- Joined
- Jan 31, 2015
- Messages
- 1,696
- Reaction score
- 1,199
Brief Suggestion:
Implement a single-block system that buffs stations & planets only, based on Faction Points. Station Security Computer, Defense Mainframe, Faction Mainframe, Installation Protection Grid, Skynet or any number of names would be appropriate.
Suggested Features:
Reasoning:
Stations & faction planets are vital. Not only to RP and entire feel of the game, but to controlling territory for mining and defense. They have a very slight mass:firepower edge over ships through lack of need for thrust.
There are several effect blocks that apply to ships only though – movement buffs like Push, Pull, Stop & Explosion in particular. Also Radar Jammer & Cloak are ship-specific abilities. The small difference in eschewing thrusters does NOT balance stations against the mobility & abilities of ships. We can throw ships at a station in waves and should our ship be exhausted we simply respawn at base, order a replacement from the shipyard, and shortly rejoin the siege, but stations have no way to reinforce their strength. They are at their strongest the first moment of an engagement.
Currently options for vulnerable stations are 1) build them cheap and slight for easy replacement and 2) build them as 500K mass behemoths that require a small team to take down, with #2 the most popular of those, in my experience. But let's be honest - such large installations cause performance problems for many sometimes all. Regardless of the fantastic improvements Schine has made in performance recently.
The ability to vastly strengthen bases against ships with a single block drawing its strength from faction activity level (FP) instead of more and more massive swaths of system blocks both improves balance and fun (because people want stations & planets – preferably one's that can hold their own), but also enriches the game dynamics by bringing further elements into play could be a major improvement. It could also provide additional incentive for team building, teamwork, cooperation and joining a proper faction instead of many folks simply making a personal one for the invulnerability protection.
Planets in particular need this. They are big and slow to load already. Add a big complex complete with factory and turrets and it can become a nightmare. Yet shouldn't a planet be an extremely hard target for a ship to take down? Even the Volgons needed a massive fleet to destroy the Earth – just imagine if the planet was shielded and firing massive surface-to-space volleys at attackers! But building all of those systems up to par at normal performance requires building a titan into the planet without some way to buff it.
Such buffing would not render installations invincible, even at very high levels. It would make them less than ideal targets for casual raiding and trolling. They would simply become "bosses", especially those belonging to very large, active factions.
Basing the effects on relative FP seems best, since a conservative faction might amass insane amounts of FP that would unbalance the system. Whereas in a limited relative system you'd be gaining just as much staying active in your smaller faction than joining a larger faction since your activity level would actually reduce the effectiveness of your competition's defenses at the same time it increases yours.
Implement a single-block system that buffs stations & planets only, based on Faction Points. Station Security Computer, Defense Mainframe, Faction Mainframe, Installation Protection Grid, Skynet or any number of names would be appropriate.
Suggested Features:
- A single block that applies a percentage buff to ALL a station or claimed planet's defense related systems (perhaps even power grids?). Shields, turrets, armor HP, structure HP... maybe? Whatever. Meaning at highest levels and depending on server settings all of a faction's stations fitted with this block could enjoy double, triple or even better performance from the shields, weapons, attached turrets and perhaps even armor. At low levels inactive and tiny 1-2 man factions (again depending on server) might only be seeing a 4-5% bonus.
- An effectiveness for the buff that scales with the faction's relative activity level. I mean taking into account all large and small factions, creating an average from their current FP every faction tick, and using a particular faction's relationship to that average as the basis for their installation defensive buff. So an inactive small faction that's been abandoned will slowly wind down towards 0% performance increase while factions with very active members will enjoy very high levels of station and planet defense.
- Server-configurable level of buff that can easily be set to as low as 5-10% as high as 500-1,000% or even higher.
Reasoning:
Stations & faction planets are vital. Not only to RP and entire feel of the game, but to controlling territory for mining and defense. They have a very slight mass:firepower edge over ships through lack of need for thrust.
There are several effect blocks that apply to ships only though – movement buffs like Push, Pull, Stop & Explosion in particular. Also Radar Jammer & Cloak are ship-specific abilities. The small difference in eschewing thrusters does NOT balance stations against the mobility & abilities of ships. We can throw ships at a station in waves and should our ship be exhausted we simply respawn at base, order a replacement from the shipyard, and shortly rejoin the siege, but stations have no way to reinforce their strength. They are at their strongest the first moment of an engagement.
Currently options for vulnerable stations are 1) build them cheap and slight for easy replacement and 2) build them as 500K mass behemoths that require a small team to take down, with #2 the most popular of those, in my experience. But let's be honest - such large installations cause performance problems for many sometimes all. Regardless of the fantastic improvements Schine has made in performance recently.
The ability to vastly strengthen bases against ships with a single block drawing its strength from faction activity level (FP) instead of more and more massive swaths of system blocks both improves balance and fun (because people want stations & planets – preferably one's that can hold their own), but also enriches the game dynamics by bringing further elements into play could be a major improvement. It could also provide additional incentive for team building, teamwork, cooperation and joining a proper faction instead of many folks simply making a personal one for the invulnerability protection.
Planets in particular need this. They are big and slow to load already. Add a big complex complete with factory and turrets and it can become a nightmare. Yet shouldn't a planet be an extremely hard target for a ship to take down? Even the Volgons needed a massive fleet to destroy the Earth – just imagine if the planet was shielded and firing massive surface-to-space volleys at attackers! But building all of those systems up to par at normal performance requires building a titan into the planet without some way to buff it.
Such buffing would not render installations invincible, even at very high levels. It would make them less than ideal targets for casual raiding and trolling. They would simply become "bosses", especially those belonging to very large, active factions.
Basing the effects on relative FP seems best, since a conservative faction might amass insane amounts of FP that would unbalance the system. Whereas in a limited relative system you'd be gaining just as much staying active in your smaller faction than joining a larger faction since your activity level would actually reduce the effectiveness of your competition's defenses at the same time it increases yours.
