General Suggestion for ED dev team to consider: Torpedoes in Elite Dangerous of 2022 as a whole. Where they are, and what to do with them next.

[Insane4un]

Honestly here is probably (marginally) better. We know devs occasionally browse the suggestion forum, while a suggestion masquerading as an issue report is almost surely going to be closed by a support staffer without ever being seen by dev staff.

Also...


Tell that to the Odyssey weapon clip upgrade that somehow lets you fire a double barrel shotgun three times before reloading.

I don't see any issues in logic here, it's not the double barrel makes it to fire 2 times, it's the cartridge with enough of juice to use it twice, doing it. By increasing amount of said juice in the cartridge, you get one more charge. It's simple, that's because you are not firing with shells, but with some magicum from a magical battery.

So, i don't think FD can increase a capacity of torpedoes based on the model we see in game. And they certainly will never bother to rework it to the point of changing model. That's silly to expect things like this from FD.

 

[Darth Ender]

I don't see any issues in logic here, it's not the double barrel makes it to fire 2 times, it's the cartridge with enough of juice to use it twice, doing it. By increasing amount of said juice in the cartridge, you get one more charge. It's simple, that's because you are firing with shells, but with some magicum from a some magic battery.

or it's engineers and logic was thrown out long ago so dont think too hard about any of it.

anything being logically sound regarding them is coincidental generally.

if we can accept healing and cooling lasers and other magic effects that aren't based in any kind of reality ....i think we can accept a bit of ammo that comes from no where.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

What is better, to let this suggestion die here like millions of others, or to let it be closed by FD while also forcing FD to see it once, while they are in the process of closing it? Let's just assume in the second case we have chances a bit higher than zero to be noticed and heard by FD.

Some random support person whose job it is to maintain the list will just see it as a suggestion and close it.

Not to disparage support, but they have a job to do, probably very busy days, and its not their job to pass on suggestions incorrectly flagged as issues. If it worked like that, then we'd all be raising suggestions as issues.

I think there has even been a suggestion for FD to make a suggestion system like the issue system, so suggestions could get logged. It would be about as useful as the issue system though or these forums. If nobody is really looking at it, then its just dead space.

Personally i'd just love torps (and missiles) to go back to how they were before the great nerf. But apparently because they were abused by griefers, we can't have nice things.

 

[Ski'Thor]

Thanks for the interesing reading.
I now want to equip my explorerconda with torpedos!
Just because your passion for getting torpedos useful at least was inspiring

 

[V'larr]

Thanks for the interesing reading.
I now want to equip my explorerconda with torpedos!
Just because your passion for getting torpedos useful at least was inspiring

What for? Granted that places to re-arm are much more widespread than they were in exploring days of yore, but like...outside of an armed trader or specific mission tasks, I wouldn't think it's suited to exploration even if they were in a justifiably-usable state.

 

[Ski'Thor]

What for? Granted that places to re-arm are much more widespread than they were in exploring days of yore, but like...outside of an armed trader or specific mission tasks, I wouldn't think it's suited to exploration even if they were in a justifiably-usable state.

Because I can!
It's the "flaire"... like a submarine... in the dark for month... and than, you see something strange and dangerous, but you feel safe, because you have torpedos!!

 

[Kissamies]

No need to overcomplicate things.

Give torpedoes an insanely high top speed but relatively low acceleration/deceleration/turning rate so you can't just run away from them in a straight line any more and have to outmanoeuvre them.

Make them bypass shields entirely (or have an experimental effect, flechette payload, that detonates on a shield-strike and shotguns a bunch of flechettes at the target at point blank range) so they become a means of crippling shielded ships, rather than hoping you land enough reverbs to take out the shield generator so you can finish up with your other weapons.

That would be exactly my approach as well. Completely bypass shields and armour to hit components, and be fast, but slow to accelerate and turn. However, I fear it is as Old Duck said. Torpedoes don't fit the way this game plays. Conceptually they should be big missiles to be used against big ships, but the big ships are just big small ships. Capital ships and installations could serve as proxy for big ships, but they can't be destroyed. It might be nice flavour if in CZ or one of those 'defend the megaship' scenarios a bunch of NPC ships armed with torpedoes jumped in and targeted the heat relays.

Special AX torpedoes might be fun too. Guaranteed to take out up to a Medusa's heart with one hit, but you have to fire it at the right place at the right time for it to catch the interceptor. Very niche, but could have a place with those medium skilled players trying to take out the harder interceptors as a group.

 

[dm06]

Would also need an AX mod of some sort. Try firing conventional missiles at a Thargoid target sometime. And then run away very fast, since while it annoys them the missiles literally bounce off.

T-10 with the torpedos vs medusa, 4 seconds instakill, yeah! That's what we need.

 

[Screemonster]

That would be exactly my approach as well. Completely bypass shields and armour to hit components, and be fast, but slow to accelerate and turn. However, I fear it is as Old Duck said. Torpedoes don't fit the way this game plays. Conceptually they should be big missiles to be used against big ships, but the big ships are just big small ships. Capital ships and installations could serve as proxy for big ships, but they can't be destroyed. It might be nice flavour if in CZ or one of those 'defend the megaship' scenarios a bunch of NPC ships armed with torpedoes jumped in and targeted the heat relays.

Special AX torpedoes might be fun too. Guaranteed to take out up to a Medusa's heart with one hit, but you have to fire it at the right place at the right time for it to catch the interceptor. Very niche, but could have a place with those medium skilled players trying to take out the harder interceptors as a group.

I'd love it if torps allowed you to target parts of a megaship or capship that couldn't be damaged with other weapons, for a faster (or more effective!) kill.

Like, take out fire control and it cripples the ability for their turrets to aim, take out the bridge to maybe make them try to retreat even with the heat relays intact
... take out the engines so the ship cannot retreat if you're feeling super super ballsy - if you can cripple it so it can't leave and then continue to win the zone (while down a couple of hardpoints, mind!) before they're able to make repairs, then your side can force a surrender and capture it. In game terms, this'd translate to a modest inf/rep boost and a chunky credit reward.

 

[Danieros]

Low ammo weapons suffered the most from engineering inflation to health/resistances/integrity. Torpedos have by far the lowest amount of ammo, so they suffered the most. Especially since their blueprints options are even more limited than missiles.

 

[Tividar]

Base-line increase ammo buy a factor of three (so 3/6/12). Damage x Ammo Maximum would then be at parity for Seekers (which isn't all that great).
Add High Capacity as an Engineering option.
Add Increase Shot Speed (G5 +50%) for a top speed of 325 m/s
Add an Experimental (AX fungal payload) Converts 80% of the damage to AX damage-over-time.

on the AX mod, that'd be something very much like the Enzyme Missile Rack. Its primary use would be to extend the duration of the Exert Heart phase since the DOT would slow the rate of regeneration.

 

[Robert de Vries]

Torpedoes probably are big enough to carry a nuke as a warhead. Those could prove handy on redundant fleet carriers.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

Torpedoes probably are big enough to carry a nuke as a warhead. Those could prove handy on redundant fleet carriers.

FE2 and FFE had those, they were used to blow up satellites. Though realistically nukes make little sense in space. The blast wave does not exist without an atmosphere. The radiation wuld also be only moderately effective, since spaceships need to carry a ton of radiation shielding against the interstellar radiation, ones with human crew at least.

 

[Tividar]

FE2 and FFE had those, they were used to blow up satellites. Though realistically nukes make little sense in space. The blast wave does not exist without an atmosphere. The radiation wuld also be only moderately effective, since spaceships need to carry a ton of radiation shielding against the interstellar radiation, ones with human crew at least.

Nuclear shaped charge?

 

[V'larr]

Because I can!
It's the "flaire"... like a submarine... in the dark for month... and than, you see something strange and dangerous, but you feel safe, because you have torpedos!!

Or...you can have Gundam lasers. Or missiles and autocannons, though that still leaves the same issue of limiting how long you can linger in the dark and still deal with the dangerous things that lurk there. An all-laser defensive setup would probably be the most sensible weapon outfit for deep exploring voyages in the Elite universe, with maybe one or two huge/large kinetic guns for dealing with sturdier threats.

The point is, even leaving aside the balance problems outlined in this thread, there's better ideas than torpedos for armed explorers, because they're suited for roles that allow frequent re-arming and/or need a quick kill fast, but don't need to stick around a while.

 

[V'larr]

FE2 and FFE had those, they were used to blow up satellites. Though realistically nukes make little sense in space. The blast wave does not exist without an atmosphere. The radiation wuld also be only moderately effective, since spaceships need to carry a ton of radiation shielding against the interstellar radiation, ones with human crew at least.

There's more than a few ways to make nuclear weapons dangerous in space. Being born by a seeking torpedo would make the energy plenty deadly in close proximity, and that's without considering intentionally having a shell around it designed to become an outwardly expand sphere of shrapnel. Cosmic interstellar radiation and the radiation of a close proximity nuclear weapon going off are very different scales of lethality, as well.

Nuclear weapons are frightening, y'all. (Probably why nuclear weapons in space were banned by everyone very early on in history.)

I don't think the Elite Dangerous universe permits nuclear weapons in military use, and besides, it would not be balance-able. It could be fine in a single-player environment like FE2/FFE were, but no way does it fit in a PvP or even Co-op experience.

 

[Fizzatron]

Tell that to the Odyssey weapon clip upgrade that somehow lets you fire a double barrel shotgun three times before reloading.

Simple, double pump shotgun.

 

[Nadreck]

They definitely need more speed and damage, it's pitiful that they only do twice as much damage as a seeker.

One thing they could also do is add the Scramble Spectrum effect as standard (i.e. in addition to whatever experimental you've applied), and have that work through shields. Coding would be minimal, as the effect already exists. So getting hit by a torpedo would temporarily "mess you up" in some way.

 

[Maolagin]

There's more than a few ways to make nuclear weapons dangerous in space. Being born by a seeking torpedo would make the energy plenty deadly in close proximity, and that's without considering intentionally having a shell around it designed to become an outwardly expand sphere of shrapnel. Cosmic interstellar radiation and the radiation of a close proximity nuclear weapon going off are very different scales of lethality, as well.

Nuclear weapons are frightening, y'all. (Probably why nuclear weapons in space were banned by everyone very early on in history.)

I don't think the Elite Dangerous universe permits nuclear weapons in military use, and besides, it would not be balance-able. It could be fine in a single-player environment like FE2/FFE were, but no way does it fit in a PvP or even Co-op experience.

Nuclear weapons would not be especially frightening to a starship with sufficiently advanced thermal and radiation protection that it can fly through the corona of a blue giant or the jet of a neutron star. Of course, it's not really clear why ordinary guns would pose much risk to a ship that hardy either. On the other side of the coin, a close proximity nuclear flash could easily deliver a million times the energy to the surface of a ship than a volley from any ship weapon we have, which suggests that nuclear torpedoes or mines would be massively overpowered. Probably best not to have them in game at all rather than deal with all that handwaving.

The point is, even leaving aside the balance problems outlined in this thread, there's better ideas than torpedos for armed explorers, because they're suited for roles that allow frequent re-arming and/or need a quick kill fast, but don't need to stick around a while.

Indeed. One assumes an armed explorer generally cares more about escaping than defeating an enemy, and would have long enough jump range that no conventional warship could plausibly follow their wake. A countermeasure that temporarily interferes with weapon systems long enough to jump away is what you want, ideally one that doesn't rely on hardpoints so it works while the FSD is charging. Chaff, heatsinks, shields, and minimally competent evasive piloting already fill this role against the vast majority of assailants. I suppose one could ask for even more effective versions of those, but it's hard to think of what would be so effective that it saves you from the small minority of skilled gankers without just becoming the new defensive meta (and most explorers still wouldn't use it because they want to minmax for jump range).

 

[Insane4un]

It would've been nice to keep voting on it, while there is still a chance to get some attention from FD