Machine translation warning!
Version 0.96 has been out for some time now, and during this period, numerous ships and weapons have been added, significantly changing the environment. By considering actual usage rates in campaign and conducting mixed single and multiplayer combat tests(like tournaments), we can gather both subjective experiences and objective test results from various competitive arena players and campaign players. This allows for a comprehensive analysis of the current balance between ships and weapons while identifying potential areas for improvement or adjustments in future updates.
The feedbacks and suggestions below are from the players who have more than 3 years game experience from the CNsector, fossic. These views are
not my own and are only intended as a guide.
ShipsInvictus
Details
As a main attraction of the 0.96 update, the new dreadnought ship has significantly changed the atmosphere of in-game discussions, marking the the massive-ship go into the discussion environment. Despite the arguments it may cause among some certain player groups, the dreadnought, Invictus, fails to meet any of previously statements on Twitter.
In previous statements, Invictus was supposed to be a slow, hard-to-move, inflexible brick with little else aside from its tough armor and devastating front firepower, easily taken down by bombers and outdated in conclusion. This isn't actually the case.
With a base speed of 35, it is hard to imagine where the Invictus' clumsiness lies. Ignoring the effects of officer skills like Helmsmanship, the hullmod Unstable Injector alone allows it to start racing at a speed of 50, catching everything in a battleline or evade back. It's acceleration/back acceleration exceed onslaught by 50%.
As for its firepower, perhaps in some point of view, most of the 12 slots are just gimmicks to drain Invictus' flux, and while using system, all large ballistic weapons except for the main gun array would be disabled so they are limited. However, this fails to consider Invictus's terrifying damage amount within each wave of attack due to its rediculous flux capacity, as a shieldless ship, all flux will be thrown at some unlucky target in front of it. When the balance of flux between the Invictus and the opponent is broken, the rest of its flux will become some type of damage applied to the opponent's armor and hull, and the damage amount is not a small number.
Contrary to the expectations, disabling other weapons besides the main guns helps the AI-controlled Invictus save flux to maintain its extreme frontal firepower. As for its supposed vulnerability to bombers, numerous flaks and up to four(not considering the rear slot when defending bombers) devastator cannon can easily destroy any missiles, fighters, or insufficient bomber numbers. Its unique armor mechanics also make it difficult to be severely damaged by conventional bombing methods, unlike common battleship that will be taken down within 2~3 wave of attack. And, although initially designed as a weak point, with Armored Weapon Mounts, Resistant Flux Conduits, and Automated Repair Unit, no ship can easily disable its main gun array, especially considering the built-in s-mod mechanism introduced in this update. In practical combat tests, only a pair of Reality Disruptors could temporarily cripple it, but even then, the ship still retains some counterattack capabilities. In fact, in version 0.95.1, stacking repair speed and EMP resistance with the shield shunt Onslaught has already demonstrated a terrifying feature of "almost completely ignoring EMP attacks", and not to mention this beast also possesses additional resistances.
As a ship that works by just pressing W and switching between F and V, Invictus demonstrates brute strength without any need for thought, far exceeding the capacity of 60 deployment points. Any rational author who doesn't think "if it's called a Invictus then make it invictus" should carefully consider its potential future direction.
In comparison, the "choice" between the giant hangar design and large missile mounts, seems unnecessary. Due to Invictus's low OP, the braindead but functional loadout is to just bear the biggest guns, fit 2 Sarissa (which completely ruined the game) and go. It may become the starting point for a new arms race with its strong raw stats, design philosophy contrary to the larger environment, and thoughtless module stacking.
Invictus, as a seemingly clumsy and air-powerless iron lump, was able to withstand more than two minutes of damage under a simulated battle scenario in campaign mode, facing 60+40 deployments with double Afflictor in enemies. While typical battleships can only safely win against equal deployment opponents with their anti-frigates capabilities, Invictus's potential to fight back against overwhelming odds is formidable. How? Equip fire control and projectile specialization, add two squads of Xyphos or Sarissa, and four devastator cannons to fend off the most feared frigates.
Then there exists a deadly bug which make it finally invictus. It has 10000 armor and 10% armor effective, but the min armor factor is still 500 rather than 50. 500 min armor factor make it nearly immune to any damage that lighter than heavy blaster.
Our suggestion is to start by cutting its capacity by 5,000, fixing its bug, and nerfing its acceleration/deacceleration/turn...
Pegasus
Details
Although Invictus looks invincible, but the strongest ship in this update is actually Pegasus. it seems that the data designer doesn't know that the game has another name called "MissileSector", and created a crazy ship with four large missiles. However, unlike the Falcon P, Pegasus is meant to be the peak, it has way more than just four large missile slots.
Is 14k capacity and 500 flux dissipation really a weak power grid? Actually, the capitals' power grid in the game actually has not "that" much to do with the basic values. A high 50/50 distribution of available capacity/dissipation points can virtually save any seemingly crippled power grid's life, allowing its dissipation to meet or slightly exceed the flux required for weapons, and providing enough capacity to support its 0.6 shield value against most attacks.
Equip it with five 1k non-missile weapons and any four large missile weapons, grind away at the edge of their range, start kiting slower ships. It's not hard to notice that its speed is 50. What does a speed of 50 mean on a battleship? 45 for Conquest, 60 for Falcon, 60 fir Champion, 30 for Dominator and 70 for Eradicator. This battleship can move forward or backward at a speed merely slightly lower than most cruisers while launching firepower with a likely range of 1600, which is much farther than cruisers and overwhelming for smaller targets. It can even equip an Unstable Injector and reach 70 speed - considering this ship's main attack method is missiles, the negative effect of Unstable Injector might be further reduced.
With an acceptable power grid and excellent speed, two large forward-facing missiles, two large non-forward-facing missiles, a total of five medium ballistic turrets that not extremely powerful but sufficient for forward firing, and a medium energy weapon layout perfectly adapted to the new 0.96 weapon system. At first glance, this firepower and offensive strength may not seem significant, but considering it as a battleship that is highly suitable for long-range firepower projection and combined with its strong kiting and maneuverability capabilities, it's not difficult to see that it excels in larger battlefields where it can switch from long-range grinding output to precise burst kills, and performs sneaky attacks from the sides of the battlefield - which is what missile ships are truly good at rather than front-breaking.
The large missiles on both sides can be equipped with Reapers, which will be discussed later. However, even without Reapers and even in the worst case that no missile left, its long-range firepower, heavy shields, and high speed advantages are enough to engage in a battle with normal capital ships without trouble. It's hard not to suspect what test case the ship went through after it was created. Compared to other missile ships, Falcon P lacks mid-to-long-range resilience, Gryphon sacrifices sustainability and the burst capability is not rather high.
We don't know how to nerf it, but it MUST be nerfed since as a missile launcher it is so all-rounded and godly overwhelming, it has everyting a ship need. Maybe like -20 speed, -30 op at least, etc?
Retribution
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It looks like, the data designer suddenly feels he had done something wrong, rewarding player with overpowered ship is bad, so he decided to give players a kind of "retribution" by telling them they were not allowed to use low-tech battlecruisers. We cannot imagine how, under the condition of having Onslaughts above and Prometheus Mk.IIs below, such a weak ship could be marked with 40 deployments.
It may be designed as a ramming ships trade weapon range with speed and firepower, but, it lacks firepower. The low amount of missile weapons makes it nearly impossible for it to gain any flux advantage in close-range combat against ships generally equipped with three or four medium missiles. Its six small missiles even make it unavailable to the highest bonus from Auto Missileloaders, and the slot layout won't even allow small missiles to attack the front, making it unavailable to tropedo or rocket. Retribution's speed is considerable but only for fowrard, so combined with its weak armor and shield, it's questionable if it can even compete against a Dominator or other tough target head-on. Is there a possibility that, with just kinetic weapons and these quickly depleted small missiles, the Retribution might not achieve effective results even when charging at cruisers? And, let it alone against capital ships? That would be no different than courting death.
There may be someone jumping out and say it is designed to kill smaller ships. Despite the low-controllable shipsystem, we don't think it has any actual advantage compared with the Conquest, Odyssey or new Aurora, and the situation becomes more unbengable when compared with Prometheus Mk.II or Onslaught who has burndrive that provides enough linear speed to catch most destroyer ships.
We believe many player can understand the importance of mobility, but this doesn't mean a capital ship should possess only this ability. Like a totally overpowered ship shouldn't appear, excessively weak ones shouldn't either.
In the end, this kind of bidirectional gap is extremely difficult to justify. Perhaps even attempting to defend it would require a peculiar angle? It should go to 32dp or lower.
Apex
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Since there were two noticeably overpowered ships, Alex very considerately prepared another noticeably underpowered ship to correspond with them. After the Brilliance finally got rid of the Remnants' mole label, Alex started looking for the next ship to drag down the Remnants' quality, which was the Apex this time.
Perhaps its only role in the Remnant fleet is to waste a valuable 30 deployment points to significantly reduce the frustration of ordinary players when challenging the Remnants. If these 30 points are just used to provide some medium-range missiles and two decks of Terminator drones that can be discarded as explosives at any moment, then I suggests simply putting a large number of unmanned Dominators into the Remnants' fleet; at least they have two large ballistic weapons that can be used in emergencies.
As a high-tech cruiser, its laughable 50 speed is on par with the previously mentioned Pegasus and clearly inferior to the Eradicator, which is considered weak. The Terminator drones also killed its system and its suspected anti-air capability. The four medium hardpoint slots that can't be used without missiles and its built-in hullmods seem to indicate Alex's fantasy of stacking medium energy, but even the ultra-medium Kinetic Blasters can't save this rock-solid cruiser. Its terrifyingly "high" 550 flux dissipation from an energy ship perspective doesn't offer the same salvation as the capital-ship-modifiable Pegasus mentioned earlier, and its armor doesn't allow for much wiggle room. More so, in medium-range duels, there is an unstoppable wall called the Dominator, which will always leave it battered and bruised.
Do you really believe that players would choose medium energy weapons if they had medium missiles? Do you genuinely think the 800-range pulse laser can compare to the neighboring now-disabled heavy autocannon? Fine, even if you install missiles, do the remaining slots with a 700-range IR stand a chance against the Dominator's 900-range setup or the Eradicator's 1000+800 range combinations? Even with +200 range, it barely touches the baseline of ballistic weapons, let alone flux efficiency. With its crawling speed and not-so-great maneuverability, I'm genuinely curious about what Alex intends for this ship to do – simply take hits? A Falcon has a baseline 700-range setup and moves faster, making it ridiculous when encountering a long-range Eagle; one Falcon could toy with this useless thing until it dies. Apex's potential to enhance mobility with its combat system is kindly ruined and his precious anti-air is threw away like trash; it's truly heartbreaking. Additionally, not only is this ship weak, but it also has quite an terrible design.
Considering its relatively flexible turning, barely passable shield property, and the ability to equip two Kinetic Blasters after four medium-range missiles – it's like a silver rank stuck between levels, better off rolling down to 25 dp. However, from another perspective, the Remnants don't have Kinetic Blasters to use.
Phase ships
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Phase ships, a type of ship that was once difficult for AI to pilot but devastating when controlled by players, are indeed challenging to assign deployment points.
After a recent update, the AI for phase ships has been significantly enhanced. Contrary to the initial patch notes stating a focus on improving dogfighting capabilities, the main beneficiaries of this enhancement turned out to be escort ships like the Afflictor and Gremlin. For example, an Afflictor can now reliably single-handedly kill any heavy front-shield ship that could theoretically be defeated by a player, and the Gremlin's bombing accuracy has noticeably improved. In many combat scenarios, these seemingly low-deployment frigates can have a battle impact even greater than that of the Doom.
In more specific tests, phase ships exposed two extremes: agile frigates would frantically attempt to flank while avoiding head-on engagements, with the biggest issue possibly being the Harbinger. In version 0.95a, the Harbinger functioned as a mobile forced-overload generator, but the 0.96 AI changes made it seem like its skills were removed, as it would aggressively engage in head-on confrontations as if the skills didn't exist.
Although the phase ship AI has been changed, it remains to be seen whether its potential has truly increased. While we fully agree that a ship's AI should fully exploit a ship's limits, when a ship's limits are genuinely pushed, it is essential to properly consider whether its combat effectiveness far exceeds its deployment. And if the Afflictor were "nerfed" because of this, it would also be an unfair approach. It's quite the dilemma.
Eradicator
WeaponsKinetic Blaster
Details
An energy weapon with 500 anti-shield DPS, equivalent to a Heavy Needler and only generates about 50% more flux than a Heavy Needler?
Generally, the main reason people may consider energy weapons weak is their low flux ROI and low efficient when considering anti-shield compared with ballistic weapon. However, this Kinetic Blaster completely shatters the inherent impression that medium-energy weapons can't counter shields, elevating the status of medium-energy slots to an unimaginable level. The 0.75 anti-shield flux ratio seems only slightly better than the current 0.8 pulse laser, but its astounding 66% DPS increase is favored by energy-based ships needing burst damage – especially since this weapon, which is superior to the pulse laser in hit strength, could even be stronger against unshielded hull.
We don't know if the data designer really treated it as Omega Weapon, but its inherently high strength and characteristics that completely cover at least one type of weapon align with Omega Weapon traits. Although it is acquired through a special way, it doesn't pose significant difficulty, only to turned the once-glorious Lion Guardians into "enemy waiting to be killed for profit", slaughtered by players en masse for their Gigacannons and Kinetic Blasters.
Light Dual Machine Gun
Reapers
FightersSarissa
Details
I spent 0.08 seconds organizing my words to figure out how to assess this thing that stands at the pinnacle of the game's power and is far superior to its peers. Before that, I would like to describe again what the combat in this game looks like.
Once both sides' battle lines or individual units come close, if either side has a shield, they will first enter a flux exchange phase to some extent. In this phase, each side generates about one-third of their flux through their weapons and two-thirds by taking damage from their opponent, with some correlation between the enemy and our flux generation. The flux exchange phase often ends with one side being overwhelmed, followed by decisions on whether there will be a chasing relationship or suppression relationship, and if armor needs to be sold, based on both sides’ range, speed, and mobility.
The Sarissa almost eliminates this most important initial phase. Any ship can convert its hangar to have a terrifyingly high mid-range kinetic output without needing any flux, making most onboard kinetic weapons useless. It's not as difficult as previously demonstrated in cruiser battles as suggested on Twitter—considering the impact of so many weapon changes on the environment, it can even have some effect in battleship brawls now. The high returns make high-tech ships no longer need to consider kinetic damage sources and low-tech ships save slots for other weapons. The distinction between the two technology types, already shattered by mining blaster (anti-armor) and kinetic blaster(anti-shield), is completely blurred by the Sarissa that provides PD, anti-fighter capabilities, and continues to supply kinetic damage. You could say that just looking at the hull quality, slots are not so important anymore.
To counter such an apparently extremely strong force, it may be possible (note, just possible) to use Proximity Charge Launcher, but it would take the situation from one extreme to another—if there are no Proximity Charge Launcher, you will undoubtedly be wiped out by Sarissa; if there are, those with Sarissa will face a diode-like treatment.
Unfortunately, not all ships can afford a forward medium missile slot, which allows warships with multiple decks, such as Legion or Odyssey, to easily crush most same-tier ships at medium range using this fighter. Legion's 4 groups of 12 Sarissa can instantly destroy the shields of most ships and even space stations, and even Astral that shouldn't appear on the frontline can carry six full squads of Sarissa, paired with mining blasts and reapers to become an extremely powerful close-range capital ship. On top of this, defensive targetting arrays can be installed at a very low cost to help effortlessly evaporate all aerial targets using flaks. It's hard to describe the complete devastation of Sarissa in combat and balance, aside from being sensational.
This reminds someone who isn't me of several versions ago of Astral when they were actively engaged on the frontlines as close-range capital ships, capable of bombarding any target into dozens of pieces of space debris with their endless torrents of torpedoes, back when the recall system didn't have a cooldown. It also makes one wonder, what exactly is the purpose of adding more fitting points for Legion and Astral? Are they genuinely too weak? Or is there some deeper meaning behind this?
Converted Hangar
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In previous discussions about Converted Hangar, Alex seemed determined to propose a plan to increase deployment points. This plan once caused an outcry in community, with many predicting a bleak future for the Converted Hangar. However, even back then, we sensed something was off.
Now, I can conclude that not only has the Converted Hangar not been nerfed, it has become incredibly buffed—more so than ever before—replacing targeting unit as a must-have hullmod in the game. Any ship with deployment points greater than or equal to 7 should install a Converted Hangar unconditionally unless there are serious principle issues.
The Converted Hangar has removed all substantial debuffs, merely extending the preparation time, which surprisingly doesn't lead to additional readiness degradation.
For most Converted Hangar options, the DP increase usually does not exceed 3, and if you only need a set of Wasp as an external mine launcher, this number is negligible at 1. But for regular carrier, it could be thought as 5dp per bay. An exceptionally fragile and slow destroyer may appear in the top left corner when not intentionally protected. But now, it could be a ship equipped with kinetic blasters, mines, and Burst PD Lasers with an equivalent shield capacity of 20k while only paying 1DP for the hangar.
Based on the actual update content, Alex's original decision might not have been to nerf the Converted Hangar but rather to completely eliminate all non-combat carriers.
All kinds of built-in effects
