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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0006192AI War 1 / ClassicSuggestion - Balance TweaksFeb 28, 2012 3:57 pm
ReporterSpikey00 Assigned To 
Status consideringResolutionopen 
Product Version5.027 
Summary0006192: Buff the ARS?
DescriptionNot entirely necessary, but perhaps the ARS should be buffed and included with the new science vessel changes in 5.028. 100k HP, no cloaking, 6 knowledge per second are its current stats.

TagsNo tags attached.
Internal WeightFeature Suggestion

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TechSY730

Feb 28, 2012 12:27 am

reporter   ~0019906

HP buff, yea I can see. Maybe even a knowledge/s increase. But I think cloaking is not needed.

Mk. I has cheapness
Mk. II has stealth and pretty good durability
Mk. III (now aliased to Knowledge Hacker) can gather on enemy planets
Mk. IV ? (will this be the Ship-Design Hacker, or is the Ship-Design Hacker a part of a different ship series?)
Mk. V has the best knowledge gathering rate, and (should have) moderate durability

Each mark has a different upside and different downsides.

martyn_van_buren

Feb 28, 2012 1:46 pm

reporter   ~0019933

Agreed. I feel like a bonus ship type (and now the chance of choosing a bonus ship type) is enough to make me pretty happy with it. If anything Mk. II seems like the weak link in the chain to me, but maybe that's just my playstyle.

TechSY730

Feb 28, 2012 1:55 pm

reporter   ~0019935

Last edited: Feb 28, 2012 1:55 pm

Mk. II does have a higher knowledge gather rate, and it is cloaked, making it less likely to die if you put it on a still in danger planet, or if you are suddenly attacked when it comes in due to auto-gather knowledge (something that has happened to me before, and it took me a while to realize it)

But yea, if you never, ever have your science station at a place with any sort of hostile presence, even when moving from planet to planet or auto-gathering, Mk. II science labs are useless. In that case, you're better off getting two Mk. I labs, which is around the same cost but together have a better rate than one Mk. II.

Spikey00

Feb 28, 2012 2:12 pm

reporter   ~0019938

They have always been a throwaway vessel because the players should already have several MK1/2 sciences running around when they get to that point of capturing an ARS planet, and of course they were very weak.

I'd really like to see something more unique be done with the ARS, possibly with knowledge raiding mechanics from 5.028.
i.e. they can each k-raid up to 3k without increasing the AI zombie-ship-spawn response (but this should be indicated in the UI), so that's a maximum of 15k extra from a maximum five labs in one game.

I suggest that the total amount of knowledge gatherable be dependant on the amount of ARSes humans control currently, so if they lost two but have three they could only gather 9k of the 15k knowledge, emphasizing keeping these labs safe throughout the game. They stop collecting raid knowledge if the player loses them in action and the cap is now exceeded.

In multiplayer, the lab should collect for everyone.

TechSY730

Feb 28, 2012 2:36 pm

reporter   ~0019942

Last edited: Feb 28, 2012 2:37 pm

I don't know, ARSs already have a role in hacking now, being the target of "ship type hacking"

Though I guess you could use it for both, or exclusively one or the other. (Do you want to be able to choose your ship type, or use it to get "free" knowledge from a hostile planet, but not both for the same ARS)

martyn_van_buren

Feb 28, 2012 2:54 pm

reporter   ~0019947

I think I'm against that ---- hacking is already dauntingly complex. I'm sure X has this on his mind already, but I do think it's important to be careful new players don't find themselves too often in that situation where a tooltip suggests that there's some important mechanic they don't understand that's going to cost them the game if they don't master it. Currently (at least as of a year ago when I started playing) it's actually pretty easy to pick up the game a get a good enough idea of what's going on to be able to have an interesting and challenging but fair-feeling game in a few hours, and this is a really important thing to preserve.

Hearteater

Feb 28, 2012 3:25 pm

reporter   ~0019951

Maybe they should reduce AIP by 5 when captured, but increase AIP by 10 when destroyed. So you get the benefit of a new ship type, and if you can protect them you get a small AIP decrease. If you can't...that's unfortunate.

martyn_van_buren

Feb 28, 2012 3:29 pm

reporter   ~0019954

Hearteater's suggestion sounds cool to me. You'd want to move it back into safe territory, so capturing one with deep raiding would create the possibility of an entirely optional escort mission for a small advantage. If so, tho, they should not be loadable to transports, as that would trivialize the issue.

Hearteater

Feb 28, 2012 3:37 pm

reporter   ~0019955

They already aren't :)

martyn_van_buren

Feb 28, 2012 3:57 pm

reporter   ~0019957

Tight! It is cool when you get sort of emergent missions that way. And you do a lot in this game :)

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Feb 27, 2012 7:57 pm Spikey00 New Issue
Feb 28, 2012 12:27 am TechSY730 Note Added: 0019906
Feb 28, 2012 12:27 am TechSY730 Note View State: 0019906: private
Feb 28, 2012 12:27 am TechSY730 Note View State: 0019906: public
Feb 28, 2012 7:13 am tigersfan Internal Weight => Feature Suggestion
Feb 28, 2012 7:13 am tigersfan Status new => considering
Feb 28, 2012 1:46 pm martyn_van_buren Note Added: 0019933
Feb 28, 2012 1:55 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0019935
Feb 28, 2012 1:55 pm TechSY730 Note Edited: 0019935
Feb 28, 2012 2:12 pm Spikey00 Note Added: 0019938
Feb 28, 2012 2:36 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0019942
Feb 28, 2012 2:37 pm TechSY730 Note Edited: 0019942
Feb 28, 2012 2:54 pm martyn_van_buren Note Added: 0019947
Feb 28, 2012 3:25 pm Hearteater Note Added: 0019951
Feb 28, 2012 3:29 pm martyn_van_buren Note Added: 0019954
Feb 28, 2012 3:37 pm Hearteater Note Added: 0019955
Feb 28, 2012 3:57 pm martyn_van_buren Note Added: 0019957