DEV DIARY: Ashes T4s

Sounds so freaking awesome😍😍

keep up the good Work devs!!💪🏼

I agree, it does sound really awesome and really looking forward to more air options. for the t2 that hides area from radar detection, it's name could be Shroud a bit cliché maybe but suited i think.

please P L E A S E... implement the units JUST/ONLY when it works fine... not like harbinger dont shoot or mobile nullifier... 

"Hides area from radar detection"  is OP/Breaks basic game mechanic.

Same as with uncapped Substrate storage - you are again on the way to break an underlying game mechanic that gives the game distinct feeling.

Take great care in designing very powerful Air Units. With the addition of Strategic Bomber for PHC it is already required to spam plenty of Air Defense Turrets and even so there is the risk of instant death... as were 3-4 punisher squads half an year ago.

I would really like to see well developed T3 units before anything T4 comes in. 
Only three Dreadnoughts per race is low and I would ideally like to see at least one more. Substrate has no siege dread for example and the gap is essential IMO.
Especially Substrate has very mediocre T3 with rather boring leveling - shields...shields...armor...
 
Thumbs Up for more Air-to-Air tools.
Think about orbital ability for affecting Air only. Pure damage would be boring but why not crippling slow (50% to 80%) or weapons jammer (50-80% miss chance/weapon damage reduction) for limited duration.

Looks awesome! Very excited to see them in action! Also dont mind that certain units might not see ranked play, at least we will have them to use at some point

Since bunch of your PHC units bear names from Greek mythology, may i suggest names Atlas and Kerberos/Cerberus for the PHC T3/T4 units to continue this trend.  

I am reserving Atlas for an air transport unit.

What is the timeline when we can expect some of those units?

End winter, spring?

This has come up a few times now - With all of the complaints about the difficulty in approaching artillery, I get why it's being considered but as a T2 unit, is there going to be anything that'll prohibit its use a bit or some limit on what it'll mask? 

I assume it means that units in the affected area can't be seen or targeted unless the terrain is revealed.  If so, that's a 'really' powerful ability on both defense and offense and if there's one of these things floating around in every base and significant army, it seems like that would make ranged siege units and radar in general next to useless.

My kingdom for a short-lived 'delete post' button...

Quoting Frogboy, reply 7

I am reserving Atlas for an air transport unit.

...which still can be T3/T4 

...if not, Colossus then. No shame in ripping off Freespace  

Atlas aircraft like these??? http://aereos.com/atlas/

or like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Aircraft_Corporation

sorry im just so used to hearing Atlas when it comes to aicraft these posts made me LOL

Quoting Frogboy, reply 7

I am reserving Atlas for an air transport unit.

i agree we need some counter to artillery, but i wonder how the jammer will fair.. i will like it since i prefer using SS, who do not rely so much on shooting beyond LOS, but it seems to not sit well with a number of people, since it removes the rather nice and somewhat unique dynamic of firing at radar contacts..

im assuming it will be rather expensive and log intensive like the orb jammer? will it also be broken for months? jokes..

Can't wait to see the new units and what value they can bring to the combats. Also hope for a general nice pass of balance when they'll arrive.

For the name of the T4 that protects everything nearby, the Aegis of course, or the Anciles! 

Quoting Benedictis, reply 13

Can't wait to see the new units and what value they can bring to the combats. Also hope for a general nice pass of balance when they'll arrive.

For the name of the T4 that protects everything nearby, the Aegis of course, or the Anciles! 

im also really keen to see these guys in action! and ur assuming it will be PHC? im thinking it might be SS, since SS specialise in shields.. aka protection. unless u know something i dont

we could assume the mobile factory is PHC? its also called theia..

if jinx is not SS, then it defeats the whole purpose of balance vs mobile arty, since we still wont be able to catch PHC mobile arty, so can we assume jinx is SS?

so the fleet enhancing T3 is for SS, unless we are getting 6 new T3, otherwise we are getting 4, which means 1 of the new SS T3 is not listed.. also if the fleet enhancing T3 is for SS, then it means it shares the same purpose of the Retributor, which also serves to enhance it's fleet.

The Flea should go to the PHC since SS already has great air harassment options (meaning SS can already ignore terrain)

The T4, i wonder if they will fill the gaps or follow in the same direction as other faction units, so would the giant cannon fill the gaps in the short range orientated SS, or would it follow the PHC orientated arty...?

Since PHC gets the flying dreadnaught, does SS get the A3 air superiority?

Hi, im new here!

First, this news are awesome, i cant wait to shred everything with the Juggernauts.. X)

Second, i suggest a name for that T4 Juggernaut , what wipes out all thoose cheap and annoying units: PERSES, he was a greek titan " The Destroyer".

A3 Ultimate air superiority fighter name suggestion : PEREGRINE

Very slow moving doomsday machine that lays siege to a distant target : PETROBOLOS

Very slow moving doomsday machine that will destroy one thing at a time: HERACLES

We are currently working on additional units for Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation.  The T4s and more T3s are not units you will run into in the competitive multiplayer games but on the bigger maps, late game, we run into a lot of cases where the existing units just aren't powerful enough to distinguish between one civilization and another.

Below is a list of some of the units we are considering.  Feel free to suggest your names:

Name	Level	Description
Jinx	T1	Fires a shot that slows down a unit. The more hits, the slower the unit goes
Flea	T1	Splinters won't target it. Can jump up a level of ground without a ramp
Havok	T1	Very fast moving light attack unit
	T2	Protects area from bombardment
	T2	Hides area from radar detection
Helios	T3	Flying air Dreadnought
War Hog	A3	Slow moving flying air cannon
Theia	T3	Giant Mobile Factory
	T3	Greatly enhances other units in fleet
	T4	Very slow moving doomsday machine that will destroy one thing at a time.
	T4	Very slow moving doomsday machine that wipes out vast swaths of cheap units
	T4	Very slow moving doomsday machine that lays siege to a distant target
	A3	Ultimate air superiority fighter
	T4	Very slow moving doomsday machine that protects everything nearby

These units will be released for free for Escalation owners.

I'm assuming the A3 flying air cannon (war hog) derived and inspired by the Fairchild A-10 thunderbolt 2 with it's tankbuster cannon? would be nice to a similiar design as the thunderbolt 2 which I feel would look really awesome. 

Am I the only one not concerned about radar jamming? We had that in Supreme Commander, and it worked fine - just get a visual confirmation through a scout.

If anything, I'd like to see more radar jamming for bases to use.

lots of people are asking for jammers bro, I think if anything theres fewer people asking NOT to have jammers..

also wheres ARES? god of war? its a war game and we don't have the god of war.. or is it being saved for a titan I mean juggernaut?

the problem is they introduced the artillery, which is too imbalance... however they a conviced that the most people like such units/buildings due to they dont nerf the turret... 

and now substrate needs something against the abillity  "shoot on radar contact"... substrate has just a few units which can shoot without vision

My opinion is get rid of this turret... or at least halve the range of this turret

I think the majority of players (which are SP players, remember 95%) do favour the arty.. and it is only really the MP community that has an issue with it. the AI never builds arty THAT much, so it is a pain in SP but not a game breaker like in MP..

I think the arty needs a damage nerf as well.. especially if we start comparing it to the SS arty...

yeah maybe... however a turret with aoe damage, which can out range every other building or unit due to shoots more as double as substrats turrest with the highest range.

that was a foreseeable imbalance... for that I blame and criticize stardocks

I'm only concerned about 'how' it's implemented, largely because of the "hides area from radar" description of the unit (as opposed to the radar-spoofing effect of jamming in SupCom). 

It's fine that they're looking at the idea. I'm just hoping they don't implement radar-counters in a way that's cheap and spammable enough to make radar as a concept useless.  Especially if they're just doing it as an alternative to nerfing the absurd range, damage potential, and spammability of the artillery turret. I just want to be sure it's thought through and not added in a way that breaks something else.

Supreme Commander also had a "Hide Area from Radar" as well. Radar Jamming was the one that spoofed bogus signatures, but "Stealth" hid either the unit (Various units) or "Stealth Field" for a group (Cybran only) from radar. Hell, submerged units were also invisible on radar until they popped back out.

I would like to see the surveillance and stealth portion of the game beefed up anyways, so more radar-defeating options and more kinds of ways to spy are all positives in my eyes.

Agreed. I love intel and counter-intel mechanics in strategy games.