Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[PreConceptor]

I just had this idea come to me a few minutes ago. What if ships were able to fire their non-guided weapons over allied ships based on their relative size in a manner similar to guided missile pass-over.

For example, a capital ship can fire over allied cruisers, destroyers and frigates as it's larger and other ships are moving up and down more relative to it (imagine the 2D gameplay representing a 3D space battle). A cruiser can shoot over destroyers and frigates for the same reason, destroyers can shoot over frigates and frigates can shoot over destroyers as they are small and nimble and only longer range frigates will be able to use this effectively. Since cruisers and caps are significantly larger they would present too large an obstruction for frigates to shoot over.

Guided weapons would keep their pass-through-until-fizzle and projectiles could revert to their normal behavior (ie being able to damage friendly ships) after reaching max range (or not). Torpedos could keep their friendly fire for balance.

I think this would help alleviate the cramped 'grindy' feeling of the battlespace in large fleet combat as both fleets rub up against each other to try and pick holes in each other's lines, rushing to punish ships that dare to overextend while smaller ships do little except get chewed up by overwhelming firepower and become obstacles to larger ships applying their firepower for risk of friendly fire, basically being usurped by the far more replaceable fighters.

It would allow capital ships to be screened by cruisers, cruisers by destroyers and destroyers by frigates, and allow frigates to more effectively work as longer range destroyer support using a destroyer as cover, all without hindering the larger ship's maneuvering and firepower. It would mean that ships smaller than the average in any given engagement have more utility as they are not relegated to flanking and escort duties to keep them out of the way of bigger guns.

I know this is a bit of a wordy explanation, so thanks for staying with me. I haven't thought this idea through completely and I have no idea how much work it would take to implement, but I'd like to know what people's thoughts are on a mechanic like this. Could it add depth to fleet engagements or is it unnecessary/unbalanced?

[bobucles]

Because of bigger guns and ITU mechanics, smaller ships will have a lot of trouble firing over larger ships. It'll make a much larger difference in tight quarters combat, but I dunno if that means low tech ships or high tech ships will like it better. There's a place for tanky ships to soak up hits while rear support dives in, which is kind of what carriers do already.

[DatonKallandor]

It'd be interesting to test in practice, but probably too much work just for a test of something might just be a waste.

If you build it, I'll try it though!

[PreConceptor]

Because of bigger guns and ITU mechanics, smaller ships will have a lot of trouble firing over larger ships. It'll make a much larger difference in tight quarters combat, but I dunno if that means low tech ships or high tech ships will like it better. There's a place for tanky ships to soak up hits while rear support dives in, which is kind of what carriers do already.

It would be larger ships firing over smaller ships. Frigates might not even need to be able to shoot over any other ships depending on how balance works out. The main point would be smaller ships being less of a hindrance to larger ships by blocking their firepower, increasing small ship usefulness in large battles, while also being an indirect nerf to carriers by removing their monopoly on secure backline damage sources as other ships would be able to apply their firepower over friendly ships, but not to the same effectiveness as carriers and not eliminating a unique feature of the carrier completely. Currently, once the battlespace fills up, the only way to effectively increase your firepower is to add more carriers. This change would make large artillery ships more attractive choices, and make capitals with escorts more dangerous (as they should be imo).

[Plantissue]

There's plenty for space even in the largest battlesize (500). The only time it becomes a problem is when one fleet has hardly any ships left, such as when fighting against a station. At the point when frigate taking up space becomes a problem, one fleet has already decisively won against another. Most likely with this idea, you will end up with capital sized ships shooting over and behind cruiser sized ships rather than what you wanted with the intention.

[TaLaR]

Ability to fire over allies will just encourage stupid death balls instead of tactical positioning. Capitals already dominate, they don't need help.

[Daynen]

I would be interested in seeing what such a game would look like.  I'm no modder but I'd be keen to try this out.

Perhaps if it were a hullmod?