Forums » Suggestions
[balancing]On Ship Roles and Niches
I first posted this same message for the "My thoughs and comments on the balance patch", but I though it deserved a bit more emphasis . Feel free to disagree and make amendments.
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My opinion: set niches for all ships. Ships are too close to each other.
Also, large ships need a special "equipment port", which should not be available to anything else and would take cargo space if used. Useful tips for equipment:
- battery charger: double battery capacity
- solar panels: 50% faster recharge (read about the hornet below)
- flares or ecm
- radar cloaking - traders/pirates in action
- longer range radar
- longer range scanner
About ships and roles:
- Centurion: - hit and run (pirates?) - keep the infiniturbo, cut its max speed to no more 55 or 58. And cut the cargo to 5.
- Warthog: - light fighter with large port - there is none up to now, I think this one is getting good, a little more trust would balance it out perfectly. Top cargo 6-10 (except for the mining version). If overly powerful, remove the S port (that would be interesting too).
- Vults: - light short-range combat ships - they seem to be ok now
- Hornets: - heavy combat ship/small weapons - what this ship needs is to get a massive improvement in HP and to have a LOT more battery power, so even if it is slower, it might have a chance of killing its targets before they approach, by sheer firepower.
- Ragnarok: - heavy support ship - same tips as the Hornet, but this niche would be to fire long range missiles (maybe remote controlled?) and repairing other ships on an ongoing battle. Out of sight! Repair gun could be automated too, and this ship doesn't need 3 small ports. Maybe 3 large ports only? One for repair, 2 missiles.
- Centaurs: - heavy transport - maybe if the other ships can carry less, this ship's role as a transport will prevail. I think it needs a little more cargo space to prove useful in most situations, as the Atlas is quite better than this.
- Prom: - heavy combat/large weapons - this ship should the the hornet's counterpart with large weapons. It should turn faster, though. Should be able to hit from afar and keep shooting for a long time. Or to use radar cloaking.
- Valks & Mauds: - can't find a role for these ships. This might be the reason why they cause so much controversy, no one knows what they are supposed to do. Valks are something between the hornet and the vulture, but people seem to want both advantages and none of the problems. Mauds are supposed to be traders, miners, fighters, janitor ships (see the thread about the janitor roles, it's hilarious) and a miriad of things that do not converge.
Make the ships complementary, not just different shapes. Give them very defined roles. Make them depend on each other. Then give us a reason to use them together. Missions missions missions!
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My opinion: set niches for all ships. Ships are too close to each other.
Also, large ships need a special "equipment port", which should not be available to anything else and would take cargo space if used. Useful tips for equipment:
- battery charger: double battery capacity
- solar panels: 50% faster recharge (read about the hornet below)
- flares or ecm
- radar cloaking - traders/pirates in action
- longer range radar
- longer range scanner
About ships and roles:
- Centurion: - hit and run (pirates?) - keep the infiniturbo, cut its max speed to no more 55 or 58. And cut the cargo to 5.
- Warthog: - light fighter with large port - there is none up to now, I think this one is getting good, a little more trust would balance it out perfectly. Top cargo 6-10 (except for the mining version). If overly powerful, remove the S port (that would be interesting too).
- Vults: - light short-range combat ships - they seem to be ok now
- Hornets: - heavy combat ship/small weapons - what this ship needs is to get a massive improvement in HP and to have a LOT more battery power, so even if it is slower, it might have a chance of killing its targets before they approach, by sheer firepower.
- Ragnarok: - heavy support ship - same tips as the Hornet, but this niche would be to fire long range missiles (maybe remote controlled?) and repairing other ships on an ongoing battle. Out of sight! Repair gun could be automated too, and this ship doesn't need 3 small ports. Maybe 3 large ports only? One for repair, 2 missiles.
- Centaurs: - heavy transport - maybe if the other ships can carry less, this ship's role as a transport will prevail. I think it needs a little more cargo space to prove useful in most situations, as the Atlas is quite better than this.
- Prom: - heavy combat/large weapons - this ship should the the hornet's counterpart with large weapons. It should turn faster, though. Should be able to hit from afar and keep shooting for a long time. Or to use radar cloaking.
- Valks & Mauds: - can't find a role for these ships. This might be the reason why they cause so much controversy, no one knows what they are supposed to do. Valks are something between the hornet and the vulture, but people seem to want both advantages and none of the problems. Mauds are supposed to be traders, miners, fighters, janitor ships (see the thread about the janitor roles, it's hilarious) and a miriad of things that do not converge.
Make the ships complementary, not just different shapes. Give them very defined roles. Make them depend on each other. Then give us a reason to use them together. Missions missions missions!