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Mods / Re: [0.9.0a] Diable Avionics 2.01 (2018/12/13)
« on: December 15, 2018, 06:31:09 AM »
The IBIS is superior to the vulcan indeed, with its precise stream of bullets, its pattern, and 50 more range, giving it an extra moment to react to threats. But in the end it is still just an upgraded vulcan, their working principles are the same after all. The 160 flux you save can be put to much better use, such as firing another gun, or having more shield available to absorb a missed torpedo.
I let the AI take the Maelstrom for a spin yesterday to see how it would handle approaching a simulator Astral (All skillless and 70% CR). I removed all the fighters and missiles, maxed the vents, gave it 3 medium Recsons, a Mostro and a Raptor at the back. The hull mods included ITU, IPDAI, conduits, armored weapon mounts and turret gyros (the last two to mitigate random torpedo hits and to keep the PD firing). The 12 small slots left over were filled with either vulcans or IBISes.
Over multiple tests the choice boiled mostly down to picking your poison. The vulcans destroyed far fewer torpedoes and fighters and couldn't stop very many squalls, however the shield was almost always ready to take the hits. The IBISes shredded most of the ordnance, but the ship was often high in flux, often being forced to shoot down the incoming torpedoes without raising its shield (it was close, but it managed, props to that). The IBIS ship suffered an overload or two as well, which meant eating more torpedoes than necessary. The AI seemed more comfortable with the vulcan setup, but in the end once the squalls ran out, both variants managed to close in and eat up the Astral, while sitting at around 30-50% hull.
But being dependent on only vulcan-type PD is not very reliable. Both variants let quite a few missiles through. They don't exactly delete fighters either. So I added 4 Burchels - 1 in the frontmost turret, 1 in the centre and 2 on the sides. Suddenly the ship could zap fighters and missiles at much greater ranges with much greater precision. It also ate up most of the squalls fired at it. And if the Burchels ran out of charges, the 8 vulcans/IBISes were always backing it up. With the vulcans it was smooth sailing all the way, with only a few incidental torpedo hits. The IBISes, however, continued to generate outrageous amounts of flux. On its first flight the IBIS/Burchel version jumped in too aggressively and got overloaded immediately. After a while it did so a second time and died. On the following tests it behaved itself, but it became very apparent that when paired with some Burchels (or anything that can compensate for vulcan-type weaknesses), there is little reason to use IBISes over vulcans.
So I wonder why the IBIS needs a flux cost of 180, why all this 'rebalancing'? It is better than the vulcan, yes, but not that much better. Both 'work' the same. Both work best when used en masse, but amassing the IBIS right now will land you in a world of hurt. Is it because of the firepower? 300 range doesn't make for a great fighting weapon, and even if it did, the vulcan is still there as a similar option. I certainly don't win my fights by running into someone's face with the IBIS. Then there's the Raptor, which does more damage and shoots much further, all for only 20 more flux. I don't win my fights with those either.
Why not lower the flux of the IBIS to 80-100. It's still much more than the vulcan, but it would reflect its power. It's also much more proportional to the Raptor and would not immediately flux out the ship when it flies into a swarm of fighters and missiles. I don't like sticking vulcans on my diable ships, they don't look right, but right now the difference is just too great to ignore.
A wall of text, yes, but it's my favourite mod, so I had to get this off my chest.
TL;DR Vulcan and IBIS behave the same, but vulcan looks ugly and IBIS sets my ship on fire, please fix.
I let the AI take the Maelstrom for a spin yesterday to see how it would handle approaching a simulator Astral (All skillless and 70% CR). I removed all the fighters and missiles, maxed the vents, gave it 3 medium Recsons, a Mostro and a Raptor at the back. The hull mods included ITU, IPDAI, conduits, armored weapon mounts and turret gyros (the last two to mitigate random torpedo hits and to keep the PD firing). The 12 small slots left over were filled with either vulcans or IBISes.
Over multiple tests the choice boiled mostly down to picking your poison. The vulcans destroyed far fewer torpedoes and fighters and couldn't stop very many squalls, however the shield was almost always ready to take the hits. The IBISes shredded most of the ordnance, but the ship was often high in flux, often being forced to shoot down the incoming torpedoes without raising its shield (it was close, but it managed, props to that). The IBIS ship suffered an overload or two as well, which meant eating more torpedoes than necessary. The AI seemed more comfortable with the vulcan setup, but in the end once the squalls ran out, both variants managed to close in and eat up the Astral, while sitting at around 30-50% hull.
But being dependent on only vulcan-type PD is not very reliable. Both variants let quite a few missiles through. They don't exactly delete fighters either. So I added 4 Burchels - 1 in the frontmost turret, 1 in the centre and 2 on the sides. Suddenly the ship could zap fighters and missiles at much greater ranges with much greater precision. It also ate up most of the squalls fired at it. And if the Burchels ran out of charges, the 8 vulcans/IBISes were always backing it up. With the vulcans it was smooth sailing all the way, with only a few incidental torpedo hits. The IBISes, however, continued to generate outrageous amounts of flux. On its first flight the IBIS/Burchel version jumped in too aggressively and got overloaded immediately. After a while it did so a second time and died. On the following tests it behaved itself, but it became very apparent that when paired with some Burchels (or anything that can compensate for vulcan-type weaknesses), there is little reason to use IBISes over vulcans.
So I wonder why the IBIS needs a flux cost of 180, why all this 'rebalancing'? It is better than the vulcan, yes, but not that much better. Both 'work' the same. Both work best when used en masse, but amassing the IBIS right now will land you in a world of hurt. Is it because of the firepower? 300 range doesn't make for a great fighting weapon, and even if it did, the vulcan is still there as a similar option. I certainly don't win my fights by running into someone's face with the IBIS. Then there's the Raptor, which does more damage and shoots much further, all for only 20 more flux. I don't win my fights with those either.
Why not lower the flux of the IBIS to 80-100. It's still much more than the vulcan, but it would reflect its power. It's also much more proportional to the Raptor and would not immediately flux out the ship when it flies into a swarm of fighters and missiles. I don't like sticking vulcans on my diable ships, they don't look right, but right now the difference is just too great to ignore.
A wall of text, yes, but it's my favourite mod, so I had to get this off my chest.
TL;DR Vulcan and IBIS behave the same, but vulcan looks ugly and IBIS sets my ship on fire, please fix.