Reverberating Cascade Torpedoes Massively OP (with indirect buff) and Feedback Cascade Rails slightly over-nerfed Updated With Video
As the title says:
Reverberating Cascade Torpedoes are the new noob PvPer "Iwin" button. They are also the new PvP meta in general like the Heat Meta and Rapid Phase Pulse Meta before it.
With 2.2.03 we have seen a change (intentional and indirect buff by Fdev) to the way ECM works. Now ECM only knocks torpedoes off course temporarily, instead of destroying the torpedoes the way it used to. After they are knocked off course, they eventually re-acquire their target, with only Point Defense capable of doing any damage against torpedoes.
Point defense has always been and still is underwhelming against torpedoes, since they have more "hit points" than regular missiles. To make PD viable against a Reverb Torpedo attack, I propose an Engineer mod that makes PD have a higher damage rating (OC) but reduces their rate of fire and clip size.
PD must now be used in conjunction with ECM to have ANY chance against this new Meta, and even then Reverb Torps are massively and stupidly OP against any medium to large ship, and even smaller ships flown by pilots lacking in skill.
This has made it unbelievably easy to take out the shields of even a Cutter, with an 8A shield, with just one 4 torpedo (two medium hardpoints worth) volley of Reverb Torps.
Before 2.2.03, I would blame the CMDR for taking the risk of not equipping ECM. Now even ECM+PD is not really an adequate defense because PD takes forever to destroy one torpedo much less a volley of 4.
IMO, what should change here to honor the developers intent (make these torpedoes viable while balancing their use vs. available defenses, I believe FDev have failed here), is that ECM should still do damage that is cumulative to torpedoes (torpedoes have or should have hull hit points like ships) and scales with distance; meaning that if they are hit with an ECM blast at 500 meters vs. 2.5km, more damage is done, AND/OR as I mentioned before modifications should be made available to PD to better defend against torpedoes.
I also believe, that even though it may appear right now that there is SOME damage scaling against larger shields, that it should be adjusted even further; meaning that if it currently takes 4 torpedoes to knock out the 8A shield of a Cutter, it should take 6, 5 for a 7A shield, and so on.
TL,DR: Making ECM only knock torpedoes off course temporarily instead of destroying them out right was a massive indirect overbuff to reverberating cascade torpedoes, making them the new "all too necessary" go-to meta of choice for PvP players new and old, and making the larger ships no longer viable in PvP wing battles or even some 1v1 engagements.
Now, on to Feedback Cascade Rail guns. These have been over-nerfed. They were OP, now they are a joke.
Even with an Imperial Hammer (medium harpoint) that "catches" a SCB recharge early, it sometimes seems to have NO effect, even with multiple (4-6 hits) direct hits as fast as you can dish them out. IMO, you shouldn't have to equip multiple medium Feedback Rails to make this viable.
This reduces the diversity of hardpoint selection available on a ship unnecessarily. I think the effectiveness decrease of using only one hardpoint should be scaled back a bit, and I think the number of hits should be decreased from 5-7 to 3-4.
Also, and I don't believe this to be a bug, I think that if you don't "catch" a SCB early enough, it almost appears to have zero effect.
TL,DR: Feedback Cascade has been over-nerfed to the point where it is no longer a good choice for either PvP or PvE, as it often appears to have either no effect or a negligible effect, even when landing multiple, rapid, successive hits with an Imperial Hammer.
Last thing; I know that FDev has been working hard to balance combat in this game, especially with the release of 2.2.03, but I really have to wonder why this doesn't come up during a beta, or if it did, why the Devs didn't listen and make changes accordingly.
Update: Case in point, here I am able to easily destroy this Dangerous Vette CMDR with Prismatic shields, even though I actually screw up the torpedo shots. The first volley is sent too early and at the wrong angle, and I only shoot 3 thinking I shot all 4. His PD starts firing at them but doesn't destroy them or appear to damage them in any way. Later they reacquire and take a 7A prismatic shield down to 16%, with PD firing at them as they track in. Later I realize I haven't fired the 4th so fire it off thinking it will never hit. It does a little while later. The rest is, well, just watch:
[video=youtube_share;9CYlfT_UyjI]https://youtu.be/9CYlfT_UyjI[/video]
As the title says:
Reverberating Cascade Torpedoes are the new noob PvPer "Iwin" button. They are also the new PvP meta in general like the Heat Meta and Rapid Phase Pulse Meta before it.
With 2.2.03 we have seen a change (intentional and indirect buff by Fdev) to the way ECM works. Now ECM only knocks torpedoes off course temporarily, instead of destroying the torpedoes the way it used to. After they are knocked off course, they eventually re-acquire their target, with only Point Defense capable of doing any damage against torpedoes.
Point defense has always been and still is underwhelming against torpedoes, since they have more "hit points" than regular missiles. To make PD viable against a Reverb Torpedo attack, I propose an Engineer mod that makes PD have a higher damage rating (OC) but reduces their rate of fire and clip size.
PD must now be used in conjunction with ECM to have ANY chance against this new Meta, and even then Reverb Torps are massively and stupidly OP against any medium to large ship, and even smaller ships flown by pilots lacking in skill.
This has made it unbelievably easy to take out the shields of even a Cutter, with an 8A shield, with just one 4 torpedo (two medium hardpoints worth) volley of Reverb Torps.
Before 2.2.03, I would blame the CMDR for taking the risk of not equipping ECM. Now even ECM+PD is not really an adequate defense because PD takes forever to destroy one torpedo much less a volley of 4.
IMO, what should change here to honor the developers intent (make these torpedoes viable while balancing their use vs. available defenses, I believe FDev have failed here), is that ECM should still do damage that is cumulative to torpedoes (torpedoes have or should have hull hit points like ships) and scales with distance; meaning that if they are hit with an ECM blast at 500 meters vs. 2.5km, more damage is done, AND/OR as I mentioned before modifications should be made available to PD to better defend against torpedoes.
I also believe, that even though it may appear right now that there is SOME damage scaling against larger shields, that it should be adjusted even further; meaning that if it currently takes 4 torpedoes to knock out the 8A shield of a Cutter, it should take 6, 5 for a 7A shield, and so on.
TL,DR: Making ECM only knock torpedoes off course temporarily instead of destroying them out right was a massive indirect overbuff to reverberating cascade torpedoes, making them the new "all too necessary" go-to meta of choice for PvP players new and old, and making the larger ships no longer viable in PvP wing battles or even some 1v1 engagements.
Now, on to Feedback Cascade Rail guns. These have been over-nerfed. They were OP, now they are a joke.
Even with an Imperial Hammer (medium harpoint) that "catches" a SCB recharge early, it sometimes seems to have NO effect, even with multiple (4-6 hits) direct hits as fast as you can dish them out. IMO, you shouldn't have to equip multiple medium Feedback Rails to make this viable.
This reduces the diversity of hardpoint selection available on a ship unnecessarily. I think the effectiveness decrease of using only one hardpoint should be scaled back a bit, and I think the number of hits should be decreased from 5-7 to 3-4.
Also, and I don't believe this to be a bug, I think that if you don't "catch" a SCB early enough, it almost appears to have zero effect.
TL,DR: Feedback Cascade has been over-nerfed to the point where it is no longer a good choice for either PvP or PvE, as it often appears to have either no effect or a negligible effect, even when landing multiple, rapid, successive hits with an Imperial Hammer.
Last thing; I know that FDev has been working hard to balance combat in this game, especially with the release of 2.2.03, but I really have to wonder why this doesn't come up during a beta, or if it did, why the Devs didn't listen and make changes accordingly.
Update: Case in point, here I am able to easily destroy this Dangerous Vette CMDR with Prismatic shields, even though I actually screw up the torpedo shots. The first volley is sent too early and at the wrong angle, and I only shoot 3 thinking I shot all 4. His PD starts firing at them but doesn't destroy them or appear to damage them in any way. Later they reacquire and take a 7A prismatic shield down to 16%, with PD firing at them as they track in. Later I realize I haven't fired the 4th so fire it off thinking it will never hit. It does a little while later. The rest is, well, just watch:
[video=youtube_share;9CYlfT_UyjI]https://youtu.be/9CYlfT_UyjI[/video]
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