Discovery Mod: Ideas and Feature Requests

[Thyrzul]

I think it's kinda okay that everything has their weaknesses. Got a cruiser sniping your anus? Get some bomber support, he calls fighters, you go in with gunboats and BAMM, here you got a clash of two diverse fleets. Isn't that what fleet battles should be about?

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[Trogdor]

As I've said before, even if it was desirable, we simply can't pigeonhole BS like we do.
We have too many factions, too much space, not enough people, to balance BS around flying with friends. For many, their BS is their main/favorite character. It's whom they put most of their work into, both in terms of roleplaying their story and the money for the ship and its equipment. I don't think it's fair to mandate, through balance, 'you shouldn't be flying it unless you have friends that want to follow you around.'
It should be able to stand on its own merits and justify its own existence. It should be capable of killing at least one other class of ship besides itself. The class of ship that makes the most sense is cruiser.

Don't even bring up POBs. While the BS is needed there, POBs are not sieged often enough to jusify that as being "what BS is for".

Furthermore - and again I'm repeating myself here - Even if the BS does fly with an escort, what will the BS do? Let's say the opposing force's BS was destroyed, or they never had one to begin with. What does the BS do now? The enemy ships are not going to stick around and let the BS fire at them, they are going to utilize their maneuverability to get away (and stay away) from the battleship's range. And then they will maintain that range, sniping at you and then engaging your escorts when they leave you behind. The battleship is effectively irrelevant to the encounter.

I'm not saying we should give BS a weapon that obliterates Cruisers. Far from it. But do give us a weapon that can actually hit cruisers. Long range, good speed, low damage, low turret rotation speed. The cruiser is still going to avoid some of the fire because of his own thrusting and strafing. This will make a BS vs. cruiser duel a fair fight, rather than "lolol I can both outrun and outgun BS, and there's nothing BS can do about it".
Further, the battleship will become more important in group fights. You will be valuable because of your ability to fight cruisers, or because of your ability to take out a battleship that is now a danger to your side's cruisers.

The mod is in beta. We know there is going to be an Update 4 before release. Can we please just try this for one beta version and see how it goes?

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[Moberg]

I don't know how you play battleships but it seems to me that you give them an advantage by letting them make use of your disadvantages. First off, if a cruiser is out of your Cerberus reach or your own mortar reach, you are not supposed to hit it. You are supposed to hit battleships from such a distance. That is fine in itself.
The problem you describe that cruisers can snipe you from such a distance is solved by dodging. If they're not in your weapon range, means atleast 3k, you have enough distance to dodge the enemy projectile by strafing/reversing thrust and turning.
This is because most people aim at the red cross, which shifts heavily if you do so and makes the mortar hit where your center/front should've been.
If you get into a situation where you let a cruiser kite you, then it's your own fault. Cruisers are meant to kill battleships they kite, it is their advantage.

This way, the cruiser has to go closer, allowing you to fire heavy and primary, if you don't hit maybe even secondary turrets onto him, hopefully hitting enough shots to make him move out of range again.
If said cruiser is using missiles, you should have a flak for that. If you learn how to flak, cruiser, gunboat and nova missiles should be of no concern at all anymore. I have not fought against a BS with missiles yet, so I can't say anything about that.

And now to the situation if there is no battleship present: Battleships can provide an outstanding and excellent support ship. Position yourself relatively close to the fight and offer your snubs to provide cover when the enemy gets too close. Use secondary turrets against those snubs if your teammates fly towards your ship with enemies on his tail. A few salvos of secondaries lets most fighters/bombers fly off when hit.
Then, equip docking modules on your battleship. If your teammates are injured, you can simply let them dock and conduct free repairs and then launch again.
Again, I do not see an issue with the current role of battleships.

The only possible "issue" left would be SNAC bombers, but they're not an issue either. It is simply their role to take out battleships without having to aim a lot. And even then, it is possible to dodge SNAC shots too.

Concluding I can say that I do not think the problem you described is one for those who know how to play their advantages/roles and how you can avoid letting the enemy use the disadvantages you have.

The best solution would be not to fly a battleship alone at all (which I think is completely stupid to do in the first place), and have 4+ fighters/bombers as company. This means more RP aswell.

Fully agree with Thyrzul, too.

[Trogdor]

I don't know how you play battleships but it seems to me that you give them an advantage by letting them make use of your disadvantages. First off, if a cruiser is out of your Cerberus reach or your own mortar reach, you are not supposed to hit it. You are supposed to hit battleships from such a distance. That is fine in itself.
The problem you describe that cruisers can snipe you from such a distance is solved by dodging. If they're not in your weapon range, means atleast 3k, you have enough distance to dodge the enemy projectile by strafing/reversing thrust and turning.
This is because most people aim at the red cross, which shifts heavily if you do so and makes the mortar hit where your center/front should've been.
If you get into a situation where you let a cruiser kite you, then it's your own fault. Cruisers are meant to kill battleships they kite, it is their advantage.

This way, the cruiser has to go closer, allowing you to fire heavy and primary, if you don't hit maybe even secondary turrets onto him, hopefully hitting enough shots to make him move out of range again.
If said cruiser is using missiles, you should have a flak for that. If you learn how to flak, cruiser, gunboat and nova missiles should be of no concern at all anymore. I have not fought against a BS with missiles yet, so I can't say anything about that.

No cruiser in their right mind is going to allow themselves to be within weapons range of a battleship if their own weapons outrange the battleship's. Period. You, the battleship, can dodge all you want. Eventually, the cruiser will hit you, and eventually the cruiser will wear you down.
The cruiser, thus, completely dictates the encounter.
He can engage with impunity, since his range-advantageous weapons are not ammo-based.
He is faster and more maneuverable, either being completely out of range, or far enough away to dodge your weapons. Thus, he is effectively invincible provided he is patient.
He can escape at any time, and can prevent you from escaping since he has a CD.

And now to the situation if there is no battleship present: Battleships can provide an outstanding and excellent support ship. Position yourself relatively close to the fight and offer your snubs to provide cover when the enemy gets too close. Use secondary turrets against those snubs if your teammates fly towards your ship with enemies on his tail. A few salvos of secondaries lets most fighters/bombers fly off when hit.

Won't happen. Your side's bombers are going to be attacking the enemy caps, which are far away from you. That leaves your fighters, whom aren't going to have fighters on their tail, since the enemy fighters are attacking your side's bombers. Your fighters are going to be attacking bombers that are attacking you.

Then, equip docking modules on your battleship. If your teammates are injured, you can simply let them dock and conduct free repairs and then launch again.
Again, I do not see an issue with the current role of battleships.

Can they even do that without it counting as pvp death?

The only possible "issue" left would be SNAC bombers, but they're not an issue either. It is simply their role to take out battleships without having to aim a lot. And even then, it is possible to dodge SNAC shots too.

I do not contest this; I have said before that cap vs bomber balance is probably fine, therefore the turrets I was pushing for have slow rotation speed so that they're not effective vs bombers. In using these turrets, you sacrifice raw DPS and make yourself vulnerable to battleships that are set up for killing battleships. Balance, variety.

The best solution would be not to fly a battleship alone at all (which I think is completely stupid to do in the first place), and have 4+ fighters/bombers as company. This means more RP aswell.

Well, maybe you think so, but if that is one's beloved character, whom they put the most time into roleplaying... that's the ship they want to fly. And as I said we simply don't have enough people playing the mod to be able to rely on having friends fly with you, unless you're playing one of the more popular factions.

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[Moberg]

My point stands. If you fly alone in space, as a battleship, you deserve to be shred to pieces by bombers, cruisers and whatnot. A battleship is not meant to fly by itself at all.
I acknowledge that it is what you / your character wants to fly, but you should be aware of the consequences.
- Getting engaged because it's a large warship
- Getting countered by bombers, cruisers where you let them kite you if you happen to engage
- Generally having a large ship that is easy to hit and slow.

[Enkidu]

Can they even do that without it counting as pvp death?

This is what carriers are made for; you camp outside of the engagement range and provide a floating repair platform for your snubs. You can also rush four snubs straight into the heart of the fight from their docking cradles, which is enough to spoil anybody's day.

Carriers are the most effective cap ship on Disco, if you have four snubs and a good sense of teamwork.

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THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's Shipping Unions, retired from a life of piracy.)

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[Ponge]

Capital ship infocard suggestion:

The ship's gun loadout should be added to the infocard, I mean how many light, standard and heavy slots it has. This way you can check the capabilities of the ship in-game, you don't have to browse the Wiki (especially when it is not up to date).

Other:
I think the Carrier class is pretty useless now as it needs player-made docking modules to be able to house snubs. I think all carrier class ships should have 2 (light carrier) or 3 (heavy carrier) built-in docking bays. I mean the docking bay would not be visible on the equipment list, but ships could dock into it for repairs/transportation. This docking capacity would be increased by player made docking modules (e.g. 2 for light - 4 snubs total; 3 for heavy - 6 snubs total).

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[Enkidu]

Capital ship infocard suggestion:

The ship's gun loadout should be added to the infocard, I mean how many light, standard and heavy slots it has. This way you can check the capabilities of the ship in-game, you don't have to browse the Wiki (especially when it is not up to date).

Other:
I think the Carrier class is pretty useless now as it needs player-made docking modules to be able to house snubs. I think all carrier class ships should have 2 (light carrier) or 3 (heavy carrier) built-in docking bays. I mean the docking bay would not be visible on the equipment list, but ships could dock into it for repairs/transportation. This docking capacity would be increased by player made docking modules (e.g. 2 for light - 4 snubs total; 3 for heavy - 6 snubs total).

Seconded ^

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THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's Shipping Unions, retired from a life of piracy.)

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[Kenobi]

Good day chaps...

I just had a BRILLIANT idea to re-vive our beloved server... (!)

What I want is your feedback. Tell me if this is doable or not basically...

OK, here it comes...

I want to build a BIG STRUCTURE and just 'plop' it in a system without any announcement whatsoever...
Well.. maybe create some 'buzz' a couple of weeks before the actual implementation of the thing.




Now I'm thinking of a kind of "death star"-like structure. Maybe not THAT big, but big enough for light or medium fighters to fly INSIDE of it !

The insentive that I want installed it this structure is this : in several parts of the structure we shoud have "docking-rings", like on planets, or docking points if you like. I would like to plant SPECIAL ITEMS inside the structure... things that you could not find anywhere else... like... special weapons or equiment or trade goods that you can buy cheap (since only light / medium fighters can pass... there is no corrupting the market?) and sell at a high price...

Finally I want this structure (build by some ancient race... fitting the Freelancer storyline) to disappear as suddenly as it appeared.... and placed in another part of Sirius... giving hints and clues through certain channels...



So.... what do you guys think ?

To help you give me feedback, I chopped up my idea into several sub-idea's :

1) The idea of the big structure itself
2) The possibility to for smaller vessels to enter the structure
3) The idea of docking-points and placing interesting stuff inside the dockable "rooms"
4) The idea of moving the structure after a certain time...

Allright... shoot away... :-)

[Highland Laddie]

^^ hmm..... ?

Anyways...here's an idea for a new commodity: I've noticed on the Wiki in the Commodities section that it lists "Classified Intel on Nearby Systems" as a commodity..but I've never actually seen this in-game anywhere ever. Is this real, or what?

If not, then my idea would be to actually have a commodity simply called "Classified Intel" and have it sold only on high-security Military installations (I'm thinking guard systems), or maybe at Research Bases as well. If you wanted to break this kind of commodity into House/faction specific like we currently have with Passengers...that's one way, but takes up more commodity space.

Then, you have the best selling point for said Classified Intel be at the House/factions worst enemies main base(s).

Example: Liberty - buy Classified Intel only at Radford Research Station in Virginia, or maybe Eureka Research Station in Ellesmere (or both...or other if more appropriate)
- it sells moderately at allied faction locations, like New London or even better at allied research stations, like Sunderland in Newcastle
- it sells BEST at research stations or primary bases (or Guard systems) of Liberty's main enemies, like Liberty Rogues, RNC, or even Gallia. Not cheap either, but maybe in the area of 20-30M/ea.

Obviously, this would probably be more of an RP tool than a straight up Trading commodity (kinda like Gallic Artifacts), but it would also make some ships better "targets of opportunity" and create fun ways of having intelligence convoys etc.

Thoughts?