There is something that has bugged me for some time now with this mod; the lack of attention towards low-level ships and weapons. This is somewhat long-winded, but for those that might be working on this area or are otherwise interested in it, they might want to take a look at my thoughts.
Each of the houses have a main fighter and in the original game they were of course the primary choice for their respective forces as well as a light fighter used by the police. If somebody wants to use a low-level police or navy character, these vessels are generally suitable. However, there are two key problems; when put against their relevant counterpart, it tends to be imbalanced and the equipment that can be mounted is generally limited and out-dated. The only thing that actually balances the NPCs is the base armour multiplier factor. Generally speaking, if a player was using a cheap fighter then they'd at most have the first armour upgrade applied to it.
I will list below the ships and their counterparts (including their class). I will only highlight class 8 ships or less. The Centurion could also be included because it is the first Corsair Heavy Fighter, but it's utterly imbalanced if pitting against anything else here, similarly if considering anything Gallian.
Patriot:Excellent agility; very underpowered everywhere. Bloodhound: Average agility; balanced in Liberty, underpowered in Bretonia. Dagger: Good agility; balanced in Liberty, underpowered elsewhere. Piranha: Average agility; balanced in Liberty, underpowered elsewhere. Cavalier: Average agility; balanced in Bretonia, underpowered in Kusari. Legionnaire: Good agility; balanced in Bretonia, underpowered elsewhere. Drake: Outstanding agility; balanced in Kusari, overpowered in Bretonia. Banshee: Average agility; overpowered in Rheinland, heavily overpowered in Liberty.
Defender: Good agility; underpowered everywhere. Crusader: Poor agility; balanced in Bretonia, underpowered in Kusari. Barracuda: Good agility; overpowered in Liberty and Bretonia, balanced elsewhere. Dragon: Poor agility; balanced in Kusari, overpowered in Bretonia. Stiletto: Poor agility; balanced in Kusari and Rheinland, heavily overpowered in Liberty. Valkyrie: Poor agility; heavily overpowered everywhere.
And the civilian ships (including Junker)...
Starflier (C3): Outstanding agility; Useless even with agility. Startracker (C4): Poor agility; agility makes it useless. Civilian Shuttle (C4): Average Agility; balanced in Liberty without torpedo, underpowered elsewhere. Basalt (C5): Good agility; overpowered in Liberty, balanced elsewhere. Gitano (C6): Poor agility; Slightly overpowered in Liberty without torpedo, balanced elsewhere. Hawk (C6): Average agility; Overpowered in Liberty and Bretonia, balanced elsewhere. Starblazer (C6): Excellent agility; Overpowered in Liberty and Bretonia, balanced elsewhere. Saishi (C8); Poor agility; balanced in Rheinland, overpowered elsewhere.
As you can see there, there are some serious issues with balance. The difference between the Liberty and Rheinland ships is horrendous, especially given that they are at war. Even the Kusari ships are far more efficient than Bretonian ones. The Stiletto isn't something that would be found much in Liberty or Bretonia unless there's a visiting Outcast, but of course it is still a relevant match-up against their ships. If a few Valkyries come along to Liberty, the only Navy and Police class that can realistically challenge them are the Very Heavy Fighters. The only other valid option is a Saishi. In Bretonia, the Crusader is also heavily out-gunned by a Dragon and the Drake is one of the fastest ships available so a Cavalier has very little chance too.
So, what I would like to see is the following (or nothing, as noted)...
Patriot: This may be balanced by its agility, although an increase in hull and power could be viable. Bloodhound: Underpowered on the whole, but balanced for Liberty. Dagger: Underpowered on the whole, but balanced for Liberty. Piranha: Underpowered on the whole, but balanced for Liberty. Cavalier: Increase in hull and power to match the Drake. Drake: Decrease shield class by one to match the Cavalier. Banshee: Being so overpowered, it's difficult to suggest changes as they'd be drastic.
Defender: Guns (not turret) and shield increased by one, hull and power increased to ~2500. Crusader: All guns to class 5, hull and power increased to 3000. Barracuda: No changes, it's very well balanced. Dragon: As long as the Crusader is upgraded, this should be fine. Stiletto: I don't see any good reason to change this. Valkyrie: Degrade to class 7 to match the Stiletto.
Shuttle: Remove torpedo slot. Basalt: Reclassify as a Heavy Fighter or remove torpedo slot. Gitano: Increase agility to match the Hawk, remove torpedo slot. Else reclassify as a HF. Starblazer: None, works as it is.
It might actually be worthwhile overhauling the lower- LF and HF class altogether.
There are no lawful shield-busters that fall between class 4 and class 6. Any vessel of class 3 or 4 isn't really a problem because they can only mount relative weapons anyway. Thus the class 3 Advanced Stunpulse is sufficient for the Patriot, Defender, Bloodhound, Dagger, Starflier, Startracker and Shuttle. But the Cavalier, Crusader, Drake, Dragon, Gitano, Starblazer and Hawk all have a problem because they can also only possibly mount the class 3 Stunpulse as there are no other options. The Debilitator is class 7 so only the Stiletto, Valkyrie and Saishi can use it. The Corsairs have an advantage in Bretonia and Rheinland in that they have the Borroco. I would like to see a new shield-buster introduced, being an "Improved Stunpulse" which would be a good match for the Borroco. There are also many gaps in the turret section. For example, there is no Mk1 or 3 equivalent of the Magma Hammer turret, only a Mk2, and there are also no Advanced Stunpulse or Improved Debilitator turrets.
Another thing I was considering is the prospect of giving the house heavy fighters an additional CD/torp slot. Maybe to keep things on an even keel, the more powerful disruptors could draw power, not so much that it affects the heavier ships but enough that it does affect lighter ones (did you ever notice that the top 3 mines use power?). This would allow low-level police and naval pilots the ability to stop and challenge a heavy freighter, but currently they can only do one or the other and what's the point in stopping it if you can hurt it? It might also apply to pirates, but maybe unlawfuls shouldn't have this luxury, that's a matter for debating really.
All-in-all, these sort of changes could give an incentive to use low-level technology and take away the thoughts of going for the more powerful options. Okay, if somebody really wants a battleship, I'm sure they'll do just that. But some do actually want to roleplay with a lesser ship and would if there was a decent option that would suit their ideas. At present, the only ships of class 6 or lower that I consider to be worthwhile are the Basalt, Barracuda and Drake. The first two can mount a torpedo whilst the latter has the agility to turn a Nomad inside-out. If, for example, the Defender was upgraded to class 5 or was at least made a bit more agile to make up for it's low power, it might then be worthwhile. The same goes for the Crusader, if it comes up against a Drake then it's utterly screwed. Don't get me wrong, I've done a half-million damage to a Rheinland Battleship with a Defender, but it did eventually land its turrets on me and that was that. But this is about the balance between something it would likely come up against, for example a Wolfhound. It's all a little off in my opinion.
Alright, I don't know what more to say on this matter right now. If you have any thoughts, chuck 'em in.
Umm, I'm sorry, but I really don't see a use in this... They're Mk I vanilla ships... no one really uses them for anything srs bsns anymore... This would just be time and effort on the dev team's part that next to no one would use. We'd have to retool NPCs and all that crap too, which no one wants to do.
' Wrote:are you aware that each house light fighter and heavy fighter have mark two equivalents?
Of course, and take a look at the stark differences between mark one and two.
' Wrote:They're Mk I vanilla ships... no one really uses them for anything srs bsns anymore... This would just be time and effort on the dev team's part that next to no one would use. We'd have to retool NPCs and all that crap too, which no one wants to do.
That's exactly my point, nobody uses them. Why? Because they're pretty much useless in every department. That is why I wish to see them being upgraded, so that there is an incentive for people to use them. As for NPCs, they use separate ships to those that you and I may purchase.
There's a space limit? Anyway, people start out in a flea so there's no point in having a class 2 ship with the the next available one being class 6. The NPCs predominantly use class 3-7, so they should be available to the player too.
' Wrote:nobody uses them. Why? Because they're pretty much useless in every department. That is why I wish to see them being upgraded, so that there is an incentive for people to use them. As for NPCs, they use separate ships to those that you and I may purchase.
I do verily support this. Giving the low-end stuff some boosts, or special and diverse characteristics from their MKII equivalents, while keeping a low price....
Will make them more common, and perhaps fun to fly.
They could also open up many RP possibilities. Some may be inept at fighting - what about distracting and annoying? Diversity is very key in keeping a game like this fresh and fun to play.
I have a Basalt and believe me I'm damned annoying in it, many bombers and a few fighters would attest to that. Of course, it shouldn't be able to take down bombers and certainly not transports, but some people are just poor pilots. Whilst a few consecutive hits can easily kill this class, as long as it's alive and has torpedoes then it's a threat to anything that has 100k shield capacity or less. The Basalt is actually a powerful ship given its agility, it should wipe the floor with a Defender or Crusader, it matches a Dragon and can challenge a Valkyrie. It's a good example of a class 5 ship and this is really the sort of level that all of the lesser house ships should be at. The Defender is sadly lacking a lot and the Crusader isn't far ahead of it.
There's no need to introduce an entirely new ship, changing their statistics slightly would suffice. I'm not talking about VHFs, those are all class 9 or 10, anything less and they are not a VHF. Even the new LFs are class 8 or better. We have an abundance of this class or LF or VHF thus plenty of choice on that front.
