*** CLOSED BETA UPDATES & DISCUSSION/BUG REPORTS V ***

Something seems wrong with hitting engines sometimes, possibly after a ship has repaired some. The damage seems much lower than expected.

 

Was the offtopic chat channel made to be faction only?

-Offtopic should be server wide, all factions. -Vesuvius

 

NPC ships are present in huge nubers and warping out like crazy upon exiting a station, causing some lag.

-Actually there is a bug that needs fixing on any ally ship floating around in freeflight triggers a lag for other ally ships in the same sector. Its something that they're working on. It would be especially annoying when there's a lot of live players meeting up in a free flight zone. -Vesuvius

 

I think having the Genari laser charge gradient improvement and the armor upgrades are more than enough to balance out Genari. Anything more is overkill!

 

I forgot to point out that Genari can't win with numbers as a compliment to their cheaper ships. Maps have the same limit for each faction. Class for Class, ship for ship, Sol have the advantage in staying power with Gen as is.

 

I'm not seeing channel join notifications for people on the opposing faction. I think OT is faction only now.

 

I'm seeing in excess of 60 NPC ships in a zone sometimes (The class II and III's), visible in zone and noted by the galaxy ship count overview too.

-I'll write a ticket to have the NPC director limit how many can be in a region at a time. -Vesuvius

 

Note: I understand if this is a lot to do right now. Please consider these changes in the future.

I agree about the lasers, but there needs to be a rule that applies to everyone as far as that type of weapon goes. Think of how fission warheads all cost 2 power and plasma warheads all cost 3 power, granted those types of weapons do not cross factions (so far?).

Yes, the change definitely helps out the Gen faction with their typically lower engine outputs. It makes a big difference when you save 5 power per weapon x 5 weapons on max charge. Great, they can actually use their weapons now (meaning power them up and have maneuvering points to bring them to bear), but Sol already could to begin with because of their larger engines.

If plasma tiers were 2x1 and 3x2 and remainder Yx3 power per charge (The original gradient where Y is all charges beyond the first two tiers) or a 2-charge per power step (2x1 2x2 2x3 2x4 2x5 or some cutoff such as Yx3) while lasers are 4x1 4x2 and Yx3, that would be great for balancing factions and weapons and the advantages that the Sol plasma beams have. Each side with different quality of ships (engine outputs and armaments) would have their flavor and style along with an appropriate power cost for operating their weapons.

So that mostly balances out engine output and weapon cost between the factions, each having their own variation/flavor since Gen don't use plasma weapons and Sol does, at least on many/bigger ships (bigger engines on Sol faction, hungrier plasma beams that cost more power for their increased range and accuracy parameters, makes sense)

That would resolve the issue of engine power to weapon cost, great balance and flavor, no more complaints on that front.

However, Gen still lack staying power on the field. The increased hull will provide added protection vs focused fire/burst damage, but they still have no way to remain in a fight with lacking both shielding and scalar repairs (again, based off of MaxHull, which will be a Gen forte).

Original Power Cost/Charge: (applied to ALL beam weapon types Sol/Gen)
ChargeLevel PowerPer PowerTotal
1 1 1
2 1 2
3 2 4
4 2 6
5 2 8
6 3 11
7 3 14
8 3 17
9 3 20

New GenLaser Power Cost/Charge: (aplied to ALL Gen beam weapons, they only have lasers)
1 1 1
2 1 2
3 1 3
4 1 4
5 2 6
6 2 8
7 2 10
8 2 12
9 3 15

Note: 1 power saved on charges 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8, best option seems to be to 8-charge weapons at most.

Proposal: Adjust all laser beam weapons for all factions to use the New GenLaser power cost table AND increase the cost of PlasmaBeam weapons for all factions slightly to the following table:

Proposed PlasmaBeam Power Cost/Charge: (Should apply to ALL factions' Plasma Beam weapons)
1 1 1
2 1 2
3 2 4
4 2 6
5 3 9
6 3 12
7 4 16
8 4 20
9 4 24

Lasers Beams should cost the same for either faction. Operating Plasma Beam weapons and their improved range and accuracy with this new table, 8 charges costs the same as the previous max 9 charge (20 power) with some minor differences in cost along the way. Fairly simple, Plasma Beams cost grade ramps up 2x faster vs Laser Beams with the benefit of PB's having accuracy and range. There is only a slight power cost increase, but enough to balance out weapon systems and create more thought provoking choices and styles to the factions.

If you don't think this is good for game balance and faction flavor and/or it is too much to implement at this time (or ever), please give reasons as to why you disagree. Of course, only V can comment on the development portion, but anyone can weigh in on the balance part.

Final Note: Some Lasers Beams may need a slight reduction in range, but not accuracy, as they are equal or better than Plasma Beams

 

Seems that the Interdictor hull had their 'combat thruster +1 engine power' hull special bonus removed and replaced with +2 initiative instead??

The ship stats incorrectly display 28 maneuvering now when it is in fact 27 as a result of 55/2 = 27.5

I'd rather have the +1 engine power

55 Power Boosted
2.75
2.75
2.75
2.75
5.5
= 71.5 final modified power = 72 Power rounded up

56 Power Boosted
2.8
2.8
2.8
2.8
5.6
= 72.8 = 73 Power

In the end that 1 doesn't make too much of a difference after modifications (it could have been a difference of 2 points depending on where the decimals fell, for example 54 -> 70.2 = 70 vs 55 -> 71.5 = 72)

 

Can get 'invalid target' and 'dud weapons' bug as a result of rapidly q'ing weapons to fire and issuing a rotational command immediately after.

 

Can get incorrect power display during allocation as a result of repairing damaged system that previously had power:
-Radar damaged
-Left unrepaired for a round
-Repaired and powered up back to 'normal'
-Appeared to be down by 2 power compared to usual MP value with no other power allocation differences from 'normal'
-Had proper MP available during combat phase

Edit: Seeing the same thing again, except no damage was involved this time.

-I've noticed that before...Write a Jira for this -Vesuvius

 

Repair phase during allocation does not automatically end/skip remaining repairs if a system or systems was/were the only thing(s) damaged and required less than the total available repair points.
-I've noticed that before...Write a Jira for this -Vesuvius

 

Transit phases sometimes skip the ship arrival animation (instead showing a static picture of the map with no ship in focus), which may play incorrectly along with the next transit arrival(s)

-Yeah, I see that quite often. Not sure what the source is though, but its a minor bug at this point. -Vesuvius

 

If this is too hard to implement or is a crappy idea feel free to tell me so Vesuvius. This might be something that is slated for way down the road and I forgot about it/missed it.

What if a Genari player uses marines to capture a enemy ship and gets it safely to a genari dock. They then are allowed that one ship to be used as their own. Only that ship and if it is destroyed then another must be captured. Of course the missile weapons might have to be changed to fission since the genari wouldn't have a stock of plasma missiles; and maybe some other genari reverse engineering. That would give major incentive to use/have marines. Right now I actually like the First Honor 2 with 3 lasers, good shields, and three marine pods. I use the marines for good xp gain but right now that is their only purpose.

-Right now capturing ship would give one 2x XP points over kill XP (if the ship manages to get to the border and warp out). But its still in the works, so any other new ideas beyond that would not be realistic until deep into next year. -Vesuvius

The firebolt 2 is a slightly better ship for continuous fighting IMO.

Also how about increasing the genari marine transport to two pod resupply per turn, one is very slow when I am trying to take down a whole crew,lol
-Actually its supposed to load up 4 pods per turn, just hasn't been fixed -Vesuvius

 

Supposed to have a skill 'Commandeer' on marine commander and get a huge XP bonus for capturing a ship.

I thought about the idea of capturing a Sol ship and using it too, but you only get the one, so don't lose it, and then what do you do about officers? Gen being the only race that can capture and use other races' ships would be pretty OP.

 

Time for my 'once every 6 hours login to upgrade' lol... Totally said with eyes rolling and all, because that's what the timer has done to the game ><

Having a half-ass upgraded ship is risking a lot. Getting a fully upgraded one takes time, but once its done, it is very very very hard to lose vs AI (not players).

Having no upgrades, well blast away. I see the upgrade timer as a bad thing in a way, because it imposes such a limitation on progress, and to risk a 10k XP ship + all the hours invested that you worked so hard to get because it isn't well equipped yet... I'll probably unlock it and get battle credits on it, start the upgrade process, then fly a corvette while it is on timer.

Corvettes can do some serious in and out scouting + damage, especially if you want to use overload and haul ass back to station, reset, repeat. Way too nasty if you ask me!

I see there is a whole ship rebalance planned. I hope this is addressed. I mean being destroyed in 1 round or a dual-round alpha strike by a ship with 1 or 2 upgrades ... ugh!

Take a Class V Leningrad with ~30 hp. A 2-upgrade AF II can dish out 15 dmg/round. A Star Warrior can put out even more! Granted it lacks the mobility of the AF II, but certainly enough to keep up with a Leningrad.

Mendi III can drop 4x2+1 = 12 dmg/round with an overload of +6 one time, assuming a 'new' ship is hit that has no extra repairs, it can deal 30 dmg in 2 turns and guaranteed to kill (excepting unlucky misses at 95%) anything with 28 hp or less, 22 or less without the overload.

The game is way too focused on damage-based rewards and alpha-strike. First to hit generally wins + takes home the bacon, and there's not much to be done about it. It isn't until much later into the higher tier ships that you are safe from corvettes and able to play tactically vs other large ships.

I would like to remind you of the whole 'super corvette' discussion I brought up before. Several of them can still down just about anything they want unless ships are given some type of armoring or damage reduction based on class advantage.

80 point hull on a Class VII ? Ok, send 3 corvettes at it and it's dead unless it happens to shield the right arc. Send 4 corvettes for good measure

 

Forgot to mention that corvettes can instantly escape combat if they are on the border, so border-play will definitely be a thing. They will always hug the wall, only scouting inwards as far as they can while retaining enough power to return to a known-safe location on the wall.

They warp out in the combat phase following the allocation phase in which they select 'leave', and the warp out automatically de-allocates ALL power, sending it to engines for MP, which means maximum initiative. Nothing will out-init a zero-allocated corvette except maybe a better corvette or a more upgraded crew. Max corvette vs max corvette (Mendi III, Orchis III, AF II, AF IV, all the ones with the same highest engines/initiative potential), the one running always gets away because assigning even a single point of power to weapons means the would be attacker now has less initiative.

 

Same with all the NPC ships, they leave instantly if they are on the border.

 

Good luck in training that corvette Xeen! It may be one thing to play vs. AI, but the odds of you upgrading your ship that far against other good players with corvettes won't last long. You'd be putting in too much time/effort and losing it all with a failed encounter. Initiative is one thing, but knowing where your opponent is before he slaps you is another.

 

Like I said, all about who hits first. Way too about that. It's not hard to get a battle credit and leave a fight though.

I don't really see anyone getting past the corvette stage as all available ships will immediately target whatever tier 4 or 5 someone manages to scrape together, then kaboom!

You would have to save up for an insanely long time to get to T7 or beyond where a couple corvettes are no longer insta-kill

My proposed changes to range and damage boost bonuses had this in mind. Bottom end is far FARRRRR too powerful with these static modifiers. Top end is unrewarding.