Petition:Federal Corvette balance Tweak

[Ragnarr_Lothgar]

First off, I do not want some crazy unbalanced killing machine.

I like the way the ship is balanced against the conda and the cutter.

My one BIG issue with the Corvette is the hard points.
The single L hard point is positioned in a defensive position making it almost impossible to use in aggressive combat which effectively means the Corvette has 2 small 2 med and 2 huge hard points to fight with and with the current limited huge weapons our ability to efficiently load out to even compare to the conda is nearly impossible.

Here is my suggestion: Remove the Large hard point completely and replace it with 2 medium hard points. Swap the two existing Small hard point positions with the current L position and make the current two small hard point positions mediums.

Bringing the number of hard points up to 8, the same as the Anaconda but less because the conda has 1H, 3L, 2M, 2S.

So the new load out will look like this.

Federal Corvette:
2Huge Located behind the bridge(current location)
4Medium One on either side(current locations) and 2 near the nose, top side(replacing current small points)
2Small-Located under the chassis(replacing 1L position)

I believe this retrofit would bring the Corvette out of the rich boy toy category and into the viable combat oriented Anaconda competition. As of Right now the Conda has more dps, more armor and more hard points than this "Combat" specific ship.

I do not believe this would over power the game or the ship group but add a combat specific ship as was advertised.

Please comment and or share positive or negative I want feed back if I am the only one thinking this way or if I am off in left field.

 

[Ragnarr_Lothgar]

First off, I do not want some crazy unbalanced killing machine.

I like the way the ship is balanced against the conda and the cutter.

My one BIG issue with the Corvette is the hard points.
The single L hard point is positioned in a defensive position making it almost impossible to use in aggressive combat which effectively means the Corvette has 2 small 2 med and 2 huge hard points to fight with and with the current limited huge weapons our ability to efficiently load out to even compare to the conda is nearly impossible.

Here is my suggestion: Remove the Large hard point completely and replace it with 2 medium hard points. Swap the two existing Small hard point positions with the current L position and make the current two small hard point positions mediums.

Bringing the number of hard points up to 8, the same as the Anaconda but less because the conda has 1H, 3L, 2M, 2S.

So the new load out will look like this.

Federal Corvette:
2Huge Located behind the bridge(current location)
4Medium One on either side(current locations) and 2 near the nose, top side(replacing current small points)
2Small-Located under the chassis(replacing 1L position)

I believe this retrofit would bring the Corvette out of the rich boy toy category and into the viable combat oriented Anaconda competition. As of Right now the Conda has more dps, more armor and more hard points than this "Combat" specific ship.

I do not believe this would over power the game or the ship group but add a combat specific ship as was advertised.

Please comment and or share positive or negative I want feed back if I am the only one thinking this way or if I am off in left field.

Maybe I am too early, not too many people fly this ship yet so I guess that's why there is limited feedback...

 

[Strayker]

Maybe I am too early, not too many people fly this ship yet so I guess that's why there is limited feedback...

I know this is a month-old thread now, but what the hey.

There have been similar topics elsewhere but never hurts to discuss further. Like you Ragnarr, I feel that the Corvette can feel a little strange in combat, particularly when it's a recent acquisition after a Conda. A BattleConda is a force to reckon with regardless of the ships being fought, and yet the Corvette feels more niche and in some ways vulnerable in the same situations. Personally I agree it is a hardpoint issue - my Conda had 3 hard-hitting class 3 pulse lasers (capable of killing smaller ships in seconds), class 2 MCs and class 4 PA (for medium ships and larger), leaving class 1s with seeker missiles (rapid destruction of smaller ships). This setup was massively fun and extremely effective in PVE.

The Corvette can't have a setup as versatile (IMHO), and as you say the class 3 placement is poor as it difficult to acquire targets when chasing them.

As things stand now, I agree that it could do with a slight revision: relocating smalls to underside, and replacing them with a more useful size class topside (2 class 2s or class 3s), as you suggested, would probably be an easy and not overpowered solution.

My only hesitation (and hope I guess) is that perhaps future plans such as deployable fighters will provide balance; Corvette having 2 fighters to the Conda's 1. Though this will be highly dependent on whether deployable fighters are a gimmick that are instantly annihilated with a quick couple of shots, or actually useful.

Out of interest, would decent deployable fighters change your thoughts on Corvette balancing at all?

 

[Psycho Romeo]

I think it would be a more intelligent course of action to wait for the weapons balance pass to hit before making any hardpoint suggestions. The two huge hard points may end up becoming much more powerful.

 

[CMDR Atmosfera]

i want a little bit more powerplant juice and bigger fsd

 

[Lazerus Artificial]

I think it would be a more intelligent course of action to wait for the weapons balance pass to hit before making any hardpoint suggestions. The two huge hard points may end up becoming much more powerful.

and the new huge weapons...maybe they are better than we expect them to be?

 

[Strayker]

and the new huge weapons...maybe they are better than we expect them to be?

Yea I agree that could be the case, which is why I qualified my comment with "As things stand now". With intro of huge lasers I have little doubt that people will use them.

It does worry me slightly though that they could be a nail in the coffin of huge cannons and plasma accelerators as these are very situational (except for fun; I know I will keep using my PA's, mixing up every now and again for a change).

I may be in the minority, I'm not sure, but I've really never been a fan of ships fielding a complete laser setup, personally it seems effective but a little dull; ships with multiple weapon types are cool and very fun to use (if anyone disagrees then power to you). Hopefully the existing huge weapons will be made/kept viable. Don't want huge lasers to be the ONLY viable huge weapon, even if with regards to a ship like the Corvette it could up its damage per sec.

That said, huge Beams does scream out Deathstar but would like good options

 

[Lazerus Artificial]

Yea I agree that could be the case, which is why I qualified my comment with "As things stand now". With intro of huge lasers I have little doubt that people will use them.

It does worry me slightly though that they could be a nail in the coffin of huge cannons and plasma accelerators as these are very situational (except for fun; I know I will keep using my PA's, mixing up every now and again for a change).

I may be in the minority, I'm not sure, but I've really never been a fan of ships fielding a complete laser setup, personally it seems effective but a little dull; ships with multiple weapon types are cool and very fun to use (if anyone disagrees then power to you). Hopefully the existing huge weapons will be made/kept viable. Don't want huge lasers to be the ONLY viable huge weapon, even if with regards to a ship like the Corvette it could up its damage per sec.

That said, huge Beams does scream out Deathstar but would like good options

personally im not that hyped for the big lasers. someone in the dev topic mentioned, that the bigger size increases the capacitor drain by +60%, with only +33% more damage compared to the previous size.
so not usable on a cutter then...and since they are fixed only, a gimbaled large laser might be the better choice. but we will see how they will be.
i just want large and huge missile racks, so that can turn my cutter into a missile boat...

 

[Arithon]

I have a Corvette and understand where you are coming from.

The thing is, a Huge hard point has the fire power equal to two large, as a Large is two mediums and so on. The Corvette has seven hard points compared to the Anaconda's eight because basically the two large ones are merged to a second Huge. I can see Frontier's logic in this, but it has left the Corvette (as a combat vessel) underpowered by any measure.

Ignoring the coming additional large and huge weapons, which will give more choice, the issue is still lack of fire-power. Also agility and hard-point position are a factor, but it boils down to the fact that no matter how good a pilot you are, you cannot shoot the gun you don't have.

A simple way to quantify this, is to multiply each ship's hard-point count by their class number to get a "fire-power" rating for each ship. The OPs point then becomes very clear. The Anaconda just has the most fire-power.

Now obviously, this doesn't mean an Orca is a better combat vessel than Vulture, because the Vulture is far more agile and better armoured. As I said, there are other factors. But in a straight face-to-face shoot-out, the Anaconda would blow the Corvette away (and cost a lot less doing it).

A second Large hard-point would raise it's rating to 20 or a third Medium would raise it to 19. Ideally, swapping the Small hard-points on top for Mediums would raise the rating to 19, equal to the Anaconda. So 1 Large, 4 Medium and 2 Huge. Still 7 but equal to the Anaconda.

Maybe Mike Evans or Michael Brookes might like to post something in the development news on how Frontier calculate "fire-power" and how the hard-point make up of various ships was decided.

 

[Strayker]

Arithon - I like the way you've quantified the firepower of the different vessels, it makes for interesting comparisons.

Using your method the Corvette and Anaconda will have same firepower after deployable fighters is released (if the fighters are identical) as 'Vette is proposed to have 2 compared to the 'Conda's 1.
2 fighters with 2 small hardpoints = 4
1 fighter with 2 small hardpoints = 2

This would mean Corvette value goes from 17 to 21, and the Anaconda goes from 19 to 21, thus becoming the same. I actually find this pretty interesting as a concept.

(Unless deployable fighters suck... Time will tell!)

 

[Arithon]

Arithon - I like the way you've quantified the firepower of the different vessels, it makes for interesting comparisons.

Using your method the Corvette and Anaconda will have same firepower after deployable fighters is released (if the fighters are identical) as 'Vette is proposed to have 2 compared to the 'Conda's 1.
2 fighters with 2 small hardpoints = 4
1 fighter with 2 small hardpoints = 2

This would mean Corvette value goes from 17 to 21, and the Anaconda goes from 19 to 21, thus becoming the same. I actually find this pretty interesting as a concept.

(Unless deployable fighters suck... Time will tell!)

This is always the thing about asking for a change to the game. We see the Corvette as a "17" and the Anaconda as "19" while Frontier see the impact ship-launched fighters have, knowing rather than guessing what comes next. So they can know they're both a "21" in the long-run.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

This is always the thing about asking for a change to the game. We see the Corvette as a "17" and the Anaconda as "19" while Frontier see the impact ship-launched fighters have, knowing rather than guessing what comes next. So they can know they're both a "21" in the long-run.

Not enough people understand this.

 

[Ragnarr_Lothgar]

Not enough people understand this.

To be honest I automatically assume fighters will suck when you look at CQC ships, both of them die in 2-3 hits. They are weak and very quick. I suspect the AI will spend more time ramming into the enemy ships rather than doing damage with their weapons much like limpets tend to do to a rotating asteroid.

I still stand by my original suggestion even with the fighters and new hard points being added. The Corvette is like the Cutter an elite ship that takes quite a bit to earn. It should be better at combat than the Anaconda as it is the multi role vessel of the light frigate class. The Cutter is a better trader than the Conda but not a better fighter. The Corvette should be a better fighter but not good at exploration/trading as it is currently terrible at both.

As it stands for combat the best large size ships in order are
Anaconda
Corvette
Cutter

Why is a jack of all trades better at combat than a combat ship with it's base weapons? Don't get me wrong I still prefer my corvette over my Anaconda but if I were on a budget I would sell the corvette and keep the Conda because it is hands down the best ship in the game.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Why is a jack of all trades better at combat than a combat ship with it's base weapons? Don't get me wrong I still prefer my corvette over my Anaconda but if I were on a budget I would sell the corvette and keep the Conda because it is hands down the best ship in the game.

Because the same disconnect between what FD sees and what players see regarding ship fighters may be present with huge hard points as well.

 

[Lazerus Artificial]

To be honest I automatically assume fighters will suck when you look at CQC ships, both of them die in 2-3 hits. They are weak and very quick. I suspect the AI will spend more time ramming into the enemy ships rather than doing damage with their weapons much like limpets tend to do to a rotating asteroid.

I still stand by my original suggestion even with the fighters and new hard points being added. The Corvette is like the Cutter an elite ship that takes quite a bit to earn. It should be better at combat than the Anaconda as it is the multi role vessel of the light frigate class. The Cutter is a better trader than the Conda but not a better fighter. The Corvette should be a better fighter but not good at exploration/trading as it is currently terrible at both.

As it stands for combat the best large size ships in order are
Anaconda
Corvette
Cutter

Why is a jack of all trades better at combat than a combat ship with it's base weapons? Don't get me wrong I still prefer my corvette over my Anaconda but if I were on a budget I would sell the corvette and keep the Conda because it is hands down the best ship in the game.

From what we have heard so far
CQC Fighter != Ship Launched Fighter
It was said a few times that for example the Sidewinder is simply too big, and that the Ship Launched Fighters are basically a hardpoint with an engine, so nothing like the CQC Ships.
https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDange...hiplaunched_fighters_details_from_mike_evans/