Question about fusion power in formers...

[demon59]

My latest game (GOG with Yitzi's latest patch), I've noticed that when I research Fusion Power, and update my unit designs to the new power plants, the price goes down. EXCEPT for formers. The price of formers goes up by the same amount all other units (including sea formers) go down. Is this a known issue that I simply haven't noticed, or is it something introduced by the latest patch? Apologies if this question has been answered before, my net time is limited at the moment and a quick search didn't turn up anything.

[Yitzi]

Higher-level reactors decrease unit cost in general, but there's also a minimum cost (regardless of weapons/armor/etc.) that increases with reactor level.  You'll find the same effect with other units that cost less than 30 with a fission reactor, but formers are the only one that you're likely to still be using by the time you get fusion.

[Misanthrope]

It's the same in my game, and I'm running a more or less unaltered version of SMAX base game.
(Still running EA official XP-comp patch here)

In short, yeah, what Yitzi said.


You have the cost of the reactor and THEN the cost of everything else on top of it:
-Start with a certain reactor TYPE and the base cost of that reactor
-Add/multiply the cost of sizing up that reactor to power/maintain the unit's equipment.
-Adding abilities just increases the final cost.

More advanced reactor types offer more power, so USUALLY the price of units goes DOWN... but that's if you're using bigger, badder, more powerful units.
FORMERS, on the other paw, are one of the few units that really don't improve much thru the game, so even the -Fusion- reactor is way over-powered for the basic land-versions.
...think of engineering a scaled-down nuclear reactor to power a go-cart... they can't safely go over a certain speed, so aside from the 'cool' factor, it's a complete and total waste.

I'm a number-strategy nerd here, so unless someone else has already done this and posted the results somewhere, I'll run some numbers and see if I can come up with something more solid for ya.

[Misanthrope]

Here I was trying to be all crazy with the math and the solution is right here:

http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/Unit_Cost_%28Advanced%29


The INFANTRY chassis formers cost 20 to build with a fission plant, but with a fusion reactor, they cost 30. Other chassis, with the fusion reactor, the cost is LOWER, -AND- you can synthmetal or plasmasteel armor for (more or less) free.

That makes them SLIGHTLY more durable against combat units, but they're still formers, meaning they're just a bigger speed-bump.  Larger reactors are kind of a waste on them since the cost tends to go up with little benefit, proving once again, bigger is not always better.

Hope this helps.

[demon59]

Thanks for the replies. Makes sense now that you point it out.

[Misanthrope]

Thanks for the replies. Makes sense now that you point it out.

No prob. Actually got me to thinking and looking at units I've been (mostly) taking for granted... funny thing is, despite being so low on the battle totempole, Formers are one of my most potent weapons.
Forget TAKING a great plot of land.... MAKE IT for yourself!  With the Weather Paradigm, after securing your landing zone, you can either MAKE your stretch of area an island, LITERALLY cutting yourself off from hostile forces, or enlarge a tiny speck of an island that you initially started on.


That accomplished, once you get Doctrine:Initiative, fill a couple Cruiser Transports (0-3-5) with Missile Pirates (6~-1-1 Amphibious) and terrorize your unfriendly neighbors' offshore and coastal holdings!
Unarmored Missile Invaders with a fission plant are the best value for the resources at early stages of the game. After your enemies get into fusion power and couple that with silksteel or better armor, you'll need to upgrade your attack... usually Unarmored Shard Invaders with fusion reactors... but until then (or even then)...
...


Hope this helps. 

[Misanthrope]

Oh yeah... I tinkered with my sea formers a bit too.
Turns out that formers on the cruiser chassis ended up considerably more expensive than foil chassis-based formers.  They usually don't need to do a lot of moving, so the extra mobility is a waste that makes your units a needless 50 percent more expensive.

Also, once you upgrade to fusion reactors, putting armor on Destroyer Formers was a lot more costly; with a fusion reactor on a Sea Skimmer, formers can be equipped with plasma steel armor for, effectively, free.
Nice bonus, but same as on land, formers are still little more than sea-faring speed-bumps for enemy units.