Idea: Limit construction of clone units to Kamino

[Brendissimo]

I should start with the disclaimer that I am not knowledgeable in the Extended Universe/Legends canon. But I am a lifelong Star Wars fan and have been enjoying both Imperial Civil War and Ascendancy.

My suggestion is this: for all or at least the first few eras of the FotR GC, limit the locations from which you can produce clones. Because the Republic is still relying on local forces in the first era or two, and because the clone army is still growing, any clone units can only be produced on Kamino (and a few other worlds, if that's too hardcore/unbalanced). The trade off would be that those worlds produce clones very quickly. This could include vehicles typically piloted by clones, or with a visible clone trooper crew (BARCs, etc.), or a less disruptive approach would be to only limit the production of clone infantry units to these locations.

These restrictions could be relaxed automatically through era progression, or indirectly by unlocking a clone training center at Era 2 (or whatever's appropriate), which players could build on planets where they wanted to produce clones.

Obviously a problem with this is getting the AI to make use of this mechanic/not trip over itself because of it. However, I think you ought to consider it in some form in order to encourage the use of local military forces by the Republic in the early game.

Thanks for all your hard work!

[Pentastar Enforcer]

I did always find it odd that the Clones were able to make up the entirety of the Republic army when there were only a few million of them according to the Kaminoans. You would think both sides would be fielding many more local units and forces instead of being capable of fielding armies of nothing but droids and clones. I know the Separatists would have an easier time at it but the Republic army would have to rely on large amounts of local troops and regular soldiers.

As for this in game, I'd have no clue about it, I like the idea in itself, but idk how it'd function in practice or if it would be accurate.

[Corey]

While we do want to give Kamino some bonuses to make it the best place to build clones and, when resources allow it, we do want to represent other local forces more (infantry take more time than other things to make, and fewer people know how to do it properly- the first releases of the mod won't be able to have them at all for this reason, we already have tons of assets we need to make), we don't want to make clones exclusively produced on Kamino, the same way we don't make ISDs exclusively produced at Kuat or Mon Cal Cruisers exclusively produced on Mon Calamari. Most planets would produce nothing military at all. When playing against the Republic, the CIS players would be easily able to just focus on taking Kamino, and almost never see any AI-controlled Clone units. Having a faction where their signature type of unit is tied so exclusively to one planet really doesn't work that well for gameplay. It may seem more lore-friendly and interesting at first glance, but the net effect is that you'd just rarely see clones.

when there were only a few million of them according to the Kaminoans

Honestly when any source that's specifically meant to be narrative gives numbers, they're kind of meaningless until put into context later, if at all. It's been 40 years and different sources still diverge on whether the Empire had three and a half star destroyers or tens of thousands.

[Pentastar Enforcer]

While we do want to give Kamino some bonuses to make it the best place to build clones and, when resources allow it, we do want to represent other local forces more (infantry take more time than other things to make, and fewer people know how to do it properly- the first releases of the mod won't be able to have them at all for this reason, we already have tons of assets we need to make), we don't want to make clones exclusively produced on Kamino, the same way we don't make ISDs exclusively produced at Kuat or Mon Cal Cruisers exclusively produced on Mon Calamari. Most planets would produce nothing military at all. When playing against the Republic, the CIS players would be easily able to just focus on taking Kamino, and almost never see any AI-controlled Clone units. Having a faction where their signature type of unit is tied so exclusively to one planet really doesn't work that well for gameplay. It may seem more lore-friendly and interesting at first glance, but the net effect is that you'd just rarely see clones.

Honestly when any source that's specifically meant to be narrative gives numbers, they're kind of meaningless until put into context later, if at all. It's been 40 years and different sources still diverge on whether the Empire had three and a half star destroyers or tens of thousands.

Hahaha, good point

[Magus]

Spaarti cylinders.
<http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Spaarti_cloning_cylinder>

[Brendissimo]

While we do want to give Kamino some bonuses to make it the best place to build clones and, when resources allow it, we do want to represent other local forces more (infantry take more time than other things to make, and fewer people know how to do it properly- the first releases of the mod won't be able to have them at all for this reason, we already have tons of assets we need to make), we don't want to make clones exclusively produced on Kamino, the same way we don't make ISDs exclusively produced at Kuat or Mon Cal Cruisers exclusively produced on Mon Calamari. Most planets would produce nothing military at all. When playing against the Republic, the CIS players would be easily able to just focus on taking Kamino, and almost never see any AI-controlled Clone units. Having a faction where their signature type of unit is tied so exclusively to one planet really doesn't work that well for gameplay. It may seem more lore-friendly and interesting at first glance, but the net effect is that you'd just rarely see clones.

Thanks for your reply - sorry it took so long to respond.

You make a totally fair point. After all, from what I understand AI is one of the hardest things to get right, whether you're making a mod or a full-fledged game. For better or worse we're mostly stuck with the AI Petroglyph left us.

In any event I'm looking forward to seeing FotR.

[avnas]

I did always find it odd that the Clones were able to make up the entirety of the Republic army when there were only a few million of them according to the Kaminoans. You would think both sides would be fielding many more local units and forces instead of being capable of fielding armies of nothing but droids and clones. I know the Separatists would have an easier time at it but the Republic army would have to rely on large amounts of local troops and regular soldiers.

As for this in game, I'd have no clue about it, I like the idea in itself, but idk how it'd function in practice or if it would be accurate.

" there were only a few million of them according to the Kaminoans. "

i speculate that "a unit" is one of the circular cloning units with 100+ clone embryos, or possibly even the entire facility of clones we see leaving tapioca city at the end of the sequence where obi-wan is taking a tour.

[Eldritch66X]

If we represent the local forces you could just use a normal judiciary unit because before the GAR it was just the judiciary forces who defended the republic and as for the later era spaarti cloning facilities could do just fine