There are a number of changes coming through in the 2.3 beta regarding shields and shield boosters due to the titanic hp inflation with shields at the moment. I think the power distributor is partly to blame. We already saw the beta 2 patch drop with a modification to how the pips affect shields, scaling linearly and not exponentially as before, encouraging less pips to shields as it is less punishing. This is a step in the right direction.
My suggestion is for Frontier to rework the benefits of having four pips in a system. Rewarding alternative styles of play.
Examples:
4 pips in WEP provides a flat 20% reduction to thermal load and distributor draw. Thermal weapons gain an increase to firing rates (25-35%) and armor piercing values (10-15% of base values). Kinetic weapons gain increased reload speeds(35-50%) and a slight increase in firing speed (10-15%). Missiles/Mines/Plasma/Railguns gain increased reload speed (25%).
Just a few examples of what could be done for WEP. These changes aim to make lasers an enticing choice for an aggressive player whilst also taking into account other weapons.
4 pips to ENG reduces the standard engine boost cost (30-60%) and enables the boost to be held down for an afterburner effect. Afterburners cost 25-35% of the engine boost cost (the original value not the reduced amount) per second. Active afterburners provide 60-80% of the boost benefits, the speed and agility increase, in exchange for all of the thermal load. This change also brings into question the "dirty drives or nothing" PvP mentality as the heat of higher grade DD upgrades would become intolerable without heatsink use. This opens up the possibility of clean drives becoming (more) relevant in PvP as they would enable longer burns (and could even reduce the afterburner cost themselves.)
ENG is one of the harder systems to reward but I feel this could add more DYNAMIC builds to PvP/PvE.
For SYS I don't feel much is needed as it already reigns King of the distributor. What I would suggest is having 4 to SYS would increase both your out-of-combat shield regeneration(15-30%) and your broken shield regeneration rate (20-40%). This makes the hybrid bi-weave builds have significant incentive to put pips into SYS and encourages putting pips in once shields are down as they would reform significantly faster and be rewarded for their pip management.
Obviously these are all just idea, numbers tossed out after limited crunching. The most important thing is that the game is challenging and rewarding, I feel that the rampant 4-0-2 piloting kills so much creativity and imagination that all players have. Let me know what you think of the distributor in it's current state and if it even needs changes in your mind.
P. S. On the subject of multi-crew and these changes I feel that it would be best to make MC pips not reward the players with the 4 pip perks, but perhaps it could make MC viable? Who knows. Lend me your opinions.
Apologies for the formatting as I'm on my mobile.
My suggestion is for Frontier to rework the benefits of having four pips in a system. Rewarding alternative styles of play.
Examples:
4 pips in WEP provides a flat 20% reduction to thermal load and distributor draw. Thermal weapons gain an increase to firing rates (25-35%) and armor piercing values (10-15% of base values). Kinetic weapons gain increased reload speeds(35-50%) and a slight increase in firing speed (10-15%). Missiles/Mines/Plasma/Railguns gain increased reload speed (25%).
Just a few examples of what could be done for WEP. These changes aim to make lasers an enticing choice for an aggressive player whilst also taking into account other weapons.
4 pips to ENG reduces the standard engine boost cost (30-60%) and enables the boost to be held down for an afterburner effect. Afterburners cost 25-35% of the engine boost cost (the original value not the reduced amount) per second. Active afterburners provide 60-80% of the boost benefits, the speed and agility increase, in exchange for all of the thermal load. This change also brings into question the "dirty drives or nothing" PvP mentality as the heat of higher grade DD upgrades would become intolerable without heatsink use. This opens up the possibility of clean drives becoming (more) relevant in PvP as they would enable longer burns (and could even reduce the afterburner cost themselves.)
ENG is one of the harder systems to reward but I feel this could add more DYNAMIC builds to PvP/PvE.
For SYS I don't feel much is needed as it already reigns King of the distributor. What I would suggest is having 4 to SYS would increase both your out-of-combat shield regeneration(15-30%) and your broken shield regeneration rate (20-40%). This makes the hybrid bi-weave builds have significant incentive to put pips into SYS and encourages putting pips in once shields are down as they would reform significantly faster and be rewarded for their pip management.
Obviously these are all just idea, numbers tossed out after limited crunching. The most important thing is that the game is challenging and rewarding, I feel that the rampant 4-0-2 piloting kills so much creativity and imagination that all players have. Let me know what you think of the distributor in it's current state and if it even needs changes in your mind.
P. S. On the subject of multi-crew and these changes I feel that it would be best to make MC pips not reward the players with the 4 pip perks, but perhaps it could make MC viable? Who knows. Lend me your opinions.
Apologies for the formatting as I'm on my mobile.