With the Thargoid War nearing its end and Powerplay 2.0 recently born, now is the perfect time for a balance pass on all those little-used weapon types. One of these is Missiles.
The biggest problem with Missiles in Elite is they're too much like any other weapon. You have to get a missile lock, true, but after that you basically just spam them en-masse at your enemies, and they do relatively little damage. Compare this with a more dramatic missile lock? In a movie, it's 15-30 seconds of the greatest stress you'll see - but once you dodge or evade it, it's done. It's a substantially different experience from the more typical guns you encounter.
The problem, of course, is that you can't have a weapon that powerful AND have enough ammo to be useful for very long. Torpedoes are the perfect example of this; theoretically loads of power, but in practice terrible due to low ammo totals.
BUT.
We have a mechanic that can give us both. A mechanic that is presently barely utilized, a mechanic that could allow the best of both worlds!
I'm referring, of course, to Reload Time.
Here's the plan.
Current Seeker Missile Stats
Damage: 50
Clip Size: 6
Total Missiles:18
Reload Time: 6 seconds
Proposed Seeker Missile Stats
Damage: 500
Clip Size: 1
Total Missiles: 12
Reload TIme: 90 seconds
See the immediate and massive difference? The same damage as before, but packed into one devastating missile. However, rather than having a total damage per hardpoint of 900, giving you virtually no staying power, this has a total damage of 3600, the same as a C2 multicannon! The key is, you only get one missile every ninety seconds, so you have to make it count. This isn't a weapon you spam anymore; it's a weapon that can singlehandedly change the course of the fight, IF you can get it to hit its target.
At the same time though, I'd change the mechanics of missiles a bit. They should turn more slowly and move more quickly, allowing skillful players to actually dodge them with sufficient skill. They would fly long enough to come around once, but if you dodge them 2-3 times at most, they'd harmlessly explode. This would at least allow you to avoid SOME of your enemy's arsenal.
Ultimately, the goal is to make missiles their own unique thing, not just an inferior version of ordinary weapons!
The biggest problem with Missiles in Elite is they're too much like any other weapon. You have to get a missile lock, true, but after that you basically just spam them en-masse at your enemies, and they do relatively little damage. Compare this with a more dramatic missile lock? In a movie, it's 15-30 seconds of the greatest stress you'll see - but once you dodge or evade it, it's done. It's a substantially different experience from the more typical guns you encounter.
The problem, of course, is that you can't have a weapon that powerful AND have enough ammo to be useful for very long. Torpedoes are the perfect example of this; theoretically loads of power, but in practice terrible due to low ammo totals.
BUT.
We have a mechanic that can give us both. A mechanic that is presently barely utilized, a mechanic that could allow the best of both worlds!
I'm referring, of course, to Reload Time.
Here's the plan.
Current Seeker Missile Stats
Damage: 50
Clip Size: 6
Total Missiles:18
Reload Time: 6 seconds
Proposed Seeker Missile Stats
Damage: 500
Clip Size: 1
Total Missiles: 12
Reload TIme: 90 seconds
See the immediate and massive difference? The same damage as before, but packed into one devastating missile. However, rather than having a total damage per hardpoint of 900, giving you virtually no staying power, this has a total damage of 3600, the same as a C2 multicannon! The key is, you only get one missile every ninety seconds, so you have to make it count. This isn't a weapon you spam anymore; it's a weapon that can singlehandedly change the course of the fight, IF you can get it to hit its target.
At the same time though, I'd change the mechanics of missiles a bit. They should turn more slowly and move more quickly, allowing skillful players to actually dodge them with sufficient skill. They would fly long enough to come around once, but if you dodge them 2-3 times at most, they'd harmlessly explode. This would at least allow you to avoid SOME of your enemy's arsenal.
Ultimately, the goal is to make missiles their own unique thing, not just an inferior version of ordinary weapons!
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