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General Discussion / Punishing Remnant Points / Character Points?
« on: April 08, 2024, 02:23:42 AM »
I'm not sure I like the idea of limiting combat-readiness of AI ships by having limited 'points' you can spend on the ships.
But I assume that's a mechanic to stop the player becoming too powerful.
My real issue is with including an Alpha Core as a pilot, it dramatically lowers the CR and spends most of the points (with decent size ships)
That'd make more sense with using a Gamma Core on a big capital ship (The AI isn't powerful or smart enough to control all the systems) so CR would be reduced.
An Alpha Core is more powerful so if anything, the CR should be increased, not reduced.
But it's done this way purely to stop the player becoming too powerful?
It doesn't make sense (IMHO) because:
- A 'Radiant' class ship is still 60 DP
- You still need to get hold of an Alpha Core
- The player is investing a full Alpha Core in a ship (Then being punished for it?)
- The player has to spend precious skill points on the technology tree to then get the ability to have AI ships
- Unless the player has the hull restoration mod, there's a risk of losing the ship and Core.
Possible Solutions
If we really need a limiter think I think it would be better if:
- Limit the penalty to ship sizes only, remove the Core use penalty. (Don't punish the player for investing a full Alpha Core into a destructible ship)
- Make all remnant ships require a Core to be useable by the player. (If no Core used, then big CR penalty)
- If the player uses a cheap Gamma Core on a big / medium AI ship, lower the CR, not increase it. A weak AI shouldn't cope well with controlling a big ship.
- Make 'Beta' and 'Gamma' cores more frequent and Alpha Cores really rare? I seem to find Alpha's pretty easy. Investing an Alpha should be a big decision but also have a decent reward.
- Allow AI officers to be included in the DP / fleet size calculation for DP battle distribution. The fact that it's not also doesn't make sense IMO.
It seems to just dilute any value in having the remnant skill. It's a heavy investment due to it being on the far right of the skill tree, but it doesn't seem worth it, compared to having more officers, which has good benefits to DP and they don't screw with each other in terms of Combat readiness.
It doesn't seem like a good idea running with AI ships and not having 'Hull restoration' - Because they will get destroyed and swarmed, you don't want to lose the ship and the Alpha Core.
I think Hull restoration is one of the most useful skills, but again it requires a lot of investment as it's on the far right of the industry tree.
So if you want some AI ships and maximum officers in the fleet, you can't. It seems you have to choose one or the other, again limiting the player / fun factor.
It's not like the AI ships are that good, they are all fearless and rush in head first and have a reasonably large DP cost, isn't that limiting enough?
But I assume that's a mechanic to stop the player becoming too powerful.
My real issue is with including an Alpha Core as a pilot, it dramatically lowers the CR and spends most of the points (with decent size ships)
That'd make more sense with using a Gamma Core on a big capital ship (The AI isn't powerful or smart enough to control all the systems) so CR would be reduced.
An Alpha Core is more powerful so if anything, the CR should be increased, not reduced.
But it's done this way purely to stop the player becoming too powerful?
It doesn't make sense (IMHO) because:
- A 'Radiant' class ship is still 60 DP
- You still need to get hold of an Alpha Core
- The player is investing a full Alpha Core in a ship (Then being punished for it?)
- The player has to spend precious skill points on the technology tree to then get the ability to have AI ships
- Unless the player has the hull restoration mod, there's a risk of losing the ship and Core.
Possible Solutions
If we really need a limiter think I think it would be better if:
- Limit the penalty to ship sizes only, remove the Core use penalty. (Don't punish the player for investing a full Alpha Core into a destructible ship)
- Make all remnant ships require a Core to be useable by the player. (If no Core used, then big CR penalty)
- If the player uses a cheap Gamma Core on a big / medium AI ship, lower the CR, not increase it. A weak AI shouldn't cope well with controlling a big ship.
- Make 'Beta' and 'Gamma' cores more frequent and Alpha Cores really rare? I seem to find Alpha's pretty easy. Investing an Alpha should be a big decision but also have a decent reward.
- Allow AI officers to be included in the DP / fleet size calculation for DP battle distribution. The fact that it's not also doesn't make sense IMO.
It seems to just dilute any value in having the remnant skill. It's a heavy investment due to it being on the far right of the skill tree, but it doesn't seem worth it, compared to having more officers, which has good benefits to DP and they don't screw with each other in terms of Combat readiness.
It doesn't seem like a good idea running with AI ships and not having 'Hull restoration' - Because they will get destroyed and swarmed, you don't want to lose the ship and the Alpha Core.
I think Hull restoration is one of the most useful skills, but again it requires a lot of investment as it's on the far right of the industry tree.
So if you want some AI ships and maximum officers in the fleet, you can't. It seems you have to choose one or the other, again limiting the player / fun factor.
It's not like the AI ships are that good, they are all fearless and rush in head first and have a reasonably large DP cost, isn't that limiting enough?