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GUNS & GUNNER SKILLS Balance Discussion v1.3.1

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Captain Smollett:
Just going back a bit in the thread, but if you really wanted to buff the artemis, and increase its usage and effectiveness; increase its zoom.  Giving the gun a slight boost in zoom would let average gunners make component hits at medium range and expert gunners make component hits at long ranges.

I'd recommend boosting the zoom power a small amount and seeing how it feels.  Right now the gun is quite good, though a bit underutilized.  A slight boost to the zoom power wouldn't change the balance of the weapon, but would ease in its precision.

dasfoxx:
Having a boosted zoom would be a wonderful thing for the Artemis. As it stands right now it fires so quickly that it becomes hard to gauge where the shot is and what it could possibly hit at increased range. Since it's so rarely used it's hard to get accustomed to it in order to use it at it's full potential due to most shots missing due to the negligible zoom power.

Captain McFaceSmashy:
@Nidh

Sniping could be changed to be a purely supporting role, but let's not forget that, at current, fighting from Very long range isn't as common as it used to be (them added clouds really hurt in that respect) and in some maps just isn't viable (I'm looking at that derelict city). As such I don't see the problem with using long-range guns to damage/kill enemies so long as they are outclassed by thier short-ranged versions when the distance is closed (and any short range ship can use kerosine to close that distance within approximately a single round of fire)

When it comes to coordinated (competitive) team-based battles though, as in 3v3 or such, having killing power on long ranged ships may just be too good, as they can (potentially, depending on the map or objective) sit in a firing range and just focus down 1 - 2 targets before they can even get in range (by kiting backwards, most likely) thereby making the close-range play-style irrelevant entirely.

This may be in part because of long-range guns not paying enough of a price in damage for their range, or the faster, close ranged ships being too squishy in general. Making all the long-ranged guns "support" would probably be an easy solution for competitive play, but it wouldn't make them any less frustrating to fight against, nor fix the general range-superiority problem.

@Ccrack
that's probably a bad idea, as this guarantees the battle will come to short range where you will still have a large part of your firing arcs going "Plink, Plink" to the opponents "Boom, Boom"

@Captain Smollett
Yes, if the artemis was supposed to be used as a long-range disabler I would agree that a bigger zoom is in order. I think at the moment however that isn't going to happen, out of fear that the mercury will lose it's niche as a pinpoint disabling gun for long range.

@dasfoxx
yes its combination of traveltime and semi-slow firing rate can make it a bit awkward to gauge your next shot from your previous one, but it's still better (imo) than the guns that just fire without any indication of where your shots went unless you hit something (I'm looking at you carronades)

Nidh:
I think making sniping purely support would fix a lot of problems though. Just because sniping is less common, doesn't mean getting killed from a ridiculous range is any less aggravating. You said yourself, even if it's made to be purely support it'd still be annoying. At least you could have a bit of breathing room if you knew that your close-range ship will be just as hard a kill for the sniper as they are to you.

awkm:
As far as sniping and what the different ranges mean: since 1.3.1 with the Field Gun + cloud changes, we're obviously moving away from hyper long range engagements (1500m+).  Some players vocally disagree with this move but I don't think hyper long range combat differentiates GoIO from other FPS nor does it take advantage of the unique characteristics of the game.  GoIO really shines from close to mid-range combat when ships are evading each other, broadsiding, etc...  It's where the game becomes beautiful with the depth of teamwork and tactically decision making.

The main distinction between support (chipping away etc) and finishers is that finishers at long range (700m to 1200m) are acceptable.  With skills, support weapons may edge into hyper long range but should not be reliable to kill.  The Heavy Flak, after a coming hot fix, will be able to again fulfill its role as a long range finisher.  It's a hard gun to use and requires the right support to be useful so it should remain niche.

Competitive is hard to balance because the metas in competitive will always be conservative.  Conservative in this game is at range.  However, I hope that the added clouds and perhaps will future skills will allow players to stealth their way to use more high risk high reward metas.  That's the biggest challenge for me right now, which is a good problem to have.  It means a lot of core balance issues like guns are more or less settling. 

Definitely took some time but I think we're all in agreement that things are looking relatively good in a lot of areas.

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