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Author Topic: [0.95.1a] Scy V1.66rc3 (2023/03/19)  (Read 1097722 times)

Megas

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #615 on: November 06, 2015, 06:10:32 AM »

So far, I am only testing weapons as I find them with standard hulls.

Lightweight Armor is primarily a player-only buff because the AI is not savvy enough to do what the player can with so much speed.  This is like stacking both engine hullmods when that used to be possible.  I cannot do this with every ship without giving something more important.  I do not use this on frigates - they are plenty fast, and most lack the range to kite (and the one who can, Brawler, has no PD to speak of).  For ships like a player-controlled Dominator or capital, it has just because a speedy murderous kiting machine that can play keep-away and snipe with long-range weapons.  For an AI that is meant to tank, the armor penalty probably more than offsets the speed bonus.  When I use Dominator, I usually kite-and-snipe from maximum range, and I avoid taking hits.  When AI uses Dominator, it needs to soak hits as it deals damage.  Sure, it tries to hang back when it can, but it will never kite as effectively as a player.

If the armor needs to be weakened, probably reduce the bonus for bigger ships.  Bigger ships tend to have more OP to spare for luxuries, and a flat +25 bonus is a larger boost to bigger ships than it is for smaller ships.


For railgun, the regen seems fast enough for ammo to not be a factor.  Actually, I had enough ammo to kill whatever was there before I ran out.

I tried more weapons, and railgun is not the only offender.  Large Kacc is also effective at overloading ships, and it is cheaper than Gauss Cannon.  AI simply cannot deal with large spikes of damage to its shield, and the railgun and larger Kaccs overload more reliably than most stock weapons.  Scy kinetics may look balanced on paper, but they effectively exploit an AI weakness.  Compare AM Blaster to IR Pulse Laser - AM Blaster costs more OP and has worse stats than IR Pulse Laser, yet it is more effective at killing bigger ships because AI cannot handle spike damage to shields.


One more thing before I need to go:  Laser Torpedoes, at least larger grades, overshadow the rest of Scy's missiles.  When combined with Missile Specialization 10, Laser Torpedoes are unfair (more than Reapers), about as bad as Templars' Clarents.

I will provide more feedback when I can.
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Tartiflette

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #616 on: November 06, 2015, 07:08:51 AM »

If the armor needs to be weakened, probably reduce the bonus for bigger ships.  Bigger ships tend to have more OP to spare for luxuries, and a flat +25 bonus is a larger boost to bigger ships than it is for smaller ships.
Agreed it's a larger bonus, but in term of cost loosing half the armor is a much bigger deal for capitals too. I could add a bump to the OP cost, have a +30/25/20/15 speed bonus instead of a flat 25, and -30% peak efficiency time? Actually the CR timer reduction will be mandatory because of the Safety Override coming in 0.7: combining the two would be just disgusting.

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For railgun, the regen seems fast enough for ammo to not be a factor.  Actually, I had enough ammo to kill whatever was there before I ran out.
Yeah, I'll do what I said previously then.

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I tried more weapons, and railgun is not the only offender.  Large Kacc is also effective at overloading ships, and it is cheaper than Gauss Cannon.  AI simply cannot deal with large spikes of damage to its shield, and the railgun and larger Kaccs overload more reliably than most stock weapons.
I'm not sure to agree with this one. Granted the Large KAcc does 40% more damage per shot, but with 33% less fire-rate. Sure they tend to overload targets with bad shields easily, but that only count for the last shot. Given it's much shorter range you'd have started firing earlier with a Gauss, and probably overloaded the target sooner, than when using a Large KAcc. I could slightly reduce the damage per shot, but I don't intend to make big changes on that one.

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One more thing before I need to go:  Laser Torpedoes, at least larger grades, overshadow the rest of Scy's missiles.  When combined with Missile Specialization 10, Laser Torpedoes are unfair (more than Reapers), about as bad as Templars' Clarents.
Damned this weapon is way too difficult to balance. I reduced the damage in my dev, but only a little. Their main disadvantage with their main competitor, the Hurricane, it that it doesn't reload. I'll way for 0.7 to come out because there is a lot of changes coming for the missiles apparently. I rarely use Missile tech 10 so I'm not sure of the balance at high level.
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Gothars

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #617 on: November 06, 2015, 08:00:54 AM »

The Laser Torpedoes are very fun to use and visually impressive, please don't nerf the individual torpedoes. Better adjust things like magazine size, OP cost and availability.
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Tartiflette

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #618 on: November 06, 2015, 08:33:21 AM »

Well he is talking about the large ones. Those are a fair bit stronger than the small and medium one so I have a bit of margin there. I may simply flatten the difference in output.
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Megas

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #619 on: November 06, 2015, 09:56:00 AM »

Small torpedoes do not seem to be that overpowering compared to large ones, but I have not tried them much.

Medium torpedoes is when things start to get unfair when you can launch two or more at a time and have Missile Specialization bonuses.  Dominator can laser torpedo just as viciously as Reaper Aurora.

Large torpedoes are even nastier, but only the Conquest (and some Scy ships?) can mount-and-fire more than one at a time, and I am not sure they have enough boom compared to Cyclone Reaper (not enough playtime yet to check).

However, out of all of Scy's missiles, Laser Torpedo is a clear winner.  Rocket Racks are okay for small mounts, but for bigger mounts, I will take torpedoes instead - they are simply more effective all-around than the other Scy missiles.

With missile specialization, (bigger) laser torpedoes just makes things disappear.  Shields overload like nothing, and ships die.

Before I forget, the singularity torpedo is a lemon.  The torpedo is easily intercepted, and even if it connects, the damage is weak and the suction seems insignificant.  I prefer rocket racks or the heavy swarmers over it, but even they are no match for laser torpedoes.
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Tartiflette

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #620 on: November 06, 2015, 10:04:10 AM »

However, out of all of Scy's missiles, Laser Torpedo is a clear winner.  Rocket Racks are okay for small mounts, but for bigger mounts, I will take torpedoes instead - they are simply more effective all-around than the other Scy missiles.
I guess I can raise their fire-rate and slightly their damage the bigger they are. Btw, Scyan missiles get sharply better when using ECCM but the Laser Torpedoes are the ones that benefit the least of it. That could even up a bit the balance.

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Before I forget, the singularity torpedo is a lemon.  The torpedo is easily intercepted, and even if it connects, the damage is weak and the suction seems insignificant.  I prefer rocket racks or the heavy swarmers over it, but even they are no match for laser torpedoes.
Well, technically it's an anti-fighter/anti-missile weapon, though a really convoluted one. Against some type of enemies (often modded ones like the Templars or Exi) they can be quite nasty. I'll see if I can buff it's base damage a bit though.
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Megas

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #621 on: November 06, 2015, 07:38:42 PM »

More comments after more playing:

The Laser Torpedo is overpowered.  The main reasons are the torpedo tracks well enough and it does not need a direct hit to inflict as much damage as a Reaper.  By the time the torpedo is in PD range, it explodes and irradiates the nearby target, and the total damage is extremely high.

Suggestions to weaken the Laser Torpedoes:
  • All torpedoes use the same stats as found in small mounts - less damage, less splash range.  Those in small mounts are a bit overpowered but not too outrageous.  Medium and Large torpedoes are overpowered enough to make the Templars proud.
  • Raise OP cost to match stock Needlers.  Their total damage rivals Reapers, and their homing is superior to Atropos.
  • (Maybe) Change damage type to high-explosive.  Energy damage in the thousands will crush shields easily then obliterate the ship.  Combined with reliable homing and early detonation, the torpedo is generally unblockable.


Re:  Large Kacc:  It is similar to the Mark IX autocannon in terms of (sub-par) DPS and OP cost, but the Kacc is much more accurate, and high damage per shot makes it more likely to overload AI ships.  Because of its slow fire-rate, it is very vent-spam friendly.  The stats are balanced on paper, but in practice, the kacc is very friendly to tricks that exploit various game mechanics.  I am not sure what can be done to tweak the kacc that does not utterly change the weapon (or make it too weak).  For instance, firing weaker shots at a faster rate would probably fix it, but it probably will not feel the same weapon anymore.

Re:  Heavy EMB:  Unless you fight enemies with armor regeneration, armor penetration (or lack of) is not a big deal.  The armor will be gone, eventually.  The OP is cheap enough and the DPS high enough that I consider mounting this instead of Heavy Blaster.  The only thing keeping the Heavy EMB from being overpowered (or rather, grossed underpriced) is awful accuracy.  Even then, I still think it is worth more than 20 OP (but no more than 25 OP as long as Mjolnir remains as-is).  I posted elsewhere that stock heavy weapons are weak enough (in 0.65) that Heavy Blaster is usually my weapon of choice in a heavy energy mount.


Other weapon comments:
Small minigun:  With IPDAI, this is fun long-range PD that is effective, though a bit wasteful of flux use and OP cost.  Stops missiles quickly and chews up fighters effectively.

<medium frag spray-gun>:  Not as reliable PD as flak, but has more range and it mauls unarmored targets.  Decent gun.

<HE versions of Kacc>:  Fires a bit too slow, and high damage is not as helpful (because punching a hole through armor does not paralyze a ship like overloading shields).

Ricochet gun:  Novel gun, but it really needs to be used within a narrow and precise range to make the most of it.  This may be a good reason not to install ITU.  I think I will stick with stock Hellbores or HAGs instead of this.

ORION:  This gun is a pain to use, and probably a bit underpowered compared to other weapons of similar cost (such as Mjolnir).  The range stat and aiming sights are deceptive; due to variable speed, the shots disappear before they reach the edge of my sights.  Overall, I would not use this if I have better.  Also, limited ammo kills it prolonged battles.


Played some of the Scy ships a bit, mostly the capitals...
* The Lion capital is very flexible, thanks to mostly universal mounts.  It may not necessarily be the most heavily-armed ship, but it can hyper-specialize in roles that are very effective against the AI.  All of its mounts can be mounted with Laser Torpedoes and it will demolish any fleet that does not have lots of fighters.  Funnily enough, with an all-missile configuration, Paragon will not raise shields until torpedoes are launched, which is sometimes too late for the Paragon.  I tried all Reapers too, and while they worked, they were not as efficient as Laser Torpedoes.  If I want unlimited ammo instead, one option is an extreme range configuration with three Gauss Cannons for kinetics, two or four Pilums for HE, and miniguns (and possible flak) for PD.  Give the Lion lightweight armor hullmod, and when stacked with max Helmsmanship, the Lion can kite from absurdly long range.

* The other capital, the siege carrier seems kind of fun; feels a bit like the Titan from IFed.  The main gun is the classic very slow yet very powerful BFG.
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Megas

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #622 on: November 07, 2015, 07:35:23 AM »

Tried more Scy ships.  In general, the smaller ships are sub-par compared to standard, due to small forward shields and lack of mounts.

Frigates:
Both Alecto and Lealaps are probably best configured by filling all mounts with dual laser torpedoes, alpha-strike as much as possible (no need to aim), then retreat.  Currently, Alecto is the better missile ship than Lealaps due to costing less Logistics.  Stock Mercury costs less Logistics than both, but has horrid CR deployment cost, so Alecto is still useful.  Lealaps is completely overshadowed (an extra mount is not worth 0.5 more Logistics) until 0.7a arrives, which does away with Logistics.

Tisiphone seems like a poor Brawler imitator.  Its system is annoying to use - press F every time I want to use a missile.

Talos is decent.  It needs to choose between PD or enough firepower to kill ships, and it can do one well at the expense of the other.

Destroyers:
Lamia is mediocre.  It is a frigate in a destroyer frame.  It has bad shield coverage, and it needs two mounts for PD.  That leaves two more for frigate-level firepower.  The armored version is better, until its nose gets blown off, then it is crippled.  If the unarmored version had a medium universal, or the shield was omni, the Lamia may be more useful.  Armored version would be more useful if its beam weapon was not destroyed when its nose gets blown off.

Orthrus only redeeming feature is three medium missile mounts.  That is a lot of boom!  Just put three medium laser torpedoes, alpha-strike away, then get out!  For a more traditional assault, Pilums backed by Lights Needlers is usable, but not a great idea due to poor defenses.

Argus is surprisingly good, but still not great, for a destroyer-sized carrier.  It is nimble and it plays a bit like a Shepherd with a flight deck.


One more weapon comment:
Vibrating Beam is a nice alternative to Tactical Laser.  Beam seems to travel faster, and the extra damage is nice.  The vibration is a bit annoying; if I need accuracy badly enough, I switch off autofire off for a moment, then toggle it back on to reset accuracy.
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Tartiflette

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #623 on: November 07, 2015, 08:44:22 AM »

Curently testing those changes:
Code
 - Pierce Railgun:
   . Now fire 10 bullets instead of 5.
   . Damage per bullet reduced to 100 from 200. (burst DPS maintained).
   . Ammo reduced to 6 shots from 10.
   . Clip regen slightly reduced at 12 sec from 10.
   . Flux per shot raised to 1750 from 1400. (still slightly more efficient than the average Scyan weapon)

 - Medium KAcc:
   . Damage per shot reduced to 450 from 500.
   . Flux per shot reduced to 750 from 875.
   . OP cost reduced to 10 from 11.

 - Large KAcc:
   . Damage per shot reduced to 450 from 550.
   . Flux per shot reduced to 1500 from 2000.
   . OP cost reduced to 20 from 21.

 - Singularity Torpedo:
   . Raised the pull effect against non-fighters entities 4 times, and 2 times for Fighters.
   . Smoothed out the falloff range
   . Raised the range at which fighters get flamed out to 400 from 200.

 - Rockets:
   . Raised their damage from Medium sized launchers to 300 from 250.
   . Raised their damage from Large sized launchers to 350 from 250.
   . Reduced the cool-down of the Pod launchers by 2 seconds.

 - Coasting Missiles:
   . Raised their damage from Medium sized launchers to 800 from 750.
   . Raised their damage from Large sized launchers to 850 from 750.

 - Laser Torpedoes:
   . Improved the detonation range calculation (explode closer to ships with their shield down)
   . Reduced the damage of the Large ones to 3600 from 5000.
   . Reduced the damage of the Medium ones to 3300 from 4000.

Other weapon comments:
Small minigun:  With IPDAI, this is fun long-range PD that is effective, though a bit wasteful of flux use and OP cost.  Stops missiles quickly and chews up fighters effectively.

<medium frag spray-gun>:  Not as reliable PD as flak, but has more range and it mauls unarmored targets.  Decent gun.

<HE versions of Kacc>:  Fires a bit too slow, and high damage is not as helpful (because punching a hole through armor does not paralyze a ship like overloading shields).

Ricochet gun:  Novel gun, but it really needs to be used within a narrow and precise range to make the most of it.  This may be a good reason not to install ITU.  I think I will stick with stock Hellbores or HAGs instead of this.

ORION:  This gun is a pain to use, and probably a bit underpowered compared to other weapons of similar cost (such as Mjolnir).  The range stat and aiming sights are deceptive; due to variable speed, the shots disappear before they reach the edge of my sights.  Overall, I would not use this if I have better.  Also, limited ammo kills it prolonged battles.

Sounds fine by me. If all weapons were better than the vanilla ones it would only mean they are OP, right now I feel they are decent alternatives, sometimes better when fitting specific builds.

Tried more Scy ships.  In general, the smaller ships are sub-par compared to standard, due to small forward shields and lack of mounts.

Frigates:
Both Alecto and Lealaps are probably best configured by filling all mounts with dual laser torpedoes, alpha-strike as much as possible (no need to aim), then retreat.  Currently, Alecto is the better missile ship than Lealaps due to costing less Logistics.  Stock Mercury costs less Logistics than both, but has horrid CR deployment cost, so Alecto is still useful.  Lealaps is completely overshadowed (an extra mount is not worth 0.5 more Logistics) until 0.7a arrives, which does away with Logistics.

Tisiphone seems like a poor Brawler imitator.  Its system is annoying to use - press F every time I want to use a missile.

Talos is decent.  It needs to choose between PD or enough firepower to kill ships, and it can do one well at the expense of the other.

Destroyers:
Lamia is mediocre.  It is a frigate in a destroyer frame.  It has bad shield coverage, and it needs two mounts for PD.  That leaves two more for frigate-level firepower.  The armored version is better, until its nose gets blown off, then it is crippled.  If the unarmored version had a medium universal, or the shield was omni, the Lamia may be more useful.  Armored version would be more useful if its beam weapon was not destroyed when its nose gets blown off.

Orthrus only redeeming feature is three medium missile mounts.  That is a lot of boom!  Just put three medium laser torpedoes, alpha-strike away, then get out!  For a more traditional assault, Pilums backed by Lights Needlers is usable, but not a great idea due to poor defenses.

Argus is surprisingly good, but still not great, for a destroyer-sized carrier.  It is nimble and it plays a bit like a Shepherd with a flight deck.

Most of your issues with the Alectos and Lealaps will be gone when the Alecto will only have Hybrids mounts.

The Tisiphone is much faster and maneuverable than a Brawler, and definitively not fulfilling the same role. The Brawler try to mimic gun for gun a destroyer at the expense of it's defenses when the Tisiphone is designed to out-maneuver it's target, hit hard and retreat. I agree with the system being problematic to use, and I may have some ideas to correct that but it won't be for the post 0.7 update.

The Lamia will get probably Hybrid mounts too.

As for the shield, there are hullmods for that. In general, Scyan ships have poor armor and shields, and you generally have enough OP to only compensate for one. But unlike most of the vanilla ships, you don't need, and a can't, spend points on engine hull-mods. I don't think it's a real issue: you just need to equip them accordingly to your play-style. Given your taste for kiting, I imagined you'd love the Lamia and it's 1700 range HVDs/Maulers goodness when using the system and ITU.
In any case, I very much intend to keep the ships average with a couple of exceptions.

Note that this is also true for the weapons: an okay Minigun becomes great as a PD, the Super Charged Pulse Beam dearly need it's extended magazines, the Triple Energy Blaster really shine with range hull-mods etc

Quote
One more weapon comment:
Vibrating Beam is a nice alternative to Tactical Laser.  Beam seems to travel faster, and the extra damage is nice.  The vibration is a bit annoying; if I need accuracy badly enough, I switch off auto-fire off for a moment, then toggle it back on to reset accuracy.
The AI is actually pretty good at doing that against missiles and fighters.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2015, 11:07:07 AM by Tartiflette »
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Megas

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #624 on: November 07, 2015, 10:03:44 AM »

The problem with smaller Scy ships is they underperform compared to standard ships.  Bad shield combined with few mounts make smaller Scy ships underpowered.  It is fine if you want to create an NPC faction or a hard difficulty faction for masochist players.

If the goal of Scy is vanilla balanced, ships range from underpowered (many small ships) to somewhat unbalanced (capitals), and the weapons are generally balanced or slightly overpowered, except for the Laser Torpedo, which is overpowered by outperforming the best standard missiles (and competing with Templars' Clarents in effectiveness).

Adding omni shield (which cuts shield arc too short) and Extended Shields (to compensate for lost arc) together are never worth it - they cost too much OP.
The OP is better spent on better weapons and hullmods.  Better yet, use a superior hull instead, like an Enforcer over Lamia.

I am aware the 'Phone is faster than the Brawler.  Still not much help with no PD aside from its (unreliable) ship system.  Currently, I would take Brawler over this any day.  Then again, I almost never use Brawler because it is a dead ship flying due to no PD, incomplete shield coverage, and Accelerated Ammo Feeder.  Well, I suppose no ammo feeder is a plus for the 'Phone - it does not commit suicide by driving up flux.

Lamia simply lacks mounts.  The mediums are HVD and Mauler, small mounts are Vulcans (great PD and finisher), and the nose is either Salamander or the builtin beam weapon.  Combined with poor shield and no other redeeming qualities, it is simply a matter of why use this instead of a cheaper Brawler or a more powerful destroyer like Enforcer?  Bad as the Hammerhead is, I might even prefer it over Lamia.

Precision Gears sound great until it guts your other stats like fire rate.  Half DPS is awful when trying to bash shields down or when PD tries to shoot down missiles or fighters that are swarming around.  Precision Gears is an option of last resort; something to use if I cannot beat a monster like a Paragon any other way.
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Tartiflette

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #625 on: November 07, 2015, 11:03:52 AM »

[...] It is fine if you want to create an NPC faction or a hard difficulty faction for masochist players. [...]

It's kinda the goal here: extra challenge but with very satisfying weapons to fire and ships to fly. They are not meant for steam-rolling huge Hegemony fleets at all.
Also technically their shields are not bad: they have a poor efficiency coupled to a very large Flux pool. They can soak exactly as much punishment as their vanilla counterpart before overloading. Now on the other hand,  their coverage is nothing to brag about...

I though about converting all the shields to omni but the one issue I have with it is that my ships are elongated, and a shield put sideways goes very far from the hull. That doesn't look very good, and it catch a lot of stray bullets/missiles. If we had elliptic shields however, I would gladly convert them.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2015, 05:18:26 PM by Tartiflette »
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Megas

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #626 on: November 07, 2015, 11:13:18 AM »

By bad shields, I meant poor coverage and fixed forward, much like a Hound or Cerberus with Front Shield Generator.  Now that you mention it, they also have bad efficiency, but I never noticed it much because the hulls have plenty of flux and the shields do not extend very far to block stuff that PD fails to intercept.  I suppose that is why the faction has dedicated support ships for defense, and seems to be designed more for fleet action than self-reliance.
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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #627 on: November 07, 2015, 07:28:28 PM »

After seeing that Heavy ENB costs 24 OP and not 20 OP, I take back what I said about it.  While it is strong, it is a nice energy competitor to Mjolnir.  Also, Heavy ENB has significant fade distance after max range, so it can be used to snipe, at least before 0.7a makes fading shots hit for soft flux.  Heavy ENB is still powerful enough worthy of a heavy energy slot.

Just noticed that the Scy beams reach max range instantly, unlike standard beams.  That makes Scy beams more useful sometimes.  The Vibrating Beam is effective PD if they shoot.

Just tried super charged pulsed beam, and it is fun and effective.  It is better than standard beams, but I think all of them aside from Phase Lance and maybe Guardian PD are too weak for killing things bigger than PD targets.  Super charged pulsed beam is still a beam, and I probably prefer the cheaper heavy ENB over it.  The pulsed beam is something to use for amusement, or if you have nothing better.
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Tartiflette

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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #628 on: November 07, 2015, 10:44:38 PM »

After seeing that Heavy ENB costs 24 OP and not 20 OP, I take back what I said about it.  While it is strong, it is a nice energy competitor to Mjolnir.  Also, Heavy ENB has significant fade distance after max range, so it can be used to snipe, at least before 0.7a makes fading shots hit for soft flux.  Heavy ENB is still powerful enough worthy of a heavy energy slot.

There's two Heavy ENB: normal and "converted". The latter being a Ballistic weapon with a shorter range, a stronger burst damage but limited ammo with regen and indeed 20OP.

Quote
Just noticed that the Scy beams reach max range instantly, unlike standard beams.  That makes Scy beams more useful sometimes.  The Vibrating Beam is effective PD if they shoot.

That is gone with the next version for a few of them, including the vibrating beam though it's still much faster than a Tac Laser.

Quote
Just tried super charged pulsed beam, and it is fun and effective.  It is better than standard beams, but I think all of them aside from Phase Lance and maybe Guardian PD are too weak for killing things bigger than PD targets.  Super charged pulsed beam is still a beam, and I probably prefer the cheaper heavy ENB over it.  The pulsed beam is something to use for amusement, or if you have nothing better.

Well, it's pretty damn fun to use as you noticed (even more so in the next version) and while it struggle against large targets, it will swat down frigates like flies... Until you run out of ammo.

I'm away for a few days, bad timing I know, and I'm not sure I will be able to check the forum, so my apologies if I don't reply.
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Re: [0.65.2a] Scy V0.97 New Manticore Carrier, balance tweaks (11/09/2015)
« Reply #629 on: November 08, 2015, 07:37:54 PM »

I meant "Heavy EMB", the one that fits in the heavy energy mount.  After playing it more, it is somewhat overpowered by having much longer range than other energy weapons.  While listed range is 700, its generous fade means its maximum range is much further.  I know 0.7a will nerf this a bit with soft flux only past max range.  My suggestion to bring this in-line is just make the shots disappear quickly after its 700 range.  Aside from that, it is competitive with Mjolnir.

Few more comments before I need to go:

Small Flak is handy, better anti-missile than Vulcan when ready, but slow fire rate makes it provide intermittent defense.

Area Scorcher seems to do the job it was designed to do.  It barely scratches most ships, but for anti-missile... this thing takes out an entire swarm of missiles in one shot.  It is like a gigantic flak cannon.  Only problem: you need to aim and fire at the incoming missiles manually to stop them.  A suggestion to make this more useful at its job is make the game consider area scorcher a point defense weapon, similar to Guardian PD.  That way, ships that want to sacrifice a heavy mount for PD can mount an area scorcher and forget about incoming missiles.

I was not impressed with "Converted Heavy EMB".  Standard (and some of your other Scy) ballistics offer stiff competition for a heavy ballistic mount, but CHEMB's short range really hurts it.  I guess its role is to pile a bunch of burst damage now then run away.

More later.
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