red line on the Heavy Tank's. With the AT having already strong offense power, you'll never want to let it abuse meatshields EVER so that it can't block and steal first strike, but easier said than done when infantry or other such units will probably be available for that task.
Is this unit going to be broken? Well, I doubt it will be. Something costing 11000G doesn't exactly come cheap. And maybe a few Mechs will be able to bring it down. Not to mention it's just about hopeless in rough terrain, having only 4 Movement Power with a substandard Movement Type. But it's bound to be overpowered nevertheless. And it's likely to be too floodworthy in matches with high incomes like 4000G+ per City (or maybe just 2500G if the Factories / Total Properties ratio is any lower than 1 / 4). The problem in AW1, AW2, and AWDS was maps with too many factories, but in AWDoR the AT will likely make the problem maps with too few factories.
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Well, at least we'll see something nice: Mobile Workshop's ability to build properties that can only resupply and probably repair air or sea units. (I don't think there's anything to dispute the part about repairing.) Of course, the properties don't provide any income but then again, the GBW3 Simple Airports didn't either. To be honest, I would have preferred the Constructor's ability to develop buildings to boost their income ratings (nerfed to 50%, obviously; but this is actually one of its simplest functions if you ask me, working like using the Capture command on your own properties, though a limited number of times if you don't use the Factories or the Capital to resupply every few turns), but at least we probably won't be worrying anymore about air units abusing APCs to a ridiculous degree.
The Missile Boat is also potentially a nice addition. And I've seen its base damage: 75% to itself. At the very least, it attacks other vessels. And it could be purely offensive. We shall see how nicely it goes. Doesn't look like anything really worth using on that &$*@#*&% Cruiser though.
Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:30 pm
