- Joined
- Apr 18, 2013
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Here's my 2 cents on some possible balancing ideas with the weapons and ship sizes. I realize that this is the alpha not a beta yet, but just thought I'd throw this out there as an alternative viewpoint. I do have to say that I am heavily impressed by this game, you guys are doing an amazing job 
The first would be just a simple rock, paper, scissors for the weapons and defenses. Shield > Missles > Hull > Beam > Shield. Nothing fancy, with the mass of the weapon (number of blocks) being how fast each does it's job (to protect or destroy). Beams would only work to take out shields and wouldn't affect anything physical, and missles would completely whiff on shields. Possibly optimized around things a Destroyer ship size mass would benefit the most from, Capital ships can build bigger and better versions of them, but the number of blocks required is exponential (better off building lots of smaller weapons).
Next I think we need to decide just what ships are for and make them heavily penalized for trying to do everything. Are Capital ships unstoppable weapons of destrucion, or are they the support ships that keep a floatilla functioning? Same rock paper scissors works here too. Capitol > Fighter > Destroyer > Capitol.
Setting specific hard caps would be an effective way to encourage ship classes. Different tiers based off the mass of the ship, with each tier specializing in certain things.
See The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell for instance, it fits the Starmade universe quite well actually (just with a more realistic take on just how fast these ships would be really moving).
And Lastly, make the regular hull blocks (the non hardened ones) NOT count toward the mass that is used to determine a ships class. However they have no defensive value whatsoever. They're for all of us that like to build the insides of our ships or used as decoration. Can also be used to make a Destroyer look like a Capital for intimidation purposes XD (but one missle would just destroy huuuuge chunks of it on impact).
The first would be just a simple rock, paper, scissors for the weapons and defenses. Shield > Missles > Hull > Beam > Shield. Nothing fancy, with the mass of the weapon (number of blocks) being how fast each does it's job (to protect or destroy). Beams would only work to take out shields and wouldn't affect anything physical, and missles would completely whiff on shields. Possibly optimized around things a Destroyer ship size mass would benefit the most from, Capital ships can build bigger and better versions of them, but the number of blocks required is exponential (better off building lots of smaller weapons).
Next I think we need to decide just what ships are for and make them heavily penalized for trying to do everything. Are Capital ships unstoppable weapons of destrucion, or are they the support ships that keep a floatilla functioning? Same rock paper scissors works here too. Capitol > Fighter > Destroyer > Capitol.
Setting specific hard caps would be an effective way to encourage ship classes. Different tiers based off the mass of the ship, with each tier specializing in certain things.
- Fighter tier = Moves very fast and agile, instant stopping. Can't put very powerful weapons on or big shields, but can dodge most weapon fire and move fast enough to make missle locks hard (or pull a Red October and use their own missles against them). Great scouts or Destroyer killers, deadly in numbers. SPEED
- Destroyer tier = Moves more like a boat, will drift but is still decently manuverable. It gets a buff to any weapons put on it. POWER
- Capital tier = Very slow to move and change, but can build as big as they want (no upper cap). Basically can have tons of weapons/turrets or a giant world destroyer weapon but due to it's size and movement speed can easily be out manuvered and eventually killed by the more mobile and powerful Destroyer. Would be a carrier or artillary you'd want to protect. SUPPORT
See The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell for instance, it fits the Starmade universe quite well actually (just with a more realistic take on just how fast these ships would be really moving).
And Lastly, make the regular hull blocks (the non hardened ones) NOT count toward the mass that is used to determine a ships class. However they have no defensive value whatsoever. They're for all of us that like to build the insides of our ships or used as decoration. Can also be used to make a Destroyer look like a Capital for intimidation purposes XD (but one missle would just destroy huuuuge chunks of it on impact).