[Long] Battlegrounds of Septus

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miragefla
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[Long] Battlegrounds of Septus Mar 17, 2017 21:32:39 GMT -6

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Post by miragefla on Mar 17, 2017 21:32:39 GMT -6

Reposting this from the old forum and hopefully I will work more on it in the future. For now, here are ideas/game designs for the human faction of Battlegrounds of Septus.

Hectra Union (Humans) Breakdown

General Description

The Hectra Union is the human faction of Galctica Septus with their designs being a mix of modern 20-21st tried-and-tested designs and advanced concepts of future weapons that mix with tracked and wheeled vehicles along with VTOLs, battle walkers, aerial battleships and combat drones.

Gameplay-wise, to emphasize their rapid advance into the Septus region, they are an aggressive, fast-moving faction with a myriad of abilities to aid them in combat to help compensate for either their lack of raw power or high defense and high costs. They are capable of striking from everywhere thanks to their deployment and mobility options, but they will always have a single centralized base with small sub-bases established as rally points.

Tech and Build Structure

Starting with the heavily armoured Central Headquarters, Hectra constructs Foundations with their fast, but lightly armoured Surveyor. These Foundations, once placed, allow structures or defenses to be placed on them and are relatively quick to place and are cheap. Production structures are limited to deployment around the Central Headquarters. Forward Outposts can be established outside of the the Central Headquarters vicinity to allow for the forward placement of defenses and also act as additional landing zones once completed.

There are four main structures in the Hectra faction that are responsible for allowing the deployment of specific units with Hectra only needing a single Garrison, Relay Zone, and/or Heavy Support Centre to deploy their units en masse as Hectra ground unit deployment is based on their Lander system. Airfields follow a more traditional route, calling down strikecraft, transports, and gunships based on a single production queue per structure. Airfields are capable of housing 6 planes, though gunships can be deployed in an unlimited number.

Any Hectra structure can be placed down so as long as the resources are available, though only the Garrison is cheap enough to deploy early on. Furthermore, each production structure has an upgrade assigned to it that unlocks the next tier units. There are two upgrades for the Garrison and Relay Zone and one for the Heavy Support Centre and Airfield.

Should the Central Headquarters be destroyed, it leave Command Foundation that can request another HQ if enough resources are available. This foundation cannot be destroyed.

Traits

Speed and Mobility

Unlike many games, the humans are one of the fastest faction compared to either the DSA and Zox Empire. Even the standard Hectra soldier is faster than their more heavily armoured counterparts found in the other factions allowing them to quickly take good positions before the heavier troops can reach them. Their vehicles are also quick to relocate around the field with good speed, acceleration, and rotation rates which includes their heavier vehicles such as the Goliath Support Walker, the After Gunship, and the Razor Tank.

To help move large groups of infantry or the heavy troops found in their army, the Hectra Union has no general IFV/APC on the ground. Instead, the majority of their vehicles are capable of carrying troops into battle without the need for upgrades or adjustments. Even the main battle tank of the faction, the Razor, can carry a squad onbaord allowing them to not only get soldiers to the front more quickly, but also have a squad to support the tank at all times. Most can troops can ride inside most vehicles safely, but a few vehicles leave the troops exposed to hostile fire or only provide basic protection from incoming small-arms when riding on the vehicle. In exchange, these troops can use these certain vehicles like mobile firebases. An example of this is an unupgraded T-10 Tenner which starts out as an open-topped transport that also gains dual heavy machine guns when garrisoned by a squad.

Mass Deployment

Despite being on of the fastest faction, almost all Hectra units, except for their aircraft have a slower deployment time as all their ground forces are deployed from landing craft that requires time to arrive and unload and then requires time to return to base. Furthermore, the faction only has one lander at the start, though more can be purchased to allow units to be deploy while another is returning to base. To compensate, Hectra ground units can immediately be purchased and will be stored in a landing craft which have fifteen slots. Infantry and light vehicles take up three while the heavier vehicles take up anywhere from five to ten. When the Lander arrives, all the units assigned to the lander will disembark one at a time and be ready for combat within a few moment of each other that allows the faction to catch-up in production when ordering units in bulk.

Landers can be deployed to anywhere within the range of any base structure, outpost or certain units that have been upgraded to provide a landing radius so as long as the area can fit the land and the terrain allows it. If the landing radius is changed for any reason or removed, the Lander will still attempt to make its way to the position.

Note Landers can be shot down by interceptors or heavy AA weapons, but if they are destroyed, units that arrive will still arrive at their destination but receive 75% damage of their total maximum life as the container carrying these units are dropped down to the exact location. If it's destroyed while units are unloading and they are still in the hold, they receive only 25% damage instead. Landers themselves have only moderate protection against incoming fire.

Lander that are en route to target cannot have their deliveries cancelled, but units in a Lander that has not yet been deployed can be instantly cancelled for a refund. Landers also have a set deployment time, there is no way to speed-up or slow down the deployment of Landers. It takes 40 seconds for a Lander to arrive and 25 seconds for the Lander to become available again.

This system is heavily-based of Star Wars: Force Commander's system of unit production.

Multiple Individual Unit Upgrade

Many Hectra units have multiple upgrades that allow their role to be altered or new capabilities to be added.

All of this allows the Hectra player to adapt or tune things to the situation at hand and makes it very difficult for the opposition to predict any single strategy/tactic as units can fulfill multiple roles and change their equipment in the field.

This system is not perfect, aside from the disadvantages of role swaps for some units, these upgrades are permanent with no way of reverting the alterations once the upgrade has been completed. Furthermore, this adds additional cost to the Hectra units that are deployed and they require time to be completed.

Examples: After Gunship's upgraded with rocket pods allows the unit to launch salvos of rockets from considerable range making it an aerial artillery unit; the T-10 Infantry Carrier can give up its passengers capability to carry a fixed-gun system that allows for both direct and indirect-fire to deal with soft targets from a distance; Grenadiers can be converted to jet troops who are more effective against heavy infantry thanks to rapid-fire rail rifles and able to cross terrain with ease but lose their Suppression ability, effectiveness versus light infantry and their VK-15 Disposable Missile Launcher ability.

Indirect Means of Attack and Disruption

Even if Hectra lacks the large guns and armour of the other factions, the faction has many other ways to engage the other factions, safely. This includes the large number of indirect-fire and artillery type weapons the faction is capable of obtaining, allowing many Hectra units to engage target hiding behind obstacles or terrain from a considerable distance.

Furthermore, there are also the many ways Hectra units can hinder their foes. Some of their abilities include disabling hostile forces in a radius, disrupting physical/guided projectiles from striking within a certain area, or causing units to temporarily lose their target unless told manually.

Examples of Indirect-Fire: Hunter AGM Systems are mobile tank destroyers that fire their AT missiles in a top-down style attack allowing them to track and hit units behind obstacles. Chameleon Sniper Teams can request Smart Mortar Barrages tracks targets within the ability's radius for a set duration.

Examples of Disruption: An upgraded Razor tank can temporarily gain the ability to intercept incoming missiles and physical projectiles at a moderate pace while Tempest Bombers can drop smoke that not only lowers accuracy of units firing through them, but also significantly reduces the damage energy weapons do when they pass through the smoke. Goliath Walkers start with EMP cannons that can lock-down vehicles from attacking and even moving depending on their type.

High Cost for Utility and Abilities

Many Hectra units are relatively expensive despite their weapons or armour not matching up with their cost is due to their special abilities that they have access to or those available later down the line. In most cases, the faction can not cost-effectively trade if they attempt to brute force the enemy or go into battles without utilizing every unit to its maximum potential. The faction must strike when they have the advantage or be using everything they have to weaken the enemy in a combined-arms fashion.

Examples: Grenadiers have a similar cost to Vishtan, but lose in unmicroed, straight shootouts the majority of the time unless in superior positions where Grenadiers tend to delay or start the engagement right on top of their most heavily armoured counterparts. UB-15 After Gunships costs are on-par with other gunships in terms of cost while lacking similar offensive power by a considerable margin until further investment is added.

Playstyle

With its large number of fast units and ability to deploy nearly anywhere on the map, the Hectra playstyle is meant to be one of constant aggression, flanking and re-positioning. If an assault is failing at one area, the faction can launch another before the enemy is able to respond. They might not be able to hit as hard as the DSA or Zox troops, but they can wear down the opposition and cripple them through the use of speed and mobility to gain favourable engagements. The fact their infantry can ride onboard most of their vehicles also allows rapid map control and capturing of Zones and Critical Locations.

Support abilities and adaptability play a critical role in ensuring Hectra players can win engagement. Every unit in the Hectra faction has some sort of ability that can help win engagements either during combat or setting up a favourable one up before a big assault. Adaptability allows for the army to also gain tools/assets without the need of calling-in additional units and surprise their foes by sudden changes in how the Hectra composition operates.

One of the most vulnerable aspects of the faction, however, is their main base. While their army can constantly be out in the field and respositioning as needed, the Hectra base and all production is locked into one area, their starting zone. This means that enemies can force engagements by launching attacks on the Hectra base that can either crippled the faction, or force the enemy into a head-on engagment where the Hectra faction generally falters at unless everything is being used to their full ability which is more micro-intensive and can be more costly for them with the price of their units. Destroying Forward Outposts also limits the Union's options to flank and limit the faction's ability to take map control and flank leading to more direct engagements.

With their units being weaker in direct combat for their costs, the Hectra players must be willing to trade territory on occassions to allow their units to bypass the main force to hit critical areas or draw their opponents in so they can be flanked by the faction's superior mobility. They also have a heavy emphasize on kiting to inflict damage before disengaging to minimize damage. Out of all factions, however, turtling against the Hectra Union is the most difficult due to its variety of indirect-fire weapons meant to break up formations should certain areas prove too difficult to outmaneuver/bypass.

In terms of unit compositions, the Hectra Union relies on a heavy mix of combined arms. Even with their adaptability, there is no single unit, even with upgrades, that is ideal in all situations as not producing certain units means you're losing vital support abilities that would have been provided and turn the tide of battle. The only unit that can fulfill all combat roles to some extent, the Razor tank, is simply too expensive and too much of a generalist to deal with its hard counters alone with its upgrades adding more to an expensive unit.

The Lander system means, initially, that the Hectra must be efficient in what they want to deploy. Decisive action must be taken to ensure the correct units are brought in for the right situation and it means they're the only faction whose units can take damage before they even reach the battlefield. Late-game, the Lander system allows for constant attacks and mass reinforcement that no other faction is capable of matching.

Last Edit: Mar 17, 2017 21:35:00 GMT -6 by miragefla

miragefla
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[Long] Battlegrounds of Septus Mar 17, 2017 22:50:00 GMT -6

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Post by miragefla on Mar 17, 2017 22:50:00 GMT -6

DSA (Non-human Coalition) Breakdown

General Description

The DSA is a variety of non-human races supporting the Ulkans, the DSA's front-line units. While united by the last major conflict against the humans, few of the races outside the core two are reliable in defending DSA members within the Septus region while others exacerbate the issue by openly waging war against the Hectra Union. Hoping to ensure unity, the DSA focuses on defending the current holdings of certain member races while letting those who proved to be aggressive off the alliance to fend for themselves.

In basic terms, the DSA excels at conventional battles where they can meet their enemy head-on. The Ulkans lead the charge while the other races strike from the flanks or afar while subterfuge is performed from races adept at such actions. Each unit the DSA brings is specialized excelling at a certain role making their combined-arms incredibly powerful, but difficult to achieve. Furthermore, due to the DSA's position in the conflict, the faction has very strong defenses to protect their holdings before they arrive to smash the enemy through a powerful counterattack.

Tech and Build Structure

DSA tech is broken down into three different trees: Ulkans, Traios, and Other. The Ulkans represent the conventional front-line ground force. Traios are the DSA's go-to for aerospace support and high-speed recon units. Other represent the variety of other races who provide for the DSA, but do not contribute enough on their own to represent a single tree. These races provide a variety of other options that do not fit the either of the two primary trees.

Research for new units and structures is done individually from the Command Centre. A tree is provided for each path that holds one-two units/structures per level with up to four levels per research path. Researching one of the unit/structures available in that tree will open up the next level of that tree, even if the other option has not been chosen. This makes DSA teching relatively cheap when purchasing certain units, but it does take the DSA considerable time to research their entire tech tree. Researching from the Command Centre does not take up any of the structure's production ques and each structure starts come with one unit already available for use without the need for research.

In terms of build structure, the DSA can construct their buildings anywhere on the field using their well-protected HCV -Heavy construction vehicle- that must construct the building from start to finish and will pause construction if interrupted by movement commands, stuns, or is outright destroyed. The vehicle itself is not particularly fast making rapid expansions difficult until more HCVs are deployed.

DSA units are built through conventional means where they are individually qued up in a structure's production tab and deployed one at a time when they are ready for us, however, DSA have the ability to send these units to the Reserves when the Reinforcement Zone is built.

Reserves allows the DSA to rapidly deploy up to three units that have been stockpiled to a Reinforcement Zone from the faction's Reserve tab. Using Reserves calls in a heavy transport that will land and drop off the units immediately upon landing before it quickly leaves the area. Doing this causes a global cooldown on this ability for all Reinforcement Zones. Reinforcement Transport are immune from harm and if the Zone is destroyed as the transport arrives, the units will still be dropped off.

Traits

Armour, Health, Low Speed (Ulkans)

All units of Ulkan origin share the trait of being heavily armoured, capable of taking substantial punishment from hostile attacks to compensate for their lower than usual speed. Furthermore, all Ulkan units are very well protected against NBC attacks making them take considerably less damage when struck by such effects. The general size and endurance of an Ulkan and the designs to accommodate them also means their units have higher health that allows them to survive longer on the field than most sides with fewer casualties.

Ulkan, when flanked, however, are very vulnerable as like most things, much of their armour faces towards the front except for a few units and their slow speed means they cannot escape from combat easily without support.

Example: Vishstan, the primary DSA infantry unit, wear heavy armour more akin to the elites of other armies while the Wratar as a scout/harrasment unit - a tracked light tank immune to small-arms that is capable of forcing off other scouts and light resistance while also being capable of entering direct combat.

Firepower and Damage Over Time (General)

The DSA has very high raw damage thanks to a variety of powerful ballistic and energy weapons. Their units tends to hit very hard or quickly for their cost and can quickly kill their counterparts in a head-on slugfest that is aided by the innate damage over time plasma weapons cause when they strike their target.

This allows the DSA to quickly focus down hostiles much more quickly than their counterparts and generally gain a decisive victory when the DSA catches up with the opposition and engages in a head-on battle.

Examples: Grizka from the Traios fire devastating shells that, while slow, cause the most damage of any artillery unit of its cost while leaving a DoT at the location for a short period.

Defenses and Fortifications

The DSA is very effective at holding ground thanks to its variety of defenses that can be established to create forward bases and hold the line as their relatively slow army moves from point to point to engage the opposition in either offensive or defensive actions. The core of their defense is the Heavy Bunker, a structure that not only serves a defensive position for troops but can be upgraded with either weapons that fire when manned or upgrades that aid units around them such as healing or repair. A bunker may only have a single upgrade at any time.

Most DSA structures can also act as makeshift bunkers which will shutdown their production but allow troops inside to fire out at opposing attackers and gain additional armour when doing so.

Specialized within the Role

The DSA is a faction of specialists that excel within a certain role and do poorly at others. This makes individual DSA units vulnerable due to having very clear weaknesses against certain weapons and unit types, but makes their combined arms the strongest thanks to the raw strength of each unit in their given role.

Each DSA unit, however, is capable of swapping to a separate mode/weapon/setting that broadens their range within that specific niche within a niche. This means a DSA anti-infantry unit will not only be available to excel against basic infantry but also the more heavily armoured troops of the opposition when in the correct mode. This does come with a trade-off of making the unit in question less efficient in the role it was previously assigned in. Often these modes also have a considerable delay before they can be swapped back.

Example: Vishstan excel against light-medium infantry with their basic plasma long rifles, but can swap to the underslung 50mm slug launcher that trades rate of fire, DoT and range for alpha damage and the ability to easily pierce heavy infantry armour and even light vehicles. Kaiwa tanks are deployed in the twin barrel configuration that excels against soft-medium ground targets, but can link both guns for increased range and penetration that is ideal against an individual hard target.

Rigid and Inflexible

While the DSA tech system in itself is flexible, DSA plans are generally easy to scout out as most of their advanced structures and production facilities are locked behind specific path choices. Furthermore, locking into a certain unit or facility tells the other player what path their opponent has chosen making it easier to respond to the DSA when on the field. The very nature of the DSA whose front-line is a slow and ponderous hammer also gives the opposition far more time to react and maneuver around them to avoid those pitched battle and the army does not deal well with being forced to break down into smaller units due to their reliance on specialists to deal with certain threats.

Playstyle

With its strong front-line units and defenses, the DSA is tailored towards straightforward frontal assaults where a combined-arms assault can crush the opposition in decisive engagements. While the DSA might not be fast to reposition, its ability to build structures and defenses without any restrictions allows them to slowly encroach upon enemy holdings to force them into battle where the DSA can bring its superior firepower and armour to bear. The ability to build forward bases and defenses without restrictions allows the DSA to hold key positions that will constantly maintain their units at the front and bring in additional forces.

Specialization makes the DSA very effective at hardcountering specific threats with the correct composition. When their units engage their intended targets, they are devastating and very cost-effective. On hte flip-side, should the incorrect units be available, the DSA can quickly fall apart. The requirement for a wide range of units also causes the DSA to spend more to create a balanced army should they also encounter a combined arms force.

One of the major weaknesses outside of the specialized nature of the faction's units is the lack of mobility found on their front-line ground troops and some of their aerial units. When the DSA commits to a battle, they must be ready stand their ground. DSA forces caught out of position and who are outgunned will often be destroyed whereas the other faction can disengage. Even with the higher health pools that somewhat reduce the damage of being flanked, the DSA can be picked apart very easily if they are unable to fight or have not brought the proper tools.

Last Edit: Mar 26, 2017 16:15:08 GMT -6 by miragefla

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[Long] Battlegrounds of Septus Mar 24, 2017 21:43:18 GMT -6

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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2017 21:43:18 GMT -6

The DSA is supposed to be more 'alien' in comparison to the Hectra Union, but nothing about them screams extra-terrestrial. They're just slower and heavier than the other armies.

Consider the Protoss in comparison to Terra; Siege Tanks vs Reapers, big fat artillery caterpillars. Valkyrie Gunships vs Arbiter Cloaking Vessels, etc. There was a huge difference when it came to playing the two armies, with the Protoss having shields and high health pools (like the DSA) but having very distinct play styles of 'warp fields', 'energy weapons', 'cloaking technology', etc.

I can pick apart a few differences, but without striking visual differences or extreme variance in gameplay, I'm not seeing a radical enemy.

miragefla
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Posts: 116

[Long] Battlegrounds of Septus Mar 25, 2017 20:10:45 GMT -6

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Post by miragefla on Mar 25, 2017 20:10:45 GMT -6

Mar 24, 2017 21:43:18 GMT -6 Arby said:

The alien aspect would come more from their designs than actual weaponry, but the faction itself is not based on finesse or strange radical ideas that is more inline with the Zox who has all the actual weird alien tech that once belonged to Cthulhu . The DSA was very much designed as the traditional bruiser/steam roller faction similar to GDI/Soviets from Command and Conquer.

I will go into unit breakdown once I've completed Zox which would flesh more things out regarding what the DSA actually has in terms of its roster with a few things based more on the traits of certain species and some of the more technological aspect and abilities they can provide. Same as Hectra.

Last Edit: Mar 25, 2017 20:13:22 GMT -6 by miragefla

miragefla
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Posts: 116

[Long] Battlegrounds of Septus Apr 17, 2017 14:10:17 GMT -6

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Post by miragefla on Apr 17, 2017 14:10:17 GMT -6

Zox Empire

Originating from outside the the known galaxy, the Zox are a race that have evolved and genetically mutated to the point where a sort of caste system emerged due to the extremeness of such mutations. Some are closer to amoeba who require suits to even function outside of controlled environments while others are beast-like creatures. Regardless of their standing, the Zox Empire sees the Septus region as their own. It is their backyard for resource collection and research.

In terms of gameplay, the Zox Empire excels at battlefield adaptation and manipulation through either temporary/toggled Form Changes that allows them to catch their opponents by surprise and their ability to alter nature to their whims. They strike with strange weapons -incomparison to everyone else- , are equipped with shields to shrug off small exchanges, and have unprecedented strategic mobility thanks to teleporters being a key part of their base structure.

Tech and Build Structure

The Zox Empire begins with the Gateway that allows the production of Construction Hives and act as a central hub of the Teleportation Network. Construction Hives are somewhat mobile units can assemble structures near Gateways or Portal Relays that the Hive can also build. The Hive is also capable of sacrificing itself to greatly speed construction or repairs of structures.

Each primary structure and some defensive structures, upon completion, are connected by the Teleportation Network which allows the Zox forces use key structures on the map to quickly move around; the number and/or size of the unit being based on how many charges the structure has. Should a portion of the Teleportation Network be destroyed while units are preparing to teleport, the order is automatically cancelled and the units in question will be returned to their previous point of origin.

Tech-wise, the Zox Empire is straight-forward in terms of progression with its tech structure be fully centralized at the Gateway. Escalation can be purchased at the gateway and once the upgrade is completed, new units and structures are available for use. There are three phases of Escalation and even if the Gateway is destroyed, the Zox tech tree cannot be reset.

Traits

Transformation/Form Alteration

Almost all Zox units have a secondary state they can enter, either as a permanent toggle or as temporary timed ability. The form changes can either drastically alter locomotion, what abilities they have access to, change their weapons and their vulnerabilities, or a combination of all of the above. This gives the Zox the ability adapt units to situations that arise.

Examples: Nanite Drone squadrons can alter between three forms: a gun drone platform that excels against infantry and hovers, a somewhat armoured stationary structure that helps recover the shields on nearby units and can supercharge infantry weapons, or a pure Nanite form which moves rapidly and rapidly degrades hostile armour in melee range, making the vehicle more vulnerable to attack, yet the drones take far more damage from explosives. A less extreme example are the Cavis, armoured infantry units who can transition being a faster bi-pedal form that acts like normal infantry, or a much slower quadruped that is capable of scaling cliffs or ledges.

Battlefield Manipulation

The Zox are capable of altering the battlefield through an assortment of abilities, weapons and/or structures. These effects range from basic things such as persistent damage, lowering effectiveness of hostiles, crippling certain unit types. Some abilities and units even have the ability to temporarily raise obstacles or manipulate the terrain itself to block movement for a period of time.

Examples: Ascension Towers and Invasion Aerial Platforms upgraded with Ascension can create Particle Storms over an area that damages hostile aircraft while causing gunships to forcefully land. As an additional benefit, it supercharges the weapons of nearby friendly Zox units. Guardian Platforms can destabilize the ground, slowing movement of anyone entering the radius and can even cause quakes when upgraded that can disable and demolish structures.

Teleportation

A number of units within the Zox arsenal are capable of teleportation within a short distance of themselves to rapidly around on the field. Generally, there is no delay or side-effects of teleportation, though the ability is often limited by cooldown. Their entire army is capable of using the Teleportation Network to move around the battlefield, including aerial units. This network allows any unit to near instantly arrive at, but each structure has its own set of charges that are used when the teleporting unit arrives which limits large vehicles from using the smaller structures connected to the network. These charge automatically replenish with time.

Should the Gateway be destroyed and no other Gateways be present, the Network will go offline until a new one is established.

Examples: Lorkaven lightly protected short-ranged walkers that can teleport to close the distance with their targets or finish off runners with no penalties upon arriving at its destination. The Zox Observation Post, which is used to call-in infantry, has two charges that allows most infantry to be teleported to its position from any Zox structure connected to the network. These limited charges on the structure can be upgraded globally.

Defensive Shields

Many of the more advanced Zox units have shields which can be used to absorb fire are always active which steadily recharge both in and out of combat. This gives the Zox faction a number of units that excel at probing hostile lines or making hit-and-run attacks while minimizing damage in return. These shields somewhat negate the frailness of certain units and the poor repair system Zox has whose high-tech vehicles require special facilities to be repaired, often primary production structures that are further to the rear.

It should be noted, there are some weapons that can bypass the shield and directly strike at the unit's health. These weapons include the Hectra Storm Cannons, EMP weapons and DSA Breacher Canisters. Furthermore, weapons that deal constant damage excel at draining shields as they always absorb incoming fire, even if they would do no damage to the unit beneath them such as T-10 HMGs, general autocannon fire, and DSA DoT Plasma effects.

Weapon States

Zox weapons often have different states that make them less effective at the start of the battle, but more effective as the battle goes on. Once their weapons reach a certain point or a certain effect has been applied on the enemy, weapon properties can change and grant new attributes. This disadvantage of needing to 'warm-up' can be somewhat negated through supercharging Zox weapons through a number of effects and abilities which can drastically speed or even ignore the cycle at which their weapons change states. Units that rely on a sort of combo where they require a an effect to be applied before their weapons change states against the target will either have their effects amplified when supercharged or the effects will apply more quickly to allow for the change state to happen. This does mean, however, Zox forces want to establish a sort of foundation they can fight from before they move into battle and destroying units that can supercharge Zox forces can severely impact how they can fight.

Example: Prolttilec Lancers are hovering artillery vehicles that direct long-range energy bolts at a target. These bolts are not deadly individually nor are they fired quickly, but the Prolttilec gains increased armour penetration every time it fires. Once it has reached maximum charge, the bolts will begin to strike with increased AOE and can penetrate through multiple targets. Void Bombers, drop multiple explosive bomblets that 'tags' targets with a destablization field for a period of time, should units like the Cavis or other who fire high-intensity laser bolts engage, they will detonate this field, causing a miniature explosion that bypasses armour and cause reasonable to significant damage, but cause the destabilization to end; supercharging the units which attack destabilized units increases the explosion damage.

Playstyle

Coming soon.

Last Edit: Apr 19, 2017 22:48:53 GMT -6 by miragefla

miragefla
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[Long] Battlegrounds of Septus Apr 24, 2017 20:49:36 GMT -6

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Post by miragefla on Apr 24, 2017 20:49:36 GMT -6

Line Infantry Units

Grenadier Squad (Hectra Union)

Armour: Infantry Medium
Cost: 450 Requisition
Health: 100hp per model
Speed: 4.25
Sight: 50
Squad Size: 6
Role(s): Combat Utility Unit / Light Infantry Hunter / Garrison Assault
Weapon(s): Torrent GWS (General Weapon System)
Upgrades: VK-15, Grenades, Jump Jets*
Unit Type: Infantry

Grenadiers are the primary infantry unit of the Hectra Union. Quick to move on the battlefield, they are well-equipped to tackle a wide variety of threats despite their lack of staying power against anything outside basic firearms. Should heavy enemy contact be discovered, Grenadiers can reposition to find a better flanking position and minimize the damage they receive using their higher speed values.

Their primary targets on the field are light to medium infantry units with some ability to threaten unarmoured aircraft or soft-skinned vehicles. The Torrent's rapid rate of fire and accuracy allows them to quickly kill off light units, faster than Vishstan or Nanite Drone squadrons. Combined with the mobility of a Grenadier unit and minimal moving penalties, they are an excellent unit at hunting down lightly protected runners/specialists. The Torrent's effectiveness, however, drastically drops against heavily armoured troops to the point the Grenadier squad must be at short-range to deal reasonable damage. These weaknesses are negated in infrastructure combat, however, making Grenadiers a potent unit at clearing structures of hostile infantry.

While expensive to deploy in comparison to other infantry and unable to effectively deal with heavy infantry, Grenadiers are a vital utility unit for the Hectra Union. Their wide-range of abilities, particularly when upgraded, makes them a threat to all units on the field. Their higher speed and bonuses also makes them an excellent unit at taking key structures, assaulting buildings, and capturing vital areas before other factions can reach them.

Abilities/Upgrades

VK-15 Disposable Launcher: Targeted ability that can be must be used against a selectable vehicle, aircraft, obstacle, or structure. Squad will lock-on and fire a single missile from a reasonable distance at the target that will track and always hit unless intercepted or jammed. This ability is not very damaging, nor does it have high penetration, but is quick to recharge. Requires Global Upgrade.

EMP Grenade: Targeted ability. Under-barrel barrage of EMP grenades into an area. Will disable light vehicles and infantry-sized drones for a short period of time. Heavier units will receive reduced speed and lower rates of fire for the same duration. Structures are not effected. Bypasses shields. Shares a cooldown with Airburst Grenades. Requires Global Upgrade.

Airburst Grenades: Targeted ability. Under-barrel barrage of airburst grenades. Large AOE that is effective against light infantry and units in cover. Very effective at clearing out garrisons. Shares a cooldown with EMP Grenades. Requires Global Upgrade.

Suppressive Fire: Timed ability. The Grenadiers will have reduced accuracy, damage with their Torrents and have slower movement speed. Hostile infantry units engaged by Grenadiers using this ability will be slowed and have their attack rates lowered significantly. Affects units even if they are in cover or structures, but to a lesser extent.

Jump Jet Squad (Hetcra Union - Grenadier Upgrade)

Armour: Infantry Light
Cost: 500 Requisition 25 Energy (Includes initial Grenadier price)
Health: 100hp per model
Sight: 50
Speed: 4.75
Squad Size: 6
Role: Anti-Heavy Infantry Skrimisher / Harassment Infantry
Weapon(s): Rail Rifes
Upgrades: Grenades
Unit Type: Infantry

An upgrade to the Grenadier squad, the Jump Jet variant of the unit trades armour, rate of fire, and moving accuracy for damage, range and penetration that allows them to harm heavy infantry and light vehicles using semi-automatic rail rifles.

The upgrade to the unit can be done on the field, but forces the squad to become stationary as they await their new gear, which can be cancelled during this time. When the upgrade is complete, the unit immediately transitions into a Jump Jet squad. Grenadiers with veterancy keep their bonuses when transitioning into a Jump Jet squad.

While vulnerable to most attacks due to their lack of armour, they can quickly move around the battlefield using their jump jets. They make excellent harassment units against structures or units being suppressed by Grenadiers. Their ability to bypass obstacles also allows them to escape danger or reach critical points more quickly than conventional infantry.

Abilities/Upgrades

Assault Infantry: Passive ability. The Grenadier squad gains offensive bonuses against infantry when fighting units inside buildings or garrisons.

Jump Jet: Targeted ability. The squad will jump jet to the position and be harder to hit when airborne. Can be used to scale cliffs, buildings, or bypass obstacles. Cannot be used on terrain impassable to infantry. Short cooldown.

Demolition Charges: Targeted ability. Must be used against structures or obstacles. The Jump Jet Squad will plant several charges directly at the building that will detonate shortly after dealing significant damage.

EMP Grenade: Targeted ability. Under-barrel barrage of EMP grenades into an area. Will disable light vehicles and infantry-sized drones for a short period of time. Heavier units will receive reduced speed and lower rates of fire for the same duration; this also includes power armour infantry. Structures are not effected. Bypasses shields. Shares a cooldown with Fragmentation Grenades. Requires Global Upgrade.

Airburst Grenades: Targeted ability. Under-barrel barrage of airburst grenades. Large AOE that is effective against light infantry and units in cover. Very effective at clearing out garrisons. Shares a cooldown with EMP Grenades. Requires Global Upgrade.

Vishstan(DSA)

Armour: Infantry Heavy - NBC Protected
Cost: 475 Requsition
Health: 180hp per model
Speed: 2.25
Sight: 50
Squad Size: 4
Role: Armoured Anti-Infantry Specialist
Weapon(s): Tempest Long Rifles w/ 50mm Slug Launcher
Upgrades: Adjusted Containment Fields, Medical Kits
Unit Type: Infantry

Heavy front-line Ulkan infantry, Vishstan emphasize the DSA's focus on armour and firepower, being very difficult to take down by small-arms while able to deal significant damage in return. Slow to move around the field, they are best used a defensive manner, holding down territory and weathering hostile fire. Combined with cover, Vishstan are the most difficult line infantry unit to take down when using small-arms; explosives are ideal against their smaller unit size, but their armour and high hitpoints does offset the AOE damage they receive.

Vishstan excel against other infantry and can deal with the elite/heavy infantry of other factions. Their Plasma Long Rifles gives them significant power at range while their 50mm Slug Launcher can punch holes through the heaviest infantry or quickly end soft troops that get too close. Both of them weapons deal significant damage compared to the other factions which makes zoning or kiting Ulkans difficult with other infantry units. This ensures that hostile infantry cannot constantly engage and disengage from the slow squad cannot do so without consequence.

While expensive for an infantry unit, Vishstan excel at their anti-infantry role and can cost-effectively defeat any infantry unit that attempt to attack them in direct confrontation which includes the elites and specialists of the other factions.

It should be noted that Vishstan armour is NBC-sealed making many chemical and corrosive weapons much less effective against them. EMP is also ineffective against them despite wearing their protection being on-par with power armour of the other factions; Ulkans are strong enough to wear such armour without additional assistance.

Abilities/Upgrades

50mm Slug Launcher/Long Rifles: Toggle ability. Switches between the Plasma Long Rifle and its underslung launcher. Plasma Rifle has increased range, accuracy, and rate of fire. The 50mm Slug Launcher can punch through infantry heavy armour, ignores garrison cover, and deals higher damage per shot. 50mm can harm soft-skinned and light vehicles. Requires Global upgrade.

Containment Field Upgrade: Passive ability. DSA small-arms and rapid-fire weapons that use plasma can now deal low damage over time for a duration of five seconds that resets if the target is hit. Global upgrade.

Medical Kits: Passive ability. DSA infantry with this upgrade will heal themselves when out of combat. This healing rate is amplified when they are in garrisons, cover, or other defensive fortifications. Requires Global upgrade.

Nanite Drone Squadron (Zox)

Armour: Infantry Light - NBC Protected / Structure Unarmoured
Cost: 250 Requisition
Health: 60hp per model / 360 in Nanite and structure form
Speed: 4.5 / 0* / 8**
Sight: 50
Squad Size: 8 in Drone Squadron form
Role(s): Field Support Unit / Anti-Personnel / Armour Debuffer
Weapon(s): Pulse Repeater / Destabilization Field**
Upgrades: Reconstruction Protocols
Unit Type: Drone - Hover / Structure* / Energy Mass**

Cheap and quick to produce, the Nanite Drone squadron is a versatile combat unit primarily that can scout and harass hostile troops with its light weaponry before disengaging thanks to its speed and ability to bypass obstacles. Lacking any reasonable protection or health, these drones are easily destroyed by any sort of return fire, but are incredibly cheap to reinforce. These drones are capable of using cover and garrisons to improve their meager survivability when engaged by hostiles.

The drone are short-ranged in their standard form that deal only light damage, but they can transition into a single Energy Tower that will supercharge Zox weapons and restore their shields, increasing the potency of front-line units. In Nanite mode, the unit forms a single entity that has drastically increased speed and takes less damage from small-arms. When it is close to armour units or structures, the Nanite Mass will attack with a destabilization field that weakens the integrity of hostile armour, lowering their values and opening them up to weapons that might have been previously been impervious to such weapons. The Nanites take significantly more damage from explosions when in this form.

Transformation between the various forms take a couple seconds. If transitioning into a Nanite or Drone form, the unit can still move. Transforming into a structure immediately grounds the unit. Health is calculated based on the health of all remaining drones for Nanite and the Energy Tower. Should the squadron transition back into Drone Form, the number of models is based on the health of the previous entity when transformation is complete and health being evenly divided, even if the unit started with more members previously. An Energy Tower transforming back into drones at 240 health will have only four drones out of the six active even if the damage was distributed between 5 models prior to becoming the Energy Tower.

Veterancy is retained upon transforming into its separate forms.

Abilities/Upgrades

Energy Tower: Transformation target ability. The drones will transform into an energy tower at the target position which will supercharge nearby Zox units and restore their shields within a small radius. This tower is easily destroyed if focused down due to its lack of armour.

Drone Mode: Transformation toggle ability. The unit will transform into the standard combat drone configuration. Unit will become a squadron that goes up to eight fast-moving hover drones that are lightly armoured and armed.

Nanite Mass: The drones will transition into a large nanite cloud. Incapable of hovering, but is incredibly quick and mobile while gaining significant damage resistance to energy and ballistic weapons. Deals moderate damage to infantry units that it attacks in melee. Destabilizes structures and vehicles instead of causing damage. Extremely vulnerable to AOE attacks and cannot enter garrisons or use cover.

Reconstruction Protocols: Passive ability. Drones/Energy towers will slowly heal themselves over time and replace combat losses for free. Reinforcement costs also goes down to 0. Healing and squadron regeneration is inactive when in combat.

Last Edit: May 3, 2017 1:15:15 GMT -6 by miragefla

miragefla
Rat

Posts: 116

[Long] Battlegrounds of Septus May 28, 2017 1:08:39 GMT -6

Quote

Post by miragefla on May 28, 2017 1:08:39 GMT -6

Reposting this from the old forum. Hectra Union history background:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Hectra Union}

The Hectra Union (Brief History)

Major Race(s): Humans

Formed 0 T.O.T

While a prosperous empire from the outside, the Hectra Union is but a mere fragment of what it had been centuries ago. Having been torn apart by civil war and government corruption, the Hectra Union is considered by most in the galaxy as nothing more than the broken remnants of what was once called the Old Order that is now beneath the notice of any major race or galactic superpower.

What began as simply the Coalition that had its origins from Earth evolved into the predecessor of the Hectra Union, but as humanity explored and grew in the cosmos, it began to show signs of weakness. Unrestricted growth saw technological innovation reaching its limits at the time. Years, sometimes decades, passed before these newly seeded colonies got any additional support or word from the Old Order due to stretched line of communication and transportation. Seeing this, many worlds, either due to selfish governors, discontent populations, or necessity, began to expand on their own. While some existed co-existed peacefully with some races in the galaxy, others humanity's name sullied by conflicts, both against the Old Order and against other sentient life in the galaxy.

Civil war would be rife within the borders of the Old Order as the quelling of some rebellions led to the flames of discontent being extended to other colonies. Government corruption, negligence, and lack of vision caused the situation to deteriorate further. This led to the eventual collapse of bureaucracy within the inner workings of the system that tore apart at the seams as the Old Order found itself fighting new enemies in space and itself as countries on Earth sought an advantage over each other.

This would be worsened when the Darsonian Systems Alliance struck Earth amidst the chaos, destroying the very core of the Old Order with only a few escaping the destruction. At that point, all seemed lost for humanity's greatest world and its place of origin had crumbled into dust.

Yet, the destruction of Earth also saw the Old Order's revival as a new energetic leader, Tyrone Argus, a scholar who dabbled into the world of politics as a mayor, took charge of the hopeless situation as Earth's population relocated to its new home.

Falling back with what was left to the fortified areas of space that formed the prosperous heart of the Old Order, Tyrone became the unofficial leader of the Old Order after rallying the support of the few remaining systems for the people were looking for anything remotely resembling hope. With power in his hands and the support of the remaining powers that backed him, the once-small time politician began sweeping reforms in the government and the military with his trusted advisers pointing the way.

Slowly, a new, efficient system would be established while a reformed military would see the situation finally stabilized with the Old Order's remaining holdings intact.

Reformed military would haltmany races and rogue human factions, performing swift surgical strikes on each of their worlds to cause them to sue for what was at least a cease-fire. These strikes would intensify after a warning was ignored prior to the raid and eventually, many would have to heed such warnings as a serious threat.

By 2555 AD, it was no longer viable for any faction to continue attacking the reformed remnants of the Old Order with other threats in the galaxy posing a much greater risk. The DSA itself had begun to fragment and had to undergo its own reforms to contain races that broke the codes and laws that were once part of the grand alliance. The long wars have also left many war-weary with many looking towards a temporary peace.

It was at this point, a new timeline began that is known as T.O.T or Treaties of Tempest where many signed a cease-fire with the Hectra Empire and the storm of warfare slowly began to die down. By that point Tyrone had left power long ago due to age, leaving it to the hands of the reformed government that now had to begin work on rebuilding so much after centuries of warfare and strife.

To commemorate this achievement and its survival, the Old Order was renamed as the Hectra Union, named after a seemingly ordinary bird that lives much of its life in fear from predators until it eventually survives and grows long enough to transform into a majestic animal that no other creature would dare harm. Slowly, but surely, the Hectra Union began to spread out from its holdings once internal problems were dealt with. First, the rogue human elements were annexed that many races were more than happy to see go into an faction that was not constantly in conflict with them. Eventually the Union began to spread into the untamed areas of space known to many as the Septus Arm thanks to technological advancements in travel and navigation.

This did not go unnoticed by the other factions who have slowly begun to also creep into the wilderness of the Septus Arm.

Last Edit: May 28, 2017 1:09:01 GMT -6 by miragefla

miragefla
Rat

Posts: 116

[Long] Battlegrounds of Septus Jul 4, 2017 0:16:33 GMT -6

Quote

Post by miragefla on Jul 4, 2017 0:16:33 GMT -6

Hectra Union ZVK-B Razor Tank

Armour: Tank Heavy - NBC Protected
Cost: 1200 Requisition 240 Energy
Health: 1200 Health
Speed: 6.75
Sight: 40
Role(s): Heavy Assault Vehicle, Transport, Field Support
Weapon(s): 175mm gun, Bomblet Dischargers, dual Torret-M Coaxial MGs, six onboard Torrents GPWS (Fire ports - 3 on each side)
Upgrades: Onboard Medical Station, Point-Defense, Bomblet Dischargers, Missile Pods
Unit Type: Tank - Tracked

The ZVK-B Razor acts as the Hectra Union's end-game ground-based armour unit. Well-armed, protected, and with exceptional mobility for a vehicle of its size, the Razor is one of the few Hectra Union vehicles capable of slugging it out with the opposition, that this comes at a very high cost in comparison to its counterparts.

While capable in both attack and defense against vehicles, tanks, structures and infantry, the Razor primarily acts as an anchor for Hectra forces thanks to its ability to be upgraded with a number of support systems and filling in any gaps within the composition against ground targets and even be a threat to aerial targets with the proper upgrade. Of course, the high cost means Razor tanks will never form the backbone of typical Hectra Union force meaning upgrades for each individual tank must be selected carefully. The fact the Razor is the closet unit the Hectra Union that acts as a vangaurd for its softer cousins also means the Razor is always in danger of being focused down.

Like most Hectra vehicles, the Razor can carry infantry into combat with the vehicle having the capacity to carry two squads into battle. Furthermore, the passengers can fight from inside using Torrent GPWS that improves the vehicle's anti-infantry firepower. The number of Torrents available is based on the members inside a tank ex: a full Grenadier squad would operate all six Torrents while the smaller four man Heavy squad would use four.

Abilities/Upgrades

Transport: Passive ability. The Razor is capable of carrying two squads inside the vehicle. Units inside the Razor will man the firing ports.

Onboard Medical Station: Global upgrade. Infantry riding in Hectra vehicles are passively healed. This does not affect vehicles that carry their passengers on the outside of the vehicle.

Smoke Discharge: Activation ability. The Razor will deploy a smokescreen at its target position that cover a large area, reducing accuracy of those firing in or out of the smoke. This smoke also reduces the damage of energy weapons passing through. Shares a cooldown with Bomblet Discharge.

Bomblet Discharge: Activation ability. The Razor will fire a number of bomblets around the tank that immediately detonate upon launch. Deals significant damage to infantry around the tank, including friendlies. Shares a cooldown with Smoke Discharge.

Point Defense: Activated ability. Point-defense allows the Razor to shoot down incoming physical projectile within a reasonable radius at a moderate pace.

Missile Pods: Individual upgrade. Missile pods are added. These are slow-firing weapons that are fired in a 6 round burst. Capable of attacking both ground or air targets. Excels against light vehicles and aircraft and has moderate AOE.

Shoutbox

herbert:

Aug 4, 2017 1:37:25 GMT -6

Ryoma:

Aug 5, 2017 21:49:16 GMT -6

miragefla:

Aug 6, 2017 1:10:40 GMT -6

Mr. Skeli'n: :gwapes:

Aug 10, 2017 7:04:43 GMT -6

miragefla:

Aug 12, 2017 0:11:49 GMT -6

Ryoma:

Aug 12, 2017 16:10:41 GMT -6

assassinfred: :gwapes:

Aug 18, 2017 2:34:18 GMT -6

Mr. Skeli'n: :gwapes:

Sept 1, 2017 19:28:28 GMT -6

miragefla: Discord was a mistake

Sept 8, 2017 21:09:33 GMT -6

Duke Doodstormer: Just dropping a quick update in here for those wondering about Discord lately: status.discordapp.com/ Nov 18, 2017 14:01:31 GMT -6

Duke Doodstormer: They're in the midst of a huge outage that requires them to work pretty closely with Google for the moment, so things will be patchy Nov 18, 2017 14:02:11 GMT -6

Klaykid: Afghanistan smells bad. Like, everywhere. Dec 22, 2017 10:17:02 GMT -6

Spark: Crunky Feb 12, 2018 18:38:47 GMT -6

reaperman290: I have returned. Jul 24, 2018 13:08:27 GMT -6

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hzking: I'm alive. Hello Mar 28, 2019 6:23:28 GMT -6

Ghostly: I'm excited. Apr 8, 2019 20:10:55 GMT -6

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Ghostly: I miss you guys May 16, 2023 12:31:50 GMT -6