Faction Spotlight: Ma'Alaketh Confederation

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Vesuvius_SWIE, Sep 30, 2016.

  1. Vesuvius_SWIE

    Vesuvius_SWIE Administrator Staff Member

    The XP costs are proportional to the attack and defense of the ship. So nothing is inflated or deflated when it comes to XP cost to buy a ship, or destroying an enemy ship. The main reason why Ma'Alaketh ships are higher in XP value is the extreme ranges & accuracy of their weapons, as well as superior force fields.
    Quoting Independence Day (kinda) -- Once you get past their defenses, they're just like us -- but that is if you get through their defenses.
     
  2. The Calamity

    The Calamity Member

    so due to the ranges of the wepz that they use would it be fair to say that the firing cycle is different than the other factions, so in CQB (sorta speak) they are at a disadvantage vs say the Sol who have higher firing cycles...is fire cycles even a thing in this game???
     
  3. Vesuvius_SWIE

    Vesuvius_SWIE Administrator Staff Member

    Actually all weapons firing for now is per-turn. The balancing comes simply from the design standpoint of those large particle weapons -- they take up so much space/mass, that other things would need to be sacrificed. Also, they cost 2x in power to charge vs. regular plasma or laser beams.
    Just FYI though, the three Ma'Alaketh ships that are revealed are the 'shadow' variants -- ones with particle beams and dampening fields. Other ships (like assault variants) can be as simple as having multiple regular plasma beams, and no dampening fields.
     
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  4. The Calamity

    The Calamity Member

    And shield t5 on those said ships?
     
  5. Vesuvius_SWIE

    Vesuvius_SWIE Administrator Staff Member

    ob1 above mentioned correctly that those extremely powerful force fields would only be on the biggest ships, like the dreadnought and battleships, as well as their larger space stations. A T5 force field can be as massive as a light cruiser, so its not going to end up on a medium-tier ship.
    What you will see is quite a few T2 force fields on starter ships, and T3 force fields on frigates. These cards below give you an idea:
    TAAVOR.jpg
    TIALARA.jpg
    TIMENAALA.jpg
     
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  6. Vesuvius_SWIE

    Vesuvius_SWIE Administrator Staff Member

    Also notice the 'XP cost' of a Ma'Alaketh cruiser in comparison to a Sol/Genari one -- nearly double.
     
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  7. Coser

    Coser Active Member

    Talking of XP, what is the situation for people sharing credit for a kill? Is XP given to the first ship to hit the target, the last ship to hit it before it blows, or is it shared by % damage caused?
     
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  8. The Calamity

    The Calamity Member

    I would imagine there's a kill & assist at the very basic end, or xp based on most dmg delt to target upon target being routed or killed, don't forget I think we'll see a lot of routing vs ships actually being destroyed, since you will loose everything, so xp for routing has to be a thing seeing on how it counts for something in battle
     
  9. Coser

    Coser Active Member

    Yes, I understood that, and the situation is pretty much the same either way. Say I take down a Sol player's shields, and a friend launches marines which end up taking over the ship. Without me taking down the shields, the marine pod would have just popped on the remaining shields, so it has to have been a collaborative effort.

    Or as a Sol player, I take down an enemies shields and do a bit of hull damage. Next turn a friend targets the same vessel and neutralises their weapons, the ship turns and flees due to not having shields or weapons available. Again, it's a collaborative effort and should be rewarded as such. [It's also how I expect Vesuvius to have done it, I just want clarification on the matter as I haven't seen anything yet on it.]
     
  10. Vesuvius_SWIE

    Vesuvius_SWIE Administrator Staff Member

    XP will be calculated on how much damage you do to the ship, all the way to a kill; and other players share in that (with the player making the kill getting a bonus). Of course there is also XP for defending or capturing a region.
    So there is actually no XP gained for force field reduction (otherwise it could be possible that every round you'd be taking down shields and doing no damage, and getting XP ad infinitum).
     
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  11. Nickman77

    Nickman77 Member

    I was comparing the Maalaketh cruiser above with the Firestorm cruiser on the shipyard page, and the Maalekth one has 1400 terajoules total damage for its particle beams, while the Genari Firestorm has 1800 terajoules for its lasers, and 2400 terajoules for its fission warheads. So if I'm missing something, the Genari ship has a whole lot more firepower.
     
  12. Coser

    Coser Active Member

    That's a little disappointing. Yes, I can understand the loophole of doing nothing but taking each other's shields down just to XP farm, but it seems to me that Genari boarding parties rely on the ships having no shields to reduce the risk of them not getting to the target. And a lot of players will be "Well, if I don't get any XP for the assist, I'm just going full out to destroy the vessel.".
     
  13. Nickman77

    Nickman77 Member

    When I remember playing at the alpha at PAX I remember it was just too much power requirement to arm all shields on all sides. I think its just figuring out which side the player hasn't armed. Also the shields of most of the weaker ships weren't more than a couple of points. One basic laser would take it down.
     
  14. The Calamity

    The Calamity Member

    Y
    you'll still get xp for doing dmg to said target so assists xp is a thing
     
  15. Vesuvius_SWIE

    Vesuvius_SWIE Administrator Staff Member

    In way, its true, the Firestorm has greater offensive damage -- but that is if all of those weapons hit. The missile weapons are pretty weak on range and accuracy. The Cruiser's particle beams' accuracy rating is 90% at 26 hex range! Also, there are so many minute details like range bonuses (something I haven't discussed yet) -- particle beams have much greater damage bonuses at close range, up to +5 per weapon. A laser weapon in comparison, only has a +1 bonus at close range, plasma beam +1-3.
     
  16. Kuwanger

    Kuwanger New Member

    Looks to me that with the force fields and the dampening cloaking devices their defensive is enough to make something like the Firestorm cruiser's extra firepower seem moot.
     
  17. Hexxx

    Hexxx Member

    Yeah, I think Ma'Alaketh will be the most powerful race if played right.
     
  18. Coser

    Coser Active Member

    Yes, and it'll be crucial in taking down the heavier classes. However, IIRC, you get more XP for capturing a vessel than you do for driving it off or destroying it. It seems logical that you should get more XP for a mostly intact vessel than for one that is basically held together with Duct tape [it's like the force. It has a light side, and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.].

    Given that thought, then keeping a vessel's shields down so a wing mate can get enough marine pods over there to take out the crew and capture the vessel should also be considered an 'assist'. I can't blame Vesuvius for ruling against that, though, as XP for taking down shields is just too much of an exploit and allows XP farming between two friends.

    I just feel that limiting XP to acts of damage in combat will tend to swing the game into one that favours destruction and routing the enemy over capturing - which won't work well with the current idea for the Genari
     
  19. 0b1000010

    0b1000010 Member

    I think you forget that you can horde a lot of XP thru the marine kills. Even if you don't capture a ship, the amount of XP you get for killing 100 crew is a lot more than XP you get from damaging a ship. AND you get the bonus of disabling the ship for your efforts. You'll want to do everything you can to land those marines on the enemy. If anything, I can see the marine XP being nerfed in the long run.
    I think V's logic is that a battle might go on for a long time between ships, where they're at a stalemate, and it would be pointless to keep getting XP for every round of shields going down, then going back up, rinse and repeat.
     
  20. BlueMaro

    BlueMaro New Member

    Sorry, but back to the Ma'Alaketh discussion topic, if the beta is successful, when would you expect to start working on this race becoming playable as a third race not just for AI?
     
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