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Apr 13, 2005 Renegade ++RIP++ link
I have done this preposition before, but I'll try to word it a bit easier.

Everybody knows that at the moment cargoships strafe/dodge/whatever much better then their more fighteroriented counterparts, this mostly due to the need of the thrust to compensate a heavy cargoload and to not make the ship into a complete brick/duck.

Therefore I was thinking about adding a certain limit to a cargoport that makes it so that thes eports have a certain inherent weight and that if the cargo you are putting in the ship has a lower baseweight then the empty one then the effect is nihil, if the load is however higher, then you only need to the difference in wheight to the equation of agility calculation, effectively balancing empty loadouts easier with full ones due to making the ranges that you have to balance the ship for narrower.

Example if 60% of the tradegoods have a weight of 150kg then for each cargoport you give a reduction to the effect of loading cargo of 150.

you have an atlas with a 13400 empty loadout. You wanna fill it completely with lux cargo: no effect on the ship noticeable. If you however fill it with ferric ore then it will have a general added weight of like 150 per cargo. I leave it to the devs if they prefer to make it only valid cargoport par cargoport or an absolute number. meaning making a difference with a completely filled tradeship or not (halffilled atlas with ferric ore wouldn't see any problems in the absolute case however in the first case it would still get weighted down).

Not to mention that you can adjust all these values towards each role. Meaning a wraith : 50 for each cargoport, while an atlas 75 a centaur 100 and a behemoth 150 per cargoport. Making it so that you don't really have to make the thrust 650(which makes the ship able to outaccelerate valks unloaded). And making a light trader nor only light in armor but also in ability to get bogged down by certain cargos.

Anyway, its just an idea Nothing mroe nothing less.

I hope I explained it correctly since its frigging hard to explain what I exactly mean :(

cheers
Apr 13, 2005 Shapenaji link
What about just allowing different ships to have different directional thrust capabilities? This would make sense from the standpoint that fighters are likely to have better maneuvering thrusters, whereas trade ships are going to have powerful forward thrusters.

it would also be interesting, in the case of flat ships, if they had better strafing up and down than they did left or right.

Creating ships that REALLY fly differently like this is what could force people into learning a style of ship. A prom would never be "the same" in strafing power as a vult (as it is right now) since the vult would have its own kind of movement.

Discuss.
Apr 13, 2005 Cam link
Shape, I love it!
That's exactly what I want, ships that are different, and suit different styles of fighting.
Apr 14, 2005 Pirogoeth2 link
light fighters:
Torque up
Agility up
armor down

Heavy ships:
Torque down. (You can still dodge, but as per Dave's saying, the light fighters have to be "lined" up)
Armor up

Large port weapons:
Something to the damn AGT, maybe increase power consumption and increase damage, making it into more of a burst fire weapon?
Do something to improve other large slot weapons, a small prox like dave suggested elsewhere on the devastator, or something. The heavies will lose their ability to keep a dodging light fighter in the crosshairs for too long, so they have to be able to deal the damage harder, with the ability be a bit forgiving on accuracy.

This stuff, in tandem with makign missles better (A la make the enemy actually have to notice them, possibly dodge) could leave a prom capable of defending against a light fighter, and kill them, but it would take a lot more work than it does now. I'm iffy about touching velocities, since it could make it possible for a heavy ship to ram themselves down the throat of a light fighter and shove them full of bullets.

IMO, anyway, since all i have right now is a Ibg cent, and i can't delve out into space until i have rails ><

Shape:
I doubt the game is capable of giving preference to certain direction thrusting.
Apr 14, 2005 johnhawl218 link
@Shape
That has been suggested before though not in such detail, I think it's a GREAT idea if ships were unique. Different thurst for different ships would make the game a LOT more interesting.

@Pirogoeth2
Adding a larger damage and a small proximity to the AGT would only make it stronger, even if it had a higher drain and slower rate of fire. It would end up being an energy rocket, that would suck. The AGT by it's self is not a big deal, easy to dodge, IMO, it's when it's doubled up with rockets or mines that it becomes a formidable weapon, especially in a SCProm.

I do agree with you about the light fighters, though too much of a drop in armor and they will die from just 1 rocket instead of 3 as it is now. Your heavy ideas are just the ticket. And to get the different thrusts in game, it just needs to be programed in.
Apr 14, 2005 Pirogoeth2 link
Programming it in is more work than it sounds like.

You're probably right about the AGT, but nerfing rockets would have unforseen consequences on none-heavy ships. So it's better to try and solve the problem by working with the variable which is most isolated from other factors, in this case, the AGT. And i didn't mean prox for the agt, that would be a nightmare, i meant proxy for some of the other large weapons so they can be viable.
Apr 14, 2005 UncleDave link
No, the idea of proxy on the AGT was good, lets go with that.
Apr 14, 2005 Pirogoeth2 link
a prox on a rapid fire gun, that doesn't have ammo?

If it had ammo, or was slow, i'd agree. However, it's neither, so why would you want to do that?
Apr 15, 2005 johnhawl218 link
I never implied that it would be "easy" to program in, but that that is all that is needed to do at this point. Sure its time consuming, but so is any endevor to improve/add a new feature to the game.

As for making proximity on new weapons, I am against that. The rockets are bad enough, lets not make more "lazy" weaponry for people to combo with the AGT.
Apr 15, 2005 Shapenaji link
@piro & jhawl: Haha, I believe UDave was jokin.

But yeah lets give heavy ships very skillbased weps. AGT is not one, its just a weapon that gives back what the reduced movement takes away.

I think if people sit down and think about it, they can come up with a heavy wep which is both hard to use and rewarding, like blasters are on a light ship.
Apr 15, 2005 CrippledPidgeon link
Shape, on any other ship besides the SCP, the AGT is still a difficult weapon to use. Like on a Warthog, for instance.
Apr 15, 2005 Pirogoeth2 link
I've always found the AGT a deadly weapon if the oppoenent gets close
Apr 15, 2005 Ghost link
AGT could take a cut and still be deadly though. Ask Lonestar about his old TD hog with only an AGT. If the AGT took a small cut it would still be useful but not something that would be relied on to devastate your enemy, solo.
Apr 16, 2005 Pirogoeth2 link
I really like daves idea about a start up delay, myself, since it would leave it a deadly enemy suppresion weapon without making it a weapon that you ram down the throat of your enemy and fire full of bullets.
Apr 17, 2005 Ghost link
(bumpity bump bump bump)
Apr 22, 2005 Ghost link
Sorry, I have to be a balance whore. Don't forget! (re-bump)