Captains can assign Main Engy title (+minute buff)

[roder]

Was thinking there should be an easier way to make it clear who is main engy, why not allow captains to assign a distinction on which engineer is main engy, just like a marker beside the head icon. And if there's only 1 gunner, i guess he/she automatically gets the main gunner marker.

Was also thinking that this could also address the balance of classes. If you give a really minute buff to the main engy/main gunner (+5% repair rate to main engy, +1% fire rate to main gunner), then it'd promote use of gunners on ship; since all the secondary or 3iary engineers do not get a bonus, although they still give an advantage as hybrid roles.

Yeah the buffs should be so minute that no one is gonna rage if they dont get picked as main, but every advantage counts. Also, the main gunner should be allowed to kick off someone out of a gun, just like the main pilot (captain) should be allowed to kick off someone out of their steering wheel. I don't know what the main engineer has, maybe install an armchair on every ship that only the main engineer can sit on (lol)

Another side suggestion is that captain can assign First Mate title, instead of main engineer or main gunner, and that would give them some sort of minute buff as an engineer or a gunner. But i think this is more controversial, since its basically picking favorites, not based on class/role, but just who captain likes more

[NoWuffo]

While I don't really think it needs to be actually integrated into the game, You are onto something there with the "main engi" idea. I often fly with the same team, my clan the Cohort. We will often assign one of the engi's on a ship as the main engi. He'll call repair calls or gun facings on the ship to take some of the load off the pilot, and he/she will sometimes give us pilots commands since we often get target-fixated

As to your balance of classes idea, that's been something that the community has been thinking about for a long time. Join in the discussion here!

[Van Manfred]

I think the new features like seeing the various players' getup in the lobby (how could we live without that?), plus the chat box makes it easy to assign roles. You just need to use the mic to get your shipmates to look at the box sometimes.

If there is a bad side to this, is the fact that I now (from my own will) fill the holes rather than going for "achievement gear" when embarking. It's hardly a bad side (if like me achievements don't matter that much); for the rest, strategically, it works to my advantage so far...

*Touches wood*

[RearAdmiralZill]

I'll start by saying passive buffs already leave a bad taste to me, so I can't say i'd ever want to see that implemented. Even if they were, 1 minute wouldn't get you into the first engagement, so it would be wasted anyway. (I'm also of the belief that gunners need no buffs and are perfectly fine as they are so, biased.)

The player under the captain should usually be considered your "first mate." If you dc, they get the ai controls, and the commander title until you or another player hops in. As for assigning main engie, it should just be something you communicate before a match.

[zlater75@hotmail.com]

Hmm. bit conservative at this option.. since when a crew forms it's nice the engineers can amongst themselves decide who is main and who gungineer. labeling one by captain order and if for example the other eng leaves then a new joins it's like no choice.
It can and is good to let the captain be captain but if two engs are forced to play eachothers preference?

I'm curious, though, would that main eng selection be visible to crew only or to whole lobby or team only? The loadout icon is great but the small downside is it's then visible to all which might be revealing the tactic of the other team. But it helps the captain to check what the crew has setup.

[dragonmere]

Even if they were, 1 minute wouldn't get you into the first engagement, so it would be wasted anyway.

3. mi·nute adjective \mī-ˈnüt, mə-, -ˈnyüt\ : very small

I don't think he meant 60 seconds.

[HamsterIV]

The point of the game is to communicate with other people. Call me a ludite but I would rather type "#### you will be main, bring burst" than drag an icon over their name and assume we both know what that means. Also I try and give every crew member and opportunity to shoot. Sometimes the person responsible for the hull changes depending on range and engagement type.

[NoWuffo]

Even if they were, 1 minute wouldn't get you into the first engagement, so it would be wasted anyway.

3. mi·nute adjective \mī-ˈnüt, mə-, -ˈnyüt\ : very small

I don't think he meant 60 seconds.

And even if he did, C'mon Zill, you've seen how the Wolfpack fly! Don't discount 60 seconds!

[Van Manfred]

The point of the game is to communicate with other people. Call me a ludite but I would rather type "#### you will be main, bring burst" than drag an icon over their name and assume we both know what that means. Also I try and give every crew member and opportunity to shoot. Sometimes the person responsible for the hull changes depending on range and engagement type.

This.

Being a bit OT here, this is, IMO, the right thing to do - maybe not as faultproof as a regular, experienced crew, but that's part of the fun. Usually, when commanding, I keep my suggestions to the minimum, at least for the first game. At the second one, the crew already has a better idea what to do and what to bring, and it's a better time to "make council", especially if things went bad.

I don't like achievement- or victory-obsessed commanders who tyrannically demands that you change role and dictates all of your tools. That's not what fun sounds like to me. In those cases, I leave politely.

[roder]

The point of the game is to communicate with other people. ....

Sure. But how does that dispute anything, putting an icon besides someone's name is also a form of communication, it's just the same as saying 'you're main'. And i think its more useful in pub matches where not everyone is running with a full team, and there's constantly people going in and out of lobbies, every time someone joins the team you don't have to repeatedly keep typing who is main or not just to have them leave the lobby again. The icon constantly conveys the idea.

well it was just a small change that i saw could help captains. regularly im on teams with not everyone in mics, or not everyone is always in a mood to be 24/7 talking every few sec tryhard mode and thats understandable too in random pub matches.

[Spud Nick]

Maybe the tutorial can talk about the 3 engineers (main,buff,gungineer) and give load outs for each.