Since we have a dedicated thread for spriting, I thought I'd start one for the other half of the job,
the stats balancing against vanilla.
----------
I'll start off with a ship that currently has me stumped on where to go with it, it is a modified Wolf
frigate, intended to be kind of an elite raider variant refit.
The slot layout changed compared to the vanilla Wolf:
- 3 small turrets removed, and replaced with 1 medium energy (210 degree frontal arc)
- 2 small missile hardpoints changed to universal
The stats change compared to the vanilla Wolf:
fleet pts: 6 (+1)
ordnance: 45 (-5)
max flux: 2400 (+150)
dissipation: 165 (+15)
top speed: 165 (+15)
acceleration: 135 (+5)
deceleration: 110 (+10)
max turn: 65 (+5)
turn accel: 130 (+10)
shield arc: 120 (-30)
baseprice: 13500 (+1500)
-------------
When compared against vanilla Wolf, it doesn't feel significantly stronger, in some respects even weaker, which is a good thing I guess.
The PD capability is, apart from mounting a heavy burst PD in the medium turret (good enough in 1v1 or 1v2), pretty much gone, no
more IPDAI tac lasers, while it gains the ability to mount a fully dedicated tac laser / graviton harassment fit (works nicely in packs, but
then again, what doesn't?).
A normal heavy blaster / graviton / harpoon combo performs as one would expect from a similar vanilla Wolf fit, maybe a tad bit better.
Flux stats and armor do not really allow for a dedicated effective close range energy fit, and close-range HE projectile configurations
share that issue somewhat.
Both of the above are still options, but overall having the hardpoints universals isn't that big of a deal, missile/energy would suffice I guess,
but I kinda like the theme of side-mounted machine guns for the ship.
Edit: Some more in-game testing, and I've found railguns combined with the forward-leap ability of the phase skimmer do make the universal
hardpoints a pretty big deal together with a heavy hitter or ion pulser in the frontal hardpoint.
Overall, I feel like it is in a good place already balance-wise, but needs a little something to spice it up.
Having the medium turret hybrid I think would be over the top regarding flexibility, I've been thinking about 'soft' bonus like say
built-in phase field hullmod to reduce the sensor profile.
Would make little difference in combat, but fit nicely with the raider theme.
Thoughts? Maybe ideas for variants I didn't think of that are issues balance wise, or stat changes that could give it a little
extra?