[Suggestion] No Fly Zones

I think the game would profit on a strategic level if there were areas where aircraft couldn't go, or couldn't operate efficiently:

• airless moons
• electrical storms
• mountaineous areas (valleys make successful bombing runs very difficult)
• gasplant forests
• sandstorms

Interesting idea, however, gasplant forests? How would these prevent flight. Unless you're talking some seriously big plants. Those would probably hinder all units however.

The gasbags in TA were pretty big. Planes flew above them, but the bags would more often than not collide with their projectiles, causing an explosion (that could even damage the plane). It was just an example, though.

I like the direction you are going with this. Admittedly I may be a bit biased because I really really hate planes in video games. I think ground combat is a heck of a lot more fun to play with.

Airless moons would not really be much of an obstacle. Flying craft could be designed that can handle this problem.

Gasplant forests? Eh' maybe. This was done in an expansion for TA but I don't really remember this actually being all that effective at preventing air combat. It was also a huge visual nuisance for actually playing the game so people tended to just mass clear the trees to get them out of the way.

As for the rest, I like. Mountains were done in TA and worked reasonably well. I like the idea of extreme weather preventing aircraft, and that makes a lot of sense to me. Using aircraft on Venus for example would be very difficult if not impossible.

Anybody else have some ideas for some aircraft hostile terrain features that would be nice to consider for inclusion in PA?

Eh. In a general sense, aircraft shouldn't be able to go where I build AA.

I find this an interesting idea, but these areas must be quite big

otherwise the aircraft would simply fly around I guess.

Making flight impossible on certain planets/bodies could be interesting. Especially for turtlers who do not want to deal with air. On the other hand, how would you capture an asteroid that is completely saturated with defenses, without some kind of air force...

Well that's the beauty of this idea though. We're talking about entire planets. Try sending planes to Venus for example. We've never even seen the ground there. We're pretty sure it's got one, but how do you fly aircraft in that soup?

Two words mate, Orbital bombardment. Use moon based cannons to clear an area of AA defenses long enough for you to send some basic landers down on more or less a ballistic course to set up a beach-head. Finish the job with ground forces.

Alternatively, you could always throw asteroids at them.

Or you might be able to get close enough with another asteroid also saturated with defenses and you could launch your troops from there. Possibly just saving resources with one or several nice big nuclear missiles if you get close enough.

Interesting ideas. There has obviously been a lot of talk about aircraft because they can be kind of tricky to balance. One thing in particular we are looking to push is the kind of elevation change that would make terrain factor in more with aircraft. For example in the video you'll notice a mountain tall enough that aircraft have to go around it, or at least be careful.

Orbital weapons may also open up more types of anti-aircraft systems.

Even if it doesn't feature heavily in standard world-building balance, I'd like to see the option to define no-fly zones much like you could create areas where tanks can't go, or boats can't go (shallows).

Basically, if I made a megacity planet of some form in whatever editor happens to be available; I'd like to have things flying between skyscrapers and not through them. ;P

I do like that idea and it would make for interesting gameplay. I do have one question; if you make gasgiants unflyable how do you destroy the orbital platforms? From what I understand they are player constructs and not already there.

You could separate airplanes and rockets.
Airplanes would need an atmosphere because otherwise there wouldn't be any aerodynamic forces causing lift on the wings.
Rockets could go anywhere whether or not there is an atmosphere.
In vacuum the shape wouldn't matter because there would be no drag while a rocket could have limitless speed.
Rocket fuel could be more limited and be more expensive than planes for the same payload/weight that they deliver to target location.
Rockets could be more subsceptible against laser fire compared to planes for example.

Then you could always invent some fluff(antigravitional device) that allows platforms to stay inside the gasplanets atmosphere.

Mm... so many possibilities... :shock:

Interesting... it'd be only fair if the 'pilots' got some sort of ASAT in return.

Makes sense, at the very least for Planets and Planetoids with no Atmosphere. Just as there will be Waterplanets ("Naval maps"), there could be Land-only maps. Also in TA there were basically "Air-only" maps (those maps that looked like you were high above the clouds).

I've gotten the impression that there will be planet type based build restrictions, for example no aircraft plants on asteroids and no unit cannons on large planets.

and those air only maps seemed to be what the devs where getting at with the mountain peak only gas giants.

Some games already block aircrafts from going over certain obstacles, mountains most times.

Well planes in TA used some kind of anti-gravity technology + rocket engines (see gunships, construction aircraft), so I don't think they'd have a problem flying where there was no air. Electrical storms are an interesting idea, though.

I do like hazardous terrain. Remember the acid lakes in TA? Had to use hovercraft instead.

Aircraft always get off easy, they deserve some hazardous terrain too. +1 from me.

Some of the single player maps specifically stated that there was no air, and therefore no aircraft could be built.

I've heard some people talk about submarines on gas giants ecause the gas turns into liquid on a certain depth because of the pressure of the gas on top. I found that a bad idea because the pressure would be way to big for submarines. Your post however gave me the idea to have aircraft flying through the upper layer of the gas giants because a dense gas is perfect for flying aircraft through.

That would make gas giants only suitable for orbital and airbased warfare. That way you could have orbital air construction sites and have aircraft drop into te gas and they could fly around under the surface of the gas giants....