Planetary Fortress not worth it?

[Chax]

The Planetary Fortress seems understandably underused. It can't hold up in use to the Orbital Command, which has three VERY useful abilities.
The comsat is pivotal to Terran detection.
The MULE is the Terran response to Chrono boost and the Queen's larvae ability.
The extra supplies are also very useful in tight times.

The Orbital command looses it's lift off ability, and though it gains armor it does not gain health and has, I feel, a rather week attack against any serious assault.
It's range is also a concern.

I understand how easily this could become OP, but I think the upgrades are too expensive to make this Command Center conversion worthwhile.

More HP ? Longer range before upgrade? An AA attack also?

[Roirrawa]

I upgraded a PF once and only to see how it worked. Totally not worth the gas investment.

with the orbital, you at least get the scanner and the mule ( the extra supplies is a non factor since its pretty close to useless ) while the fortress only provides minimal cover for your expo... only thing that would fend off would be a reaper raid? but even those are too early to have the fortress upgrade and by the time you get it, reaper raids are non existent in the mid to late game.

[Potera]

I've found the planetary fortress useful for the second base. Build a second command center at your primary, send it and some SCVs and defense to your expansion point, start collecting and build a planetary fortress - it holds its own against T1 swarms, but if it's sitting at the back of your base, it's usefulness is more limited.

[Rrowland]

I saw that a terran had no barracks up yet (Later I discovered he was proxying me, a rax just outside my base behind a wall) and decided to try to rush in for an easy win. I sent 8 roaches very quickly, and he had a Planetary Fortress up. That one upgrade saved his base because it demolished my roaches. I did sit behind his mineral line and pick off some workers (though after a while he seemed to be able to hit them from further away and I couldn't harass anymore. Is there a range upgrade for the PF?)

I would definitely say that the planetary fortress has its uses.

[Roirrawa]

I'm sure it has its situational uses. to say smething is completely useless is pretty stupid since im sure there are reasons for every unit to be place sin the game, but their usefulness is outweighed by the usefulness of the orbital.

no there is no range upgrade for the pf. its range is set to 8. equal to a marine.

as for the xpo pf, im sure that would work , but as a terran i hate taking vulnerable expansions. i usually either take a ninja expo on an island, ( where building a pf or any defense at all would negate the point of a "ninja" expo ) or push out and expand there where id rather have the extra scans or mules for the next expo i take.

i relaly like taking a high yield expo and dropping multiple mules to start the mineral field saturation. and yes, orbital command energy does tend to stack up when i have multiple ccs and my mineral fields are all well saturated and would not benefit from mules very much.

[Eyelessone]

I saw that a terran had no barracks up yet (Later I discovered he was proxying me, a rax just outside my base behind a wall) and decided to try to rush in for an easy win. I sent 8 roaches very quickly, and he had a Planetary Fortress up. That one upgrade saved his base because it demolished my roaches. I did sit behind his mineral line and pick off some workers (though after a while he seemed to be able to hit them from further away and I couldn't harass anymore. Is there a range upgrade for the PF?)

I would definitely say that the planetary fortress has its uses.

There actually is a range upgrade for it from the engineering bay, I think it also increases AA turrets, and the raven's turret ranges too.

EDIT: The range bonus from the upgrade is +1.

[Roirrawa]

i stand corrected. the ebay has the building armor and 2 others. i usually onlt focus on the weapon and armor of bio so i tend to neglect the other ones and put it in the back of my mind haha.

[Joshsuth]

I agree with the earlier poster about it being potentially useful for an expansion, but the pros of the Orbital Command for outweigh the pros of the Fort for a main base.

[Lightning]

i like to have PF at an expansion at a high mineral or something

one time it was under attack by a BUNCH of void rays and i got all my scvs to repair and it would not go down, close but didn't go down. i was repairing while mass building turrets at the same time and the turrets won, and the PF :)

[ghost]

Not only does it not shoot air, but the OP is right, orbital command is way more useful.

I might like scans and mules more than some people but i think we can all agree, the PF is not up to comsat usefulness.

[Practice]

I think planetary fortress should have one macro mechanic on it. Obviously it shouldn't be as powerful as the orbital command's three abilities, but just one decent ability to kind of justify buying one.

Since the planetary fortress is a defensive option, maybe it should have an ability to add +10 armor to all of your SCVs for 10 seconds. This way, when you want to defend, you're getting your full money's worth from defense.

[Terradrius]

While I'm inclined to agree that the planetary fortress isn't that great, one thing that it can do that people seem to be forgetting is store up to 10 scv's. So if your base is getting attacked, your scv's can hide inside your fortress while it does its attack, then come back out once the threat has been dealt with.

[Dremex]

I've found myself always going with the Orbital Command for my main Command Center. The scanning has proved helpful so many times when keeping tabs on what the enemy is doing. It's also nice to drop in a MULE when I'm in a resource pinch.

If I expand I'll setup Planetary Fortress on the second Command Center to act as an added defensive measure for any units trying to walk into my main.

[Snuglebear]

I've found the planetary fortress useful for the second base. Build a second command center at your primary, send it and some SCVs and defense to your expansion point, start collecting and build a planetary fortress - it holds its own against T1 swarms, but if it's sitting at the back of your base, it's usefulness is more limited.

this is the only time i consider a PF.

[Argonanth]

personally a PF at your natural still isn't even a good idea. the amount of extra minerals you get from the mule or a scan to let you see what your opponent doesn't want you to see is just too good. Having one is great but if you get 2 you can do it 2 times as often! with the extra minerals you get with the mule in your natural put up a bunker and put some marines in it.

[Scorcher]

I like using them at my first expansion, which on the maps we've got right now means it's also at the ramp to my main base. It's been pretty effective.

[Tehschoolbus]

@OP: Ever get dropped on by about 4 medivacs full of marines? I think the PF might be the best counter for this. Protection from reapers, protection from drops. Of course it wouldn't do everything on its own and it wont do the hoola either, but it might help! i'm thinking of doing this and then giving my exp. the scanner.

[Tates]

I used a PF in my last game for shits and giggles, and it decimated an entire swarm of zerglings. I feel like it was like an aoe shot to them because it burned up like 45 in 10 seconds. I'm thinking it would have the same effect on any bio unit.

[Ignorance]

The gas cost is brutal in my opinion. I would purchase the planetary fortress more often if it were reduced to 50.

[Antpile]

and yes, orbital command energy does tend to stack up when i have multiple ccs and my mineral fields are all well saturated and would not benefit from mules very much.

I believe MULEs ignore saturation and mine right over the top of your SCVs, thus making it more useful on an already saturated plot where more SCVs wouldn't really help.

[paradox]

intended to help defend an expansion

[Funkyfritter]

It's pretty bad right now because almost every game is a rush, but it has some use in longer games. If you build an expansion that's a little far from your other bases to defend upgrading is the most cost effective way to defend against ground assaults in my experience. Unlike bunkers it doesn't tie up supply or barracks build time and it survives far longer then other static defenses thanks to scv repairs, allowing you main force to rush over and save it.

[Mellowfellow]

Maybe the PF should have an ability called Lockdown (similar to Call to Arms for Humans in WC3) whereby all SCVs in the surrounding area are called into the PF sheltering them from attack.

[Sodamuffin]

Make a PF at your gold mineral spots and make the other Command Centers into the other thing to pump MULEs into the gold.

[Mut]

It's a good defense against reapers, but then again so is like 2 marauders.

I have used PF to great benefit at my natural, but i still find it somewhat limited compared to the orbital command. In a game with so many hard counters like this the intel gained from scanner sweeps is almost too huge. In fact i can't imagine a number of sweeps available that would be too many. I would sweep every 12 seconds over the entire enemies base if i could keep up with it.

[Mut]

Maybe the PF should have an ability called Lockdown (similar to Call to Arms for Humans in WC3) whereby all SCVs in the surrounding area are called into the PF sheltering them from attack.

Pretty sure all command centers come with this. There's a "load" button that will call 5 scvs into it from nearby, or 10 if its a PF.

[Chax]

Make a PF at your gold mineral spots and make the other Command Centers into the other thing to pump MULEs into the gold.

I had this thought too.
A call down that send some down a fast-reaction defense team that last for x amount of time. It would have to be long enough to still have a use, but short enough that they couldn't be used for an assault. I think they should have a call down radius too, so you could strategies as to were to place them if you base is under attack, but you could NOT place them too far away from the PF.

Call down would have long cool down. 3 minutes?

[Hercanic]

Maybe the PF should have an ability called Lockdown (similar to Call to Arms for Humans in WC3) whereby all SCVs in the surrounding area are called into the PF sheltering them from attack.
Umm, it already has that. The button is called Load (O), and it causes all nearby SCVs to cram inside for protection.

Also, Call to Arms for Humans in Warcraft III changed Peasants into Militia. What you're thinking of is the Orc ability to retreat Peons into Burrows.

[Gearvosh]

PF is mainly used for expansions. Its really dumb to not use an OC at your primary base.

Furthermore, I once attacked a terran base with about 10 zealots and 2 stalkers, and a PF single handedly killed all my zealots, I had to back up.

[Dusanh]

I used a PF in my last game for shits and giggles, and it decimated an entire swarm of zerglings. I feel like it was like an aoe shot to them because it burned up like 45 in 10 seconds. I'm thinking it would have the same effect on any bio unit.

I don't think it has an AOE attack, but it makes sense that it would tear zerglings apart very fast. The PF does 40damage per shot, and zerglings only have 35HP each. It will kill them in one shot each, even if they have armor upgrades. Marines will also die to it in one shot each, assuming they are not upgraded.

[Chax]

It sounds like to me that if it cost a bit less gas it would be much more practical, because it does have uses.

[Shurimpu]

But the fortress is so cheesy! Look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4uoqlVL_c

Admittedly, Orbital is better for your main, I won't deny that. But having your expos as PFs is definitely worthwhile, since it can do respectable splash damage and keep tier-1 floods out.