If upgrades, make them unit-specific and ability/niche based

If there is 'research' for unit upgrades in K&C, I don't think it should follow the model of broad, generalized bonuses for all units (within a class) like we have in SupCom2.



There are a few reasons I don't like the buffs to range, HP, and damage for every unit, but they all come down to the same problem: Because they buff the stats of every land or air unit together, they're just buffing your army's overall strength vs the enemy army without introducing any new tactics or strategies or interesting abilities to employ as the game progresses. It's equivalent to the levelling treadmill you see in RPG games, where stats all go up in tandem so nothing really changes (only the RPG also add a lot of new monsters and abilities to keep things interesting).



Another problem with just buffing tanks is that it makes them compete directly with the basic hp+DPS damage dealer units later in the game (i.e. the experimentals).





In contrast, ability upgrades for early tier units can give them an evolving role that specializes them to keep them useful. This avoids the 'problem' where a player gets bored with their armies simply because they're forced to use the same basic tanks for the whole game, and the tanks 'feel' the same throughout..



Of course, SupCom2 has a few unit-specific upgrades too. Things like the Eagle Eye camera bombs, the cluster munitions to add AoE damage, anti-air for the rockhead tanks. Putting balance issues aside, those are good ideas because they mean that the eagle eye doesn't have to compete directly with the Broadsword in HP and DPS. Instead, it builds a niche for itself somewhere else. Similarly, the Rockhead AA would make sense if it weren't also the best tank unit the UEF had. If the Rockhead were largely replaced by Fatboys and KKs, then its AA would give UEF players a nice reason to keep building them even after they'd been eclipsed in their primary tank role by bigger and cooler units that come later.





I should add, stuff like the Illuminate teleports and Cybran jump jets are also awesome even though they apply to everybody because they change the way the units can be used, so they make for evolving tactics and gameplay as a game progresses. Even simple stat buffs could have the same effect if they weren't applied to every unit.. (e.g. if only tanks got the HP and Titans got the damage boost +speed boosts, then you'd start to see more pronounced roles for the units as you progressed through the research tree).





I just made another thread with examples that relate to possible units for K&C. The idea goes from basic melee units that fall behind in damage potency as the game progresses, but they gain new defensive abilities (like a 'hunker' mode), so they can still be useful in mid-late game tactics that involve lines of cheap infantry as 'mobile walls'.)

http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?t=43976|||I agree with this, well worded sir. :)



I'd describe this as a lack of unit specialization, which is one thing that supcom2 seems to lack a reasonable amount of, especially in the research department.|||Ya agreed