Target Lock Breaker spamming needs adjusted ASAP

What about just removing PvP altogether in Elite? It needs SO MUCH adjusting and balancing. ALL this time that could have been invested into the other aspects of the game... Lost!

I know, will not happen. A man can dream. ;)
 
I know there was mention of this in the stream for the upcoming update to the game but I would like to emphasise how impossible it is to fend off a wing of multiple foes using this in a fast agile ship such as the FAS or FDL.

In my Corvette being hit by engine killing mods, target lock spamming etc this is the most frustrating part of being attacked by groups. You simply cannot fight back with any degree of efficiency unless it's 2vs1 at most.

Again, this brings me back to why I argue that the core gamers should have access to engineering as how they manage to survive without the proper resistances etc I'll never know.

Any word this will be adjusted? Even a giving the impacted ship an immunity to it for 10 seconds might help somewhat.

Sounds about right... need to fight that guy that looked at you funny? Grab 4 or 5 of your biggest, strongest friends, have one of them pull a pillow case over his head while the other 3 or 4 hold him and you beat on him until you're sure he gets how tough you really are.
 
What about just removing PvP altogether in Elite? It needs SO MUCH adjusting and balancing.

Removing all weapon special effects (maybe except such, that don't affect the target, such as auto-loader, plasma slug etc.) would be sufficient, since its mostly special effects which are constantly causing balancing problems.
 
Hit the nail on the head here. Target Lock Breaker (among other effects) is one of the main reasons I am very reluctant to use my Cutter in any situation that involves other players due to the near omnipresence of PA-packing FDLs in high-traffic systems - and that's even considering I generally run 5 fixed Multicannons on the Huge, Large and 2 Medium hardpoints (darn nacelles!). I've since experimented with various small ship builds (Courier, Eagle and iEagle) and was able to avoid a few PA shots from a player FDL with an Eagle build.

To illustrate Truesilver's point about small ships and TLB effectiveness, I managed to dig up a video of when I was running that Eagle build to specifically evaluate how player-flown FDLs compare to their NPC counterparts (as I had no prior experience to go off of):


Notice how the other player was only able to fire off his PA's once and miss. It's fairly difficult to hit a small, high-speed target with the equivalent of glowing bowling balls; conversely, it's easy to hit slow-moving space whales with said bowling balls. Scaling the effect to the target's scanner class/size could be a way of balancing TLB for both classes of ships.


I use my Cutter in PvP, and TLB was a huge problem for me at first. To solve it, I use 2 imperial hammers, 1 fixed beam, and 4 turrets at fire at will.

I don't even target a foe with TLB. The Cutter is the only big ship capable of getting tons of distance on a foe. This allows the Cutter to utilize fixed weapons very easily against a more agile opponent.
 
Honestly I think the game would be better if they removed every debuff/special effect experimental including feedback and reverb cascade. The only "good" (as in not brokenly OP) experimentals IMO are the ones that change damage types with additional positives and negatives, or add heat damage. This whole meta of putting a butt ton of magical debuf spells on your weapons is just stupid. If shields are a problem add some engineering mods that give +150% DPS at g5 but a 50% cut in armor piercing, creating a weapon that is more effective against shields than most weapons, but crap against most hull tanks. To top it off, give some weapons an experimental that converts some of certain weapons damage to absolute, but again decreases their armor piercing (but by a small amount) and there you go, super-shields have a viable counter that isn't just "lol 2 torpedoes hit you now you can't use your shields", hull tanks have become much more viable (due to the effective armor buff and the removal of all the special effects that kill hull tanks) and players will have actual dilemma when it comes to what weapons to use and what mods to put on them.

This...

I hate magic potions and magic charms.

Type-10 with nine hardpoints could field nine major magical effects at any time... Worth considering...

This This.
 
Sounds about right... need to fight that guy that looked at you funny? Grab 4 or 5 of your biggest, strongest friends, have one of them pull a pillow case over his head while the other 3 or 4 hold him and you beat on him until you're sure he gets how tough you really are.

There are times when you will be outmatched by a wing of opponents; it's a different story when a single ship can effectively shut down an entire ship class (Large Ships) with liberal application/usage of TLB, dispersal (thinking Advanced Plasma Accelerators here) and Chaff - unless said ship class specifically tailors their loadout to deal with these threats (hence Truesilver's point): use Fixed weapons and try to hit your target (which generally will be smaller and far more agile than you are), or use turrets set to Fire at Will, which AFAIK won't be affected by TLB.

I use my Cutter in PvP, and TLB was a huge problem for me at first. To solve it, I use 2 imperial hammers, 1 fixed beam, and 4 turrets at fire at will.

I don't even target a foe with TLB. The Cutter is the only big ship capable of getting tons of distance on a foe. This allows the Cutter to utilize fixed weapons very easily against a more agile opponent.

That's more or less what I've concluded as well - several fixed weapons complemented with some turrets set to Fire at Will. I haven't tested my Cutter in PVP yet - 3500 MJs on an 8A Prismatic shield with bad resistances (forgot to Engineer it lol) and a 40.6k Credit rebuy aren't exactly a good mix with PA's and Rails out there - hence why I'm looking at small ships first [wacky]

It's good for being a temporary punching bag - all I really need when escorting my friends as they learn the ropes.

(To be honest, between your comment and Truesilver's recent video showcasing a 5 Railgun Cutter, I'm tempted to resurrect that 7-Hammer Stealth Cutter concept I Coriolis'd up some time ago and maaaaay have shot a Thargoid with - BRING ON THE HEAT!)
 
In my post on the first page I said that TLB needed a variable cooldown immunity added, and suggested that this scale by sensor size and grade of the target.

Thinking about it a bit more, actually TLB needs two variables to be compared on each successful strike, as with feedback cascade.

In its second, Live 2.1, iteration, feedback cascade caused 90% SCB loss on any size of SCB by any hit by any size of rail gun. In other words, any hit applied the special in full.

That unsophisticated position is where TLB is now. And of course where many other specials are now, such as corrosive or emissive.

In 2.2 feedback cascade was altered so that the game now checks the damage of the rail gun applying the special against the SCB size before applying a scaled reduction based upon those two variables. This is much better game design, imo.

I would therefore be supportive of TLB (and other specials as noted) receiving the same treatment. In other words, a Cmdr packing a c4 PA with TLB who manages to hit a Courier with it should get quite a decent period of TLB as his reward. A guy who merely lulz-macros four c2 PA's using fire groups to spam continuous TLB against a T-10 ... not so much.

I really think the above, 'two variables' approach is the way forwards for specials like corrosive also. I suspect that with infinite resource available, Frontier would agree. They have basically said as much a couple of times.

The problem of course is that all of this takes Developer time, player feedback and rebalances. But that, I'm afraid, was not a problem created by the customers. Literally nobody asked for the specials (I have never seen one single post on the forums asking for them, on either forum, ever) and they should have been scaled before 2.1 was released. They still should be. And, I think, probably will be. One day.
 
I disagree with the OP. It shouldn't be possible to win every fight. Part of the skill in the game should be to know when to run away to fight another day. It is surely players insane need to have the uber, unbeatable ship that is actually the unhealthy aspect of the game?

The OP was outmatched, out-flanked and should run. There is no shame in this, and only idiocy in staying. What's there to complain about? Finding a piece of real danger in the game?

Go wing-up and get revenge.

For your information if you would care to pay attention, I did run. I made it clear I couldn't fight efficiently in such a scenario. You'd think being in a Corvette you could at least attempt to tackle your foes, right?

Again, missing the point and the emphasis on my request for this to be adjusted. I'm not screaming nerf here.
 
I have been on the receiving end since 2.1 and it's ok imo, as long as you are not lazy 4-0-2-blue-zone-face-tank, you would be able to dodge a lot of pa shots by flying evasively, even in an 1v4.

Try flying evasively in a Corvette or Cutter. I'm sorry, but FAS, FDL and the upcoming Chieftain will laugh at your attempts, and having ZERO lock on your foes will make it near impossible for you to ever be able to fight back with any degree of efficiency. As I said, upto two targets at most, if they're not both using target lock breaker, makes it a bit more manageable. Three or more and it's pointless even being at CG's in a big ship.

But if you love this effect then by all means, go deliberately pit yourself against it since it seems to be fun for you. ;)
 
Honestly I think the game would be better if they removed every debuff/special effect experimental including feedback and reverb cascade. The only "good" (as in not brokenly OP) experimentals IMO are the ones that change damage types with additional positives and negatives, or add heat damage. This whole meta of putting a butt ton of magical debuf spells on your weapons is just stupid. If shields are a problem add some engineering mods that give +150% DPS at g5 but a 50% cut in armor piercing, creating a weapon that is more effective against shields than most weapons, but crap against most hull tanks. To top it off, give some weapons an experimental that converts some of certain weapons damage to absolute, but again decreases their armor piercing (but by a small amount) and there you go, super-shields have a viable counter that isn't just "lol 2 torpedoes hit you now you can't use your shields", hull tanks have become much more viable (due to the effective armor buff and the removal of all the special effects that kill hull tanks) and players will have actual dilemma when it comes to what weapons to use and what mods to put on them.
Yeah, pretty much agree with that. Or experimental effects should at least come with some serious downsides.
 
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Try flying evasively in a Corvette or Cutter. I'm sorry, but FAS, FDL and the upcoming Chieftain will laugh at your attempts, and having ZERO lock on your foes will make it near impossible for you to ever be able to fight back with any degree of efficiency. As I said, upto two targets at most, if they're not both using target lock breaker, makes it a bit more manageable. Three or more and it's pointless even being at CG's in a big ship.

But if you love this effect then by all means, go deliberately pit yourself against it since it seems to be fun for you. ;)

Why do you assume flying big ships means not able to be evasive at all?
Of course you can't get fdl-level evasiveness and you can't dodge every pa shot, but that doesn't mean you should abandon your mobility for good, face-tanking multiple opponents simply means you will have to run or die very soon, and a lot of inexperienced pilots can land shots on you easily and continuously if you don't try your best at flying evasively.
Move your pips, use your lateral and vertical thrusters, time you boost and turn off the flight assist if you want to.

And any ship is pointless if you are caught alone by 3 or more, unless your skill outmatches theirs greatly, instead of "my ship is 10 times more expensive than theirs".
 
Is it just me or shouldn't 2 ships (or 3 or more) ALWAYS absolutely dominate Combat vs a single opponent anyway?
The fact that they don't automatically WITHOUT Engineering should be the issue...NOT that TLB makes wings overpowered...
 
Yeah, pretty much agree with that. Or experimental effects should at least come with some serious downsides.

should they?
FDEV thinks different.
considering they put a massive thermal reduction on super penetrator, shieldbreaker and plasma slugs for the railgun,
removed many hard penalties from many blueprints to bring the new stuff in line with god-rolled equip.

i think when 3.0 hits, TLB will be the least of your problems in PvP
 
should they?
FDEV thinks different.
considering they put a massive thermal reduction on super penetrator, shieldbreaker and plasma slugs for the railgun,
removed many hard penalties from many blueprints to bring the new stuff in line with god-rolled equip.

i think when 3.0 hits, TLB will be the least of your problems in PvP

Yeah 3.0 is going to make things worse in terms of crazy op builds, but it will make things better by allowing those builds to be (semi) easily gotten by anyone willing to put in a moderate amount of work, instead of requiring lots of intense grinding and a whole lot of luck. I would have preferred them to rebalance everything instead and just forget about grandfathering, but that would make too much sense.
 
Is it just me or shouldn't 2 ships (or 3 or more) ALWAYS absolutely dominate Combat vs a single opponent anyway?
The fact that they don't automatically WITHOUT Engineering should be the issue...NOT that TLB makes wings overpowered...

Absolutely.

Lanchester applies hence a single ship against two opponents would have to be 4 times more powerful / skillful. Against 3 opponents 9 times more.

I don't think that big and expensive ships should have an I win button just because they are big and expensive. There should be counters for those who fight in smaller ships.
 
Although, as an experienced PvP-er, in Beta 3.0, flying a Cutter, I was able to defeat all medium ships 1v1 ... even though all were hitting me with continuous TLB ... there is no denying that this effect is overpowered against ships larger/slower than a Python.

Currently if flying a big ship, every aspect of the ship's build and game-plan has to be orientated around dealing with this one single special. One special that doesn't even carry an adverse side effect. That is disproportionate. For an entire ship class to have to put everything into dealing with one single special is absurd, even if you can still achieve victory. It's affecting this aspect of the PvP game far too much.

Conversely it's underpowered imo against ships of FdL-level evasiveness and up. It literally does nothing against a Courier.

The problem with TLB is that it's one of a number of specials of which the game asks only one question: "Did you hit the target?" ... and in respect of which hit points are irrelevant.

Because big ships are built to tank shots, not evade them, these specials have a disproportionately great effectiveness against them.

Frontier need to find a way to scale these effects against large and slow targets without making them useless against smaller, faster ones.

Fortunately the game probably does contain sufficient material already. Big ships have much larger and more massive sensors than other ships. So scaling a cooldown or similar by sensor size and class could be one possible solution.

I will praise the gods that don't exist if FD ever offer TS a job.

So much sense here guys.
 
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