Troop Command is imbalanced = (

[Game Hunter]

Troop Command is not only IMBALANCED, it affects map stability. I would say to remove it entirely or make the summons give full gold upon death. Or perhaps make it only usable on allied factories while giving some other passive bonus, it is just too powerful in combat area of effect or not.

I suppose you mean Reinforcements to be included with the removal thing, or at least have those nerfed somehow. Personally I haven't found too much trouble in destroying Troop Commands: the object there is to get a powerful tank as soon as you can (Heavy Tank and up, I like Sky Tank and I see you do too) and lay waste to their groups with a single ability. In Sky Tank's case, you have three that almost completely destroys the units, and their cooldowns are the same as the Troop Command's.

Ironically enough, I have problems when players buy Reinforcements early on and just spam them. Naturally they're exhausting their resources, but when I attempt a Tinker-Builder strategy, I can't build even one tower. Also, the manual usage of troops become limited later on, and are really only meant for low-HP enemies. EX: Spawn the 10 units, have them attack the vehicle specifically and if they spawn their own units, it's likely already too late to be saved. You can do this with towers too, much to my liking.

Is it imbalanced? I think that most people would find that Troop Command loses its flavor when the enemy has the ability to wipe out entire groups in a single blow. Usually the problem that arises is when the enemy upgrades units, too, making those 10 units hurt a lot or take a lot of damage. Either way, you should be upgrading if they are. I've actually beaten teams that use a "unit-based" strategy simply by upgrading when they didn't...of course, their strategy is flawed for that very reason, but it shows the importance of upgrades. I noticed the game you played was a "no-upgrades" game, but I don't see a reason for it (it likely prolonged that game a lot: furthermore, upgrades can help where lesser allies cannot).

Quick-teleport for factories makes captures nearly impossible. I would suggest not allowing teleportation while a factory is being attacked. If not, give an option to outright destroy the factory. I mean, if your own factory is being used against you and you cannot capture it, wouldn't it make sense to just dispose of it if possible? (At least make it so they can be disposed of past the 30 minute mark or something)

I THINK you're referring primarily to the the six Control Point factories. I like to think of those factories as the neutral ones, ie, they can be controlled by either side. In that way someone else is really the one who owns them and it isn't in our abilities to destroy their property.

Quick-teleport is actually 3 seconds, not 1.5 as you say. I believe the cooldown is 2.5 seconds...but that's beside the point. Usually against a team of experienced players, the idea is to mass your vehicles on the place you want to take over: chances are you'll beat them since you have likely destroyed at least one enemy player in your attempt to take the CP. Another thing you can do (something I believe should be removed, though) is place a tower on THEIR control point: this is another thing for their attacks to hit and, if it's laser, can do considerable damage. 1v3 will never work, but 3v3 can, especially when they're not coordinated enough to warp in at the same time (extremely rare in my years of playing).

As for the attackable factories, you can always teleport back to base via the home base anyway, so it's only a couple of seconds. If you mean attacking the CPs, then I suppose you mean when they're being taken, since you can't actually attack the factory itself. Either way, I like the way the system is now, as it still involves a quick enough reaction (given that you aren't in the vicinity to teleport right then) and a some quick planning as to how you plan on keeping the base.

If you watch the replay, you would likely notice how often I absolutely DID NOT go for a Factory. Why? Because chances are, one or two people are on standby ready to portal in and do whatever.

I dunno about you, but I usually don't go after the control points because there's no possible way for me to hold them while I'm defending my base in a situation such as yours. Trust me, I've been there, I know what that's like.

Suicide bombers, while they may be turtle-busters (Forced turtle at that due to circumstances beyond my control, and I am obviously no simpleton if you watch this replay) they cannot be stopped with invisibility or something similiar.

I never got to see the suicide bombers in your game (only watched for an hour and guessed at the outcome), but invisible bombers can be a pain. Since they cannot teleport directly into your base, your best chance is to get a Radar and guard the entry points with your life. They can only be invisible for five seconds (ten if they went Trader) and their HP probably isn't that high...if it is, they probably don't have much in terms of explosive damage anyway.

Another possibility is to equip the radar upgrade on your towers, but you'll have to have a defending Tinker for that. It reaches 1250, more than enough for nearby creeps to shoot them down.

You can kick deliberate feeders, but not before they may have caused considerable damage that can add up late game.

I find this funny, but only because I was in a game where the enemy's rationale for not kicking one of our feeders was "no extra money for you". As if we were going to win because we get about 300 gold when they've already gotten 1k each. Your best bet is to watch players' scores and kick when necessary: the red flag went up for me about 20-25 minutes into the game when he said "I'm not even trying anymore".

And finally I might add, why does offense get PUNISHED for going on offense, even? They destroy the factories, and suppose the opposition can hold out. Now suddenly they're making gold and the only real source of income for offense is the occassional boost on timed intervals and successfully killing a stacked tank. I would suggest making it so if you kill an opponent's base factory, any gold or experience that would have been obtained from the units of your own respective factory is lost.

In a game where upgrades are going to be used, it's really easy to build up enough of them to overpower your enemy with the troops alone. The occasional boost, mind you, is around 2000-3000 once all the enemy factories are destroyed. If you still can't beat them by then, it means you've probably been feeding at least one of the players. Usually I'd build a factory up-close to heal faster, maybe even as close as the enemy's smith. (In their game the unit-spawner was foolish enough to build THREE factories, not only wasting some of his spawn-time but making it impossible to use the aforementioned tactic.) I've managed to break free of a turtle game, albeit not often, so this small benefit for the defenders can be vital.

From what I can tell, your game is much like a game I had a while back: you were the only person who could really beat any of the opponents, and the feeding they gained was too much to stop in the end. Simply, your allies were "third-rate" skill, your opponents were "second-rate" skill, and you were the "first-rate." I had an 81-10 game myself in your position, and I've played as a tinker-defender for over two hours as I watched my allies look like they were acting like your teal (closer to a gung-ho belief than an I-don't-care one). It's a very bad situation to be placed into.

I suggest playing upgrades from now on and, if things get to where they did, begin upgrading. You'll get the extra bonuses (income now, whatever they are later) as well as the powerful troops that can support you and lessen your allies' incompetence. I don't know if you can win a game with that changed (the rest the same, as in this one) but I'd give it a shot. You are certainly good enough to make it work.