40K for 40 hours...well 38.1 but close enough (Concerns & Suggestions)

[FrumpyFurling]

So 40 hours in I got a few thoughts and Concerns I am not a professional these are my opinions:

I do love the game. I've only played the Space Marine and Astra Militarium, both against Orks. and these are just some of the frustrating things that I have encountered.

(Spoilers AHEAD)

General City Design

1. Basilica Administratum/Great Hall: Not sure if it was a bug, but the Citadel was not engaging enemies unless they were directly next to the Citadel which meant that I was fighting Orks inside my own city....
2. It would be nice if the city tile upgrades reflected the building that was in the tile...ie. Power Plant looks like a...Power Plant and a farm a farm etc. instead of generic building number 1. it would also help with quick identification and immersion, that way i can quickly glance at my AM city#2 and know oh yea I have the triple Manufactoriums here and the other base is where my Imperial Barracks are at.
3. Defensive City Structures, the Fortress of Redemption/Imperial Bastions are ok but I assume that they are more for Outposts. Need a dedicated Defensive structure that (and just my suggestion) takes the whole tile regardless of number of build slots and has a 3 tile firing radius, AND Destroys ANY resource on that tile making it null. (and for AM, garrison worthless Guardsmen in the towers for defensive and damage bonus, unit is consumed upon entry)
4. Building on Special Tiles, it would be nice to build on the special tiles even if its just scaffolding surrounding the artifact or something a research lab, or a farm on the algae pools etc. so we have to build to obtain resource. same goes for the ones not near your city 50% bonus but if you throw down a Tower it allows you to build an upgrade on the tower for the 100% or 125% bonus gives me a reason to fight for that resource.
5. Whilst Smashing the Ork cities, I didn't see one Waaaaagh sign or banner...just kinda looked like rusted ruins, was a little disappointed.

General Units

1. Aircraft...OP (and are considered land units?) Ork Bombers and fighters fly in, I have 2 AM Hydra AA guns at the ready....(says they are great against aircraft) they fly in range of my AA, AA Fires...like 2 damage...so I use AM Heavy Weapons Team, Tank Commander, Citadel, 2nd Hydra, 3 Basilisks, and 2 Guardsmen...Ork Bomber kills my Hydra, next turn same results kills my Heavy weapons team, Kills my engineers, you see where this is going? So either the Aircraft are to strong, or the AM is just way to weak, I do believe the Hydra needs to have at least a 50% kill on ANY aircraft if within range as that is their purpose. As well the Hydra needs a +3 tile range on aircraft, and +1 on ground (if any) as well the damage on the Aircraft is crazy its almost a 100% kill on ANY infantry unit. Also Artillery shooting aircraft??? they are apparently considered a ground unit? A few other things that could be done, tether the Aircraft to the Airfield and give them a +20/30 range, and they are a summon/bomb/ then return to base if not destroyed but they cannot loiter. or remove their armor value to the point where they can be destroyed...

Space Marines

1. Space Marines: I started the Game on Standard (across the board) vs 3 Ork Armies (all on Easy to learn the game, what, Im not ashamed...lol) However, I did the missions, Which ended with an Exterminatis...which I thought was weird, it fit, but it was just a weird way to end...considering I was winning...I could see if that was a last ditch hey we are being overrun but that wasn't the case as I had destroyed 2 of the 3 Ork bases and was well on the way to destroying the 3rd when this went down.
2. War Gear, I am disappointed with the unit diversity, for instance I think the Chaplain is the only unit with a Flamer, DEVS, (if this gets read) in the same manner that you equip the hero units could it be possible to select flamers/heavy flamers for your SM/Terminators, Hammer and Shields for Terminators or Heavy Bolters for Devastators etc?
3. Where are the Tech Marines?
4. Army Painter was missed, and, Space Marine Identity and Color would be a nice addition (just to give the player something to readily identify with same goes for all factions)

Astra Militarum

****Shudders....

1. Guardsmen - It took 3 restarts, until I figured out that I have to skip ALLLLLLLLLL the research and power learn how to make Leman Russ Battle Tanks, just to be able to survive the WILDLIFE on Gladius (on EASY...)...Now, I understand the AM Guardsmen are supposed to be disposable....however, unlike other games there is no, benefit to that. what I mean by that is the Guardsmen with as worthless as they are need to have their production value set to 1 turn, that way no matter how many Imperial Barracks you have, EVEN if its just one, you can crank out guardsmen, because honestly even the Kroot hounds can wipe an entire platoon, and there needs to be a passive (call it conscription or reinforcements) that even when not in healing mode the basic guardsmen and heavy weapons squad auto replace fallen members almost to the point of absurdity since almost everything in this game can 1 shot guardsmen) they also appear to be carrying LASCANNONS (based on the yellowish laser that is fired but description says LASGUN (just a visual difference should be a thin reddish laser also this is based on past games could be wrong) (also could benefit from war gear upgrades mentioned above as well in that adding Sergeants etc..) and just a general Damage buff/or a buff when its near another Guard unit something at this point and time they are near worthless. OH and a "dig in" ability lets your units put up a hasty defensive position. (Same for HW Team)

2. The Astra Militarium, are Defensive in Nature, which is why I was a little upset about the lack of defensive structures (or TUNNELS) SM have drop pods, give the AM tunnels you would have to build a tower but then you could link the tower back to your city and then allow units to tunnel (maybe just infantry?) to the towers location.

3. Defensive towers (as stated above)
4. Mechanized units....(Hydra Excluded) are great, The Basilisks could use a damage & moral damage buff but over all very satisfied with the LR Tank and Baneblade units.
5. Hellhound???
6. Maybe move the Leman Russ Tank forward in the research tree?


Orks and AI

1. The Orks....like I said above I had to restart 3 times playing as AM, now as the SM I was able to handle almost everything the Orks could toss out, however, as AM if you do not have the Leman Russ Tank researched and at least 4 on the ground when the Orks find your base then you're done. Which surprised me as I was thinking (maybe incorrectly??) that against the Orks I would be facing Overwhelming cheap units with a few Meks and Nobs in support in a gradual ramping up to Gorkanaut and Gargantuan Squiggoths....where first contact (on Easy BTW) with Orks are 3 squads of MegaNobs, 2 battle wagons, a Gorkanaut, 2 Killa Kans, 3 INVINCIBLE Burna-Bommer, and 2 Dakka Jets....Not a single Basic Unit in the game. needless to say my 6 AM Guardsmen and 4 HW Teams weren't a match...(then the failure of the Hydra AAA was presented...see above) so long story short, there might need to be some adjustment to either the AM or the Ork Progression in what units they roll out...


It may seem like Im just trying to tear Gladius apart, but, (when not getting totally smashed or praying to the God Emperor to smite this ********** Invincible Ork Bomber....) I really, REALLY enjoyed this game these were just some of the things that I think could take the game from GREAT to Worthy of the God Emperors Praise...and to set it aside from Civilization....I plan on going back in after work today.

[Aekar]

1. Guardsmen - It took 3 restarts, until I figured out that I have to skip ALLLLLLLLLL the research and power learn how to make Leman Russ Battle Tanks, just to be able to survive the WILDLIFE on Gladius (on EASY...)...Now, I understand the AM Guardsmen are supposed to be disposable....

Very different opinion here.

On average difficulty, just krak grenades and several guardsmen are enough against wildlife.
Then of course a primaris psyker is great against the superior baddies.
Then of course a few artillery support / sentinel support, still because of them.
Then a medkit, is still useful.
Overall I had no difficulty and very seldomly lost an infantry to wildlife - I did, which means it was actually balanced imho - and when it did it was great to save other more experienced units.

I had absolutely no use for the leman russ myself, althoug I did have one to guard a passage, who did great actually.

I guess we had a different experience here.
I am really suprised you mention that on EASY.
I mean I was on medium and it was my first game, and these guards were awesome.

[FrumpyFurling]

lol, Man I wish I had your experience with the guard...maybe it was a bug I don't know but my guardsmen were just getting eviscerated...by everything...and could kill almost nothing...next to a Kroot hound pack....

[eddieballgame]

"the Citadel was not engaging enemies unless they were directly next to the Citadel"

The Citadel will engage the enemy beyond tiles you have claimed.

[FrumpyFurling]

"the Citadel was not engaging enemies unless they were directly next to the Citadel"

The Citadel will engage the enemy beyond tiles you have claimed.

Correct, I know this now, so I may have been experiencing a bug, but for 3 games, I couldn't get them to fire or trigger at anything out side of the 1xCell around the Citadel...

[Aekar]

3. Defensive towers (as stated above)

... the guys with servo-arms can build defensive forts, thanks to a technology.
These are also pretty sturdy imho. (the forts)



Since this is a suggestion thread, wanted to add:

4. Mechanized units....(Hydra Excluded) are great

Mechanized infantry is lacking.
I'll scout again the techs to make sure I did not skip something here but:
⁻ The imperial guard lack Chimera. (or Tauros etc)
- Also all factions seem to lack transports.

[IainMcNeil]

"the Citadel was not engaging enemies unless they were directly next to the Citadel"

The Citadel will engage the enemy beyond tiles you have claimed.

Correct, I know this now, so I may have been experiencing a bug, but for 3 games, I couldn't get them to fire or trigger at anything out side of the 1xCell around the Citadel...

It must be a Line of Sight issue. There is something blocking your view of the target.

[IainMcNeil]

3. Defensive towers (as stated above)

... the guys with servo-arms can build defensive forts, thanks to a technology.
These are also pretty sturdy imho. (the forts)



Since this is a suggestion thread, wanted to add:

4. Mechanized units....(Hydra Excluded) are great

Mechanized infantry is lacking.
I'll scout again the techs to make sure I did not skip something here but:
⁻ The imperial guard lack Chimera. (or Tauros etc)
- Also all factions seem to lack transports.

There are a number of transport units like the Battlewagon and air transport units. We will look at adding more though

[FrumpyFurling]

"the Citadel was not engaging enemies unless they were directly next to the Citadel"

The Citadel will engage the enemy beyond tiles you have claimed.

Correct, I know this now, so I may have been experiencing a bug, but for 3 games, I couldn't get them to fire or trigger at anything out side of the 1xCell around the Citadel...

It must be a Line of Sight issue. There is something blocking your view of the target.

So having gone back in and played AM last night, the Citadel was working, which leads me to to believe that there was a line of sight issue which was not readily apparent when laying down the city. Would it be possible to have a vision ring added to units and Cities PRE-Placement/Movement so we can see blind spots and max ranges? Also Since you're here, is there a reason the Hydra AAA is the same or less effective against aircraft? I don't see an advantage of using the AAA over say a Leman Russ?

[FrumpyFurling]

3. Defensive towers (as stated above)

... the guys with servo-arms can build defensive forts, thanks to a technology.
These are also pretty sturdy imho. (the forts)



Since this is a suggestion thread, wanted to add:

4. Mechanized units....(Hydra Excluded) are great

Mechanized infantry is lacking.
I'll scout again the techs to make sure I did not skip something here but:
⁻ The imperial guard lack Chimera. (or Tauros etc)
- Also all factions seem to lack transports.

I am aware of the Imperial Bastion and Fortress of Redemption, I was speaking of like an Actual City defense tile upgrade that is ONLY built from the City itself that way you can put up a static defense to aid the home garrison, or without having to build a tech priest...etc. maybe not for the space marines but for the AM Guard, at least I think it makes sense...

[IainMcNeil]

Improved LOS feedback is something we'd like to do but dont have a great plan on how right now.