Forums Go Boom!
oh man, i just wrote the entire below post, then the forums went boom, and i was like OH NO YOU DIDNT!!!
thank god for the Back button and temporary files... anyway...
The OP is now MUCH shorter
Gosh! thankyou 
that was always a headache to scroll through that...
So, to answer some previous questions:
UCGW = UnColonisable Gravity Well, so like Magnetic Clouds, Plasma Storms, Gas Giants, even stars.
Mines: TEC only build at controlled planets, in clusters of ten. you have a big green circle and it arrays them out in some sort of random order. (though, for some reason, every 1 in about 30 mines gets thrown way out on the other side of the GW, i have no idea why...)
Vasari Minelayer can be set on autocast, but generally lays the mines in a line (at least the last time i played it, which, given, was months ago. its possible nowadays you click an area and it deploys them in a circle like TEC)
Advent use their Light Carrier to build a Homing Mine Squadron, which is built and flies around harmlessly, until it is deployed. the squadron is then 'destroyed' and a new one is rebuilt by the LC (at least, thats how i believe its done)
The Minesweeper weapons themselves do not destroy the mines. They only detect them. The second ability is what destroys/disables them.
um... minesweeper weapons dont destroy mines... the weapons only detect the mines and the secondary ability destroys them? am i getting that right? =P
If we stick them on assault cruisers, I'm adding in a new ship especially for the Vasari. I liked Darvin's idea a month ago when he said it, and I'm still bound and determined to do it. I'm going to give those guys an artillery cruiser.
ive heard about that idea but i cant find the original post he made...
isnt it basically like a Lancer but with splash damage? thats fine... will that also double as the vasari minesweeper?
because:
And also, Sweepers are frigates, not cruisers. They have a heavy primary gun, but don't really use it that much.
so if we do make them frigates, we dont need to bother merging them with Assault Cruisers...
As far as Involution goes, I'd say leave the name as is. If it bothers them that much, they can look it up. As far as actually deactivating them, let's say PI deactivates abilities/weapons/engines/whatever method they use to blow up.
Fair enough, im usually of the opinion its just easier and better to keep it simple, most people dont have the vocab we do, and there is no need to overcomplicate it, but meh, its all good.
The way Mines are cloaked, is they are 'hidden' in phase space, just not moving. Scout equip does two things: 1. when in a grav well with mines, it shows the location of all mines in the entire well. and 2. when in range, it pulls them out of phase space so they can be fired upon. In the game, when you mouse over a cloaked mine, it says
Invulnerable
Phase Engines disabled
Sublight Engines disabled
Regen disabled
weapons disabled
or something like that.
then when you come close enough to a mine, it decloaks, comes out of phase space and blows up near you. so Phase Involusion would be best described as keeping mines 'cloaked' even when they want to decloak to detonate. an even better ability would be to have them detonate, but 'while still in phase space', so they detonate, clearing the field, but dont actually cause any damage. im not saying it should be implemented, just that it would be cool.
so:
Ahh.. Well, by violently shoving the mines into PS, let's say the abilities on them get disabled (and thus their ability to go boom). Ability deactivation ought to work just fine for this.
doesnt apply, because mines are already in phase space...
but whatever, its all semantics
lastly:
A mines' active ability however is not disableable (to my knowledge, and it wouldn't make sense if it was
you can deactivate the mine's 'Detonation' main ability... its set on autocast, and activates on any target within range. it can, however, be set on manual, and you can wait for a certain ship to pass by and tell it to blow up manually. you could render an entire minefield harmless by selecting all the mines (alt+click) and de-activating autocast.
i did it once in a game, i deactivated all the mines (by accident actually) then an enemy fleet came in and passed the minefield with no damage. i freaked out, checked it, realised the problem and rea-activated them. when the enemy fleet tried to retreat, they got caught between my fleet, and the mine field. combined with a PJI (Phase Jump Inhibitor), that guy wasnt going home to his wife and kids *evil laugh*
I guess you're right... People are lazy, so it'll just get reduced the FC
actually, i was thinking about this just now... why not mix the new UC with this flak cruiser? even if we dont mix the two, this ship is pretty good at supporting a fleet, both with its anti-SC capability and standard anti-ship weapons, and if we do merge the two, the fleet supporting abilities would make it a fearsome support vessel...
this way, we arent exactly making a Flak Cruiser to outdo the Flak frig, but a well rounded combat fleet support craft... i like the idea, it feels very sophisticated to me, rather than most units you see in RTS that do one thing and one thing only...
Oh well. But, I guess I just don't understand why you want PB's... I mean, if we add an Artillery Cruiser (which I will do one way or another anyways) which would rely very heavily on WC's, then I'm fine with it. Its just that I want to limit the use of PB's as they are currently a cap-only weapon.
(i had to remember what PBs and WC were again... man, the acronyms are getting heavy...) anyway, i want PBs because i can imagine them as an Anti-SC weapon, while Waves seem too big and bulky. i know we can shrink the effect and speed up refire rate and projectile speed... still... it doesnt feel right... i feel like im back in the 1985 version of Asteroids or Missile Command where im firing my nuclear triangles at the evil bad guys super squares of doom, backed up by his dreaded hexagons of domination...
whereas Pulse Beams reach the target instantly, can be seen, and look cooler than the evil 'cresent-shapes' of destruction (waves) at least in this context... idn, lets see how it looks in the alpha and i might change my mind... just the way i see it now...
and no, i dont believe mines destroy your own units... as in they dont detonate when you fly your fleet over them, nor when the detonate, but its best be safe and move your constructors out of the way because if the mines dont get them, the enemy could.
i think the only thing that causes friendly fire damage is the Orkulus Big Red Button ability (the starbase goes kamikaze, destroys itself and causes massive damage to all ships within range)
back to Artillery Cruisers briefly...
are they long range or short range? are they basically like destoryers but with heavy splash damage weaponry? are they mainly anti-structure or also anti-fleet? if they are anti-fleet, why not just replace the advent and TEC assault cruisers with Artillery Cruisers (i just realised they both use AC as their initials)? i never really liked Assault Cruisers anyway, and only grudgingly used them for a quick way around (or through) starbases...
Things without proper statistics such as SotL's, TT's, and UC's are not yet included
so then shall we start giving them values?
[EDIT] Wow... triple post... thanks FGB... (Forums Go Boom)
