Aeon v Aeon
If you have played many ranked multiplayer SupCom games, you have probably noticed the predominance of people playing as the Aeon. Indeed, if you watch some of the replays involving the top 10 players (which I highly recommend), you will see that the vast majority of games are Aeon v Aeon.
The reasoning behind this is quite simple. If, as in ranked games, you cannot choose the map you will play beforehand, there is a significant chance that your game will be on a map where the starting positions are separated by water. In this case, you simply cannot afford to play as any faction other than the Aeon (unless you want a huge handicap). While the other factions produce land-only offensive units from their T1 land factories, the Aeon light tank is a hovering unit, and hence can cross water. Early game, this is the difference between using only bombers and a few transported land troops, and using essentially your entire mobile force. Harassment and rapid expansion are the key to the early game, and the Aeon are by far the most effective at this on water maps.
While I have nothing against the Aeon, I would definitely like to see more variety in ranked play, especially among the elite players. To foster this, either the Aeon hovering ability needs to be removed, at least for the T1 tanks, or changes should be made to the other factions to compensate. I propose the latter, as the Aeon’s hovering units give them a nice sense of uniqueness amongst the three factions.
For the Cybrans, I think the solution is obvious. Make the Mantis amphibious! Not in the hovering sense, but rather in the walk along the bottom of the ocean sense. The Cybran already have other units with this ability, and it would also fit in well with the general well-rounded nature of many of their units. This would not be as powerful as the Aeon’s hovering ability, but would still more or less compensate. For the UEF, the situation seems a little more complicated. They could be given a slow, weak tech 1 gunship, but that would fundamentally alter the early game, by making AA units far more important than they currently are. Perhaps they could be given a small, cheap attack boat that would have only anti-ground capability. In any event, something definitely needs to be done. Perhaps someone else has an idea? Post a comment!
March 8th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Kudos on a great post!
I’m sure you thought of this, but making the mantis amphibious might provide too much of an advantage to cybran. It would allow the mantis to escape any other early unit’s attack by simply going underwater. Or perhaps by amphibious you meant that it would still be “on” the water, and thus susceptible to regular ground attacks as well as torpedoes? Regardless, an intriguing concept.
I like the idea of a UEF attack boat. Maybe something small and fast with a direct fire machine gun like the RHIB’s the Coast Guard uses to patrol ports.
I, too, feel that something needs to be changed if a large majority of the top players are always choosing Aeon. With three playable factions it’s more fun to see them all in play.
March 9th, 2007 at 12:32 am
And I just can’t stand the fact that the race I chose long before it was the flavor of the week is now the most popular. I was actually predicting the Aeon to be the least popular – which is an important reason why I chose them from the get go. Plus the concept of waging a holy war always has it’s advantages. :p
March 9th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Aesthetically I really don’t like the look of the Aeon Illuminate. The UEF and Cybrans both look much cooler. However, I just can’t take that chance in a ranked game that I’ll end up playing as a non-Aeon faction on a water map. It really sucks, but there it is. The Auroras are too awesome on water maps to risk not being able to use them. Especially the way they bring down frigates in small numbers at much fewer cost in resources – it’s just unbalanced.
March 9th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
I know what you mean, I started waaaay back in the beta with the Aeon, when they were generally thought to be the weakest, I’d probably played 15 games in the release, and suddenly BOOM, everybody is an Aeon. Because I play the faction currently rated as the best, people quit on me, and probably think I’m some type of copycat.
Perhaps the best way to solve it is not to nerf the Aurora, but to un-nerf the Mantis, and buff the Striker