Group attack

[Siber]

A select few games have the ability to attack a group of enemies instead of just one, generally by click-and-dragging a box around the targets. I think this would be highly useful in Warzone in general, and particularly useful with command tanks and sensor tanks.

A particular issue I've noticed when using sensor tanks paired with artillery, especially high damage long reload artillery like anything but hellstorms and pepperpots, is that they'll all fire in unison on a single target. That's great right up until you have the firepower to kill a given target in one volley, at which point you'd rather like then to spread their fire a bit. If you could group-attack and units would pick randomly among in-range targets of a target group, this would alleviate these issues. And as a bonus it'd make heavy shelling look way cooler.

[Saberuneko]

I like that idea

[KukY]

Me too.

[Zarel]

Me too.

[Michal]

I like the idea, if 100 ripples wouldn't do that. It wouldn't be funny attacking those...

[Assault Gunner]

I like the Starcraft mechanic. You tell any units capable of attacking to attack, then click a spot on the ground near the units you want to attack. Or you can tell them to run by without firing, which is especially useful with certain long-sight range units.

[Zarel]

I like the Starcraft mechanic. You tell any units capable of attacking to attack, then click a spot on the ground near the units you want to attack. Or you can tell them to run by without firing, which is especially useful with certain long-sight range units.

Yes, we already have that, it's Alt+click in Warzone. Running by is regular clicking.

[Olrox]

Anyway, I think artillery should not fire at multiple targets necessarily. I mean, most artillery is made for destroying buildings and such strong targets. Group fighting artillery is Incendiary mortar & howitzer, pepperpot and hellstorm, IMO. But ripple rockets are for destroying massive targets such as fortresses and bastions, therefore should be used with Hold Fire and a third-party target designator, IMO.

If every weapon could be good at fighting groups, many would loose their niche. And those are already defined, I think :rolleyes:

Me too.

BTW, who stopped the combo? :mad;
Me too.

We were about to break the forum-wide record of sucessive, coordinated Me too's xD

[Siber]

If every weapon could be good at fighting groups, many would loose their niche. And those are already defined, I think

Balance through frustrating interface, while possibly balanced, is still frustrating.

[Olrox]

Balance through frustrating interface, while possibly balanced, is still frustrating.

Yeah, but you do realize that RR or Archies won't fire at cyborgs if you put them in hold fire and designate which targets you want them to shoot, right? A good player can easily control an assault group, and an artillery one with the aid of a commander, with a couple of Heavy repair units guarding it.

The main problem is, IMO, with emplacements, that fire on anything that comes within sensor and firing range, but that doesn't apply to this topic as the subject is group attack and you can't select the defensive structures (at least yet). But you can still assign Artillery Support to a commander and designate their targets by yourself... Or build those group-fighting artillery if you want group-fighting artillery.

Unless you are willing to change the route of your topic and include control of defensive structures in your suggestions, but I'm sure there's a specific topic about this already. Anyway, you decide the route of your topic.

[Siber]

It's two separate issues somewhat conflated. Suppose the enemy tries a cyborg wave against my fixed defenses. In that case, it'd be nice for them to have different behavior than they do now. That may even be the same behavior that I'm talking about, reused. However, that's not what I'm talking about.

If I have roaming about 5 artillery tanks and 1 sensor tank they're all linked to, and the enemy brings up 5 tanks or cyborgs to fight me, I have a couple of options. Lets assume for the moment that my tanks can each reliably one-shot the targets I'm facing. This exaggerates the situation, but is illustrative in aim; the logic applies in other less artificial situations. I have two options, as follows.

1) Delink my arty from the sensor tank, something I honestly don't know how to do but assume is possible somewhere, and individually target each one, killing each of them as close to simultaneously as my micromanagement skill allows, plus the time it takes for the arty tanks to move to bring the targets into their personal sight radius, if I understand the mechanics correctly.

2) Let my artillery wastefully overkill each target in turn, taking 5x as long as necessary. Easy, looks dumb, is frustrating.

I propose a third option, namely you could tell the sensor tank "Target all these guys" and the artillery would distribute itself either intelligently or randomly among the targets. This would play better and look better, in my opinion. The same can, to an extent, apply to other situations in the game as well.

[Olrox]

If I have roaming about 5 artillery tanks and 1 sensor tank they're all linked to, and the enemy brings up 5 tanks or cyborgs to fight me, I have a couple of options. Lets assume for the moment that my tanks can each reliably one-shot the targets I'm facing. This exaggerates the situation, but is illustrative in aim; the logic applies in other less artificial situations. I have two options, as follows.

1) Delink my arty from the sensor tank, something I honestly don't know how to do but assume is possible somewhere, and individually target each one, killing each of them as close to simultaneously as my micromanagement skill allows, plus the time it takes for the arty tanks to move to bring the targets into their personal sight radius, if I understand the mechanics correctly.

2) Let my artillery wastefully overkill each target in turn, taking 5x as long as necessary. Easy, looks dumb, is frustrating.

I propose a third option, namely you could tell the sensor tank "Target all these guys" and the artillery would distribute itself either intelligently or randomly among the targets. This would play better and look better, in my opinion. The same can, to an extent, apply to other situations in the game as well.

Ok. But for me it makes no sense using large batteries or big mortars as direct combat units.

[Assault Gunner]

I think you would have that kind of group running around to harass your enemy or soften up his defenses.

But I also heard that the artillery thing will be there in the next build... still not sure whether or not that means 2.3 or 3.0.

But in any case, I would like to be able to detach units more easily, as well. It would make adapting your commander's group to the current situation a bit easier, and you would be able to keep XP on a single commander.