Balancing the game, another way.

[LordVe]

I see the current "Balance" issues a bit differently than most, judging solely on the topics I have read. Most of what I see are people attempting to balance what a Small ship and a Large ship can do with the same hardware. That isn't the way I would go, since it can never be balanced in that way. I would Get rid of all this "One Size Fits All" stuff. Why would a Capital Ship be using the same Hull as a Fighter? Or the same Shields?

A Fighter has to pack as much as possible into a little package. So, they would get Generators and Shields that are better, but with a rapid falloff curve. Their Hull would have Good Armour, but not the best HP. Their Weapons would be Rapid Fire with good damage, but short range.

A Capital ship would have Generators that are Better in Large Arrays, but horrible in smaller ones. Shields would be Beefy, Good Damage absorption and recharge, with a large energy drain when recharging, but, need to, and this is a toughy, be spread out properly to function properly. They would be considered Generators, IE they cover a certain portion of the hull. Leave an area without enough protection and you will get Bleed Through from AMC fire. Hull would have Good, maybe 80% Armour and Great, maybe 10k, Hp. Weapons would be Slow Firing but with a large AOE and Long Range. (For those who will argue that a Slow Firing Weapon is makes Fighting Fighters impossible... Remember that you can add Turrets...)

That is the stuff we need to do. We need to establish Ship Classes, with applicable SubClasses, and build parts for them. Attempting to Balance the AMC and Shields for a Fighter Vs. Capital Ship Fight, soo many; "A fighter should be able to destroy a Capital Ship" posts, detracts from the real issues.

Thusters would be a bit different, mostly because I want Blocks to have mass other than 0.1 per block. Assuming that Fighters use the current Blocks, a bit modified, with their mass at 0.1/block. A Capital Ships' Hull would need to be about 5/block, just a guess as I have not done the scale calculations. The Thruster Classes would need to take that into account. It would take a 3 Thruster Cluster to get a 1:1 Thrust ratio per hull at that mass. A Capital Thruster would need to be 50x stronger to get back to the 10:1 Thrust Ratio.

Now for a few Misc things...



I realize that the above will require every current ship to be rebuilt. Assuming that SMEdit can be updated quickly, I see no reason that buttons like, convert to capital, couldn't be added to convert the blocks to the correct tier. But, this doesn't fix the main issue. You will still need to rebuild most ships because they are not configured for this sort of thing. My idea hinges on the fact that most people know the type of ship they want, so they can implement the proper building method for the class of ship they are making. Changing the rules as I am purposing would throw a wrench into all of the current designs. Most ships would have to be refitted to even function. I am sorry for that, but it seems to be the only way to "balance" the game.

I have, using the abysmal excuse for an editor, implemented the hull changes on my server. Since there seems to be no way, currently, to duplicate the Shield, Weapons, Generators, and Thrusters and modify the values we need to do the testing for them, I can not say that they work. The 20 or so people I have on my server testing the changes to hulls, seem to like it. Capital ships are not being cored instantly after losing shields, Fighter Vs Fighter combat doesn't take tons of time, but is actually fun again. We did have a person splurge on Capital Ship Hull for his Fighter... In the end though, that was all that was left of him.

 

[kiwionthemoon]

The current awesome point of the game is that no matter what ship you have you have the same materials, and it is up to you to try and make your ship as performing as possible. Keep in mind this is a sandbox, with add infinitum things to do/make. Your idea constricts it a bit more. Also who bothers with fighters and shields? They will doubtedly survive a capital ships turret, let alone its main array no matter how many shields you cram in there

 

[LordVe]

I will admit, a fighter surviving a Capital Ship\'s Main Guns, or Turrets, is a bit unlikely. But it does happen...

And yes, in a way, I am putting SM into a box. Well, a part of it into a box... If it helps, ignore the Ship Classification stuff, go with simple Classes

My Main issue is the fact that there is no way to have Better anything, Going from Hull to Harden Hull is the same as going from Tissue Paper to Cardboard right now... Right now, you can\'t say; \"Hmm, Do I want to splurge on Class 3 Hull or stick with Class 2 Hull. Should I go with Class 4 Shields or 3 considering my current Power system. Should I Upgrade My Power Systems?\"...

 

[Lecic]

I think that in general, hull just needs to be more effective at blocking damage or something. Like Lord said, current hulls are tissue paper and cardboard.

 

[Syzygy]

I don\'t actually see how this (other than the weapons change) \"balances\" anything. All it does is require there to be more items in the game, and make ships not able to be \"any size\" but either very large or very small.

If you think energy generation is too easy or difficult for large ships, tweaking the formula can give the same results this suggestion does, same with thrust. It seems like you just want hull health to simply be increased.

The only thing that would make ship \"classes\" be different is what weapons they can use and which weapons affect them. In that case it would be better to what to see how the weapons that are to be added will play out.

 

[Ithirahad]

Yeah, it would be far simpler to just... y\'know, make hull blocks stronger. I could see parts with different, usually better-than-standard stats, but they should be specialty items looted from loot chests and not obtainable by normal methods.

 

[LordVe]

It expands your options. Don\'t want to Layer your Hull, right now it doesn\'t help, you can upgrade to the next tier up, balancing that with the added mass... Don\'t want to be forced to build a huge ship to survive going through a hostile sector, upgrade your shields, taking a bit of a power hit on recharge...

The Idea that Ships of all sizes use the same Hardware, and that there are advantages only in the Huge ship sector, annoys me. By going with different Tiers, you can balance them against themselves, rather than against very different types of ships.

Will this stop people from making Big ships? No. There will always be bigger ships.



And, Yes Hull is a big thing, but even at 99% Armour and 10,000HP, Current Ships can rip through them rather quickly. Hull alone isn\'t the solution. AMC scaling will always outstrip hull/shield strength.

I will use AMCs, rather than hull, in my Explanation.

Class 1 AMCs are the same as the Current AMCs with the Addition of the fact that they are Range Capped and Damage Capped. Smaller Clusters are More Efficient. Clusters larger than 8 cost more energy, without helping much. They use very little energy.

Class 2 AMCs are Better. They can Be Fired a Bit Farther, and can shoot a bit farther, but the Reload cap is placed, making them fire slower. Clusters need to be at least 3 and less than 12 to be efficient. They use slightly more energy.

...

Class 10 AMCs are the \'Best\'. They can Fire Long Distances and Inflict Massive Damage, but they take a long time to reload. Clusters between 75 and 150 are needed to be Efficient. Uses massive amounts of energy.