Railgun craft - Feedback Cascade: the real end of the shield meta?

[geoffrey.hdt]

Hi commanders,

I fly lately a full Hull Reinforcement Packages silent running ship, giving me a HUGE amount of hull points. But since it comes with some drawbacks (such as modules getting damaged, no regeneration) compared to using shield and cells, I do not consider this as overpowered or, like some people name it, a "cancer".
If my opponent uses shield, knows how to keep 4 pips to SYS and pop cells on time, the fight is up to the challenge.

Am I the only one to believe that these new railguns, which have the ability to break instantly a shield if a cell is being deployed, will simply kill once and for good, the shield meta, especially for big ships?

I can't recall how many times I could almost drop the shield of that fat Cutter/Corvette commander, only to see it going back to full 3 times in a row with the use of cells... If the shield of these ships goes down, I need about 30 seconds to take its power plant to zero and see it explode (have done that many times against commanders who fired cells too late or did not keep 4 pips to SYS).

If you don't know what I am talking about:
http://hosting.zaonce.net/elite/newsletters/newsletter_201604_22/ffb907b531932cfd08d75af1a0c30b55567218b3.jpg

Now if these modified railguns do happen, I will have so much fun both playing the game and reading complaints on the forum.

 

[Cmdr Lausi]

Since I have no idea about pvp and very little about fighting in general I have a question. It seems to me that you have to hit the ship the moment the shield cell is deployed. So my question is how hard is it to do that? For me (again as an absloute noob in that regard) it seems rather hard to fire so you hit the person JUST at the right moment, which would be the balancing needed in my mind.

 

[stripealipe]

Depends exactly how these work. I'm hoping they interfere with the SCB regeneration and stop shields being rebuilt rather than a complete collapse of the shield itself.
Then there will be some kind of trade off in terms of how much you stop SCBs being used effectively against how much firepower you carry.

The same with the overheating mod/laser. I'm hoping in this instance it has more effect against a non-shielded ship so that we keep some balance.

 

[MarcusKross]

I thinks its a great mod just like IFF regen lasers, but i can see what kind of knee jerk reactions we can and probably will get.

This one has the potential to hurt those big ships which relies on their shield strength to be combat viable so much that it may really drive them out from large scale PvP. That being said we still don't know the full extend of modifications we can make come 2.1. Devs already dropped by the forums to tell everything will be tested and rebalanced as necessary in the beta.

I don't know about the rest of the community but i am not that worried.

 

[Alexander the Grape]

If we see a meta revolving around support ships with regen lasers, then maybe SCBs will be unnecessary

Whatever the case, I look forward to thorough beta testing

 

[ShadowWolf Kell]

Toss this into the mix and silent running rail builds are going to have issues.

I think we'll see more balanced builds rather than the extremes we have now.

 

[Deathwatch]

I would have preferred this effect on a weapon that wasn't hit scan such as the Plasma Accelerator.

 

[Zeta Legion]

That thermal laser is going to be useless unless NPCs start obeying heat rating.

As for the rails, well, if they collapse the shield with one good 'critical hit' all that does is further push silent-running hull tank rail builds to the top of the pile. Nothing new there.

 

[Gedemon]

The new missiles and torpedoes may be some very good reasons to keep a shield.

 

[Deathwatch]

The new missiles and torpedoes may be some very good reasons to keep a shield.

Only if one torpedo is instant kill and theirs an enhancement for rapid locking or locking stealth builds over 750 metres.

 

[Zeta Legion]

The new missiles and torpedoes may be a very good reasons to keep a shield.

Missiles and Torpedoes have been so scrubbed from my mind by their uselessness I'd totally forgotten about that. I still want more missile ammo though

It's all speculation at this point I guess. We will know more once we get our hands on the new modules.

Edit: Forgot about missile countermeasures too. If countermeasures stay as unbalanced as they currently are all we'll have to do is slap an AMS turret on a utility mount. Problem solved.

 

[Gedemon]

Only if one torpedo is instant kill and theirs an enhancement for rapid locking or locking stealth builds over 750 metres.

Yes, but the dumbfire missiles do not need to lock...

Missiles and Torpedoes have been so scrubbed from my mind by their uselessness I'd totally forgotten about that. I still want more missile ammo though

It's all speculation at this point I guess. We will know more once we get our hands on the new modules.

Edit: Forgot about missile countermeasures too. If countermeasures stay as unbalanced as they currently are all we'll have to do is slap an AMS turret on a utility mount. Problem solved.

from the newsletter:

With the enhanced missile capabilities, the capabilities of torpedoes have been similarly enhanced such that they are now a more effective alternative against larger ships and point defence weapons.

 

[Hajile]

I truly think this is going to be wonderful... from what I understand these mods are going to be... less than easy... to come by/earn. i think they will add a new dynamic to combat... I run a FAS with mostly hull tank but a 5c Bi-weave for NPCs, PVP i Run silent but against the all seeing eyes of the NPC i fight straight. now im going to have to worry that the PVP enemy is going to literally cook me in my cockpit.

 

[Deathwatch]

Yes, but the dumbfire missiles do not need to lock...



from the newsletter:

Mate what the heck are you on, you won't ever hit an evasive small/medium target with dumbfires, unless their incompetent in which case they won't be evasive.

 

[Jezzah]

All I want to know is this?

Are NPC going to be affected and react accordingly to these various new modifications being used on them.

 

[Zeta Legion]

Yes, but the dumbfire missiles do not need to lock...



from the newsletter:With the enhanced missile capabilities, the capabilities of torpedoes have been similarly enhanced such that they are now a more effective alternative against larger ships and point defence weapons.

Doesn't address the effectiveness of missiles against AMS. Presumably EMP will be the preferred method of stopping torpedoes though.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Are NPC going to be affected and react accordingly to these various new modifications being used on them.

Pity the NPC rotisserie maneuver bug will be fixed in 2.1...we could have cooked them evenly to perfection with these new thermal lasers

 

[Zeta Legion]

Pity the NPC rotisserie maneuver bug will be fixed in 2.1...we could have cooked them evenly to perfection with these new thermal lasers

Someone should petition for a 'chicken roast' CG, with the objective being to use these lasers on as many spinning NPCs as possible.

 

[Thetele]

We have only heard about couple modifications these engineers can do to modules. There will be 30 engineers so probably at least 30 modification. We haven't heard about modifications we can do to our shields or other modules. Don't compare these new weapons or modifications to current balance situation as that won't help at all. All we know there can be modifications that haven't been announced but are much better than what we have seen so far.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Devs already dropped by the forums to tell everything will be tested and rebalanced as necessary in the beta.
I don't know about the rest of the community but i am not that worried.

Don't compare these new weapons or modifications to current balance situation as that won't help at all. All we know there can be modifications that haven't been announced but are much better than what we have seen so far.

Well, hopefully all of these modifications are accessible straight to anybody playing the beta (without the need to spend time grinding missions and loot) so they can be all thoroughly tested, discussed on the forum, then tweaked by FD in a timely manner before release of 2.1 (AFAIK, a beta runs for about a week, right?)...

...I mean, remember these Power Play weapons that everybody was raving about but nobody could actually test during 1.3 beta, and ended up being highly disappointed for some, a disaster/joke for most, or just meh for a few? Well, I hope the same story will not repeat again here...