Just an endless joust. That's it. Forever grinding down enemy shields while we fly head on at each other and then circle back. Using FA off on a Courier with performance drives and still getting out maneuvered by a Viper IV. Not that it matters; as a game play activity its an awful experience.
I am just wondering WHY its so bad. Do ships really need all this shielding to grind through? I feel like Medium weapons are worthless against even small and medium ships...making what should be a brief, explosive, adrenaline fueled experience into an absolute slog.
Its not only the Shielding.
Its honestly said the lack of Options for Combat.
All Ships Shielded pretty Strong
All Ships have Frontal Weaponry
All Ships can carry Gimballed Weapons and Turrets
All Ships are pretty much Immune to Critical Hits
All Ships are Vertical Turners.
All Ships got extensively Sturdy Modules which are hard to Destroy even by several Direct Hits.
All Ships are weak for any Ship making em useless.
All Ships use the same Resistances for Shields and have the same Energy Handling
Moreover.
Rockets are very Weak and very easy to Dodge.
Torpedos are even more useless cause they are even less likely to hit and on top dont deal anywhere close the Damage they would need to Deal.
Which means that everyone uses Lasers and Guns.
From the small Eagle to the Enormous Federal Corvette. ALL Ships have only one Method of Combat Available to them. Which is Jousting to Point your Front at the Enemy.
The Reason why Freelancer was so Enticing in Combat despite having much less Quality and an much worse Flight Sim. Was because there was much more Action in it.
A Few Hits could Clip off your Wing or Disable your Weapons or other Parts.
This was more Action Loaded. But the Biggest Reason why Freelancer Combat was more Enticing. Was because it allowed for Different Playstyles.
Thanks to Shield Breaking Weapons and Rockets/Torpedoes doing Tremendous Damage. You could Play Jousting as well as Turnfighting.
You could go for Destroying the Enemy by Continues Fire from Lasers which Destroy the Shield and then the Hull.
Or by Disabling the Shield with Weapons that do hardly any Damage to the Hull but can take down the Shields very fast. And then use Rockets which deal almost no Damage to Shields but can Destroy the Hull in Seconds.
This allowed some Shifts in the Style of Playing and this also meant that you had to Cope with different Playstyles which then again meant that you had different Setups to Cope with them.
Elite has Tremendous Potential. But is currently not using it all. Because Combat in Elite is such a One Trick Pony that doing anything else makes no sense.
1.
Turrets and Gimballed Weapons should have the same Damage as their Counterparts but should Require more Energy than the Fixed Weapons in Exchange.
this would mean that Bigger Ships with Abundance of Energy could use Turrets and thus Fight Sideways rather than out Front.
(This serves to allow different Playstyles which will move the Game away from the "Only Jousting" as it will give Players which have no Intention to Joust at all but will try to stay Close with their Sides)
2.
Ships should get different Weapon Slots which are Set to a Certain Weapon Type and to an certain Direction.
Not have all Slots being Frontal and all being Multi Purpose.
An Light Fighter should have Frontal Slots for Fixed or Gimballed Weapons.
An Heavy Fighter should have for example. Frontal Slots for Fixed or Gimballed Weapons and an Rear Turret Slots.
Transports should have Turret Slots all around and one Front Slot for Fixed or Gimballed (Mining Laser)
An Corvette should have mostly Turret Slots Big Weapons on the Center being able to Hit both Sides and smaller on the Sides covering one Side of the Corvette.
(This as well serves to bring about different Playtyles. Because Players will be able to opt for different Builds of Ships.)
3.
Rockets and Torpedos need an Tremendous Damage Buff.
They should be able to really deal alot of Damage with a Single Hit below the Shields.
(This is the most Importand bit. It allows to actually move for different Decisions on how to Kill Enemies and what Enemy you want to Focus at. If your Targeting Heavy Hull Ships its likely you should use Torpedoes while on Heavy Fighters Rockets might do the Job better. For Light Fighters Guns are non plus Ultra. It also means that Point Defense and ECM gets a new Reason to be there.)
4.
Modules need an massive Nerf of Hitpoints.
A Weapon which takes 1 or 2 Direct Hits should be gone for Good.
And Penetrating Hits which Hit a Module should cause pretty Significant Damage to that Module.
(Pls note the Core Modules like the Power Generator etc should not be as easy to Destroy. The Power Generator should be Heavily Armored and be almost Impossible to Penetrate as he is sitting in the Core of the Ship. The Thrusters should get a Buff here as well. Front the Start a Ship should have several Thruster Modules. And the Main and the Support Thrusters should be Seperate as well. So if one out of your 4 Main Thrusters is hit you would lose Acceleration. But not be Dead in the Air. If you lose all your Main Thrusters you should still be able to Turn around as your Support Thrusters are still there. I mean come on. The Anaconda has 2 Boxes with 4 Vents for Thrusters each Box. So why does it have only one Thrusters Module which upon Destruction renders the Ship 100% immobile ?)
(This most of all Serves to make Combat more Interesting. Having Weapons and other Modules being Disabled during Combat Adds an Tremendous thrill to the Battle if its something that happens regular. Currently as it takes forever to destroy a Module. Losing one is a death Sentence. You know you wont get back on the Enemy. But if its something that can be Archieved with a few Hits and which happens all the time. It becomes an Element of Combat and losing a Gun will be Dealt with rather than result in the Player thinking he has lost anyways.
Losing some Firepower here. Losing some Engine Power There. Shield getting Unstable or less Effective.
Right now its a 100% or 0% thing. The Module Works or it doesnt. Your either still in Battle or Good as Dead. Nothing enticing about that. Because you have the Feeling you can stop trying it makes no Difference anymore.
But if this was about crippling meaning that you might be in Battle to 70% or 50% or 90% or 30% etc etc this makes things Interesting instead because you know he likely also lost some Modules already. Your still in the Game and you might just Win out)
5.
Weapons should be radically Different in their Properties.
Some Weapons should be Super Effective on Shields.
Some should be Balanced.
and others Very Hull Destroying or very Penetrating to Hit Modules.
(this Serves to create a Setup of Playstyle. Go for a Balanced Build up good against Strong Shields. Or Go for Hull Heavy Setup which will have trouble Breaking Shields. But will defeat even the most Armored Hull. Or maybe use Shield Breakers and Rockets So you hardly do anything to the Hull with your Guns. But have the Enemy Shield Gone very Fast and then try to land a Hit with Rockets. Likewise protecting yourself from it by using Shield Boosters to Protect your Hull for very long. Or have lots of Point Defense so Rockets are hard to Score on you. Or how about Heavy Armor which will make a Balanced Setup Puke as he needs forever to get you down ?
Such differences make Combat Interesting and include a Tactical Element)
People want to Feel like what they are doing is having an Effect.
The reason why Combat in an small 2D Game like "Faster than Light" is way more enticing than Fighting in the 3D Super Graphics of Elite Dangerous. Is because your Hits really feel like they Count. They are actually doing something.
In ED most of the time a Fight is Practically Decided in the First 30% of the Engagement. A 10 Minute Fight is pretty much Decided in the First 2-3 Minutes.
Thats why it feels so Incredible Dull.
