Frankly, it sounds like you've just designed an entirely different game.
TRY to be reasonable in your proposed changes. We're expecting TWEAKS, not massive overhauls of the ENTIRE combat system.
What combat balances are proposed?
- Thread starter Miko
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Frankly, it sounds like you've just designed an entirely different game.
TRY to be reasonable in your proposed changes. We're expecting TWEAKS, not massive overhauls of the ENTIRE combat system.
Here's a few things I'd like to see.
1. Rails really do need to be rebalanced somehow. Right now they're basically superior to laser weapons in every way. Better range, better DPE, better module damage, better DPS. Their only real downside is their heat generation, but that can be managed pretty dang easily via thermal vent lasers. Maybe lower their Breach Chance a lot? They should be good at killing modules, yes, but not instantly when the shields go down. Make them have to pound a few holes in the hull first. On top of that, maybe change their damage type to pure kinetic, to make lasers better at taking down shields. Those two changes might make them more balanced than right now.
2. Remove Module Reinforcements, nobody likes having to use them; instead, change the E-Grade Hull Reinforcements to still give their current bonuses AND the current D-grade module reinforcement values as well. Nobody uses E-Grade HRPs and nobody LIKES using MRPs, so combine them and cut the annoyance in half.
3. Dramatically increase Torpedo damage. They have very limited ammo, but they should still be doing around the same ballpark of damage from other types of weapons. A class 1 multicannon does a total of 2420 damage; change Torpedoes so they do 1500 damage instead of the current 120, and they'd be really truly scary, and not just for the Reverb Cascade effect. And they'd be in the same ballpark as other weapons.
4. Add some new Engineering effects for AFMUs and Repair Limpet Controllers, to make them more interesting and fun to play with in a combat setting. For example:
AFMU
Distributed Repairs: -33% repair speed, AFMU can repair multiple modules simultaneously.
Auto-Servos: AFMU constantly repairs a tiny amount of any damaged modules at no cost.
Weapons-Focused: AFMU repairs retracted weapons automatically and extremely rapidly(+400%). Repair times on all other modules increased by 50%.
Repair Limpet Controller
Active Repairs: The Damage Threshold for repairs to be cancelled is increased by 400%. -10% repair capacity. (you have to be hit four times instead of one for the repair to cancel)
Spot Welding: +50% Repair Speed. Active Limpets generate significant heat while active.
Vacuum Welding: +10% Repair Speed. Active Limpets absorb some heat while active.
5. Slightly buff the Rapid Fire effect for burst and pulse lasers, potentially by giving it a slight increase to minimum range. Right now it's strictly inferior to Short Range in terms of damage, and to an Efficient Beam Laser in terms of DPE AND Damage.
I could list quite a few more, but this would be a neat start.
1. Rails really do need to be rebalanced somehow. Right now they're basically superior to laser weapons in every way. Better range, better DPE, better module damage, better DPS. Their only real downside is their heat generation, but that can be managed pretty dang easily via thermal vent lasers. Maybe lower their Breach Chance a lot? They should be good at killing modules, yes, but not instantly when the shields go down. Make them have to pound a few holes in the hull first. On top of that, maybe change their damage type to pure kinetic, to make lasers better at taking down shields. Those two changes might make them more balanced than right now.
2. Remove Module Reinforcements, nobody likes having to use them; instead, change the E-Grade Hull Reinforcements to still give their current bonuses AND the current D-grade module reinforcement values as well. Nobody uses E-Grade HRPs and nobody LIKES using MRPs, so combine them and cut the annoyance in half.
3. Dramatically increase Torpedo damage. They have very limited ammo, but they should still be doing around the same ballpark of damage from other types of weapons. A class 1 multicannon does a total of 2420 damage; change Torpedoes so they do 1500 damage instead of the current 120, and they'd be really truly scary, and not just for the Reverb Cascade effect. And they'd be in the same ballpark as other weapons.
4. Add some new Engineering effects for AFMUs and Repair Limpet Controllers, to make them more interesting and fun to play with in a combat setting. For example:
AFMU
Distributed Repairs: -33% repair speed, AFMU can repair multiple modules simultaneously.
Auto-Servos: AFMU constantly repairs a tiny amount of any damaged modules at no cost.
Weapons-Focused: AFMU repairs retracted weapons automatically and extremely rapidly(+400%). Repair times on all other modules increased by 50%.
Repair Limpet Controller
Active Repairs: The Damage Threshold for repairs to be cancelled is increased by 400%. -10% repair capacity. (you have to be hit four times instead of one for the repair to cancel)
Spot Welding: +50% Repair Speed. Active Limpets generate significant heat while active.
Vacuum Welding: +10% Repair Speed. Active Limpets absorb some heat while active.
5. Slightly buff the Rapid Fire effect for burst and pulse lasers, potentially by giving it a slight increase to minimum range. Right now it's strictly inferior to Short Range in terms of damage, and to an Efficient Beam Laser in terms of DPE AND Damage.
I could list quite a few more, but this would be a neat start.
I just want to fly a small ship and be an actual threat to medium ships. Small ask...
You totally can. Small ships are supremely maneuverable, while large ships...aren't.
I've killed every type of large ship in my sidewinder. It's not terribly efficient, but that's what you get for trying to drive in a nail with a balloon.
Speaking of, buff Captial ships
They just twiddling credit supply dials.
The end.
The end.
Kitty!!
In PvE, yes. I've done this.
In PvP, it's pretty much accepted that a small ship is just fodder, unless it's a Vulture. At least, that's the understanding I get. (Still a PvP noob)
You technically can beat Medium ship with Small one (in PVP, because in PVE with engineering everything is possible), but firepower difference is enormous, say, between Eagle and Krait II. Other pilots either has to make so terrible mistakes during combat or have very wrong loadout for the job.
Small ships actually do have their own share of advantages. Many of the most proportionately powerful weapons go in small slots. At the same time, most of the meta PVP weapons are fixed, which can make hitting smaller, more maneuverable ships very difficult.
The vulture is a fun ship, no doubt about it, but I'd hesitate to call it the best small ship; not when class 2 railguns can do more DPS with better DPE at better range than class 3 lasers. And, on top of it all, ignore armor hardness besides.
A properly built and engineered small ship can be an extremely irritating opponent. The only real problem they have is the fact that you will run out of ammo in about 5 minutes. I really wish you could call up your NPC at a neighboring station, and have them deliver you ammo reloads. It would make flying small ships a whole lot more convenient.
Cr 300,000? Luxury. I just finished off a "Weapons fire" USS; Dangerous Anaconda and a Deadly Viper III, 3 and two ranks above me. Total bounty Cr 2,800. They fought poorly too.
No, I've proposed a good start towards a game. What we have now, is more of a randomized unbalanced sandbox. No small tweak is going to get you far here. In fact, there isn't much you can tweak without further imbalancing something else. If Frontier ever feels they want to start seeing vast improvements to their ratings, sales, and retention, they're going to have to flip the table to some degree.
RIght now small things have the advantage. Historically that often hasn't been the case, so who knows well over a millenium in the future?
The problem with small vs large is that the idea behind small combat ships seems to be that the large vessels won't be able to handle the numbers rather than one on one, but the game doesn't work itself towards playing like that - it's much, much easier to get a single powerful combat ship than a swarm of smaller ones, especially since for experienced playes price doesn't matter, unlike reality. The grind to engineer them all matters though.
But as for the Cutter example, a wing of combat-dedicated FDLs should be able to take on a tanky slug really, although if it's 1 v 1 the Cutter should be able to escape.
Escorts would be a nice idea all round I think, well, except that everyone could take them and it would just shove up the baseline and make no real net difference - a quite literal arms race.
The FDL is a ship designed for Bounty Hunters. Solo pilots who take down the biggest marks. In Elite the biggest baddest pirate lords fly Anacondas. They have done since the very start.
Thus the FDL is a ship DESIGNED to solo a big ship. That's it's entire job.
And you want to be able to fight off a group of them? If anything the FDL needs to be nerfed from the other direction, it need's to be weaker against the light fighters you SHOULD have escorting you. (that's not your fault, FD has done very little to make escorting a viable job).
I like to compare Elite to WW2 pacific combat. The big ships are equivilent to Navel ships, needed to take ground because of their transport and barrage capacity. FDL's are Torpedo Bombers, able to punch above their price and destroy navel ships. And fighters are fighters, necessary to defend against torpedo bombers.
Long time PVP Light fighter pilot here. The Vulture and the Imp Courier are generally considered the main worthwhile fighters. However the other fighters are laugable by comparison. I had a thread breaking it down a while back... I'm not sure if it still exists.
The TLDR: Eagle, Viper3, I Eagle, are only somewhat cheaper than a I Courier AFTER outfitting but are far worse. They could use a buff.
The Viper 4 and the DBS have the same relationship with the Vulture. Only a bit cheaper, miles worse. The DBS has hella jump range though, so I guess that would be a valid tradeoff... if jump range was ever needed on a combat ship.
Heard this before. Has nothing to do with my point on feedback rails being OP.
The minimum for me would be:
1 tweak would be to revert the FdL back to its old heat profile. I'd like its PP reverted too but thats harder to implement.
2 would be really lowering the Anacondas hardness down to almost tinfoil. At least then it would reflect the massive advantages it gets elsewhere.
3 would be making shields and boosters consume much more power (at least double). That way, weaponless traders can keep good shields but combat ships with power hungry guns need to choose more.
1 tweak would be to revert the FdL back to its old heat profile. I'd like its PP reverted too but thats harder to implement.
2 would be really lowering the Anacondas hardness down to almost tinfoil. At least then it would reflect the massive advantages it gets elsewhere.
3 would be making shields and boosters consume much more power (at least double). That way, weaponless traders can keep good shields but combat ships with power hungry guns need to choose more.
They aren't? If anything it's SCBs where the issues lie. If they wern't so damn strong in the first place than the weapon that counters them wouldn't seem so strong.
The original design of the game had players losing and regaining their shields on a regular basis. That's why module damage exists, to add interesting game play challenges as a result of battle damage. This reliance on shields being the be all end all of most combat has really held the depth of combat back.