View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0013071The Last FederationBalance IssueJan 31, 2014 10:23 am
ReporterMisery Assigned To 
Status resolvedResolutionfixed 
Fixed in Version0.101 
Summary0013071: Large numbers of smaller ships are very overpowering
DescriptionCopying the forum post I made about this for convenience:

Tried out a fleet that was just lancers and cutters, both normal and pirate versions of each, with a couple of sniper squadrons. Against a Thoraxian fleet with a much more well-rounded setup that had some large ships, including 2 Claymore squadrons as well as some monitors.

It wasnt even a contest. Just aggression right from the start, popping their squads with concentrated fire, adding each new squadron to the attack as they emerged, smashed up the enemy fleet very fast. Particularly whenever it tried to put out large ships.... it was merely giving me more time to smash up the squadrons that were already out, which was one of the reasons as to why this worked. The Claymores and such when they did show up were just melted. I only lost 2 cutter squadrons and had no shield damage whatsoever to my flagship. The sniper squadrons were unnecessary and didnt really get to do anything.

Edit: I changed the racial mixup, specifically giving my fleet overall much less attack power..... same result. It was actually faster though.... this time the snipers never even got to spawn. There's just too many ships for the enemy to deal with.
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal WeightBalance Issue

Activities

tigersfan

Jan 30, 2014 6:02 pm

reporter   ~0034778

I hope this is fixed. If not, please let me know.

Misery

Jan 31, 2014 5:24 am

reporter   ~0034779

So far, this tactic is still working. It's not working quite as easily or as quickly, but still working nonetheless. The AI seems to be choosing it's responses to these squads a bit better, sending out Claymores to stop them, and I have to cut through a couple squadrons of smaller ships generally, but that's usually a minor thing, and having the big group of cutters/lancers simply avoid the Claymores (which tend to try and chase them) and then quickly hit the flagship from a different angle still does the trick. And they just tear it up so fast, that once the cutters/lancers are in position to fire, it's pretty much over, even if the Claymores get close and start taking some of them out.

tigersfan

Jan 31, 2014 8:14 am

reporter   ~0034780

What do you recommend? If I slow the firing rate on cutters/lancers, do you think that will help?

Misery

Jan 31, 2014 10:23 am

reporter   ~0034781

Yeah, they could both probably do with a nerf. From the descriptions of the ships it looks like the Monitors are meant to be the ones that are best at smashing up large targets, but right now the Cutters are definitely superior, at least in my experience. And the Lancers are even more devastating.

Slowing the firing rate of both might do well. The Lancers seem like they probably need more of a change than that, but when I think about it I'm not entirely sure what their intended role is. They can be great against larger targets, but the Monitors seem to be meant to be best at that, with the Cutters being not quite as good but more versatile. And as for smaller ships, Claymores deal with those well, as do the snipers. But the Lancers currently wreck the small ones as well. So right now their role seems kinda redundant. If there were more ships that used shields, I would say to give them the role of being best at removing shielding but not so good against armor.

Claymores also seem like they need some sort of change but I'm not sure just what. Right now it's pretty easy to simply have squadrons of smaller ships just avoid them; they're slow and their range isnt particularly huge, so it's easy for fast ships to just go around them, so they dont seem particularly useful unless they're protecting the Flagship, but that's not a very interesting use of them. And even then, they're very vulnerable to focused fire, particularly if snipers assist. Overall they seem a little underwhelming to me, but it might be worth asking some of the others on the forums what they think of those. If these are able to become better at defeating smaller ships reliably without becoming overpowered (and also without gaining the ability to wreck other large ships easily), it would lessen the problem of small ship spam being such a strong tactic.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Jan 29, 2014 7:40 am Misery New Issue
Jan 29, 2014 9:44 am tigersfan Internal Weight => Balance Issue
Jan 29, 2014 9:44 am tigersfan Status new => considering
Jan 30, 2014 6:02 pm tigersfan Note Added: 0034778
Jan 30, 2014 6:02 pm tigersfan Resolution open => fixed
Jan 30, 2014 6:02 pm tigersfan Fixed in Version => 0.101
Jan 30, 2014 6:02 pm tigersfan Status considering => resolved
Jan 31, 2014 5:24 am Misery Note Added: 0034779
Jan 31, 2014 8:14 am tigersfan Note Added: 0034780
Jan 31, 2014 10:23 am Misery Note Added: 0034781
Apr 14, 2014 9:29 am Chris_McElligottPark Category Gameplay - Balance Issue => Balance Issue