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Author Topic: Yellow Alert (Ability)  (Read 2839 times)

Morbo513

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Yellow Alert (Ability)
« on: November 17, 2017, 04:55:45 AM »

Yet another one of my bathroom-induced ideas.

Yellow alert would be similar to e-burn in that it's an active, time-limited ability.
I'm not going to be too specific with numbers, but the idea is you'd activate it and it would inflate your fleet's combat readiness and add 10-20% burn speed. This would come at the cost of increased supply consumption and (doubled?) recovery costs, and multiplied repair/recovery time (scaling back to original CR) after a battle is fought in yellow alert. This would allow you to invest more in an individual battle, and allow you to catch up to a fleeing fleet outside of E-burn, but make you much more vulnerable than you otherwise would be once the battle is over.
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TaLaR

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Re: Yellow Alert (Ability)
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2017, 05:46:54 AM »

As for using it myself, it would be no-brainer when doing so brings me from below malfunction threshold to above it AND I can't avoid combat. Rare situation indeed. Otherwise minor stat boost is not worth added supply cost and recovery time.

But more importantly, are you ready to have same ability spammed against you by every enemy fleet? Because AI doesn't care about supply costs.
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Megas

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Re: Yellow Alert (Ability)
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2017, 07:01:30 AM »

But more importantly, are you ready to have same ability spammed against you by every enemy fleet? Because AI doesn't care about supply costs.
This is why so-called "Emergency Burn" is more infamously known as "Gank Burn".  It is usually seen and used by NPCs to blitz an unwary player.  Similarly, NPCs spam Interdiction Pulse to slow everyone down, and they do not care about other fleets in the way.

I would not want another effectively NPC-only grief-er or trolling ability.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2017, 07:03:29 AM by Megas »
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Linnis

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Re: Yellow Alert (Ability)
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2017, 12:48:36 PM »

How about an ability that acts like fortifying an position against incoming attack. Once activated the fleet consumes away more supplies and starts dropping speed fast and Max CR starts increasing. Maybe along with ECM boosts or whatever
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PCCL

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Re: Yellow Alert (Ability)
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2017, 05:48:18 PM »

I feel like the best way of going down that route (and I do think it's a good route) is having a toggle ability (like transponder) that increases max CR and maybe sensor range at the cost of supply consumption and maybe max burn as long as its active

hell, throw red alert into it as well, just a more drastic version.
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Wapno

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Re: Yellow Alert (Ability)
« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2017, 12:57:07 AM »

I feel like the best way of going down that route (and I do think it's a good route) is having a toggle ability (like transponder) that increases max CR and maybe sensor range at the cost of supply consumption and maybe max burn as long as its active

hell, throw red alert into it as well, just a more drastic version.
I really don't like toggled abilities that constantly provide a large bonus, with the only significant drawback being higher maintenance cost. It would feel like you're missing out on something if you don't use it, especially in the end-game where you're rich and supplies are much more affordable.
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PCCL

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Re: Yellow Alert (Ability)
« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2017, 02:47:12 AM »

Yeah... Kinda figured...

Two remedies I can think of:
Red/yellow alert slowly decreases max cr, which takes time in green alert to recover. This will make constant alert simply untenable
And red/yellow alert can confer a max burn malice, which will make it unsuitable for normal transit
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Wapno

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Re: Yellow Alert (Ability)
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2017, 04:14:00 AM »

Yeah... Kinda figured...

Two remedies I can think of:
Red/yellow alert slowly decreases max cr, which takes time in green alert to recover. This will make constant alert simply untenable
And red/yellow alert can confer a max burn malice, which will make it unsuitable for normal transit
How about making it as a straightforward "fortify" ability? One that you'd launch in anticipation for a tough fight, but which would be completely impractical to use during normal operation? Also something impossible to use on a whim before every single encounter - not an option when you're surprised.

Red Alert - Constantly drains CR of all ships in fleet and incurs massive speed penalty while it's active, but grants benefits during next encounter. What benefits? I don't know, temporarily boosted CR (only during battle - as established, post battle CR would actually be decreased by the ability) or alternatively, increased deployment points pool.

The ability would take some time to activate (similar to sustained burn) so it's unfeasible during ambushes. Since it also incurs burn rate penalty, it's useless for pursuits.
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intrinsic_parity

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Re: Yellow Alert (Ability)
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2017, 10:39:53 AM »

The ability would take some time to activate (similar to sustained burn) so it's unfeasible during ambushes. Since it also incurs burn rate penalty, it's useless for pursuits.

This would make the ability borderline useless. 95% of engagements are either 'enemy fleet activates emergency burn and chases you down' or 'enemy fleet runs away'. In either case the ability would not be useable.
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Megas

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Re: Yellow Alert (Ability)
« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2017, 01:43:39 PM »

The ability would take some time to activate (similar to sustained burn) so it's unfeasible during ambushes. Since it also incurs burn rate penalty, it's useless for pursuits.

This would make the ability borderline useless. 95% of engagements are either 'enemy fleet activates emergency burn and chases you down' or 'enemy fleet runs away'. In either case the ability would not be useable.
On the other hand, if it makes the enemy AI a sitting duck, that would be a "good" ability.  Not for the player to use, but something for the AI to shoot its foot with (and the player can then finish off).  With Emergency Burn and Interdiction Pulse being akin to online griefer or player-killer tools that AI loves to spam, it would be kind of funny (at first) for the AI to dig its own grave with a new ability.
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