Hello forums,
Disclaimer of wall of text.
A day or so ago I posted thread that discussed time to kill (TTK) and ship heath without actually thinking through what I was trying to touch on or get at. I had a feeling that my Corvette was too indestructible (despite not being fully engineered) and if I tried to fly around in a Mamba or Federal Gunship around a conflict zone, I just wouldn't be as survivable, leading to a lot more time spent going back to a station to repair.
That thread is linked here: Hot Take on Ship Health and TTK
But in reading the responses, in reading the reactions, I realized I had touched a nerve in the community that I didn't mean to hit on: Consenting to Risk
So. Here. We. Are.
CONSENTING TO RISK
When we as pilots are playing the game, often we fall into the Solo/PG/Open debate. And it primarily revolves around how we welcome or react to being ganked by other hostile players.
I like that choice a lot, but often times I wish I could engage with people in open (beyond the chat window), without necessarily exposing my ship (a trade ship, passenger ship, etc) to such risk. To that end, I suggest abilities, listed below, to shake up the order of builds, while also allowing more players into Open given a sleuth of defensive abilities that can be cunningly used by crafty players as offensive abilities in the right scenarios. Check out the list below.
UNIQUE SHIP ABILITIES
What on Earth am I talking about?
Ship variety and builds are fairly...uh...stale? Maybe? Ok. So sure you can build whatever you want, but sometimes some kinds of builds are far more effective than others at certain roles. You wouldn't press an exploration Krait Phantom into combat service would you? And you sure as hell wouldn't try to make a Type 7 work as a viable warship. But...what if ships had unique abilities to their hull form, that aren't transferable to any other ship.
Allow me a moment to explain.
Someone mentioned that there is no Rock-Paper-Scissors dynamic in Elite, and frankly the lack of stealth and shield less builds in the Human ship on ship area of the game, got me thinking about what is possible if each ship had a unique hull ability. Below I have listed a few abilities that simply play on existing mechanics in the game. I am not familiar with what code FDEV has when implementing each ship, so I don't know how viable this is, but I am merely in a creative mood.
OK OK OK OK!
I hear you crying out that my proposals are horrifically out of balance or absurd, or too many changes, etc etc etc. I did not make an extensive list of ship abilities, only some that I felt catered to the intended role of various ships.
But...sometimes it is useful to propose or brainstorm ideas like this. Sometimes studios take notice, other times they do not. I am under no illusions. But I think it could be interesting to see how hitting a button and activating a unique ship ability is taken in by the community. Effectively my suggestion simultaneously allows Traders to feel safer in open (Type 9 and 7 both feature abilities to counter piracy and ganking) while also spicing up the larger ships for PvP combat and in PvE combat. Other ability suggestions attempt to cater to simply distinguishing various ships from one another and giving more directed purpose to certain ships without reducing the viability of certain builds. Abilities increase lethality however, reducing slightly the TTK of certain ships while boosting that of others. Losing shields in a Federal ships should not be a cause for concern, however should spell a death sentence for an Imperial Ship. A type 7 should be viable in combat as a support ship, giving tremendous damage reduction to allied units and jamming various kinds of weapons while also posing no real threat to others on account of its small hard points.
In this, however, I attempted to keep the principle in mind of: Consenting to Risk.
I've realized that the game only becomes enjoyable when the commander or player willingly consents to the risk posed to their ship. If more pilots feel safer in open, it can only be better for the game as a whole.
This brings me to my next point however:
Carriers in Combat:
YEAH I SAID IT! CONSENT TO RISK THOUGH!
Having a group of players gank one of the DSSA carrier near the center of the galaxy is a recipe for disaster. It is. It would make everyone panic to log off and to face danger from players on other platforms. Believe me, I know.
HOWEVER! If a commander wishes to enter their fleet carrier into a conflict zone, and risk exposing their carrier to a thermal cascade event while simultaneously gaining a boost in firepower for their ship, then...you...know...that should be a risk they should be able to take. I do understand instancing would be insane, but it presents the ability to keep things the way they are while offering risky alternatives to those brave enough to try them.
Thoughts?
Concerns?
Feedback?
Disclaimer of wall of text.
A day or so ago I posted thread that discussed time to kill (TTK) and ship heath without actually thinking through what I was trying to touch on or get at. I had a feeling that my Corvette was too indestructible (despite not being fully engineered) and if I tried to fly around in a Mamba or Federal Gunship around a conflict zone, I just wouldn't be as survivable, leading to a lot more time spent going back to a station to repair.
That thread is linked here: Hot Take on Ship Health and TTK
But in reading the responses, in reading the reactions, I realized I had touched a nerve in the community that I didn't mean to hit on: Consenting to Risk
- Discussion of what is Consenting to Risk in Elite
- Unique ship abilities that aid in consenting to risk
- Carriers in combat?
What originally started me down the path of the original thread was flying around in a CZ and taking a ton of missiles hits on my shield from some NPCs. And my first thought was: "I should really be punished for not using point defense cannons on my ships...who in their right mind, in a real life engagement would be comfortable just letting the enemy score missile hits. It doesn't feel right." I was reminded the MCRN Donnager taking on hits from stealth ships in the Expanse. The ship did not have shields, sure, but it had a brutal Point Defense cannon shield that seemed absolutely awesome to look at. I immediately yearned to be in control of such a ship, blasting away at incoming missiles and potentially firing back a barrage of missiles in addition to my standard complement of Autoloading Cannons, Long Range Burst Lasers, and railguns. In that moment, I THOUGHT Elite Dangerous had a ship health problem, one that could be remedied quickly by nerfing TTK with shields. HOWEVER, I didn't anticipate traders or lower skill pilots discussing their experiences with the threat of losing out on account of needing those shields as a compensator.
So. Here. We. Are.
CONSENTING TO RISK
When we as pilots are playing the game, often we fall into the Solo/PG/Open debate. And it primarily revolves around how we welcome or react to being ganked by other hostile players.
- There are those who don't (at times anyway) want to be bothered by other players. Case and point for me is Dav's hope. I am going to be grinding material (grind is not something I will touch on) and listening to an audio book. Or I will be grinding Robigo/Sothis passenger runs I DO NOT WANT TO BE BOTHERED. OR .. it is 3 hours before the community goal ends and I want that Acceleration paint job, don't bother me.
- There are those who want some exposure to other players and perhaps they join a private group with such rules, Mobius being a big example of this.
- Then there are the players who enjoy every encounter with other players, hostile or friendly and they play in Open.
I like that choice a lot, but often times I wish I could engage with people in open (beyond the chat window), without necessarily exposing my ship (a trade ship, passenger ship, etc) to such risk. To that end, I suggest abilities, listed below, to shake up the order of builds, while also allowing more players into Open given a sleuth of defensive abilities that can be cunningly used by crafty players as offensive abilities in the right scenarios. Check out the list below.
UNIQUE SHIP ABILITIES
What on Earth am I talking about?
Ship variety and builds are fairly...uh...stale? Maybe? Ok. So sure you can build whatever you want, but sometimes some kinds of builds are far more effective than others at certain roles. You wouldn't press an exploration Krait Phantom into combat service would you? And you sure as hell wouldn't try to make a Type 7 work as a viable warship. But...what if ships had unique abilities to their hull form, that aren't transferable to any other ship.
Allow me a moment to explain.
Someone mentioned that there is no Rock-Paper-Scissors dynamic in Elite, and frankly the lack of stealth and shield less builds in the Human ship on ship area of the game, got me thinking about what is possible if each ship had a unique hull ability. Below I have listed a few abilities that simply play on existing mechanics in the game. I am not familiar with what code FDEV has when implementing each ship, so I don't know how viable this is, but I am merely in a creative mood.
| SHIP TYPE | ABILITY NAME | ABILITY DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| Type 9 | Defensive Surge | Deploys an Insane amount of Chaff while also surging shields beyond any level imaginable for about 45 seconds, allowing any trader that has been interdicted to calmly enable a jump sequence to leave a ganking pilot behind. |
| Federal Corvette | Offensive Barrage | Loads Missile tubes that are integrated into the Hull to fire at a designated target, on both a cooldown and an ammo capacity, this allows the ship to fire an array of shield stripping missiles (say 16) at a target to bring down their shields. Would work as missiles designed to strip shields mostly not as Reverb Cascade Torps. |
| Type 10 | Offensive Surge | The Type 10 would come with an integrated suite of Point Defense Cannons into the hull. This ability surges power temporarily to the PDC system allowing it to not just engage missiles but to also engage ships as if the PDCs were turrets, dealing comparable damage to say plasma repeaters found on SLFs. On both a cool down and ammo counter. |
| Type 7 | Electronic Warfare | Activates radar jamming and missile jamming suite that disrupts FSD disrupter missiles (ok that is a bit much...) and disrupts targeting for all ships within sensor range. Moderate boost to shields as well. |
| Type 6 | Engine Surge | Allows the measly Type 6 to divert an incredible amount of power to engines, allowing boost speeds of 1000 m/s plus while simultaneously giving lateral thrusters a boost as well, allowing the Type 6 to become extremely maneuverable and quick in dodging all incoming fire and to escape from targeting range from pilots/gankers. (Also makes racers happy af) |
| Eagle mk 2 / IEagle | Plasma Fire | Set to a cool down, allows these relatively squishy ships to boost their weapons fire by giving them access to a set of 4 internalized Plasma repeater cannons, identical to those found on a SLF. These fixed cannons give the ships far more firepower if the pilot has the skill to make use of them. OR they could be gimballed and on a cooldown allowing high burst damage. |
| Imperial Cutter/Clipper | Imperial Shield Surge | A shield cell bank of sorts, this ability, unique to the hull of the Cutter and Clipper, allows the shield to surge temporarily to mitigate incoming missile or torpedo attacks so as to not take damage from say the Federal Corvette's Barrage Ability while maximizing the Imperial Doctrine of Shield Tanking |
| Federal Drop/Assault/Gun Ships | Federal Hull Lining | An ability that caters to Federal Doctrine. Ships come from the factory lined with a kind of hull that reduces both module damage while increasing hull strength incredibly. This caters to Federal Doctrine of Hull tanking and allows for increased survivability after shield loss. (Tremendously so) However the ability is also activated upon an ammo limited cooldown that allows the ship to repair hull damage in the middle of combat, emergency repair module so to speak. |
| Imperial Courier Cobra Mk III | Stealth Cooling Purge | These small ships are still quite fast and powerful in their own right, however this ability allows them to purge all heat signatures for longer than a heat sink. Thus allowing the ships to act as a "stealth" fighters. Un-targetable for as long as the ability is active, the ships still generate heat that must be mitigated, but as long as the ability is active, they simply do not show up on the radars of other ships. Allows for multiple kinds of strike builds that capitalize on using the ability to make the various weapons systems and maneuverability work. |
| Alliance Challenger/Crusader/Chieftan | Alliance Battle Mode | An ability that is a meld of Imperial and Federal technology. While the ships do come lined with advanced hull survivability comparable to that of the Federal ships, it is still lacking, and the ships don't have quite the hull strength to match their federal counterparts, however they do incorporate some of the tech from their Imperial counterparts and can surge the weapon, engine and shield capacitors for short periods of time. Thus striking a unique balance for the emerging superpower. |
| Dolphin, Orca, Beluga | Anti-Piracy Suite | An ability that is again on a cooldown that allows the ship to shield itself from all sensors, station, ship and manifest scanners. In addition, upon activation after an interdiction, this ability prevents the ship from being affected by FSD disrupter missiles, allowing the ship to safely protect its passengers from any attack by aggressors. |
OK OK OK OK!
I hear you crying out that my proposals are horrifically out of balance or absurd, or too many changes, etc etc etc. I did not make an extensive list of ship abilities, only some that I felt catered to the intended role of various ships.
But...sometimes it is useful to propose or brainstorm ideas like this. Sometimes studios take notice, other times they do not. I am under no illusions. But I think it could be interesting to see how hitting a button and activating a unique ship ability is taken in by the community. Effectively my suggestion simultaneously allows Traders to feel safer in open (Type 9 and 7 both feature abilities to counter piracy and ganking) while also spicing up the larger ships for PvP combat and in PvE combat. Other ability suggestions attempt to cater to simply distinguishing various ships from one another and giving more directed purpose to certain ships without reducing the viability of certain builds. Abilities increase lethality however, reducing slightly the TTK of certain ships while boosting that of others. Losing shields in a Federal ships should not be a cause for concern, however should spell a death sentence for an Imperial Ship. A type 7 should be viable in combat as a support ship, giving tremendous damage reduction to allied units and jamming various kinds of weapons while also posing no real threat to others on account of its small hard points.
In this, however, I attempted to keep the principle in mind of: Consenting to Risk.
I've realized that the game only becomes enjoyable when the commander or player willingly consents to the risk posed to their ship. If more pilots feel safer in open, it can only be better for the game as a whole.
This brings me to my next point however:
Carriers in Combat:
YEAH I SAID IT! CONSENT TO RISK THOUGH!
Having a group of players gank one of the DSSA carrier near the center of the galaxy is a recipe for disaster. It is. It would make everyone panic to log off and to face danger from players on other platforms. Believe me, I know.
HOWEVER! If a commander wishes to enter their fleet carrier into a conflict zone, and risk exposing their carrier to a thermal cascade event while simultaneously gaining a boost in firepower for their ship, then...you...know...that should be a risk they should be able to take. I do understand instancing would be insane, but it presents the ability to keep things the way they are while offering risky alternatives to those brave enough to try them.
Thoughts?
Concerns?
Feedback?
