List of RA/YR balance problems

[Teron]

What it says on the tin. Compiling a list of RA2/YR balance problems might be useful. For example, people who don't know about all the probs could be pointed to this thread, where we'd have a list of all the nasty, sometimes non-obvious stuff.

A good idea might be to divide the problems into categories:

Main Category: RA2

Allies-Soviet Matchup
Allied Internal
Soviet Internal


Main Category: YR

Allies-Soviet Matchup
Allies-Yuri Matchup
Soviet-Yuri Matchup
Allied Internal
Soviet Internal
Yuri Internal

Matchups would basically specify problems in inter-faction balance. For example, Allies-Soviet Matchup would list the Soviet reliance on Desolators to stand a chance against Mirage Tanks late game.

Internal stuff would simply be inequalities between units or problems in faction construction. For example, Rhino-Apoc, Yuri's navy etc.

Dunno if that's the best categorization, but it should be a decent start.

[Statalyzer]

Here is a list of imbalances that favor Yuri that I posted a couple of years ago. And I didn't even post the biggest one - the magnetron.
1. Power plant - all 3 basic PP have the same ratio of cost to power. However, Yuri can use infantry to give himself 2 advantages. First, he now gets more power for his $ than the other two sides. Also, he can tech up faster, since using infantry for power can be done at the same time you are building a structure.

2. Radar - all 3 players' radars grant the mini-map and gives new building options. Yuri's radar also notifiies the player of enemy movements intended for his base. Free information given, for no extra cost.

3. Gatt Tower - Even if it could only fire at air units, it would have more AA power for the same cost than the Patriot Missile or Flak Cannon. Then you add on the fact that it defends against ground targets as well, and it's an obvious advantage for Yuri.

4. Slave Miners - same cost to build as a refinery+miner for Allied/Soviets. But it can take almost 50% more damage before being destroyed, and can also be instantly repaired to full health without leaving the ore field, while Allied/Soviet miners must be slowly repaired back at the home base.

5. Boomer - same amount of ability as Carrier/Dreadnought when you take into account sea battles - Boomer is less powerful than dread at land targets but much, much better against sea targets. But the boomer gets the added free advantage of stealth, plus it's available earlier.

6. Psychic Dominator - does almost the same amount of building damage as Nuke/Storm, plus a free bonus of permanently taking over up to 9 units. The Storm and Nuke can also be guarded against using the force shield if you can react quickly to the animation sequence, but the Dominator cannot.

7. Genetic Mutator. Makes it useless for the enemy to use any infantry outside of an ifv/battlefort (since Soviets can't fight from flaks, it makes all Soviet infantry worthless and means desos are no longer a good counter for him.) The Chronosphere and Iron Curtain would be slightly more powerful than that IF that were the only use, but nothing compares to an endless stream of cash after the ore is gone.

9. Brute - yes the brute has weaknesses - seals, Tanya & Boris, snipers, desolators, etc. But those weakness apply to all 3 side's anti-tank infantry. The brute is the only one of those units (Brute/GGI/Tesla) that isn't painfully slow, and it is also good against both infantry and structures.

10 - Lashers. Those whose mind is weak will dispute this. However, Lashers and Grizzlies have the same price. They are identical except that the Lasher's bullets take less time to get from the firing tank to the target tank. Therefore Lashers will miss less often when drive-bys or waypoints are used, etc, and are slightly better than Grizzlies. And, since Grizzlies and Rhinos are evenly matched when price is considered (the units themselves, not the build times), Lashers are actually the best of the 3 basic tanks in clashes of armor.

[truefeel]

10 - Lashers. Those whose mind is weak will dispute this. However, Lashers and Grizzlies have the same price. They are identical except that the Lasher's bullets take less time to get from the firing tank to the target tank. Therefore Lashers will miss less often when drive-bys or waypoints are used, etc, and are slightly better than Grizzlies. And, since Grizzlies and Rhinos are evenly matched when price is considered (the units themselves, not the build times), Lashers are actually the best of the 3 basic tanks in clashes of armor.

Grizlies and rhinoes aren't evenly matched. Even if the build times were normal, a soviet player would win of an allied player when both players both only made their basic tank, simply b/c the rhino has more firepower. That's the main cause, next to desolators, in RA2 why allied players can't win on most maps of soviets.

Yuri's Revenge is full with disbalances, while it was based on RA2, which already had it's own disbalances.

I'll give my thingy onto it:

RA2:
-soviet vs. allieds:
-rhinoes pwn grizlies (but less then in YR).
-as most soviet players take Iraq: desos pwn almost everything of allieds what's on the grounf
-If the soviet player is not Iraq, he'll get killed by mirages (no good counter against mirages except desolators)
-Naval maps (except lbl) are always in favour of allieds: dolphins kick the **** out of everything and soviets don't have a counter for it.
-soviets have the advantages on small maps with derricks: By the time allieds have a barracks, the soviets haev their first dog.

[Teron]

-soviets have the advantages on small maps with derricks: By the time allieds have a barracks, the soviets haev their first dog.

?

[Daishi]

See, the tesla reactor builds a little faster than the Allied Power Plant. I do believe its a negligible difference, though.

You forgot that the sovs, even Iraq, have virtually no decent counters for a late Allied mix. And that the GGI BF is unstoppable for the sovs and expensive to stop effectively by the Allies (Yuri can stop em easily).

[truefeel]

In RA2, there's no Battle Fortress.

@Teron: that one extra dog can make the difference between getting or not getting an extra tech building, even deciding the game on some few maps.

[Daishi]

In RA2, there's no Battle Fortress.

Ah, right. my bad. :\

[Statalyzer]

Grizlies and rhinoes aren't evenly matched. Even if the build times were normal, a soviet player would win of an allied player when both players both only made their basic tank, simply b/c the rhino has more firepower.

But I said "When price is considered." 7 Rhinos vs 9 Grizzlies is a pretty fair fight. With similarly skilled players either side can win that one.