Faction Design Methodologies

[Felix_Wannamaker_III]

I sat and figured it out. Given 4 vital stats (Maneuverability, HP, weapons and powercore) every faction can have a unique statistical difference pattern from every other. There are 36 such combinations (There are not 36 shiplines, quite, if you discount Aliens and people who only have weapons). I know there was a thread like this, but it was more about the problem and not about a solution. Also, this doesnt cover hitboxes (which make (Bottlenose) or break (Moldy crow) a ship)

Examples

Faction A has strong weapons and weak cores

OR

Faction B has strong weapons and cores, but weak HP and Maneuverability

A's buff and nerf will be twice as great, because it has half as many of each.
Each ship class starts with a base score for each stat, then is modified by the applicable buffs and nerfs of it's faction.

Some of this undoubtedly exists, but I dont think its been formalized as such. Someone would need to figure out what combination should go to every faction, and make sure we had no repeats. Thoughts?

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Im penniless, rotten in a fight, and have authority issues, but im back!

[Scumbag]

This is an expansion of your idea for game balance, i liked it then, i like it now. Not much i can say, best you can hope for is that this thread gets noticed by people who understand what you want and have the power to change things. Anyway +1 from me.

[Omicron]

Shape, agility and guns determine the victor rather than armor and powercore. You will will leave "tanking" factions at disadvantage.

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[Felix_Wannamaker_III]

there would be a co-efficient involved with each stat. 10% more maneuverability is worth lots and lots more than 10% powercore, of course.

An exact number would have to be determined for each.

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Im penniless, rotten in a fight, and have authority issues, but im back!

[Tenacity]

Ultimately the problem with this type of balance lies in the fact that manuverability is the most powerful statistic in pvp.

Assuming that weapons arent so weak they cannot bypass shield regeneration, the lightest and quickest ship will win. This is one of the reasons capship balance has always been an issue in disco - they cannot maneuver, so the only way for larger ships to survive for any lengthy amount of time in battle is to have ridiculously high hull/shield reserves and, at that point, you cant give those ships weapons to really defend themselves from smaller craft or they overpowered solo machines.

From the start I've been of the opinion that the only way to really balance pvp engagements in this game is to give the same stats, hitbox sizes, and weapons to every faction, with the only real differences between them being appearances and names. That way it comes down to the players, not the ships they're flying.

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