And it’s no secret that MOST games are being dumbed down HEAVILY 
The most affected is The Elder Scrolls: from Morrowind with reality and extensive skill / attribute picking / customization in mind to Oblivion with only half the former customization to Skyrim with health, magicka and stamina choices alone (and those half-illogical perks). The idea is they are trying to make the games accesible for anyone in a sort of ‘<game name> for dummies’.
it’s a bit deeper than that… every industry is becoming more like a mcdonald’s franchise. movies, even books…
ie: movies… they’re all created to a template now, released in multiple installments, not unlike a franchise. each installment is filmed within a year or less, not unlike the video gaming industry recently. the plot is thin or non-existent. the actors announce to the audience precisely what their actions will be 15 minutes from that point in time…
“it’s a machine… to make a money… slave driver… the table is turned… catch a fire… bout to get burned” - bob marley
So 2 of the most game-breaking factors in trend are:
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dumbing down ‘for dummies’ (the more people buy it cuz they can play it the more money they make)
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exponential expansions (example on wow again: lvls 1-60 normal increases, 60-61 = godmode in a level compared to the previous one and goes like it up to 70, then 71 is the same story again etc)
pretty much, but people get bored of easy buttons fast… that’s ok for a franchise game that sells you the new copy next year, promising to fix the problem and never does… but for a game that sees no new iterations, that’s probably a generally bad idea.
And the problem about the on-topic combat recon is still player decisions. If the enemy is a turtle with an ecm capt, outsmart them and let their patience run out. They WILL INEVITABLY have dummies coming for your captain which you can wreck for the kill ratio advantage. Adapting to the situation is more important than trying the same failing tactic over and over and over again. Doesn’t work once? STOP! Think, change the plan, tell your team about it and tell them to translate if necessary.
unfortunately. most people dont think this way… they just get frustrated that they have to travel 20-30km, only to have to fight a pack of 10-15 ships with the support of only 5 :\ and other people are content sitting there for the entire 10 minutes just for the win… because losses award no loyalty, and pathetic rewards :\ so people become risk-averse…
and this whole mentality of ‘oh you can take down a captain with 5 units’ sure you can, i can think of many ways with just inties, or even a tackler or assaults. the problem is that if the enemy is smart, then can come out to meet you 5km before you reach the captain, using ecm and guards to disable your ships and killing you before you get within 3km… i mean… who are we kidding… it’s a wall of 10-15 ships vs 5…
best success i get is trolling front of the enemy base, like i said, scouting their position, drawing units out long enough to create an opening… it gets pretty boring though…
what i’m saying is, the efficiency and rewards need to be reworked to prevent balling around the commander. or so an not to provide as great an incentive to ball around him. and slightly more rewards and some loyalty for losses, to encourage more players to play the game longer. because if they see they are no progressing, they will quit…
but i also think the commander’s visibility should at least be reduced. at least be able to see all units on the map, except cloaked units, which you can only see within 10-12km. that is enough to provide the commander with advanced warning (plus, you can see units flanking you before they activate their cloak). that’s more than 20 seconds travel time for a covert. it is also a sufficient window to provide enough of an element of surprise so that cloaks are not worthless. assuming you can travel ~10km under camo on a covert in most scenarios (not perfect). that would put you ~20km away from the captain during activation (again not perfect). so you can’t do a wide flank to the rear, but can still make use of your cloak to some effect. plus, your afterburners are still visible in order to cover those distances.
personally, i don’t think commanders should be able to see LRFs sniping them either. that should be up to your recons/inties who keeps eyes on a surrounding 15km radius or so. if you want them to see LRFs, 12km range to see cloaked units. if not, 10km should be fine. but you can probably make it up to 15km.
in fact, 12km might be balanced. it means a 24km diameter. so if the commander moves out a bit, they can get better vision on cloaked units. if they stay back too far, they might not have enough warning. again, to travel that final 10km before firing range would take a covert 20 secs, and a tackler 8km in 20secs. still, kind of high… 15 secs would be preferable, because in 20 seconds you can literally check the map, sip some coffee and read the paper… or… it might be fine… just to be certain in case you have to pick your bum, and to provide an extra 3-4 seconds breathing room. anyways, it can be tweaked.
basically inflating all of the items prices for everyone else due to the high influx of gold into the economy.
