Capital Ship Combat Update

[Atronis]

Over the past year we have seen Elite come out with amazing updates to some of the core activities of the game including mining, exploration, background sim, and many others. However I feel with the one aspect needs to be improved upon, and that is Capital Ship combat for Combat Zones. Yes we did receive an updating for combat zones as far as choosing which factions we fight for, and the events of Capitans and Capital Ship spawning as an event to help achieve the win scenario. However capital ships, even though exciting to see, lack the dangerous aspect especially once you're in a ship engineered enough that can take a beating. This is why I would like to see a discussion about what we would like to see improved upon.

So far my improvements I'd like to see...

- Capital Ship movement: Having the ships patrol around the CZ, and even circulate around the enemy Capital, would create a more dynamic environment. Plus a moving ship would keep commanders on their feet a bit more to keep up with them while trying to disable them

- New way to disable/destroy: The idea of the heat vents is a good way if you want to quickly get rid of the capital ship. I would also like a way to disable its frame shift drive that way the ship cant escape then you can destroy the vents to cause it to overload and explode. With the mining update we got damage feedback from core mining with a shockwave, a similar mechanic with the massive explosion of the capital would be amazing to see.

-Damage Outputs: Damage outputs do need to be increased depending on the skill of the player. Increased threat generation when you're giving the cap a beating to force you to back off, would allow for more cautious play as well. This works well with the idea of disabling the frame shift drive the enemy cap would become more aggressive and harder to quickly take it out.

These are just a few of my suggestions, but I wanted to see if anyone else shared the same thoughts I did regarding capitals.

 

[Rick6549]

They used to move around, but it tanked the fps so it got taken out.

 

[Julio Montega]

Capital ships are just a scenery that shoots back.
It still would be great we had campaigns or missions to make more use of them.
It would be cool to be able to escort a friendly faction raiding and boarding it,
as an alternative to CGs and Initiatives.
The BGS could provide means for preparing a faction to aquire megaships and cap-ships for themselves.

 

[Morbad]

Capital ships certainly don't pose much of a threat anymore. They went from taking a group of CMDRs an hour to drive off at much risk around the time of the game's release, to this:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfK6pmoCkKA


Having them move would be a welcome improvement (there was actually a bug where they did this for a while), as would being able to actually be able to destroy them rather than just temporarily drive them off. I'm less keen on inflating them than rolling back other inflationary aspects of the game, but since the latter seems unlikely, improved damage output and better target prioritization would make sense.

However, I'm not keen on scaling difficulties. A capital ship should be a capital ship...unless it's already damaged and/or has been stripped of escorts.

They used to move around, but it tanked the fps so it got taken out.

It was also a bug and the hit box wasn't well synched with the ship, which made them extremely difficult to interact with.

 

[CMDR Yates]

They used to move around, but it tanked the fps so it got taken out.

IIRC one of the Horizons updates accidentally enabled capital ship movement, but their unfinished flight models were super-glitchy -- looked like it was pasted from one of the smaller ships, causing it to swing and tremble comically -- and the hitbox was broken, causing it to bat you away when you got close. It wasn't intended.

 

[[VR] Goooost]

- Capital Ship movement: Having the ships patrol around the CZ, and even circulate around the enemy Capital, would create a more dynamic environment. Plus a moving ship would keep commanders on their feet a bit more to keep up with them while trying to disable them

I had suggested for engagements between two capital ships, they could establish a 30 minute sequence on rails. Something long enough that you would never really notice that it's scripted unless you stopped and studied it.

 

[Red Anders]

Needs a bit of this

 

[rrobes]

Capital ship interaction has been poorly scripted from the beginning. One should not be able to flit around and take out heat sinks with little or no risk.

They've added some CR incentives when you drive one off but the scenario is not very inviting. I remember fighting a pirate cap ship and the escorts and got tagged as wanted for shooting at the pirate cap ship even though it was wanted. Don't seek them out at all anymore.

 

[Bloodsign]

There are ways to make capships impressive and functional without being overpowered. Here are some of my thoughts:

- Capships have destructible features: armor plates, fuel cells, capacitors. Armor plates need to be blown off with missiles or torpedos, or slagged with energy weapons. Then exposed fuel cells and capacitors can be targeted.

- Fuel cells affect mobility, capacitors affect charge times for capital-class linear rail cannons.

- All cap ships have linear rail cannons. These can deal damage to enemy cap ships or ship structures, or instantly one-shot any NPC ship. CMDRs could be spared from linear cannon targeting for various explainable reasons.

- Cap ships could also have field-type weapons that affect an area, think of a wide angle radiation burst or something. These could scramble shields and overheat systems without instantly killing. Heat management would be an important part of a Capships battle.

 

[Morbad]

Needs a bit of this

I recall the GalNet article saying that both the starport and the ship suffered damage, yet we cannot damage starports.

They've added some CR incentives when you drive one off but the scenario is not very inviting.

The gameplay is trash, but routing a capital ship is worth almost a third of a high-CZ's progress, which makes such CZs possibly the fastest way to influence a war.

These can deal damage to enemy cap ships or ship structures, or instantly one-shot any NPC ship. CMDRs could be spared from linear cannon targeting for various explainable reasons.

Nof fond of such completely arbitrary distinctions between NPC and CMDR vessels.

 

[CMDR Yates]

- All cap ships have linear rail cannons. These can deal damage to enemy cap ships or ship structures, or instantly one-shot any NPC ship. CMDRs could be spared from linear cannon targeting for various explainable reasons.

Or a heavy weapons lock-on warning, giving you a few seconds to get out of the way; getting around to the other side of the ship, or flying into the superstructure to be below their field of fire.