Starsector > Suggestions
Change Harbinger's System to a Movement Disruption
Brainwright:
Quantum Disruptor got nerfed hard.
It's not hard to see why : making a brief window of opportunity for extreme damage is nigh impossible to tweak in the current state of the game. You either have enough time to land a reaper torpedo or you don't. There is scarce little in between.
So instead, redirect the disruption from a general disruption to something specific. Disrupt the engines in a particular way : lock the current heading and accelerate fully. Even one or two seconds of this is invaluable not only for throwing off a target's aim, but for keeping an aggressor from backing off or dodging them entirely. This also doesn't prevent ships from getting away when they've already started backing off.
There's a lot of room to tweak this, too. If you give the target the zero-flux speed boost during this time, it would probably make getting around behind the target harder and would be something useful you could do to allied ships. Only issue is whether the AI could handle it.
TaLaR:
This would purely an anti-player griefing ability. AI doesn't significantly rely on precise maneuvering. Player does. AI usually doesn't do the winning move even when one obviously exists and it's perfectly capable of executing it stat-wise.
At the same time rather useless to player as well - I can outmaneuver AI as is, a system that doesn't help me win the flux war (free damage/absorption/dodge otherwise unavoidable shots/etc) isn't good enough. Harbinger (with character skills) is fast enough to not need system to approach any fleeing target. Not fast enough to outmaneuver shields like a phase frigate, but proposed system won't help with this.
Hard to not waste charge of this system too. As player, you'd just bait this system by entering it's range with a safe movement vector, then start doing whatever you were actually intending to. But good luck tracking enemy cooldowns, there is no standard UI for this (maybe there is a mod?). Would be annoying as hell.
Megas:
Doom had this system briefly between Fast Missile Racks and Mine Strike for a release or two: Interdictor Array. It knocked out some engines, but usually not enough for a flameout. It was a joke.
Quantum Disruptor needs to be good again if it stays on Harbinger. Quantum Disruptor needs more range (without the need of Systems Expertise) so Harbinger can use it with beyond short-range weapons, and it either needs charges again, much faster recharge, or overload duration much longer than a frame or two.
If none of that is good, then swap systems back to their original owners (Quantum Disruptor was originally Afflictor's, and Entropy Amplifier was originally Harbinger's). Original Quantum Disruptor was overpowered and better than Entropy Amplifier. Today, the reverse is true, Entropy Amplifier is better than today's Quantum Disruptor. Then again, Harbinger is not mobile enough, and it needs to paralyze enemies with old Quantum Disruptor to help defend itself, but Quantum Disruptor today is useless at that.
Brainwright:
--- Quote from: TaLaR on March 17, 2024, 11:21:01 PM ---This would purely an anti-player griefing ability. AI doesn't significantly rely on precise maneuvering. Player does. AI usually doesn't do the winning move even when one obviously exists and it's perfectly capable of executing it stat-wise.
At the same time rather useless to player as well - I can outmaneuver AI as is, a system that doesn't help me win the flux war (free damage/absorption/dodge otherwise unavoidable shots/etc) isn't good enough. Harbinger (with character skills) is fast enough to not need system to approach any fleeing target. Not fast enough to outmaneuver shields like a phase frigate, but proposed system won't help with this.
Hard to not waste charge of this system too. As player, you'd just bait this system by entering it's range with a safe movement vector, then start doing whatever you were actually intending to. But good luck tracking enemy cooldowns, there is no standard UI for this (maybe there is a mod?). Would be annoying as hell.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, mine strike has all the same issues. Piddly little mines? AI can just maneuver around and shoot with PD! Wasted charges! useless! Pretty easy to bait mines, too! Just drive forward and press the Doom until it uses all its charges! Useless! Totally junk system.
Except, I know the AI relies on fairly precise maneuvering, so I know why mine strike works so well.
--- Quote from: Megas on March 18, 2024, 05:51:20 AM ---Doom had this system briefly between Fast Missile Racks and Mine Strike for a release or two: Interdictor Array. It knocked out some engines, but usually not enough for a flameout. It was a joke.
Quantum Disruptor needs to be good again if it stays on Harbinger. Quantum Disruptor needs more range (without the need of Systems Expertise) so Harbinger can use it with beyond short-range weapons, and it either needs charges again, much faster recharge, or overload duration much longer than a frame or two.
If none of that is good, then swap systems back to their original owners (Quantum Disruptor was originally Afflictor's, and Entropy Amplifier was originally Harbinger's). Original Quantum Disruptor was overpowered and better than Entropy Amplifier. Today, the reverse is true, Entropy Amplifier is better than today's Quantum Disruptor. Then again, Harbinger is not mobile enough, and it needs to paralyze enemies with old Quantum Disruptor to help defend itself, but Quantum Disruptor today is useless at that.
--- End quote ---
It's not slowing down a ship, it's speeding up. More like a malicious phase skimmer in behavior.
And giving the current harbinger entropy amplifier is laughable. It's already got plenty damage with phase anchor and entropy amplifier would be ruinous to every ship in the game short of a Paragon.
Face the facts : old quantum disruptor isn't coming back because it's bad. Adding it back in demands hard nerfs to the Harbinger.
What it needs is better dogfighting as it's prone to being swarmed and surrounded every time it pushes aggressively.
Megas:
Movement Disruption at a glance looked more like immobilization. So, it looks like you want Harbinger to drop space grease under the target and have it slide wherever. With constantly backpedaling enemies facing their target, it would probably function like an awkward tractor beam. If it ends up working like a tractor beam (because of everyone points at their enemies), then make it a tractor beam, but it would look better if a capital ship sucked in a small ship than the reverse.
--- Quote from: Brainwright on March 18, 2024, 09:54:25 AM ---Face the facts : old quantum disruptor isn't coming back because it's bad. Adding it back in demands hard nerfs to the Harbinger.
What it needs is better dogfighting as it's prone to being swarmed and surrounded every time it pushes aggressively.
--- End quote ---
No, Harbinger does not need nerfs if Quantum Disruptor gets better. Harbinger with old QD was only overpowered with Reapers. After Harbinger lost Synergy mounts, it became inferior to Afflictor ever since, and it did not punch much above its weight, if at all, like Afflictor and Doom could. QD being used against you could be annoying, but just that, annoying.
Without QD, Harbinger gets shot at every time it decloaks to attack, not unlike a no-shield armor tank like Vanguard. Right now, the only recourse is it use Ion Pulsers and maybe shut down the enemy before it shoots back much. Normal Phase Lances are not an option because its beam reach is longer than its system. (HSA Lances have too short range.) Other weapons do not stun the enemy, and Harbinger takes unavoidable damage trading shots, just like Vanguard. If Harbinger had Rugged Construction like Gremlin or Grendel, trading shots like this would be okay, but it does not.
With cloak delays and most weapon reloads, Phase Anchor is mostly useful for death prevention and avoiding d-mods on phase ships. With weapons that reload faster than AMBs (which is nearly all of them), after ship decloaks and attack, I wait too long (at least without elite Field Modulation) before my ship can cloak again, which is too late for the faster reload time to be of much use. If I want to use AMBs, Afflictor uses them better than Harbinger can. Phase Anchor is great on Ziggurat though, because it has Experimental Phase Coils to mostly eliminate the cloak delay, which works great for needlers and tachyon lances without cloaking delay getting in the way.
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