lament tulip
The proposal is to simplify helicopters units with some minor changes. I wanted to also add a couple of nice to have features them and a small balance changes to aircraft callins to make them more believable. Then, last changes: improve the visual part for both the helicopters (flying physics) and aircrafts taking as inspiration other RTS games like World in conflict, Regiments etc...
Proposal
Helicopters
*- Remove pilots as units.
- Remove pilot slots from helicopters and keep the garrison slots for troop transport.
- Make helicopter movements smoother (similar to World in Conflict / Wargame / Broken arrow / Regiments etc...).
- Add toggle button to increase or decrease flight altitude (could be 3 stages: low , med , high)
- Add toggle button to allow the helicopter to be turned off once it is landed (two stages "engine off/engine on).*
Aircraft
*- Have aircraft appear from the sky (as in World in Conflict), so that when support is requested, the aircraft actually arrives from the sky, drops its ammunition, and leaves.
- The same applies to units dropped from above: aircraft arrive from the sky and drop paratroopers.
- Add ETA time for callouts , the aircraft will take time to drop the ordinance.*
Reason:
Helicopters
*- Helicopters are unnecessarily complex due to the presence of pilots; their absence and that of related slots would simplify their use in some cases (and also help with popcap resources).
- Helicopters fly too low. Being able to raise their altitude would improve their combat efficiency in dense urban areas.
- World in Conflict / Wargame / Broken Arrow are excellent examples of helicopters with credible maneuvers. It would be nice to see the same behavior in Cepheus.*
Aircrafts
*- As for aircrafts , World in conflict has a nice call in system which has a great visual impact. It would be another "nice to have" features for the very far future.
- Make air support callouts more tactical and believable. It takes time for an A10 to drop their ordinace due to their low speed, an FA-18 will quickly zoom in , while a B1 with a MOAB bomb will take a bit more time.*
fallow root