Want better support for armies
AshesoftheSingularity ForumsI'm finding that armies are not as good as I would have hopped that they were. I want to like armies, but there are number of problems that seem to make managing them a pain.
1. Dead armies still request units to be built. Not long ago, I quit a game where I lost control over some of my factories. You see, my factories were still building cruisers for armies long destroyed, or destroyed beyond the point of usefulness. It got so bad that my armies were composed of dreadnoughts and frigates. No cruisers were possible because of the overwhelming demand for cruisers for dead armies. The dead armies were still first in line for reinforcements while newer armies have to start at the back of the line.
2. Can't cancel production of army reinforcements. If I order units for armies, I can't cancel them. I can cancel them if I was making an order directly at the factory and then add them to army, but same doesn't seem to be possible for armies that order units directly. I also can't pause production for an army.
3. Some units won't get healed by medics. It seems like a number of my brutes are not at full health. I don't know the cause, only the effect.
4. Can't tell army to replace dead units. I want to click a single button and have the army make an order to replace all killed units. The current way to replace dead units is to order new units. I want the army to remember last configuration and to be able to order units to restore that configuration. Maybe even have a save button so I can use the template for many armies.
5. Leader units can be killed. The leader unit can be killed, making the army no longer be an army. I would have to order the army to become an army once more for it function like an army. I favor dreadnoughts as leaders because they are not easily killed. Cruisers can be a pain because anti-dreadnought units can make short work of them.
6. Only cruisers or dreadnoughts can order units. This is a pain when starting small. You have to add something bigger to the army before reinforcements are possible. Likewise, destroying all cruisers and dreadnoughts will remove the ability to call for reinforcements.
7. Army orders are an open order to all factories. When you make an army order, this will cause all factories to (up to the number of units you ordered) to start working on that order. This does not take into account where your army is, where the factory is, how far away the units have to travel, whether or not they have to travel through enemy territory and possibly get shot at, and whether or not you can afford all factories to be running at once. You could really use some means to pick which factories will build replacement units. I might have managed to get a force behind enemy lines, so the the only factories might want to be using are the ones I built locally.
8. Armies with buildings? There are some locations that you might want to defend using a mix of units and turrets. You add units to the mix because some units have greater firing range than turrets. Much like how an army can smartly manage units in an army, an army with turrets in the mix could have units move to cover weak points and locations where the enemy is concentrating their attack.
9. Withdraw command. I want to be able to tell my army to move in one direction while continuing to point their weapons at the enemy. I find that it is possible to make a move order so sharp that an army will turn around and will retreat without returning fire. There are situations where I don't want that to happen, such as when they are moving too far away from local turrets (and I need them to return to position) or if I want them to withdraw to a nearby friendly army.
10. Choose facing. I want to tell an army which way to face. Telling an army where to go isn't always good enough. If an army isn't prepared to fight an enemy from the proper direction, they will have to adjust that detail when the fight starts. That might mean that you lose some important units in the process because vulnerable artillery is close to the enemy while the meat shields are far away.
