Nerf crowd about to ruin the game again

[Cytanger]

Dear FD,

I'm getting really tired of this.

Now they're talking about killing SCBs, and those are a critical part of PvE. The momentum is very strong, those against the nerf mostly seem to be keeping quiet, and you've shown time and time again that you're very... democratic; you seem to go with what you hear the most. I'm mostly satisfied with the way the game is now, but I'm tired of the mechanics being sliced away by bits and pieces in ways that badly damage the experience because people who are strictly here to duel other players make demands based on the way they want things to go while they fight each other. If you kill SCBs, I will NOT be satisfied at all.

I'm starting to honestly think that we're not going to be able to combine PvP and PvE successfully in the main game. Something needs to change, big time, to save us PvEers from the nerfs you keep imposing on us at the behest of the PvPers.

I agree with the OP.

If the SCB nerf crowd is arguing that SCBs are also bad for PVE they clearly don't understand PVE balancing. To put it bluntly we have unlimited control over the NPCs in this game. If the devs so desired they could turn every NPC in the game into a capital ship, with relatively little effort. This isn't to say that all problems related to NPCs are easy to fix, but that they certainly complain less when changed, and they don't need to have the same rules as humans. IMO SCB nerfs tied to this are basically proposing an overly simplistic solution to a complex problem.

On the PvP side of the fence chasing balance is a fools errand here. ED has had asymmetric PVP from day one and will likely have it till the day it shuts down. The problem with that asymmetry is we can no longer argue from an assumption of parity. Unlike most other games where two people fighting each other are assumed to have the same goal (of participating and winning in PvP), we can't say that's true here. A trader and a pirate have very different goals and need very different sets of equipment to achieve them. Furthermore, large ships and small ships behave in fundamentally different ways (maneuverability, hard-point placement, etc). We can't square this circle because everything would have to be reasonably competitive with everything else. Which would mean because my sidewinder can't kill a well equipped anaconda, we must nerf!

I get that the argument is "but for this module I would be able to kill ship X". That's an uninspired starting position because if I reverse it to "without this module I would not be able to kill ship X", we see that both sides are arguing their opinion on who should win the fight. Again, normally you'd solve that issue by saying both sides should have a "reasonable" chance of winning. But with asymmetric combat we can't do that, because lord only knows what each side is bringing to the fight.

If the devs ever take the time to read this post I emphatically plead the following. Please don't take away options in an impossible attempt to balance, accept the unbalance and give us more options.

 

[Herik]

To be fair I never use them because the AI is so easy there no point. and I have been lucky to fight players who did not have any on them.
however I do think they should stay in game maybe add ionised rounds that counter them or something?

Well, to be fair; we know since SJA mostly dealt with the AI. it's improved considerably -the scaling needs work. But hey, thanks for your opinion.

 

[ROSS-128]

The main problem I have with SCBs is they do their job far too well, they badly distort ED's progression curve. The only other module I can think of that provides even half as much benefit relative to baseline is Hull Reinforcement Packages, and even if powerplant sniping didn't exist those would be pretty tame by comparison, even after having their effective value doubled by military composites.

A single SCB charge will get you more shield points in a typical fight than a shield booster, and SCBs carry multiple charges. In certain ships with a lot of internal space, stacking SCBs can multiply their health pool by a factor of 12 to 13. Overkill much?

 

[Renegade Roach]

Well, to be fair; we know since SJA mostly dealt with the AI. it's improved considerably -the scaling needs work. But hey, thanks for your opinion.

Actually, although it has improved, we also know the AI is totally broken (which doesn't say much for how it was before). They are all stupidly easy, because they're all harmless. It's weird that nobody seems particularly concerned about that revelation, but hey.

 

[xslam]

I got an excellent idea for FD how to solve SCB problem without nerfing them.

Write a script wich will do following changes:

Increase HP of all the ships by 40%
Increase damage output of guns and HP boost of armour packages by 40%

Spoiler

Only few players will understand what is really happened.

 

[Mythryl]

Look man. Ever since FD approached player interaction in the way that they have... they essentially killed the idea of having cool and awesome weapons. Now it all has to be balanced for the sake of PvP before PvE. Not only does this take more effort, but its often counter intuitive since its a never ending cycle. You cannot balance and please everyone in a shooter that allows you to choose a loadout before conflict. As soon as you adjust one thing, several others are now the better choice and its going to continue until the devs simply stop re-adjusting items or they remove/change PvP out in the open as we know it.

This! I was I could give you more rep!

 

[Thebadmf]

Yeah, except that it actually goes precisely the other way around. SCBs are being used so weaker ships can easily wreck stronger / large numbers of ships.

The people defending the SCB Magic Shield Potions are actually people in under-outfitted / less powerful ships that claim that they NEED SCBs in order easily take on hordes of bigger ships (just read the OP's posts), so there goes your (and THEBADMF's) argument...

Everyone would hate SCBs (especially the ones who now defend them) the moment that NPCs would start having piles of magic shield potions too.

I've been playing since Gamma and none of my 900 million cr worth of ships is under-outfitted, but thanks all the same.

PS I have no problem with NPC's using SCB's especially in the final 3 ranks (and even more so in CZ's) pretty sure SJA commented that was coming before she was reassigned.

 

[Reaper99]

I'm a developer too, I suppose the difficulty of the change would mostly depend on how the software was designed. Either way I'd imagine the hardest part would be deciding on the proper (if any) change to do, rather than the actual changing.

I'd be happy to duel, if we ever do meet in the black.

I hope we do meet my friend...duel or not...the conversation after a bottle of lavian brandy should be fun either way while we tell stories