It's been a very long time since I've posted on here last, it might actually be more than 2 years. It was also a suggested game change, and ironically, as most of my suggestions were shot down by the community, most of my suggestions have been, or are going to be, implemented. Jump Drives, Trading convoys, stuff like that. Like I said, it's been a long time.
Well I was playing multiplayer the other day, working towards making a very large yacht, and someone was regaling me with how PD turrets can be very effective at shooting down missiles (sign me up). And of course other were talking too, and a side conversation was talking about how some guy has got a sweet new carrier. And in that moment it got me thinking about fighters in SM. "Kinda underpowered considering Titans can have lasers measured in Megatons/s". Which, when you think, is kinda fair, are 700m ships supposed to fire anything less? But fighters are supposed to be part of the equation too. Even in WW2, the largest battleships were sunk by torpedo bombers. IJNS Yamato had 18" guns that fired bullets taller than me and you (bullets, not including the powder charges behind them), because it was a Battleship, Battleships were supposed to be mobile artillery platforms (also country's dick measurers). The Bismark was forced to scuttle after being disabled by Swordfish (BIPLANES! The fucking insult), The Tirpitz was damaged beyond repair by British air forces (and a suicide run by a rigged destroyer against her drydock). And then there was Pearl Harbor . . . Fighters should have a place in SM to take on "Battleships". Also dog-fighting would be fun, and ultra-small efficient fighter builds would be fun to watch. But how?
. . . Torpedoes? Maybe?
Here is how. Create a new block (or weapon computer/weapon block combo, you know what I mean), it shoots so called "Torpedos", it doesn't need to be any different existing missiles in any way. But, and here's the balance, it deals unreasonable amounts of damage, but only depending on how many blocks the ship firing it has. A 200 block fighter with a one block group might fire a torpedo that deals a certain amount of damage, but a 2000 block corvette with a one block group might fire a torpedo that deals 1/20th that damage.
Proposed ways to keep the balance.
-The torpedo can't do so much damage that a SINGLE fighter can take down a 1m block titan.
-The torpedo should be able to do enough damage that 50 healthy fighters of a TBD size should stand a better than average chance of seriously damaging an unprotected titan.
-Torpedo damage is decreased exponentially when it detects it's host ship is docked (or the speed is greatly decreased), because small torpedo turret spam is something I want to head off right out of the gate.
-The equation for torpedo damage calculations should be in one of the config files so diehard "Titans ftw, fighters suk" servers can nerf them just as fast, or other servers could jack it up to encourage fewer Titans.
-Torpedos should be AS interceptable as missiles are now or more so, so PD armed titans get a fighting chance.
-Torpedos create a very large explosion, fighters can't sneak up beside a titan and just derp torpedos into blind spots without taking damage.
-Torpedo groups (if computer/weapon blocks are the way this goes) should have a soft cap per group, also configurable, along with a hard cap.
Why I think with these balances should do the trick.
Someone described their PD turret to me as 50 cannon groups backed up by several pulse groups firing into the path of any incoming missiles. Unless Fighters want to see their damage decreased, they won't add any amount of useful shields (like the SW X-wing had), so fighters will take damage quickly. Same thing for armor, unless one of those is actually economical, in which case you'll need to add a proportional amount of more engines, further decreasing your damage. Having a couple fighters mounted to your titan and set to hunt bombers (also, add a new option to bobby AI to detect small ships) wouldn't kill you. Bombers having more torpedo groups available but being slower, and doing less damage per group, but having a greater chance of doing ANY damage (being able to get closer or lower chance that all torpedos are intercepted by PD fire) would be an interesting trade-off for people to investigate.
I'm really interested in what people will think of this idea, and I'm really interested in feedback, because so far all I've gotten so far is silence or "fighters suk, titans need buff". Looking for something a little more coherent here please.
Well I was playing multiplayer the other day, working towards making a very large yacht, and someone was regaling me with how PD turrets can be very effective at shooting down missiles (sign me up). And of course other were talking too, and a side conversation was talking about how some guy has got a sweet new carrier. And in that moment it got me thinking about fighters in SM. "Kinda underpowered considering Titans can have lasers measured in Megatons/s". Which, when you think, is kinda fair, are 700m ships supposed to fire anything less? But fighters are supposed to be part of the equation too. Even in WW2, the largest battleships were sunk by torpedo bombers. IJNS Yamato had 18" guns that fired bullets taller than me and you (bullets, not including the powder charges behind them), because it was a Battleship, Battleships were supposed to be mobile artillery platforms (also country's dick measurers). The Bismark was forced to scuttle after being disabled by Swordfish (BIPLANES! The fucking insult), The Tirpitz was damaged beyond repair by British air forces (and a suicide run by a rigged destroyer against her drydock). And then there was Pearl Harbor . . . Fighters should have a place in SM to take on "Battleships". Also dog-fighting would be fun, and ultra-small efficient fighter builds would be fun to watch. But how?
. . . Torpedoes? Maybe?
Here is how. Create a new block (or weapon computer/weapon block combo, you know what I mean), it shoots so called "Torpedos", it doesn't need to be any different existing missiles in any way. But, and here's the balance, it deals unreasonable amounts of damage, but only depending on how many blocks the ship firing it has. A 200 block fighter with a one block group might fire a torpedo that deals a certain amount of damage, but a 2000 block corvette with a one block group might fire a torpedo that deals 1/20th that damage.
Proposed ways to keep the balance.
-The torpedo can't do so much damage that a SINGLE fighter can take down a 1m block titan.
-The torpedo should be able to do enough damage that 50 healthy fighters of a TBD size should stand a better than average chance of seriously damaging an unprotected titan.
-Torpedo damage is decreased exponentially when it detects it's host ship is docked (or the speed is greatly decreased), because small torpedo turret spam is something I want to head off right out of the gate.
-The equation for torpedo damage calculations should be in one of the config files so diehard "Titans ftw, fighters suk" servers can nerf them just as fast, or other servers could jack it up to encourage fewer Titans.
-Torpedos should be AS interceptable as missiles are now or more so, so PD armed titans get a fighting chance.
-Torpedos create a very large explosion, fighters can't sneak up beside a titan and just derp torpedos into blind spots without taking damage.
-Torpedo groups (if computer/weapon blocks are the way this goes) should have a soft cap per group, also configurable, along with a hard cap.
Why I think with these balances should do the trick.
Someone described their PD turret to me as 50 cannon groups backed up by several pulse groups firing into the path of any incoming missiles. Unless Fighters want to see their damage decreased, they won't add any amount of useful shields (like the SW X-wing had), so fighters will take damage quickly. Same thing for armor, unless one of those is actually economical, in which case you'll need to add a proportional amount of more engines, further decreasing your damage. Having a couple fighters mounted to your titan and set to hunt bombers (also, add a new option to bobby AI to detect small ships) wouldn't kill you. Bombers having more torpedo groups available but being slower, and doing less damage per group, but having a greater chance of doing ANY damage (being able to get closer or lower chance that all torpedos are intercepted by PD fire) would be an interesting trade-off for people to investigate.
I'm really interested in what people will think of this idea, and I'm really interested in feedback, because so far all I've gotten so far is silence or "fighters suk, titans need buff". Looking for something a little more coherent here please.