Remove Squids & Revert Dragonflies

[idle coral]

Squids are completely impractical and are by no means the dedicated AA for Aliens. You need 2 to kill one gunship while fighters can simply outspeed them, you also cannot afford players to control them since you need players in scorpions and behemoths. New Dragonflies are awful and can't accomplish anything, they literally can only move in a straight line due to strafe nerf. AT LEAST make these changes mandatory until the AI are more usable.

[granite jolt]

Dragonfly nerf doesn't really make any sense. They were a weak unit before and now they are removed from the alien roster and only used against hover bikes

I love squid but it needs to be buffed in certain areas. The cost is way too much for what little value it provides

[stable mason]

i think when the air boost is nerf and set to a cooldown it will work out

[signal frost]

I have wanted suicide units for a long time. It shall not be taken from me

[idle coral]

@stable mason Even if the boost is nerfed to have a cooldown, a group of at least 4 fighters will be enough to cover each other from Squids. I believe its 2 or 3 Squids per fighter. With people in Squids, you get bad AI for Scorps and Behes, when people are in Scorps and Behes, you get bad AI for Squids.

[stable mason]

ye thats y we gotta wait until the ai rework and see how that goes cuz we can balance only so much and it will be way dif when ai is better

like i think crab ruash and hunter rush gonna be insane when ai smart

and listen

srry i misspell i type too fast lol

[idle coral]

Its just a bad decision to me to essentially force commanders to make units that don't work in their current state. At least revert Dragonflies until the AI are more usable.

[granite jolt]

Agreed, not exactly sure what is the correct response to mass fighter with good pilots

[idle coral]

I don't think there is one.

Either Dram puts all of his focus into the AI or he can move at a slower pace by just reverting Dragonflies temporarily. A group of 5 fighters with pilots that know they can outrange everything = GG.

[dire elk]

I do think tho 5 pilots spending all their time trying to cover their asses against a lot of squids is pretty freaking epic.

Like. Most cinematic shit ever

[idle coral]

Currently, fighters can outspeed squids, and gunships are barely made.

[granite jolt]

It would be cool, but for that to happen, there needs to be an actual incentive to make "squids"

[dire elk]

I think this will change when squids are faster and jet afterburner nerfed

[granite jolt]

Of course you will see bad commanders make squids. But if you're somewhat decent and can see that 120 per unit is getting nothing done. Then you won't make it

Definitely, there needs to be a buff or a nerf in certain areas for them to be used atm

[dire elk]

Well.. I mean he's already planning it.

Now I do think aliens need more than one solution for AA. Just the squid is pretty lame. I do think, defiler buff, plus squid buff, plus new AA turret will make a big difference

And I think it will compliment how I feel aliens are supposed to handle things which is a mixing bowl

[idle coral]

Another approach could be give the Squids a faster move and boost speed, that way Fighters are still able to infinitely boost but are unable to outspeed Squids. I say this because human aircraft when not boosting is ridiculously slow.

[wet lotus]

Yeah, aliens really need an AA turret that is as effective as the human AA turret

Air should be relatively easy to deny

With anti-air units/structures at least

[exotic condor]

I think a squid movement speed increase, as well as the squid AI's ability to pre-time their explosions is being added next patch.

As right now they don't start their detonation sequence until they're practically touching the unit, which causes them to either overshoot or explode after the target unit boosts away.

[fallen ruin]

Maybe it was unintentional but Squids a 100% Perfect Counter to hover bikes. My greatest fear is an early barracks with hover bikes driving around my econ, and nothing being able to catch them. Dragonflies are OK vs hover bikes, but it takes a while to get the shots in and kill it. Taking out a hover bike with a squid is exceedingly easy. It's the first unit I produce out of lesser spawners at Tech 2, because 99% of the time the humans have 2-3 Chads trying to get on my econ and open teleports for the rest of the human players. Constant teleports are a total nightmare until Tech 3 and hive towers, which is also a more expensive solution than just having squids take out hover bikers as they traverse no-man's land. It's worked very effectively, squids are a must-keep for me for this reason.